25 Feb

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

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2010

RABI ALAWAL 11, 1431 AH

Woman has two babies in first for ovarian transplant

Saudi stands trial over Jakarta hotel bombings PAGE 14

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NO: 14651

Tendulkar scores first one-day double century

150 FILS

Inter edge Chelsea 2-1 after thrilling first leg

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Tabtabaei wants answers on women’s football team

By B Izzak KUWAIT: Salafist Islamist MP Waleed AlTabtabaei yesterday sent a series of questions to the Social Affairs and Labour Minister Mohammad Al-Afasi about the Kuwaiti women football team which played an official game a few days ago. The team was defeated 17-0 by the Palestinian women football team at an Asian competition being held in Abu Dhabi. Tabtabaei asked the minister how the team was

formed and on what basis, and to which sport clubs and federations the team members belong. The minister of social affairs and labour is responsible for the Kuwaiti sports movement.

Tabtabaei also asked about the side that took the responsibility of forming the team and arranging for its games, and how it was funded. The lawmaker asked why the team played the game without complying with sharia regulations, particularly with regards to their dress. He also asked

NOTICE Kuwait Times would like to convey its best wishes to everybody on the occasion of the National and Liberation Days. On this occasion, the newspaper will not be published on Saturday, Feb 27, 2010.

Kuwait records $28bn surplus KUWAIT: OPEC member Kuwait posted a preliminary budget surplus of $27.8 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year on higher oil income, the finance ministry said yesterday. The ministry said on its website that revenues until the end of January reached $51 billion, 82 percent above the $28.1 billion projected for the whole 20092010 fiscal year, which ends on March 31.

Spending during the 10 months was $23.2 billion, just 55.2 percent of projected spending for the whole year of $42.1 billion, the ministry figures showed.

The huge surplus is expected to be lower at the end of the fiscal year due to end-ofyear accounting adjustments when pledged expenditure not included so far will be added to the closing statements. Oil income up to the end of January reached $48.2 billion or double the budget projections for the whole year of $24.1 billion. Oil revenues constituted 94.5 percent of total income.

Kuwait has been projecting a deficit in each of the past 11 fiscal years because it calculates oil income at a highly conservative price. It has projected a deficit of $13.8 billion for the current fiscal year. The state however ended 10 of those years with a huge surplus and is headed for a windfall exceeding $20 billion for this year. It finished last fiscal year with a surplus of $9.6 billion despite making a one-off payment of $19 billion to the state pension fund.

This would be Kuwait’s 11th straight year of budget surplus. In the past decade, it has accumulated about $123 billion of budget surplus, based on available official data. The state, which transfers 10 percent of revenues every year into its sovereign wealth fund r un by the Kuwait Investment Authority, is estimated to have assets worth about $230 billion. Kuwait says it sits on 10 percent of global crude reserves and pumps about 2.2 million barrels per day. It has a population of 1.1 million of its own citizens, and 2.34 million foreign residents. — AFP

the minister why he did not he interfere to stop “the moral violation” committed by the team. Tabtabaei also asked the minister if the team plans to take part in other tournaments in the future and if the ministry has taken the necessary precautions to impose the Islamic dress code. A number of Islamist MPs have strongly condemned the formation of the team and non-compliance with the Islamic dress code.

In another development, the National

Assembly’s financial and economic affairs committee yesterday failed to hold its crucial meeting to approve the privatization draft law for a lack of quorum, its chairman said. MP Youssef Al-Zalzalah said that the meeting did not take place because several members have travelled and the committee will hold another meeting on March 7 to finalize and approve the privatization law. After the committee completes the bill, Zalzalah said he will call for a special Assembly

session to debate and approve the important legislation.

Earlier this week, the committee had completed all but three articles as it demanded explanation by the government.

Zalzalah said the necessary explanation was sent. Zalzalah also said that reports which said that privatizing the electricity and water utilities will require a special law is incorrect. The privatization law stipulates that power and water generation can become private under the main privatiza-

Dubai has 15 new suspects in killing 26 people now being sought for Mabhouh’s murder DUBAI: Dubai is hunting for at least 26 people over the killing of a Hamas commander in a Dubai hotel in a suspected Israeli operation that has caused a diplomatic furore. Hamas military commander Mahmoud AlMabhouh was killed last month in his hotel room in what Dubai police say they are near certain was a hit by Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

Dubai police added 15 new names yesterday to a list of suspects wanted over the killing. Six carried British passports, three held Irish documents, three were Australian, and three French, the Dubai government said in a statement. Israeli media reported yesterday the new list could involve further cases of identity theft.

Dubai authorities had earlier named 11 suspects, who they said travelled on fraudulent British, Irish, French and German passports to kill Mabhouh. Six were Britons living in Israel who deny involvement and say their identities were stolen.

“Dubai investigators are not ruling out the possibility of involvement of other people in the murder,” the statement said. The suspected killers’ use of passports from countries including Britain and France has drawn criticism from the European Union that diplomats said was aimed at Israel. Some of governments involved have Continued on Page 14

friends onto the site.

“The opportunity is massive ... we’re very much at a tipping point,” Johnson said. “Now is the time where there are enough people where it makes brands sit up and listen.” For now though, the Middle East represents a small fraction of Facebook’s business. The company has more than 400 million active users worldwide. It says about 70 percent of those are outside the United States. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The initial partnership lasts for three years.

The companies said it was too early to discuss sales targets. Connect Ads managing director Mohamed ElMehairy said only that he expects “high revenues” from the deal given the site’s explosive growth.

Partnering with an established Arabic firm also could help Facebook find its way in a region where authorities typically maintain strict controls on the flow of online information. Censors in countries such as Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia routinely block websites based on political, religious and moral grounds.

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Amir congratulated on national holidays KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah received yesterday congratulatory cables on the 49th National and 19th Liberation Days from senior officials of the state.

The cables were sent by HH the Acting Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Speaker of the National Assembly Jassem AlKhorafi, Chief of the National Guards HH Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Salem AlSabah, Deputy Chief of the National Guards Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah and First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Hamad Al-

HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah Sabah.

The officials expressed deepest wishes of prosperity and happiness for the Amir and Kuwait, vowing to continue their service to this country under the guidance of Sheikh Sabah.

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Hamas founder’s son was top Israeli agent

DUBAI: This document released by the Dubai Ruler’s Media Office yesterday shows 26 persons wanted by Dubai’s police in connection with the killing of a Hamas commander Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in his Dubai hotel room last month. Those photos surrounded by thick red lines represent 15 new suspects whose names were released yesterday, while those surrounded by thin red lines represent 11 suspects whose names were previously released on Feb 15, 2010. — AP

Facebook to capitalize on Arab world growth DUBAI: Facebook Inc said yesterday it is teaming with a Middle Eastern digital advertising company as the online meet-up site looks to capitalize on rapid growth in the Arab world. Facebook said it hopes the deal with Connect Ads will give it better exposure to advertisers in a socially conservative region where online marketing is in its early stages. The Cairo-based advertising booker already handles sales for Microsoft Corp.’s MSN regional portals and other local sites. “They have the reach and ... they have the connections,” said Trevor Johnson, Facebook’s head of strategy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The tie-up with an outside ad sales provider mirrors a strategy Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook has used in other emerging markets, such as Eastern Europe and Asia, Johnson said in an interview. It also signals the potential the social networking site sees for the young and growing Arab market, where it counts 10 million regular users. The company expects Mideast user numbers to shoot significantly higher in the coming months, as it has in other markets, as more members follow their

tion law. Only the health and education sectors would need a special law, he said.

Meanwhile, MP Musallam Al-Barrak said his bloc is prepared to debate the grilling filed against the information and oil minister any time. Barrak was responding to reports that the debate may take place during the March 2 session instead of March 16 as expected. Under the law, the grilling can be debated only after eight days of filing the request unless the minister says he is ready for the debate before that.

JERUSALEM: The son of one of Hamas’ founders says in a new book that he served as a top informant for Israel for more than a decade, providing top-secret intelligence that helped prevent dozens of suicide bombings and other attacks against Israelis. Mosab Yousef’s memoir, “Son of Hamas”, is being published next week in the United States, and highlights of the book and an interview with the author appeared yesterday in Israel’s Haaretz daily. Yousef declined comment, but his Facebook page plugs the book as “a gripping account of terror, betrayal, political intrigue, and unthinkable choices.”

The revelation of such a high-level informant would deal another blow to Hamas, which suffered a key setback

Sheikh Hassan Yousef last month when one of its top commanders was assassinated in Dubai last month. Dubai authorities have accused Israel of carrying out the hit, and there have been reports that a Continued on Page 14

Yar’Adua returns, but not to power

AMMAN: Young Jordanians and foreigners dance the night away at a nightclub in late on Jan 22, 2010. — AFP

Amman sheds staid image AMMAN: It’s late at night and the discotheques, music bars and shisha lounges that have sprouted around Amman are buzzing with clients, belying the city’s old image as the sleepy capital of a conservative kingdom.

Jordan’s increasingly young population is helping shape this new scene, a tamer version of the Middle East’s so-called “sin city”, Beirut, renowned throughout the Arab world

for its lively nightlife.

“You know, 15 years ago you could barely find a taxi after eight in the evening - the streets were mostly empty,” said Sarah, an American and long-time resident of Amman.

“But nightlife has changed drastically since I first came in the early 1990s when there were basically two places to go other than the Continued on Page 14

ABUJA: Nigeria’s ailing president returned home yesterday af ter a three-month stay in a Saudi hospital amid US concerns over fresh “uncertainty” but officials said his deputy will stay at the helm. President Umaru Yar’Adua flew back to the capital Abuja unannounced early yesterday and his plane was met on the tarmac by a white ambulance. A weekly cabinet meeting went ahead following a delay of several hours after it became clear that Yar’Adua would not be attending.

Nigeria’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia said the 58-year-old flew home after a marked improvement in his condition, but it was several hours before officials in Abuja confirmed his return. Acting president Goodluck Jonathan will remain in charge while the president, treated for a serious heart condition, continues to recuperate, the president’s spokesman Segun Adeniyi said. “After being discharged by the team of medical experts overseeing his treatment in... Saudi Arabia, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua returned to the presidential

Umaru Yar’Adua villa, Abuja early this morning,” he said. “While the President completes his recuperation, Vice President Jonathan will continue to oversee the affairs of state,” he said.

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

‘Pearl of the Gulf’

Kuwait looks back at 49 years of achievement KUWAIT: The National Day celebrations, coinciding today, is an occasion to pause and look back at the achievements of the past 49 years since Kuw ait gained its independence.

When Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, the 11th ruler of Kuw ait, annulled on J une 19, 1961 the treaty signed betw een Kuw ait and Great Britain on J anuary 23, 1899, Kuw ait became a sovereign country. Addressing his people on that

KUWAIT: Acting Premier, First Deputy Premier and Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak AlSabah yesterday received the newly appointed British ambassador to Kuwait, Frank Baker and discussed reciprocal issues. — KUNA

in the news Privatization of education sector KUWAIT: The Ministry of Education is set to carry out a number of government-approved projects, including building 30 new state schools which will be privately run in coordination with local private schools, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and other bodies. This is apparently a first step towards the full privatization of the state education system.

The MoE will begin the implementation of these and other government-approved projects after all the ministry departments reach agreement on the final budget for the 2010/2011 academic year, reported Al-Qabas. A group of specialists, including the MoE’s Undersecretary for Planning and Information Dr. Khalid Al-Rashid and professors from Kuwait University and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, has been assigned to offer consultative services in helping to implement all the projects included in the ministry’s work program, explained education ministry undersecretary Tamadher Al-Sdairawi.

Women’s sports decisions KUWAIT: Some MPs’ infringement of citizens’ civil liberties has taken on dangerous dimensions, according to a senior political figure, asserting that parliamentarians do not have the right to interfere in women’s choices to practice sports. Khalid AFadhala, the Secretary General of the National Democratic Alliance, made the comments in response to some parliamentarians’ negative statements about the Kuwaiti women’s soccer team participating in the Arab women’s soccer champi-

onship, reported Al-Jarida. Such statements indicate an unwelcome attempt at interference in the lives and affairs of Kuwaiti citizens, he said, adding pointedly that it is time that Kuwait a competitive women’s sports movement as it had in the past.

MPs should know their limits and not interfere in Kuwaiti families’ affairs regarding their daughters’ decisions to participate in sports, Al-Fadhala stressed.

US medical delegation KUWAIT: The director of a local health directorate has been accused of “kicking out” a visiting delegation of American gynecologists and obstetricians and denying them entry to the maternity hospital. The actions reportedly caused some embarrassment among administrators at the hospital, where the three medical experts had apparently been due to deliver a lecture, reported AlJarida. Dr. Abdullatif Al-Sahli, the director of the Sabah health directorate, rejected the allegations, however, protesting that the phrase “kick out” is not one found in the lexicon of senior health management or medics. The three specialists are understood to be part of a 25-strong delegation of American medical consultants in various fields currently visiting Kuwait at the invitation of the senior management at the Jaber Al-Ahmad Armed Forces Hospital, where some of them have performed a number of operations. During their visit, they have also offered consultations to patients, as well as participating in the training of Kuwaiti doctors.

Dean of Kuwait University’s College of Social Sciences, Dr. Abdulredha Asiri, said that the era of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem AlSabah was one of dedicated efforts to create a qualitative leap, transforming Kuwait into a state of constitutional and legal institutions, thus finding a place of itself on the political and regional maps.

During this era, the daily lives of Kuwaitis went from being simple to being dependent on petroleum, guaranteeing them decent living, he said, adding that since its independence, Kuwait was a model of modern architecture, earning it the name ‘Pearl of the Gulf’.

Moreover, he said Kuwait began with consolidating its relations with countries of the world, gaining membership in the Arab League, the United Nations, and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

These memberships added new political dimension to the country’s status, while the establishment of Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) brought a humanitarian aspect to the Gulf state’s activities and its developmental assistance to other countries.

One important element for building a modern state is placing a comprehensive constitution, and holding the first parliamentary elections ever in an Arab country, Dr. Asiri

day, Sheikh Abdullah called for strengthening Kuw ait’s ties w ith Arab countries through gaining membership in the Arab League, and boosting relations w ith other countries of the w orld through joining the United Nations and other organizations that w orked for the good of the w orld. Since that day, Kuw aitis have been w orking hard to honor these w ords, bringing Kuw ait to the forefront w orldw ide.

Late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah added.

The professor also emphasized the important role that His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah played in creating a positive image of Kuwait abroad, and displaying the country’s successful and pioneering democratic experience.

On her part, political science professor Dr. Haila Al-

Mechaimi said that Kuwait operated through the socalled ‘Gulf house’ when it came to foreign policies, thus coordinating with countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on different issues.

Kuwait it also keen on generating harmonious stances with the rest of the Arab world and to maintain its Arab identity under all circumstances, she said, noting that

54.4 percent of KFAED’s loans were granted to Arab countries.

At the global level, Dr. AlMechaimi said that Kuwait always called for and supported global peace and was an active member of the UN. Meanwhile, researcher at Kuwait University’s Strategic and Future studies Center Dr. Nada Al-Mutawa said that Kuwait’s prominent position was thanks to the efforts of His Highness the Amir in building solid foreign relationships.

Through his wise diplomatic strategies, His Highness Sheikh Sabah succeeded in convincing the international community to come together and liberate Kuwait from the occupying Iraqi forces in 1990, she said.

On the internal front, Dr Al-Mutawa said that His Highness the Amir played an important role in reforming the electoral system through his expansion of the voters’ base to include women.

Moreover, she said Kuwaiti diplomacy was active in supporting developmental assistance and portraying the Gulf state as a donor country, adding that Kuwait’s neutrality allowed it to become a model for inter-Arab conciliation. Now, Kuwait is seeking to become the model for Arab economic reform, af ter hosting the Arab Economic Summit, Dr Al-Mutawa concluded. — KUNA

New stage in Kuwait journey towards advancement KUWAIT: At the time Kuwait is celebrating its 49th National Day it enters a new stage in its journey towards advancement through launching the country’s development strategy.

Since his access to the throne, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah drew a new strategy directed towards transforming Kuwait into a financial and commercial center.

In his opening speech at the Arab Economic, Development, and Social summit held in Kuwait in January 2009, the Amir called on Arab countries to follow suit and seek development to achieve welfare and advancement.

Collective efforts are sought to make the dream come true, and that was accomplished on Feb 2, 2010 when the Parliament endorsed a draft concerning the country’s developmental plan for the years (2010/2011 - 2013/2014) so that economic and economic projects such as that of Silk City, highway network, alongside those related to educational, health and housing sectors.

The draft tendered to the cabinet is the first of such since 1986 as KD 37 billion will be allocated to execute big projects in four years.

“Development is every Kuwaiti’s desire,” Minister of State for Development Affairs and Minister of State for Housing Affairs, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said on the sidelines of having the draft endorsed by the Parliament.

Meanwhile, Chief of the Financial and Economic Affairs Commission at the Parliament Dr Yousif AlZilzila said that this step will have a “tremendous effect” on Kuwait’s development.

The cabinet endorsed constructing Silk City which would be the biggest financial and commercial center in the region which is a 250 km project in northern Kuwait estimated at KD 25 billion and

is to be executed in 25 years.

A number of hotels, resorts, an entertainment city, and a huge sports complex provided with a medical sports center will be included in the project. It would also include the tallest tower in the world named Mubarak Al-Kabeer provided with offices, hotels, residential and entertainment facilities. The project is to be constructed in synchronous with that of Sabiyya bridge linking Kuwait City with its northern parts and extending 36 square kilometers.

The bridge is estimated at KD 300-500 million and would be world’s second longest and the number one in the Middle East.

As for strategic health projects, the 469,370 square meters project of Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah’s hospital with its four buildings equipped with medical hi-tech and of which was ratified in November 15, 2009 would be the biggest health center in the country.

The hospital would be provided by 36 operation rooms, four catheter, four MRI, and four CT labs along the biggest injury center in the region.

The housing sector was blessed with the 12,455,400 meter project of Jaber Al-Ahmad housing city. The project which would be constructed at Amghara area would be provided with 8,593 housing units.

As for the 35 kilometer project of Sabah AlAhmad housing city with 9,250 housing units it would be provided with universities, schools, health centers and parks.

Meanwhile developing Kuwait Airport’s infrastructure, runways, boosting traffic from 450,000 to 650,000 annually, and building a third runway were included in the country’s development plan.

All of these projects are crowning Kuwait’s celebrations of its 49th National Day. — KUNA

NATIONAL

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Amiri condolences to UAE president KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent yesterday a cable of condolences to UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, expressing his sorrow over the death of Sheikh Mubarak Bin Mohammad Al-Nahyan. His Highness the Acting Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah sent similar cables to the UAE President.

Kuwait plans closer ties with Pakistan ISLAMABAD: Appreciating the cordial relations the two brotherly Muslim countries share, the Kuwait Consul General yesterday expressed his government’s resolve to extend closer cooperation between Pakistan and Kuwait in regional and international organizations to promote stability and security.

“Kuwaiti leadership is looking forward to extend closer cooperation with Pakistan in regional and international organizations to achieve the objectives of stability, security and sustainable development”, said Nasser Redn Al Motairi, the Consul General of the State of Kuwait in Southern Karachi port city, in a message on the occasion of 49th National Day and 19th Liberation Anniversary of the State of Kuwait.

The Consul General felicitate His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah AlAhmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf AlAhmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, and the people of the Kuwait on this glorious occasion. —KUNA

Stage set for National, Liberation Days

Kuwait is turning red, white, green and black

By Rawan Khalid KUWAIT: Kuwait is turning red, white, green and black for National and Liberation Days, with families, children, teens and even buildings bedecked in the colors of the Kuwaiti flag in time for the annual two days of celebrations. Some people are taking advantage of this vacation to plan a big celebration, with most Kuwaitis having five days off from their work and school. Um Ahmed, a Kuwaiti mother-of-five, told the Kuwait Times, “These two days are important ones for me and my children. I’ve taught them that these are Kuwait’s special two days and they should attend the parties and celebrations in the street with all other Kuwaitis, so I attend, participate, and celebrate with my family, and my sister and I stitch the dresses and scarves and even sew the flags; I don’t want Kuwaitis celebrating without me!”

Another Kuwaiti, 23-year-old student Nasser Mohammad, will be starting his break in a quieter style, however, before going out and joining in the celebrations.

“I will spend these five days at our beach chalet in Julaia with my friends; we’ll have some barbeques, take a rest from studying and celebrate our National and Liberation Day in our own way, which is by watching a documen-

tary film about Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion in 1990. Then on the second day we’ll go out on the street, buy the foam and start to celebrate with people!”

Another citizen, 45-year-old Ahmed Amer, said, “This is a fiveday vacation and I’m sure I will take my family and go to Failaka Island to celebrate the National and Liberation Days there.”

One younger citizen planned a more boisterous celebration, however.

High school pupil Adel Ahmed, aged 18, told the Kuwait Times, “I’ve bought ten boxes of foam to celebrate the National and Liberation Days in the street with my family, friends and all Kuwaitis; it’s my favorite day in the year. The Kuwaiti flag will be on all my clothes for those two days and I’ll also draw the Kuwaiti flag on my face and hands because I love Kuwait.”

Kuwait’s streets and buildings, meanwhile, are festooned with Kuwaiti flags and lights in the colors of the national flag.

For two days, Gulf Road will come to a virtual standstill as cars throng the main thoroughfare to celebrate the 49th National Day and 19th Liberation Day respectively, with families, teens and kids waving flags and using foam and silly string to decorate one another and anyone nearby in celebration.

Fugitive dies in escape bid KUWAIT: An Egyptian fugitive died instantly when he leapt from the third floor of a Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh building in a desperate attempt to escape capture.

Police who received a tip-off about the whereabouts of the fugitive, who was wanted in connection with previous crimes, went immediately to the location, prompting a lengthy chase on foot, which culminated in the man running into a building which was quickly surrounded by officers. When he realized that there was no other escape route available, the fugitive leapt from the third floor window, landing on his head and dying instantly on impact, reported Al-Watan.

The body was removed for autopsy and an investigation is underway into the incident.

KUWAIT: Kuwait residents celebrate National and Liberation Days.

—Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

3 Magazine focuses on Kuwait achievements DAMASCUS: Dunia Al-Arab magazine focused in its latest issue on the political, economic, social, educational, and cultural achievements of Kuwait. The Arabic political magazine, which is published in Greece and distributed here, focused on the state’s achievements on the occasion of Kuwait’s 49th National Day and 19th Liberation Day. The magazine said that the era of the rule of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is an era of achievements. His Highness stressed on the importance of making Kuwait a financial and economic center, it pointed out.

During his rule, democracy in Kuwait was stressed, media freedoms expanded, the number of newspapers was up, and the role of women in the political activities increased, it noted.

Since its independence, Kuwait’s foreign policy was balanced and based on friendship, brotherhood, and peace, it said.

Kuwait supported regional and international organizations and their efforts and visions to achieve world security and stability, it said. Kuwait was and is still making efforts to support Islamic and Arab causes, it stressed. In addition, the Gulf state is keen on contributing and cooperating with the international community in human and economic development through Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) which provided loans to 101 Arab, Asian, African, and Latin countries, it said. —KUNA

4 Khojaly tragedy anniversary

F

Azerbaijan ambassador Shaheen Abdullayev (left) was razed to the ground. Over the night from 25 to 26 February 1992 the Armenian armed forces with the help of the infantry guards regiment No. 366 of the former USSR, the personnel of which was composed mainly of Armenians, implemented the seizure of Khojaly. The inhabitants of Khojaly that remained in the town before the tragic night tried to leave their houses after the beginning of the assault in the hope to find the way to the nearest place populated by the Azerbaijanis. But these plans have failed.

Invaders destroyed Khojaly and with particular brutality implemented carnage over its peaceful population. As a result, 613 civilians were killed, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly. Another 1,000 people were wounded and 1,275 taken hostage. To this day, 150 people from Khojaly remain missing.

The Khojaly town was chosen as a stage for further occupation and ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijani territories, striking terror into the hearts of people

and creating panic and fear before the horrifying massacre.

The Khojaly massacre was a vivid example of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia.

Today, almost two decades after the events in Khojaly, civilians continue to suffer in numerous conflicts around the world.

During the event photos, key facts, eyewitness’s reports, books about Khojaly massacre and documentary film called “Armenian Terrorism” have been demonstrated.

The aim of this event is to raise international awareness about the war crimes and to make heard the voice of innocent people who have suffered and continue to suffer from the war crimes and crimes against humanity all around the world and to stop such heinous acts from happening in the future.

For more information please visit: www.justiceforkhojaly.org

kuwait digest

Problem comes from NA uwait’s Chamber of Commerce could shortly become the first such body in the world to be established by the government, and to have its laws before its board members could be assembled, writes Abdullatif Al-Duaij in Al-Qabas.

Members of our parliament claim to be working to correct an illegal situation that they found in the chamber’s law. However, their actions are being carried out in a manner that creates even more illegal situations and violations of the constitution, as well as of people’s rights and freedoms. As for the draft law concerning the chamber drawn up by a number of MPs, the chamber should first be established, before its situation can be legalized. First, board members should be elected, who could then start winning the support of others. However, MPs have chosen to wake up now and replace the current chamber with another one based on their own standards or, rather, their own ambitions.

K

In undemocratic countries without elected parliaments, the government usually acts illegally to form authorities to meet its demands.

Usually, legally established and popular institutions suffer the consequences of these actions, as their activities are limited if not completely annihilated by State authorities for their own benefit.

An example of this took place in Kuwait back in 1976, when the constitution and parliamentary life were suspended, as the activities of almost all institutions were limited in those days.

Since we now have an active constitution and a parliament, it’s theoretically the case that all individuals and institutions enjoy their freedoms and constitutional rights. However, it appears, unfortunately, that a number of MPs are working on restricting or altering the activity of the only institution that not even the country’s main authority could be able to enforce the constitution on.

Jahra wedding tent fire defendant victim of magical trick: Lawyer KUWAIT: The Criminal Court has again postponed the trial of the woman accused of starting last year’s Jahra wedding tent fire, which resulted in the deaths of over 50 people, with the new trial date set for March 30.

This follows criticism by the accused woman’s lawyer, Zaid Al-Khabaz, of the investigation process.

Al-Khabaz claims that the allegations against his client, namely that she poured gasoline on the marquee being used by the bride and female guests, before setting it alight, are unproven, asserting that the prosecution has insufficient evidence to support its case.

The lawyer further criticized the court’s failure to call

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Despair at worsening medical condition

Central Prison inmate’s death a suicide, say investigators

By Shaheen Abdullayev, Azerbaijan Ambassador ebruary 22, 2010 the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the State of Kuwait and the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons of the Republic of Azerbaijan organized an event dedicated to the 18th anniversary of Khojaly tragedy.

Khojaly was Azerbaijani settlement situated within the administrative borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan, to which neighboring Armenia put territorial claims even before the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

The collapse of the USSR finally freed the hands of the Armenian nationalists and at the end of 1991 and the beginning of 1992 the conflict reached the military phase. It was the town of Khojaly, which faced the first armed attack by the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan after the independence of the two Republics - an attack in which organized military formations and armored vehicles operated against Azerbaijani targets. At the result of this attack the entire city was notoriously overrun and its population was subjected to an unprecedented massacre.

This bloody tragedy, which became known as the Khojaly genocide, involved the extermination or capture of thousands of Azerbaijanis; the town

NATIONAL

the taxi driver who allegedly took the accused from her home to the scene of the tragedy as a witness. He pointed out that the only eyewitness to have spotted the accused at the scene, a maid, had not seen her pour any gasoline on the tent.

The public had leapt to hasty conclusions about his client due to their frustration and anger at the incident, said Al-Khabaz, before recounting his client’s version of events that day.

The lawyer explained that, according to his client, things had begun going wrong in her and her husband’s relationship after her mother-in-law gave her a present of ‘magical’ incense, which the older woman claimed had been treated with

black magic to help solve any domestic problems. The accused subsequently discovered, however, that her mother-in-law had misled her and that the incense had actually been “cursed,” resulting in her husband’s decision to leave her and take another wife. After this, the accused went to her husband’s parents’ home seeking revenge, with a bottle of “cursed” water in her hand, which she intended to throw at the house, only to be taken aback at the sight of the wedding marquee in the garden there, with a crowd of guests outside it. Realizing that her previous plan to throw the “cursed” water at her parents-in-law’s home, she instead threw it on the marquee, witnessed by the maid, before fleeing and returning to her home. She is adamant that the lethal blaze that broke out subsequently that night had nothing to do with her, reported Al-Watan.

Al-Khabaz told the court that his uneducated client, who failed to continue her education past the intermediate stage, had been devastated at being “wrongfully” accused of committing a crime that led to the deaths of over 50 people.

KUWAIT: Preliminary investigations suggest that the Central Prison inmate who was recently found dead in his cell had committed suicide. It is believed that the man, who had returned from hospital a few days earlier, where he underwent treatment for AIDS-related illness and Hepatitis, committed suicide out of despair at his worsening medical condition. Other prisoners reportedly found the man Falling incident An Asian man in his 30s died af ter falling from a building in Jeleeb AlShuyoukh. Police and paramedics responded to the emergency call, made by a local shopekeeper, and found that the man had succumbed to his wounds. Authorities ordered an autopsy for the body.

thefts. They were taken to the proper authorities.

Infant dies A 9-month-old baby, unconscious and not breathing, was pronounced dead at

lying motionless in the cell with blood on his hands and immediately told prison warders, who confirmed that the inmate had died before informing senior staff, who summoned police investigators to the scene. The body was removed for autopsy to determine the cause and time of death, reported Al-Watan. The investigation into the incident continues.

Jahra Hospital. It is believed that the infant died as a result of choking while being nursed.

A

Woman stabbed female citizen was

attacked and nearly killed by two men on Khansa Street in Salmiya. The incident occurred while the woman was parked in front of a restaurant and two young men jumped into her vehicle

and stabbed her several times. Paramedics responded to the emergency and admitted her to Mubarak AlKabeer Hospital’s intensive care unit. Police are investigating the incident further.

Run over An Egyptian man was struck and killed by a car while trying to cross the Sixth Ring Road. Paramedics responded to the emergency and brought him to a nearby hospital where he eventually succumbed to his wounds. A case was opened for investigations.

4 hurt in fight Seven citizens were involved in a vicious brawl behind a shopping mall in Salmiya. As a result, four of the brawlers sustained several injuries, and were taken to Mubarak Hospital. Police arrested the three remaining brawlers and are investigating the incident further to determine the cause of the fight.

Scammer held Hawally investigators ar rested an unemployed expat for scamming two expatriates. In one case, authorities received a report regarding an expat who entrusted the scam artist with KD 1,500 for travel tickets at reduced prices. In another incident, an expat filed a case against the man for promising real estate in exchange for KD 25,000. In both instances the man disappeared without providing what he had promised. When the victims were presented with a number of arrested suspects they both identified the same man. When questioned he confessed to his actions and was taken to the proper authorities.

Kidnap failed Three men failed to kidnap a woman in Salmiya after she threw herself out of their vehicle. Pedestrians nearby helped the woman repor t the incident to the police by recording the license plate number of the kidnappers’ vehicle. An ambulance responded to the emergency and brought the woman to Mubarak Hospital. Police are searching for the assailants car.

Rape case An expat woman informed authorities at the Jeleeb AlShuyoukh police station that two Asians raped her in their grocer y store af ter locking her inside. A case was opened and police ar rested the two men for questioning.

Thieves nabbed Farwaniya police arrested three Asians for committing about 20 thefts in the area.

The thieves stole valuable items from vehicles parked outside of mosques during prayer times. The thieves were caught by security guards watching the parked cars. One of the criminals was spotted trying to break into a car while his two accomplices acted as lookouts. When questioned by authorities they confessed to car r ying out multiple

KUWAIT: The car accident on Gulf Road. — Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

Bedoon arrested with hallucinogenic tablets

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A few hours after ar resting two expatriates and a bedoon (stateless) man on charges of drug dealing and possession, General Depar tment of Dr ugs Control (GDDC) officers ar rested another bedoon man on charges of possessing of 2,500 hallucinogenic tablets.

GDDC head Brigadier Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khalifa launched an investigation into the man’s activities following a tip-off from an informant. The dealer was caught red-handed in a sting operation in which an undercover officer posing as a customer arranged to buy 500 of the narcotic pills from him for KD 600. On searching the culprit’s home, officers found a further 1,500 tablets, along

with a large sum of forged KD 20 notes. During questioning, the man admitted that he had traded in both dr ugs and fake cur rency imported from abroad.

He is currently in custody awaiting trial on charges of drug possession and dealing, and trading in counterfeit currency.

Major crash A Yemeni motorist sustained multiple injuries yesterday in a crash on Gulf Road. The driver apparently lost control of his car, which veered off the road, first smashing into a palm tree then careening into a lamppost. Salmiya firefighters had to cut the seriously injured driver free from the wreckage of his vehicle before he could be rushed to hospital in an ambulance.

KUWAIT: The bedoon drug dealer.

Private sector wins global respect LONDON: The invitations extended to leading figures in the Kuwaiti private sector to participate in global economic conferences reflect the respect felt by other countries for Kuwaiti expertise and energies in the commercial field, said a senior Kuwait Securities House official yesterday.

Speaking on the sidelines of his participation in the ‘Future Global Economy’

conference currently taking place in the UK capital, Fahad Bodai expressed his pleasure at participating in the event, especially since the invitation to take part in it came from the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

A large number of prominent economists and senior figures from the financial world had been invited to the event, said Boodai, with

Kuwait’s presence signifying the British gover nment’s appreciation of the efforts exerted by Kuwaiti investors generally and the Kuwait Securities House in particular to overcome the recent economic crisis.

The conference aims to discuss the future outlook for the global economy through allowing a number of senior executives and academics, Boodai explained, adding that

he is attending on behalf of the Security House’s CEO Ayman Boodai.

He also hailed the major steps taken by the UK government to revive the global economy and contribute to reaching solutions and devising strategies to overcome the economic crisis, starting with its creation of a favorable investment environment and including its introduction of new legislation. — KUNA

kuwait digest

Equate shows the way forward listened closely to oil minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah AlSabah’s inaugural speech during the opening ceremony for the new ‘Equate II’ plant, writes Faisal Al-Zamel in AlAnba. This took place while at the same time an MP is planning to grill him in his capacity as Minister of Information. The atmosphere at the opening ceremony was concerned with work, I noted, while the political atmosphere, as usual, is one of endless talk.

The ceremony celebrated Equate’s achievement in opening its new KD 2.1 billion production facility for making plastic bottles and polyethylene, as well as three other similar factories whose

I

total cost will be KD 2.91 billion.

This sort of activity, of course, does not attract MPs, who did not participate in the ceremony. Most of them keep themselves occupied by keeping ministries too busy responding to them to get on with their actual work. This explains why the Ministry of Health has failed to open the 5,000-square-meter geriatric hospital donated and fully equipped by a charity which has been sitting empty and unused for the past five years.

This subject has been addressed by more than one health minister, with all the various meetings on the subjects still failing to result in the issue being

resolved and the hospital being opened for use. There is no word on the reasons behind the failure to use the perfectly good building, despite the constant complaints about Kuwait’s lack of such facilities, or why it has not been returned to the donors for them to open. It seems that the minds of those directors, undersecretaries and other senior officials are too preoccupied with monitoring the press and keeping tabs on the stream of grillings and parliamentary committee meetings to pay attention to this issue.

Having been cheered by Equate’s achievements, I can only hope that this spirit of accomplishment will spread to Kuwait’s state bodies.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

NATIONAL

5 ‘Students are the elite’

Kuwait hosts meeting with European placement chiefs PARIS: Under the aegis of Kuwaiti Ambassador Ali Suleiman Saeid, and hosted

by Cultural Office Director Dr Faiez Al-Kandari, Kuwait yesterday invited senior, education and placement officials from several European countries to an important meeting to exchange views on the needs and problems of Kuwaiti students studying abroad. The ground-breaking meeting, held at the Kuwaiti Cultural Correct mastery of the French or relevant foreign languages, and a very good knowledge of French or other cultures, were unanimously cited by the educational program directors as a requirement for successful completion of training programs, beyond pure academic achievements.

French placement directors said they consider ‘students are the elite” and “success begins at the beginning and if the beginning is weak it makes success more difficult.” They stressed good grounding in language at the very outset of a placement in order to best prepare the student for his future program.

But it was also pointed out that language alone is not the only important element of a foreign placement for Kuwaitis.

“We can’t separate language and culture,” said Olivier Fayez, Director of the CLA centre in Besancon, where he remarked Kuwaitis have been studying for 35 years.

“We teach students how to live in France and how to appreciate French culture, not just language and not just how to say good day, goodbye or goodnight in a formal way,” he added.

Marie-Jo Deal, Chief of Public Hospital Placements in Paris

agreed, saying knowledge of language and culture was essential for doctors training here and was vital for specialization.

“Students need not only to know French but also French culture which is very, very important,” she indicated. “This is because they must be able to communicate well and understand colleagues and paramedics and it is especially important for any specialization or internship in hospitals,” she added.

For Jacques Dekeister, Director of the IEFE institute in Montpelier, students should “have a very good level in French and benefit from help and monitoring services” but he remarked he notices a high level of solidarity and organization among Kuwaiti students who helped each other out and formed Associations for this and often take good care of each other and don’t need much assistance.

Ambassador Saeid told the European Directors that once the students are placed in faculties and institutes they should be able to call upon services there for assistance with routine matters as this was not the job of the embassy and the cultural office, which don’t have the manpower to follow every student personally.

Centre in Paris, brought together embassy and Cultural Office staff with senior officials from several European nations, among them France, Germany and Malta. Major training, academic and pedagogical institutes were represented at high level and a frank and open discussion was held on both requirements for Kuwaiti students and also on services that should be available to them in France.

Naturally, he said, the embassy and cultural office are there for serious or emergency problems but for things relating to university it should be the university’s job to deal with these issues.

“It is important to follow students, but it is not easy to have the manpower to follow everyone. We don’t need to follow everyone individually,” he noted.

He said that 18-21 years is “a very critical age” and it is necessary to monitor students who are coming into a different environment in France and “from a different type of society.”

Saeid said that “we have to help students adapt to European life and universities should have a section to deal with student problems etc.”

He said that the meeting was “part of a program of contacts with educational authorities and the universities” that are held on a regular basis. “The meeting was held to discuss many problems facing the Kuwaiti students in France and we tried our best to get the institutions to take into consideration these issues,” the ambassador said in an interview.

“We tried to get them to shoulder part of the problem and we will work hard to do our fair share to resolve any problems,”

he stated. He said the talks were “a good step towards better cooperation between the universities and the cultural office here.”

He remarked that the cultural office was working on increasing the number of students coming here and had the resources to handle this and he noted “it is a source of pleasure to see the number of Kuwaitis coming here.” “We are happy our students are doing well and studying in a serious way and demonstrating solidarity among each other abroad.”

There are 334 Kuwaitis studying under the authority of the Cultural Office in Paris and other European countries and they are placed in a total of 10 European nations. Among major areas of study, 159 are studying medicine, with another 35 in management or economics, 33 in languages and sciences, 17 in law, 13 in media and 12 in engineering. The remainder cover a broad area of studies ranging from applied languages to theatre, architecture, science, arts, culture, philosophy, pharmacology, dentistry and tourism.

The largest number of students in the 2009-2010 academic year are placed in Malta, where there are 122 Kuwaitis. France follows

close behind with 117 students, and Germany is third with 60 Kuwaitis, but there are big plans to increase placements in Germany next year, according to Cultural Office Director, Al-Kandari.

“We hope to have 54 more students in Germany next year, as well as nine more doctors studying in Besancon, six in specialized medicine, with three more to come,” he told KUNA. In an exclusive interview, he expressed “great satisfaction” with the exchange of views with the academic and administrative representatives from the European institutions.

“I am very satisfied and I think the satisfaction was approved by our guests here today. It is the first time a Cultural Office has been successful in bringing together leaders from French and European academic and language institutes under the same roof,” Al-Kandari declared.

“It was really an opportunity to get to know each other faceto-face, on the one hand, and to get their opinions and suggestions on these issues, on the other hand, and additionally to reinforce cooperation between our office and these bodies,” he affirmed. —KUNA

Kuwaiti FM to visit Moscow soon KUWAIT: The ambassador of Brunei Darussalam to Kuwait Mustapa Aliuddin held a reception on Tuesday on the occasion of the Independence Day of his country at Marina Hotel. It was attended by diplomats and other dignitaries.

—Photos by Joseph Shagra

MOSCOW: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah will be visiting Moscow soon as a step to further discuss relations with Russian officials, said a Kuwaiti diplomat here yesterday.

Kuwaiti Ambassador to Moscow Nasser Al-Mezian told the press here on

the 49th National and 19th Liberation Days that the preparations for the visit, expected to be in May, were underway, adding that the Kuwaiti official would be meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, discussing with him means to bolster Kuwaiti-Russian as well as Russian-GCC relations.

The meeting would also focus on the

proper time and preparations for His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to visit Moscow, Al-Mezian.

Kuwaiti-Russian relations are developing progressively and this was evident on the cultural level, when Kuwait held an Islamic artifacts exhibition in Moscow and in Saint Petersburg last year, said the

diplomat who indicated that around 700,000 visitors attended the two exhibitions.

Kuwait also hosted events aimed at boosting relations between Russia and the Islamic world, said the official, indicating that the last GCC summit in Kuwait called for tighter relations with major world states. —KUNA

6

NATIONAL

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Praise for country’s vital role

Kuwaiti embassies celebrate National, Liberation days CAIRO: Kuwaiti embassies around the world celebrated Kuwait’s 49th National Day and its 19th Liberation Day yesterday. “It is a festivity for all Arabs, given the vital role that the Gulf state plays in the region,” said Chairman of the People’s Assembly of Egypt Dr. Ahmad Fat’hi Surour. Speaking on the sidelines of the reception held by Kuwait Embassy in Cairo Tuesday night on this occasion,

CAIRO: Kuwaiti embassy in Cairo celebrating the country’s 49th National Day and its 19th Liberation Day yesterday.

Kuwaiti delegation attends labor conference in Jakarta KUALA LUMPUR: A Kuwaiti delegation was among the participants at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) conference in Jakarta on “Promoting Dialogue and Information Sharing on Labor Migration between Indonesia and Malaysia, Singapore and the Middle East”.

The delegation was requested to report on results of an earlier visit by a Kuwaiti delegation to Indonesia in mid-February on the same issue, head of delegation and First Secretary at the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department Adel AlJassam said yesterday.

He said that the Kuwaitis had proposed measures to better guarantee rights of laborers in their earlier meetings. These included opening bank accounts for transfer of monthly salaries of domestic labor, and appointing a coordination officer from the central immigration authority to join the Indonesian Embassy in Kuwait, and both proposals were met favorably and were again hailed at the conference.

With Kuwait’s stance on Human Rights known and documented, the wide representation within the delegation serves as proof of the state’s keen-

ness on filling any holes in the system to guarantee laborers’ rights, Al-Jassam said.

The official noted that senior officials of the Indonesian Government had expressed thanks over the care and facilities offered for Indonesian workers in Kuwait, and in turn expressed thanks to the Kuwaiti Embassy in Jakarta for assisting the delegation throughout the visit.

The conference was attended by representatives of governments and civil society organizations from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Kuwait, and Bahrain.

The IOM presented findings of a research report on labor migration from Indonesia, placement and pre-departure systems, protection of labor migrants and an overview of the situation for Indonesian labor migrants in the four key destination countries.

The Kuwaiti delegation included officials and representatives from the Foreign Ministry Consular Department, Foreign Ministry Diplomatic Attache Office, Immigration Authority, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, and the Kuwaiti Embassy in Indonesia.— KUNA

KUWAIT: Minister of Electricity and Water Dr Bader Al-Shuraiaan pictured with Japanese Deputy Minister of Economy, Teruhiko Mashiko yesterday. — KUNA

Kuwait, Japan plan cooperation in power production field KUWAIT: Minister of Electricity and Water Dr Bader Al-Shuraiaan in a meeting with Japanese Deputy Minister of Economy, Teruhiko Mashiko, discussed here yesterday technical cooperation between the two countries.

A ministry of electricity and water press release said that Al-Shuraiaan and Mashiko discussed during the meeting ways of bilateral cooperation in the field of power production and renewable energy technology, and pumping water produced from desalination plants.

The statement added, the Japanese official expressed his country’s interest in transferring technology in this field, as he reviewed with the Kuwaiti minister a study of a joint venture between the two countries, consisting of an elec-

tric power station in Al-Abdali.

Mashiko briefed the minister with his country’s experience in the field of wind power and ground-heat power.

The statement added, minister Al-Shuraiaan called on Mashiko to assist the ministry in the field of training. He expressed interest in the Japanese delegation’s offer to develop Kuwaiti expertise, as well as ways and methods of generating new and renewable energy.

The meeting was attended by Japanese Ambassador to Kuwait, Assistant Undersecretary for operation and maintenance of water Engineer Abdulkhaliq Murad, Assistant Undersecretary for Technical Services and main power plants, Engineer Iyad Al-Falah. — KUNA

Juvenile crime rates decrease KUWAIT: The number of juvenile inmates has decreased by 20 percent this past year, announced head of the Juvenile Care Department at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, Abdullatif Al-Sanan. He noted that the number of juvenile inmates in 2009 reached only 1,750, compared to 2008’s 2,195.

He said that this indicates a decrease in deviance resulting from family related problems, reported Al-Qabas. He also stressed the impor-

tance of addressing family related problems by increasing awareness of proper family upbringing in education. It was noted that the majority of cases filed against juveniles in 2009 were related to physical and sexual assault, robbery, mugging, violation of residency rights and destruction of state property, he added.

The largest number of juvenile inmates in Kuwait are Kuwaiti, followed by bedoons, and other GCC and Arab nationalities, he pointed out.

In a speech addressing the attendees of the event, Kuwait’s Ambassador to Cairo Dr Rasheed Al-Hamad said that this celebration was also to acknowledge the brotherly and historic relations between Kuwait and Egypt. He said that the two countries had similar stances on Arab and Muslim issues, and were also bonded by constantly developing economic relations, noting that Kuwait was the number one Arab investor in Egypt in 2008.

The ambassador also noted the great role that Egyptians played in Kuwait’s development through their contribution to manpower, as well as the role of Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) in boosting the development of Egypt. As for cultural relations, he said that there were more than 16,000 Kuwaitis studying at Egyptian universities and colleges, as well as the many investors and tourists that visited the country regularly.

Kuwait’s Minister of Communication and State Minister for National Assembly Affairs Dr. Mohammad AlBusairi said that the great number of people who attended the celebration reflected the great position that Kuwait possessed in the hearts of Egyptians.

Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to the Arab League Ambassador Abdullah Al-Mansour said that he was happy to be taking part in these festivities, which underscored the distinguished and deep relations between Kuwait and Egypt.

He noted that Kuwait had succeeded in becoming an effective member within the Arab community, whether in the fields of economic and social development or culture.

Egypt’s State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Mufeed Shihab, meanwhile, said that Kuwait remained one of the most important pillars of joint Arab action. He hoped that Kuwait would continue to prosper and grow under the wise rule of His Highness the Amir.

Al-Azhar Chief Cleric Dr. Mohammad Al-Tantawi said that Kuwait was always among the first to extend its hand in assistance to others, praying that Almighty Allah would continue to bring prosperity and stability to the country.

Former Egyptian premier Dr. Atef Obeid said that the national day of Kuwait was a call for celebration in Egypt and all Arab countries, given Kuwait’s great role in Arab social and economic development.

Chairman of the Middle East News Agency (MENA) Abdullah Hassan told KUNA that Kuwait was one of the active Arab states that had a great influence in the region, noting the Gulf state’s constant efforts to resolve Arab political, economic and social problems.

Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti Embassy in Tehran is joining the festivities and had started

with a celebration Tuesday night attended by senior Iranian officials and accredited diplomats.

The guests and dignitaries attending included Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Motaki, who said: “Such an occasion is very dear to any people, and we extend our greetings and congratulations to the Kuwaiti government and people on this occasion.” The minister noted relations between Kuwait and his country are “very good”, and pointed out ties “embarked on a new phase” after the visit of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad to Iran.

The official also remarked he has a “close” relationship with the Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah. Also among senior officials in attendance, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said “the two states have strong relations, and both enjoy a strong and influential position within the region, and cooperate on many fronts.” He stressed “a lot could be achieved towards the progress and prosperity of the region through cooperation and joint planning.”

“The Gulf and Middle East region is one of great strategic importance, as all agree, and securing energy on global scale and joint petrochemical projects are among the many areas for cooperation, as is the possibility and potential in connecting the region to the Central Asia region.”

The official went on to stress the importance of exchange of visits between the two nations on senior levels, and pointed out Iranian officials are keenly awaiting a visit by His Highness the Amir of the State of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah.

Kuwaiti Ambassador Majdi Al-Dhifiri said the status of officials attending this and other embassy functions reflect the strong relations Kuwait fosters and maintains with all nations in the region. He pointed out Kuwait is keen on regional and international understanding and harmony as that would ensure stability and security, and in turn enable progress to benefit the peoples.

The diplomat extended his greetings and congratulations on this national occasion to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, to His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah, as well as the Kuwaiti people.

Kuwait Embassy in Thailand held a reception to celebrate the Gulf state’s National Day and Liberation Day. The embassy said in a press release issued yesterday that Kuwait’s

Surour said that his country followed with pride the continuous development and advancement of Kuwait under the wise rule of its leaders. He noted the strong relationship between His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, saying that they always worked together for the common good of Arabs.

TEHRAN: Kuwait’s 49th National Day and 19th Liberation Day celebrations in Tehran. — Photos by KUNA

BANGKOK: Kuwait Embassy celebration in the Thai capital.

Ambassador to Thailand and Non Resident Ambassador to Cambodia and Laos Hafeeth AlAjmi received the guests who included a representative of the royal palace, Thai Interior Minister Chawarat Chanwirakun, President of the National Assembly Chai Chidchob, senior officials, former ministers, heads of diplomatic missions in Thailand, media persons, and Islamic and Arab figures.

Al-Ajmi said that the Kuwaiti-Thai political, economic, and cultural relations were strong, adding that he looked forward to developing the ties.

His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah visited Thailand in 2006 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Thai King’s accession to the throne, he pointed out.

In 2008, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah visited Thailand, he said, adding that the official visit was successful and resulted in the signing of several agreements to stress relations between the

two countries.

Kuwait’s Embassy in Oman held a celebration marking the anniversary of Kuwait’s 49th National Day and 19th Liberation anniversary. On the sidelines of the event, Kuwaiti Ambassador Shamlan Abdulaziz Al-Roumi congratulated His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Kuwaitis on the occasion and wished for the peace and prosperity of Kuwait.

On the sidelines of the event held Tuesday night, Al-Roumi said that Kuwaiti-Omani relations guided by the wise leaderships in both countries were “distinguished” .

“Deeply-rooted” and “brotherly” bilateral relations that cover political, economical, cultural, and social domains set an example to follow, Al-Roumi said in the celebration attended by senior Omani officials, Arab and foreign diplomats, media and Kuwaiti students in Oman.

Al-Roumi added that Kuwait made a great step towards progress in all fields; therefore granted an advanced position.

The ambassador thanked those

who participated in the celebration and of whom expressed warm feelings towards the country in its National Day and Liberation anniversary.

Kuwait Embassy in Malaysia celebrated the anniversary during an event attended by senior Malaysian officials, Arab and foreign diplomats. Kuwaiti Ambassador Munthir Al-Issa congratulated His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad AlSabah, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah on the occasion.

He highlighted Kuwait’s achievements under the wise leadership of HH the Amir, HH the Crown Prince and HH the Prime Minister. Al-Issa said that he hoped that Malaysia-Kuwaiti relations would be boosted and noted to the high-level visits between officials of both countries all of which helped develop bilateral ties.

The embassy screened Kuwait’s achievements, the country’s national anthem and folklore songs on the sidelines of the celebration. — KUNA

in my view

Kuwait needs to speak up on Guantanamo

By Lt Col Barry Wingard

W

ith the Obama administration’s January 2010 deadline for closing Guantanamo Bay now in the past, two Kuwaiti detainees remain imprisoned in Cuba where they have been held without trial for more than eight years. While the US government is primarily responsible for the suffering these Kuwaitis have endured, the Government of Kuwait is also responsible for allowing the injustice to continue.

As is universally recognized, Kuwait is a close and faithful ally of the United States. The United States liberated Kuwait following the Iraqi invasion of 1990. More recently, Kuwait provided critical support as a staging area for the US military during the Iraq War. To be fair, His Highness the Amir of Kuwait has sought the return of the Kuwaiti detainees in face-to-face meetings with both President Bush and President Obama. The Amir has also sent a letter to the US government requesting that all Kuwaiti citizens

detained at Guantanamo be returned.

Other Kuwaiti officials have repeated that request to their counterparts in the US government.

The Government of Kuwait has also fulfilled all of the conditions the US government established for the return of the Kuwaiti detainees. Perhaps most significantly, Kuwait established a stateof-the-art rehabilitation center that provides access to education, medical care, group discussions, and physical exercise to help detainees recover from their long ordeal in Guantanamo.

But while Kuwait has clearly made an effort to secure the return of its citizens, these efforts have not been strong enough. Contrast Kuwait’s quiet, diplomatic approach with that of Saudi Arabia, which openly criticized the US government and demanded its citizens back. As a result, more than 100 Saudi detainees were transferred from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia.

Despite the close ties between the United States and Kuwait, the United States does not appear eager to send Kuwaitis home. For example, on Sept

17, 2009, a US federal judge ordered the immediate release of Fouad Al-Rabiah, an innocent Kuwaiti who was interrogated in “enhanced” ways at the hands of his US captors. Rather than immediately returning him to Kuwait, the US government delayed and stalled Al-Rabiah’s transfer, forcing his attorneys to ask that US officials be held in contempt of court.

It was not until December 9, 2009, almost three months after the judge’s order, that Al-Rabiah was finally released from Guantanamo and returned to Kuwait. Still, even with a Federal judge’s opinion that the United States had no authority to detain Al-Rabiah, the Kuwaiti government refused to demand his return.

If the United States was reluctant to release a demonstrably innocent man, it most certainly will be in no rush to repatriate my client, Fayiz Al-Kandari, whose habeas case is still pending despite Fayiz having spent more than eight years in Guantanamo.

At this critical time, the United States is turning its back on its faithful ally. The United States may be legiti-

mately reluctant to return detainees to countries such as Tunisia or Libya where former prisoners may face further torture or persecution. But there are no such concerns about Kuwait. To the contrary, Kuwait treats its returned detainees humanely and helps reintegrate them into society with a rehabilitation program modeled after the successful Saudi program.

No one likes to tell their friends they are wrong. But there comes a time in every relationship when a little push back is necessary. And the friendship survives. Now is the time for the Government of Kuwait to take a stand. It might be outside its comfort zone, but it is the right thing to do for its two citizens still imprisoned at Guantanamo.

(Lt Col Barry Wingard is the US military attorney for Kuwaiti detainee Fayiz Al-Kandari who still awaits his day in court more than eight years after he was sold into US custody. The views presented are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the United States Department of Defense or its components)

INTERNATIONAL

Thursday, February 25, 2010

7

Fish raised in farms, brought through tunnels GAZA: With their fishermen at risk of being shot at by the Israeli navy, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are finding new ways to supply the blockaded territory with a staple that is in short supply. Seafood is coming into the Mediterranean enclave through tunnels from Egypt and fish farms are starting to fill a supply gap resulting from restrictions that stop fishermen from venturing more than 3.4 miles from the coast.

The emergence of new ways of supplying seafood highlights the ever deepening impact of a blockade that controls land, air and sea access to Gaza, ruled by the Hamas Islamist group. Israel says the blockade

aims to prevent Hamas, which is hostile to the Jewish state, acquiring weapons or materials that could be used for military purposes. For the majority of Gaza’s population of 1.5 million, the result has been increasingly miserable living conditions, while Hamas’s grip on power since 2007 shows no sign of weakening.

The group controls the tunneling businesses which have for more than three years been a supply route for everything from cement to electrical goods and now, fish. Gaza’s fishermen, once allowed to sail up to 12 miles from the coast, risk having their boats confiscated if they go too far out.

Several have suffered bullet wounds in confrontations with Israeli patrol vessels enforcing the embargo. The current fishing limit has been in place since January, 2009,

Fish in short supply in seaside Gaza according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

FISH FARMS In Rafah, at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, a masked man emerged from the mouth of a tunnel carrying a box of fish packed in ice. Anxious not to be identified,

The main issues facing Iraqi next government Iraqis vote in an election on March 7 seen as a test of Iraq’s young and tenuous democracy, its ability to provide security, and the prospects for reconciliation between warring factions after years of violence. The next government faces a raft of thorny issues that have at times paralyzed the previous administration, delayed vital legislation and raised tensions even as the sectarian bloodshed triggered by the 2003 US invasion subsides. Following are the main issues facing Iraq’s next government: KURD-ARAB TIES Iraq’s Arab majority and Kurdish minority have long-running, bitter disputes over land, oil and constitutional rights that have threatened to spill over into violence and which US officials fear could spark Iraq’s next major conflict. The next government will have to find a solution for the disputed oil-producing city of Kirkuk, which Kurds consider their ancestral homeland and want to wrap into their largely autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.

The city’s Arabs and ethnic Turkmen are alarmed at the prospect of being ruled by Kurds, who have many friends in western capitals due to years of successful lobbying and growing business relations, including in oil. An Iraq-wide census, the first in 23 years, is planned for October, which will add ammunition to either Kurdish or Arab arguments for control of Kirkuk. Other disputed areas border the violent city of Mosul, where deadlock between local Kurd and Arab politicians has resulted in a security vacuum that has been exploited by al Qaeda, which is still effective there despite crackdowns elsewhere in Iraq.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is also at loggerheads with Baghdad over the legality of contracts the KRG signed independently with foreign oil firms, a dispute that resulted in the halting of oil exports from Kurdistan last year. There has been a thaw with regard to the issue, with the Oil Ministry saying it expects exports to resume soon. Even so, the question of who pays the firms developing Kurdish oilfields is likely to be inherited by the next government.

OIL As well as disputes with Iraq’s Kurds over oil, the next government’s stewardship of multibillion-dollar oil contracts agreed with foreign firms will be closely scrutinized. The way Iraq handles its commitment to the deals will be a strong signal for foreign investors nervous about a lack of legal frameworks and clear recourse for arbitration. The sooner Iraq, which depends on oil for almost all its revenue, is able to exploit its vast reserves, the quicker it can rebuild infrastructure shattered by war and sanctions. A set of hydrocarbon laws to govern Iraq’s oil wealth and the legal status of foreign oil companies has been delayed due to KurdArab disputes on revenue-sharing and on regional versus central government powers.

RECONCILIATION Sectarian tensions are rising ahead of the

election amid suspicions among Iraq’s once dominant Sunnis that the Shiite majority is trying to deprive them of their fair share of power.

The next government will have to heal the wounds of sectarian warfare that killed tens of thousands after the US invasion, and construct a lasting peace between the two sides. It may also have to find ways to deter Arab states from interfering on behalf of Sunnis and Iran from meddling in favor of Shiites if it wants to stop Iraq from becoming a long-term battlefield between the two Muslim sects.

BASIC SERVICES Improving basic services will be key to reversing growing Iraqi skepticism about democracy after Saddam Hussein’s fall. Seven years after his overthrow, the national grid supplies only a few hours of power a day. Rubbish fills cities, many roads are almost unusable and health care is basic. Unemployment is rife and insurgents and militia have found it easy to recruit from among Iraq’s poor and disgruntled.

SECURITY Iraq’s security forces, unable to prevent major bombings that rocked Baghdad in recent months or to calm the still violent northern province of Nineveh, will be under greater pressure as the US military speeds up its troop reductions after the election, before a full withdrawal by 2012. Coordination must be improved between arms of the security forces riven by political, sectarian and ethnic fractures. Corrupt and incompetent security officials must be weeded out. Iraq also needs to beef up its military hardware, training programs and intelligence-gathering capability. A lack of effective intelligence work is partly blamed for a series of high-profile Baghdad blasts.

WATER Iraq has acute water shortages, which are likely to worsen as its 30 million-strong population grows and more agricultural land returns to cultivation after being abandoned during war. Its two main rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris, have been dammed by Iraq’s neighbors, through which they flow, reducing volumes reaching parched Iraqi plains. Talks with Turkey have yielded some increased flow, but not enough.

The next government may have to negotiate for more, or focus on more efficient use of the little water Iraq has.

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM Politicians have long discussed amending the constitution drawn up after the U.S. invasion. At stake are issues relating to the separation of religious and state laws, and the power balance between the central government and the provinces.

BORDERS Iraq has yet to define its borders with Iran and Kuwait. In December, a small number of Iranian troops entered what Iraq considers its territory to plant an Iranian flag at an inactive oil well. The incursion raised tensions and rattled oil markets. —Reuters

Sadrists reject Iraq oil deals BAGHDAD: A powerful political group contesting Iraq’s parliamentary vote next month says it may challenge the validity of multi-billion-dollar oil deals the country has signed with foreign firms. Hazim AlAraji, a senior member of Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr’s political movement, also intends to oppose the return in the next government of incumbent prime minister and poll candidate Nuri Al-Maliki, under whom the deals were signed.

“There were great mistakes.

The people in Maliki’s government are politicians and not technocrats, and are working in the interest of their party... The contracts were between companies and a party, and not between companies and a state,” Araji said in an interview. He gave no details of what measures his faction may take to alter the deals, signed with firms such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell in two auctions for bids to develop lucrative Iraqi oilfields last year. Ten contracts were awarded. The Sadrists are a key player in a Shiite-led coalition taking part in the March 7 national vote, and are likely to be influential in Iraq’s next parliament, if not in government.

Analysts have said Iraq’s next leaders are unlikely to challenge the oil deals, given that they were signed with an unusually high level of transparency for the Middle East, and because the terms are weighted in Baghdad’s favor.

Iraq, which has the world’s

third-largest oil reserves, is keen to boost output to fund reconstruction after years of war. The Sadrist movement has wide support, mostly among the Shiite poor in the oil-producing south and deprived urban areas such as Baghdad’s Sadr City slum.

NEW PRIME MINISTER? As a result of party negotiations, the movement will occupy at least a quarter of any seats won by the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), an election coalition led by the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI), a powerful Shiite party. The two groups have sparred in the past, but now appear united in their desire to diminish Maliki’s power. Maliki, the Sadrists and ISCI were once allies in parliament’s largest bloc.

Maliki is contesting the March election as head of the State of Law coalition, and is not expected to do well enough to cling to power without building alliances with other groups, a process that could take months and leave a power vacuum in Iraq. A Sadrist wish to see Maliki removed from office could complicate and draw out negotiations. “We are advancing towards change, and that means a change of government and prime minister. We have no problem with Nuri Al-Maliki as a person, but we have a problem with his program and his actions,” Araji said. In 2008, Maliki launched crackdowns on Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia, which once controlled parts of

he would not speak to the media because of the dangers associated with an increasingly risky business.

The Israeli military launches regular

southern Iraq and Baghdad. For the most part, militiamen have been ordered to lay down their arms, but Araji said the militia was not disbanded. Statements from Sadr in the last two years had indicated his desire to shift his followers’ efforts from armed struggle to cultural and religious activities. Even though the Sadrists object to Iraq’s new oil deals, the Mehdi Army will not target foreign contractors who have started to arrive in the southern oil hub city, Basra, Araji said.—Reuters

airstrikes on areas where it believes Hamas is using the tunnels to bring weapons into Gaza. Egypt, which has a strained relationship with Hamas and a peace treaty with Israel, is building an underground barricade on its side of the border to thwart the tunnelers. Bringing fish through the tunnels

from Egypt is not as profitable as supplying other goods, said Suleiman Itta, a fish monger who has started buying fish that come to Gaza that way.

Quality can also be a problem.

“Sometimes the fish arrives almost twothirds fresh,” he said. “We bring it from Egypt because of the lack of fish here,” added the father of eight. With their own catches becoming ever more meager, Gaza’s fishermen have found another way of bringing fish ashore. They rendezvous at sea with their Egyptian counterparts and buy from them, sometimes venturing further than allowed by Israel. “We cross the

line. Most if not all fishing boats do that, and yes, it is risky but we go to buy,” fisherman Ashraf Assaeedi said.

In Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, Zeyad Al-Attar is farming fish in tanks. “We have resorted to this kind of work because of the lethal siege.

We produce 70 tons every six months,” he said. But restaurant owner Ahmed Abu Haseera does not buy from the farms. His clients prefer fish supplied the traditional way. “Clients do not like it.

But what can we do? Things are difficult.

One day we have fish and the next we don’t,” he said. —Reuters

Iraq’s election could bring peace or chaos Election campaign marked by sectarian tensions BAGHDAD: Iraq holds a parliamentary election on March 7 that could set it on a path to peace and prosperity or bring back the bloody sectarian chaos of the years that followed the US invasion of 2003. US and UN officials hope the The next government will be in power when the last US soldier withdraws by the end of 2011, and will reap the rewards of multi-billion-dollar oil deals with foreign firms in Iraq, which has the world’s third biggest reserves.

The conduct of the election will also determine the kind of democracy that Iraq might become once US oversight bows out, and how democracy in Iraq might affect the fate of more autocratic nations in the Middle East region.

“I will go to vote even if I have to crawl because I do not want the past to be repeated,” said Abdul Amir Ali, a Shiite Muslim who owns a clothes store in Baghdad, adding: “The election is so important for Iraq and, God willing, things will get better and better.” Yet the campaign for Iraq’s first sovereign vote since the invasion has deepened sectarian divides, rather than healed them, after candidates, including prominent Sunnis, were banned for supposed links to Saddam Hussein’s outlawed Baath party.

The Sunni dictator’s oppression fell most heavily on Iraq’s Shiites and ethnic Kurds. While overall violence has fallen, the election is unfolding against a backdrop of a rise in attacks by suicide bombers who revealed the shortcomings of security forces with devastating assaults on Baghdad starting in August, and bomb strikes against Shiite pilgrims. Shiites, united in the last election, are now divided, with Prime Minister Nuri AlMaliki running alone after deciding he could win without the help of his former allies.

That is a step forward from purely sectarian politics, but it may also lead to turmoil after the vote if no one is strong enough to form a government. A political vacuum in 2006 allowed sectarian warfare to grip the nation. Known to the ancient world as Mesopotamia, modern Iraq was carved from the ruins of the Ottoman empire in 1920 by Britain under a League of Nations mandate and became independent as a kingdom in 1932. Iraq became a republic in 1958, but was in effect run by military rulers until 2003.

Widespread despair at the corruption and incompetence that has marked government in the last four years may deter many of the 18.9 million eligible voters from casting ballots, while fear of attacks will keep others at home.

Most Iraqis will only have a few

hours of electricity on election day. Some neighborhoods, turned into a maze of canyons by the towering blastwalls set up to protect Sunni from Shi’ite, and vice versa, will not have seen a garbage truck for weeks. — Reuters

general election will bring Iraq’s once dominant Sunni Muslims back into the political process, dampening the resentment at the rise to power of majority Shiites that still fuels a stubborn insurgency.

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi speaks to supporters during an election campaign event in Baghdad. —AP

Nuke whistleblower refuses Nobel candidacy OSLO: Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has asked the Nobel Peace Prize committee to disregard his nomination for the prestigious award, a Nobel official said yesterday. In a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Vanunu wrote that he doesn’t want an award previously given to Israeli President Shimon Peres, said Geir Lundestad, the committee’s permanent nonvoting secretary.

“He sees Shimon Peres as the father of the Israeli atomic bomb, and he does not want to be associated with him in any way,” Lundestad told The Associated Press. Vanunu, a former low-level technician at an Israeli nuclear plant, served an 18-year prison term in Israel for leaking details of the country’s secret nuclear weapons program to the Sunday Times of London in 1986. He was freed in 2004, but is not allowed to leave the country or to consort with foreigners for fear he might divulge classified information.

Peres shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israel’s then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for efforts to end the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.

Peres was Israel’s foreign minister at the time. In a highly unusual move, Lundestad confirmed to AP that the Nobel committee has received legitimate nominations for Vanunu, placing him among the candidates that the five-member panel will consider when it con-

venes March 9. Normally, nominations are kept secret for 50 years.

Those with nomination rights include former peace laureates, members of national governments and legislatures, selected university professors and others.

Lundestad declined to say who had nominated Vanunu or whether the letter would affect his chances of winning, citing the secrecy of the committee’s

deliberations. Vanunu made a similar request last year, Lundestad said. He added that he knew of no “similar example” of a nominee preemptively asking the committee to disregard his or her nomination.

According to the Nobel website, North Vietnamese politician Le Duc Tho is the only winner to have rejected the peace prize.

He was named co-winner in 1973 with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. — AP

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Berlusconi accuses left of seeking ‘invasion of foreigners’ Italian PM targets immigration ahead of vote ROME: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday accused the left of seeking an “invasion of foreigners” to enlarge its voter base, raising pressure on the opposition ahead of regional elections next month. A government crackdown on illegal immigration has proved popular with Italians and Berlusconi is expected to focus on the issue before the vote, in part to deflect attention from a bribery scandal that could hurt his centre-right coalition’s election prospects.

“The left wants to throw open the doors to foreigners,” Berlusconi said at a cam-

paign rally for the March 28-29 elections.

“It does not want immigration but an invasion of foreigners to change the voter base.”

Immigration is a sensitive issue in Italy, which has struggled to integrate its growing African and Eastern European immigrant population and fears a loss of national identity. Leftist lawmakers accused the prime minister of trying to divert attention from the corruption scandals plaguing his coalition, which some have likened to the infamous “Bribesville” scandals of the early 1990s.

“By now the truth is clear to everyone, which is that the prime minister raises the temperature and talks nonsense to hide his difficulties,” said Marina Sereni of the centre-left Democratic Party. Guido Bertolaso, the high-profile head of Italy’s civil protection department, and Denis Verdini, national coordinator for Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party, have both been ensnared in a corruption probe. A centreright senator also faces arrest for money laundering.

A poll published by the left-leaning

La Repubblica daily last week showed Berlusconi’s approval rating had dipped 2 percentage points to 46 percent, while another survey conducted at the end of January showed his rating down to 48 percent. In a sign that Berlusconi’s campaign strategy may face resistance from within his own coalition, his top ally Gianfranco Fini distanced himself from the premier’s comments on immigrants. Fini, who has ditched his neofascist past to move closer to the centre, has been at loggerheads with Berlusconi for months. — Reuters

UK ‘sorry’ for shipping British kids to colonies Thousands of poor kids shipped abroad suffered abuse LONDON: Prime Minister Gordon Brow n apologized yesterday for past British policies of shipping thousands of poor children abroad, mostly w ithout their parents’ know ledge, to former colonies w here many suffered abuse. Thousands w ere sent from orphanages and institutions in Britain to Commonw ealth countries, mainly Australia and Canada, under the Child Migrants Program w hich ended 40 years ago.

Siblings were often split up, some children were lied to and told they were orphans, while their parents had no idea where they had been sent. Many were placed in children’s homes where they suffered physical and sexual abuse, or were used as laborers on farms. The authorities deliberately changed children’s names and birthdays so it was impossible for families to be reunited.

“To all those former child migrants and their families, to those here with us today and those across the world, to each and every one, I say today we are truly sorry,” Brown told parliament, adding it was a “shameful episode of history”. “We are sorry that it has taken so long for this important day to come and for the full and unconditional apology that is justly deserved.” The Child Migrants Trust estimates that some 130,000 chil-

dren aged 3 to 14 were sent from Britain to its colonies during the enforced settlement policy which ran from 1930 to 1970 with the stated aim of giving the youngsters a better life.

NO LOVE, NO KINDNESS Rex Wade was sent to Australia when he was 11 and put in a children’s home in Tasmania. He described it as a “military camp”, while those in other homes were used as “slave labor”. “There was no love, there was no kindness. The punishments were incredible,” he told BBC TV. “I blamed myself for years that I must have done something really bad to be shipped away to another country. I didn’t even know I had a mother.” The Child Migrants Trust’s Director Margaret Humphreys

said the apology had taken a long time to come because there had been so much denial about the policy. “I think the cruelest deception of all was to tell hundreds of young children 4, 5, 6, 7 years of age that their parents were dead, that their country didn’t want them, she told BBC TV. Brown’s apology echoed that made by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last November when he also said sorry for the abuse and suffering of those children in his country. Brown said a 6 million pound ($9.27 million) fund would now be set up to help those affected retrace their families. “We cannot change history, but I believe that by confronting the failings of the past we can show we are determined to do all we can to heal the wounds,” he said. — Reuters

Commission recommends EU entry talks with Iceland Iceland in dispute with UK, Dutch

LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown accompanied by his wife Sarah, visits a classroom at the Woodberry Down Community Primary School in London, following a speech on education. — AP

Brown denies bullying LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday he played no part in negative briefings about his finance minister after Alistair Darling said the “forces of hell” had been unleashed on him from Brown’s office. With an election due by June and the ruling Labor Party trailing the opposition Conservatives in opinion polls, the issue of Brown’s leadership style has moved to the top of the media agenda after a Sunday newspaper reported that he had bullied his staff.

“I never instructed a briefing against my chancellor,” Brown told legislators in answer to a question about the comments by Darling, whose title is Chancellor of the Exchequer. In a TV interview on Tuesday, Darling said aides to Brown had anonymously briefed media after he told a newspaper in 2008 that economic conditions in Britain were the worst in 60 years. “I’d done this interview and the forces of hell were unleashed,” Darling said. He made clear he was talking about aides and did not suggest Brown was personally responsible.

Conservative leader David Cameron, who will succeed Brown if his party wins the election, used the comments to attack Brown. “I want to ask why the prime minister and the chancellor are at war with each other,” Cameron told a rowdy parliament. Brown and Darling sat side by side in the chamber, rubbing shoulders, whispering and smiling at each other-a public display of friendship that was not lost on Cameron. “Any closer and they’ll start kissing,” he jeered.

‘WE ARE A FAMILY’ Questions about Brown’s working relation-

ships have dominated the political debate since the Observer newspaper published allegations that he had terrified staff by screaming at them and on occasion had physically intimidated them. In an interview on ITV earlier yesterday, Brown said he was not a bully. “I get angry sometimes. Doesn’t everybody? I get impatient,” he said, describing himself as a “hard taskmaster”. “We’re a family in Downing Street,” he said, referring to the prime minister’s office. “Like every family there’s issues that come from time to time but we’ve got a great working environment and we get things done,” Brown said.

Brown, the son of a Scottish clergyman, has often been criticized for his stiff manner, but in recent television appearances he has shown a more sensitive side. The strategy appears to be working, with Labor closing the gap with the Conservatives in the opinion polls. Some analysts say that far from damaging Brown, the attacks on his character might help endear him to voters by showing him as a flawed human being who gets stressed like anyone else.

Since the bullying row erupted, Brown allies have argued that at a time of economic woe Britain needs a forceful leader, and in his interview Brown took a similar line. “You don’t solve a world recession by being a shrinking violet,” he said, chuckling, before joking that Britain’s wartime leader Winston Churchill had a worse temper than he did. “Winston Churchill, when he was in the ministry of defense, battered a cabinet. You’ve still got the mark there. I’m not like that.” — Reuters

BRUSSELS: The European Union’s executive recommended yesterday launching accession talks with Iceland, the start of a process that Reykjavik hopes will lead to EU membership by 2012.

The European Commission set no entry target date and its recommendation needs the approval of all 27 member states. It could yet face obstacles because of a dispute with Britain and the Netherlands over debts lost in Iceland’s banking collapse.

The Commission also underlined the need for structural reforms and a credible fiscal strategy and made clear talks on fisheries, agriculture and the free movement of capital and financial services could be particularly hard. “The opinion (recommendation) is an important step in the accession process and provides guidance to Iceland in its efforts to become an EU member,” European E n l a r g e m e n t Commissioner Stefan Fuele said.

Iceland, an island of 320,000 people, was reluctant to join the EU for decades but applied for membership last year when the global financial crisis devastated its banking system. It welcomed the Commission recommendation. “I appreciate the confidence in Iceland expressed by the EU Commission in this balanced, constructive and broadly speaking very positive report,” Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson said in a written statement. He said he hoped EU leaders, who next meet on March 25-26, would soon agree to open accession talks.

DEBT PROBLEM Iceland is hoping for rapid entry talks because it is better prepared than many other EU hopefuls and already belongs to the EU’s single market and its Schengen borderless zone.

It could jump ahead of all

other countries in the accession queue except Croatia, which hopes to join in 2012, and sees EU membership as offering better protection in any future crisis. But Iceland’s aspirations are partly tied to the dispute with the Netherlands and Britain over $5 billion in debts lost in the banking collapse of late 2008. The three countries are trying to agree how Iceland should repay the money. Britain and the Netherlands say Iceland owes them for repaying savers who lost money in online accounts during the financial crisis. Iceland could also face tough negotiations on giving EU member states access to its rich fishing zones.

“Serious efforts will be required particularly in the area of fisheries, agriculture and rural development as well as free movement of capital and financial services,” the Commission said.

It said Iceland had taken steps to tackle its economic problems but called for fiscal consolidation-moves to reduce government deficits and debt accumulation. The Commission said the government deficit had risen to 14.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2009 and that the gross public debt was 130 percent of GDP, much higher than the limits the EU sets member states.

“The completion of financial sector restructuring as well as the substantial improvement of the regulatory and supervisory institutional framework and practices are among the key challenges to be addressed in the short term,” it said. The Commission said Iceland should be able to cope with market competition in the EU “provided it swiftly implements the necessary policy measures and structural reforms”. It called for more efforts to strengthen the independence of the judiciary, especially over judicial appointments. — Reuters

ROME: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi speaks during a meeting as he promotes a candidate for the next regional elections at Temple of Hadrian in central Rome yesterday. — AFP

‘Horrific’ care at UK hospital Patients left unwashed for up to a month LONDON: An independent inquiry said it had found “shocking” standards of care at a National Health Service hospital trust in the midlands, including patients being left unwashed for up to a month. The inquiry’s chairman Robert Francis said many patients treated by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust had “suffered horrific experiences that will haunt them and their loved ones for the rest of their lives”.

“I heard so many stories of shocking care ... The deficiencies at the trust were systemic, deep-rooted and too fundamental to brush off as isolated incidents,” he said. Last year a damning report from the Healthcare Commission, an NHS watchdog, said it had found appalling standards of emergency care at the trust and said patients would have died as a consequence of the deficiencies it found.

The chairman and chief executive of the trust, which runs an accident and emergency department at Stafford Hospital, stood down in March last year.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham said the government and the trust’s new board would accept all 18 of the inquiry’s recommendations contained in a 900-page report. “(The) report lays bare a dysfunctional organization at every level and appalling failures of basic care over the period between 2005 and March 2009,” he said. “The care provided was totally unacceptable, and a fundamental breach of the values of the NHS.” Burnham said for the vast majority of patients, the NHS provided a good standard of care. “However,

where things go wrong we must face up to them and do everything in our power to ensure that these events can never happen again.” The inquiry said the trust’s management had been “preoccupied with cost cutting, targets and processes” and lost sight of its fundamental responsibility to provide safe care.

It said problems at the trust were made worse in 2007 when it was required to save 10 million pounds and decided to achieve this through cuts in staffing levels, which were already insignificant. The most basic elements of care were neglected, it said. “Calls for help to use the bathroom were ignored and patients were left lying in soiled sheeting and sitting on commodes for hours, often feeling ashamed and afraid. Patients were left unwashed, at times for up to a month,” it said. “Staff failed to make basic observations and pain relief was provided late or in some cases not at all.

“The standards of hygiene were at times awful, with families forced to remove used bandages and dressings from public areas and clean toilets themselves for fear of catching infections.” Antony Sumara, the trust’s new chief executive, said that since last March the trust had recruited extra nurses, revised its complaints procedure and increased staff training.

“We are determined to continue on our journey of improvement until we have achieved all that needs to be done to provide the care our patients and their families deserve,” he said. — Reuters

BUENOS AIRES: A man burns a British flag in front of the Foreign Ministry building in Buenos Aires. — AP

UK says Falkland drilling within international law LONDON: Britain rejected Argentine objections to oil exploration off the disputed Falkland Islands on Tuesday, saying the drilling was within international law. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez said Latin American leaders backed her objections to exploration off the Falklands, known in Spanish as Las Malvinas, as drilling began on the first well on Monday. Argentina, which has claimed the South Atlantic islands since Britain established its rule in the 19th century, invaded them in 1982. After a two-month war, it was forced to withdraw, but still claims the archipelago and says oil exploration by Britain’s Desire Petroleum is a breach of sovereignty.

“British sovereignty in respect of the Falklands is absolutely clear in international law ... There is no question about it,” British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said after giving a speech at the Demos think tank in London. “The exploration that is going on off the Falklands ... is fully within international law, fully based on precedent,” he said.

Falkland islanders have the right to a decent life and to build their own economic future, he said.

Argentina formally objected to the plan to drill for oil near the islands and said it would require all ships from the Falklands to obtain permits to dock in Argentina.

The “Rio Group” of Latin American leaders, meeting this week in Mexico, issued a statement on Tuesday supporting Argentina’s demands to halt drilling around the Falklands. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the matter should be revisited by the United Nations. “We have to start the fight for the Secretary General of the United Nations to re-open this debate,” Lula told the Rio Group summit in Mexico. He suggested the issue may have stagnated because of Britain having a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he did not expect any direct contact between Brown and Fernandez on the issue and said Britain had given no thought to any

military response. “There’s nothing to respond to,” he said. The Falklands are not an onshore oil producer and have no proven onshore reserves, but oil companies are betting that offshore fields hold billions of recoverable barrels of oil. Desire Petroleum said it broke ground at a well on its offshore “Liz” prospect, which could contain up to 400 million barrels, though the exploration may recover nothing. — Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

Thursday, February 25, 2010

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US Democrats: Say Goodbye to Wall Street?

WASHINGTON: US banks and investment firms transferred their political contributions to Republicans in 2009 as Democrats in Washington put the focus on big bonuses, huge profits and tight lending, The Washington Post reported yesterday. The securities and investment industry gave 2 to 1

to Democrats in early 2009 but sent nearly half its donations to Republicans by year’s end, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics for the Post.

The commercial banking industry and its employees gave nearly twice has much to Republicans during the last three months of 2009,

the newspaper reported. With all 435 seats of the House of Representatives and more than a third of the 100 US Senate seats up for grabs in November congressional elections, the money is going to matter. Voters frustrated over a staggering economy could help Republicans reduce Democratic

margins in Congress.

President Barack Obama, the Democrat who took office in January 2009 in the midst of a colossal government bailout of failed banks, has pushed for financial regulatory reforms including curbing risky trading by banks and linking executive pay to long-term

performance. Obama drew a larger share of Wall Street financial backing than his Republican rival, John McCain, in the 2008 presidential campaign, according to the newspaper, and analysts noted the Democrats still pulled in more money overall than Republicans from Wall Street in 2009.

The shift toward Republicans came later in the year-as the financial reform debate heated upand was most evident among commercial banks, which have traditionally tilted Republican, the report said. The report cited JP Morgan Chase, headed by Obama supporter Jamie Dimon, as having

scaled back its giving to Democrats. “The bank and its employees, who doled out nearly $500,000 in federal contributions last year, went from giving 76 percent of the money to Democrats in the first quarter to giving 73 percent to Republicans in the fourth,” the newspaper said. —Reuters

Army, Air Force chiefs voice concerns over lifting gay ban Obama seeks to change ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ rule

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama watches as National Governors Association Chair Vermont Gov Jim Douglas (left) speaks during a meeting with members of the National Governors Association in the State Dining Room of the White House. —AFP

Youth zeal for Democrats ebbs amid govt gridlock Young adults dissatisfied over lack of change WASHINGTON: Whether the American youth vote? A year after supporting Barack Obama for president by an overwhelming 2-to-1 ratio, young adults are cooling quickly toward his Democrats amid dissatisfaction over the lack of change in Washington and an escalating war in Afghanistan.

A study by the Pew Research Center, released yesterday, highlights the eroding support from 18- to 29-year- olds whose strong turnout in November 2008 was read by some demographers as the start of a new Democratic movement.

The findings are significant because they offer further proof that the diverse coalition of voters Obama cobbled together in 2008 - including high numbers of first-timers, young minorities and youths - are not Democratic Party voters who can necessarily be counted on. While young adults remain decidedly more liberal, the survey found the Democratic advantage among 18-to-29 year olds has substantially narrowed, from a record 62 percent identifying as Democrat vs. 30 percent for the Republicans in 2008, down to 54 percent vs. 40 percent last December. It was the largest percentage point jump in those who identified or leaned Republican among all the voting age groups.

Young adults’ voting enthusiasm also crumbled. During the presidential election, turnout among 18- to 29-year-olds was the highest in years, comprising roughly 20 percent of the voters in many states including Virginia and New Jersey, due in part to high participation from young blacks and Hispanics. That percentage, however, dropped by half for the governors’ races in those states last November, where Republicans celebrated wins as black groups pushed Obama to do more to soften the economic blow from mortgage foreclosures and Latinos saw little progress on immigration reform.

Young adults also were the least likely of any age group to identify themselves as regular voters. “This is a generation of young adults who made a big splash politically in 2008,” said Paul

Taylor, executive vice president of the Pew Research Center and co-author of the report.

“But a year and a half later, they show signs of disillusionment with the president and, perhaps, with politics itself.” Democrats saw evidence of this last November, when Republicans removed Democrats from power in the New Jersey and Virginia governors’ races.

Young, minority and new voters who Obama pulled into the fold in 2008 did not turn out at the same levels for the two Democratic candidates.

The same thing happened in the Massachusetts US Senate race last month in which a Republican won a solidly Democratic seat. The lesson: neither party has a hold on 18- to 29-year-olds. They tend to vote far less than other age groups, yet they have proven to be a powerful constituency if they are persuaded to vote. That means the race is on by both Republicans and Democrats to make inroads into the next generation of voters.

According to the Pew survey, large numbers of young adults said they personally liked Obama but were dissatisfied with his rate of progress in changing Washington, such as improving the economy and fixing health care. Just 46 percent of 18- to29-year-olds said they believed Obama had changed Washington, compared to 48 percent who said he had not. Only baby boomers were more cynical, with 52 percent saying Obama had not changed the way things work in Washington.

The young adults also were the only age group in which more disapproved than approved of Obama’s handling of the war in Afghanistan.

Only 34 percent supported his decision in December to send an additional 30,000 US troops to the region, while 50 percent disapproved. Still, when asked why Obama had not done more to bring change, young adults were somewhat forgiving, with about 60 percent blaming the president’s opponents and special interests; only 25 percent said Obama was the one at fault for not trying hard enough. —AP

US Navy lifts ban on women in submarines WASHINGTON: The US Navy has decided to allow women to serve on submarines, Pentagon officials said on Tuesday, ending one of the last all-male bastions in the American military. Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved the recommendation and sent letters to Congress on Monday informing lawmakers of the plan, officials said.

The move came as the US Army’s chief of staff said it was time to revisit rules barring women from ground combat roles.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Admiral Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, had briefed Gates on changing the rules for subs and “he’s endorsed it and sent it on to Congress,” press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.

Lawmakers have 30 days to comment on the move before it goes into effect, officials said.

American women can

already serve on the Navy’s fleet of warships and fly fighter aircraft, but nuclear-powered subs have remained off limits.

US naval officers previously cited the extremely tight quarters of a submarine as the main reason for the prohibition, but those who favor lifting the ban say subs could be outfitted with separate berths and bathrooms. The decision calls for “a phased approach to assigning women on submarines,” said a defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

One option under consideration would to first allow female officers to serve on submarines, the official said.

That approach would involve less sweeping change as officers already have separate quarters from enlisted service members, the official said. The first group of female officers selected for the duty would have to attend special training for submarines and for

nuclear-powered vessels that takes more than a year, the official added.

Top military officer Admiral Mike Mullen first called for the change in written testimony to Congress last year, saying he wanted to “continue to broaden opportunities for women” in the armed forces. Mullen endorsed the decision, said his spokesman John Kirby. When Mullen served as chief of naval operations, he ordered a review of the issue but it was not completed before he took his current post as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The issue was hotly debated during Bill Clinton’s presidency, when the navy secretary at the time urged a review of the ban but met with strong opposition from senior naval officers. Women, who comprise about 15 percent of the Navy’s officers and sailors, are also banned from serving in Navy SEAL special forces units. —AFP

WASHINGTON: The US Army and Air Force chiefs have voiced doubts about lifting a ban on gays serving openly in the military, saying now was not the time to make the change in the midst of two wars. The comments by the US Army’s top-ranking officer, General George Casey, and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz, reflected apprehension among some senior officers after President Barack Obama urged an end to the ban last month. Casey said he supported plans for a year-long review of the issue but stopped short of openly rejecting a repeal of the law, which requires gay service members to keep quiet about their sexual orientation or face expulsion from the military.

“I do have serious concerns about the impact of repeal of the law on a force that’s fully engaged in two wars and has been at war for eight and a half years,” Casey told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Schwartz also voiced doubts in a separate hearing before the House Armed Services Committee. He said it was his “strong conviction” that “this is not the time to perturb the force that is at the moment stretched by demands in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere without careful deliberation.”

He vowed the Air Force would enforce any change in the law but, pointing to a lack of survey data on the issue, he called “essential” the review ordered by the US defense secretary. If the law changed, the same standards of conduct would apply to all Air Force service members, according to Schwartz. The generals’ comments contrasted with an ardent appeal this month to end the ban from the chairman of the US Joints Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and reflected divisions over the issue among senior military officers.

During the hearing, Independent Senator Joe Lieberman indicated that Casey had mixed feelings on the subject. “I know when we talked about this a while back, General Casey, I thought I understood you to say that you had some questions about a repeal, but that you were not taking a hard position either for or against at this point,” Lieberman said. “Senator, I think that’s fair,” Casey said.

Obama last month renewed his vow to change the law-known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”-and allow gays to serve openly in uniform.

Some of Obama’s fellow Democrats in Congress favor introducing a moratorium on further dismissals under the current law while the policy review takes place. But Casey said he opposed such a move, noting that “this process is going to be difficult and complicated enough.” “Anything that complicates it more, I think I would be opposed to,” he said.

Polls have shown support for lifting the ban steadily rising among Americans since the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” rule was adopted in 1993.

A study of foreign militaries released Tuesday argued that lawmakers should quickly repeal the ban rather than adopt the cautious route proposed by the Pentagon. The survey from the Palm Center, a research institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara, examined five foreign militaries that allow homosexuals to serve openly. It concluded that a speedy approach signaled the support of top leaders while a slower method created “anxiety, confusion and obstruction.”

The study examined the experiences of armed forces in Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Israel. —AFP

WASHINGTON: Marines Lt Gen John Paxton, director for operations, the Joint Staff, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the situation in Afghanistan. —AP

Latin America creates bloc sans US, Canada Birth of regional bloc marred by spat PLAYA DE CARMEN: Latin America and Caribbean leaders united Tuesday to create a regional bloc excluding Canada and the United States, but its birth was undermined by a spat in which the Colombian president told Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez to “be a man.”

Many of the 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries participating in the summit have long called for a new organization that will not be dominated by the interests of their two wealthy northern neighbors.

The Washington-based Organization of American States, the largest diplomatic bloc in the Western Hemisphere, has been heavily influenced by the United States. Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who hosted the summit in a Caribbean resort, said the bloc “will consolidate and globally project a Latin American and Caribbean identity.” Latin American countries, however, have competing interests of their own - a point driven home by bickering at the summit.

At a dinner Monday night, conservative Colombian President Alvaro Uribe started complaining about Venezuela’s trade sanctions against Colombia, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because delegations at the meeting had agreed not to discuss the spat publicly. He described the following incident to reporters: Chavez shot back that Venezuela was con-

stantly threatened by paramilitaries in the neighboring country and suggested the Colombian government was involved.

Chavez then stood up from the table, ready to storm off, when Uribe told him to stay and “be a man.” Chavez told Uribe to “go to hell,” according to Venezuelan state television.

After they calmed down, the leaders agreed to create a “group of friends” to mediate between the feuding presidents. Chavez and Uribe played down the incident Tuesday, promising to work out their differences.

Then, Bolivian President Evo Morales, one of Chavez’s strongest allies, reignited tensions by suggesting Uribe was a US agent sent to sabotage the bloc. “What’s my conclusion?” Morales said. “Since we are debating a new organization without the United States, the agents of the United States have come to bog this down to make this event fail.”

Meanwhile, Washington welcomed the new group. “Virtually all of the countries attending the unity summit are strong partners of the United States and we are working together with them on a broad range of initiatives,” said US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley. “So we consider the meeting in Mexico as consistent with our goals for the hemisphere.” The leaders agreed to meet again in Venezuela in 2011. The bloc’s for-

mation is expected to take years and faces many challenges.

Latin America remains divided on whether to recognize the government of Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, who won November elections organized under interim leaders who took power after the June 28 ouster of then-President Manuel Zelaya.

Lobo was not invited to the summit and had not spoken to any of its participants, although the presidents who did attend spoke of including all 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations - including Honduras - in the new bloc. Lobo’s spokesman said Honduras wants to join. The leaders did not discuss Honduras to avoid polarizing the group, Calderon said.

Participants also disagreed on whether the bloc should replace the OAS, but they did find common ground on some issues, rallying around Argentina in its condemnation of Britain’s oil exploration in waters surrounding the Falkland Islands, which Argentina claims as its own and calls Las Malvinas. Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva criticized the United Nations for not pushing more forcefully to reopen the debate on the Falkland Islands. “What is the geographic, the political or economic explanation for England to be in Las Malvinas?”

Silva asked. —AP

PLAYA DEL CARMEN: Latin American leaders attending the Rio Group summit pose for the summit’s official photo on the outskirts of Playa del Carmen, 68 kms south of Cancun, Mexico. —AP

10

INTERNATIONAL

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Ousted Thai PM pleads for sympathy, end to exile BANGKOK: Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra emotionally pleaded for sympathy and an end to his exile yesterday, days before Thailand’s Supreme Court decides whether $2.29 billion of his family’s fortune should be seized due to alleged corruption. In the hourlong video to his supporters, available on his sympathizers’ websites, Thaksin says he doesn’t want to die in exile outside Thailand.

“I don’t want to return only as bones, so please understand that I will return while I’m still alive,” Thaksin said from an undisclosed location. “But I want to go back as a Thai person who can be understood. Stop harassing me.” “Speak to me as I’m a fellow Thai and let me know what I can do,” he said. “I think I can still greatly contribute to the country.” Thaksin, 60, was ousted in a 2006 military coup after being accused of corruption and showing disrespect to the country’s constitutional monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The Supreme Court will rule Friday on whether Thaksin, a telecommunications mogul, illegally parked his fortune with family members because he was not allowed to hold company shares while prime minister and whether his 2001-2006 governments implemented policies to benefit his businesses. If it finds

Thaksin guilty - the almost universal assumption is that it will the court will also decide whether to seize some or all of the $2.29 billion already frozen in Thai banks.

Thaksin - who denies all the charges against him - fled into exile ahead of a 2008 conflict of interest conviction that resulted in a two-year jail sentence. He is constantly demonized by his critics, including on state television.

They accuse him of using his money to instigate violence to topple the government.

Thaksin’s supporters, joined by people who opposed his being toppled by a coup, have demonstrated for the past few years against what they consider a lack of justice in Thailand.

The sometimes-violent protests disrupted a conference of Asian heads of government last year and closed the airports for a week in 2008. The government has imposed a security crackdown ahead of the Supreme Court ruling, claiming the protesters may be planning violence. Thaksin’s supporters plan a major rally in the capital March 14 to demand the current government step down and call a new election. They say Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva came to power unethically with the help of the military exercising its power to put pressure on politicians. — AP

Who are Thai ‘red shirts’?

BANGKOK: File picture shows ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as he gives a traditional greeting to his supporters during a visit to a hospital in Bangkok. — AFP

BANGKOK: Thai anti-government “red shirt” protesters will rally from the middle of next month in what they say is a campaign for democracy and a fight against the domination of Thai politics by unelected elites. The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), which backs former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, believes it can bring a million people to Bangkok and topple what it says is Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s “illegitimate” government in seven days. Here are some questions and answers about the “red shirts”.

WHO ARE THE “RED SHIRTS”?

The UDD is largely backed by the rural poor, loyal to Thaksin because of his populist policies while in office from 20012006. Many “red shirts” are among those who helped the billionaire win two election landslides. The UDD continues to back Thaksin despite a conviction for graft and numerous other probes into his alleged corruption, the army’s pretext for toppling him in a 2006 coup. It believes the charges are politically motivated to keep him sidelined.

Not all “red shirts” back Thaksin unreservedly, but all are angered by the manner of his removal and believe democracy is being undermined by powerful, unelected figures.

WHAT ARE THEY RALLYING AGAINST? The “red shirts” say their campaign is a fight for democracy and a battle against Thailand’s elite-including royal advisers,

influential businessmen, military generals and the judiciary-who they say have abused their power and conspired to overthrow elected governments. The UDD says the government is illegitimate because it was not elected but pieced together by the army in a “silent coup” in December 2008 after a ruling pro-Thaksin party was dissolved. It wants new elections, which it is confident the pro-Thaksin Puea Thai party would win.

It is widely believed Thaksin, who lives in exile, is de facto leader of the UDD and Puea Thai. The UDD submitted a petition with 3.5 million signatures last year asking revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej to pardon Thaksin and it wants a return to the 1997 “people’s” constitution. Critics say the aim is to pave the way for the billionaire’s political return.

HOW FAR ARE THEY WILLING TO GO? In April 2009, the “red shirts” managed to blockade Abhisit’s office, shut down key intersections in Bangkok and force the cancellation of an international summit 150 km away. Hundreds of “red shirts” then battled for 14 hours with troops in the streets of Bangkok, Thailand’s worst violence in 17 years. The UDD said the riots were the work of thugs hired by the government.

Numerous rallies, large and small, have taken place since then, all peaceful, and the UDD insists next month’s protest will be the same.

HOW ORGANISED ARE THEY? The red movement has staged numer-

ous rallies in the past two months targeting institutions and organizations they accuse of using double standards to favor elites. It has managed to evict one of the king’s most senior advisers from a country mansion built on national park land he was illegally occupying. The UDD operates dozens of community radio stations, a TV channel and merchandise shops, and claims to have 400 regional organizations running “UDD politics schools”. Some pro-Thaksin military figures have claimed they have set up a “people’s army” of militias, but the UDD has been quick to deny any paramilitary movement within its ranks.

HOW ARE THE RED SHIRTS RECEIVED? They have been accused of seeking to divide the country and instigate violence to oust the government and allow Thaksin to regain political power, directly or indirectly.

Businesses complain the UDD is damaging the country’s reputation, scaring off investors and tourists, distracting the government and stifling economic recovery.

Thailand’s stock market has reflected concerns about political stability, much of it blamed on the UDD, with securities analysts saying daily the crisis was holding down the bourse. Critics and many antiThaksin columnists dismiss UDD followers as gullible “yokels” paid to attend rallies.

Some accuse “reds” of pursuing a communist, republican agenda. The UDD denies this, and says it supports a constitutional monarchy. — Reuters

China mulls changing the state secrets law BEIJING: China’s parliament yesterday considered possible changes to the nation’s state secrets law, which is often used to jail political dissidents, state media reported. Xinhua news agency said the draft amendment would make the law more focused but gave no indication of its practical impact, such as whether it would give authorities more or less leeway in implementing the law.

The draft defines state secrets as “information that concerns state security and interests and, if leaked, would damage state security and interests in the areas of politics, economy and national defence,” Xinhua said. China’s government has used the state secrets law to jail political dissidents who have voiced opposition to Communist Party rule.

Rights lawyer Mo Shaoping said a wide range of other people including businessmen and state employees also have been targeted by it. Australian executive Stern Hu of AngloAustralian mining giant Rio

Communists issue ethics code Tinto mining group was initially charged with violating the state secrets law after he was detained in July last year. The arrest of Hu and three Chinese colleagues came during fraught iron ore negotiations and followed the snubbing by Rio of a proposed 19.5 billion US dollar investment from China’s stateowned metals giant Chinalco.

They are currently awaiting trial on charges of alleged bribery and commercial espionage. Chinese dissident Huang Qi was sentenced to three years in November on state secrets charges after investigating whether shoddy schools contributed to the heavy death toll in the 2008 quake in Sichuan province, his lawyers said. “A lot of people have been jailed under the current state secrets law. It is hard to say how many but the current law contains a lot of problems,” Mo said. “Right now it is not clear whether or not the amended law, if passed, will help

those political dissident facing state secret charges.”

The change was being deliberated this week by a committee of the National People’s Congress, the nation’s rubberstamp legislature which opens its annual full session next week. Xinhua said the range of state secrets stipulated in the existing law was considered “too wide and vague.” The draft makes clear that state secrets should be protected by law and “any act threatening the security of a state secret must be punished by law,” it added.

Meanwhile, China’s ruling Communist Party has issued an ethics code to curb the widespread corruption that its leaders see as one of the biggest threats to its long-term survival, state media reported yesterday.

The guidelines spell out 52 banned practices for officials, including accepting cash or other financial rewards as gifts and using their influence to ben-

efit family, friends or associates, the China Daily reported.

Party officials are also barred from involvement in for-profit activities and from using public funds for personal interests. “The code is significant for ensuring clean governance... and advancing the fight against corruption and building a clean government,” the party’s central committee said, according to the official Xinhua news agency. The party warned officials who violated the rules would be severely disciplined and could face criminal prosecution. China’s President Hu Jintao has for years made fighting official corruption a priority, saying the scourge threatens to undermine the party’s legitimacy.

The party’s efforts to squelch internal graft have come amid public anger over regular reports of larcenous officials and stories of excess and debauchery among top officials.

Under the new code, officials are banned from spending inappropriately large amounts of government money on vehicles, receptions, new office buildings, expensive recreational activities and overseas travel. The new rules update an ethics code introduced in 1997 on a trial basis “as the party’s fight against corruption (is) being intensified in the new era,” the party said.

The central committee said the party should step up supervision at various levels and that education on stamping out corruption and upholding integrity should be part of officials’ training. The National Bureau of Corruption Prevention and the Ministry of Supervision have made it a priority to better monitor the expenses of “naked officials,” whose family members have moved overseas, the China Daily said. About 4,000 corrupt officials fled the country with 50 billion dollars between 1978 and 2003 after first sending their spouses and children abroad, the report said. — Agencies

Beijing postpones military exchanges with Washington Pentagon downplays China’s response WASHINGTON: China has postponed several high-level exchanges between US and Chinese military leaders since Washington angered Beijing by announcing a $6.4 billion arms package for Taiwan, US officials said. The Pentagon has sought to play down the tension over the arms sale, describing Beijing’s response so far as limited in scope, and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he still plans to visit China later this year. China has postponed planned visits to the United States by its chief of the General Staff, as well as by one of its top regional military commanders, Pentagon officials said when asked about Beijing’s retaliatory actions.

A planned visit to China by the commander of the US Pacific Command has also been put off.

“There are other, as yet unscheduled, events the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is not considering for the time being,” a Pentagon official said. But she added: “Nothing has been formally canceled.” In addition to scaling back security relations, China said it would sanction US firms that sell weapons to Taiwan. But Pentagon officials and other observers in Washington pointed to signs Beijing wanted to keep a lid on tensions, and a Chinese military expert quoted in a Hong Kong newspaper appeared to echo those views.

Earlier this month, China allowed a US aircraft carrier to berth in Hong Kong, a former British colony and now a self-administered territory under Chinese control. China has sometimes barred US navy ships from stopping at Hong Kong during

times of tension, including in 2007, when the USS Kitty Hawk was denied entry. Wang Xinjun, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, a top institute of the People’s Liberation Army, said Beijing’s decision to allow the latest aircraft carrier visit showed China did not want tensions to spread.

“This move showed China has responded to the US provocations with reason and restraint,” Wang told the Ta Kung Pao, a Chinese-language Hong Kong newspaper run by the mainland. “Although China-US military ties are experiencing difficulties, and a breakthrough seems hard to find, we have reason to have confidence in the future of those ties,” Wang said in an interview with the paper published yesterday. Tensions flared up again last week when US President Barack Obama held a lowkey meeting at the White House with the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled leader.

Beijing accused Washington of damaging ties but did not announce any broader retaliation.

When asked what actions China has taken to curb military-to-military contacts, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said: “We haven’t noticed anything significant.” A Pentagon official said later it was “still early to speculate” on whether the row could affect other military engagements. “The PRC (People’s Republic of China) routinely uses our military to military relationship to express displeasure. Nevertheless, we are committed to maintaining a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship with China,” she said. — Reuters

HONG KONG: Christina Chan poses for pictures in Hong Kong. — AFP

BEIJING: A beggar sits on the pavement beside food stalls outside a temple. — AFP

Blogger gives hope to homeless Chinese BEIJING: Zhang Shihe is not your typical activist. But the 57year-old retired Chinese advertising executive has embraced the role since rescuing 14 disabled people from the streets of Beijing, thanks in large part to the power of his blog. In the winter of 2007, Zhang wrote on his website about the desperate living conditions of those left behind by China’s booming economic growth-the homeless people he met on the pavements of the capital. The reaction in a country where more than 380 million people now surf the web was generous and immediate: donations poured in.

A year later, Zhang was able to find housing for them in Daxing, about 30 kilometers outside the city centre. “The phenomenon of homelessness reflects a certain failure on the part of the government and is therefore a sensitive issue,” he says. In China-a country of 1.3 billion people where the social safety net remains unreliable, and the options for the homeless are limited-people are becoming more aware of the dire conditions in which many are forced to live.

Although they received little

coverage in the media, the deaths this winter of two homeless people in the capital were nevertheless widely criticized on Internet discussion forums.

There is no official tally of homeless people in China’s capital. Some are poor and disabled, and come to Beijing to launch complaints against their local governments. Others are migrants in search of work. But they all sleep rough, preferring to brave temperatures that have often plunged this winter to -15 degrees Celsius, rather than face the prospect of staying in one of the capital’s 18 shelters.

Wang Yuhai, a one-legged 48-year-old who has benefited from Zhang’s assistance, risked it once. “It was like a prison.

There were 10 of us in one small room,” he said. “I was even beaten by one of the guards”. The homeless also face the danger that they will be forcibly sent home from the shelters. “In general, homeless people, the majority of whom come from other parts of the country, do not opt for this solution,” explained Tang Jun, a researcher at the Academy of Social Sciences.

“After a few days, they are

either returned to the street or escorted by force back to their hometowns,” he said. “But it’s a pointless exercise-sooner or later, they come back.” Wang, whose mentally-disabled wife followed him to Beijing, does not want to return to his home in the northern province of Hebei, where their three daughters are being raised by friends and relatives. He and the others helped by Zhang are no longer begging to stay alive. They work as hawkers selling maps in a tourist area of central Beijing.

On a good day, they can each earn 10 yuan ($1.50).

On weekends, Zhang comes to see them, armed with food and clothing. “Web surfers from across China send us these things,” he says. Zhang does not want his help for the homeless to become something broader and is not interested in establishing a foundation of any kind, preferring instead his discreet, private acts of charity. “I have no organization and I’m not a protester. I know what the authorities can tolerate and though they are sometimes irritated by what I do, I have never been seriously harassed,” he adds. — AFP

The price of fame for high-profile HK activist HONG KONG: Christina Chan discovered the price she has to pay as one of Hong Kong’s most high-profile young activists when she was brushing her teeth in her T-shirt and thong at home one morning. Hidden behind her neighbor’s windows was a paparazzo, who had followed her all the way to Cheung Chau, a tiny, tranquil island an hour by ferry from the city centre. The next thing she knew, photos of her in her skimpy morning outfit were splashed across the front page of a tabloid.

“It is unbearable to be in the spotlight all the time,” the 22-year-old said.

“Now whenever I come out of the shower I think that someone might be watching me.” Chan, who is majoring in philosophy at the University of Hong Kong after attending boarding school in England, was thrown into the limelight when she protested for Tibetan independence at the Olympics torch relay through Hong Kong in 2008. Images of the petite part-time model waving a giant Tibetan snow lion flag and being carted away in a police van were soon published all over the Internet and newspapers. Chan has become a regular guest on talk shows, university

forums, and mass rallies, speaking on democratic reform in Hong Kong, a former British colony which was returned to China in 1997. She is portrayed as the face of the so-called “Post 80s” movement, a label given to a rising group of activists born after 1980 who campaign for a transparent and accountable political system. But to her dismay, the focus of the media has gradually shifted from her campaign to her physical appearance, dress sense, and relationship with her Australian musician boyfriend. She has also described herself as a victim of cyber-bullying.

Getting a criminal record could be another price the university student will have to pay for her political fame: Chan was arrested over an alleged assault of a policewoman following a scuffle at a New Year’s Day pro-democracy protest. She has been released on bail. “They may charge me next time I report back to the police,” she said. “I don’t want to go to jail. But we can’t just stop doing everything because of that.”

Growing up, Chan had often regarded “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung as her role model. Leung, a maverick activistcum-lawmaker has been arrested many

times for his political stunts, including burning the Chinese national flag and clashing with police. “He’s one of the most outspoken, liberal people inside the Legislative Council. He even changed people’s view of what a legislator should look like.” But Chan considers herself different from Leung as she is free of the political baggage imposed on an elected lawmaker. Despite her Westernized outlook and her complaint of the lack of room for imagination and individuality in Hong Kong, she says she feels a strong sense of belonging to the city. — AFP

11

INTERNATIONAL

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Distrust complicates India-Pakistan river row LAHORE: Distrust between India and Pakistan and a “hawkish” Indian mindset were complicating efforts to resolve disputes over the water of shared rivers, Pakistan’s top river water official said.

Some analysts fear that disputes over water between the old rivals could in future spark conflict as the neighbors compete for dwindling supplies of water from melting Himalayan glaciers. The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since 1947, will meet in New Delhi today marking the resumption of official contacts which India broke off after militants attacked the Indian city of Mumbai in late 2008.

Pakistan wants to put the dispute over river waters at the top of the agenda along with the core dispute over the divided Kashmir region. But Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Monday that Indian concerns about militant groups based in Pakistan would form

the main focus of the talks with her Pakistani counterpart. “There’s mistrust and a lack of confidence,” Syed Jamaat Ali Shah, the Indus Water commissioner of Pakistan, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. “There has been reluctance to share information about the water situation in the rivers, which is sad,” he said.

The use of the water flowing down rivers which rise in the Indian part of Kashmir and flow into the Indus river basin in Pakistan is governed by the 1960 Indus Water Treaty. Under the accord, India has the use of water from three rivers in the east - the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi. Pakistan was awarded use of the waters of the western rivers - the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum.

‘DIVERSIONARY TACTIC’ But Pakistan accuses India of violating the treaty by reducing the flow of

KARACHI: Family members of Pakistani fishermen who were arrested by Indian authorities for allegedly entering Indian territory illegally, rally demanding their release in Karachi yesterday. — AP

water down the rivers it was awarded use of. In particular, Pakistan objects to two planned Indian projects, the Wullar barrage, as it is known in Pakistan, or the Tulbul navigation project, as India calls it, and the Kishan-Ganga hydroelectric and water-diversion project. Shah said the barrage would reduce water flow in the Jhelum river. The water diversion planned in the Kishan-Ganga dam, on a tributary that flows into the Jhelum, would have a serious impact on the Pakistani side and it would seek international arbitration if the dispute could not be resolved bilaterally, he said.

Pakistan also objects to India’s Baglihar hydro-power and water storage project on the Chenab river. But water is also a divisive issue within Pakistan with the downstream southern provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan complaining that upstream provinces, in particular Punjab, take more than their fair share. Indian

denies any unfair diversion of Pakistan’s water. Some Indian analysts say Pakistani complaints are aimed at diverting attention within Pakistan from the internal water row.

Indian officials also say Pakistan is raising the issue to counter India’s attempts to keep the focus of today’s talks on militancy. “Raising the water issue appears to be a diversionary tactic,” said an Indian official who declined to be identified. But Shah played down analysts’ fears of conflict over water. “I don’t think the water dispute would become a flash-point,” he said. “We want India to get its rights but it should also fulfill its obligations.” If disputes were handled properly, according to a mechanism set out in the 1960 treaty, the exploitation of the water could be a factor for cooperation, he said. “It could be a foundation for good relations between the two countries,” he said. — Reuters

Drone kills 6 in Pakistan Taleban behead three ‘US spies’ MIRANSHAH: A US drone fired missiles into a Taleban compound yesterday, killing six militants in Pakistan’s northw est tribal belt near the Afghan border, security officials said. The attack targeted the Dandey Darpa Khel area of North Waziristan, a stronghold of Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked fighters in

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai smiles as he arrives for a ceremony in Kabul. — AFP

Afghan president takes control of poll watchdog Opposition says Karzai endangers democracy KABUL: Afghanistan’s main opposition yesterday criticized President Hamid Karzai’s removal of foreign observers from a UN-backed electoral watchdog as “autocratic” and urged international pressure to ensure impartial elections. The five-member Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), tasked with reviewing voting fraud, previously had three foreign members appointed by the United Nations, and last year nullified a third of Karzai’s votes in the presidential poll as fraudulent. Karzai’s decree to change the law could raise doubts over the panel’s independence and set off new political tensions as NATO presses ahead with a major offensive against the Taleban.

It could also put him in a new conflict with Western donors who have said they will not fund Sept. 18 parliamentary elections without electoral reforms. The main opposition National Front urged donor nations, legislators and other political parties to develop a mechanism to guarantee transparent elections. “This shows that Karzai is using one of his autocratic methods by not consulting with parliament, civil society and political parties,” National Front spokesman Fazel Sangcharaki said.

Sayed Yousuf Halim, head of the Justice Ministry’s legislation department, said the decree took effect on Feb 13. Karzai now has the power to choose the ECC’s members after consulting with the chief justice and

heads of parliament’s two chambers, he said. Karzai’s most important backer, the United States, did not criticise the move but NATO coalition member Canada expressed concern it could weaken the watchdog and imperil the credibility of the parliamentary elections.

“A strong and independent ECC is vital for the future of a democratic Afghanistan, and any efforts to weaken this body are disturbing,” Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said in a statement. Free and fair elections are part of a Western strategy to return the nation to stability, while a NATO-led military operation battles a renewed Taleban insurgency with the aim of returning all of Afghanistan to the Karzai-led government.

“This is a blow to the process of universal, fair and free elections,” Afghan opposition lawmaker Fawziya Koufi said. “We knew that he would do this even before we went on leave. Karzai plays his plots this way.”

NATO has said it made progress in the offensive in Helmand Province in the south, but Western forces still face some stiff resistance from militants. On Tuesday, Karzai’s spokesman, Siamak Herawi, said the Afghan government had long wanted to “Afghanise” the electoral process. He said parliament could not overturn the law, since Karzai signed it into effect when the legislature was in recess. — Reuters

Indo-Pak: Main problems NEW DELHI: The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet in New Delhi today to resume official contacts which India broke off after militants attacked the Indian city of Mumbai in late 2008. Here are some of the main problems between the rival neighbors, who have fought three wars since independence from British rule in 1947.

SECURITY For India, security is the top issue. It has refused to resume a series of talks on problems, known as the composite dialogue, until Pakistan takes more action against Pakistan-based militant groups. In particular, India wants Pakistan to show it is serious in reining in the militants behind the Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed. Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Monday that Indian concerns about militants in Pakistan would form the main focus of the talks. India suspects Pakistani security agents support some anti-India groups.

Pakistan denies that and says the peace process should not be held hostage to “non-state actors”.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said this month talks would not make required progress if India insisted on focusing on security.

KASHMIR The mostly Muslim Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the heart of hostility between the neighbours and was the cause of two of their three wars (the third was over the founding of Bangladesh). Separatists backed by Pakistan began an insurgency against Indian rule in 1989 and tens of thousands of people have been killed. Most fighters want Kashmir to become part of Pakistan. Many Kashmiris want independence from both India and Pakistan. A November 2003 truce has largely held along the so-called Line of Control dividing Kashmir, despite occasional clashes.

Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf offered in 2003 to set aside a long-standing demand to implement UN resolutions for both sides to withdraw troops and for Kashmiris to decide in a vote on whether to be part of India or Pakistan. He later suggested Pakistan would give up its claim over Kashmir if India agreed to soften the Line of Control

and let Kashmiris administer their affairs with oversight from both Islamabad and New Delhi. India is agreeable to the long-term goal of softening the border, without any redrawing of the ceasefire line but autonomy and joint oversight go further than India wants. Musharraf’s moves to break the deadlock were criticized in Pakistan for giving away too much and the government that came to power in 2008 has distanced itself from his concessions.

WATER The two countries disagree over use of the water flowing down rivers which rise in Indian Kashmir and run into the Indus river basin in Pakistan. The use of the water is governed by the 1960 Indus Water Treaty under which India was granted the use of water from three eastern rivers, and Pakistan the use of three western rivers. Pakistan says India is unfairly diverting its waters with the upstream construction of barrages and dams. Pakistan, dependent on the water to produce food for its growing population and underpin its economy, wants to put water at the top of the talks agenda, along with Kashmir.

Indian denies any unfair diversion of Pakistani water.

SIACHEN Indian and Pakistani forces have faced off across the Siachen glacier in the Himalayas, known as the world’s highest battlefield at 5,500 meters above sea level, since 1984. The two sides have been trying to find a solution that would allow them to withdraw troops but India says it is unwilling to bring its forces down until Pakistan officially authenticates the positions they hold. Pakistan has said it is willing to do so but on the condition that it is not a final endorsement of India’s claim over the glacier.

SIR CREEK Another boundary dispute is over the 100-km Sir Creek estuary flowing into the Arabian Sea. The dispute has hampered exploration for oil and gas and led to the detention of hundreds of fishermen from the two countries, mostly in areas where demarcation is unclear. The two sides have conducted a survey and exchanged maps showing their respective positions.—Reuters

The identities of the dead were not immediately clear, nor whether they included any high-value targets. A Pakistani intelligence official in the main district town of Miranshah confirmed the strike and the death toll. Two of the missiles slammed into the compound, while another hit a vehicle driving nearby in Darga Mandi village, another security official said. A US drone strike in the same area last Thursday killed Mohammed Haqqani, a brother of Al-Qaedalinked warlord Sirajuddin Haqqani, whose network is fighting against US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Officials initially said the compound hit yesterday was also frequented by militants loyal to Haqqani. While the area is a Haqqani stronghold, officials later clarified that the actual compound was used by Pakistani Taleban.

“The militants are not allowing anyone to enter the area and have surrounded the place,” said a security official. North Waziristan and the Haqqani network have been targeted by a surge of drone strikes in recent months.

The US drones routinely target Taleban and Al-Qaeda commanders in the semi-autonomous tribal belt, which Washington calls the global headquarters of Al-Qaeda. US officials say the strikes are a vital weapon in the war to defeat AlQaeda and to end eight years of fighting in neighboring Afghanistan.

Drone strikes have killed a number of high-profile targets, including Pakistani Taleban chief Baitullah Mehsud and possibly his successor Hakimullah Mehsud, but the US raids fuel anti-American sentiment in Muslim Pakistan.

US officials increasingly believe Hakimullah Mehsud died in a January strike in North Waziristan, although the Taleban insist he is alive. More than 800 people have been killed in the US strikes in Pakistan since August 2008, with a surge in the past year as President Barack Obama puts Pakistan at the heart of his fight against Al-Qaeda.

Washington is pressuring Islamabad to do more to dismantle militant border sanctuaries, as it struggles to battle the Taleban in neighboring Afghanistan, where more than 121,000 US and NATO troops are based.

In another development, Taleban militants have beheaded three men including two Afghans in Pakistan’s lawless northwest tribal belt, accusing them of spying for the United States, officials said yesterday. The headless bodies were found dumped by the roadside in the Mir Ali area of the tribal North Waziristan district, which borders Afghanistan, local police officer Muneer Zaman said. “Their throats were cut last night and the bodies were dumped early yesterday,” he said from the region’s main town Miranshah. A note placed near the bodies said the men were beheaded because “they were US spies-anybody found engaged in espionage will meet the same fate”.

A security official confirmed the killings, saying the beheaded Afghans were refugees while the local man was an ordinary Pakistani tribesman. Militants frequently kidnap and kill tribesmen, accusing them of spying for the Pakistani government or US forces in Afghanistan, where Taleban fighters are leading an insurgency. The latest killings come as the United States intensifies missile attacks by unmanned aircraft targeting mostly North Waziristan, a bastion of the Taleban and fighters linked to the Al-Qaeda network. — Agencies

the rugged tribal region branded by Washington the most dangerous region in the w orld. “The US drones fired three missiles, six militants w ere killed. A vehicle w as also destroyed,” said a security official in Peshaw ar, the main city in the northw est. “It hit a compound, the death toll may rise.”

KASHMIR: Mother of Kashmiri teenager Wamiq Farooq shouts slogans against Indian police as she lies on a road during a protest in Srinagar yesterday. Farooq, 14, died after being struck in the head by a police tear gas shell. — AP

Border firing reported in Kashmir on eve of talks SRINAGAR: Cross-border firing at the frontier in divided Kashmir wounded an Indian soldier, an Indian official said yesterday, on the eve of renewed peace talks between India and Pakistan. Also, a two-day gunbattle between Indian security forces and suspected Islamic insurgents in the disputed Himalayan region killed three Indian army soldiers and three militants, officials said.

The violence underscores the thorny issues that have long bedeviled relations between the South Asian nuclear rivals. Both claim Kashmir in its entirety and have fought two wars over it.

Today, top diplomats of the two countries will hold their first talks since a long-running peace dialogue was put on hold 15 months ago after the 2008 Mumbai attacks that were blamed on Pakistan-based militants. The talks, to be held in New Delhi, are seen as the first step toward the resumption of the peace process.

Yesterday, an Indian paramilitary soldier was injured in firing from the Pakistani side of the frontier dividing the Kashmir region, an official of the Border Security Force said on condition of anonymity, citing departmental policy. The firing took place in the Samba area, in the southern part of Indian Kashmir, the official said. Pakistan’s army said yesterday there was no firing from its side of the border.

It is unlikely the reported incident will have any impact on the talks.

Pakistan and India have largely observed a cease-fire at the militarized Kashmir frontier since late 2003, but there are still occasional skirmishes.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Muslim militants fighting Indian security forces on its side of the Himalayan region, where anti-India sentiments run deep. Islamabad denies the charge, saying it only gives moral and diplomatic support to the rebels.

A gunbattle broke out early Tuesday near Sopore town, 35 miles northwest

of Indian Kashmir’s main city Srinagar, after Indian government troops received a tip that rebels were hiding in the town’s Chinkkipora area. Lt Col JS Brar, the Indian army spokesman, said troops were attacked with hand grenades when they surrounded the

area. Three soldiers and two suspected rebels were killed on Tuesday evening, and another suspected rebel was shot dead yesterday, he said. There was a lull in fighting yesterday afternoon but government troops have not declared the battle over yet. — AP

Bangladesh to charge 900 for deadly mutiny DHAKA: A Bangladeshi state prosecutor said yesterday that about 900 border guards would be tried in civil courts on murder, arson and looting charges related to a deadly mutiny last February. Seventy-four people, including 57 senior army officers, were killed in the 33-hour siege that briefly threatened the survival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s newly elected civilian government.

“We have found that around 900 Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) soldiers took part in the murder of army officers, looting, arson and the torture of family members of the officers,” state prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kazal said.

“We are in the final stage of the investigation. They will be charged soon,” he said, adding that the maximum punishment for murder under Bangladesh’s penal code was death by hanging.

The bodies of those killed in the mutiny, which started February 25, were disposed of in sewers and shallow graves and discovered in the days after the bloodshed ended when the mutineers fled in civilian dress. As part of the criminal investigation, more than 7,000 border guards have been questioned and 2,205 have been arrested, chief police investigator Abdul Kahhar Akhand said. The latest prosecutions will run in parallel to a

separate military-led investigation and trial process for soldiers alleged to have been involved in the mutiny, which spread across 40 BDR posts throughout Bangladesh.

An estimated 3,500 people face charges in these military-run Special Courts for their involvement in the mutiny. Defendants in these courts face a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. On Tuesday, a Special Court opened in the capital for 86 border guards suspected of involvement in the mutiny. A BDR spokesman said 19 of the 86 would also be part of the criminal investigation. Akhand, one of the Bangladesh police department’s most decorated criminal investigation officers, said pent-up anger among BDR rank and file over ignored pleas for pay rises and working conditions had led to the killings.

“We have not found any evidence of involvement of any political party or militant group in the mutiny,” he said, adding that the investigation was ongoing. Hasina was initially criticized by the army for not using force to end the stand-off inside Dhaka’s heavily fortified compound where the mutiny started, instead offering a general amnesty for those who walked away via television. Hours later the mutineers began laying down their weapons. — AFP

OPINION

12

Thursday, February 25, 2010

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Can madrasas bridge gap for UK Muslims?

By Asim Siddiqui

L

ondon - Studies show that poor educational attainment and professional underachievement are prevalent amongst young British Muslims. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, an independent development and social research charity, found that British Muslims are less upwardly mobile than their Hindu, Christian and Jewish counterparts. This trend appears consistent across Europe, where Muslims are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than nonMuslims.

Because Muslims are one of the most insular and least economically advantaged groups in Europe, there is a real need to raise aspirations, increase opportunity and mainstream the involvement of young Muslims in society.

Local mosques and madrasas can help. Britain has an estimated 1,600 madrasas, weekend or after-school religious learning centres, most of which are associated with mosques. As many as 200,000 Muslim children of all ethnic backgrounds – aged four to mid-teens – attend these madrasas. The schools range from offering rote learning of religious texts to interactive places where Islamic teaching and mainstream school subjects are taught in fun and creative ways.

Mosque-based madrasas remain popular with British Muslim families, as they are often the only places where basic Islamic education is available to children. As such, it makes them a largely untapped market for exposing young students to professional and aspirational development.

Unfortunately, some madrasas are disconnected from the real world and the potential for children to achieve their full potential goes largely unrealised. A recent Open Society Institute report, “Muslims in Europe: A Report on 11 EU Cities”, confirmed that teaching methods in many madrasas, which include rote learning and strict discipline, are often out of tune with contemporary educational thinking and practice, failing to nurture the skills essential for success in the modern workplace.

Another report by the Islamic Foundation’s Policy Research Centre showed a need for more “joined-up thinking” between messages emanating from madrasas and those from mainstream education providers.

The need for greater engagement between mosques and professional sectors is crucial in building confidence and broadening horizons for Muslims in Britain and across Europe.

One such scheme has been launched by CEDAR, a European Muslim professional network. It has partnered with Young Enterprise, the

UK’s leading business and enterprise education charity, to work in collaboration with mosques to provide professional mentoring sessions within mosques themselves.

This innovative approach synergises the special connections many young Muslims have with their local mosque with the wealth of professional experience of CEDAR mentors, helping to provide a learning experience that young Muslims can really engage in.

The mentoring program seeks not only to raise the aspirations of young Muslims, but also to make introductions with Muslim professionals who can act as career role models with whom they can build long-term connections.

For example, a recent event held at Tawhid Mosque in London saw an interactive session consisting of a range of experiential learning activities for the mosque’s madrasa students and other local youth. This included life mapping (tools and techniques to help young people plan for the life they want), skills development and a competition for the best social enterprise business plan involving the building of a community centre.

This competition encouraged students to think of the practical needs of their local community – comprised of Muslims and non-Muslims – beyond those of their own faith community.

Unusually, the mosque – considered to be one of the more socially conservative in Britain – allowed a mixed group of boys and girls to work together, and saw the value of a programme which allowed Muslim children to be productive in an environment more akin to the real world.

After the session, 13-year-old Bassim El-Sheikh reflected on what he had learnt: “My confidence is much better now; my teamwork is much better; my listening skills and talking skills are much better.”

Mosques in Britain are slowly trying to make themselves more relevant to youth, women and non-Muslims. The larger mosques are seeking to become more holistic centres, not just places of worship, offering English classes, basic computer courses, gym facilities and regular interfaith events.

The more that mosques and madrasas can be plugged into mainstream society, raising the aspirations of the young Muslims that attend them and providing key life skills, the greater the chances of preventing the mental and physical ghettoisation which has afflicted some British and European Muslim communities, and of contributing to improved levels of education and professional advancement.

NOTE: Asim Siddiqui is a founding board member of CEDAR, and a founding trustee of the City Circle.

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.

Fewer Mexican immigrants dream of returning

By Gregory Rodriguez

M

exico’s violent drug war may be pushing Mexican immigrants and their families to put down deep roots in the United States more quickly and firmly than ever. For generations, immigrants have dreamed of going back to Mexico to enjoy the fruits of their US labors.

Today, fear of violence is keeping more people focused on their futures north of the border and changing longtime patterns of assimilation and migration.

We generally think of integration as an affirmative process by which immigrants are absorbed into a new country through a combination of hazing and courtship. But negative forces in their original homelands can also play a powerful role in shaping newcomers’ and their children’s attitudes and behavior.

It wouldn’t be the first time events in Mexico have had a powerful effect on immigrants living north of the bor-

der. In the early 20th century, fears that the Mexican revolution would create chaos throughout the Southwest led to heightened discrimination against ethnic Mexicans here. During the Depression, the Mexican government, which thought it could benefit from the skills its emigrants had acquired in the United States, assisted in efforts to kick immigrants out of this country.

Mexico’s influence has been particularly strong because of its proximity.

If you came here from Mexico, you knew you and your children had the relative luxury of crossing the border; you could stay in touch, literally. In news reports in the last two years, it’s clear that violence is beginning to shut down what was for so many an easy transnationalism.

At the University of Texas at El Paso, where classes once took advantage of their proximity to Mexico, administrators have been forced to

suspend activities in violence-wracked Ciudad Juarez. Binational scholarly exchanges that were once conducted over glasses of wine now only happen over the Internet.

Here in Southern California, the murder of El Monte educator Bobby Salcedo in Durango at Christmas is a clear example. Salcedo, a second-generation Mexican American, had been going back and forth across the border since his parents packed the family into a van for summer vacations when he was a child. After his killing - collateral damage in the drug wars - Hector Delgado, a City Council member in the heavily Latino town of South El Monte, urged people to boycott travel to Mexico. He told the Pasadena StarNews that he would never visit Mexico again.

According to Stanford sociologist Tomas Jimenez, author of “Replenished Ethnicity: Mexican Americans, Immigration, and

Identity,” moments like these reshape acculturation. “Going back to Mexico helps refortify Mexican Americans’ ethnic identity,” he told me. With a foot in two worlds, they keep up their Spanish and stay current with trends in the homeland. What’s happening now “may speed up the severing of ties with Mexico.”

The effect will be felt mostly with first- and second-generation Mexican Americans. The third and fourth generations, he said, already live at a profound distance from their grandparents’ or great-grandparents’ homeland.

Not surprisingly, the undocumented are squeezed hardest by Mexico’s turmoil. They are unwelcome here, yet Mexico is less and less desirable. As Jimenez puts it, the drug war only “heightens their sense of being in limbo.”

For its part, the Mexican government is doing what it can not to alienate its recent emigrants, who, accord-

ing to Mexico’s central bank, last year sent $21.6 billion back home. Mexico has launched a media campaign to convince Mexicans on both sides of the border that the government is winning the war against the narcos. Mexican officials are watching for an updated travel advisory that the US State Department is scheduled to release Monday. Presumably they fear losing a connection to their most generous emigrants almost as much as they dread the loss of tourism income.

If this brewing trend to steer clear of Mexico solidifies, it would be a game changer for scholars as well as for the transnational culture of the Southwest.

“We always used to assume two things,” explains Jimenez. “Migrants will always go back and forth, and that migration will always continue. Now, though, it’s wait and see. “ NOTE: Gregory Rodriguez is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times

With talks stalled, Mideast ‘alternatives’ aired

By Alastair Macdonald

T

he Israeli-Palestinian peace process has lost its global audience as both sides haggle over talks about talks on issues the world thought were long settled. Don’t let it fool you. Here on the ground in this Belgium-size bit of Mediterranean coast a new war is raging, so far of words, over the “two-state solution” so consensually accepted in the West since the 1990s. Many of the “alternatives” getting an airing are impractical or one-sided. But such thought-experiments have focused minds, here and abroad, on the longevity of a status quo where Israel controls a whole territory where Arabs may soon outnumber Jews. Under a prime minister who signed up, guardedly, only last year to the partition goal enshrined in the 1993 Oslo accords, Israelis have been publicising what they prefer to a Palestinian state - from a Greater Israel, to joint Jewish-Arab nationhood, to hiving off Palestinians and their land to the Arab states. Their critics warn of “rivers of blood” in an “apartheid Israel” made international pariah if the two-state option dies.

“There is a civil war going on for Israel’s soul,” columnist Bradley Burston wrote in the liberal newspaper Haaretz.

Palestinians, too, are sounding more apocalyptic. President Mahmoud Abbas brandished the “one-state solution” - an Arab majority demanding equal rights - if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not halt Jewish colonisation of the West Bank and let Palestinians have a state. He also warned this week that his people may turn to more violence if they are thwarted. As world attention wanes, perhaps with the lack of televised bloodshed and the glacial pace of US President Barack Obama’s efforts to get the sides back to even “proximity talks”, Israelis and Palestinians are watching anxiously to see whether the 20-year-old “peace process” will now live, or die.

Polls generally show majorities on both sides in favour of a two-state solution of some kind. But leaders in either camp fear a backlash if they make the concessions the other side wants. And so other ideas are bubbling

up. Israel’s former national security adviser Giora Eiland has published a paper saying Oslo is effectively at a dead end due to irreconcilable differences. He proposes instead redrawing regional borders to turn most Palestinians into citizens of neighbouring Jordan or Egypt. “The necessary conditions for reaching a permanent Israeli-Palestinian settlement in the foreseeable future do not exist,” wrote Eiland, who once negotiated for such a solution.

But critics note Jordan and Egypt show little interest. For Yasser Abed Rabbo, a veteran Palestinian negotiator, the current Israeli fashion for alternatives to the old partition plan is driven by a preference for inertia and creeping annexation: “I don’t hear any

alternative other than to keep the status quo and prevent the establishment of anything that deserves the name of a viable Palestinian state,” he said.

Talk among some Palestinians of preferring to become Israeli citizens or of unilaterally declaring statehood without an end to occupation was, Abed Rabbo told Reuters, little more than the product of frustration, “a warning signal to the Israelis”.

Echoing that, Defence Minister Ehud Barak, a former premier who took his Labour party into Netanyahu’s rightwing coalition, this month joined those who are warning Israelis that failure to share the biblical “land of Israel” with a Palestinian state could kill off Zionist dreams of a Jewish democracy.

Soon, he said, at birth rates among

Arabs inside Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, retaining a single state between the Jordan river and the sea would mean it was a state that was “either non-Jewish or non-democratic ... an apartheid state”. Some still speak up for a “bi-national state”, where the 12 million Arabs and Jews could live harmoniously, or in a looser, Bosniastyle confederation - ideas many dismiss as utopian.

Others want Jews, or the Palestinians, to have all the land. In the centre, however, debate is opening up in Israel, not so much on whether to give up territory, but how - either after tortuous negotiation or, as with Gaza in 2005, unilaterally. Dan Shueftan of Haifa University argues Israel should forget talks and just quit

A Palestinian school girl reacts as a protester uses a slingshot to throw stones at Israeli soldiers during clashes in the West Bank city of Hebron yesterday. – AP

the West Bank, at least behind the barrier that keeps most Arabs out of Israel and the Jewish settlements.

Dismissing objections that quitting Gaza left Israelis under fire from Hamas Islamist hardliners, Shueftan said it was better for Israel’s democratic society than occupation. Israelis could flourish, as they have for decades, without a peace deal: “Don’t give the Arabs the veto over what is essential for Israel and that is unilateral disengagement,” Shueftan said.

To critics, like Yossi Beilin, veteran negotiator and former Israeli minister, unilateralists ignore benefits, like trade and peace with Arab states, that a negotiated settlement may offer. But Beilin agrees with them that if Israel is not to be a “pariah state” its choice does boil down to this: “You have to have a border. And there are only two ways to do that: either you come to an agreement, or you make one without an agreement.”

It is a choice, Beilin said, Netanyahu or his successor must make soon, if Western allies apply “unbearable” pressure - once they determine that Jews have become a minority ruling group. While he rules in coalition with settlers like Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu seems to those on the left an unlikely contender as peacemaker.

One of the prime minister’s closest aides last week called it a “tooth fairy” illusion to imagine the world would embrace Israel if it just gave up land.

But that may change: “Even (rightwingers) cannot accept the situation where there would be a Jewish minority,” Beilin said. Yet time for agreement, many officials and diplomats concur, may be running out as frustration breeds radicalism all round. As his envoy George Mitchell struggles to bridge the gaps, Obama is facing new calls at home to push Israel - in its own interests, some self-declared friends of the Jewish state say.

“If there are not two states there will be one state between the river and the sea and very soon there will be more Palestinian Arabs in it than Jews,” wrote columnist Roger Cohen in the New York Times. “What then will become of the Zionist dream? “It’s time for Obama to ask such tough questions in public.” — Reuters

ANALYSIS

Thursday, February 25, 2010

13

Japan novice govt struggles to flesh out policies

By Linda Sieg

F

ive months after Japan’s Democratic Party swept to power promising that politicians would wrench control of policy from bureaucrats, critics are wondering - where are the politicians headed now that they’re in charge? Analysts say Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s government is on the right track in trying to shift spending from wasteful public works to “soft infrastructure” such as childcare and education.

But they also complain of a failure to set priorities or spell out the path from lofty goals to coherent plans.

“It was OK (to have piecemeal policies) when they were in opposition and trying to convince the public to give them a chance, but now that they are in power, they need a concrete, coordinated vision and policies,” said Hidenori Suezawa, chief strategist at Nikko Cordial Securities. Many experts agree that while a policy process dominated by bureaucrats worked well when Japan’s goal was to catch up with the West, it has faltered when faced with more modern challenges.

until the next general election, mandated by late 2013. “They shouldn’t leave it all to bureaucrats, but within the DPJ government they need to decide their stance toward economic and fiscal policy.

I think they are very weak on that aspect,” said Yoshihiro Katayama, a f o r m e r reformist governor who is now a member of a government panel discussing fiscal reform.

“The current administration at this time is entirely focused on the election. Their big goal is to win in the upper house election, and what they do after they win is secondary.”

Hatoyama’s Democrats trounced the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in a lower house election last year, but now need to win an outright majority in an upper house poll expected in July, or risk policy paralysis. But a fund-

The Democrats inherited a raft of deep problems including an ageing population, an economy that only managed to grow about 1 percent annually over the past two decades and a public debt nearing 200 percent of GDP after repeated stimulus packages. Now the government is trying to flesh out a strategy by June to achieve average annual growth of more than 2 percent over the next decade, along with a mid-term plan for reining in the debt.

Concerns about future bond issuance have kept investors from aggressively buying longterm Japanese government bonds, while doubts about the growth strategy dampen appetite for Japanese shares.

But sceptics wonder how much credibility the mid-term plans will have, given the ruling bloc’s desire to avoid sticky topics ahead of an upper house election expected in July as well as political leaders’ lack of expertise on economic matters.

Finance Minister Naoto Kan has taken a pragmatic step by calling for debate on Japan’s 5 percent sales tax, but Hatoyama is sticking to a pledge not to raise the politically sensitive tax

ing scandal embroiling a ruling party kingpin, and doubts about Hatoyama’s leadership have pushed the government’s ratings below 40 percent, clouding the chances of a decisive win.

Central to the Democrats’ platform is a package of steps including child allowances and free high-school education intended to put more money in consumers’ hands to boost domestic economic growth as well as encourage people to have children.

But due to falling tax revenues the government has already abandoned a pledge to end a gasoline surcharge, and has yet to persuade critics it can find permanent sources of funding for other measures, which will cost 14.3 trillion yen ($159 billion) by 2013/14.

“They talk about a ‘welfare nation’ but if you want to raise the level of government services, you have to discuss where you are going to get the funds and who will bear that burden,” Nikko Cordial’s Suezawa said. “But from the start, they were lacking that aspect, because their starting point was to criticise the ruling party.” Critics suggest the

Democrats could benefit by drafting professionals to help craft their policies. “They are amateurs when it comes to the economy,” Suezawa said.

Hatoyama, 63, the rich grandson of a premier, has a doctorate in engineering while Kan is a former grassroots activist who made his name uncovering a tainted blood scandal as health minister. The Democrats have not been been idle. After passing an extra budget for the fiscal year to March 31 to prop up the economy, they now look set to enact a record $1 trillion budget for 2010/11. That budget will slice public works spending by 18.3 percent and boost funds for social security by 9.8 percent and for education, culture and science by 5.2 percent.

Economists applaud such efforts, but say shifts in spending priorities could take up to a decade to show effect. Voters, however, may not want to wait so long. “With declining polls, they have to deliver the fruits of political change, and that is very hard,” said Sophia University professor Koichi Nakano. “It is not going to be easy for the Democrats to claim a majority on their own.” — Reuters

US stands out for climate-change skepticism

By Ed Stoddard

M

any Americans are skeptical about global warming and that makes it harder to get a bill through Congress. “My personal leanings are that it’s more cyclical than a permanent trend,” said Jimmy Pritchard, a Southern Baptist pastor in a Dallas suburb. “And I think It’s a little presumptuous to put so many resources and energy into something that may change direction in the next few years.” Such views, widespread in the US heartland, drive conservative opposition to President Barack Obama’s bid to get a bill through Congress that would cap US emissions of the greenhouse gases linked to climate change.

“It’s a very different debate in Europe, where there is no discussion about whether climate change is occurring. But in the United States it is about whether it exists,” said John Wright of pollster Ipsos. It is a skepticism that stands in contrast with prevailing views in Europe and has been linked to the influence of US talk radio, the “oil lobby”, an enduring love affair with cars, and a history founded on limiting the role of government.

Science can be controversial in a country where evangelical Christians make up a quarter of the adult population. Many, for example, doubt the theory of evolution because they believe it contradicts the Bible. “In other countries academics hold a more revered position ... And so some of these Europeans look at America and say there is all this evidence, why don’t you believe? And many of these American evangelicals say look ‘who’s producing the evidence,’” said Michael Lindsay, a political sociologist at Rice University in Houston.

Climate legislation aimed at controlling greenhouse gas emissions had been a top priority of the Obama administration but like his efforts to reform the expensive healthcare system, it has stalled in Congress. Countries around the world are waiting to see what the

United States will do on global warming but there is growing doubt there are enough votes in Congress to pass the legislation in this congressional elections year.

In interviews with Americans across the country, global warming is often seen as exaggerated, part of a plot to sabotage the US economy or an intrusion in people’s lives. “They’ve committed a fraud,” said Nancy Meinhardt, a paralegal in south Miami, referring to efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. A co-chair of her local Tea Party - part of a nationwide conservative grassroots movement leading opposition to Obama’s agenda Meinhardt said a proposed cap-andtrade regime that would require industry to buy and trade pollution permits would be ruinous. “Economically, cap and trade will destroy us. Have you any idea how much the electricity bills are going to go up?” she asked.

This is also a theme driven home daily by conservative commentators in the media and by some high-profile talk-radio hosts who say that climate change is a hoax. They say that action to contain it would destroy a uniquely American way of life, which relies on widespread car ownership, heavy resources consumption, consumerism and an economy, the world’s largest, overwhelmingly dependent on fossil fuels like oil and coal.

The “Climategate” scandal at the University of East Anglia has bolstered skeptics. Leaked e-mails from its Climatic Research Unit last year led to allegations that its researchers fudged data to support the case for man-made global warming. The US House of Representatives narrowly passed a capand-trade bill but legislation has stalled in the Senate - and its unpopularity is clearly one reason for the gridlock.

An opinion poll of more than 1,000 Americans by Ipsos released in December found that 43 percent of Americans blamed global warming on human activities. Around a quarter said temperatures were rising but felt the patterns were natural while 28 percent

said global warming was not happening at all. On a global level, Pew found last year that concern over global warming was far less pronounced in America than elsewhere. It found that 44 percent of Americans thought it was a “very serious problem” versus 90 percent of Brazilians. In France it was 68

percent and in Japan 65 percent. Other polls have shown similar differences.

Some environmentalists blame the powerful US oil lobby. “I don’t think it’s that Americans are confused about global warming, it’s that they’re being confused,” said the incoming executive director of conservation group Sierra

Club, Michael Brune, who blames big spending by oil, coal and other energy industries. But he did allow some historical context. “The mechanisms to address climate change can incite longheld fears by many people about government involvement in their lives,” he said. — Reuters

IMF gold plan poses tricky twist

By Veronica Brown and Jan Harvey

T

he International Monetary Fund’s long-planned sale of its 403 tonnes of gold has taken on a new twist that may chip away at one of the fundamental drivers for higher gold prices. The IMF’s strategy to capitalise on surging gold to raise new resources for lending was first announced in 2008 and had been comfortably received by the market, with expectations for enthusiastic takers amongst Asia’s central banks. Its sale of 200 tonnes of this quota to India, announced in early November, and small disposals to Sri Lanka and Mauritius prompted a frenzy of speculation over further sales.

But the key take-away for some analysts from last Wednesday’s IMF announcement that it would soon begin phased open-market sales for its remaining 191.3 tonnes of gold was that central bank appetite for bullion may not be as robust as first thought. “It could be viewed quite negatively that central banks, who obviously would have been favoured as buyers for the remaining gold, have found current (price) levels unattractive,” said Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen. The 191.3 tonnes on offer compares with total identifiable demand in 2009 put at 3,385.8 tonnes in the World Gold Council (WGC) demand trends survey.

Central bank activity has been seen as a key foundation of gold’s ability to rally even as other fundamentals, such as dollar weakness, faltered. A third European central bank pact to limit sales seemed to cement that fundamental support, assuring investors that any official sector sales would be orderly. Spot gold hit a record $1,226.10 per ounce in 2009 and is still up almost a percent since the start of this year, even after a sustained period of falls.

WGC CEO Aram Shishmanian said last Wednesday although some countries could sell gold reserves to cover budget deficits, the trend was unlikely to be big enough to damage the market. The WGC’s managing director of government affairs, George Milling-Stanley, said the fact that the IMF had sold more than half of what it had on offer in off-market deals was a success. “Any talk of this sale being a failure by the IMF is nonsense. The IMF always intended

to sell this gold eventually on the market,” he added.

No one can be sure what the psychology was behind the latest IMF development, but if the hope was to entice new official sector buyers, early indications are lukewarm. Sri Lanka’s central bank was unlikely to buy more IMF gold right now as the nation has already reached its required reserve level, its governor said earlier on Thursday. HSBC metals analyst James Steel noted that the idea that central banks may turn into net buyers of gold this year was an important element in the psychology of the rally. “The fact that (the IMF) has announced that the remaining gold...will be sold on the open market is an indication that the IMF has been unable to find a willing buyer for the remaining gold,” he said. Commentators have previously identified China, which last year said it had been adding substantially to its gold reserves in recent years, as a potential buyer of IMF gold. But former officials poured cold water on that idea last year, pointing out that it would be cheaper for China, the world’s biggest gold miner, to buy domestic supply to boost reserves, and that near-record prices made IMF gold too expensive.

After an initial knee-jerk drop, gold prices are recovering some poise, hovering above $1,100 per ounce.

Commerzbank said in a note to clients that central banks that had been waiting on the sidelines, may now see an opportunity to buy. But with a clouded demand picture from central banks, and uncertainty on the dollar’s trajectory, some analysts are beginning to wonder about where the impetus to take gold higher from here will come from. A fiscal crisis in Greece has helped to send gold prices in euros to record highs and dollar-gold to one-month highs approaching $1,130 an ounce.

“It doesn’t feel like we’ve reached the top of the market, but the problem is the huge amount of investment demand that has been behind this price increase. It doesn’t seem to be here at the moment,” said VM Group analyst Matthew Turner. “The caveat is that you never quite know where the investment demand is going to come from. The Greece issue may be the catalyst for European investors to buy gold - so it’s not all over yet.” — Reuters

Greece’s Papandreou faces Oedipal challenge T

By Paul Taylor

o pull Greece out of a fiscal crisis that has shaken the European Union, Prime Minister George Papandreou will have to overturn part of his free-spending late father’s political legacy. “He is very aware that history is making him commit an act of ideological and political patricide,” said a friend of the USeducated Socialist leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidentiality of their conversations.

Andreas Papandreou, a firebrand leftist who governed in 1981-89 and again in 1993-96, transformed the country helped

by European Union funds. He expanded the civil service and state healthcare, promoted secularism and restored national pride. But today’s debt-burdened Greece urgently needs to shrink the public sector, curb public spending, clean up corruption and tax evasion, and open swathes of the economy that are shuttered by clientelism, notably of Papandreou’s PASOK party.

The prime minister’s closest advisers, including his brother Nicholas, dismiss talk in Athens that George Papandreou is a latter-day “Oedipus Rex”, doomed like the king in Sophocles’ classical drama to kill his father.

A demonstrator looks on behind a banner as members of the Communist-affiliated PAME labor group blockade the Athens Stock Market to protest government austerity measures aimed at tackling Greece’s debt crisis in Athens Tuesday. – AP “There is no difference in values between the two,” said Charalambos Pamboukis, chiefof-staff in Papandreou’s office with the rank of minister of state. “He admired and served his father. But these are very different times.”

Where the father was a Greek nationalist who railed against NATO, the European Union and the United States, the son is a “cosmopolitan patriot”, in Pamboukis’ words, who

supports globalisation, European integration and friendship with Turkey. While Andreas was a charismatic orator who established and ran PASOK with an iron hand, George is a soft-spoken sociologist who prefers to rule by consensus. “He is an extremely solid mixture of a realist and a dreamer,” Pamboukis said.

At times, the dreamer appears to have the upper hand.

George Papandreou is an avid

attender of seminars on “green growth” and “progressive governance”. While his country’s borrowing costs have rocketed amid market jitters over its ability to pay its debts, Papandreou has spent much of the last few weeks out of the country, travelling to India, Russia, Paris, Brussels and London. Greeks say he speaks English better than Greek, in which they say he makes occasional grammatical slips.

He has surrounded himself with advisers who, like himself, spent decades studying and working abroad, prompting critics to question how connected he is to ordinary Greeks’ reality.

The challenge he faces is not only to design a program to slash a huge budget deficit, but to maintain public support for a long fiscal adjustment and make a lumbering bureaucracy implement his tax and anti-corruption measures.

To counter the economic gloom, Papandreou has tried to project an optimistic vision of a modern, green Greece that would make the most of its assets of tourism, agriculture and shipping services, while serving as an energy and trade hub. Many Greeks applauded when he publicly admitted the depth of corruption, nepotism, tax evasion and inefficiency.

They do not doubt his sincerity in seeking to modernise the country, but some question his ability to enforce such changes.

Yannis Stournaras, who prepared Greece’s entry into the euro zone as chief economic adviser to former Prime Minister Costas Simitis, said Papandreou appeared slow to grasp the severity of the fiscal crisis.

“He ‘gets it’ now, but we would have avoided a lot of trouble if he had acted as soon as he

took office in October,” Stournaras, who heads the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research think-tank, said in an interview. Papandreou ran on a tax-and-spend platform even though he was privately warned well before the election that the fiscal position was far worse than the previous government had disclosed.

He only delivered a first televised “blood, sweat and tears” speech in December. Despite two waves of austerity measures since then, EU finance ministers say Greece still needs to do more to achieve a promised cut in the deficit of 4 percent of gross domestic product this year.

The striking fact is that Papandreou’s approval ratings continue to rise even as he announces tougher sacrifices.

Stournaras says he should use his popularity to “front-load” public sector reforms and launch a radical liberalisation of the Greek economy, abolishing price controls and opening up closed professions. He estimates that could add 10 percent to GDP. To do that, Papandreou would have to tackle vested interests entrenched by his father’s patronage system.

“Unfortunately, he doesn’t want to be remembered as the man who reversed that,” Stournaras said. — Reuters

focus

Is flu pandemic waning? Not yet

By Maggie Fox

H

as the swine flu pandemic peaked globally?

Not quite, World Health Organization advisers decided on Tuesday. WHO is taking a big risk in making such an announcement at all, and the wording of WHO DirectorGeneral Dr. Margaret Chan’s decision, to be announced on Wednesday, will affect whether governments, companies and the public pay attention, or decide, wrongly, that the crisis is all over, public health experts say.

No matter what happens, some public health officials fear that the moderate nature of the H1N1 pandemic, which emerged in April and is dying down in the Americas and Europe, may make people complacent about the next one. And the risk remains that H1N1 could come roaring back - something viruses have done in past pandemics. “Our recommendation is certainly that countries don’t change their policies if we were to move to post-peak,” WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in a telephone interview. “We would recommend that countries continue to do what they have been doing.”

So why even make an announcement? “That certainly was a question that was debated today,” Hartl said. WHO declared in June that H1N1 swine flu was causing a pandemic - the first flu pandemic in 40 years - after it was first discovered in Mexico and the United States and spread around the world within six weeks. It was the UN agency’s first chance to use its six-phase pandemic plan, which was broadly criticized because it describes the extent and spread of a new infection but has little way to convey virulence.

Dr Nancy Cox of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a member of WHO’s emergency committee and one of the world’s leading influenza experts. She said the group has been struggling to make sure it gets the point across correctly. “It is very, very difficult to get the wording

exactly right,” Cox said in a telephone interview. “We expect the 2009 H1N1 virus to be around for a long time. It is a complex kind of message.”

Risk communications expert Peter Sandman says WHO and other public health agencies will be keen to make clear that influenza is unpredictable.

“Whether they declare that we are in the post-peak phase or not, it will be very important for them to say that the decision is tentative,” Sandman said in a telephone interview. “Either they will be saying that it looks like we are in a in post-peak phase but don’t let down your guard because there could be another wave...or they are going to say it is a little early to declare it post-peak and we are going to wait,” he added.

Adding to the difficulty, H1N1 caused at worst a moderate pandemic, in terms of numbers. Seasonal influenza kills 250,000 to 500,000 people globally and 36,000 people in the United States alone every year.

WHO has no global estimates but the CDC projects that H1N1 has killed up to 17,000 people. It also appears to have displaced seasonal influenza, at least for the time being, although that could change at any moment as well. “People were thinking that a pandemic has to be some kind of cataclysmic event. It is a loaded word,” Cox said.

But H1N1 was worse than seasonal flu in some ways.

Ninety percent of victims were children and young adults, in contrast to seasonal flu, whose toll is usually largely among the frail elderly. And it hit during spring, summer and autumn months in the northern hemisphere, when there is usually little or no flu activity.

Nonetheless, the nature of the pandemic has created a load of skeptics, Sandman said. “We came into the pandemic with a very high expectation of deadliness. We are going to come into the next pandemic with a very low expectation of deadliness,” Sandman said. “And the next pandemic could be next week.

Whatever it is, it is going to be incredibly hard to get people to take it seriously.” — Reuters

Falklands ‘black gold’ hopes may be inflated

By Delphine Dechaux

C

ontroversial drilling operations may have started off the Falklands Islands but oil is unlikely to be extracted for years and hopes of discovering 60 billion barrels are too optimistic, analysts say.

Eight years after the islands’ government auctioned off oil exploration licences, a consortium of three small British companies started drilling in the waters of the South Atlantic on Monday. The move has raised tensions between Britain and Argentina, which still claims sovereignty over the islands and lost a short but bloody war against British troops in 1982.

Anticipation of a massive find of “black gold” is high, making the drilling by British companies a highly contentious issue for Argentina. It is furious at the prospect of being excluded from a potential oil boom in waters it considers its own - the Falklands lie 450 km off the Argentine coast.

Desire Petroleum, a relative minnow in the oil world, is the first into the fray, sinking a well at one of at least four sites it says it intends to explore this year.

The consortium has clubbed together to share the huge costs involved in undersea oil exploration, hiring the Ocean Guardian rig, a 25-year-old platform which was towed by tugs almost 13,000 km from Scotland. Rockhopper, another British company, will go next, drilling in the Sea Lion sector.

The rig will then move to the south of the Falklands to drill under the control of Falkland Oil and Gas, which has links to giant Anglo-Australian mining firm BHP Billiton, before returning to the waters north of the islands.

The aim of the drilling is to establish if the promise of deep reserves of oil is well-founded,

but analysts say the British Geological Society’s prediction that 60 billion barrels might be found is almost certainly inflated. “I think it is very difficult to estimate before they actually start drilling,” Juliette Kerr, a London-based analyst from IHS Cera, told AFP. “But I think that the speculation of up to 60 billion barrels does seem rather over-optimistic.”

David Hart of Westhouse Securities said production was “probably about three years away”. “As far as the 60 billion barrels, I’d say that is optimistic although there are some very large prospects in the Southern Basin which are in the multi-billion barrel range each,” he said.

“The important point to keep in mind is that the commercial threshold for a discovery is a fraction of the 60 billion barrel estimate.”

The companies involved in the exploration are also keeping their expectations in check.

Desire Petroleum is hoping to extract three billion barrels, while Rockhopper puts its expectations at a modest one billion barrels. It is not the first time oil has been found off the Falklands Shell discovered oil in 1998 but extracting it proved unprofitable.

But with oil prices now five times higher than in the late 1990s, there is a strong incentive for a fresh exploration attempt. Other analysts warn that the diplomatic tensions raised by the drilling could hamper the project, although JBC Energy consultancy in Vienna said the risk of a fresh conflict over the islands “seems highly unlikely”. Robert Munks, an analyst from IHS Jane’s, said that while Argentina might take retaliatory measures such as trade sanctions, “such tensions would not lead to any prospect of renewed, large-scale military hostilities between the United Kingdom and Argentina.”— AFP

NEWS

14

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Saudi stands trial over Jakarta hotel bombings JAKARTA: A Saudi man went on trial in Indonesia yesterday accused of financing twin suicide bombings on luxury hotels in Jakarta last year that killed seven people. Al Khelaiw Ali Abdullah, 54, “provided assistance and facilities to the terrorists by way of giving or lending money, things, or other wealth,” according to the indictment.

Prosecutor Totok Bambang said the defendant, who was arrested shortly after the July 17 attacks on the JW Marriott and RitzCarlton hotels, provided the funding that pushed the plot into an operational phase.

Attack ringleader Noordin Mohammed Top, who was killed by police in September, told one of the suicide bombers to prepare for death after the money arrived from the Middle East, the indictment says.

Ali Abdullah strongly rejected the allegations as he arrived at the South Jakarta courthouse, saying he had wanted to start an Internet business in Indonesia and had no intention of funding terrorism. “I’m not a terrorist and I don’t know any terrorists,” he told AFP outside the court. “I came to Indonesia to relax, be healthy and to start a computer business. I don’t know anything

about Al-Qaeda. Many of my relatives in Saudi Arabia are police and we fight terrorists.”

Wearing a pink shirt and walking with a cane, he said he had given 54 million rupiah ($5,800) to a man called Iwan Herdiansyah to start an Internet cafe and computer retail shop. He admitted to meeting Syaifudin Zuhri, the alleged operational commander of the hotel attacks who was killed by police in October, but denied giving him any money or knowing anything about the bomb plot.

The indictment says Iwan gave 2.8 million rupiah of the Saudi’s money to Zuhri in four installments. If found guilty he faces up to 15 years’ jail.

Defence lawyer Asludin Hatjani said the prosecution had no evidence and called for the charges to be thrown out. “Does it mean that anyone who opens a business here to make a profit is said to be assisting in a terrorist act? The defendant had no intention to assist in a terrorist act,” he said in response to the charges. Police have said they are investigating whether funding for the attacks came from Al-Qaeda, which has allegedly financed previous attacks linked to

Noordin and regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

Analysts believe Al-Qaeda would be a likely source if the funding came from abroad but police have not confirmed any connection between the hotel blasts and Saudi-born Osama bin L aden’s network. Al-Qaeda allegedly financed the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, and Noordin’s first major operation, a 2003 truck bombing of the Jakarta Marriott that killed 12.

Prosecutors said Ali Abdullah worked with Zuhri and Noordin’s alleged driver, Amir Abdillah, to channel funds to the plotters.

Abdillah is standing trial in separate proceedings for his alleged role in the attacks.

Another suspect, prominent Islamist blogger Mohammed Jibril Abdurahman, went on trial Tuesday charged with concealing information about a terrorist act and falsifying a passport which he used to enter Saudi Arabia in Sept 2008. The hotel attacks were the first against Western targets in Indonesia since 2005, when Noordin’s JI splinter group allegedly bombed tourist restaurants on the resort island of Bali, killing 20 people. — AFP

Facebook to capitalize on Arab world growth Continued from Page 1 Those countries are also home to the bulk of Facebook’s Middle Eastern users.

“It’s whether or not we can continue to deliver on the local market experience people expect, but within the rules and regula-

tions” imposed by governments and society, Johnson said. “That’s one of the biggest challenges, is building that side of things.”

Other major Internet companies are also ramping up their operations in the Arab world. In August, Yahoo Inc bought one of the region’s largest online portals, Maktoob,

for an undisclosed sum. Two weeks later, Google Inc launched an online question-andanswer tool it said was designed to boost the amount of Web content available in Arabic. It already offers Arabic-language search pages, and its Blogger publishing platform is popular in the region. — AP

Dubai has 15 new suspects in killing Continued from Page 1 summoned their Israeli ambassadors.

“Friendly nations who have been assisting in this investigation have indicated to the police in Dubai that the passports were issued in an illegal and fraudulent manner,” the Dubai government statement said. It said that pictures on the passports did not correspond to their original owners. In a statement on Monday that European diplomats said was intended as a rebuke to Israel, EU foreign ministers said that the assassination was “profoundly disturbing”. Israel has not denied or confirmed it played any role but its foreign minister said there was nothing to link it to the killing. The United States, Israel’s main ally, has kept silent about the affair.

Mabhouh, born in the Gaza Strip, had lived in Syria since 1989 and Israeli and Palestinian sources have said he played a key role in smuggling Iranian-funded arms to militants in Gaza. A Hamas official and Israel have also said he masterminded the capture and killing of two Israeli soldiers during a Palestinian uprising in the 1980s.

Like last week, Dubai police released passport photos and closed-circuit television footage of the new suspects, who police said arrived from cities including Zurich, Paris, Rome, Milan and Hong Kong. “This was to take the camouflage and deception to its utmost level and to guarantee the avoidance of any security supervision or observation of their movements,” the statement said. Once their part in the operation was completed, the suspects again dispersed to different parts of the world, with two suspects leaving Dubai by boat for Iran, it said.

Dubai police also released credit card details of some of the suspects. At least 13 credit cards used to book hotel rooms and pay for air travel were issued by the same small US bank. They were MasterCard cards issued by Meta Financial Group Inc, a lender based in Storm Lake, Iowa, that operates under the name MetaBank. A MetaBank

spokeswoman, ShaRee Schnitker, declined to comment because the bank is “trying to confirm the accuracy of statements by the press”.

Dubai police tied MetaBank to another American company, Payoneer Inc, which provides prepaid MasterCards issued by MetaBank and other lenders. The role of the privately held company, which is based in New York and has a research and development center in Tel Aviv, was not immediately clear. “We are aware of the news reports,” Mary Kae Marinac, a spokeswoman for Payoneer, said in an emailed statement. “We are cooperating with the bank and the authorities to explore the matter.”

Dubai authorities say other members of the team used credit cards issued by Germany’s DZ Bank AG and two financial institutions with British links, Nationwide Building Society in Swindon, England, and IDT Financial Service Ltd. based in Gibraltar. A DZ Bank official declined comment. A Nationwide spokesman said: “We are investigating the reports and have no further comments to make at this point.” IDT could not be immediately reached for comment.

Israel’s Ynet news website said it had tracked down a person with the same name as one of the suspects living in Tel Aviv. “I am in shock from what I just heard. This is an identity theft. I cannot believe it,” Adam Marcus Korman, an Australian-born Israeli, told the website.

Several other names listed as suspects by Dubai police were similar to those of people listed in the Israeli telephone directory, including two named as British passport holders. Reuters was not immediately able to contact any of those people.

The 10-minute compilation of video surveillance provided by police shows several suspects arriving to Dubai International airport. In other segments, a man and a woman are seen entering a hotel lobby and exiting an elevator, looking like a young couple on a holiday.

Another couple, dressed in formal clothes, is seen walking through a hotel lobby.

Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed that the six additional suspects Dubai police allege were involved in the slaying of the Hamas operative carried British passports. “We will seek to make contact with these individuals and offer consular assistance as we have the previous individuals,” a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said on condition of anonymity in line with government policy. “The foreign secretary and others have made clear we expect full Israeli co-operation,” the spokeswoman added. In Dublin a foreign ministry spokesman said all the genuine Irish passport holders whose passport numbers had been used had been contacted. “The investigation is ongoing and we cannot rule out the possibility of further developments,” he said.

The new suspects were identified as: Ivy Brinton, Anna Shuana Clasby and Chester Halvey, on Irish passports; David Bernard LaPierre, Melenie Heard and Eric Rassineux, on French passports; and Bruce Joshua Daniel, Nicole Sandra Mccabe and Adam Korman on Australian passports. British officials offered slightly different spellings for the names of those accused of traveling with British passports: Gabriella Barney, Philip Carr, Mark Sklar, Stephen Keith Drake, Daniel Schnur, Roy Cannon.

Two Palestinians suspected of providing logistical support were in detention and Dubai’s police chief has said he believes the operation could not have been carried out without information from inside Hamas on Mabhouh’s travel details. An official from the movement was quoted as saying last week that Hamas had launched an investigation to try to discover “how the Mossad was able to carry out the operation”. Mossad is believed to have stepped up covert missions against Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia as well as Iran’s nuclear project. Mabhouh’s killing was the third high profile murder in less than two years in trade and tourism hub Dubai, one of seven emirates in the UAE federation, where violent crime is rare. — Agencies

Amman sheds staid image Continued from Page 1 big hotels,” said the public relations executive as she listened to live jazz at Canvas, an upscale restaurant in a historical district of the capital.

Actor Nabil Sawalha, who owned a nightclub called the Cart Wheel in the 1980s, has also noted the difference.

“Many years ago, there were very limited places to go out in the city,” Sawalha told AFP. “A few people could afford to go out for partying or dancing once or twice a month. We used to do so and return home by midnight. But now things have changed and partying has become a lifestyle for young people,” he said.

A decade ago, the upmarket west Amman neighbourhood of Abdun was lined exclusively with embassies and the stately villas of the city’s old wealth and newly rich. But the streets now share space with restaurants and cafes sprouting up to cater to a young clientele eager for a taste of Western-style leisure. Even places in the heart of Amman’s old district, like Rainbow Street, have undergone a facelift, where venues with names like Wild Jordan, Books@cafe and La Calle now draw an intellectual and Bohemian crowd.

Driving luxury cars and sporting the latest fashions, many of these young, affluent Jordanians gather almost every night at the chic new spots. “We are still a conservative country, but people here are becoming more and more interested in nightlife entertainment,” said Hassan AlHassan, co-owner of a newly opened nightclub, Upstairs, in the Abdun district

with partner Khaled Naffaa.

Beer bottles in hand, the two men mingle with clients, including young women in tight jeans and high heels joyfully swinging to the hip rhythms. “I see a future for this kind of business and lifestyle here,” Hassan said. “Those who don’t visit Jordan would be surprised that we do have a nightlife.” The two clubbersturned-businessmen, both in their early 30s who graduated with finance and economics degrees from US universities, said their establishment pulls in around 300 customers a night, each spending between $70-$140.

A short distance away a crowd of 20 and 30 somethings queued up despite winter temperatures outside the popular club 51, negotiating with bouncers manning the door. “It’s very cold, but it’s the weekend and I feel like going out and having fun,” said Yasmin, 25. Inside, the young clients sipped on drinks or danced under dim lights to deafening techno. “We have tough competition in Amman and we are trying to provide customers with the best,” said Ziad Akkawi, 36. He owns 51 and five other clubs and restaurants in Amman that he said attract an average 800 people a night, each spending about $55. “We need to keep coming up with new ideas to maintain and develop our customers,” he said.

He and other industry sources estimate there are about 5,000 potential clubbers to woo each night in Amman. “The new generation has brought new phenomena from the West, created a new atmosphere and started to steadily break free

from old traditions and Amman’s old image as a quiet city,” sociologist Seri Nasser of the University of Jordan told AFP. Jordan, however, is still a largely conservative country. And though alcohol is not forbidden - as in some Muslim states industry sources complain that businesses that want to serve alcohol have a harder time getting permits. “I think there is an internal struggle in society between conservatives and those who consider themselves influenced by the Western lifestyle,” said Naffaa, co-owner of Upstairs. His partner Hassan said that Amman should not be compared to the racier Beirut, where “the mentality, lifestyle and culture are different”.

Yet even devout Muslims, who generally avoid hangouts that serve alcohol, have found a way of joining the party spirit, gathering at restaurants and notably the ubiquitous shisha bars in both affluent and poorer districts of the city. Young men and veiled women, most sporting smart Western fashions, pack into these spots every evening, taking drags of flavoured tobacco from elaborate water pipes.

“I don’t go to clubs because they serve alcohol, which is against Islam, and because they make me feel uncomfortable,” said Hend, 30, sitting with friends at the Jara cafe near the city centre. “They are expensive too, but for my shisha and tea or coffee, I pay 10 dinars ($14) or less.” “I like to go to cafes downtown. They are quiet and I can have my cup of tea and shisha in peace,” she said. — AFP

AMMAN: Saudi Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz (right) and Queen Rania of Jordan (second right) unveil a plaque during the opening ceremony of the Arab Open University, Jordan branch, yesterday. — AFP

Hamas founder’s son was top Israeli agent Continued from Page 1 Hamas insider assisted the killers.

Hamas, however, claimed it was suspicious of Yousef’s activities for years, and had kept a close eye on him to prevent him from gathering valuable information.

His father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founder of the Islamic militant group in the 1980s and still a senior figure, issued a statement through his lawyer saying his son had been “blackmailed” by Israeli authorities during a stint in jail in 1996.

“Mosab was never an active member of Hamas in any capacity, either in the political or armed wing,” he said in the statement.

Mosab Yousef, dubbed “the Green Prince” by his handlers, told the Haaretz daily that he was one of Israeli intelligence’s most valuable sources in Gaza. His reports led to the arrests of several highranking Palestinian figures during the violent Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule that began in 2000, the newspaper said.

The younger Yousef converted to Christianity and moved to California in 2007.

Hamas officials rejected the Haaretz report as propaganda meant to divert attention from the Dubai assassination. The elder Yousef said in his statement that when Hamas concluded Israel was extorting his son, “the members of the movement were

warned about him”. It said he was placed “under the supervision” of his father, whom it described as a politician uninvolved in militant activities. The elder Yousef is currently serving a six-year sentence in an Israeli prison for his political activities.

Collaboration with Israel is tantamount to treason in Palestinian society and can be punishable by death. In his Facebook posting, Yousef told his friends his story “will blow your minds away. It is going to be like a tsunami in the Middle East” and “will spread like a wildfire”. His book plug describes Yousef’s journey as one that “jeopardized Hamas, endangered his family, and threatened his life”. The book’s publisher, Tyndale House Publishers, which prints books with Christian themes, confirmed the details in the Haaretz report.

Yousef told Haaretz that Israeli intelligence agents first approached him in prison in 1996 and proposed he infiltrate the upper echelons of Hamas. He did so and is credited by Israel with saving hundreds of Israeli lives. Yousef told the paper he hoped to send a message of peace to Israelis, though he remained pessimistic about prospects for ending the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

He had particularly sharp comments for Hamas, the Iranian-backed movement that seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 and has been branded a terrorist organization

by Israel and the West.

“Hamas cannot make peace with the Israelis. That is against what their God tells them. It is impossible to make peace with infidels,” he told Haaretz. He claimed, however, that his relationship with his handlers helped thwart an Israeli plan to assassinate his father. The Shin Bet internal intelligence agency declined comment.

But Haaretz published comments by a former official it said was Yousef’s former handler. “So many people owe him their life and don’t even know it,” said the handler, identified in Yousef’s book only as Capt Loai. He described one incident in which “the Green Prince” tracked a wouldbe suicide bomber in the West Bank town of Ramallah, enabling agents to arrest the attacker. “This was an almost daily thing for the Prince,” he told the newspaper.

“He displayed courage, had sharp antennae and an ability to cope with danger.”

The techniques described in the report - recruiting a potential agent in jail and targeting a family member of a valuable target - are believed to be common tactics used by the agency. The dramatic defection of someone of Yousef’s stature is a huge setback to Hamas, says Martin Kramer, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center, a conservative Jerusalem think tank. “This obviously is the sort of thing that makes Hamas wonder whether there aren’t still more informers in their ranks,” he said.— Agencies

Amir congratulated on national holidays Continued from Page 1 HH Sheikh Sabah, on his part, expressed similar greetings with senior state officials, hoping that all would work for the benefit of the people living in Kuwait.

The US Secretary of State also extended congratulations on behalf of President Barack Obama to Kuwait, describing Kuwait as an “indispensable ally and friend.” In a statement, Hillary Clinton said “on behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Kuwait as you celebrate your national day on February 25.”

She added that “this is an occasion to honor Kuwait’s history and culture, as well as the many achievements of the Kuwaiti people.” Clinton shed light on the bilateral relations between the two countries, saying “the United States and Kuwait have long enjoyed a broad partnership built on mutual respect and mutual interest, and today those bonds are stronger than ever”.

“We are working together on matters of common concern and shared responsibility, we’re promoting regional security and stability, helping to revitalize the global economy, and seizing the opportunities of the 21st century,” she indicated. She affirmed that Kuwait is an “indispensable

ally and friend, so let me take this opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of the United States to our partnership and I offer my warmest wishes to the Kuwaiti people for a happy holiday and a prosperous year ahead.”

HH Sheikh Sabah also received congratulatory cables from other Arab and world leaders. The leaders expressed sincere wishes for the development and prosperity of the state of Kuwait and its people. Sheikh Sabah sent reply cables to the leaders, thanking them for their honest sentiments and affirmed that Kuwait would continue to bolster cooperation with all nations of the world. — KUNA

Yar’Adua returns, but not to power Continued from Page 1 The two leaders had yet to meet more than 12 hours after Yar’Adua’s return, Information Minister Dora Akunyili told reporters after the cabinet meeting. She said Jonathan had been briefed of Yar’Adua’s return by presidential aides.

Jonathan “hopes to see the wife of the president this evening ...and when he is eventually briefed by our president, he (Jonathan) will call us again,” she said.

The clandestine nature of the president’s return - in the dead of night, after a 93 day absence - did little to reassure the United States about his state of health, Washington expressing concern his return could spark “renewed uncertainty” in the major oil exporter. Recent reports “continue to suggest that President Umaru Yar’Adua’s health remains fragile and that he may still be unable to fulfill the demands of his office,” said Washington’s top envoy to Africa, Johnnie Carson.

“We hope that President Yar’Adua’s return to Nigeria is not an effort by his senior advisors to upset Nigeria’s stability and create renewed uncertainty in the democratic process,” Carson said in a statement released by the US embassy in Lagos. “Nigeria is an extraordinarily important country...those in positions of responsibility should put the health of the president and the best interests of the country and people of Nigeria above personal ambition or gain.”

Sources said that apart from a handful of Yar’Adua’s aides no-one in the government, including Jonathan, knew he would be returning until late on Tuesday, just hours before his arrival from Jeddah.

Yar’Adua’s return is a “conspiracy of a cabal ... who want to foister an ailing president on the country, holding all of us to ransom. We will now have a divided executive,” said political analyst Bayo Okunade of Ibadan University. “It’s not

even the way to run a convent or a monastery,” said Chidi Odinkalu, an Abuja-based political commentator, adding that it was a political squabble that could snowball into a “major national crisis”.

Abdullah Aminchi, Nigeria’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said Yar’Adua needs time to recuperate before assuming presidential powers. “He’s already walking.

He eats. He can move about,” the ambassador said. “I think he just needs some time to rest and he can go back to his work as president of Nigeria.”

Reporters at the presidential villa yesterday caught no glimpse of the president but saw Yar’Adua’s chief aide, Col Onoyveta Mustapha, before a scheduled Cabinet meeting. Mustapha had been one of only a few trusted aides who stayed with and had access to Yar’Adua while he received treatment at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Jeddah.

“A mere press release won’t solve his ability to rule,” said Thompson Ayodele, Executive Director of the Lagos-based Initiative for Public Policy Analysis.

“Nigerians would like to see him addressing them and be seen to be able to perform his required roles. Without that, he risks impeachment.” Many Nigerians were sceptical Yar’Adua would resume office. “Seeing is believing. He’s our president, he should appear on television.

Let’s wait and see,” said civil servant Abolaji Habib, 49, in Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city. Analysts say those close to Yar’Adua, including his powerful wife Turai, have been worried by Jonathan’s assertive behaviour since he assumed executive powers two weeks ago and wanted the president back quickly, raising the prospect of a power tussle.

The Senate was due to vote later yesterday on a proposed constitutional amendment to restrict the period a president can spend away from office and

make it mandatory for him to inform parliament each time he leaves the country.

Earlier yesterday, an AFP correspondent saw two planes land in succession - one of them believed to be an air ambulance amid heavy security at the presidential wing of the international airport in Abuja.

The president was taken ill last November and flown out to Jeddah for treatment for pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane protecting the heart. He has not been seen in public since then and has only given one brief interview. As Yar’Adua had made no provision for who takes charge during his stay in Saudi Arabia, his lengthy absence from Africa’s most populous country caused major disquiet both at home and abroad.

Some of the tension was eased when parliament voted on Feb 9 to hand over power to Jonathan. He moved swiftly to assert his authority, including effecting a cabinet reshuffle. Yar’Adua’s loyalists were initially reluctant for a transfer to be formalised but a split emerged in cabinet ranks as international powers, including the European Union and United States, voiced their unease.

Health problems are nothing new for Yar’Adua. During Yar’Adua’s 2007 presidential campaign, he left the country two weeks before the vote to receive medical care in Germany after experiencing what he described as a shortness of breath. His absence sparked enough concern then that outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo even made a telephone call to Yar’Adua during a political rally to ask his candidate: “Umaru, are you dead?” Despite those health concer ns, Yar’Adua became president through an election marred by fraud, intimidation and violence. It marked the first time power was transferred from one elected civilian to another in Nigeria, which became independent from Britain in 1960. — Agencies

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

15

No regrets turning pro at early age, says Wie SINGAPORE: US golf star Michelle Wie said yesterday she had made the right decision to turn professional at the age of 16 and could not envision a different path for her career.

“I don’t imagine my life any other way. You know, I turned pro young, I do realise that, but I like my life like that,” said Wie, when asked at a news conference here if she had made the right decision. “I think I made the right decision.

I’ve enjoyed myself,” she said.

The onetime golf prodigy, who turned 20 in October last year, turned professional with great fanfare at 16 but her insistence on testing herself against men’s fields drew criticism as well as attention.

She suffered through highly public struggles with her game as well as a debilitating wrist injury in 2007, but finally earned her LPGA Tour card in qualifying school in December 2008.

Wie’s long wait for her first LPGA

title finally ended when she triumphed at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico with a twoshot victory.

The victory was a long-awaited milestone for Wie, who shot to prominence when she qualified for a US Golf Association event at the age of 10 and played an LPGA tournament when she was 12.

Since joining the women’s tour she has gone from strength to strength and has also emerged as a star at the Solheim Cup, where she was unbeaten in four matches.

Wie, who is making her first appearance at the HSBC Women’s Champions tournament in Singapore starting today, said taking a different approach to the game has helped her mentally.

“Well, two years ago, I wasn’t really healthy. So I think it’s just changes in the mental attitude in how I approach the game in general, how I approach, how I

see things,” said Wie. “I feel like I was so stuck in the past and the future, where I was worried about what I did in the past and worried about where I was going to be in the future that I was so lost.

“I think now I’m just trying to focus on the present and what I can do right now. And I think that it changed a lot of how I see the game.”

Meanwhile, world No.1-ranked Lorena Ochoa will have to fend off a strong field if she’s to win her first tournament of the year at the $1.3 million HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore from today.

All but one of the top 25 female golfers — No. 8 Paula Creamer is injured — will tee off at the Tanah Merah Country Club, including last year’s winner and world No. 2 Jiyai Shin of South Korea.

“I’m here to play my best and I would like to continue to stay at the top,” said

Ochoa, a 28-year-old Mexican. “The competition is getting tougher and tougher every year.”

The LPGA — which expects to host 26 events this year, two fewer than last year — is hoping American star Michelle Wie will draw fans in her first appearance in Singapore. The tournament’s purse is down from $2 million last year.

“It’s one of the best tournaments of the year,” Wie said. “The competition is fierce, the golf course is great and the weather is good.” Japan’s Ai Miyazato will be looking to carry some winning momentum from her victory at the season-opening LPGA Thailand on Sunday, where she edged Norway’s Suzann Pettersen.

“I was really happy that I could win last week and I got off to a really good start,” Miyazato said. “I’m really excited about this week.” Locals will be cheering on 16year-old Joey Poh, who qualified by winning an amateur tournament. — Agencies

Mickelson aims for better putting SCOTTSDALE: Twice champion Phil Mickelson has challenged himself to regain his putting touch when he returns to very familiar surrounds for this week’s Phoenix Open at the TPC Scottsdale.

Mickelson, who attended the nearby Arizona State University, has been frustrated after striking the ball well in his first three PGA Tour events this year without making the most of his opportunities on the greens.

“It takes a lot of momentum out of you when you keep hitting it to eight, 10, 12 feet and you keep missing the putts,” the world number three told reporters in the build-up to Thursday’s opening round.

“I’ll get that turned around. I know that when I got it turned around last year things started falling in place. “I don’t feel like it’s far off,” added the American, who has finished 19th, joint 45th and tied for eighth in his first tournaments of the season.

Asked to assess his first three weeks on the 2010 PGA Tour, Mickelson replied: “They weren’t what I had hoped for.

“But they gave me a good idea of what I need to work on for the near term and the rest of the year. I’m starting to hit the ball very well.”

Mickelson has been a regular competitor at the Phoenix Open since appearing for the first time as an amateur in 1989, and he won the event in 1996 and 2005.

Hugely popular with the fans, he has long relished the closing stretch on Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, which features the infamous par-three 16th, the noisiest hole in golf.

Thousands of spectators cram into the bleachers and sky boxes surrounding the 162-yard hole, many more swarming across the grassed hill that faces the green.

“The last few holes here always provide a feeling we don’t get at other tour events and it’s really special now with 16 essentially surrounded by seating,” Mickelson said.

American JB Holmes, who won the tournament in 2006 and 2008, echoed Mickelson’s sentiments. “It’s a phenomenal experience,” said Holmes. “But it’s hard for club selection because you’ve got adrenalin pumping and the wind, and you do have 20,000 or 30,000 people yelling at you.”

Others competing at the TPC Scottsdale include British world number five Ian Poulter, who won the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at Dove Mountain on Sunday, and eighth-ranked German Martin Kaymer.

PGA Tour veteran Kenny Perry defends the title he won in a playoff with fellow American Charley Hoffman last year. — Reuters

SINGAPORE: Michelle Wie of the US smiles as she walks to the green during a practice session ahead of the HSBC Women’s Championship golf tournament in Singapore. — AFP

Stefan GP expect to race in Bahrain

Kuwait Intl. Bank team

NBK team

CBK team

KBC soccer concludes KUWAIT: The sixth week of the soccer league annually organized by the Kuwaiti Banks Club (KBC) between local bank teams was recently concluded with very exciting matches, said

KFH team

KBC’s board member and chairman of the sports committee, Mohammed Al-Mail. Al-Mail explained that the week’s matches results were 1-0 for Kuwait International Bank against Boubyan

Bank, the same for CBK v/s BKME, 2-0 for KFH against Industrial Bank, 1-0l for NBK against Burgan Bank and 7-0 for Gulf Bank against Al-Ahli Bank.

Gulf Bank team

BELGRADE: Stefan GP boss Zoran Stefanovic still believes his team will be on the grid at Formula One’s first race of the season in Bahrain next month despite not having a 2010 entry and having to cancel a test.

New teams Campos and US F1, who do have entries, are facing a race against time to be ready for March 14 with the American outfit looking very unlikely to compete in Bahrain.

Governing body the International Automobile Federation (FIA) has said teams will breach regulations if they miss a race, leaving Serbian Stefanovic hopeful that Stefan GP can jump in.

“Definitely, we are waiting for something to happen because the time is very short and the deadline for Bahrain is approaching,” the businessman told Reuters yesterday.

“If you are going to Bahrain you have to be packed by next Wednesday and we think we will be able to reach something by then.” Asked if the team could join F1 later in the year, he added: “Technically it’s possible but we are going to be in Bahrain. We are not saying it’s for sure, but we are looking forward to it.”

Stefan GP are in the same position as Campos and US F1 because they have not signed a second driver and have not tested their car. A planned test in Portugal this week had to be cancelled because of the lack of a tyre deal.

“We have been unable to get the Formula One tyres because the FIA and Formula One have a contract stipulating that only the teams that are already in Formula One can get the Bridgestone tyres,” Stefanovic said.

“We believe the FIA has to release the proper tyres to us for safety reasons. We expect it to happen and we have very good faith that it is going to happen.”

Stefanovic’s team have a technical assistance deal with Toyota, who quit Formula One last year but had already designed a 2010 car. Stefan GP are using their car and Cologne factory.

Driver Kazuki Nakajima has already signed while the team are talking to former world champion Jacques Villeneuve, although the Canadian has played down the chances of a deal. “It’s not happened yet but everything except his signature had been done,” Stefanovic said. “Probably in the next two or three days, we will be reaching some sort of an agreement.” F1 commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has offered help as Stefanovic aims to make Serbia obsessed with the sport.

“I’ve been involved in engineering in the last five years and I’ve been interested in Formula One for a long time. I think Bernie supports everyone and I think he supports us because we are pushing for it. We are working, not talking,” he said.

“The impact will be huge and a lot of people in Serbia don’t realise that yet. The positive image of Serbia being a part of Formula One is something any country would wish for, so it’s a plus one way or another. Also, it’s a huge opportunity to get into high-tech business.”— Reuters

SPORTS

16

From left: Sheikh Talal Al-Fahad, Dr Mohammed Al-Afasi and other officials during the launching ceremony held in Salwa Hall on Tuesday.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Part of the musical show.

Sixth Kuwait Table -Tennis Championship kicks off

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The launching ceremony for the Sixth Kuwait International Table Tennis Championship (Salwa Cup) was held on Tuesday at Salwa Hall. The Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Dr. Mohammed Al-Afasi, officially launched the championship with a speech where he wished success to all the participants. “The Salwa Cup has improved much since its first year and is a great sports achievements,” he added.

The ceremony included a magnificent laser show and a short documentary about the tournament. The laser show was followed by a poem presented by Yousef AlShati and a song by Marwa.

Five young citizens also performed a short play about Kuwait’s past and current history. The show concluded with a song by the young Ahmad Al-Huraibi and a folklore dance by a group of young girls in traditional dresses.

Sheikh Talal Al-Fahad, head of the tournaments organizing committee, promised to make the next version of the Salwa Cup different. “The organizing committee decided to make the Salwa Cup the first championship based on international standards. I promise that future prizes for the competition will be higher. Also, there will be further surprises in the seventh version

of the Salwa Cup. I would like to thank all those who have worked on this tournament,” he noted.

The opening ceremony was also attended by the Deputy Chairman for Sports Affairs at the Public Authority for Youth and Sports (PAYS), Homoud Fletih, head of the Kuwait Table Tennis Federation, Mohammed Al-Matouq and other guests.

Egyptian teams excel Kuwait’s players in the men’s single category were not lucky in the preliminary stages of the tournament. Kuwaiti Ali AlHasan lost to Iranian player Nushad AlAmyan 4/0 the result of the matches were: 11/6, 11/6, 10/12, and 13/15.

Also, Kuwaiti player Mohammed Ashour lost to Egypt’s Emad Masilhi 4/0.

The result of the matches were: 11/4, 11/4, 11/5, and 11/5.

Salim Al-Hasan lost to Hungarian player Daniel Cosiba 4/2. The result of the matches were: 11/7, 10/12, 11/5, 9/11, 11/8, and 11/4.

The Kuwait player Abdullah Al-Mikemi lost to the Bulgarian Stanislav Golofanof 4/0. The result of the matches were: 11/9, 11/7, 11/5, and 13/15. Also, Mansour AlAnezi lost to Iran’s Mohammed Ridha 4/0.

The result of the matches were: 11/5, 11/9, 11/4, and 11/3.

Saudi players did quite well this round.

The laser show.

Khalid Al-Harbi beat Austrian player Matiz Habishone 4/1. The result of the matches were: 9/11, 9/11, 6/11, 11/2, and 5/11.

The Saudi player Abdulaziz Al-Abd beat Ukrain’s Oleg Vilingo 4/1. The result of the matches were: 9/11, 9/11, 7/11, 11/13, and 8/11.

Saudi player Kareen Al-Ghamdi lost to Somya Deeb Roy, form India, 4/1. The result of the matches were: 4/11, 9/11, 9/11,

11/5, and 11/5. His colleague Nayif Al-Jadi lost to Russian Fiacislav Profo 0/4. The result of the matches were: 11/9, 11/6, 11/6, and 13/11.

Egyptian Mohammed Al-Bili beat Korean Hion Dong Kim 4/0. The result of the matches were: 11/9, 11/7, 11/9, and 14/12. His compatriot, Ahmad Nadeem beat the Indian Somyaget Josha 4/3. The result of the matches were: 11/8, 10/12, 11/7,

11/9, 11/9, 8/11, and 11/3. Omar Al-Attar, also an Egyptian, beat J X Bang from Singapore 4/0. The result of the matches were: 11/9, 11/7, 11/6, and 11/8.

Egyptian Tareq Al-Sabki beat an Indian player 4/1. The result of the matches were: 11/4, 5/11, 5/11, 9/11, and 13/15.

Egyptian player, Mohammed Zaghlool lost to Czech’s Tomas Trigler 4/1. The result of the matches were: 11/7, 11/4, 6/11, 11/6, and 11/4.

Filip Floretz, a German, beat Egypt’s Ali Lasheen 4/1. The result of the matches were: 6/11, 11/5, 11/6, 11/6, and 11/7.

Qatari player Mohammed Abdulwaleed lost to the Czech Michal Obeslo 4/1. The result of the matches were: 11/9, 6/11, 11/3, 13/11, and 11/8.

Nigerian player Qadiri Arona beat Qatari player Ahmad Al-Awlaki 4/0. The result of the matches were: 11/6, 11/5, 11/6, and 11/7.

The Russian player Serji Bratinko beat the Ukrainian Dimitro Bisar 4/3. The result of the matches were: 9/11, 11/8, 7/11, 10/12, 11/4, 11/7, and 11/9.

Iran’s Afsheen Nuruzi beat Taipei’s Hong Shin Sang 4/0. The result of the matches were: 11/7, 11/9, 11/9, and 11/5.

Under-21 category The preliminary stage of the Under-21 category were divided into four groups.

Dina Simkawi Oxyn from Singapore beat Indian Niha Agerwal 3/1.

The result of the matches were: 4/11, 10/12, 11/8 and 9/11. France’s Arori Distant beat India’s Boga Sahasir Aboudi in a set of clear matches.

Korean, Son Chang Mi, beat the Indian Nividia 3/0. The last to play in the women’s category was the Korean Awin Yang Ha. She beat India’s Sumi Mondal 3/0. Nai E from Taipei beat Divia Dischabandi from India 3/1.

The single men’s category under 21 was divided into 8 groups. The Iranian Nushan al Amyan beat Egyptian Mohammed Al-Zaghlool 3/0. Egyptian Omar Al-Attar beat Iran’s Hamid Riza with the same result.

German Philip Floritz beat Kuwaiti Abdulaziz Alsibei. Korean Hiong Kim Dong also beat Kuwaiti Mishari Al-Banay.

Ukranian Dimitri Bisar beat Kuwait’s Jaber Al-Balhan. Indian Somyaget beat the Serbian Igor Damganovitch 3/1.

Egyptian Mohmoud Zaghlool beat the Kuwaiti Mishari Al-Duaij 3/0. Egyptian Tareq Al-Sabki beat the Kuwaiti Khalid AlBaghli 3/0. Hungarian Mati Moritz lost to Hong Shang Son from Taipei. Indian Sanil Sheti beat Iranian Amir Shirahan 3/1. Also, Kuwaiti Abdullah Al-Mikemi lost to J Bang Oxio from Singapore.

Davydenko quits Dubai Open with wrist injury DUBAI: Nikolay Davydenko, the ATP World Tour champion, is a doubt for Russia’s Davis Cup tie against India in Moscow on March 3-5 after retiring from the Dubai Open yesterday with an damaged left wrist.

Davydenko considered pulling out before the tournament after sustaining the injury in a fall while practising in Rotterdam the week before last, but struggled through

his first round Tuesday before losing one set to Michael Berrer, by 6-3, yesterday and calling it a day.

It was another blow for the popular two-million-dollar tournament from which Rafael Nadal, who has long-term fitness issues, is missing this year, and from which Roger Federer withdrew on Sunday with a chest infection.

It was no surprise, for Davydenko had been making

many uncharacteristic mistakes, especially with the double-handed backhand drive.

“I thought about quitting before the match, but in practice this morning I was okay,” said Davydenko. “Playing a match is different, though.

“I need to return faster, and it starts to get swollen and I have more pain. I was thinking about it: it was too much for me, it gets too

DUBAI: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic serves to his compatriot Viktor Troicki during their match in the second round of the ATP Dubai Open.—AFP

risky now, and it’s better to retire.

“I enjoy coming to Dubai so I am disappointed at what’s happened. And I don’t know if I can play in the Davis Cup.” Davydenko’s discomfort had looked significantly greater than it had while beating Florent Serra of France in three sets in the first round on Tuesday.

He frequently over-hit, soon dropped his serve to go 1-3 down, and was unable to break back against Berrer, a powerful lefthander who had a heavy serve and a liking for coming to the net.

Near the end Davydenko came to the net himself, found himself obliged to play a high backhand volley, and netted it awkwardly. It became evident then that he was no longer fit enough to make any impression on the match.

But Berrer, the world number 56, also pronounced himself disappointed. “I thought I could win anyway,” he said. “At the moment I am self-confident. My way of playing hurts a lot of guys,” he said, giving much of the credit for his positive frame to his new coach, Claude Pistolesi.

“In Germany you are a little bit more self-critical, and doubt yourself more than in other countries.

He (Pistolesi) has helped me and given me more aggressive thinking,” said Berrer, who beat Sergiy Stakhovsky in the first round, and now looks likely to achieve his short-term goal of reaching the top 50.

“I have other goals too,” the 29-year-old from Stuttgart said.

“But I keep those in my heart.”

His quarter-final match on Thursday is against Marcos Baghdatis, the former Australian Open finalist from Cyprus, or Somdev Devvarman, the Indian qualifier. Later two more of the front-runners, Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic, had to work hard to make it into the quarter-finals.—AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: Elena Dementieva of Russia returns the ball to Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia during their tennis match at the WTA Malaysian Open.—AP

Elena in Malaysia Open q-finals KUALA LUMPUR: First seed Elena Dementieva of Russia cruised into the quarter-finals at the Malaysian Open yesterday with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski.

The convincing victory was wrapped up in one hour eleven minutes after Jovanovski committed a series of unforced errors.

Dementieva’s hopes of winning the tournament were boosted by an early exit of second seed Li Na of China on Tuesday.

Earlier, fourth seed Alisa Kleybanova of Russia advanced to the quarter-finals by defeating compatriot Alla Kudryavtseva.

In another second round match, Australia’s Anastasia Rodionova ousted Ekaterina Ivanova of Russia 6-2, 6-2 in just over 60 minutes to roll on, while Japan’s Ayumi Morita crushed China’s Yan Zi 6-2, 6-1 in one hour 13 minutes.

A delighted Kleybanova attributed her win to her strong serves and her ability to remain calm in the blistering tropical heat.

“I am happy I won the match. I had to be mentally strong to survive the heat,” she told reporters.

“I have always won against her (Kudryavtseva). But it was a tough fight. I just

kept my focus on the game to win every point.”

“My serve was good today. It gave me confidence in the match and mentally I was very strong. I was fighting (for every point) until the end,” Kleybanova added.

The cool Kleybanova won 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-4

in three hours. Kleybanova will play against Rodionova in the quarter-finals.

“I have never played against her but I will be mentally prepared amid the hot weather.

(The heat) will make play tough for everybody,” she added. —AFP

Karlovic, Becker advance at Delray Beach DELRAY BEACH: Second-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia and third-seeded Benjamin Becker of Germany won firstround matches at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships on Tuesday. Seventh-seeded James Blake, a 2008 Delray Beach finalist, fought until after midnight to take a 6-1, 3-6, 5-3 lead over fellow American Taylor Dent. But he couldn’t take advantage of three match points before rain suspended the match at deuce.

Play is scheduled to resume late yesterday with Dent poised to eliminate the seventh-seeded Blake. The 2.05-meter (6-foot10) Karlovic is known for his big serving, so he was not impressed with only posting 19 aces in his 6-3, 7-6 (3) win over Philipp Petzschner of Germany.

“I don’t know what happened today,” said the 33rd-ranked Karlovic. “Disappointing.

Only 19 aces. No good.” Becker ousted 2008 Delray Beach champion Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 1-6, 6-0.

Becker took control in the third set to earn the win, saving one break point at 30-40 in the fifth game. Two-time Delray Beach champion Xavier Malisse of Belgium fell to fourth-seeded Jeremy Chardy of France 6-3, 7-6 (5), while Germany’s Florian Mayer, seeded sixth, was too good for Australia’s Nick Lindahl, winning 6-4, 6-1.

Defending champion Mardy Fish appeared in danger of being bounced from the tournament, but moved into the second round when Christophe Rochus of Belgium retired with a bad back at 5-7, 6-3, 3-3. —AP

SPORTS

Thursday, February 25, 2010

17

To check or not to check? Women’s hockey debates VANCOUVER: As a 1.62-meter (5foot-4) defenseman who values her safety, Carla MacLeod has strong opinions about the oldest debate in women’s hockey: Would this smooth sport be even better if brutish bodychecking was legal?

“Do we really need to see girls crushing each other?” the smallish Canadian defenseman asked. “I really like my teeth, and I think one day in a wedding photo, having no scars would be a bonus.”

The ban on body checking is the sole significant rule difference between the women’s game and the men’s version, yet it’s a glaring absence for hockey fans who are used to the demolition derbies that happen regularly on the glass in men’s leagues around the world.

Women’s hockey players still are allowed to make contact with each

wouldn’t thrive in that. Our game is a beautiful game the way it is.” Many players say they wouldn’t mind taking hits, and the chief problem with the bodychecking ban is the maddening inconsistency it causes in officiating. Most players don’t know what’s allowed and what’s punishable from game to game — and referee to referee.

Those discrepancies have been obvious even at the Olympic tournament. The German referee who called China’s preliminary-round game against Finland sent the Chinese to the box repeatedly for a string of fairly minor touches, while the Canadian ref in charge of China’s game against Russia two nights later allowed all sorts of slashing, crosschecking and body contact, particularly along the boards.

“I’m always on the wrong end of

other, and it happens regularly along the boards and in the corners. But open-ice hits and thunderous checks into the glass can be penalized with a two-minute minor for bodychecking, leaving the game’s most physical defensemen and forecheckers constantly watching their step.

So could this game use a hit? Most players and coaches say no, but the idea has been debated for two decades, ever since the International Ice Hockey Federation decided to hold its international women’s tournaments without checking.

“I’d love to hit,” said Angela Ruggiero, the 1.75-centimeter (5foot-9) US defenseman who once played in a men’s minor league. “I think I’d completely dominate on the ice if I could. I grew up playing boys’ hockey, and I completely love that aspect of the game, but some players

the stick because I’m stronger and bigger, and people take dives in front of me,” Ruggiero said. “Literally, I have players that will fall in front of me if I get near them, and I have to go to the box. It’s frustrating after you work hard to get faster and stronger. ... I go back and forth. If there was some consistency in reffing, I would be all for it.”

Those inconsistencies are the main reason Canadian coach Melody Davidson was put in the unusual position of advocating for an American referee to be chosen for her team’s gold-medal match against the US team today.

Davidson believes North American officials are more consistent in their interpretation of the bodychecking rule than their European counterparts. American referee Leah Wrazdilo was under

IIHF consideration along with two European officials for the assignment.

“The only thing I like about bodychecking is that it makes the game easier to referee,” said Canada captain Hayley Wickenheiser, who has played in men’s pro leagues in Finland and Sweden.

“That’s why I would have it. From a development level, I think it hurts the game because it would discourage girls from picking up the sport.

At the higher level, it would make things easier, but I like the game without the injuries.

“We’ve got to get up and go to work the next day. There’s not millions of dollars being made here.”

Wickenheiser cites the girls’ leagues all around North American in which checking is banned, making it more likely parents will allow their chil-

dren to stop figure skating and start launching slap shots.

A growing sport can’t afford to give kids any reason to stay away, she reasons. That safety issue extends all the way to the Olympics, where the top players have long-term disability insurance from their national hockey federations — insurance that surely would skyrocket if physical defensemen were allowed to sandwich small forwards into the boards.

“There’s not a value on their careers right now, so how do you get disability insurance?” Davidson asked. “If you’re going to add bodychecking and somebody gets badly hurt, how do you get to a second career? Guys who play checking games have multimillion-dollar insurance policies. None of our girls can get that, so it kind of kills the whole

discussion.”

The Vancouver tournament already is more physical than some women’s events because it’s being played on the narrower North American ice, with a smaller neutral zone and less room to maneuver without contact. When the world’s best players get together, there’s naturally more contact between top athletes.

With no financially significant opportunities for women to play pro hockey, the liability probably ensures the sport will go without hits for now - and that’s just fine with players like 1.52-meter (5-foot) US forward Erika Lawler or MacLeod, a two-time Olympian from Calgary.

“As a smaller player, I really don’t see the benefit in some big girl coming in and railing me,” MacLeod said with a laugh. “I don’t need that in my life.” —AP

Games enthralled by day of raw emotion on the ice

VANCOUVER: Germany’s Melanie Robillard releases the stone to sweepers Corinna Scholz (left) and Monika Wagner in a match against Sweden in women’s curling at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. —AP

Ice maidens raise temperatures VANCOUVER: Take a bevy of beauties.

Throw in a packed and passionate flagwaving crowd. Add ice and sex appeal.

This is the heady mix on offer at the Olympics curling competition, where ice maidens have been sending temperatures soaring as they sweep away the fusty image of the sport and add a dash of glamour.

Whether it’s Scandinavian blondes or Russian stunners, female curlers are turning heads in curling-crazy Canada.

Canadian skipper Cheryl Bernard, 43, told AFP that athletes were now younger and fitter, which had helped to combat the negative image of the sport.

“Curling had such a bad reputation for years, the heavy smoker, drinker. But that has gone by the wayside,” she said.

“I think the fitness is huge. It’s a younger group too, myself excluded. I think it’s kind of evolved and the younger generation that’s coming in is a lot more fit.

“It’s a good thing for the sport. I think it raises it up a level.” Scotland’s young captain Eve Muirhead said she welcomes the focus on the athletes as a way of raising curling’s profile.

“It’s good for the game. There are so many people out there watching the game. There are hundreds of people in

Britain watching us and all these people in Canada. You’ve got to look good out there on the ice and hopefully produce a few good shots,” the 19-year-old blonde said.

“Curling needs a lot of stamina so we’ve done a lot of gym work and fitness right through the summer. You build up a massive fitness level and you need that on the ice for all the sweeping and I suppose the more physically fit you are the more mentally fit you are.”

Moe Meguro, captain of Japan, agrees that the sexy image can do no harm, although she said it was a sideshow. “We are mainly focusing on playing the game,” she said.

Another talking point on the ice at the Vancouver Olympic Centre is Canada’s Kristie Moore, who is five months’ pregnant with her first child. Moore, an alternate on the team, said being pregnant has not affected her ability to curl yet.

“Not so far, I think in about two months’ time I’ll not be able to. But actually, if I’m active I think the baby likes it more.” The male curlers are doing their best to steal a slice of the limelight away from the women.

Canada’s John Morris, 31, was recently named as one of the country’s most eligible bachelors by “Entertainment

Tonight Canada” while US player Chris Plys, 22, was Entertainment Weekly’s Olympic stud of the day.

“There’s nothing wrong with the guys looking good out there, it’s keeping the game a bit more lively,” said Canada’s Bernard.

Like Bernard, Plys said the game is now more athletic. “The Canadian, Norwegian and Swedish teams are all very fit athletes. The game is really changing to be a more athletically geared sport. I try to work out four times a week, a lot of cardio.”

As well as their athletic prowess, Norway have been in the spotlight for their coloured, diamond-patterned golf trousers - made by the same company that supplies US golfer John Daly.

Even the game’s governing body sees positives as a result of the focus on the players, saying the game had grown hugely around the world since it returned to the Olympics in Nagano in 1998.

“Most people are attracted to the sport by the people who play it, not just by the sport,” said Les Harrison, president of the World Curling Federation.

“Showcasing relatively young people is good for the sport and we are always trying to attract a younger demographic.” —AFP

Bond Girl Yuna shows a licence to thrill VANCOUVER: Kim Yuna mimed a pistol firing at the end of her Bond Girl routine and with it a warning shot to her rivals that it will be hard to stop her winning Olympic gold in the women’s figure skating.

The puff of imaginary smoke was almost visible as the South Korean lived up to her top billing in the women’s event with a beguiling short programme that earned a record 78.50 points and gave her a comfortable 4.72 lead over Japan’s Mao Asada.

“You’re beautiful,” yelled one male fan seconds before the medley of James Bond theme music started up, while plenty of others waved home-made banners declaring “Mysterious Bond Girl Yuna” to support the Games’ highest-earning female athlete.

Wearing a short black offthe-shoulder dress studded with thousands of sparkles, the 19-year-old world champion launched her energetic 007 routine with a trademark opening triple Lutz-triple toeloop com-

bination that had the crowd in raptures.

The rest of her jumps were perfect but it was the whirlwind straight-line step sequence to the Bond signature tune where she lived up to one fan’s placard reading “License to thrillQueen Yuna.”

“I’ve been waiting for this for a really long time,” Yuna told reporters. “I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that this is the Olympics.”

Yuna said she had tried not to be distracted by the fact

Olympics medals table VANCOUVER: Olympics medals table after Tuesday’s medal events: United States Germany Norway Canada Switzerland South Korea Austria Russia Sweden Netherlands China France Slovakia

Gold 7 7 6 6 6 5 4 3 3 3 3 2 1

Silver Bronze Total 9 10 26 9 7 23 5 6 17 4 1 11 0 2 8 4 1 10 3 3 10 4 6 13 2 2 7 1 2 6 1 1 5 3 5 10 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

Asada had just “skated perfectly”. The South Korean was already warming up on the ice when her rival’s score of 73.78 flashed up and triggered huge roars of approval from the crowd.

Asada nailed her signature triple Axel-double toeloop combination and had the crowd clapping along during her two step sequences to Khachaturian’s dramatic Waltz Masquerade.

Waiting in the kiss and cry area, the Japanese looked nervous as she waited for her score and then wide-eyed and gapingmouthed when her personal best score came up. The 19year-old Asian pair, born 20 days apart, have been rivals since the moment they first laced up their skates and were expected to provide the ultimate showdown in Vancouver.

“Usually there is more like a 10-point difference,” joked Asada, when asked how she felt about Yuna’s lead. “It would be nice to win gold but before I think about that I need to have a perfect free programme today.”

Canada’s Joannie Rochette is in third on 71.36 after an emotional performance two days after her mother’s sudden death. —Reuters

VANCOUVER: Canada’s Olympic inquisition was put on ice after an extraordinary day of raw emotion at the Vancouver Winter Games on Tuesday.

The planned inquiry into the host-nation’s failure to win an avalanche of gold medals was suddenly forgotten as Canadians experienced joy and relief tinged by grief.

Ashleigh McIvor triumphed in the women’s ski cross to give Canada gold but her victory was overshadowed by the relief of the men’s ice hockey team surviving to fight another day and the brave performance of figure skater Joannie Rochette.

Still grieving after the sudden death of her mother two days ago, Rochette kept her emotions in check long enough to dazzle the crowd with a short programme that left her in third place behind South Korean Kim Yuna and Japan’s Mao Asada at the halfway stage of the ice skating competition.

The Canadian was unable to contain herself when the audience instinctively leapt to their feet to applaud her, as she was left sobbing uncontrollably.

Unable to speak with media, Skate Canada’s high performance director Mike Slipchuk issued a brief statement on her behalf.

“Words cannot describe (how I feel),” she said “(It was a) very nice warm welcome, hard to handle but I appreciate the support.

I’ll remember this forever.”

It was not a day Dutchman Sven Kramer will remember fondly after a blunder by his coach robbed him of the 10,000 metres speedskating gold medal after an inexplicable error.

The world record-holder and white-hot favourite celebrated victory but within seconds of crossing the line he threw his glasses down and kicked the track in fury and frustration after learning he had been disqualified for crossing into the wrong lanewith the fault apparently lying with his coach.

Kramer, who cruised to the 5,000m gold earlier in the Games, sat despondently on a bench, his head down and elbows on his knees before telling reporters: “I am furious. It’s a matter of concentration. Not a concentration failure on my side.

“It was the best 10,000m I have ever skated. I am mad with the coach and I will have a conversation with him.”

It was a rough day for a number of favourites including Austria’s once-dominant Alpine skiers who again missed out on the medals on the Whistler slopes.

As snow and rain swept Olympic venues, Carlo Janka became the first Swiss man to win the Olympic giant slalom gold since 1984 as neighbours Austria, who had dominated the discipline at the last three Olympics, missed out on the podium altogether.

Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud took silver and compatriot Aksel Lund Svindal bagged his third medal of the Games by finishing third. American Bode Miller’s hopes of a fourth medal in four races ended in disappointment when he skied out in the first run.

Canada collected their sixth gold of the Games through McIvor after one of her main rivals, Ophelie David of France, crashed out in an earlier round.

Gold was also decided in the Nordic combined team 4x5 kilometre relay with Austria retaining the title to provide some consolation for their flop in the Alpine disciplines. —Reuters

VANCOUVER: Italy’s Carolina Kostner performs her short program during the women’s figure skating competition at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. —AP

Canada, Russia poised for heavyweight clash VANCOUVER: The race to Olympic gold for superstars Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin heated up late yesterday as Canada and Russia renew their long-standing rivalry in a heavyweight quarter-final clash.

Second seeded Canada beat Germany 8-2 to set up a clash with Russia as Jarome Iginla scored twice and Shea Weber powered a shot clear through the net that was later ruled a goal at Canada Hockey Place arena on Tuesday.

“It is a large stage,” said Canada goaltender Roberto Luongo. “The nerves are there but I think it is a good thing. It keeps you sharp.”

Form held as the top eight teams in the tournament advanced through to the quarterfinals as Canada, the Czechs, Switzerland and Slovakia made is safely out of Tuesday’s qualifying stage.

They will join defending champions Sweden, Russia, USA and Finland in the round of eight.

In late yesterday’s quarter-finals, the Czechs will face Finland, USA plays Switzerland and reigning gold medallist Sweden has booked a date with Slovakia.

“It is going to be a great challenge,” Canada’s Crosby said.

“We all know the rivalry and how intense it is.” Canada and Russia met in the most exciting game of

the 2006 Turin Olympics with Russia coming out on top 2-0.

Another memorable encounter took place in 1992 in Albertville when the Unified Team rallied in the gold medal game to win 3-1.

The entire nation stopped to watch the 1972 Summit Series which featured four games in Canada and four games in the Soviet Union before being eventually won by Canada.

Crosby, Joe Thornton, Mike Richards, Rick Nash and Scott Niedermayer also scored on Tuesday for Canada who have little time to rest up as they bid for the final four.

“From here on in, we are going to have to beat good teams,” said Crosby of Canada which must win three straight to claim their first gold medal since 2002 at the Salt Lake Games.

Eric Staal had three assists for Canada who outshot the Germans 39-23, including 14-4 in the first period. Canadian coach Mike Babcock continues to tinker with the lines as he paired Crosby with Iginla and Staal on Tuesday and it paid big dividends with the trio combining for six points, including three goals.

In the late game Tuesday, Miroslav Satan got the game winner to break the tie in the third as Slovakia survived a scare from world number 11 Norway

to win 4-3 and reach the quarterfinals.

Slovakia’s Lubos Bartecko was stretchered off and had to have stitches to close a cut on his head after he was the victim of an illegal blindside hit in the first period.

Bartecko was tangled up with another Norwegian player when he was checked in the head by Norway’s Ole Kristian Tollefsen and lost his helmet and crashed to the ice.

“It was a really dirty hit,” said Slovakian forward Richard Zednik. “The guy came from the side and tried to take his head off.” David Krejci scored the game winner in overtime as the Czech Republic beat Latvia 3-2.

The Latvians were able to hold Czech star Jaromir Jagr off the scoring sheet on Tuesday.

Jagr played sparingly and had no shots in just 6:03 minutes of playing time.

The former National Hockey League star was the recipient of a open-ice hit from Ovechkin during Russia’s 4-2 win over the Czechs on Sunday.

Martins Cipulis and Krisjanis Redlihs scored for Latvia who are hoping to improve on their previous best Olympic finish, ninth in 2002. Thomas Deruns and Romano Lemm scored in the shootout as Switzerland rallied to beat Belarus 3-2. —AFP

VANCOUVER: Germany goalie Thomas Greiss (1) stretches to block a shot against Canada in the third period of a men’s playoff qualifying round ice hockey game at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Canada won 8-2. —AP

SPORTS

18 ODI highest scores GWALIOR: India’s Sachin Tendulkar became the first man in the 2,962 match history of one-day internationals to make a double century when he scored 200 not out against South Africa here yesterday.

Three Indians-Tendulkar, current

captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and former skipper Sourav Ganguly-are responsible for four of the largest 11 solo one-day international scores while only Tendulkar and West Indies great Vivian Richards feature

Below are the leading individual scores in one-day internationals (score, player, player’s country, opponent, venue, date): 200 no Sachin Tendulkar IND v RSA, GwaliorFeb 24 2010 194 no Charles Coventry ZIM v BAN, Bulawayo Aug 16 2009 194 Saeed Anwar PAK v IND, ChennaiMay 21 1997 189 no Vivian RichardsWIS v ENG, Old Trafford May 31 1984 189 Sanath Jayasuriya SRI v IND, SharjahOct 29 2000 188 no Gary KirstenRSA v UAE, RawalpindiFeb 16 1996 186 no Sachin Tendulkar IND v NZL, Hyderabad Nov 08 1999 183 no Mahendra Dhoni IND v SRI, Jaipur Oct 31 2005 183 Sourav Ganguly IND v SRI, TauntonMay 26 1999 181 no Matthew Hayden AUS v NZL, HamiltoFeb 20 2007 181 Vivian RichardsWIS v SRI, KarachiOct 13 1987

Most ODI Centuries GWALIOR: Scorers of most centuries in one-day international cricket (x-active): 46.................................................x-Sachin Tendulkar, India (442 matches) 29.................................................x-Ricky Ponting, Australia (340) 28.................................................x-Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka (444) 22.................................................Sourav Ganguly, India (311) 21.................................................x-Herschelle Gibbs, South Africa (247) 20.................................................Saeed Anwar, Pakistan (247) 19.................................................x-Chris Gayle, West Indies (210) 19.................................................Brian Lara, West Indies (299) 18.................................................Mark Waugh, Australia (244) 17.................................................Desmond Haynes, West Indies (238) 16.................................................Nathan Astle, New Zealand (223) 16.................................................Adam Gilchrist, Australia (287) 16.................................................x-Jacques Kallis, South Africa (297)

‘Little Master’ smashes ODI record another question how his body was coping, he said: “I feel good that I lasted for 50 overs. A good test of my fitness.

“I would like to bat another 50 overs at some stage and see that the fitness level doesn’t drop.”

Tendulkar plundered runs from the Proteas almost at will with some dazzling cover drives and pull shots.

He’d pick up deliveries from outside the off stump and hit them over mid-on. He smashed 25 boundaries and three sixes. South African captain Jacques Kallis lauded Tendulkar and lamented his side.

“It was a fantastic knock. He took advantage of conditions,” Kallis said. “We lost wickets at crucial stages. We have to work on basics.” Tendulkar punished

Tendulkar scores first ever double century in One Day International

Indian PM hails Tendulkar NEW DELHI: India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh congratulated Sachin Tendulkar on his record-breaking innings in one-day international cricket yesterday.

Tendulkar recorded the highest innings in one-day cricket by hammering an unbeaten 200 in the second match against South Africa in Gwalior.

“The prime minister has congratulated Tendulkar on his achieving the highest score and the first double-century in one-day internationals,” a press release from the prime minister’s office said. “Tendulkar has led by example and all Indians are proud of his achievement,” it added.

Zimbabwean Charles Coventry (194 not out) and Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar (194) were the joint record holders for the highest individual score before Tendulkar achieved the feat in the day-night match. —AFP

out against New Zealand at Hyderabad in November 1999. He saved his biggest reaction for becoming the first man to 200, with a single off Charl Langeveldt with three balls left. He took off his helmet, raised it and his bat and savored the prolonged standing ovation from the crowd and both teams.

The 36-year-old dedicated his latest achievement to the “people of India who have stood behind me for 20 years whatever be the ups and downs.” He said he enjoyed batting as the ball was coming nicely onto the bat.

“When I was on 175-plus and only 42 o v e r s bowled, I thought there was a chance” to score a double century, he said.

“But I wasn’t thinking of it. Only when I got close to it, I really thought there is an opportunity.” Asked whether bowlers could expect some respite after his two decades in the game, Tendulkar said: “I am enjoying my cricket. I have always played the way I felt the right way to play and always done what I felt was good for the team.” To

Parnell for two successive boundaries in the first over he faced, and cricket’s greatest international runmaker brought up his 46th oneday century in 90 balls in the 28th over.

He was involved in a record 194-run second-wicket partnership for India with Dinesh Karthik, who scored 79 off 85 balls.

An aggressive 35-ball knock of 68 not out by captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni highlighted India’s domination. Virender Sehwag was dismissed in the fourth over as he slashed hard at a delivery from Parnell, trying to clear the third man boundary.

He was caught by Dale Steyn for 9 at 251, bringing in Karthik to join Tendulkar.

India reached 100 in the 15th over, 200 in the 31st, and 300 in the 41st in posting the ninth highest total in one-day history.

South Africa faced other problems on the field as well. JP Duminy injured his left

GWALIOR: Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar plays a shot on his way to scoring a record breaking double century (200 runs) during the second One Day International (ODI) cricket match against South Africa. —AFP palm as he tried to stop a powerful drive from Tendulkar on the off side in the fourth over.

He later went on to bowl with a bandaged palm and came in for punishment from Tendulkar and Karthik. Langeveldt also was hit by the ball and suffered a cut above his left eye, but he continued to bowl as runs rained from the blade of Tendulkar.

Parnell claimed 2-95, but the least expensive bowler was Roelof van der Merwe with 1-62 in his 10 overs. A rattled Proteas couldn’t take up the Indian challenge as half of the side was back in the

dressing room for 102 in 14 overs.

The only redeeming feature was de Villiers who, even as wickets kept falling at the other end, notched his fifth oneday hundred off 85 deliveries, including 13 boundaries and two sixes.Opener Herschelle Gibbs, South Africa’s key player in the chase of 434 against Australia in 2006, disappointed as he attempted to play fine an outside off stump delivery from mediumpacer Parveen Kumar, got an inside edge and was bowled for 7.

Hashim Amla, inducted into the side after he scored more than 400 runs in the test series against India, was again on a roll. He hit India pace bowler Ashish Nehra for four boundaries, three of them consecutively, in the fourth over. However, Amla, too, could not build on a good start and his departure triggered a collapse.

Nehra had reasons to smile as he caught Amla at mid-on after the latter pulled a short pitched delivery from pacer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth from outside the off stump. Amla scored 34 off 22 balls, including seven boundaries. Nehra then bowled Kallis for 11 at 83-4.

At 103-6 r uns in the 15th over, de Villiers and Mark Boucher tried to repair the damage. However, it was India’s day and it bowled out the visitors in 42.5 overs.

Sreesanth bagged 3-49, Nehra 2-60 and Yusuf Pathan 2-37. The third match is on Saturday at Ahmedabad. —AP

Visitors focused on surprising hosts, says Houghton PORT OF SPAIN: Zimbabwe touched down in the Caribbean on Tuesday focused on giving West Indies a tough challenge in their forthcoming series.

Technical consultant Dave Houghton dismissed suggestions that his side can topple a West Indies side that has just endured a limited-overs sweep at the hands of Australia.

“We have a young team that is talented, and we are hoping to win, but more importantly we want to be competitive

with West Indies,” said Houghton, after the visitors arrived at Piarco International Airport.

He added: “We have some very talented players in the Zimbabwe team and they are ready for a good battle.

“West Indies were blasted out by really quick bowling in Australia. We offer them a different attack, so West Indies losing in Australia is not really that important to this series.”

But Houghton emphasised that the

Most ODI Runs GWALIOR: Scorers of most runs in limited-overs international cricket (xactive): 17,598 ..................................... x-Sachin Tendulkar, India (442 matches) 13,428 ..................................... x-Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka (444) 12,731.......................................x-Ricky Ponting, Australia (340) 11,739 ......................................Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan (378) 11,363 ......................................Sourav Ganguly, India (311) 10,765 ......................................x-Rahul Dravid, India (339) 10,509 ......................................x-Jacques Kallis, South Africa (297) 10,405 ......................................Brian Lara, West Indies (299) 9,624 ........................................x-Mohammad Yousuf, Pakistan (282) 9,619 ........................................Adam Gilchrist, Australia (287) 9,378 ........................................Mohammad Azharuddin, India (334)

Lee quits Test cricket

Note: no = not out

GWALIOR: Sachin Tendulkar scored the first ever double century in one-day international cricket with a flawless flaying of South Africa at Roop Singh Stadium yesterday, helping India seal the three-match series with a game to spare.

Tendulkar finished on 200 not out in eclipsing the previous highest score of 194, jointly made by Zimbabwe’s Charles Coventry against Bangladesh in Bulawayo last August and Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar against India at Chennai in May 1997.

Tendulkar carried his bat through all 50 overs, reaching the landmark in the last over off 147 deliveries to help India amass 401-3 and win by 153 runs. South Africa, which lost the first match by 1 run, was all out for 248 in the 43rd over despite a fighting unbeaten 114 by AB de Villiers.

The nearly 30,000 in the partisan crowd went delirious as Tendulkar surpassed the previous highest score in one-dayers with two off fast bowler Wayne Parnell behind short fine leg in the 46th over.

Tendulkar’s previous best was 186 not

Thursday, February 25, 2010

long-term goal is to rejoin the fold of Test nations, and making a significant impact in this series would assist that process.

Zimbabwe’s Test status remains under a self-imposed moratorium, so they will be limited to a single Twenty20 International and five One-Day Internationals on this brief trip to the Caribbean.

“I personally think that we should be playing Test cricket again by the end of the year,” said Houghton. “We have been

playing One-day cricket, but you cannot judge a team on One-day cricket.

He continued: “Since I returned to Zimbabwe four-and-a-half months ago, things have improved with their cricket.”

“They have a very good franchise system going in their domestic tournament, and it is helping the game back home.”

Houghton, the former national batsman, will be part of a Zimbabwe management team that also includes Alan Butcher. —AFP

SYDNEY: Australia’s feared fast bowler Brett Lee quit Test cricket yesterday after a run of injuries, following Andrew Flintoff as the latest player to give up the tough format in a bid to prolong his career.

Lee, 33, who is slated to play in India’s lucrative IPL Twenty20 competition next month, said the long-expected decision was a “cricket choice and it’s a lifestyle choice.”

“To me, Test cricket is my favourite part of the game, wearing the baggy green cap,” he told Sky News. “But if I’m going to keep playing cricket for another few years, something had to give.”

Lee took 310 wickets in 76 Tests since making his debut in 1999, making him Australia’s fourth most successful Test bowler behind Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lillee.

However, the tall, blond paceman last played a five-day match in December 2008 when he suffered a severe foot injury during the Boxing Day match against South Africa in Melbourne.

Lee, who has a young son from a failed marriage, has since battled ankle and rib problems, keeping him out of last year’s Ashes series, and said he had been considering his decision for months.

An earlier report said he finally decided to quit after talking to England all-rounder Flintoff, who retired from Tests last year.

New Zealand’s Jacob Oram has also walked away from Tests to focus on one-dayers and Twenty20s.

“This hasn’t happened overnight. This has been a long process,” Lee said. “I’ve had the time to step away from cricket and decide what I want to achieve. “It’s been about a three- to four-month decision that I’ve made and finally I went with it.”

Lee’s intimidating physique and pace made him a terror among batsmen as he lined up alongside Warne and McGrath in Australia’s all-conquering side of the 2000s, when they dominated the Test rankings. Wisden magazine’s 2006 Cricketer of the Year lays claim to cricket’s second quickest recorded delivery when he bowled at 99.9 miles (160.8 kilometres) per hour in 2005, a speed bettered only by Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar.

Lee, who appeared in the 2009 Bollywood flick “Victory”, said that, like other Australian players, he was awaiting security clearance to play in this year’s IPL after a reported threat from an AlQaeda-linked militant. “As far as going to India, it’s just waiting and seeing,” he said.

“We’re not in a CENTURION: rushed situation This file photo to make a call. taken on “We (players) are October 5, not experts in that field.”

2009 shows Cricket Australian Australia chief bowler Brett James Sutherland Lee praised Lee’s celebrating “fantastic” career, while former Test after colleague Shane taking the Warne said Lee wicket of New was “one of the Zealand fastest bowlers batsman ever to play the game, which is James pretty amazing”.

Franklin “Brett Lee was during the ICC fantastic. I Champions remember him in Trophy final the 1999 Boxing Day Test match match. —AFP against India, I remember him steaming in, bowling fast,” Warne said.

“I thought it wasn’t so much what he did, it was the way he did it. I thought he played in a way that was entertaining, I think people enjoyed watching him bowl.”

Lee, who averaged 30.82 runs per wicket and clocked 10 five-wicket hauls, also scored some important runs with the bat, averaging 20.15 with a high score of 64.

And his most enduring image was in batting helmet and pads, when he was consoled by Flintoff after Australia fell agonisingly short of a win in the 2005 Ashes series, which England went on to win.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting said Lee would go down as one of the country’s greatest Test players. “If we all just take a minute and think about what he’s put himself through in that 10 or 12 years-running 35 metres to bowl every ball, bowling every ball at close to 150 kilometres per hour, and putting his heart on the line every ball he bowls,” Ponting said. “I think this bloke deserves a massive pat on the back.”— AFP

Profile

Blond terror with a heart of gold SYDNEY: Australian fast bowler Brett Lee cut a fearsome figure on the cricket field but the tough demeanor masked a gentle temperament that even saw him criticised for being “too nice”.

The imposing peroxide blond, who has retired from Tests with 310 wickets, was famous for the second fastest delivery on record, a fist-pumping celebration and his merciless treatment of tailenders.

But Lee showed a softer side in 2005, when he was famously pictured being consoled by Andrew Flintoff during Australia’s first Ashes series defeat in 18 years.

“My ribs were black and blue. I had a busted arm. He’d tried to kill me like I’d been trying to kill him, but straight after it all we’re arm in arm,” Lee said later, dismissing criticism that he was too friendly.

“Whoever won, we were going to end up in the change rooms talking about the game. We were mates. That’s Test cricket.”

Lee, a cricket pin-up with a large following in India, also earned sympathy for his uncomplaining fight against

injuries which have kept him out of Test matches since late 2008.

“When you’re trying to bowl over 155km/h for 16 years straight, it takes a lot of wear and tear on the body,” he said. “But that’s the greatest thing about it, that’s the thing I love if it was easy to do, then everyone would be running in and bowling at 155ks. “There’s a reason why there’s just a handful of people in the world that can do it. It is very tough.”

Lee has been beaten only by Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar for speed after clocking 99.9 miles (160.8 kilometres) an hour at Napier in 2005.

After making his debut against India in Melbourne in December 1999, taking five wickets for 47, he has become Australia’s fourth most successful Test bowler behind Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lillee. “Brett Lee was fantastic,” Warne said Wednesday, saying that he still remembered seeing him “steaming in” to bowl during the 1999 Test.

“I thought it wasn’t so much what he did, it was the way he did it,” Warne said.

“I thought he played in a way that was entertaining, I think people enjoyed watching him bowl.” The right-armed bowler disappointed during the 2001 Ashes series and was then struck by injuries but in 2005 he was inspired with both bat and ball despite the defeat in England. Lee bounced back to play a leading role in Australia’s 5-0 revenge win in 2006-07 and was named the 2006 Wisden magazine Cricketer of the Year before injury struck again, forcing him out of the 2007 World Cup. In 2008, he was named Test Player of the Year but took time out following a marriage breakup and struggled for form afterwards. —AFP

SPORTS

Thursday, February 25, 2010

19

FIFA seeks to tame billion dollar transfer market ZURICH: It’s a market worth $1 billion each year and involves thousands of professional players moving across borders to find new employers. And until now what little regulation existed has been confused and open to abuse, but that is about to change.

FIFA is making its new online transfer register a requirement for most leagues later this year, fundamentally altering how players ranging from Cristiano Ronaldo to unknown Latin American teens can move to new teams in different nations.

The system is remarkably easy, with clubs signed up to a Web-based network required to match the details of any international player transactions and upload proof of payment, identification of agents involved and other documents to confirm a player’s new employer.

The transfer monitor has been a long time coming. FIFA says years of poor oversight has led to rogue agents “owning” their clients and controlling their destinies, illegal payments between clubs and companies, and even money laundering through transfers of fictitious footballers — practices that FIFA hopes its new system will stamp out.

“The transfer market is one of the last places on the planet where you have billions of dollars and no one is really checking,” said Mark Goddard, head of the FIFA anticorruption program.

“It has basically been a jungle with no oversight, and that is changing.” Goddard and other FIFA officials explained the system to journalists in Zurich, outlining its advances in terms of speed, accountability and clarity compared to the current confu-

sion of paper documents and faxes that have long been the basis of international transfers.

The network went online in 2007 and most major leagues have been using it during the last couple of transfer windows.

From October, over 3,000 football clubs in nearly 150 nations will be required to log the details of each player either sold or purchased in an international deal or have the transaction blocked.

World football’s governing body has been eager to tighten transfer regulations after discovering that many deals involved unlicensed operators taking a commission. Its Zurich headquarters has also been deluged in paperwork during peak trading times as buying and selling clubs faxed details of their deals, sometimes with information that didn’t match.

Goddard highlighted the advantages of the new system, which has already registered 4,000 transfers since 2008: • Transfers will have to be agreed on time, with the Web-based system closing as the window for deals expires.

This will help avoid the last-minute confusion that has been a source of debate in moves such as Andrei Arshavin’s switch to Arsenal last year.

• Third-party “owners” of players, such as Anglo-Iranian businessman Kia Joorabchian who controls the “economic rights” to Argentine stars Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, would be unable to hold up a transfer as they seek their own compensation.

• Minors will be better protected from moving internationally without their

parents’ approval.

Clubs will be able to seal transfers faster, as an English and a Scottish club proved last month by registering a deal in just seven minutes.

• Auditing will be significantly easier, as FIFA staff and national football officials can inspect deals from anywhere in the world with a simple login password.

• And transactions involving fictitious players, a common money laundering technique, will be harder to get away with as players’ identities would first need to be established.

“The system was designed specifically with money laundering in mind,” Goddard said. “Anecdotal evidence tells us that it is probably quite a massive problem. We know of transfers of imaginary players by third •

parties and other groups using football in order to wash it and turn dirty money into legitimate funds.” Teams found breaking the rules will be punished, Goddard said.

FIFA will monitor transfers, he added, but declined to say how many staff and how much money it would devote to tracking down cheats.

For all its benefits, the register will not apply to transfers among clubs in the same nation, and details of transactions will not be shared with the public.

“This is not a silver bullet that will solve everything,” Goddard said. “But we want to make sure that it is the clubs that get the money, and most importantly that it is the football value of the player that is being bought, not his marketing or commercial value that is being sold through third parties.”—AP

Cavaliers down Hornets

ITALY: Fiorentina’s forward Stephan Jovetic (right) is pressed by Milan’s midfielder Andrea Pirlo (left) during a Italian League soccer match. — AP

Last gasp Pato goal sends Milan second MILAN: Brazilian striker Pato scored two minutes into injury time to give AC Milan a crucial 2-1 victory at Fiorentina which moved them up to second in Serie A. With nine minutes left in this match, originally scheduled for December but postponed due to bad weather, Milan were a goal down and their title hopes were hanging by a thread. But substitute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar equalised Alberto Gilardino’s first half opener and then Pato scored the goal that moves Milan a point above AS Roma and just four behind leaders Inter Milan.

For a team who knew they could go second it was no surprise to see Milan come out on the attack.

In just the second minute Andrea Pirlo tried his luck from distance and it needed a combination of Fiorentina goalkeeper Sebastien Frey and captain Riccardo Montolivo to clear the hosts’ lines.

But La Viola soon wrested control of the game from their visitors and Peru international Juan Vargas lashed a shot into the side-netting from a tight angle when released down the left into the box.

And Fiorentina deservedly went in front on 14 minutes after a flowing team move as Montolivo slipped Vargas into a similar position as before only for the Peruvian to pull the ball back for Stevan Jovetic, whose shot bobbled over Gilardino’s foot and past a bemused

Christian Abbiati in the Milan goal.

The hosts should have had another on 27 minutes but were guilty of overplaying the ball and when Lorenzo De Silvestri pulled the ball back for Gilardino when he should have shot himself, the striker’s scuffed effort was cleared. Milan were holding on but they came back into the game late on in the half and substitute Mathieu Flamini, who had earlier replaced the injured Massimo Ambrosini, shot inches wide from 22 yards.

Milan, and Pato in particular, had a new lease of life after the break and on 51 minutes the young Brazilian cut in from the right and his inswinging left foot cross almost crept in at the far post.

Pato then fired a cross from the same side to Pirlo at the back post but the midfielder dallied rather than shooting first time and was crowded out.

Moments later Pato again found space in the box but lashed his shot high and wide. Fiorentina were soon back bossing the game, though, and a tricky run from Marco Marchionni saw him almost tee up substitute Keirrison. But just as La Viola seemed to be in control, substitute forward Huntelaar, who coach Leonardo had brought on for defensive midfielder Gennaro Gattuso in a bold attacking move, played a one-two with Ronaldinho and then fired a crisp low shot under Frey.—AFP

CLEVELAND: The Cleveland Cavaliers returned to winning ways after a rare three-game losing skid, beating the New Orleans Hornets 105-95 in the NBA on Tuesday.

LeBron James had 20 points and 12 assists, and Antawn Jamison scored 18 points in his first start for Cleveland, which stayed half a game ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers in the fight over the NBA’s best record.

James closed out the win in the final two minutes, hitting a 3-pointer and finishing a threepoint play to allow the Cavaliers to escape a huge night from New Orleans’ rookies: Marcus Thornton and Darren Collison combined for 59 points, including a franchise-record 23 from Thornton in the second quarter.

Thornton scored a career-high 37 off the bench, igniting a 40-point second quarter for the Hornets by making his first five shots and 10 of 13 in the quarter.

Lakers 99, Grizzlies 98 In Memphis, Tennessee, Kobe Bryant returned from five games out with an ankle injury and hit a 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left to lift Los Angeles over Memphis. Bryant led the Lakers with 32 points, including his team’s final nine points. His 3-pointer with 54 seconds left tied the game.

Pau Gasol added 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Lakers, who won for the seventh time in their past eight road games. The Grizzlies, who lost their fifth straight home game, were led by O.J. Mayo’s 25 points.

Suns 104, Thunder 102 In Oklahoma City, Jason Richardson connected on a floater from the foul line with 0.7 seconds left to complete Phoenix’s rally from a 10-point deficit to edge Oklahoma City.

Amare Stoudemire scored 30 points and Richardson had his first double-double of the season with 20 points and 13 rebounds for the Suns, who were down 10 with 3-1/2 minutes to play.

Kevin Durant scored 36 points for the Thunder, whose nine-game winning streak came to an end. Phoenix moved past the Thunder into fifth place in the Western Conference.

Celtics 110, Knicks 106 In Boston, Rajon Rondo scored 15 points and had 16 assists to lead Boston over New York. Ray Allen added 24 points as the Celtics sent the Knicks to their eighth straight loss. David Lee had 28 points and 15 rebounds for New York.

T’wolves 91, Heat 88 In Miami, Minnesota took advantage of Dwyane Wade’s absence for a rare road victory over Miami. Kevin Love had 17 points and 12 rebounds and Jonny Flynn added 16 points for the Timberwolves, who snapped a six-game losing streak.

Dorell Wright had a career-high 26 points off the bench to lead the Heat, who played their third straight game without Wade, the All-Star MVP who is nursing a calf strain.

Qatar’s Misfer Al-Marri has a superb opportunity to take his first ever MERC victory in Kuwait next month.

Al-Attiyah’s Mexican dream opens door for rivals in Kuwait Kuwait International Rally KUWAIT: Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah’s decision to take part in Rally Mexico instead of the forthcoming Kuwait International Rally has left the door wide open for Qatar’s Misfer Al-Marri and Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi to pick up maximum points on the second round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC).

Al-Attiyah, the defending regional champion, heads to Mexico this week to prepare for the start of his S-WRC campaign in a new Skoda Fabia S2000.

In his absence, Al-Marri and Al-Rajhi are likely to be joined by the UAE’s Rashid Al-Kebti to fight for overall honours in the three-day Kuwait event, which takes place on March 4th-6th.

“Having a hectic motor sport programme means we have inevitable date clashes,” said Al-Attiyah, who is still hoping to win his seventh regional title in eight years this season. “Mexico was always in my programme for the year and must take priority.”

Al-Marri finished runner-up to his illustrious Qatari rival in last year’s championship and finished behind Nasser in second place in the opening round in their native Doha last month.

Al-Marri and Italian co-driver Nicola Arena both have eight championship points and the QMMFbacked team know that they have a superb opportu-

nity for Al-Marri to claim his first ever MERC victory. The Qatari currently trails Al-Attiyah by just two points after round one of the eight-event series.

Al-Rajhi won the Kuwait Rally when it ran as a candidate in 2008 - also at the same time as Rally Mexico - and was one of the front-runners last year before damaging his Peugeot 207 S2000.

The Saudi failed to score any points in Qatar and a finish will be imperative for the Riyadh driver to retain his chance of taking a maiden regional title.

The UAE’s Rashid Al-Ketbi failed in Qatar to repeat the scintillating form he showed in last December’s Dubai International Rally, but the Emirati has the turn of speed to match and beat both Al-Marri and Al-Rajhi and will also be aiming to claim his first ever regional championship win. He came mighty close on a couple of occasions to achieving that goal when he competed under team orders with a Ford Escort RS Cosworth in the late 1990s.

The Kuwait event will run under the patronage of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and under the presidency of Sheikh Ahmad Al-Dawood Al-Sabah, President of the KMSC and chairman of the organising committee.

Pistons 101, Kings 89 In Sacramento, California, Detroit pulled away in the third quarter to defeat struggling Sacramento. After taking a 12-point lead in halftime, Hamilton keyed a third-quarter effort that hiked the Pistons’ advantage to 30 at one point.

Hamilton finished with 30 points. Tyreke Evans had 28 points and a career-high 13 assists for the Kings, who have dropped five straight since the All-Star break.

OAKLAND: Philadelphia 76ers’ Andre Iguodala (9) drives away from Golden State Warriors’ Monta Ellis during the first half of an NBA basketball game. — AP

NBA results/standings NBA results and standings on Tuesday: Cleveland 105, New Orleans 95; Boston 110, NY Knicks 106; Minnesota 91, Miami 88; Portland 102, New Jersey 93; LA Lakers 99, Memphis 98; Phoenix 104, Oklahoma City 102; Detroit 101, Sacramento 89; Philadelphia 110, Golden State 102.

Boston Toronto Philadelphia NY Knicks New Jersey Cleveland Chicago Milwaukee Detroit Indiana Orlando Atlanta Miami Charlotte Washington

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L 36 19 31 24 22 34 19 37 5 52 Central Division 44 14 29 27 27 28 21 35 19 37 Southeast Division 38 19 35 20 29 29 27 28 20 34

PCT .655 .564 .393 .339 .088

GB 5 14.5 17.5 32

.759 .518 .491 .375 .339

14 15.5 22 24

.667 .636 .500 .491 .370

2 9.5 10 16.5

T’ Blazers 102, Nets 93 In East Rutherford, New Jersey, Portland avoided blowing a big lead for a second straight game by holding off New Jersey.

Brandon Roy scored 10 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and LaMarcus Aldridge added 27 points as the Blazers learned the lessons of squandering a 25-point lead in Sunday’s loss to Utah.

Courtney Lee and Devin Harris led the Nets with 28 points apiece. The total matched Lee’s career high set earlier this season and was a season high for Harris.

76ers 110, Warriors 102 In Oakland, California, Lou Williams scored 26 points, including a clinching 3-pointer with 14.5 seconds left, as Philadelphia downed Golden State.

Williams matched his career high with five 3pointers and had 10 rebounds and seven assists, while Andre Iguodala added 22 points and seven assists, as the Sixers won in their first game since guard Allen Iverson took an indefinite leave of absence to be with his ill daughter.

Philadelphia led by 17 going into the fourth quarter but had to withstand a late flurry from Golden State. Monta Ellis had 22 points for the Warriors, who pulled within 105-102 with 39 seconds remaining. A Williams 3-pointer and two free throws sealed it for the Sixers.—AP

Western Conference Northw est Division Denver 37 19 Utah 36 20 Oklahoma City 33 22 Portland 33 26 Minnesota 14 44 Pacific Division LA Lakers 43 14 Phoenix 35 23 LA Clippers 23 33 Sacramento 18 39 Golden State 16 40 Southw est Division Dallas 36 21 San Antonio 31 23 New Orleans 30 27 Houston 28 27 Memphis 28 28

.661 .643 .600 .559 .241

1 3.5 5.5 24

.754 .603 .411 .316 .286

8.5 19.5 25 26.5

.632 .574 .526 .509 .500

3.5 6 7 7.5

Internacional, Velez win Copa Libertadores

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Al Qadsia player Brahima Keita (left) fights for the ball with Al Nejmeh of Lebanon defender Mouhamad Chamass during the AFC soccer match in Kuwait.

The AFC qualifier ended in a 1-1 draw. — AP

PORTO ALEGRE: Internacional of Brazil and Argentine club Velez Sarsfield both secured wins in the Copa Libertadores group stage on Tuesday.

Morelia of Mexico played out a goalless draw with Uruguay’s Nacional in the day’s final match.

Alecsandro scored a late winner as Internacional had a 2-1 home win against Ecuadorean club Emelec, while Hernan Lopez hit the only goal as Velez beat Deportivo Italia of Venezuela 1-0 away.

Morelia striker Miguel Sabah was sent off for headbutting an opponent during his club’s 0-0 draw with Nacional. The Copa Libertadores is the top club competition in Latin America.

Eight group winners and the six best placed runners-up will qualify for the round of 16. In Porto Alegre, Nei equalized for

Internacional from long range in the 53rd minute after Emelec had taken the lead through a low shot from David Quiroz in the 49th.

The Brazilian club secured a winning start to its Libertadores campaign with a winner from Alecsandro following a pass from Andresinho in the 87th.

The win moved Internacional level with Cerro of Uruguay at the top of Group 5 after one game played. Meanwhile, in Caracas, Velez striker Lopez bundled the winning goal against Deportivo Italia following a corner in the 54th minute as Velez secured a second straight victory to top Group 7.

Chilean club Colo Colo can draw level with Velez at the top of Group 7 tomorrow with an away win against Cruzeiro of Brazil. —AP

www.kuwaittimes.net

Mourinho draws first blood over Ancelotti MILAN: Jose Mourinho got one over his former employers as Inter Milan beat Chelsea 2-1 in the Champions League last 16, first leg clash at the San Siro here yesterday.

It’s a slender advantage but a crucial one for Inter ahead of the second leg at Stamford Bridge on March 16th and also represented a milestone as it was the first victory for the Italians against an English team since 2003 and a 3-0 win over Arsenal in London.

Champions League LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur’s Roman Pavlyuchenko reacts after scoring against Bolton Wanderers, during their fifth round FA Cup replay soccer match. — AP

Spurs demolish Bolton to roll into FA Cup q-finals LONDON: Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko scored twice to spark dreams of Wembley as his team demolished Bolton 4-0 at White Hart Lane to advance to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. The Russia forward settled the nerves with a first-half strike when Spurs were looking vulnerable and added a late strike to add to own-goals from Jussi Jaaskelainen and Andy O’Brien.

Victory sets up an all-London quarter-final against Fulham at Craven Cottage while Wanderers go back to concentrating on pulling themselves out of the Premier League relegation zone. Former Spartak Moscow striker Pavlyuchenko forced himself into the startingeleven following his performance on Sunday when he also scored twice in the Lillywhites’ 3-0 win at Wigan.

Spurs put the pressure on from the kick-off, and were keen to test out Jaaskelainen in the Trotters’ goal as a wet ball and greasy pitch promised to make it a difficult night for the ‘keepers. Centre-back Bassong was hoping to stake his claim for more first-team starts and nearly boosted his chances after cruising past a challenge in midfield before unleashing a 30-yard

rocket which went inches over the crossbar.

After repelling the early bombardment, Wanderers mounted a threatening attack off their own with veteran midfielder Matt Taylor testing Gomes in the home goal after a typical Bolton long-ball breached the back-line.

Spurs appeared rattled and nearly went behind after a sloppy pass from full-back Gareth Bale presented striker Ivan Klasnic with a shooting opportunity 30-yards out, the Croatian’s strike flashing just wide of the post.

It came as a huge relief to the home supporters when man-of-the-moment Pavlyuchenko eased Tottenham’s anxiety with a 23rd minute strike. Tricky Croatia midfielder Luka Modric played a diagonal ball into the frontman who turned and bundled his way through a tackle before stroking the ball past Jaaskelainen.

England forward Defoe nearly doubled lead but Jaaskelainen proved why he is still regarded as one of the Premier League’s top stoppers, keeping out the 18-yard shot with a stunning save low to his left.

It was therefore rough justice on the Finn when he was responsible for the home team’s second goal after 35 minutes.

Honduran Wilson Palacios found himself in space on the corner of the area following Tom Huddlestone’s pass before hitting a dangerous low cross towards the six-yard box.

Jaaskelainen seemed to be in two minds about setting himself for the upcoming shot from Defoe or intercepting the cross and ended up throwing out a foot, deflecting the ball tamely into the net.

On-loan forward Eidur Gudjohnsen came on for the second-half, replacing Defoe, and immediately created a goal which put the game out of reach. His ball inside the full-back released Bale who whipped in a low cross which induced yet another own goal, this time from defender Andy O’Brien, signaling this clearly was not going to be Wanderers’ night.

With the game meandering towards the inevitable both ‘keepers traded world-class saves from point-blank range, Gomes denying substitute Mustapha Riga before Jaaskelainen kept-out Pavlyuchenko. Pavlyuchenko eventually rounded off a comfortable night for the home team three minutes from time, easily firing the ball into the corner of the goal after finding himself free 12yards out. — AFP

Carew brace keeps Villa on Cup track

LONDON: Aston Villa’s John Carew (centre) is fouled by Crystal Palace’s Matthew Lawerence (right) during their English FA Cup fifth-round replay soccer match. — AP

Preview English trio guard slim Europa League leads PARIS: Three English Premier League sides face tough away tests in the second leg of their Europa League round-of-32 matches this week as they look to protect precarious single-goal leads.

Liverpool, Everton and Fulham are all one goal up following the first matches of the competition’s knockout phase and for the two Merseyside clubs this remains the last chance of winning silverware this season.

Rafael Benitez’s side take a 1-0 lead to Romanian champions Unirea Urziceni, David Moyes’s men are 2-1 up as they play away at Sporting Lisbon and Roy Hodgson’s Fulham meet the winners of the last ever UEFA Cup, Shakhtar Donetsk, with the London side also taking a 2-1 lead to Ukraine.

The Europa League is the rebranded successor to the trophy won by the Ukrainian side last year.

It would be something of a consolation prize for Liverpool after their group-stage elimination from the Champions League, but Reds manager Benitez knows he needs to win a trophy to quell growing supporter unrest as his side trail 16 points behind Chelsea in the Premier League.

“When you win a European competition it is always very important,” the Spaniard said. “If you

cannot be in the Champions League, you have to do your best in this tournament and we would love to give a trophy to our fans. We want to do something important.”

Liverpool’s bitter rivals Everton are enjoying a mini-revival of late after beating domestic title challengers Chelsea and Manchester United in recent weeks.

Toffees captain Phil Neville told Sky Sports that, while Everton’s main priority is to qualify for Europe, the players want to win what would be the club’s first honour since their 1995 FA Cup triumph.

“We’d love to win a trophy,” Neville said. “At the start of every season we look to win a trophy and for a club that’s progressing like ours it’s always the next step-this team’s got to be winning trophies.”

In the pick of the other matches, Juventus will hope to protect a 2-1 lead at home to Dutch giants Ajax, while PSV Eindhoven bid to overturn a 1-0 deficit at home to Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s new club, Hamburg.

Claudio Ranieri’s Roma saw their 20-match unbeaten run come to an end when they lost their first-leg match against Greece’s Panathinaikos 3-2.

Roma’s on-loan Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni is set to miss the game in the Italian capital with a calf problem. One-time European champions Marseille could rest a number of key players in their game against FC Copenhagen ahead of Sunday’s ‘Le Clasico’ showdown with bitter rivals Paris SaintGermain. —AFP

BIRMINGHAM: Two late penalties from John Carew sealed a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace as Aston Villa kept their quest for a Cup double alive yesterday.

An FA Cup fif th-round replay between the two clubs appeared destined for extratime after Darren Ambrose had cancelled out Gabby Agbonlahor’s first-half opener for Villa with a 73rdminute spot-kick.

But Villa, who face Manchester United in the League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday, eased into a quarter-final date with Reading or West Brom after Carew was twice brought down by Matt Lawrence in the final nine minutes.

On both occasions, the giant Norwegian striker got up to take the penalties himself and he twice left the otherwise impressive Julian Speroni with no chance.

Agbonlahor had given Villa a deserved lead when he headed in Ashley Young’s corner, three minutes before the end of an opening period which had seen Speroni make several fine saves.

Palace got back on equal terms in the 73rd minute af ter England hopeful Stephen Warnock was adjudged to have brought down Alan Lee. Ambrose sent Brad Guzan the wrong way from the penalty spot but Villa’s late pressure and the Palace defence’s problems in containing Carew made the difference. — AFP

For Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti it was an unhappy return to the stadium where he served AC Milan for eight years with such distinction, winning two Champions League titles and one scudetto.

Inter were off to a flying start and went ahead after just three minutes following some shoddy defending by Chelsea, as Thiago Motta played the ball into Samuel Eto’o who fed it on to Diego Milito, the Argentine cutting too easily inside the wrong-footed John Terry and shooting home at Peter Cech’s near post.

It was just the dream start Inter would have wanted but Chelsea’s reaction was aweinspiring as the visitors took total control.

Their first chance came on 11 minutes as Nicolas Anelka shot wide of the near post before a minute later Salomon Kalou twisted and turned on the edge of the box but shot straight at Julio Cesar.

Then up stepped Didier Drogba on the quarter-hour mark to crash a free-kick from 25 yards against the cross-bar and follow that up with a fine effort that forced Cesar into a sprawling save.

Cesar then had to parry from Michael Ballack and Drogba hooked a volley wide after controlling the ball on his chest in the box and then sent another volley wide when fed

by John Obi Mikel.

Inter finally got a chance on 33 minutes when a defence splitting pass from Walter Samuel found Wesley Sneijder on the left and he crossed to Samuel Eto’o but the Cameroon forward connected only with air with a wild left foot swipe from eight yards.

The half ended in controversial fashion as Samuel appeared to trip Kalou in the box referee Manuel Gonzalez waved away Chelsea appeals.

Chelsea got what their play deserved just six minutes after the restart but from some poor Inter defending.

Thiago Motta let Branislav Ivanovic run forward from right back to the edge of the Inter area without a challenge before the Serbian cut across the box and tapped the ball out to Kalou, whose nonchalant side foot from 20 yards somehow found its way through a crowd of defenders and past Cesar, who possibly should have done better.

And yet four minutes later Inter were back in front as Esteban Cambiasso’s wild shot from distance, which was going wide, struck Ivanovic in the midriff and came back to the Argentine whose second effort deceived Cech and found the far corner.

Mourinho then made the surprising move of bringing on striker Mario Balotelli for midfielder Thiago Motta while Cech suffered a serious knee injury and was replaced by Henrique Hilario.

On 65 minutes great play between Drogba and Anelka teed up Frank Lampard but Cesar parried his close range effort. Chelsea dominated the ball but created little in the way of clear cut chances in the final stages and it is advantage Inter and Mourinho. — AFP

ITALY: Inter Milan Argentine midfielder Esteban Cambiasso reacts after scoring the second goal against Chelsea, during a Champions League, round-of-16, first leg soccer match. — AP

Gonzalez wonder goal earns CSKA draw against Sevilla MOSCOW: CSKA Moscow came from behind to draw 1-1 with Spanish side Sevilla in their Champions League last-16 clash here yesterday, leaving the return leg in two weeks time delicately poised.

CSKA bore little resemblance to a team that had not played a competitive match since December, producing some electric counter-attacking play down the flanks.

Chilean winger Mark Gonzalez produced a spectacular equaliser on 65 minutes with a 35-yard strike that is likely to be a contender for goal of the season, swerving past a helpless Andres Palop.

The home side could have added a second on 84 minutes when Czech striker Tomas Necid picked up the ball inside the Sevilla penalty area, only for his left foot shot to be saved by the 36-year-old custodian.

Deprived of top scorer Luis Fabiano and a recovering Frederic Kanoute, the Spanish side lacked composure in front of goal and only took the lead with their first clear-cut chance of the game thanks to a defensive blunder.

A Jesus Navas cross evaded the entire CSKA defence, leaving Alvaro Negredo, who came into the match on the back of two successive red cards in the Spanish championship, to creep in behind for a simple tap-in on 24 minutes for his first Champions League goal of the season.

CSKA coach Leonid Slutsky admitted the Spaniards had the advantage but vowed they would be no push over in the second leg. “We wanted to win very much

but failed to keep a clean sheet,” he said.

“After that Sevilla played very good defensively but we managed to level and had chances to score the winner. “Now the Spanish side have more chance to go through but we are going to fight up to the very end.

Everything will be decided in the return match.”

Much of the pre-match hype had centred on CSKA’s Serbian midfielder and reported Bayern Munich target Milos Krasic but tight marking by Sevilla’s midfield enforcer Didier Zokora limited the 25-year-old’s influence on the game.

That left Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda to provide the driving force for the Russian team’s attacking play and he came close to adding his own name to the scoresheet on 31 minutes, firing just wide from 18 yards.

The 9-million-euro signing from Dutch side VVVVenlo, making his first appearance for Slutsky’s men, narrowly missed the target again minutes later when he picked up a rebound from an Evengi Aldonin effort.

The Russian Cup holders could have opened the scoring after only four minutes when Sevilla’s French centre-back Julien Escude carelessly gave away possession to CSKA’s Czech striker Tomas Necid. The 19year-old centred to former Liverpool man Gonzalez, who volleyed high and wide over Sevilla’s crossbar.

Necid had his own chance three minute later when he ran onto a Keisuke Honda pass, only for Sevilla keeper Palop to comfortably palm his shot wide. The return leg takes place on March 16 in Seville. — AFP

MOSCOW: Renato of Sevilla fights for the ball with Deividas Semberas (top) of CSKA in Moscow during their last 16 round UEFA Champions League game. — AFP

Dow chief celebrates expansion of partnership in Kuwait

22

Ancient meets modern in Oman

23

Indian rail budget promises high-speed train network

25

Thursday, February 25, 2010

www.kuwaittimes.net

Mideast sovereign ratings to ‘stay the course’: Moody’s Global economy improving, but Iran could pose a risk

FEYZIN, France: A refinery of French oil giant Total is seen in Feyzin, southeastern France. The world’s major oil companies are grappling with a crisis in the refining sector which is forcing them to cut back heavily to staunch losses, as shown by a dispute at Total in France. — AFP

Refinery crisis afflicts global oil sector PARIS: The world’s major oil companies are grappling with a crisis in the refining sector which is forcing them to cut back heavily to staunch losses, as shown by a dispute at Total in France.

The possibility that Total could shut down a refinery in France has sparked angry protests and the government now wants the privately-owned group to commit to not closing any French refineries for five years.

But the fact is that refining is not a good business for oil companies in advanced industrialized countries, analysts said. And financial results published by the big producers show that Total’s situation is hardly unique.

“The global refining situation today is not good,” said Colette Lewiner, an energy expert at the French global consultancy Cap Gemini. “At all the oil majors, refining activities are losing money.”

The refining sector has been under

heavy pressure from a global slowdown in economic activity, particularly in major Western markets, and from energy-saving measures which have reduced consumption of refined products.

“The problem is that there are too many refineries in countries where demand is drying up-at a time when demand is robust in countries like India and China,” Lewiner said. At British group BP, profit in the refining division fell by 21.6 percent last year.

Exxonmobil of the United States reported a 57-percent decline in refining profits and Anglo-Dutch group Shell saw a 69-percent drop.

“The real test came in 2008, when we saw no movement in the price of refined products at a time when the price of oil had risen 30 percent,” said Karine Berger, director of economic studies at credit insurer Euler Hermes SFAC.

She pointed to a collapse in operating margins caused by “worldwide over capacity.”

Most big groups in the industry have embarked on elaborate cost cutting drives, along with asset sales and site closures, in developed countries where production capacities are too high.

Last year, Shell sold refining assets worth $1.2 billion (887,000 euros). The company, which in 2009 cut 5,000 jobs, plans to sell up to 15 percent of its refining capacity, along with some distribution activities. Shell also announced recently the closure of a refinery in Montreal which had employed 500 people and is negotiating the sale of three European refineries to the Indian firm Essar.

In the United States, Chevron has announced job cuts in its refining division while Valero plans to shut down a facility in the eastern state of

Delaware.

In France, Total has made no secret since November of its desire to reduce its European refining operations while showing an interest in refining projects in countries where demand remains firm.

Total and the Saudi Arabian group Aramco for example are engaged in a joint refining project in Jubail, eastern Saudi Arabia. The facility, scheduled to begin operations in 2012, will have a daily capacity of 400,000 barrels.

Some experts say that there is now a trend for refiners in advanced countries to shift refining activities to countries where costs are lower and growth of demand is robust, and legislation is less stringent.

That is even more the case at a time of reduced overall freight costs for refined products from such production centers to advanced markets. —AFP

Record-low rates still needed, says Bernanke WASHINGTON: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress yesterday that record-low interest rates are still needed to ensure that the US economic recovery will last and to help cushion the sting of high unemployment. In prepared remarks for his twice-a-year report to the House Financial Services Committee, Bernanke struck a confident tone that the recovery should endure. But he also sought to tamp down expectations.

The moderate economic growth the Fed expects will lead to only a slow decline in the nation’s nearly double-digit unemployment rate, he said.

He offered no new clues about the timing of an interest rate increase. Most economists think it is months away.

Bernanke said rates will need to stay at exceptionally low levels for an extended period “as the expansion matures.”

Bernanke is likely to face more pressure than usual from lawmakers in an election year. Their constituents are struggling economically, while bailed-out Wall Street banks are profitable again.

Unemployment stands at 9.7 percent, home foreclosures are at record highs and individuals and businesses are having trouble getting loans.

The Fed chairman reiterated a pledge that the Fed will keep its main interest rate at an alltime low near zero for an “extended period.” The target range for Fed’s main rate, the federal funds rate, has been between zero and 0.25 percent since December 2008.

At the same time, Bernanke sought to stress that when the economy is on firmer footing and the Fed needs to reverse course and tighten credit for millions of Americans, he will do so.

Deciding when to boost

rates will be the next big challenge facing Bernanke.

Boosting rates too soon could derail the recovery. But waiting too long could trigger inflation and feed a speculative asset bubble. That, too, could threaten the economy, along with Americans’ pocketbooks and nest eggs.

Bernanke would only say that “at some point,” the Fed will need to move to tighten credit. When it does, Bernanke sketched out the Fed’s strategy, first unveiled on Feb. 10, for doing so.

He said the Fed is likely to boost the rate it pays banks on money they leave at the Fed, which would mark a shif t away from the funds rate, the Fed’s main tool since the 1980s. A bump-up in the interest rate on bank reserves, though, would ripple though the economy in much the same way an increase in the funds rates does.

WASHINGTON: Toyota President and Chief Executive Officer Akio Toyoda (center) and Rep Darrell Issa (second from right) leave a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, prior to Toyoda testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Toyota. —AP Consumer and businesses borrowers would have to pay more for loans. With financial conditions improving, the Fed has been able to wind down most of its special lending programs for banks and others set up during the crisis. One key economic revival program that has lowered mortgage rates and bolstered the housing market is slated to end on

March 31. The Fed is on track to complete buying $1.25 trillion worth of mortgage securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at that time, and another $175 billion worth of debt from them.

Bernanke continued to leave the door open to a possible extension of the program if the economy were to take a turn for the worse. —AP

DUBAI: Middle East sovereign ratings should “stay the course” this year given an improving global economy and growing investor confidence but Iran’s nuclear program could pose a risk, Moody’s said yesterday.

The credit ratings agency recently upgraded Saudi Arabia and Oman’s government bond ratings, citing their sound fiscal positions.

“2010 should be a year of improvement for the Middle East as a sluggish global recovery gains momentum and investor confidence rebuilds,” Moody’s said in its first annual Middle East sovereign outlook, entitled “Having escaped the crisis relatively unscathed, Middle East sovereigns are poised to stay the course.”

None of the region’s sovereign ratings were downgraded last year-although Moody’s does not rate debtladen Dubai’s sovereign debtas most Middle East economies weathered the global economic downturn better than advanced industrialized economies and Eastern Europe.

Moody’s rates oil exporters Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman at investment grade with a stable outlook, while Kuwait and Bahrain have a negative outlook.

Its foreign currency debt ratings for Egypt and Jordan are in speculative territory with a stable outlook, while Lebanon has a positive outlook. The agency said key developments to watch included oil prices and production levels, as well as the continuation of fiscal stimulus and bank lending conditions in the region.

“Political and geopolitical event risks to stability, including Iran’s nuclear program, are the potential wild card given the region’s comparative turbulence, but they should be assessed soberly,” Moody’s said. —Reuters

Qatar RasGas starts LNG output from new facility DOHA: Qatar’s RasGas has started output of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a giant new production facility, the company said in a statement yesterday.

RasGas is one of two LNG producers in Qatar, the world’s largest LNG exporter and holder of the world’s third-largest gas reserves. The tiny Gulf Arab state expects increased LNG output to help its economy grow 16 percent in 2010, outpacing its oil export dependent neighbors.

RasGas train 7 has capacity to chill enough natural gas to produce 7.8 million tons per year (tpy) of LNG for export on specially designed tankers.

Qatar started three equally large facilities last year. The trains are the largest in the world.

The gas supply to each of the giant plants for one day alone is enough to supply 22,000 homes for a year, a R asGas official said last month.

“Train 7 is a clear demonstration of R asGas’ confidence and ambition,” Hamad Al-Mohannadi, managing director of RasGas, said in the statement. “These mega facilities are the embodiment of a bold investment and the culmination of years of technological development and preparation.” —Reuters

ATHENS: Protesters march in the center of Athens yesterday. Greece ground to a halt yesterday as unions staged a one-day general strike and thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest austerity measures designed to tame a public debt crisis. —AFP (See Page 25)

Batelco interested in African M&A Bharti eyes $7bn offshore loan MANAMA: Bahrain Telecommunications Co said it would be interested in acquiring pieces of Kuwaiti Zain’s African assets if their buyer, India’s Bharti Airtel, ever decided to break them up.

“We are looking at all opportunities. If there were assets (to be sold on by Bharti), we would look at them,” chief executive Peter Kaliaropoulos said yesterday, adding he did not expect Bharti to break up Zain’s assets.

Bharti has offered to acquired Zain’s African assets for $9 billion. “If you split up assets, you lose value,” Kaliaropoulos said after a meeting at which Batelco shareholders approved an unchanged 2009 dividend of 0.05 dinar.

Batelco has said it plans to make an acquisition worth up to $2 billion in Africa and India, which it would finance through a mix of debt and equity, and by bringing partners on board.

But with its home market of just above 1 million Batelco is a small player compared with Gulf Arab telecom heavyweights Saudi Telecom and the United Arab Emirates’ Etisalat.

Another opportunity to enter Africa is the potential sale by Egyptian operator Orascom Telecom of its Algerian operation Djezzy. The Algerian government wants Orascom to relinquish ownership of the company, according to government and financial sources.

Kaliaropoulos said Batelco did not have the financial clout to enter any bidding on its own, but would be interested as part of a consortium.

Kaliaropoulos said at the shareholder meeting that Batelco’s 2010 profit would likely be dampened by startup costs for its new Indian unit S Tel which started operations late last year.

“We expect net profit to decline marginally,” he said.

The profit guidance was in line with previous statements.

Last month, Kaliaropoulos said he expected 2010 net profit to be at least 100 million Bahraini dinars ($265 million).

Batelco posted a 2009 net profit of 105 million dinars.

Meanwhile, banks are discussing a $7 billion, five-year, offshore loan to back Bharti Airtel’s $9 billion offer to buy Zain’s African cellular assets, sources told Reuters Basis Point.

The remaining $2 billion equivalent will come from the rupee market, the sources said, adding the currency mix was yet to be finalized. Separately, the chairman of India’s top lender, State Bank of India, told reporters in Mumbai Bharti had shown interest in obtaining funding from his bank for the Zain assets deal and was in talks with them.

“Bharti is interested,” O P Bhatt said, without elaborating. During its tie-up talks last year with South Africa’s MTN that were aborted, Bharti had approached State Bank of India for dollar and rupee loans totalling about $2 billion, a government minister had said last August.

Shares in Bharti fell 1.4 percent yesterday in a slightly weak Mumbai market, taking losses to more than 12 percent since the company confirmed its talks with Zain, triggering concerns the deal may put pressure on earnings in the near term.

Bharti’s market value has lost $3 billion to $22.6 billion. The firms are in exclusive talks until March 25 for the proposed deal, which would give Bharti access in 15 African countries with about 42 million subscribers.

People familiar with the deal have told Reuters that Bharti may finalize by tomorrow its financing details in what could be the largest acquisition loan for an Indian borrower.

The Basis Point report also said pricing talks had emerged for the offshore loan with some bankers saying Bharti can achieve an all-in of below 300 basis points, lower than 315 basis points it was supposed to pay for $3 billion-$4 billion loan lined up last year for the thwarted MTN deal. Standard Chartered and Barclays are advising Bharti in the deal. —Reuters

BUSINESS

22

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Greater EQUATE facility inaugurated

Dow chief celebrates expansion of historic partnership in Kuwait KUWAIT: The Dow Chemical Company recently commemorated its historic partnership with Petrochemical Industries Company KSC (PIC) of Kuwait at the inauguration of the Greater Equate facility, an expansion of Dow and PIC’s successful 15-year joint venture.

EQUATE Petrochemical Company, is today one of the Middle East’s leading producers of polyethylene and ethylene glycol. Andrew N Liveris, Dow’s chairman and chief executive officer, delivered a keynote address at the inauguration event, which marks the official launch of the Aromatics, Styrene and Olefins II plants under the name of Greater EQUATE. The inauguration consisted of notable speeches by all partners. In his keynote address, Liveris took a moment to congratulate HH the Amir and the people of Kuwait on the nation’s National Day and Liberation Day celebrations. Over 500 guests attended the two-hour inaugural ceremony, includ-

Andrew N Liveris, Dow’s chairman and chief executive officer ing His Highness the Amir of Kuwait, the Crown Prince HH Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad

Dubai’s du Q4 net profit surges on mobile users DUBAI: Dubai-based telecom du said yesterday net profit in the fourth quarter rose 155 percent on a surge in mobile users in the quarter and has set aside $600 million to boost its network in 2010. du, owned partly by the ruler of Dubai’s investment company Dubai Holding and Abu Dhabi investment vehicle Mubadala Development Co, said net profit before provisions for a 50 percent royalty fee to the government rose to 209 million dirhams ($56.90 million) from 82 million dirhams in the year earlier period.

The net profit result smashed forecasts from analysts polled by Reuters in January, which was an average of 110.5 million dirhams for the quarter.

The company saw the biggest growth in subscribers during the fourth quarter, it said, adding more than a third of its new customers for the year.

“Over the year, we have added a further 1.01 million customers with our total active subscriber base at 3.47 million,” Chief Executive Osman Sultan said in a company statement.

The operator, which broke Emirates Telecommunications Corp’s monopoly in 2007, invested about 2.4 billion dirhams in building its mobile, broadband and fixed network last year and has an investment program exceeding 2.2 billion dirhams ($599 million) for 2010, Sultam said. —Reuters

Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Prime Minister of Kuwait HH Sheikh Nasser Al-

Mohammed Al-Ahmed AlJaber Al-Sabah, the Minister of Oil, Electricity and Water Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah AlAhmad Al-Sabah, and members from the Supreme Petroleum Council of Kuwait.

“I know that PIC shares our feelings of pride on this momentous occasion for our partnership,” said Andrew N Liveris, Dow’s chairman and chief executive officer. “The success of EQUATE - and of all our joint venture partnerships in Kuwait - lies in the common values and understanding that we share with PIC and with the people of Kuwait. Together we have achieved a successful global business relationship that not only benefits Dow, but has a tremendous impact on Kuwait, its people and its economy,” Markus Wildi, Vice President of Corporate Development in Kuwait, added, “The success of Greater EQUATE is a testament to Dow’s continued commitment to Kuwait and its people. This moment is

the culmination of years of collaboration and hard work between Dow and PIC. Through our joint ventures, we remain one of the largest private sector employers in the country’s Chemical industry. We are confident that the expansion of our partnership with PIC will provide more Kuwaitis with employment opportunities, elite training, access to technology know-how and global business management expertise.”

For 15 years, Dow and PIC have partnered together to create six joint ventures representing 25 separate legal entities around the world.

Currently, the Greater EQUATE joint ventures represent more than 60% of the non-oil GDP of the State of Kuwait. Dow and PIC’s joint ventures combine Dow’s strong existing asset base, technology leadership and market experience in driving innovation toward solving the world’s most pressing problems in a manner that respects the planet and future generations.

Audi to present RS 5 in Geneva Coupe with 331 kW (450 hp) high-revving V8 engine DUBAI: Unbridled power lurking in a classically elegant coupé: the Audi RS 5 will debut at the Geneva Auto Show. The high-revving 4.2-liter V8 unleashes powerful performance while achieving remarkable fuel economy.

It delivers 450 hp (331 kW) at 8,250 rpm and between 4,000 to 6,000 rpm transmits a maximum of 430 Nm of torque. The coupé’s 1,725 kilograms are propelled from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.6 seconds. The top speed of 250 km/h can be increased to 280 km/h upon request.

Efficiency is standard in every Audi; the RS 5 is no exception. The ultra-powerful eight-cylinder FSI direct fuel injection engine averages 10.8 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers - far less than its main competitors. This impressive figure is due in part to the technologies of the Audi modular efficiency platform, including for example the energy-recovery system.

The standard seven-speed double-clutch S tronic gearbox in the RS 5 with its high efficiency ratio and its high-geared top speed also enhances efficiency and shifts gears at lightning speed almost imperceptibly. In

addition to the automatic mode and gear leaver shift, it can be operated via the shift paddles on the steering wheel. The launch control program ensures flawless acceleration from a standstill while an innovative new center differential in the quattro drivetrain transmits power to all four wheels. By means of the standard Audi drive select, the driver can switch in automatic mode among three different options: auto, comfort and dynamic.

With the RS models comprising the dynamic spearhead of Audi’s model range, Audi’s latest addition clearly exudes an athletic and powerful identity through new and clear-cut accents, the sweeping strip of LED daytime running lights, oversized air inlets, flared fenders and retractable tailgate spoiler. The vehicle’s dynamically elegant styling extends to the interior, featuring carbon inlays, a lap timer and sports seats among other sporty accents. The Audi RS 5 will be available in the Middle East end of 2010. Prices and specs have not been set yet.

McAfee Inc names Georges First Energy Bank achieves Millet as VP of EMEA Channel $14.2m of profits in 2009

DUBAI: McAfee, Inc yesterday announced that Georges Millet has been appointed as vice president of EMEA channel.

Millet joins McAfee from Autodesk, where he created and headed up its worldwide channel office. Prior to this, he held several other senior positions at Autodesk, latterly as EMEA channel and license compliance director. Millet brings to McAfee a proven track record in driving strategic channel excellence and leadership, and 25 years of commercial experience in IT companies.

In his new role at McAfee, Millet will be responsible for McAfee’s EMEA channel strategy and operations.

His focus on aligning McAfee’s channel business in Europe, Middle East and Africa with McAfee’s global strategy will contribute to the company’s global objective of making it easier to do business with McAfee and enable its channel across the broad range of its security solutions.

David Quantrell, president, EMEA, McAfee, Inc comments on this appointment, “Georges joins McAfee at a great time - 2010 is McAfee’s “Year of the Partner” and our channel is firmly at the core of so much that we do for our cus-

Georges Millet tomers. Georges brings to our EMEA organization considerable experience of partnership and an understanding of how channels can be optimized to deliver value to both partners and to customers alike. “ “McAfee’s singular focus on security and its strong product portfolio creates a proven and unique opportunity for our partners,” says Millet. “Our renewed commitment to enabling the chan-

nel for greater success in value added business, while also growing partners’ volume business , means that McAfee has a unrivalled offering for its channel. I am thrilled to be driving this vision and leadership across McAfee’s channel in EMEA.” Millet, who graduated from Sup de Co Bordeaux and is a fluent speaker of French, Spanish and English, will be based in McAfee’s office in Munich, Germany.

MANAMA: Bahrain based First Energy Bank (FEB) announced yesterday profits of $ 14.2 million in 2009, as compared to $42 thousand in 2008’s. FEB also reported a Gross Income of $47.41 million for 2009 as compared to $17.03 million in 2008. Total Assets have increased from $1.021 billion to $1.233 billion in 2009 when compared to 2008.

Commenting on the results, Vahan Zanoyan, CEO of FEB, said, “We have been building FEB on a stable foundation, based on the strength of our investor base, the strength of our team, and the knowledge and understanding we have of the energy industry and its potential.” “We are very pleased with where we are today, as can be seen from our results for last year, which was in fact our first full year of operations, and which are due ultimately to the strategic business activities we undertook over the course of the year,” he continued.

FEB is a relatively new institution, established in late 2008 with an authorized capital of $1 billion. The Bank counts a range of organizations and individuals with interests in the energy sector from Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and other countries throughout the region amongst its shareholders.

“Our priority remains the

Vahan Zanoyan, CEO of FEB implementation of our investment strategy, including the adoption of a diversified portfolio spanning the entire breadth of the energy value chain, from petrochemicals and hydrocarbons, to alternative and renewable energy sources. As we look to the year ahead, we have set ourselves a challenging, yet achievable, objective of doubling our current balance sheet, through continuing to maintain a strong deal flow through our pipeline,” said Zanoyan.

Among its achievements in 2009, FEB successfully established, in partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Project Management and Development (PMD) Company,

the largest Polysilicon production facility in both the Kingdom and the MENA region. Set to become one of the lowest cost producers of Polysilicon products, this strategic investment marks the entrance of FEB into the alternative energy industry. Additionally, FEB acquired a significant stake in the Al Dur Independent Water and Power Production (IWPP) project, with an investment of $50 million, which is equal to a 9% stake in the project.

Last year also saw the successful consolidation of FEB’s inaugural project, MENAdrill, an offshore drilling venture, which plans to compete on a regional level and become one of the largest private sector drilling companies in the MENA region. In addition, FEB successfully concluded the purchase of 40% of ADWOC (Arab Drilling and work over company) one of the leading oil and gas onshore contract drill companies based out of Libya, from Global Santa Fe. “2010 is looking like an even more promising year to us, as we have now established a presence in the region and are ready to begin acting on many of the potential investment opportunities in our pipeline. We expect 2010 to become yet another monumental year for FEB,” concluded Zanoyan.

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals

.2830000 .4430000 .3900000 .2650000 .2750000 .2570000 .0045000 .0020000 .0781130 .7610300 .4020000 .0750000 .7460570 .0045000 .0500000 CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2877500 .4454860 .3924460 .2677070 .2771310 .0527310 .0399660 .2592620 .0370510 .2043300 .0031390 .0062550 .0025240 .0034050 .0042160 .0783820 .7636460 .4069560 .0767720 .7477740 .0062550 TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2898500 .4486320 .2696030 .0772620

.2930000 .4530000 .3970000 .2740000 .2810000 .2640000 .0075000 .0035000 .0788980 .7686780 .4180000 .0790000 .7535550 .0072000 .0580000 .2898500 .4486320 .3952170 .2696030 .2790940 .0531050 .0402490 .2610920 .0373130 .2057780 .0031620 .0062990 .0025420 .0034290 .0042450 .0788820 .7685150 .4098380 .0772620 .7525420 .0062990

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 289.200 Euro 392.600

Sterling Pound Canadian dollar Turkish lire Swiss Franc Australian dollar US Dollar Buying 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 Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound Yemen Riyal Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham 20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

447.830 276.100 187.110 268.400 257.830 287.000 ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.221 6.250 3.398 2.526 3.921 205.700 37.290 4.176 6.270 8.744 0.301 0.292 ARAB COUNTRIES 56.250 52.770 1.364 208.100 408.600 194.100 6.318 35.530 GCC COUNTRIES 77.161 79.494 751.700 768.430 78.801 GOLD 217.000 110.000 58.000

Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal 10 Tola Sterling Pound US Dollar

SELL CASH 264.100 766.920 4.420 278.600 567.800 15.800 53.900 167.800 56.310

394.500 37.770 6.250

408.700 0.194 87.510 3.930 203.200 750.900 3.415 6.270 79.540 77.200 206.620 40.370 2.525 449.500 269.700 8.920 78.890 289.100

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

396.000 37.920 6.600 0.034 0.292 0.280 3.300 410.290 0.195 87.510 48.000 4.260 204.700 2.183 50.200 751.080 3.440 6.420 79.970 77.220 206.620 40.370 2.777 451.500 41.300 271.200 6.400 9.070 217.900 78.890 289.500 1.410 GOLD 1,204.620 TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 449.500 289.100

SELL DRAFT 260.600 768.920 4.175 277.100

206.600 52.781

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

288.900 281.705 453.740 399.035 268.105 708.110 766.105 78.635 79.265 77.070 407.675 52.650 6.265 3.395

Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees

2.525 4.175 6.250 3.170 8.685 5.565 3.920

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Nepali rupee Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Candaian Dollars

289.250 3.410 6.260 2.535 4.180 6.295 78.740 77.295 768.500 52.760 452.100 0.0000314 3.930 1.550 410.600 5.750 397.100 281.600

Al Mulla Exchange Currency

Transfer rate

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

288.900 394.250 449.350 277.000 3.225 6.255 52.735 2.526 4.178 6.265 3.400 768.600 78.675 77.050

BUSINESS

Thursday, February 25, 2010

23

Ancient meets modern in Oman From Oman’s opulent palaces to shimmering deserts, this undiscovered corner of Arabia is a tantalising mix of ancient and modern discovers the renowned British journalist Charles Garside, as he heads for the oasis, so says a report that appeared in a recent edition of the British daily tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail.

Commenting on Oman’s growing popularity as a unique tourist destination, Usama Bin Karim Al Haremi of Oman Air’s Corporate Communications and Media said that the National Carrier has been tasked with boosting tourism in Oman, adding that the ministry of Tourism and Oman Air, continue to promote the Sultanate as a high quality destination aimed primarily at responsible tourists. The continuous joint efforts he affirms have been successful in building awareness about Oman as a choice destination for tourism, and upholding the image of the Sultanate as a safe and ideal holiday spot. Oman Air, Al Haremi further stated, is yet to expand its network in Europe, with flights from Oman already launched to Frankfurt, Munich, and Paris.

He said travellers could catch now daily non-stop flights from London Heathrow to Muscat with Oman Air. The travel article titled “The Oman holidays: Off-road driving on the Wahiba sands en route to desert camp” reads: The only let-down on this trip came from a mechanic deflating the tyres of our 4x4 to give the traction needed to bash the spectacular, shimmering dunes of the Ramlat Al Wahaybah - Wahiba sands - en route to our desert camp. In 1970, the Sultanate of Oman in the south-east quarter of the Arabian Peninsula had just six miles of asphalted roads, when the Sandhurst-educated Sultan

UK’s Daily Mail says...

Qaboos bin Said assumed power at the age of 30. The Sultan had already travelled the world and studied local government in England. But the transformation he and his advisers have achieved for a country about the size of England and Scotland combined is almost as astonishing as its natural landscape of soaring mountains, grand canyons, empty deserts, lush wadis, and more than 1,300 miles of coastline with often totally deserted beaches.

“Today, there are thousands of miles of top-class roads to explore a countryside honeycombed with ancient forts and archaeological treasures, and now visitors are being encouraged to explore the landscape beyond the Oman roads - on dirt tracks through tortuous passes in the majestic Al Hajar mountains or off the tarmac into vast desert wastes. So, for a small cash consideration, the employees of Salem and Salim Sons Of Sultan Bin Mohamed Alwa Haibi (as the sign above their auto repair shop in the tiny village of Al Wasil proudly proclaims) let down our tyres. Then, turning right at a small mosque, we headed off road.

“Salah, our driver, suddenly morphed into ‘Top Gear’ mode and we realised why the car was fitted with an inside roll cage. As if the ride into the desert wasn’t exhilarating enough, we also seemed to be involved in a most unusual race. Ahead of us were three flat-back Toyota trucks, each transporting a strapped down sedentary dromedary nonchalantly riding backwards on the way to their desert pens.

“Camel racing is big in Oman. While these ships of the desert seemed to appreciate the lift, our driver was not going to be passed or surpassed by a one-humped camel going backwards. After six miles, we were delighted when Desert Nights, one of the newest ‘campsites’ in Oman, appeared like a mirage on the horizon. We were welcomed in traditional style with cold towels and Khawa coffee and dates, and our luggage was whisked to the tent.

“From our desert camp riding across the ridges before being ferried to the highest dune above camp to watch the sun set on ripples of red, orange, yellow and golden sands. Dinner, a five-star buffet affair, was taken at low tables outside the tented dining rooms, where guests gathered round a blazing fire beneath a spectacular starlit canopy.

“The naturally versatile topography of Oman is very well highlighted in this report that brings to the attention of the readers the majestic beauty of the mountains, the cave chambers, the desert dunes, and the pristine marine atmosphere. In whole, this report on Oman is sure to catch the attention of even the residents of Oman in a very pleasant way,” Al Haremi noted about the report.

“The mountains are magnificent. Huge jagged fingers of rock lying so symmetrically one behind the other give an illusion of a camera shake. At the foot of Jebel Shams (it means ‘sun peak’) we went off-road in another way: Underground. The Al-Hoota

Usama Bin Karim Al Haremi cave complex is part of a spectacular threemile subterranean chasm discovered in the eighties when a goat fell through a crack in the mountainside. Today, the caves boast the only train in Oman, taking visitors just about 400-metres from the comfort of a visitor centre to the entrance of the show cave. Brilliantly designed paths and walkways and a clever lighting system allow vis-

itors to explore the natural columns of stalactites and stalagmites that have built up over millions of years in the biggest cave and to see the edge of an underground lake where small, blind, and almost transparent fish thrive in large shoals.

For those in search of bigger fish, as it were, Oman offers dolphin and whale watching tours, some of the best surf fishing in the world, and October to April is best for big game fishing. The best weather is between November and mid-March when temperatures will average 25ºC. Locally caught fish is the top culinary specialty.

Apart from the outboard motors, it seemed little had changed for the local fishermen delivering their catch to the market at Barka, where we watched traders haggle as their forefathers have done for generations.

“International dishes, Arabian, Indian, and Chinese specialties abound both in the local cafes and restaurants as well as the five-star hotels.

“We had started our visit with an early check-in at the stylish Grand Hyatt in Oman’s capital Muscat, having flown overnight on Oman Air’s direct flight from Heathrow. With eight hours flying time and a four-hour time difference, we were still ready to make the most of our arrival day, visiting the Sultan’s spectacular Al Alam Palace.

“The Sultan Qaboos mosque is the second-largest in the Middle East (after Makkah) and is the breathtaking result of the combined skills and architectural contributions of 26 nations. To prepare us for

the journey to the desert and mountains, we had spent one night at the surprising Al Nahda resort, less than an hour from Muscat but inland from the fishing village of Barka.

“Every shop, business and hotel seems to have pictures of His Majesty the Sultan, and there is without doubt much genuine affection for the man they hold responsible for the renaissance of Oman, which has thrived without bling or skyscrapers and has a vision for the future that seems to protect and revere the past. For his 39th anniversary and 69th birthday last year, miles and miles of the highways were decorated with lights and flags.

As Supreme Commander of the Oman armed forces, he presided over a military parade, while the nation’s artists were invited to paint his picture in a ‘beat the clock’ fine art portrait competition, and a two-day futuristic 3D exhibition used holograms to assess the strengths of Oman today with the technology of tomorrow. No plans have yet been announced about this year’s celebrations, but the advice has to be: book early. A new UK business monitoring report says Oman can still lay claim to being ‘one of the great undiscovered destinations’. Even though the Sultanate plans to attract 12 million visitors a year by 2020 - a four-fold increase on last year’s numbers - there will still be much to discover. I have never left anywhere with a stronger feeling of knowing there was so much more to see and do. Meanwhile, with the magic carpet mouse-mat by my computer, I only have to click on Desert Nights and, by the Genie of the Camp, I’m transported back to the sands of Arabia. That’s the joy of Oman ancient and modern.

Tokyo’s trade deficit widens

Kuwait’s annual exports to Japan jump by 52.3% TOKYO: J apan’s trade deficit w ith Kuw ait w idened for the third straight month in J anuary, w ith exports from Kuw ait riding more than 50 percent year-on-year, the Finance Ministry said yesterday. Kuw ait’s exports to the w orld’s second-largest economy grew 52.3 percent from a year earlier to J PY 5.82 billion ($64.5 million), w hile imports from J apan plunged 21.0 percent to

Passengers board Qatar Airways’ inaugural flight to Bengaluru at Doha International Airport.

Qatar Airways arrives in Bengaluru Indian capacity rises to 71 flights a week across 11 destinations BENGALURU: Qatar Airways embarked on its 2010 global expansion program with the launch of scheduled flights to the southern Indian city of Bengaluru (Bangalore).

Flight QR226 arrived in the country’s IT capital city - dubbed India’s Silicon Valley - in the early hours of this morning following its maiden non-stop overnight journey from the airline’s hub of Doha, capital of the State of Qatar.

Bengaluru, the State capital of Karnataka, becomes the first of several new route launches being planned by Qatar Airways during 2010.

Scheduled flights are set to be introduced to Copenhagen on March 30; Ankara on April 5; Tokyo on April 26; Barcelona on June 7 and Sydney at a date to be confirmed, together with a raft of capacity increases on many other routes worldwide.

Formerly known as Bangalore, the launch of daily flights to Bengaluru takes Qatar Airways’ Indian capacity up to 71 services a week spread across 11 key points - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Cochin, Kozhikode, Goa and Amritsar.

Home to India’s largest IT software industry, Bengaluru also has some of the country’s most affluent colleges and research institutions with numerous public sector companies across the aerospace, telecommunications and defense industries.

With excellent connections from Europe, Middle East, Africa and the United States, the new route is expected to be popular among expatriates returning to Bengaluru and the international business community having strong commercial links with the city.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said it was only a matter of time before Bengaluru became part of the carrier’s expanding family of routes in India which he described as “one of the airline’s most strategic markets.”

“I am delighted that Bengaluru has finally joined our rapidly growing international network, which further demonstrates our commitment to give the travelling public greater choice,” he said.

“This new strategic air link fosters a stronger partnership between India and the State of Qatar and further provides excellent connectivity through our flights to rest of the world via Doha.”

Bengaluru has been at the heart of India’s software industry for years, enabling it to capitalise on establishing commercial and social ties with cities around the world, including its US west coast counterpart, San Francisco.

With codeshare flights operated by partner carrier United Airlines, Qatar Airways provides convenient connections to many cities across the US, including San Francisco.

As part of its promotional efforts, members of Qatar Airways’ award-winning Privilege Club frequent flyer program can earn up to 28,000 bonus QMiles, depending on the country of origin, when they fly on the new Bengaluru route.

Added Al Baker: “These are exciting times for Qatar Airways. With our first new route of 2010 successfully launched, we look forward to further global expansion to some exciting destinations over the next few weeks and months. Watch this space for announcements of further expansion that will include new routes and capacity increases to many destinations worldwide.”

Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of 79 aircraft to 86 diverse business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, South Asia and North America.

On the Doha - Bengaluru route, Qatar Airways is operating an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy.

Japan’s trade deficit with the entire Middle East skyrocketed, up 89.8 percent to JPY 760.29 billion ($8.43 billion). It’s Middle East-bound exports dropped 9.4 percent from a year earlier to JPY 162.48 billion ($1. 80 billion), as demand of automobiles, steel and machinery including electrical machinery, which accounted for 84.9 percent of Japan’s total exports to the region, declined.

Shipments of vehicles to the Middle East fell 8.5 percent.

January imports from the Middle East to Japan rose

59.1 percent to JPY 922. 78 billion ($10.23 billion), thanks to a 61.5 percent increase of crude oil and petroleum products, which accounted for 98.5 percent of Japan’s total imports from the area. However, shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell 24.9 percent.

Japan’s global trade surplus stood at JPY 85.20 billion ($944.3 million) in January, compared with a record deficit of JPY 956.03 billion ($10.60 billion) a year earlier, posting the surplus for the 12th straight month on the back of robust demand from China-Japan’s top trad-

LG-Dolby collaboration brings joy to users of Smartphone KUWAIT: At the 2010 GSMA Mobile World Congress, LG Electronics (LG), a global leader and technology innovator in mobile communications, and Dolby Laboratories, Inc. held the first public demonstration of 5.1 multichannel surround sound on a mobile phone using the latest version of Dolby(r) Mobile technology and an LG Android-based smartphone.

“As a leader in the mobile industry, LG is devoted to delivering the best new features to our customers for a better user experience. Today’s announcement represents the latest milestone in joint efforts to improve the performance of our handsets, including feature phones and smartphones,” said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company.

“Together with Dolby, we hope to raise the bar for audio quality in mobile devices and the

J PY 970.1 million ($10.8 million), the ministry said in a preliminary report. As a result, J apan’s trade deficit w ith Kuw ait soared 60.6 percent from a year earlier to J PY 4.85 billion ($53.8 million) in J anuary, marking the red ink figure for the 24th straight month. J apan is Kuw ait’s major trading partner, w ith tw o-w ay trade reaching $10.53 billion in 2009.

mobile industry as a whole.”

Dolby Mobile is an audio platform designed to deliver rich, vibrant audio and dramatically improve listening enjoyment.

The latest version of Dolby Mobile now offers support for discrete 5.1-channel surround sound.

“We are pleased to be working with LG to showcase the latest Dolby innovations for mobile on an LG Android-based smartphone,” said Ramzi Haidamus, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Dolby Laboratories.

“Dolby Mobile expands the possibilities of mobile entertainment, allowing people to enjoy richer, more cinema-like audio experiences on the go.”

Announced in July 2008, the strategic collaboration between LG and Dolby has already created 20 mobile phone models with rich and enhanced audio for the market that are available today or are in development.

Digital shopping festival KUWAIT: Luluhypermarket is proudly presenting Digital Shopping Festival from 22nd February to 10th March.

This promotion is meant for promoting all range of electronic products and its accessories; white goods products are also included in this promotion. There are many attractive offers on all electronic and white goods products and customers can get free gift vouchers on purchase of LCD, microwave, refrigerator, cooking range and washing machines. There will be special stalls and counters arranged for all major brands for exhibiting and explaining the features of their products. This would be a unique opportunity for all customers to make awareness about the new generation products. Visit the electronic section for more exciting and attractive offers on Ikon LCD 32" below KD100/- and get gift voucher worth KD 20/absolutely free.

Digital Shopping Festival was inaugurated by Ahmed J Al Beighaily, Municipal Council Member, in the presence of Luluhypermarket management and staff.

ing partner-and other parts of Asia. Shipments to the US also gained for the first time in 29 months.

Exports surged 40.9 percent on year to JPY 4.902 trillion ($54.33 billion) for the second straight monthly increase and grew at the fastest pace since February 1980. Imports advanced 8.6 percent to JPY 4.817 trillion ($53.39 billion) for the first rise in 15 months, mainly owing to higher oil and other raw materials prices. The trade data are measured on a customs-cleared basis before adjustment for seasonal factors. — KUNA

BKME declares lucky weekly winners KUWAIT: BKME has announced the results of the weekly draw of its MyHassad savings scheme. Six lucky customers won with Aysha Ali Mohammed winning the Grand Weekly prize worth KD 20,000.

The following MyHassad customers won cash prizes of KD 1000 each: Abbas Abdulla Al Khayyat, Jaber Mohd Abdulla Al-Saleh, Mohd Mubarak Sultan Mubarak, Naser Abdulreda Abdulla AlHerz and Malak Mohammad Jaber Kamal.

The biggest-ever MyHassad savings scheme features 6000 prizes worth KD 10 million in total. The scheme’s new structure gives eligible customers the opportunity to win KD 1 million in each of the two quarterly prize draws, offering a single ‘Grand Salary for Life’ prize of KD 4000 a month for the next 250 months.

Other ‘Salary for Life’ prizes include quarterly KD 500,000 prizes (KD 2,000 paid out every month) and KD 250,000 prizes (KD 1,000 paid out every month).

With a total of three winners announced

each quarter, all prizes convert to a stable source of monthly income for the winner over the next 250 months.

Apart from the quarterly prizes, one Grand Weekly prize of KD 20,000 and five weekly cash prizes of KD 1,000 each will be given away every week. Customers with KD 1000 and above invested in the MyHassad scheme are eligible to win KD 500,000 in each of the four loyalty draws held over the scheme period.

The concept behind the savings scheme is giving customers the opportunity to win a “salary for life”. BKME’s objective has been to create a lifetime change for the winners and allow them to invest their winnings in things that will make a lasting difference to the well being of their families.

For more information on the MyHassad savings account, its prize structure and eligibility criteria, customers may visit any BKME branch or call BKME Hayakom 1802000.

24

BUSINESS

Thursday, February 25, 2010

KSE equities bearish on Markets drop on weak global cues eve of national holiday MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS

DUBAI: Most Middle East markets fell yesterday as investors remained wary of a global recovery after a sharp drop in US consumer confidence, with stocks in Dubai and Abu Dhabi leading the declines.

US consumer confidence slumped to a 10-month low and world stocks as measured by MSCI fell 0.3 percent while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares lost 0.1 percent. “There is not much of a promise coming from Asia, Europe and the US Investors should be watching more signs of solid and stable recovery in the global markets,” said Saleh Al-Onazi, vice president of principal investment at Swicorp in Riyadh.

Abu Dhabi’s measure touched a one-week low, falling 1.1 percent to 2,719 points while Dubai fell 1 percent to 1,569 points, its fifth consecutive drop as banking and real estate stocks continued to be sold off in both the indices. “The sentiment is negative and banks and real estate stocks, which have the largest exposure to Dubai’s debt are getting hit,” said Mohammed Yasin, chief executive of Shuaa Securities.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank plunged 5.6 percent to a three-week low while in Dubai, Shuaa Capital, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest investment bank, was the top-loser falling 5.1 percent.

Saudi Arabia’s index closed down 0.1 percent to 6,466 points as SABB Bank, HSBC’s Saudi affiliate, fell 4.8 percent after saying non-performing loans soared 16 times to $940.3 million in 2009.

“There are a lack of catalysts in the markets now and internationally signals are pretty mixed,” said one analyst who did not want to be identified. Qatar’s index

Global Daily Market Report KUWAIT: The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended the last trading session before the National Day, Liberation Day and the Prophet’s Birthday holidays, registering a fall in the major indices due to profit-taking. Zain recorded its first decline during yesterday’s session since February 03, 2010. Global General Index (GGI) shed 1.87 points (- 0.90 percent) during the session to reach 205.05 points. Furthermore, the KSE Price Index decreased by 22 points (- 0.30 percent) yesterday and closed at 7,378.80 points. Market capitalization was down KD305.13mn yesterday to reach KD33.52bn.

Market breadth During the session, 140 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards decliners as 57 equities retreated versus 37 that advanced. A total of 113 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 37.36 percent to reach 268.79mn shares. In addition, value of shares traded dropped by 41.16 percent to stand at KD48.57mn. The Investment Sector was the volume leader, with 35.87 percent of total traded volume. While the Services Sector was the value leader with 44.88 percent of total traded value. National Ranges Company saw 16.64mn shares changing hands, making it the volume leader. Zain, on the other hand, was the value leader, with a total traded value of KD9.39mn.

In terms of top gainers, Arabi Group Holding Company was the top gainer for the day, adding 6.41 percent and closed at KD0.166. On the other hand, Al-Muwasat Holding Company shed 11.11 percent and closed at KD0.160, making it the biggest decliner in the market yesterday.

Regarding Global’s sectoral indices, they mainly ended on a negative note with Global Services Index being the top decliner with a 2.22 percent drop. Heavyweights Agility and Zain ended yesterday with a drop of 3.13 percent and 3.03 percent thereby contributing to the index’s decline. Furthermore, National Mobile Telecommunications Company also aided the index’s decline by ending the day

with a 1.19 percent decline.

Global Banking Index shed 0.59 percent yesterday, making it the second biggest decliner. Contributing to the index’s loss was Commercial Bank of Kuwait which ended the day down 3.13 percent and closed at KD0.930.

Gulf Bank also ended in the red yesterday, down 1.45 percent to close at KD0.340.

In terms of gainers, Global Insurance Index took the top spot with a 0.84 percent gain backed by Gulf Insurance Company and Al-Ahleia Insurance Company, the only gainers in the sector, ending the day up 2.35 percent and 2.68 percent, respectively.

Global’s special indices ended in the red

yesterday except for Global High Yield Index which was the only gainer. The index ended the day up 0.09 percent backed by Gulf Insurance Company. Global Large Cap Index was the top decliner, down 1.52 percent backed by Zain ending in the red after several consecutive sessions of gains.

Oil news The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $75.75 a barrel on Tuesday 23/2/2010, compared with $76.14 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

Market news State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest

lender, is in talks with Bharti Airtel over the telecoms firm’s funding to acquire the African assets of Kuwaiti firm Zain, SBI’s Chairman said yesterday. SBI Chairman O P Bhatt was speaking on the sidelines of a banking technology summit.

Japan’s trade deficit with Kuwait widened for the third straight month in January, with exports from Kuwait riding more than 50 percent year-on-year, the Finance Ministry said.

Kuwait’s exports to the world’s secondlargest economy grew 52.3 percent from a year earlier to JPY5.82bn, while imports from Japan plunged 21.0 percent to JPY970.10mn, the ministry said in a preliminary report.

fell 1.2 percent as investors booked profits in banking stocks post their dividend payouts. Qatar Islamic Bank was the top-loser in the index, falling 8 percent after declaring a 60 percent cash dividend.

“Overall, we are seeing that there is selling pressure after dividend announcements. People are buying ahead of ex-div and selling once it is announced,” said Samer Al-Jaouni, general manager of Middle East Financial Brokerage Co. In Kuwait, index heavyweight Zain fell 3 percent, pushing the broader index down 0.3 percent to 7,379 points. Egypt’s index saw some late session buying in blue-chips Orascom Telecom and Commercial International Bank (CIB). The index rose 0.5 percent to 6,608 points.

HIGHLIGHTS DUBAI The index fell 1 percent to 1,570 points.

OMAN The index fell 0.04 percent to 6,741 points.

SAUDI ARABIA The index dropped 0.1 percent to 6,466 points.

KUWAIT The index fell 0.3 percent to 7,379 points.

ABU DHABI The benchmark fell 1.1 percent to 2,719 points.

EGYPT The index rose 0.5 percent at 6,608 points.

QATAR The measure fell 1.2 percent to 6,805 points.

BAHRAIN The index rose 0.2 percent to 1,532 points.

— Reuters

Bahrain plans to privatize Gulf Air, other services MANAMA: Bahrain plans to privatize the country’s loss-making carrier Gulf Air within about a year, after its turnaround program bears fruit, said the chief executive of the top economic planning body in the Gulf Arab state.

Bahrain also plans to privatise other public services, from hospitals to waste management, as it seeks to diversify its economy from oil and build up a viable private sector and a tax-based economy.

Gulf Air, which said in November it expected making an operating loss of about $500 million in 2009,

plans to return to profits by focusing on regional routes and cutting costs. “The intention is to privatise but if you’re going to privatise something, people want something that doesn’t have a hundred-tonne anchor weighing it down,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa AlKhalifa, head of the Economic Development Board, told Reuters. “It will take realistically a year.”

The Economic Development Board controls all government decisions on economic policies, making Sheikh Mohammed the small island kingdom’s top policy-maker in economic matters. — Reuters

BUSINESS

Thursday, February 25, 2010

25

Indian budget to underline slow pace of reform NEW DELHI: India’s government presents its first full post-election budget tomorrow, with big-bang reform seen as unlikely despite looming constraints to the country’s rapid economic growth.

The budget from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is set to disappoint those who hoped the government might use a hefty majority it won last May as a springboard for reforms such as financial sector liberalization, analysts say.

The ruling Congress party had frequently blamed its Communist partners for thwarting attempts to reduce state control of the economy during its last term, when it led a fragile coalition from 2004 to 2009. But even though the left-leaning Congress is

firmly in control, it will shy away from contentious moves to open up India’s still inward-looking economy in the budget for the fiscal year ending in March 2011, analysts say.

Although growth has rebounded-it is seen hitting 7.5 percent this year and over eight percent next year-the government is unwilling to chart a reformist course for as long as the global outlook remains uncertain.

More broadly, there also still appears to be a lack of consensus in the ruling party and its coalition partners in favor of deeper reforms in Asia’s third-largest economy.

“There’s a substantial body of opinion that believes India was saved from the worst rav-

ages of the global slump because its economy is not so integrated with the rest of the world,” said economic analyst Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.

India’s growth slowed to 6.7 percent last year from boom levels of nine percent as a result of the worldwide downturn, but that was seen in the country as a good performance compared to anemic expansion or recession in the West.

Most economists tout liberalization to pull in foreign investment as the best way to boost growth and ease grinding poverty.

More than 40 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people still live on less than 1.25 dollars a day. But moves such as opening the vast retail and financial sectors to foreign

investors, privatization and introducing flexible hiring-and-firing laws appear a step too far for the government.

“What happened in the US and Europe has made politicians in India and everywhere more guarded about introducing measures to liberalize the economy,” said HSBC senior economist Robert PriorWandesforde.

Political commentator Parsa Venkateshwar Rao added: “With the international financial crisis, this is the wrong time for anyone to talk about reform.”

India’s robust upturn, fuelled by buoyant domestic demand, will give Mukherjee leeway to start rolling back stimulus steps put in place to help shield the economy from the

slump, analysts say.

But the government has repeatedly stressed that stimulus exit will not be at the cost of growth.

The 74-year-old Mukherjee, known as one of India’s canniest politicians, will seek to satisfy political allies with populist policies while also pacify the debt market by taking the first steps to rein in the ballooning deficit by re-embracing fiscal discipline, analysts say. Big public spending schemes will be kept, including hikes to a flagship rural sector jobs scheme, along with heavy investment in infrastructure and educationseen as cornerstones of development.

Most of the avenues for fiscal consolidation are expected to be through bigger tax

collection due to faster growth, a widening of the service tax net, divestment of stakes in state-run enterprises and the sale of spectrum for third-generation telephony.

Analysts are betting the budget deficit will fall to 5.5-5.9 percent of gross domestic product from its current 6.8 percent, a 16year high. Still, if the government fails to take any bold steps now, some say a window of opportunity might shut. This year is the only one in which there are no major state elections to preoccupy the Congress party.

“If they don’t do it now, they won’t do it (at all) — elections will start coming into the picture and voter considerations will take over,” said D.K. Joshi, principal economist at Crisil Ratings. — AFP

Govt focuses on ‘inclusive growth’

Indian rail budget promises high-speed train network

HONG KONG: Buyers looking at a model of the latest development of high rise flats in Hong Kong. Hong Kong said yesterday that it will introduce a series of measures to cool the overheating property market, including increasing residential land supply and stamp duty for luxury flats.— AFP

Hong Kong govt acts to avert property bubble HONG KONG: Hong Kong said yesterday it would introduce a series of measures to cool the overheating property market, such as increasing residential land supply and hiking stamp duty for luxury flats.

Financial secretary John Tsang warned that a recent property frenzy, driven by a huge inflow of more than 640 billion Hong Kong dollars ($82 billion) since late2008, could threaten economic stability.

“If capital flows were to reverse or interest rates rebound, asset prices would become more volatile. This in turn may affect the stability of our financial system and the recovery of the real economy,” he said in his annual budget speech.

To reduce the risk of speculation in the luxury market, the stamp duty for sales of properties valued at more than $20 million will be raised from 3.75 percent to 4.25 percent beginning in April, he said.

Buyers of these flats would no longer be allowed to defer payment of stamp duty. The measure could be extended if excessive speculation was detected in the trading of less expensive properties, he said.

Tsang said the government would also strive to increase residential land supply, with plans to auction several urban residential sites in the next two years if market conditions allow, he said.

The financial secretary also pledged to prevent excessive expansion in mortgage lending. Prices of some luxury flats returned to the peaks of the 1997 property boom in January, he said.

Concerns that speculation has extended beyond the high-end market intensified this week after Sun Hung Kai Properties, Hong Kong’s largest developer by market capitalization, agreed to pay a staggering 3.37 billion dollars for a 12,000 square metre (130,000-square-foot) site in the city’s suburbs.

The price, reached after fierce bidding at a government land auction on Monday, was well above the aver-

age forecast by analysts. Sellers in the southern Chinese city hiked prices of their units after the auction, according to media reports. However, a property analyst said a bubble would still be created with Hong Kong’s interest rates remaining low due to its currency peg to the US dollar.

“The measures can slow down the property price hike but will definitely not be able to stop it,” Wong Leung-sing, head of research at Centaline Property Agency, said.

“The economic boom in China and low interest rates in the US are two major external factors that together will almost guarantee a property bubble in the next few years.”

Share prices in developers rose after the budget speech as stock investors were relieved that the measures were much weaker than expected.

Sun Hung Kai jumped 1.52 percent to $107.20 and Sino Land was up 1.02 percent to $13.92 at the close of yesterday’s trading.

“The only way to avoid a property bubble is to drastically increase land supply, which the government has not done,” said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities.

Stimulus measures by governments around the world have boosted liquidity, which has led to large fund inflows into Asia, driving asset prices higher, Tsang said.

Mainland China has also seen soaring property prices, with values rising at their fastest pace in 17 months in December after Beijing encouraged tax breaks, loans and lower down payment requirements to boost the sector. Land sales and stamp duties were the major contributors to the government’s surprise surplus of 13.8 billion dollars for the 2009-2010 financial year, Tsang said. He said the government was “cautiously optimistic” about Hong Kong’s economy in 2010 and expected it to grow by 4.0 to 5.0 percent. — AFP

NEW DELHI: India’s rail minister announced yesterday plans for high-speed trains for Asia’s largest rail network as she kept fares unchanged-underscoring the government’s focus on “inclusive growth”.

“I am committed to the common man,” Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee told parliament as she unveiled the railway’s budget for the fiscal year to March 2011.

The railway plan is traditionally seen as setting the tone for the federal budget, which is to be unveiled tomorrow and is expected to push a populist agenda. “Our objective is inclusive growth for all, and our goal is to unite the country with connectivity,” Banerjee said.

Passenger and freight fares were left unchanged for a network that is still the main form of long-distance travel in the country of 1.2 billion people, despite fierce competition from new private airlines.

Banerjee unveiled plans for a series of dedicated passenger corridors for high-speed trainsto be known as the “Golden Rail

MUMBAI: Commuters travel on a local train in Mumbai yesterday. The Indian Railway Budget for the next financial year presented in the parliament yesterday has spared freight and passenger fares from any hike. — AP Corridor”-similar to an existing network devoted to freight.

The service will be set up under a special National High Speed Rail Authority and serve

as a catalyst for economic growth and spur development of satellite towns, she said without going into more detail.

India’s neighbor and rival

China has already embarked on an ambitious plan to build 13,000 kilometers (8,000 miles) of highspeed track by 2012 as it seeks to sustain its rapid economic

growth.

Indian Railways boasts a network of 109,000 kilometers (67,730 miles) that transports some 18.5 million people daily on 14,000 passenger and freight trains. Banerjee also promised better safety conditions on the rail network, where accidents are common. Trains will be equipped with new anti-collision devices and there will be better traffic signaling.

She said the railways-built by India’s former British colonial rulers-would not be privatized, saying she preferred “social responsibility to economic responsibility”. But the minister appealed to industry to join hands with the left-leaning government to develop “business models” to boost earnings and fund expansion, and said there was a need to make policies “investment friendly”. She said she wanted to enlist the private sector’s help to develop dilapidated infrastructure and promised a special task force to clear investment proposals in 100 days, where they can currently take many months or even years. — AFP

France in talks with air traffic controllers PARIS: A strike by French air traffic controllers disrupted flights for a second day yesterday, while the environment minister expressed hope for a quick end to the walkout. The strike has led to the massive delays and cancellations at Paris’ two main airports, mainly of domestic and European short-haul flights.

At Orly airport, south of Paris, extra personnel were on hand to advise passengers whose flights were canceled on alternate routes. That was little comfort to Sabine Jossel, scheduled to attend a geology symposium outside Marseille.

“I don’t understand this strike,” she said after her flight

was delayed four hours and then canceled. “After a certain time, people are going to get angry.” Unions representing the controllers called the strike Tuesday to protest planned reforms that workers fear will lead to losses of jobs and civil servant benefits. They have vowed to continue the walkout through Friday if their demands are not met.

Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said he had assured union representatives that they would not lose their civil servant status. Speaking on France-2 television, Borloo said he hopes the controllers vote to end the strike later yesterday.— AP

ATHENS: A passenger sleeps during a strike at the Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos in Spata yesterday. Greek unions were set to make a show of strength yesterday in a nationwide strike against austerity measures aimed at pulling the debt-plagued country out of its worst postwar financial crisis. — AP

Total to invest in Nigerian oilfields Greece hit by nationwide PARIS: French oil giant Total is to invest $7 billion (5.16 billion euros) in Nigerian oil and gas exploration and production over the next four to five years, the firm said yesterday.

The Nigerian presidency had earlier announced that the plan would involve around $20 billion, but Total said it is working on projects with other partners and that its own investment was lower than reported. Two of the projects have already been announced-the development of the Usan deep water offshore field, which will go into production in 2012, and the exploration of oil block OML 58 in the Niger Delta.

Two more areas are being studied, a company spokesman said.

Nigeria’s acting president, Vice President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, issued a statement welcoming Total’s involvement after meeting Total’s Yves Louis Darricarrere, head of the group’s exploration and production division.

The presidency said that in addition to investing in gas and deep water exploration, it expected Total to play a role in the completing of plans to build a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Brass.

The statement said Total’s confidence proved that there had been an improvement in the business environment in the Niger Delta since a recent amnesty program aimed at ending the conflict there.

Last June, the government offered an amnesty to rebels who laid down their guns after a three-year campaign of violence against the country’s multi-billion-

dollar oil industry.

The campaign, which involved repeated attacks on oil installations and the kidnap of foreign oil workers, slashed Nigeria’s daily oil output.

From a peak of 2.6 million barrels in 2006, production fell to as low as one million barrels. Since the recent amnesty program came into effect, production has improved to two million barrels.

According to the Nigerian statement, Darricarrere praised the amnesty program and said Total would take advantage of the relative peace in the region to increase its investments. — AFP

FORT-MARDYCK: French oil giant Total’s workers from Fort-Mardyck refinery listen to unions representatives during a general assembly yesterday in Fort-Mardyck near Dunkirk, northern France, before deciding whether or not they will continue their strike to prevent the closing of the site. — AFP

strike against austerity Schools, flight, public services crippled ATHENS: Greek unions staged a nationwide strike yesterday, grounding flights, shutting schools and crippling public services, in a show of strength against government austerity measures aimed at pulling the debt-ridden country out of financial crisis. In the first general strike since the center-left government’s election in October, all flights to and from Greek airports have been canceled, while trains and ferries are also idle.

Commuters in Athens were left without most forms of public transport. Public schools, tax offices and municipal offices are closed, while public hospitals are using emergency staff.

Journalists are also holding a 24-hour strike, and two separate demonstrations are planned for central Athens. The country’s two largest umbrella labor groups, the private sector GSEE and public sector ADEDY, fiercely oppose a wave of belttightening measures announced over the past weeks to reduce the bloated budget deficit from 12.7 percent of gross domestic product to 8.7 percent this year.

“If all these measures are enforced, unemployment will skyrocket. Our country will enter a massive recession and unemployment will reach a Europe-wide record,” said GSEE spokesman Stathis Anestis.

“This will be tragic because it will provoke social (unrest) and clashes.” Greek unemployment hit a five-year high of 10.6 percent in November 2009, up from 9.8 percent in October.

The country’s woes have affected confidence in the euro as a common currency, and hiked the country’s borrowing costs. The governing

Socialists have frozen civil service wages and hiring while cutting bonuses, hiking consumer taxes and raising retirement ages.

Greek borrowing rates nevertheless remained high yesterday, reflecting market worries of a default. Spreads on government bonds over their German equivalent widened to 340.2 basis points after Fitch ratings agency on Tuesday downgraded ratings for four Greek banks. Shares on the Athens Stock Exchange were also 0.59 percent lower in late morning trading.

Greece is facing a March 16 deadline from the European Union to show signs of fiscal improvement and is under pressure to take additional measures.

These could include a hike in the Value Added Tax, currently at 19 percent, and further civil service bonus cuts.

Greece’s central bank governor George Provopoulos said in a speech Tuesday that Greece’s crisis heightened a pressing need for major economic reforms.

“The crisis could present an opportunity to carry out necessary reforms — and not just have a debate about them — given that not implementing these reforms would have a great price.”

Yesterday’s strike will be a crucial test of support for the unions, with polls showing strong public support for the government’s austerity plan.

A poll Sunday in the Ethnos newspaper showed some 57.6 percent of Greeks believe measures taken so far are “in the right direction,” while 75.8 percent think unions should show restraint until the end of the crisis. — AP

BUSINESS

26

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Australia, China resume trade talks after rows SYDNEY: Australia yesterday resumed free-trade talks with China after a 14-month gap, sweeping aside a brief plunge in ties to focus on a booming partnership tipped to deliver decades of growth.

Trade Minister Simon Crean said Australia’s vast resources sector was the subject of intense interest from China, but that Canberra was also keen to gain greater access to the huge Chinese market.

“We need a new framework that reflects that interest, but a framework that (also) reflects the importance of investment as a two-way street,” Crean said. “Because Australia too has significant interest in getting greater investment into the Chinese economy.”

With the three-day talks the two countries appear to have buried disputes which flared last year over the arrest of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu in China and a visit to Australia by exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer. Hu and three Chinese Rio employees are awaiting trial in Shanghai over alleged bribery and commercial espionage during difficult talks to set a contract price for iron ore, Australia’s biggest export to China. Crean said the talks in Canberra would be difficult “but we are determined to try and see them through”. He added that he didn’t believe Hu’s arrest had disrupted the trading relationship, which has gone from strength to strength.

“So far as the trading relationships are concerned,

both countries understand the interdependence of each country on the other, and I think that there is a genuine desire to deepen and diversify that interdependency,” Crean said.

“That’s why the talks are back on track.” China’s voracious appetite for iron ore and coal has made it Australia’s biggest trading partner with deals worth 76 billion dollars ($68 billion) for the year to June, despite the global downturn.

The trade helped Australia ride out the slowdown as the only advanced economy not to enter recession, while central bank officials believe the renewed mining boom could run as long as 20 years.

But Crean emphasised that the Australia-China

trade relationship ran deeper than resources, and negotiating an agreement was key to capitalizing on China’s shift from an exporting to consumer-driven economy.

Urban development, logistics, infrastructure, retailing and financial services are “all important spaces in which Australia can play”, Crean said.

“And that’s why in terms of the FTA, as difficult as the issues of agriculture are that still remain, the great opportunities are in services,” he said. The talks are now in their 14th round after the last session in Beijing in December 2008 stumbled on technical issues.

Buoyed by its strong recovery, Australia is also

pushing for free-trade agreements with Japan and South Korea and is studying a further deal with India.

“The dynamics are emerging, not just in China and our trading relationships, but in Asia as a whole,” Crean said. “At the moment, Korea is leading that race, but we’re happy to be in the position in which not only are all of these trading relationships important to us, we have some competitiveness in the race.”

Australia’s free-trade deal with the 10-nation ASEAN came into force last month and it will start negotiating a trans-Pacific pact with the United States, New Zealand, Singapore, Chile, Brunei, Peru and Vietnam in March. — AFP

Japan exports jump; little China tightening impact

BOJ’s Yamaguchi says ready to act as deflation weighs KAGOSHIMA, J apan: Bank of J apan Deputy Governor Hirohide Yamaguchi said the central bank w as ready to act to beat deflation, leaving room for more monetary easing amid a steady drumbeat of government pressure for BOJ steps to support the economy. But Yamaguchi, a career central banker seen as close to the governor, offered few clues on w hat exactly the Bank of J apan might do beyond keeping interest rates near zero. While J apan strug-

gles w ith w eak domestic demand, w hich Yamaguchi described it as the root of the deflation problem, exports have been rebounding. Exports marked their third-biggest annual gain on record in J anuary due to rising chip and auto shipments, trade data show ed, allaying concerns that China’s moves to rein in lending may choke off demand there and put a brake on J apan’s economic recovery.

TOKYO: A woman views container terminals in a bay area in Tokyo yesterday. Japan’s exports surged for a second straight month in January as demand in Asia for cars and hightech goods underpinned a recovery in the world’s No 2 economy. — AP

South Africa’s January CPI inflation dips on food prices JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s targeted consumer price inflation for January came in weaker than expected on lower food prices, backing the case for leaving interest rates unchanged. Statistics South Africa said yesterday consumer price inflation slowed to 6.2 percent year-on-year in January, compared with 6.3 percent in December. On a monthly basis CPI was unchanged at 0.3 percent. The annual reading was lower than the 6.4 percent consensus in a Reuters poll last week, strengthening the case to leave interest rates unchanged.

“We don’t think in the context of what has happened this week-the positive GDP growth in the fourth quarter of last year and the (central bank’s) comments yesterday that they will cut (rates) on the basis of January CPI data,” said Carmen Nel, economist at RMB. “We think they will keep rates steady for this year.”

Food inflation, which helped drive CPI to nearly 14 percent in 2008, slowed to 2.4 percent year-on-year, from 3.6 per-

cent in December. The central bank said on Tuesday the prospects for food prices were one bright spot in the inflation outlook and it did not see food price pressures coming through in the next few months.

The central bank left the repo rate unchanged at 7.0 percent in January, after cutting rates by 5 percentage points between December 2008 and August 2009.

The central bank expects inflation to come back to its 3 to 6 percent target band in the first quarter of 2010, but lurking on the horizon is the prospect of significant power price increases as Eskom has asked to raise tariffs by 35 percent annually over the next three years.

The National Energy Regulator’s verdict on Eskom request is due shortly. The rand was trading at 7.78 against the dollar at 0956 GMT, from 7.7775 before the data was released at 0930 GMT. The yield on the 2015 bond fell to 8.305 percent from 8.325 before the data, coming back after rising on Tuesday on strong GDP data. — Reuters

Malaysia’s economy grows 4.5% in Q4

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan stock traders monitor prices at the Colombo Stock Exchange yesterday.

Foreign investors have accelerated exiting Sri Lanka’s stock exchange this year despite it being one of the best performers in Asia, an official at the bourse said yesterday. — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s economy rebounded to grow a stronger-than-expected 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter, helping to limit the fallout from recession last year, Prime Minister Najib Razak said yesterday. Growth in the October-December period was driven by domestic demand and improved exports, ending three straight quarters of contraction, Najib, who is also finance minister, told reporters.

This helped to bolster the economy which shrank 1.7 percent for the full year, much less than the official forecast of a 3 percent contraction, he said. The worst is over and the economy could expand 4 percent to 5 percent this year, Najib said. The government earlier forecast growth of 2 percent to 3 percent for 2010.

“We are quite bullish ... the Malaysian economy has turned around and recovered from the implications of the global crisis,” Najib said.

The government late last year narrowed its forecast for the 2009 economic contraction to 3 percent following stimulus measures totaling 67 billion ringgit ($19.7 billion). It earlier expected the economy to shrink 4 percent to 5 percent.

Najib said speedy implementation of projects worth 17 billion ringgit ($5 billion) under the stimulus package boosted the construction sector which grew 9.2 percent in the fourth quarter. The manufacturing sector also rebounded to grow 5.3 percent, after sliding 8.6 percent in the previous quarter. Exports grew 5.1 percent in the quarter, reflecting a stronger global economy, after shrinking 22 percent in the previous three months. The services sector grew by 5.1 percent, up from 3.4 percent in the third quarter. — AP

Still, this positive sign is unlikely to stop the government from pushing the BOJ to combat deflation as Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s cabinet eyes an upper house election expected in July.

“The BOJ can’t escape the fact that prices are still declining,” said David Cohen, director of Asian economic forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore.

“The BOJ would be happy to stay on hold indefinitely, but they could do something to lower short-term rates to appease the government. Price declines will narrow as long as the global economy continues to recoverbut a decline is a decline.”

Yamaguchi said the BOJ’s key task was to boost demand and show its determination to beat deflation so the public doesn’t start to think price falls will persist and hold off on spending.

“It’s important to make sure corporate sentiment doesn’t shrink, so that deflation doesn’t trigger economic weakness and further aggravate deflation,” he said in a speech to business leaders in Kagoshima, southern Japan, yesterday.

“If deemed necessary given economic and price conditions and changes in financial conditions, the BOJ is always prepared to implement appropriate measures at the appropriate time.”

The government, weighed down by a huge fiscal debt, has been urging the BOJ to support the fragile economy even as most other major central banks mull rolling back stimulus steps put in place during the global crisis. Many analysts say the BOJ could pump more money into the banking system or offer cheap longer-term funds to bring down longer-dated interest rates such as sixmonth rates, particularly if the yen rises further and threatens to deepen deflation.

“Government pressure for further monetary easing is still there and may increase if the yen jumps or stock prices fall towards the fiscal year-end” in March, said Izuru Kato, chief economist at Totan Research in Tokyo.

“The BOJ is probably considering how it should respond when government pressure increases.”

Japan’s yield curve has steepened as expectations the BOJ could ease monetary policy again has kept shorter-dated yields low, while longer-dated maturities have suffered from concern about Japan’s fiscal debt, which is nearly twice the size of the economy.

In a subtle warning to the government, Yamaguchi said that while markets have smoothly absorbed the huge amount of public debt so far, the country’s fiscal state was in a severe state.

“Long-term rates as well as other markets are always focusing on how the government deals with (Japan’s fiscal problem),” he told a news conference.

A rebound in exports has been a major driving force behind Japan’s recovery since the second quarter of 2009, with shipments to Asia leading the way thanks to strong growth in the region. Asia accounts for more than half of Japan’s exports. Exports to China, the destination for 19 percent of Japan’s shipments abroad, logged their biggest annual rise since August 1985, while those to the United States rose for the first time in nearly two and a half years on an annual basis, Ministry of Finance data showed.

Compared to the previous month, Japan’s exports rose for the 11th consecutive month in January.

Steelmakers like Nippon Steel Corp and JFE Holdings Inc have increased their exposure to Asian markets as demand at home stagnates. Revenues from overseas markets now account for nearly half of their overall sales. But strong Asian growth may in fact delay Japan’s exit from deflation as it lures more local firms offshore, depriving the country of new jobs and investment.

Deflation hurts the economy as households put off spending on hopes that prices will fall further, forcing companies to cut prices to lure consumers.

Data due tomorrow will likely show the core consumer price index fell 1.4 percent in January from the previous year, with annual price falls accelerating for the first time since they slumped by a record in August. — Reuters

German medical company Fresenius SE says its fourth quarter net income increased by 32 percent due in part to a strong rise in North American revenue. The company said yesterday it expects revenue to grow between 7 and 9 percent in 2010 and net income to be 8 to 10 percent higher than last year. — AP

German economy stuttered to halt in late 2009: Data FRANKFURT: Europe’s biggest economy stuttered to a halt late last year and consumer sentiment continued to fall in the following months but analysts say another German recession is not in the cards.

German activity stagnated in the fourth quarter of 2009, with statistics released yesterday confirming zero growth from October through December as consumers cut back and companies slashed inventories. “The slight upward trend observed for the economy in the second and third quarter of 2009 did not continue,” the Destatis statistics office said in a statement.

A key reason was a one percent drop in household consumption, which along with slumping corporate investment and lower public spending left trade as the only contributor to gross domestic product (GDP).

Companies cut inventories to meet export demand, but Goldman Sachs economist Dirk Schumacher said: “We expect a strong rebound in industrial activity at the beginning of 2010.”

Consumption had been underpinned by a cash-forclunkers premium for the auto industry that expired in September and “consumption... after the car scrap scheme does not exist,” ING senior economist Carsten Brzeski noted.

German consumer sentiment has fallen steadily and marked its fifth decline in a row when the GfK research institute released its latest barometer, which dipped to an indexed 3.2 points for March from 3.3 points in February. Concerns about rising unemployment and the effect of debt and deficit crises in southern Europe are weighing on sentiment, the research group said as

German households continued to favor saving over spending. Boosting domestic demand remains crucial to a sustained economic rebound, but Capital Economics economist Jennifer McKeown said the steadily falling index “suggests that a consumer recovery remains a distant prospect.”

The GfK poll was released a day after the Ifo institute said German business confidence had slipped unexpectedly for the first time in nearly a year.

Other analysts underscored sustained demand for German products however and said that once winter weather had passed, the economy would get back on track.

“Jack Frost is causing substantial disruptions in construction activity and also retail sales,” UniCredit economist Alexander Koch said.

“We keep our view that the export-driven recovery of the German economy remains intact at the beginning of the year.”

Brzeski said “the hibernation should be short.”

Germany suffered its worst post-war recession last year, with activity contracting by five percent compared with 2008, the Destatis data confirmed. The government has forecast growth of 1.4 percent this year.

Destatis also revised the 2009 German public deficit higher to 79.3 billion euros ($107 billion) or 3.3 percent of GDP, from an initial estimate of 3.2 percent.

Under the European Union’s Stability and Growth Pact, EU members are supposed to run deficits no larger than 3.0 percent of GDP, and work towards a balance or even a surplus in times of economic growth. — AFP

SYDNEY: Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey announces the company’s first half results in Sydney yesterday. The airline group reported a net profit of A$62.5 million for the six months to December 31 and its short haul domestic and non-domestic business achieved a pre-tax profit of A$108 million, up 126 per cent. — AP

Hyundai Motor recalls new Sonata sedan over latches SEOUL:Hyundai Motor yesterday announced a recall of about 47,000 of its new Sonata sedans to replace front door latches following a handful of customer complaints.

Hyundai, South Korea’s No. 1 automaker, said it discovered a mechanical problem with the latches, which, in rare instances, will not close properly. It said the recall was voluntary, meaning it was not required by regulators. The recall will affect some 46,000 Sonatas produced in South Korea until Dec. 6 and about 1,300 others manufactured at Hyundai’s plant in Montgomery, Alabama in the United States and sold to American customers until Feb. 16, Hyundai said.

“To avoid a possible occurrence of the problem, Hyundai has been applying modified parts to some of its Korean and US production models,” the automaker said in a statement. Hyundai said it plans to inform South

Korean and the US authorities of its recall this week and carry it out next month. The move came as its Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp, the world’s biggest automaker, has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles worldwide over defective floor mats, gas pedals and brakes.

Hyundai, which along with affiliate Kia Motors Corp. forms the world’s fifth-biggest automotive group, has seen its market share grow worldwide in recent years through an emphasis on quality and design.

Hyundai and Kia have expanded aggressively overseas in recent years. Hyundai has factories in China, India, Turkey, the US and the Czech Republic. Kia has plants in China and Slovakia and began production in the United States last year. Shares in Hyundai Motor, which announced the recall during afternoon trading, fell 2.6 percent to close at 114,000 won ($99). — AP

TECHNOLOGY

Thursday, February 25, 2010

27

US would lose cyberwar: Former intelligence chief WASHINGTON: The United States would lose a cyberwar if it fought one today, a former US intelligence chief warned on Tuesday.

Michael McConnell, a retired US Navy vice admiral who served as expresident George W. Bush’s director of national intelligence, also compared the danger of cyberwar to the nuclear threat posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. “If we went to war today in a cyberwar, we would lose,” McConnell told a hearing on cybersecurity held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

“We’re the most vulnerable,

we’re the most connected, we have the most to lose.

“We will not mitigate this risk,” added McConnell, now an executive vice president for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton’s national security business. “And as a consequence of not mitigating this risk, we are going to have a catastrophic event.”

Tuesday’s hearing came a little over a month after Internet giant Google revealed that it and other US companies had been the target of a series of sophisticated cyberattacks originating in China.

“National security and our economic security are at stake,” said Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller,

the panel’s chairman and a co-sponsor of a bill seeking to bolster public and private sector cybersecurity cooperation.

“A major cyberattack could shut down our nation’s most critical infrastructure-our power grid, telecommunications, financial services.”

James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that government intervention would probably be needed to crack down on the “Wild West” the Internet has become.

The greatest threat to the United States comes from cyber espionage and cyber crime, he said, calling them

a “major source of harm to national security.”

“We have lost more as a nation to espionage than at any time since the 1940s,” Lewis said.

Scott Borg, director of the US Cyber Consequences Unit, also warned of the economic damage from cyberattacks.

“Cyberattacks are already damaging the American economy much more than is generally recognized,” said Borg, whose independent research institute investigates the economic and strategic consequences of cyberattacks.

“The greatest damage to the American economy from cyberat-

tacks is due to massive thefts of business information.

“This type of loss is delayed and hard to measure, but it is much greater than the losses due to personal identity theft and the associated credit card fraud,” he added.

In his prepared remarks, McConnell said the United States needs a “national strategy for cyber that matches our national strategy that guided us during the Cold War, when the Soviet Union and nuclear weapons posed an existential threat to the United States and its allies.”

He pointed to US President Barack Obama’s appointment of a cybersecurity coordinator in

December and his national cybersecurity initiative as moves in the right direction, but said they were not enough.

“The federal government will spend more each year on missile defense than it does on cybersecurity,” he said, despite the potential for attacks that “could destroy the global financial system and compromise the future and prosperity of our nation.”

In order to secure cyberspace, McConnell suggested the United States provide a “more robust commitment” in leadership, policies, legislation and resources.

He called for establishing a National Cybersecurity Center mod-

eled after the National Counter Terrorism Center set up after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

The center would integrate elements of the Pentagon’s proposed Cyber Command, the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center and the cyber operations of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, state and local governments and the private sector.

It would also serve as “the hub of information sharing and integration, situational awareness and analysis, coordination and collaboration,” McConnell said. — AFP

Google calls decision ‘astonishing’, to appeal

Italy convicts three Google execs in abuse video case MILAN: An Italian court convicted three Google executives of privacy violations yesterday because they did not act quickly enough to pull down a video online that showed bullies abusing an autistic boy. The case was being closely watched around the world due to its implications for Internet freedom. In

LOS ANGELES: A Twitter page is displayed on a laptop computer in Los Angeles. — Reuters

Watching Olympic Games?

Switch on your cellphone VANCOUVER: Cellphones and the internet are muscling in on more traditional media as ways to see the Olympic Games, and the trend will only deepen, organizers said on Tuesday.

Timo Lumme, head of TV and marketing for the International Olympic Committee, said nontraditional media had already matched the 20,000 hours from traditional broadcasters so far these Games, contributing to a total audience he expects to reach 3.5 billion — or half the world’s population.

“We’ve had a continuing digital explosion,” Lumme told a news conference. “We now have the same amount of hours covered globally on digital media — internet, mobile — as we have on the old media broadcasting, and a quarter of that is mobile.”

“People are accessing this in different ways during different times. It does mean more is being consumed.”

Lumme said organizers were pleased with national broadcasters that include Canada’s CTV and U.S. network NBC. NBC, which paid a record $2.2 billion for U.S. broadcast rights to the Beijing and

Vancouver Olympics, has said it will lose money on the winter Games. But Lumme declined to speculate if that meant bids would come in lower next time.

“The IOC has never forced any broadcaster to pay, it’s a bidding process,” he said.

“Whoever wishes to pay the most gets the deal.

That’s the way it’s been and that’s the way it will be in the future.”

He added: “We are very confident that the Olympic games will retain premium status as a world event and I think it will command a premium price. What that price is will be decided by market forces that are out of our control.”

NBC said on Tuesday that half of all Americans had watched at least some of its Olympic coverage.

But NBC online coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics drew just 33 million viewers.

Alan Wurtzel, president of research at NBC Universal, said TV was “still king.”

“Multiplatform consumption is emerging and going to become extraordinarily important. But the mothership is — and will remain for a very long time — television,” he said. — Reuters

Secretive fuel-cell startup stirring hopes, doubts SAN FRANCISCO: A secretive Silicon Valley startup working on a new way to produce cleaner energy is taking the wraps off its product: a huge box of fuel cells that it hopes will allow homes and businesses to generate their own electricity.

The technology from Bloom Energy, already used at major companies such as Google Inc. and eBay Inc., has been the subject of intense anticipation because it promises to produce more power — with less environmental damage — than other fuel cells on the market.

Yet analysts warn that the technology has yet to be widely proven. “Fuel cells have always held the promise that they’re going to be this huge thing, but so far it hasn’t really materialized,” said Shu Sun, an energy technologies analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “What we are seeing is some of these fuel cell companies are making inroads into niche industries.” A 2008 study by

his firm found that the fuel cell market would reach $1.5 billion by 2015, primarily in wireless telecommunications, recreational vehicles and midsize “distributed generation,” which refers to fuel cells that would power, say, a block of apartments rather than individual homes.

Fuel cells themselves aren’t new. Scientists have been working on them since the 1800s, and they are used today in the space program, telecommunications and the military. They haven’t caught on widely for residential use largely because of costs. Even in Japan, where fuel cells are common, their use is limited to powering smaller devices because those cells don’t generate a lot of energy, said Dallas Kachan, managing director of the Cleantech Group, a research and consulting firm.

Kachan said Bloom Energy’s product offers a “glimpse at this possible nirvana” of placing cells that can generate huge amounts of power closer to where the power

is being used. Large technology companies could attach them to their computing centers, which can be energy hogs.

For instance, Google said Bloom Energy’s fuel cells are helping to power some of the facilities at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. In 18 months, those cells produced 3.8 million kilowatt-hours of electricity — many more times the 16,500 kWh the average US household consumes over that same period.

Kachan said Bloom Energy’s technology is exciting because of the amount of power it can produce and its ability to run on a variety of fuels, including renewable energy sources.

Fuel cells make power through chemical reactions, but they need fuel themselves to work. Instead of only being able to use hydrogen, Bloom Energy cells can use wind, solar power and whatever else is available, which could vary from community to community. — AP

Google recruiting in China despite withdrawal threat BEIJING: US Internet giant Google has posted ads for dozens of positions in its China business, suggesting it may be rethinking its threat to leave the country over cyberattacks and online censorship. Google is seeking to hire 40 staff, including engineers, sales managers and research scientists in Beijing, Shanghai and the southern city of Guangzhou, according to advertisements seen on its website yesterday.

The job ads-the first since Google threatened to shut down its Chinese language search engine google.cn rather than bow to government censors-could mean the firm planned to stay in China, tech analyst Li Zhi said.

“They are in the process of resolving this issue (with the government),” said Li, a Beijingbased analyst at research firm Analysys

International.

“Their business in China won’t change too much this year.” Google threatened in January to leave China over what it said were cyberattacks aimed at its source code and at the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists around the world. Meanwhile, Google has continued to filter search engine results in China, which has the world’s largest number of online users at 384 million. A spokeswoman for Google China did not respond to emails or phone calls from AFP seeking confirmation of the recruitment drive and the status of Google’s talks with Beijing. Google representatives and Chinese officials were to resume talks in the coming days after a break for China’s Lunar New Year holiday, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. — AFP

“The judge has decided I’m primarily responsible for the actions of some teenagers who uploaded a reprehensible video to Google video,” Google’s global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer, who was convicted in absentia, said in a statement.

The trial could help define whether the Internet in Italy is an open, self-regulating platform or if content must be better monitored for abusive material. Google, based in Mountain View, California, had said it considered the trial a threat to freedom on the Internet because it could force providers to attempt an impossible task — prescreening the thousands of hours of footage uploaded every day onto sites like YouTube.

“We will appeal this astonishing decision,” Google spokesman Bill Echikson said at the courthouse. “We are deeply troubled by this decision. It attacks the principles of freedom on which the Internet was built.”

Convicted of privacy violations along with Fleischer were Google’s senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond, retired chief financial officer George Reyes.

Senior product marketing manager Arvind Desikan was acquitted. Prosecutors had insisted the case wasn’t about censorship but about balancing the freedom of expression with the rights of an individual.

Prosecutor Alfredo Robledo said he was satisfied with the decision and that Google will now have to consider better monitoring its video. The charges were sought by Vivi Down, an advocacy group for people with Down syndrome.

The group alerted prosecutors to the 2006 video showing an autistic student in Turin being beaten and insulted by bullies at school. In the footage, the youth is being mistreated while one of the teenagers puts in a mock telephone call to Vivi Down.

Google Italy, which is based in

the first such criminal trial of its kind, Judge Oscar Magi sentenced the three to a six-month suspended sentence and absolved them of defamation charges.

A fourth defendant, charged only with defamation, was acquitted. Google called the decision “astonishing” and said it would appeal.

MILAN: In this video image Judge Oscar Magi, left, flanked by an unidentified aide, speaks in a court room in Milan, Italy yesterday. In the first such criminal trial of its kind, Judge Oscar Magi, sentenced three Google executives yesterday to a six-month suspended sentence and absolved them of defamation charges. Three Google executives were convicted of privacy violations in Italy because bullies posted a video online of an autistic boy being abused — a case closely watched due to its implications for Internet freedom. — AP Milan, eventually took down the video, though the two sides disagree on how fast the company reacted to complaints. Thanks to the footage and Google’s cooperation, the four bullies were identified and sentenced by a juvenile court to community service. The events shortly preceded Google’s 2006 acquisition of YouTube.

All four executives, who were tried in absentia, denied wrongdoing. None was in any way involved with the production of the video or uploading it onto the viewing platform, but prosecutors argued that it shot to the top of a most-viewed list

and should have been noticed.

Google also ran into other setbacks yesterday in Europe. In Brussels, the European Commission said it has asked Google to comment on allegations by rivals it demotes their sites in its search rankings.

EU spokeswoman Amelia Torres said the EU antitrust office has received complaints from three Google rivals but had not “opened a formal investigation, for the time being.” She declined to name the three rivals or elaborate. Google said it would provide “feedback and additional information on these complaints,” but stressed it was

not violating any EU antitrust rules.

On the company’s corporate blog, Julia Holtz, Google’s Senior Competition Counsel, said those complaining were Foundem, a British price comparison site; the French legal search engine ejustice.fr, which complained about being ranked in low in Google searches; and Microsoft Corp’s Ciao! from Bing, complaining about Google’s standard terms and conditions.

The low rankings complaint is significant because high rankings in Google searches drive higher volumes of traffic to web

sites. “Our algorithms aim to rank first what people are most likely to find useful,” said Holtz.

She said after Microsoft acquired Ciao! in 2008 “we started receiving complaints about our standard terms and conditions,” an issue that now before the EU antitrust office.

Holtz said while Foundem and ejustice.fr on the one hand, and Ciao! from Bing on the other, raise “slightly different issues, the question they ultimately pose is whether Google is doing anything to choke off competition or hurt our users and partners. This is not the case.” — AP

Starwood’s ME expo week unveils latest developments in hotel, leisure industry KUWAIT: Once again, Starwood Hotels & Resorts will host their annual Middle East roadshow in six major destinations across the Middle East countries between 27th of February and 4th of March, 2010. A highlight of the roadshow is a series of industry workshops that will take place in each destination, namely Riyadh, Jeddah, Kuwait, Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Bringing together around forty experts from Starwood hotels worldwide, the special event will provide an excellent opportunity for hotel industry specialists to exchange views and expertise on latest developments in the industry.

The Middle East region continues to show great potential for Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

“We remain committed to our long-term strategy of building strong brands and growing our global footprint. Once all the hotels we currently have under construction open, the Middle East will become the second

region in the world to have Starwood’s complete portfolio of nine brands represented.

Amongst our latest developments, is the opening of the W Doha and the Aloft Abu Dhabi marking the entrance of these two distinguished brands to the region. This Middle East expo is all about doing the right thing, meeting with our customers” said Guido De Wilde Vice President and Regional Director for Starwood Hotels & Resort in the Middle East.

“The Middle East region has evidently positioned itself on the world map. It’s an important outbound market, and during our tour in the six cities, our delegates who represent more than 30 hotels in around 20 countries and 4 continents from around the world, will have the chance to update over 2000 customers invited to these events on their products and offers for 2010”, added Ahmed Baki Regional Director of Sales & Marketing for Starwood Hotels & Resorts in the Middle East.

28

HEALTH & SCIENCE

Thursday, February 25, 2010

India’s $40 limb puts amputees back on their feet NEW DELHI: When Bhoopnarayan Jha lost his leg in an accident, the government employee also lost his will to live, until he got a “Jaipur Foot”.

Made from locally available and cheap materials, the rapid-fit, prosthetic limb is handed over for free to victims of road and rail accidents or landmine blasts, giving them, and thousands of others who can ill-afford a major injury or the costs of rehabilitation, a new lease on life.

The Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti organisation, which makes the prosthetic, is based in the

western desert state of Rajasthan and the foot is named after state capital Jaipur.

“I told my doctor, just kill me.

Every time I saw my bandaged stump, I did not want to live,” said 48-year-old Jha, who used to cycle 20 km (about 12 miles) to work every day.

“But I was up on my feet in an hour after strapping on the foot and in one month’s time I could run and catch a bus.”

The foot piece is made from rubber, the variety used in car tyres, and is available in standard shoe sizes.

The core of the foot is made from a cheap local variety of wood that is used for packing cases. The light, water-proof socket that cradles the stump is made from a high density polyethylene, the component of common water tanks.

“It costs us around 1,750 rupees ($38) to make a Jaipur Foot for below-knee amputees and about 2,200 rupees ($48) for those that have had amputations above the knee,” says V R Mehta, one of the directors of the Samiti organisation.

“But we give it free to all patients irrespective of their financial status.”

The Samiti has fitted over a million people around the world since its inception in 1975, also helping landmine victims from Kashmir and those who lost limbs in the 2001 Gujarat earthquake.

The organisation also gets orders from war-ravaged countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as quake-stricken Haiti, which are struggling with a large disabled population.

Back on their feet in no time From the time a patient walks in and is examined by professionals, it takes less than a day to manufacture

a Jaipur Foot. Workers sit in open sheds around a table and work with basic machinery as amputees mill around watching them make their prosthetics from scratch.

“A patient comes in the morning and can walk out on his own two feet by evening, a thing unimaginable in any part of the Western world. He can run or climb trees in a month’s time if he wants to,” Mehta said.

The foot is customised to fit the needs of people from all professions.

Most amputees from far-flung rural areas in India are usually farmers who squat for hours in knee-deep

Criticism has also focused on billions spent on vaccine

Under fire, WHO wins praise from flu scientists PARIS: The WHO has been accused of inflating the threat posed by swine flu, but many experts commend the UN health agency for caution and warn that what is a minor peril today may still rebound in more vicious form. After mulling the state of the emergency it declared last June, the World Health Organisation (WHO) decided yesterday it was still too early to say the global

pandemic had peaked. That decree may chafe critics who have blasted the WHO for classifying as a pandemic-the highest level of threat-an outbreak that proved even less lethal than regular flu. So far, the new H1N1 strain has killed around 16,000 people, and infected tens and possibly hundreds of millions, according to the WHO.

ODENSE: In this undated image made available by her husband, Flemming Holm Bergholdt, Stinne Holm Bergholdt holds their two children, Aviaja, left, and Lucca, in Odense, Denmark. When Bergholdt was diagnosed with cancer at age 27, she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to have children, so she asked her doctors if they could remove an ovary before her treatment and transplant it back after, to preserve her fertility. — AP

Ovarian transplant helps woman be mum twice over PARIS: In what doctors described yesterday as a world first, a Danish woman has given birth to two children after her fertility was restored using ovarian tissue that was removed, frozen, thawed and then reimplanted after cancer treatment.

It is being hailed as a breakthrough for young women whose hope of one day becoming mothers could be wrecked by cancer therapy in their reproductive years.

Stinne Holm Bergholdt, from Odense, Denmark, was diagnosed with a cancer type known as Ewing’s sarcoma in 2004, when she was 27.

Before she began chemotherapy, part of her right ovary was removed and frozen.

Her left ovary had already been removed some years earlier after doctors found a cyst that turned out to be benign.

The cancer treatment was a

success but, as usually happens in such therapy, the drugs brought the onset of menopause.

In December 2005, six thin strips of ovarian tissue were transplanted back on to what remained of her right ovary, and began to function normally, according to the case reported by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in its journal Human Reproduction.

After a brief corse of hormones to stimulate egg production, Bergholdt became pregnant again and gave birth to her first daughter, Aviaja, in February 2007.

In 2008, she returned to her fertility clinic, seeking in-vitro fertility (IVF) treatment in the hope of conceiving again.

But a pregnancy test showed that she was already pregnant through natural means, and in September 2008,

she gave birth to another girl, Lucca.

Seven other children have been born around the world using the so-called cryopreservation technique, but this is the first time it has helped a woman to have two babies.

“These results support cryopreservation of ovarian tissue as a valid method of fertility preservation and should encourage the development of this technique as a clinical procedure for girls and young women facing treatment that could damage their ovaries,” said her physician, Claus Yding Andersen, a professor at the University Hospital of Copenhagen.

Bergholdt is even having to use “pregnancy-preventing measures” to avoid a pregnancy right now, said Andersen.

In a press release, Bergholdt described the experience as “a miracle.”

“When I found out I was pregnant for the first time I was of course very happy and excited-but also very afraid and sceptical since I found it very hard to believe that my body was really working again,” she said.

“The second time it was quite a surprise to find out I was pregnant since we hadn’t been working on it-we thought we needed assistance like the first time... It was a very nice surprise to find out that my body was now functioning normally and that we were having a baby without having to go through the fertility treatment.”

She and her husband have not decided yet whether they wanted more children, she added. “The girls are still so small and need a lot of attention, but maybe in a couple of years we might think about it again.” — AFP

By comparison, ordinary “seasonal” influenza claims about half a million lives each year, while the 20th century’s three flu pandemics killed between between one or two million people each in 1957 and 1968, and maybe 50 million in 1918-1919. Criticism has also focused on the billions spent on vaccine, cranked out at top speed by major pharmaceutical manufactuers, to inoculate entire populations. Many orders have since been cancelled and vaccination rates have been relatively low. In a world population of 6.7 billion, around 200 million people worldwide have gotten the H1N1 jab, according to UN estimates.

“We have to draw lessons from the crisis so that we don’t repeat our mistakes,” said Marc Gentilini, former head of the French Red Cross and an expert on infectious disease.

Citing the French case, he told AFP that the attempt to administer a blanket vaccination was “logistically too cumbersome, grotesque and unrealistic.”

But most experts argue that the UN body took the right course of action.

“The WHO acted appropriately at the time and with the information they had available. The rate of spread of the virus was phenomenal,” said Nigel Dimmock, a virologist and emeritus professor at Warwick University in Britain.

Christophe Fraser, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London who participated in several key swine flu studies, said the process “was entirely appropriate.” “I don’t think we had the kind of information that would have told us this was a very mild virus and was going to stay a very mild virus,” he said.

Mark Miller, a top epidemiologist at the US National Institutes of Health, agreed that the “uncertainty of a potential catastrophic public health emergency” left little choice but to develop a new vaccine and quickly scale up production. Several specialists cautioned that it is still early days, and a re-emergent H1N1 strain could be extremely nasty.

“Everyone thinks this is a post-mortem, but unfortunately this virus is not dead yet. It is on a trajectory, and we don’t know where it is going to end up,” said John Oxford, a virologist and professor at the Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry.

The new strain is a “Darwinian super virus” that has quickly pushed other strains to the sideline, as as happened in previous pandemics, Oxford said.

He also observed that the new bug was still mutating. “In the past, more often than not, the first wave has been overshadowed by the second and third waves,” he said by phone. Lone Simonsen, an epidemiologist at George Washington University, points out that about 70 percent of the fatalities from the 1968 pandemic occurred in the second year. She and others also cautioned that older persons less affected by the new strain-perhaps due to a partial immunity lingering from exposure to the pre1957 flu, also an H1N1 variantmight become more vulnerable.

While they defend the WHO, experts agree that some changes are needed in the pandemic alert and management system.

“Perhaps they could improve public perception in the future by having pandemic scientific advisors who have no conflict of interest” with pharmaceutical companies, said Simonsen. — AFP

muddy water in paddy fields so the organisation devised a light, flexible and water-proof prosthetic that would allow them to carry on with their activities.

It’s easy to see why the Jaipur Foot is seen as the perfect solution for amputees in developing and strife-torn countries, where erratic government funding and a huge caseload often pose a major problem in reaching aid to the disabled.

Cost is also a major issue “A high-end, cutting-edge prosthetic limb in the west would cost anywhere between $8,000 to $9,000,

out of reach of the poor,” Mehta said.

The organisation is now in talks with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to upgrade its technology and to provide funding, but remains true to its mission of providing quick, quality prosthetics to the poor, free of charge.

Mehta said that some organisations in India and abroad have started copying the Jaipur Foot technology, but they are charging for it. “They pass off their own prosthetics as Jaipur Foot and charge patients for them, which is strictly against our principles,” he added. — Reuters

Salt mining leaves bitter taste for Indian workers LITTLE RANN OF KUTCH: In India’s salt-producing heartland, thousands of families-including children as young as 10 — toil in the desert using a harvesting technique unchanged in centuries. India is the world’s third-biggest producer of salt after China and the US, government figures show, and about 70 percent of the 19-20 million tonnes it produces annually comes from the western state of Gujarat.

In Little Rann of Kutch, a barren brown desert and local centre of inland salt production, an estimated 200,000 people work barefoot in extreme hardship, exposed to a relentless sun and a host of occupational dangers.

People like Pola Degama and his wife have been raking salt in Gujarat’s desert since they were children, digging wells to draw the briny groundwater to the surface then relying on evaporation to leave the white crystals.

Several square salt pans lie next to the shack where his family of six lives.

“Because we work in the saltpans, our feet become septic and they absorb the salt. Nobody lives more than 50 or 60 years,” he told AFP. Even after death, he says, saltpan workers suffer an ignoble fate: their hands and feet are difficult to burn during cremation because of the salt content. Wages are low and offer few chances for the children of saltpan workers to escape a cycle of poverty and poor health.

Most make the annual trip to Little Rann of Kutch every October to June from villages on the edge of the desert, where they spend the monsoon season. “What will happen? My situation is the same as my old man’s. And my kids’ will remain the same as mine,” Degama said.

Salt from Gujarat has a special place in Indian history, having played a crucial role in the country’s transition from British colony to independent nation in 1947.

Independence leader Mahatma Gandhi used a highly unpopular British monopoly on the production of salt to rally support for his movement.

He led a march to Dandi on the Gujarat coast in 1930 and produced salt by boiling muddy seawater, encouraging others to do the same and sparking widespread civil disobedience.

But decades later, life remains harsh for the salt miners.

Local traders buy low-quality crystals for as little as 50 US cents for 100 kilograms (220 pounds). Higher quality produce can sell for four to six US dollars for the same weight.

“We produce the most important food ingredient, but we are never given importance.

Poverty is our fate,” complained fellow saltpan worker Daya Ranto, a 48-year-old father of three. Navigation is so difficult here in the featureless flatland that local people have devised a communication system using shards of mirror to reflect light messages to each other.

Overland travel is mainly by foot or on modified single-cylinder Royal Enfield motorbikes that zip across sandy tracks in the cracked earth.

“We reflect the mirror to signal each other whenever we get lost here,” says Ranto. “Here, asking for directions is a futile exercise as there are no sign boards or any landmark to guide,” he added.

Sukh Dev, a human rights activist who runs 17 primary schools for children in the desert, says a majority of the workers employed in the industry are unskilled and suffer from serious

LITTLE RANN OF KUTCH: Young girl Aarti rests her injured foot after a day’s work along with unseen salt pan workers in the Khadaghoda Sector in the Little Rann of Kutch, some 160 kms from Ahmedabad on February 7. In India’s salt-producing heartland, thousands of families including children as young as 10 toil in the desert using a harvesting technique that is unchanged in centuries. — AFP work-related health problems.

“It is painful to see how people toil and die.

Children start working at a young age. The salt and the sun inflict immense damage on their health,” he said.

A study conducted by The National Institute of Occupational Hazards in 2000 found that eye problems and blindness were caused by the intense reflection of the sun from the water surface. Exposure to salt also causes skin lesions among the workers.

The government provides inexpensive rubber boots and gloves to the salt workers, but they wear out quickly and are seldom replaced.

In the state capital Ahmedabad, Deputy Salt Commissioner D.L. Meena says the authorities do provide help to the labourers.

“Gujarat and the Indian government are doing a lot to benefit them. They have set up a medical van, and they receive eyeglasses and gloves.” The state also provides fresh water to the workers once a week, but there are few medical facilities and no government-run schools or shops for fresh vegetables, meat or dairy products “Potato and roti (thin wheat bread) is all we eat for eight months.

Children never get to drink milk,” says Saku Degama, Pola Degama’s wife and mother of their four children. — AFP

Are non-smokers smarter than smokers?

NEW YORK: Cigarette smokers have lower IQs than nonsmokers, and the more a person smokes, the lower their IQ, according to a study of over 20,000 Israeli military recruits.

Dr. Mark Weiser and colleagues from Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer found that young men who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day or more had IQ scores 7.5 points lower than non-smokers.

“Adolescents with poorer IQ scores might be targeted for programmes designed to prevent smoking,” they conclude in the journal Addiction.

While there is evidence for a link between smoking and lower IQ, many studies have relied on intelligence tests given in childhood, and have also included people with mental and behavioral problems, who are both more likely to smoke and more likely to have low IQs, Weiser and his team noted.

To better understand the smoking-IQ relationship, the researchers looked at 20,211 18-year-old men recruited into the Israeli military. The group

did not include anyone with major mental health problems, because these individuals are disqualified from military service.

According to the researchers, 28 percent of the study participants smoked at least one cigarette a day, around 3 percent said they were exsmokers, and 68 percent had never smoked.

The smokers had significantly lower intelligence test scores than non-smokers, and this remained true even after the researchers accounted for socioeconomic status measured by how many years of formal education a recruit’s father had completed.

The average IQ for nonsmokers was about 101, while it was 94 for men who had started smoking before entering the military.

IQ steadily dropped as the number of cigarettes smoked increased, from 98 for people who smoked one to five cigarettes daily to 90 for those who smoked more than a pack a day.

IQ scores from 84 to 116 are considered to indicate average

intelligence.

Recruits aren’t allowed to smoke while intelligence tests are administered, the researchers said, so it is possible that withdrawal symptoms might affect smokers’ scores.

To address this issue, they also looked at IQ scores for men who were non-smokers when they were 18 but started smoking during their military service.

These men also scored lower than never-smokers, 97 points, on average) “indicating that nicotine withdrawal was probably not the cause of the difference,” the researchers said. The researchers also compared IQs for 70 pairs of brothers in the group in which one brother smoked and the other did not. Again, average IQs for the non-smoking sibling were higher than for the smokers. The findings suggest that lower IQ individuals are more likely to choose to smoke, rather than that smoking makes people less intelligent, Weiser and his team conclude.— Reuters

30

WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Happy birthday

Quran recitation competition

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.

appy birthday Lydia, who is celebrating her 14th Birthday on 26th February 2010. She is studying in Carmel School, Khaitan. Best wishes from Dad - David, Mum - Anna, Sister - Rachel, and her two Brothers - Emmanuel and Joshua. God Bless you and best wishes from all at National Evangelical Church, Kuwait.

H

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.

IMA Youth Wing Sports day MA Youth Wing is glad to announce a One Day Sports Event; The event is part of upcoming Youth Conference “From Darkness to Light” Sport Activities that will be conducted are: * Cricket * Volley Ball * Kabaddy * Tug of War * Running Race This one day Event will be held on Friday 12th March 2010 from 7:30 am to 5:30 PM At Fahaheel Souk Saba Area. All sports equipments will be provided on the day of the event and also refreshments and Lunch will be served time to time. A complimentary T-shirt will be gifted to all the participants. For more details please visit www.imayouthwing.org.

For Registration, Please Contact Area Sports Coordinators Khaitan - Yaseen/ Mob: 9720 5185

I

emorisation of the Holy Quran is the most meritorious activity. The students of Jabriya Indian School consider themselves blessed for spending quality time, in this very pious and rewarding activity. The Quran Recitation competition was held in the month of October 2009 in the presence of distinguished judges of the [PC Sister Kubra, Sister Tahera and Sister Farzana. Sixty students participated

M

National day

ids World Bilingual Kindergarten recently celebrated the 49th National Day and the 19th Liberation Day anniversaries where kids gathered around a monument, that had been designed by the late artist, Khalifa Al-Qattan, representing Kuwaitis’ struggle and martyrdom to liberate it from the Iraqi aggression.

K

from classes I to VIII. The twenty one winners and all the participants were rewarded for their efforts on 25th Jan 2010 at an impressive Prize Distribution Ceremony.

The ceremony was graced by Hulail Musa, Islamic Inspector for Foreign Schools as the Chief Guest.

Abdullah Al Sabej owner of the school was our special guest. The ceremony began in reverential spirit with the recitation of the Holy Quran

by Munsif Farooq. The floral tributes were presented to the guests. The Principal Mrs. Usha Varkey delivered the welcome speech. The highlights of the ceremony was the recitation of the Surahs by some of the best reciters from class I-VIII, with accuracy of pronunciation and Tajweed. The importance of Sadaqah and Zakah was well explained through the presentation of a skit on the basis of story of the people of the

garden from the Holy Quran by the young students of the primary classes.

The winners were honoured with medals and certificates. Special cash prizes were sponsored by [PC to all the winners and gifts to all the participants were arranged by Unilever Arabia. The ceremony came to an end with the presentation of Hamd

by Fuad Shaukat and group which kept the audience enthralled.

celebrations

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

Thursday, February 25, 2010

31

WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

Announcements

Family picnic party arranged

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.

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

slamic teaching center Kuwait (Markiz DuwatAl-Jaliat) has arranged a family picnic on Friday 26 February at Jahra desert.

There will be separate arrangement for the ladies.

The program includes ‘Daris Quran’, ‘Daris Hadith’ ‘khut-

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ba’, and different sports competitions. There will be quiz competition among the students and the people of different ages. The program will finish with the prize distribution. For more information please contact 66404378.

Gulf Studies Center invitation he Gulf Studies Center at the American University of Kuwait is presenting a lecture by Samer Ali, Associate Professor at the University of Texas, Austin, and a Fulbright Fellow, on the subject of “The Islamic Middle Ages as Public Sphere: Seeds of Democracy?”. Professor Ali’s lecture will be presented in English, and held on Tuesday, March 2nd, at 2 pm in AUK’s Liberal Arts Auditorium.

Admission is free to the public. The lecture will be conducted in English.

Professor Ali will examine the emergence of a new kind of sociability and patronage from the 10th to the 15th Century which enabled middle ranking members of society to form alliances and exercise influence in shaping ideals of government, leadership and selfhood. During the presentation, the speaker will adapt Habermas’s theory of the public sphere to examine a set of social and literary patterns that show people in the Islamic Middle Ages cultivating a literary, critical public that sought to influence government and society.

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Indian Public School organize Best luck and farewell party n the 20th of February 2010, the members of Indian Public School organized a farewell and Best of Luck Party for the students of Class XII and Class X respectively. The occasion was graced by Mr. Thomas George, Finance Manager of Indian Public School, the Principal, K A Rodrigues, the teachers and the students of Class XI. They gathered together to extend their best wishes to the board going students of the school.

The occasion began with religious prayers in Arabic and English, the class XI students presented inspirational, melodious songs for the audience. There was a feet tap-

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ping dance program from the Class XI which rejuvenated the audience and had them clapping to the rhythm.

The teachers address for class X and class XII students was given by Arul Doss and Ashok Kurup respectively. Each of them blessed the students, motivating and urging them to put in their best efforts for their exams. The students reply was given by Master Aswath Ramani of Class X, the head boy Master Allen George Idikula and Head girl Miss Chinchu Thankachan of Class XII. Master Aswath Ramani had high praises for his teachers and expressed gratitude for all their

Registration begins at the British institute of vocational training n this web-sited world of the 21 Century we are expected to know everything. How to write a business report, how to work the latest smart phone, speak six languages, be a perfect parent , trade in China, play a musical instrument , budget for school fees and breathe. At BIVT we truly understand. Our experts in Business, Computing, Media and Journalism, Languages, The Arts, and Life Skills offer you chances to enhance your career

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audience of the solemnity of the occasion - wherein another batch was making a transition from present to historical quitting the portals of the Institution. Last but not the least, the Principal K A Rodngues addressed the students with his inspirational words encouraging and motivating them to choose the correct path in life and excel in whatever they do.

Kuwait Bilingual School celebrates festive days

prospects and your quality of life without breaking the bank.

BIVT is the latest educational establishment under British International WLL and manages BAIA, The British Academy of International Arts and Top Class for children.

For information on our full range of courses please contact Principal Alison Shan Price at 25756110 or send enquiries to admin@britvoc.com and visit our website www.britvoc.com

KES Triumphs in Netball Clean Sweep uwait English School has become the inaugural ISACK Netball champions in all 3 age groups of the competition for female students. “I am so proud of the girls. They have worked hard this year and deserve everything that they have achieved” said Lisa Marchant, Coach of all 3 successful teams.

The Open age group team was victorious in the final against BSK, winning 10-7. Captaining the team was Lulu Al Huneidi, who was also awarded player of the match.

In the U/15 event the team convincingly defeated New English School in the final match by 25 to 3.

The U/13 team also triumphed over New English School in the final, this time by 6 goals to 3.

“I am looking forward to build-

hard work. The Class XII students were nostalgic as they shared their memorable and cherished moments spent in the school thanking each and every teacher for guiding them through their school life.

The excitement reached its peak as mementos were given to the Class XII students with titles by their respective teacher. The candle light ceremony reminded the

ing on this start and producing even more effective teams next year” Lisa said.

The team members were; Open age - Lulu Al Huneidi (captain), Rania Dannan, Nouran Ghannam, Shahad Al Qattan, Maryam Qamber, Sonja Madzikanda, Sahar Abdul Rasoul, Dana Kablawi, Sabah Malik.

U/15 - Yasmine Raki (captain), Yara Al Hunaidi, Holly Napier, Nadine Abdul Rahman, Marya Arafat, Divya Karla, Lina Najem, Zeinab Khawaja, Shahad Awadh, Malak Jalil.

U/13 - Shatha Al Huneidi ( captain), Fudha Al Abdul Razzak, Diana Nakib, Tamara Zantout, Hadeel Zahran, Dania Al Hayat, Ayat Al Shamali, Madi Ravi, Salma El Saadany.

uwait Bilingual School, Jahra celebrated National, Liberation days yesterday.

Despite the dusty climate, children from grade 1 to 7 gathered in the playground to sing and perform various items from role plays to choral recitation. All students were dressed up showing the national spirit by wearing things that have colors of the flag: from hair band to ear rings to shawls and shirts. It was the most colorful and creative sight at the school in the year. Even teachers from various countries had their respective national costumes.

KG students had their celebration inside the gymnasium and they too shared the national spirit with their big brothers and sisters, waving flags and singing ‘watani habibi’.

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TV PROGRAMS

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings 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

00:00 Kathy Griffin 01:00 Prison Break 02:00 Friday Night Lights 03:00 Dawsons Creek 04:00 Prison Break 05:00 One Tree Hill 06:00 Heroes 07:00 Kathy Griffin 08:00 Lie to Me 09:00 Law & Order 10:00 Friday Night Lights 11:00 Dawsons Creek 12:00 Heroes 13:00 One Tree Hill 14:00 Friday Night Lights 15:00 Prison Break 16:00 Lie to Me 17:00 Law & Order 18:00 Ashes to Ashes 19:00 The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency 20:00 Without a Trace 21:00 Ghost Whisperer 22:00 One Tree Hill

00:50 01:45 Zone 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 Zone 15:35 16:00 16:30 16:55 17:25 17:50 18:20 19:15 20:10 21:10 22:05

Animal Cops Houston Chernobyl: Life in the Dead

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

Casualty The Race For Everest Days That Shook The World Love Soup Love Soup Casualty Casualty The Race For Everest Balamory Tweenies Fimbles Teletubbies Yoho Ahoy Tommy Zoom Balamory Tweenies Fimbles Teletubbies Yoho Ahoy Bargain Hunt First Flight Days That Shook The World The Weakest Link Eastenders Doctors Bargain Hunt Cash In The Attic Red Dwarf (re-mastered) Red Dwarf (re-mastered) The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Casualty Casualty The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Green Green Grass Carrie & Barry

00:05 00:30 01:20 01:45 02:10 03:15 03:45 04:15 04:45 05:15 05:45 06:10 07:00 08:10 09:00 09:25 09:45 10:30 11:30 12:20 13:10 14:00

Untamed & Uncut Galapagos Animal Cops Miami 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 Chernobyl: Life in the Dead Lemur Street Monkey Life Pet Rescue Vet on the Loose Wildlife SOS RSPCA: On the Frontline Animal Cops Miami In Search of the King Cobra Natural World Animal Cops Houston Untamed & Uncut

Glamour Puds Masterchef Goes Large Cash In The Attic Usa Hidden Potential Living In The Sun Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me The Naked Chef Glamour Puds Cash In The Attic Usa Hidden Potential Living In The Sun The Clothes Show Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic Usa Hidden Potential Rhodes Across India Rhodes Across India Living In The Sun Antiques Roadshow The Clothes Show Rhodes Across India

Filth And Wisdom on Show Movies 14:45 15:40 16:05 16:30 16:50 17:10 18:10 18:50 19:45 20:15 20:45 21:05 21:35 22:05 22:45

Rhodes Across India Daily Cooks Challenge Daily Cooks Challenge Cash In The Attic Usa Hidden Potential Antiques Roadshow The Clothes Show Living In The Sun Daily Cooks Challenge Daily Cooks Challenge Daily Cooks Challenge Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Living In The Sun The Week The Women Went

01:15 02:45 04:45 06:45 09:00 10:45 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:15

The War Within - 18 Almost Famous - PG 15 Ripley’s Game - PG 15 Les Miserables - PG 15 Ensemble C’est Tout - PG 15 Chariots Of Fire - PG Max - PG 15 Napoleon Part 1 - PG The Truman Show - PG 15 Calendar Girls - PG 15 Liberty Heights - 18 Love In The Time Of Cholera

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 21:30 22:00 23:00

Untamed & Uncut Miami Ink Street Customs 2008 American Chopper Hot Rod Apprentice: Hard

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

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 Destroyed in Seconds Destroyed in Seconds Against the Elements I Was Bitten

Dr G: Medical Examiner Fbi Files A Haunting Murder Shift Serial Killers Forensic Detectives Real Emergency Calls Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghosthunters Ghosthunters Forensic Detectives Fbi Files Royal Inquest Solved Forensic Detectives Fbi Files The Prosecutors Guilty Or Innocent?

Csu Forensic Detectives Fbi Files

17:10 18:00 18:50 19:40 20:30 21:20 22:10 23:00 23:50

Royal Inquest Solved Forensic Detectives Fbi Files The Prosecutors Guilty Or Innocent?

Csu Dr G: Medical Examiner Crimes That Shook The World

00:40 Man Made Marvels Asia 01:30 Engineered 02:20 Sci-Trek 03:10 What’s That About?

04:00 Beyond Tomorrow 04:50 Science of Star Wars 05:45 How Does That Work?

06:10 Green Wheels 06:40 One Step Beyond 07:10 Engineered 08:00 Thunder Races 09:00 How Techies Changed the World with William Shatner 10:00 What’s That About?

10:55 How Does That Work?

11:20 Stuntdawgs 11:50 Engineered 12:45 Green Wheels 13:10 One Step Beyond 13:40 How Techies Changed the World with William Shatner 14:35 What’s That About?

15:30 Human Body: Ultimate Machine 16:25 How Does That Work?

16:55 Thunder Races 17:50 Brainiac 18:45 Man Made Marvels Asia 19:40 The Future of√¢‚Ǩ¬¶ 20:30 Brainiac 21:20 How It’s Made 21:45 How It’s Made 22:10 Mythbusters ¶

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

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

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

00:15 Streets Of Hollywood 00:40 THS 01:30 Extreme Hollywood 02:20 Sexiest 03:15 THS Investigates 05:05 Dr 90210 06:00 E!es 07:45 Style Star 08:10 Style Star 08:35 E! News 09:00 The Daily 10 09:25 Leave It To Lamas 09:50 Leave It To Lamas 10:15 E!es 11:05 E!es 12:00 E! News 12:25 The Daily 10 12:50 Kendra 13:15 Kendra 13:40 THS 15:25 Behind The Scenes 15:50 Behind The Scenes 16:15 E!es 17:10 Perfect Catch 18:00 E! News 18:25 The Daily 10 18:50 Streets Of Hollywood 19:15 Battle Of The Hollywood Hotties 19:40 THS 20:30 THS 21:20 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 21:45 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 22:10 E! News

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 08:25 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 13:00 Kitchen Criminals 13:30 Giada At Home 14:00 30 Minute Meals 14:30 30 Minute Meals 15:00 Barefoot Contessa 16:00 Grill It! with Bobby Flay 16:30 Grill It! with Bobby Flay 17:00 Barefoot Contessa 17:30 Barefoot Contessa 18:00 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

01:15 03:05 04:45 06:15 07:40 09:10 10:40 12:15 13:55 15:30 17:00 18:40 20:20 22:00

The Field Stigmata Love Chronicles Miracle Mile My American Cousin Clifford Beach Party Untamed Heart Beach Blanket Bingo Ski Patrol The Hillside Strangler After the Fox From Noon Till Three Rich Kids

00:00 Rita Rocks 00:30 10 Things I Hate About You 01:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 The Tonight Show With Conan OBrien 03:00 Free Radio 03:30 State of the Union 04:00 Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 05:00 Rita Rocks 05:30 The Tonight Show With Conan OBrien 06:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 07:00 Home Improvement 07:30 Malcolm in the Middle 08:00 Coach 08:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 09:00 The Colbert Report

09:30 Drew Carey 10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:30 Frasier 11:00 Til’ Death 11:30 Eight Simple Rules 12:00 Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 13:00 10 Things I Hate About You 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 Til’ Death 19:00 Rita Rocks 19:30 New adventures of old Christine 20:00 The Tonight Show With Conan OBrien 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

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

The Martha Stewart Show 10 Years Younger Look A Like The Ellen Degeneres Show The Monique Show Huey’s Cooking Adventure Fresh The Best of Jay Leno GMA LIVE GMA Health What’s the Buzz The Martha Stewart Show Jimmy Kimmel The View The Ellen Degeneres Show Huey’s Cooking Adventure Fresh What’s Good For You GMA LIVE GMA Health What’s the Buzz Look A Like 10 Years Younger The View The Ellen Degeneres Show Jimmy Kimmel Jay Leno The Monique Show

00:30 Filth And Wisdom - 18 02:00 Lie To Me - 18 03:45 The Mist - PG 15 06:00 Quid Pro Quo - PG 15 08:00 Pink Panther 2 - PG 15 10:00 Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins - PG 15 12:00 Bedtime Stories - FAM 14:00 Two Weeks - PG 16:00 Pink Panther 2 - PG 15 18:00 Get Smart - PG 15 20:00 The Incredible Hulk - PG 22:00 The House Bunny - 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

Tailor Of Panama - 18 Circle - PG 15 Elsewhere - 18 Dark Mind - PG 15 The Glass House - PG 15 The Last Winter - PG 15 Twin Daggers - PG 15 The Glass House - PG 15 Mad Blood Part 1 - 18 Heist - PG 15 Rob Zombie’s Halloween - 18 W Delta Z - 18

00:00 California Dreaming - PG 15 02:00 How High - 18 04:00 Holiday In Handcuffs - PG 15 06:00 Trapped In Paradise - PG 15 08:00 First Sunday - PG 15 10:00 Big Daddy - PG 15 12:00 Christmas At The Riviera - PG 14:00 Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants 2 - PG 15 18:00 American Pie 2 - 18 20:00 National Lampoon’s Ratko - R 22:00 Real Time - R

00:00 The Pagemaster - PG 02:00 Grateful Dawg - PG 04:00 That Darn Cat - PG 06:00 Daddy Day Camp - FAM 08:00 Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker - PG 10:00 That Darn Cat - PG 12:00 Dragonlance - PG 14:00 Grateful Dawg - PG 16:00 D3: The Mighty Ducks - PG 18:00 Justice League: The New Frontier - FAM 20:00 Madagascar 2 - PG 22:00 Dragonlance - PG

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 03:30 04:00

Grey’s Anatomy Private Practice Parkinson Sex and the City Sex and the City The Murdoch Mysteries

05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 23:30

Ally Mcbeal Emmerdale Coronation Street Parkinson 24 The Murdoch Mysteries The Beast Law & Order Emmerdale Coronation Street Parkinson Grey’s Anatomy Private Practice Law & Order That Mitchell and Webb Look Emmerdale According to Jim Life on Mars Bones Dollhouse The Murdoch Mysteries Sex and the City Sex and the City

00:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 00:30 Premier League 02:30 Barclays Premier League Review 04:00 Premier League 06:00 Portugol 06:30 Futbrasil 07:00 Premier League 09:00 Premier League Classics 09:30 Premier League Classics 10:00 Premier League 12:00 Premier League 14:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 14:30 Futbrasil 15:00 Scottish Premier League 17:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 17:30 Futbol Mundial 18:00 Live Dubai International Racing Carnival 22:00 Premier League World 22:30 Premier League Classics 23:00 Premier League Classics 23:30 Premier League

01:00 Premier League World 01:30 Goals on Monday 03:00 European Tour Weekly 03:30 Twenty20 Cricket 07:00 Barclays Premier League Highlights 08:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 08:30 Super 14 10:30 Futbol Mundial 11:00 Weber Cup Bowling 12:00 Premier League World 12:30 Goals Goals Goals 13:00 Premier League Classics 13:30 Barclays Premier League Highlights 14:30 Goals Goals Goals 15:00 Portuguese Liga 17:00 Weber Cup Bowling 18:00 World Hocky 18:30 Goals Goals Goals 19:00 Futbol Mundial 19:30 Portugol

01:00 Futbol Mundial 01:30 Scottish Premier League 03:30 European Tour Weekly 04:00 Weber Cup Bowling 05:00 Premier League World 05:30 Goals Goals Goals 06:00 Premier League Classics 06:30 Premier League Classics 07:00 Scottish Premier League 09:00 Portuguese Liga 11:00 Goals Goals Goals 11:30 European Tour Weekly 12:00 Live PGA European Tour 16:00 Premier League World 16:30 World Hockey 17:00 Barclays Premier League Highlights 18:00 Premier League Classics 18:30 European Tour Weekly

00:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:15 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 23:00

NCAA Basketball UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC The Ultimate Fighter Live NCAA Basketball WWE SmackDown WWE Vintage Collection Drambuie Pursuit Bushido WWE SmackDown LG Action Sport Brain Cell UFC All Access NCAA Basketball UAE National Race Day UAE National Race Day Drambuie Pursuit WWE ECW UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC 110

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00

The Golden Door - PG 15 The Nines - PG 15 Things That Hang From Trees What If God Were The Sun Spiderwick Chronicles - PG Familiar Strangers - PG

13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Into The Storm - PG 15 Gigantic - PG 15 Production Office - PG 15 The Day The Earth Stood Still The Golden Compass - PG Crossing Over - PG 15

00:50 The V.I.P.s 02:45 The Screening Room 03:25 Boys’ Town 05:00 Mutiny on the Bounty 08:00 Edge of the City 09:25 Code Name: Emerald 11:00 Born Free 12:40 Cimarron 15:05 The V.I.P.s 17:00 Captain Nemo and the Underwater City 18:45 Where the Spies Are 20:35 The Dirty Dozen 23:00 Man of La Mancha

00:40 Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 01:30 Lost Worlds 02:20 Dead Men’s Secrets 03:10 Conspiracy?

04:00 Dead Men’s Secrets 04:55 Amazon Adventures 06:40 Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 07:30 Lost Worlds 08:20 Dead Men’s Secrets 09:10 Conspiracy?

10:00 Dead Men’s Secrets 10:55 Amazon Adventures 12:40 Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 13:30 Lost Worlds 14:20 Dead Men’s Secrets 15:10 Conspiracy?

16:00 Dead Men’s Secrets 16:55 Amazon Adventures 18:40 Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 19:30 Lost Worlds 20:20 Dead Men’s Secrets 21:10 Conspiracy?

22:00 Deep Wreck Mysteries 22:55 Cities Of The Underworld 23:50 Mega Movers

00:00 01:00 01:30 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 13:30 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 17:00

Clean House Giuliana And Bill Giuliana And Bill Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane Running In Heels 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 Giuliana And Bill Clean House Clean House Comes Clean Dress My Nest What I Hate About Me Split Ends

18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 21:00 22:00 22:30 23:00

Style Her Famous The Dish Running In Heels Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane Split Ends Clean House Dress My Nest Style Her Famous Ruby

01:00 01:04 01:35 02:00 02:45 05:00 05:04 06:00 08:00 08:04 08:35 13:00 13:04 13:50 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:04 16:35 18:00 18:45 20:00 20:04 20:35 21:00 21:15 22:00 22:14

Code Latina Playlist Urban Hit Playlist Code Legend Playlist Code Latina Playlist Code Urban Hit Playlist Trace Video Mix Playlist Code RNB Playlist Urban Hit Playlist Code Sound System Playlist Guest Star Playlist Code Compilation Playlist

00:00 Globe Trekker - U 01:00 Angry Planet - U 01:30 The Thirsty Traveler - U 02:00 Inside Luxury Travel-varun Sharma - U 03:00 Planet Food - U 04:00 Intrepid Journeys - 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 Planet Food - 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 21:00 Essential - U 21:30 Travel Today - U 22:00 Raider Of The Lost Snow - U 22:30 Skier’s World - U 23:00 Julian And Camilla’s World Odyssey - U

Familiar Strangers on Super Movies

Star Listings (UAE Timings) STAR Movies 21:20 A Date With Murder 22:45 Nightwatch 00:20 One Fine Day 02:10 Nine Months 03:55 A Date With Murder 05:20 Nightwatch 06:55 One Fine Day 08:45 Renaissance Man 10:50 Nine Months 12:35 Home Alone 3 14:15 No Way Out 16:05 Swimfan 17:30 Jumper 19:00 While You Were Sleeping STAR World 20:00 East West 20:50 Charlie’s Angels 21:00 The Unit 21:50 Bewitched 22:00 [V] Tunes 23:00 [V] Tunes 00:00 [V] Tunes 01:00 [V] Tunes 02:00 7th Heaven 03:00 The Goode Family 03:30 The King Of Queens

04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 08:50 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:50 11:00 11:50 12:00 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00

Boston Legal American Idol Brothers & Sisters American Idol East West V.I.P. Worst Week The Bold And The Beautiful 7th Heaven Charlie’s Angels Brothers & Sisters Different Strokes [V] Tunes American Idol The Goode Family The King Of Queens Boston Legal Rules Of Engagement Rules Of Engagement Desperate Housewives Dirty Sexy Money Asia Uncut

Granada TV 21:00 Vroom Vroom (Series 2) 22:00 Emmerdale 22:30 Coronation Street 23:00 Vroom Vroom (Series 2)

00:00 01:00 02:00 2) 03:30 04:00 05:00 05:30 06:00 07:00 08:00 2) 09:30 10:00 11:00 11:30 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00

The Springer Show Coach Trip (Series 1) Action Thursday: Murder City (Series Beyond Boiling Point For One Night Only Emmerdale Coronation Street The Springer Show Coach Trip (Series 1) Action Thursday: Murder City (Series Beyond Boiling Point For One Night Only Emmerdale Coronation Street The Springer Show American Princess (Series 1) Action Thursday: Love Lies Bleeding Beyond Boiling Point Emmerdale Coronation Street The Springer Show American Princess (Series 1) Action Thursday: Love Lies Bleeding

Channel [V] 22:00 [V] Plug

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

The Playlist Loop Backtracks Double Shot [V] Plug The Playlist Loop Parental Control Double Bill [V] Tunes Double Shot Backtracks Loop [V] Plug Double Shot Backtracks [V] Tunes [V] Plug The Playlist Loop Videoscope [V] Tunes Backtracks [V] Tunes [V] Plug The Playlist Parental Control Double Bill Videoscope [V] Tunes

Fox News 00:00 Happening Now 02:00 The Live Desk 04:00 Studio B with Shepard Smith Live 05:00 Your World with Neil Cavuto 06:00 Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck 07:00 Special Report with Bret Baier 08:00 The FOX Report with Shepard Smith 09:00 The O’Reilly Factor 10:00 Hannity 11:00 On the Record with Greta Van Susteren 12:00 The O’Reilly Factor 13:00 Hannity 14:00 On the Record with Greta Van Susteren 15:00 Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck 16:00 Fox Report 17:00 Special Report with Bret Baier 18:00 The O’Reilly Factor 19:00 FOX & Friends First Live 20:00 FOX & Friends Live 22:00 America’s Newsroom 23:00 America’s Newsroom National Geographic Channel 20:00 Mega Thursday -Mega Factories : Ferrari

21:00 Wild Wednesday -Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy : USA 22:00 Wild Wednesday -Animal Autopsy : Giraffe 23:00 Theme Week -Ultimate Disaster : Tsunami 00:00 Seconds From Disaster -Inferno at Guadalajara 8 01:00 ABOUT ASIA -The Butterfly Code 02:00 Against All Odds -Crash S1-1 03:00 Animal Autopsy -Crocodile 04:00 Hunter Hunted -Shadow Stalkers S2-6 05:00 ABOUT ASIA -The Butterfly Code 06:00 Somewhere In China -Kicked Out Of Gansu 5 07:00 Built For The Kill -Macro Gladiators 08:00 Against All Odds -Crash S1-1 09:00 Monkey Thieves -Fang’s Market 2 09:30 More Amazing Moments -S2-4 10:00 Theme Week -Ultimate Disaster : Volcano 11:00 Seconds From Disaster -Inferno at Guadalajara 8 12:00 ABOUT ASIA -The Butterfly Code 13:00 Mega Thursday -Megastructure : Super Sky Tram 14:00 Mega Thursday -World’s Toughest Fixes : Extreme Lift

Thursday, February 25, 2010

33 ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation available in Jleeb near Dhar Al Saha Polyclinic for couples or working ladies in a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom CAC flat with Keralite family. Contact: 55256272. (C 20386) 25-2-2010 Sharing accommodation available in Sharq near Amiri hospital, in 2BHK CAC, separate bathroom, with Keralite family, for family, working ladies or executive bachelors. Contact: 97675851.

One room sharing accommodation available for a bachelor or couple in a double bedroom window A/C flat with Indian Mangalorean Hindu family, near Caesars takeaway Salmiya from 1st March onwards. Call: 55964524. (C 20384) Two rooms available in Beneid Al-Gar from March 1st, very near to Al-Salam hospital. Apply decent working ladies only. Mobile: 97879611. (C 20379) Fully furnished single bedroom flat available for rent with household items from March 26th to May 10th, near Integrated Indian School, Abbassiya. Contact: 66835943. (C 20378) Spacious room with attached bath in a CAC flat, a very convenient location in Hawally close to Tunis Street. Suitable for an executive bachelor or spinster.

Contact: 97563283 or 66705749. (C 20381)

Spacious furnished room sharing 3 bedroom central A/C flat available from 1st March for a couple (no children), preferably Indian Muslims/Christian. Contact: 66808746, 24768675.

(C 20382) Sharing accommodation in Abbassiya central AC flat, only for Keralite couples or ladies bachelors. Contact: 97134824. (C 20375) 24-2-2010 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)

FOR SALE Pentium 4, Intel, 40GB HDD, 256 MB RAM, CD writer, 56K modem, sound car, speakers 17� CRT monitor, ready for Internet, KD 35. PIII, Intel, 10 GB HDD, 256 MB RAM with 17� moni-

tor, KD 15. Contact: 66244192. (C 20388) 25-2-2010 Doctor owned, single owner, excellent condition, 2000 Pajero 4 WD, 6 cylinder, first come first served. Price KD 1,750.

Contact: 66420040, 24892752.

(C 20376) Toyota Camry XLi, model 2004, 4 cylinders, done 60,000 kms only, golden metallic, excellent condition, cash price KD 2,650. Contact: 66211779. (C 20380) 2006 Mitsubishi Nativa, white color, excellent condition, free accident, lady used, leaving Kuwait. KD 2,700. Contact: 66321932.

(C 20385) 1999 Honda Accord Coupe, excellent condition, black color, full options, cruise control, CD, ceiling window.

Price KD 1,300 (negotiable).

Tel: 55522942. (C 20377) 24-2-2010 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

MATRIMONIAL Born again boy, 31 years/163 cm/brownish complexion/B.Com, ITI, working in Kuwait as electrician. Invites proposal from parents of born again girl who is interested to serve the lord.

Email: bcmchira@yahoo.co.in (C 20383) 24-2-2010

SITUATION WANTED I am B.Sc computers graduate, also bank experience in BPO, looking for bank related job, secretary, clerk or any suitable job. Contact: 55459765, 97175346.

(C 20387) 25-2-2010

SITUATION VACANT

Indian or Sri lLankan driver with a driving license to work for a family. Tel: 99022294z.

24-2-2010

CHANGE OF NAME I, Borra Hussainaiah Gavaskar, holder of Indian Passport No. E5351841 have embraced Islam and I changed my name to Muhammad Hussainaiah Borra. Hereafter, in all my dealings and documents, I will be known by the name of Muhammad Hussainaiah Borra. (C 20389) 25-2-2010 Old name: Mohd Shaukat Ali Ansari, Indian Passport No: B1589375. New name: Mohammad Ansari.

(C 20367) 22-2-2010

No: 14651

Flight Schedule Arrival Flights on Thursday 25/02/2010 Airlines Flt Route Jazeera 0263 Beirut Wataniya Airways 2011 Sharm El Sheikh Royal Jordanian 802 Amman Wataniya Airways 2103 Beirut Gulf Air 211 Bahrain Kuwait 544 Cairo Jazeera 0513 Sharm El Sheikh Turkish A/L 1172 Istanbul DHL 370 Bahrain Jazeera 0241 Amman Emirates 853 Dubai Etihad 0305 Abu Dhabi Qatari 0138 Doha Ethiopian 622 Addis Ababa/Bahrain Air France 6770 Paris Jazeera 0503 Luxor Jazeera 0527 Alexandria Kuwait 416 Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur Jazeera 0529 Assiut Jazeera 0481 Sabiha British 0157 London Kuwait 352 Cochin Kuwait 206 Islamabad Jazeera 0161 Dubai Kuwait 302 Mumbai Kuwait 676 Dubai Kuwait 284 Dhaka Kuwait 362 Colombo Emirates 855 Dubai Kuwait 286 Chittagong Arabia 0121 Sharjah Qatari 0132 Doha Etihad 0301 Abu Dhabi Gulf Air 213 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 1121 Bahrain Jazeera 0447 Doha Jazeera 0165 Dubai Jazeera 0425 Bahrain Jazeera 0113 Abu Dhabi Wataniya Airways 1021 Dubai Iran Air 619 Lar Middle East 404 Beirut Yemenia 825 Sanaa Pakistan 239 Sialkot Egypt Air 610 Cairo Kuwait 672 Dubai Jazeera 0171 Dubai Jazeera 0525 Alexandria Jazeera 0257 Beirut Wataniya Airways 2001 Cairo Kuwait 552 Damascus Kuwait 744 Dammam Jazeera 0457 Damascus

Time 00:05 00:15 00:35 00:50 01:05 01:15 01:25 02:15 02:15 02:30 02:35 03:00 03:25 03:30 04:35 05:35 06:10 06:25 06:30 06:35 06:40 07:40 07:40 07:45 07:55 08:10 08:15 08:20 08:30 08:35 08:55 09:00 09:35 10:45 10:45 11:00 11:05 11:10 11:20 11:20 11:50 11:55 12:35 12:50 12:55 13:25 13:35 14:05 14:10 14:20 14:35 14:40 14:45

Qatari Global Kuwait Royal Jordanian Jazeera Emirates Gulf Air Saudi Arabian A/L Etihad Jazeera Arabia Jazeera Wataniya Airways Jazeera Srilankan United Airlines Jazeera Wataniya Airways DHL Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait Indian Kuwait Kuwait Jet A/W Wataniya Airways Oman Air Saudi Arabian A/L Jazeera Gulf Air Kuwait Middle East Qatari Emirates Jazeera Jazeera Global Jazeera Jazeera Egypt Air Egypt Air Shaheen Air Lufthansa Wataniya Airways Wataniya Airways Wataniya Airways Pakistan

0134 076 546 800 0173 857 215 510 0303 0239 0125 0367 2101 0497 227 982 0427 2003 473 1025 502 542 674 618 166 0177 614 774 575 102 562 572 1201 0647 506 0459 217 786 402 0136 859 0449 0429 081 0117 0185 612 606 441 636 2201 1029 1129 215

Doha Basrah Alexandria Amman Dubai Dubai Bahrain Riyadh Abu Dhabi Amman Sharjah Deirezzor Beirut Riyadh Colombo/Dubai Washington Dc Dulles Bahrain Cairo Baghdad Dubai Beirut Cairo Dubai Doha Paris/Rome Dubai Bahrain Riyadh Chennai/Goa New York/London Amman Mumbai Jeddah Muscat Jeddah Damascus Bahrain Jeddah Beirut Doha Dubai Doha Bahrain Baghdad Abu Dhabi Dubai Cairo Luxor Lahore Frankfurt Amman Dubai Bahrain Karachi

15:00 15:20 15:30 15:40 16:05 16:55 17:05 17:15 17:15 17:35 17:40 17:45 17:50 18:00 18:05 18:15 18:15 18:20 18:30 18:40 18:45 18:50 18:55 18:55 19:00 19:05 19:20 19:30 19:30 19:35 19:40 20:05 20:15 20:20 20:35 20:40 21:05 21:10 21:20 21:35 22:00 22:10 22:15 22:20 22:25 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:05 23:30 23:40 23:45 23:55 23:55

Departure Flights on Thursday 25/02/2010 Airlines Flt Route Egypt Air 607 Luxor Jazeera 0528 Assiut India Express 390 Mangalore/Kozhikode United A/L 981 Washington Dc Dulles Indian 982 Ahmedabad/Chennai Pakistan 206 Lahore Bangladesh 044 Dhaka Safi A/W 216 Kabul DHL 371 Bahrain Turkish A/L 1173 Istanbul Emirates 854 Dubai Etihad 0306 Abu Dhabi Ethiopian 622 Addis Ababa Qatari 0139 Doha Air France 6770 Dubai/Hong Kong Wataniya Airways 1020 Dubai Jazeera 0164 Dubai Royal Jordanian 803 Amman Jazeera 0524 Alexandria Wataniya Airways 2000 Cairo Jazeera 0112 Abu Dhabi Jazeera 0446 Doha Gulf Air 212 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 1120 Bahrain Jazeera 0422 Bahrain Kuwait 545 Alexandria Jazeera 0256 Beirut British 0156 London Kuwait 671 Dubai Kuwait 551 Damascus Jazeera 0456 Damascus Jazeera 0170 Dubai Arabia 0122 Sharjah Emirates 856 Dubai Global 075 Basrah Kuwait 117 New York Qatari 0133 Doha Kuwait 173 Frankfurt/Geneva Etihad 0302 Abu Dhabi Wataniya Airways 2002 Cairo Gulf Air 214 Bahrain Kuwait 743 Dammam Jazeera 0172 Dubai Kuwait 541 Cairo Wataniya Airways 2100 Beirut Jazeera 0366 Deirezzor Jazeera 0238 Amman Kuwait 103 London Iran Air 618 Lar Middle East 405 Beirut Kuwait 501 Beirut

FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161

Time 00:01 00:05 00:30 00:40 01:05 01:10 01:15 02:30 03:15 03:15 03:50 04:10 04:15 05:00 06:20 07:00 07:00 07:05 07:20 07:30 07:35 07:40 07:45 07:50 07:55 08:30 08:35 08:55 09:00 09:10 09:25 09:30 09:35 09:40 10:00 10:00 10:00 10:20 10:20 11:30 11:40 11:55 12:00 12:00 12:05 12:20 12:25 12:30 12:50 12:55 13:00

Yemenia Pakistan Egypt Air Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Jazeera Jazeera Wataniya Airways Jazeera Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Royal Jordanian Qatari Gulf Air Etihad Emirates Arabia Jazeera Saudi Arabian A/L Jazeera Jazeera Wataniya Airways Jazeera Global Jazeera Wataniya Airways Srilankan Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Wataniya Airways Jet A/W Oman Air Kuwait Gulf Air Saudi Arabian A/L DHL Kuwait Middle East Jazeera Kuwait Qatari Kuwait Emirates Jazeera Jazeera Egypt Air Jazeera Kuwait

825 240 611 1024 673 561 0496 0176 1200 0426 0458 617 785 773 613 801 0135 216 0304 858 0126 0262 511 0184 0116 2200 0448 082 0428 2102 228 1028 283 361 343 1128 571 0648 331 218 507 171 675 403 0188 203 0137 301 860 0636 0526 613 0502 411

Doha/Sanaa Sialkot Cairo Dubai Dubai Amman Riyadh Dubai Jeddah Bahrain Damascus Doha Jeddah Riyadh Bahrain Amman Doha Bahrain Abu Dhabi Dubai Sharjah Beirut Riyadh Dubai Abu Dhabi Amman Doha Baghdad Bahrain Beirut Dubai/Colombo Dubai Dhaka Colombo Chennai Bahrain Mumbai Muscat Trivandrum Bahrain Jeddah Bahrain Dubai Beirut Dubai Lahore Doha Mumbai Dubai Aleppo Alexandria Cairo Luxor Bangkok/Manila

13:35 13:40 13:55 14:25 14:30 14:35 14:40 15:05 15:10 15:25 15:30 15:35 15:45 16:10 16:20 16:25 16:30 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 19:30 20:15 20:20 20:50 21:00 21:10 21:20 21:25 21:55 21:55 22:00 22:10 22:20 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:45 23:10 23:20 23:25 23:45 23:50 23:55

SPECTRUM

34 CROSSWORD 911

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Calvin Aries (March 21-April 19) You show a propensity

to engage in hard work to obtain financial security.

However, this is also a time when you may spend an excessive amount of worry about your monetary position—frequently being thrifty in expenditures.

You are strengthened in your desire to succeed, not only financially, but personally as well. At this time, it’s best to rely on facts rather than feelings, especially when an expensive mistake might be the outcome. The accent now is on understanding. Trading points of view with others should come easily today for both sides. Also, this is a good day to assess your goals and how they are progressing. Travel is favored, especially if it is for your own rest and relaxation. Play with friends is favored this evening.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You have the time and

patience to tackle most any problem involved with work today. This is the time to use your effort constructively; being slow to anger and worry is a good idea. You are filled with a great desire to succeed in all spheres of your life. Working with partners in an open, honest environment can bring good fortune to you now. You will be curious and talkative today with many opportunities to show off your skilled problem-solving talents. Later today is the perfect time for the lighter side of life. The heavy stuff can wait, although if you have to tend to some form of business—make every effort to pay attention. You would rather write a poem, take a drive in the country, or express your love to someone. A most enjoyable evening is available.

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

4. King of Saudi Arabia since 1982 (born in 1922).

8. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

11. Light informal conversation for social occasions.

12. 100 lwei equal 1 kwanza.

13. The longer of the two telegraphic signals used in Morse code.

14. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

15. The sense organ for hearing and equilibrium.

16. Leaf or strip from a leaf of the talipot palm used in India for writing paper.

17. 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.

19. Resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects.

21. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

24. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.

26. (Roman Catholic Church) A devotion consisting of prayers on nine consecutive days.

28. Young sheep.

31. Lower in esteem.

32. A metabolic acid found in yeast and liver cells.

33. Valuable fiber plant of East Indies now widespread in cultivation.

36. A state in northwestern North America.

41. A periodic paperback publication.

45. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

46. (computer science) A computer that is running software that allows users to leave messages and access information of general interest.

47. Using speech rather than writing.

48. An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.

49. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

50. A small cake leavened with yeast.

51. Fermented alcoholic beverage similar to but heavier than beer.

DOWN 1. Highly excited.

2. Plant with an elongated head of broad stalked leaves resembling celery.

3. In bed.

4. A state in southeastern United States between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.

5. An overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration.

6. Heal or recover.

7. English theoretical physicist who applied relativity theory to quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter and the positron (1902-1984).

8. A rapid bustling commotion.

9. Offering fun and gaiety.

10. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

18. Fiber from an East Indian plant Hibiscus cannabinus.

20. A high-crowned black cap (usually made of felt or sheepskin) worn by men in Turkey and Iran and the Caucasus.

22. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

23. An associate degree in applied science.

25. The cry made by sheep.

27. Artists or writers whose ideas are ahead of their time.

29. A unit of information equal to one million (1,048,576) bytes.

30. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

34. Jordan's port.

35. Sluggish tailless Australian arboreal marsupial with gray furry ears and coat.

37. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

38. The United Nations agency concerned with atomic energy.

39. Norwegian mathematician (1802-1829).

40. A cord that is drawn through eyelets or around hooks in order to draw together two edges (as of a shoe or garment).

42. A change in the electrical properties of the skin in response to stress or anxiety.

43. A numbered compartment in a post office where mail is put to be called for.

44. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.

45. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Your response to someone requesting that you do his or her bidding, may be something you will want to either say no immediately or ask for a little thinking time. In the work place, your job is to keep your eye on the goal—not however, whether it is achieved your way. Being in the spotlight is common to you during this period—you would be wise to realize that it is a good time to be humble and see where you can best help others. There may be many opportunities for you to both succeed and fail in the eyes of others. You will probably attempt to do and take chances that others would not try. Your success ratio is in the upper numbers. You are likely to enjoy considerable success at work. You will teach people confidence. This is a rewarding day.

Non Sequitur

Cancer (June 21-July 22) You may feel rebellious today and put a high value on your personal freedom. You will not take kindly to any restrictions. If a loved one, friend or professional comrade becomes too possessive, you will squirm away. You may really wish to help someone because you volunteered. This could mean that you float from one thing to another with regard to a volunteer program. Being flexible and having the ability to move into areas where you think you can be most helpful is just what you like. Working for a non-profit group can be profitable for you. Something electric is in the air this afternoon and your charisma shines! The power of attraction and desire for love is great. You have a lot of inner confidence. Your personal magnetism soars.

Leo (July 23-August 22) You may fall under the heavy burden of responsibility today. However, this is a good time for you to show off your capabilities—you are in a high achievement mode. You will find that pleasant surroundings in the workplace or at home today make for good vibrations. You could be in the limelight, especially with superiors or in relation to your work. You may find that you enjoy your job or the responsibility it entails more than usual. New insights or breakthroughs are possible with authorities or someone older. Communal activities, which take place after work, should be both well-attended and successful. Something electric is in the air this afternoon and your charisma shines! If any new friendships are made today, they should last a very long time.

Zits

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Your inquisitive mind is stimulated this morning. You will be discussing ideas with co-workers and higher ups—this can be most beneficial and rewarding. You could be seen by others as just the person to be put in charge of some project requiring a conservative mind. This is definitely a day to get a lot of things done, especially if you are allowed to lead and can attract people whose passion matches your passion—they all want to work with you. Your drive is high, your mind is clear and communication should not be a problem. If you are still fired up at the end of the day, involve yourself with exercise that moves you forward—like bicycling, walking, running, swimming, yard work, etc. This will also help you balance the extra energy you accumulate.

Libra (September 23-October 22) Today you could be tempted to let office gossip interfere with the normal flow of business. This is an excellent time to emphasize practicality and realism to any endeavor in which you are engaged. It is also important to effectively communicate your ideas to co-workers and those who work under you. Ideas and technologies that change the way people live—not just one person, but many—are a major new focus in your life now. Your powers of creativity are great—making problem solving difficulties seem a problem of the past. You are particularly witty in social surrounding this evening and make stimulating company. You may seek intellectual stimulation in your love life, social and leisure activities. Do considerate things to secure your relationships.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You express

profound insights today—you want to improve the world. Be very clear in all the things you do and say.

Also, make sure you have complete information before gambling with an investment. You may experience abrupt changes in fortune, good or bad, in a relatively short period of time. You will feel the urge for excitement and should consider traveling—avoid extravagance, however. You become aware of new concepts and ideals. You may spend a great deal of time engaged in intellectual pursuits in the home at this time. You may see the family circle increase in numbers through marriage or birth. Also, love is in full bloom and it’s a good time to fully demonstrate the depth of your affection to loved ones.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) An outgoing and very expressive cycle of experience has begun for you. You may have a mad desire to do nothing but communicate and exchange ideas today. You could shoot the breeze with someone for hours, if given the opportunity. There could be a temptation, however, to play devil’s advocate or analyze things to death. Just enjoy the exchanges and give the other guy a chance. Also, if too much time is taken up in conversation during your work time, others could be unhappy. You face tremendous responsibilities in relationships with loved ones and are apt to have difficulty expressing wants and desires to your companions. Your ability to perceive other’s thoughts and feelings may bring you unexpected rewards—pay attention.

Yesterday’s Solution

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) You

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

should love being around people today, especially those to whom you are emotionally attached, and better yet, older friends with whom you can reminisce. 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. You could obtain anything you wish to obtain or sell anything you wish to sell today—they will think you have done them a favor. If you have faith in yourself and have surrounded yourself with good people, you will be unaffected by any negative actions today. You will impress people in conversation and communicate to loved ones on new levels. You will enjoy being in the company of a loved one this evening.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Work is pressing and demanding today but you are able to move forward with great success—stay aggressive, but polite. Creative visualization can be very relaxing for you during the stressful days—such as today. Your creative side is showing but the pressure to develop your work quickly may cause you to risk the quality. There needs to be an understanding—speak up now. The outcome today is nothing but positive, although there may be some hoops to jump. Later today you may seek out friends who are avant-garde or unconventional in their social behavior, seeking release from the strictures you see others placing on you. It is not a wildly romantic time, but one where small-scale endeavors will meet with success. Jot down notes for tomorrows plans.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) Your enthusiasm about your work is positive—you are creative and ready to apply your effort to the present project. If you give your best effort, considerable success will follow. You are buoyed with confidence; make sure however, that both your expectations and abilities are realistic. Any study time that you spent on this project to learn or perhaps update your skills, was well worth the effort. Others can find you shopping this afternoon. You are very sensitive to beauty, but not at all obsessive. You are very aware of value, style, workmanship, etc. Major purchases that could increase in value would be a good bet. Spend time with friends later today-relax and enjoy each other’s company. Companionship is most rewarding.

INFORMATION

Thursday, February 25, 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

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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

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36

SPECTRUM

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Julianne Moore feels invisible

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he ‘Single Man’ actress admits she has always felt overlooked in her life and despite now being a hugely successful star, there are times when she thinks she’s overlooked.

She revealed: “It started when I was a kid. I moved frequently because my dad was in the army so I was always new in school. I think if you’ve ever done that, you know what it means to not matter in a room.” However, the mother-of-two believes it’s a good thing because it has taught her to become a more understanding person. She told Stylist magazine: “I think it’s a good experience for everyone to have, to feel like they’re not noticed because it teaches you to be empathetic.” Julianne - who has children Caleb, 12, and seven-year-old Liv with husband Bart Freundlich - recently revealed she puts her family first and will only accept roles that don’t take her away from her home in Long Island, New York, for too long. She revealed: “My family life is incredibly important to me. I want to be with them as much as I can. I try to work in New York, or I work in the summer time when my family can come with me. “The days of me doing a big film where I need to be away for months during the school year are over.”

America Ferrera

A

merica Ferrera is “in denial” that ‘Ugly Betty’ has been cancelled. The actress - who has portrayed dowdy Betty Suarez in the US TV show since 2006 - can’t bring herself to think about her impending final scenes, because she completely adored playing the frumpy fashion magazine assistant and is devastated it is about to end. She said: “I’ve lived with this character who I’ve loved from day

with all those emotions in a little bit. I imagine that when we finally wrap it’s not going to be a dry-eyed goodbye.” It was recently revealed ‘Ugly Betty’ would be cancelled once cast and crew had finished working on the fourth series. Part of the reason why America is sad to leave the role behind is because her portrayal of Betty has greatly helped her develop as a person herself and made her realize her ambi-

one and I have only grown to feel more connected to her and also responsible for making sure her journey is a complete one. Her entire journey was about a transformation, kind of coming into her womanhood and owning herself both physically and emotionally.

It’s hard to say goodbye. I haven’t really started going there yet because I still have four episodes to shoot. So I’m staying in denial for now and I’ll deal

ennifer Hudson’s fiance wants to marry her in a wrestling ring. David Otunga - who is one of eight professional wrestlers appearing on the World Wrestling Entertainment’s new reality show ‘WWE NXT’ believes the squared circle would be the perfect place to tie the knot.

When asked whether the WWE could convince the couple to get married in the ring, David joked: “We could do that. I don’t know if Jennifer would go for it, but I’d be up for it.”

As for the date, he says it’s set but won’t reveal any more information. He revealed to E! Online: “I can’t divulge the date or anything but we definitely have the plans.” The couple met at Jennifer’s 27th birthday party in 2008 and have a six-month-old son, David Jr., together. Grappler David claims their child is already trying to follow in

S

T

Jennifer Hudson his singer mother’s musical footsteps.

He revealed: “One of his favorite things is to hear the piano. Jennifer will play the piano or sing to him, and he will calm down immediately. “We had a guy over once tuning the piano and he was pecking the keys, and David started trying to sing and imitate the notes. It was the most unbelievable thing.”

T Drew Barrymore is a ‘girlie girl’ Stone’s mean man

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tions as a TV actress. She explained to Parade.com: “I never really pictured myself being on television. I couldn’t imagine a world coming along that would entice me enough to sign away years and years of my life to one character. Then Betty came around. I was 21 when I started and I’ve learned so much and grown so much as a person.

It has to be about believing in what you’re doing.”

he ‘Alice in Wonderland’ actor - who has children Lily Rose, ten, and Jack, seven, with partner Vanessa Paradis - admits he prefers his existence in France to a glitzy, Hollywood lifestyle. He said: “We have a great place in the South of France. It’s a little hamlet - only about 45 acres and I don’t do anything. “I’ve not left the property for three months at a time. I literally just wake up, go out, check the garden and see the vegetables growing. It’s a pristine existence in terms of simplicity. “There’s no talk of movies or work and, infinitely more important, the telephone never rings. It really is a beautiful, simple life.” The 46-year-old star also claims a decision to buy an island in the Caribbean was a spur of the moment decision. He said in an interview with the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Like everything else in my life it wasn’t Johnny planned, it just kind of happened. I Depp went on vacation to escape with my kiddies and my girl and someone said that there was an island down the road for sale. “I said, ‘Let’s go see it.’ I looked at it, I walked on it and I was done. It had to be. It came at the perfect moment for me. “The island provides me with simplicity and somewhere I can go where no one is looking at me or pointing a camera or a finger at me. I can just be. When we’re there we do absolutely nothing.” While he insists he prefers the quiet life, Johnny jokingly claims he took a role in upcoming movie ‘The Tourist’ with Angelina Jolie - who raises six children with partner Brad Pitt - because he wants more attention. He said: “I feel I’m not getting photographed by the paparazzi enough, so I figure I’ll go and hang out in Venice

J

ara Stone fell in love with David Walliams because he is “mean”. The Dutch supermodel - who got engaged to the comedian last month - is besotted with her partner, and even loves his flaws. She said: Lara “He’s wonderful. He’s amazing. He makes me laugh. He’s a proper gentleman. He’s a bit mean but in a good way. I’m happy. “I am madly in love. I’ve never been happier.” While Lara is overjoyed to be marrying David - who she met in May 2009 - she admits she has bare-

Parker’s new scent

Depp only leaves house to check his vegetables

Hudson’s fiancé to marry her in a wrestling ring

ly started planning their wedding because she has been so busy working. She told Interview magazine: “Have I started making wedding plans? Not so much because I haven’t been home at all since we Stone got engaged. I asked Riccardo Tisci to make my dress though.” Lara - who is believed to be planning to marry this summer - recently said she can’t wait to have babies with her fiance. She said: “I want to have a family and be a good wife. I want a family soon.”

he ‘Charlie’s Angels’ actress - who is dating actor Justin Long - says her style changes every day but everything she wears has a feminine aspect to it. The 35-year-old actress revealed: “My style is totally eclectic. It depends on what mood I wake up in. Am I feeling retro 60s? Am I hippy chick from the 70? “But I love floral patterns too - I’m actually a bit of a girlie girl.” Drew also spoke about her friendship with actress Cameron Diaz, saying she can confide in her about everything and knows she will always be given honest advice. Drew added to new! magazine: “Cameron is one of my best friends. I think friendship is about being there for each other in the good and in the difficult times. It’s just being honest,

giving sound advice and helping each other laugh.” The 34-year-old actress - who made her directorial debut with ‘Whip It!’ recently said she is comfortable with ageing but if the effects show too much, she plans to quit acting in favor of staying behind the camera. She said: “It’s the best time of my life - it’s not traumatic at all. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. It’s like the older I get, the better I get. Gravity and wrinkles are fine with me. They’re a small price to pay for the new wisdom inside my head and my heart. “If my breasts fall down to the floor and everything starts to sag and becomes hideous and gross, I won’t worry. I’ll just stop appearing in front of the camera. That’s fine with me because I love producing and directing.”

Rivers blasts ‘vulgar’ Beckham

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oan Rivers claims Victoria Beckham is not welcome in Los Angeles. The outspoken American branded the former Spice Girl-turned fashion designer - who lives in Beverly Hills with her soccer star husband David and their three sons - “rude” and wants her to move back to the UK as soon as Joan possible. She told Closer magazine: “Victoria Beckham is so nasty. Why doesn’t she just go home?! Her dresses are beautiful, but I don’t care what she does. She’s mean to all the people around her. “She’s too short to be a diva. We all use the same hairdressers, make-up artists, limo-drivers and greeters at the airports in LA and nobody has anything nice to say about her. They say she’s rude. She can’t always just be having a bad

day.” The 76-year-old comedienne also blasted “vulgar” Victoria for her spending habits, insisting she should be less extravagant in the current difficult economic climate. She said: “Victoria Beckham should get a life. I am not a fan of outrageous consumption. I think it is vulgar. “And no-one should flaunt that they have a hundred Hermes £6,000 Rivers bags. Not when people are starving.

Everyone should be allowed to have a great time but she shows a distinct lack of class.” This is not the first time Joan has hit out at the 35-year-old star and has previously called her “arrogant”. She said: “I dislike Victoria Beckham. The entitlement - the total entitlement. You want to say, ‘Calm down, you were a Spice Girl.’ The arrogance when she walks into a room is astonishing.” —Bang Showbiz

Julianne Moore

Sarah Jessica Parker

arah Jessica Parker’s new scent is a “snapshot of Carrie Bradshaw”.

The ‘Sex and the City’ actress - who plays Carrie in both the TV series and movies - says her latest fragrance, SJP NYC, was designed as a homage to a vision of her character.

She explained at its launch at New York’s Sweetie Pie restaurant: “What I really wanted to do was capture an image, a snapshot in my head of Carrie Bradshaw, that sort of freezeframe of her walking down any New York City street at an idyllic time of year in a floralprint dress on her way to meet somebody or to do something, or surrounded by her women friends. “You can go anywhere with that, because we live in a fragrant city,” Sarah also said she was surprised when the ingredients for the fragrance came together, as it is concocted of scents - wild strawberry with gardenia and vanilla - she wouldn’t usually choose. She added: “What we arrived at was very surprising to me because it’s not notes that I generally cotton to - but I love it.” SJP NYC comes in a multiprint bottle inspired by the custom-designed Oscar de la Renta dress Sarah wears in the ad campaign for the fragrance.

SPECTRUM

Thursday, February 25, 2010

37

Music & Movies

Kingsley books passage to India ritish actor Ben K i n g s l e y m a ke s h i s Bollywood debut this week in “Teen Patti” (“Three Cards”), nearly 30 years after his Oscar-winning performance in “Gandhi” catapulted him to worldwide fame. The 66-year-old plays a brilliant mathematician, Pe rc i Trachtenberg, in the thriller.

T h e s t o r y c e n t e r s a ro u n d Perci, who meets a reclusive fellow academic, Venkat, at a London casino.

Ve n k a t (Amitabh Bachchan) tells him of a discovery he has made that he believes could redefine theor i e s a b o u t p ro b a b i l i t y a n d tests his theory on a tour of Mumbai’s illegal gambling dens.

D i re c t o r L e e n a Ya d a v ’ s film has an all-star cast, including Irrfan Khan (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “A

B

Mighty Heart”), Boman Irani and Tamil-language star R. M a d h a v a n , w h o w e re b o t h recently seen in the Aamir Khan hit “3 Idiots.” Sushmita Sen, India’s first Miss Universe, and action-comedy hero Ajay Devgan also star in the film, which hits screens tomorrow.

Kingsley’s role “is ver y crucial in the film and he is not playing a cameo,” said Yadav, who has described the m o v i e a s m o re a b o u t t h e risky decisions people make than actual gambling, which is illegal in most of India. “I always wanted an internationa l s t a r t o p l a y t h e ro l e o f Perci in my film and I knew there was no one else who could give justice to the film e x c e p t S i r B e n K i n g s l e y. ” Kingsley, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002, is a household name in India

Home is where the heart is for Indian composer Rahman ith two Oscars and two Grammy awards in less than a year, Indian composer AR Rahman of “Slumdog Millionaire” fame is riding high on his international success, but his heart still remains at home. Back in his hometown Chennai after more than a month in Los Angeles, where he now spends most of his time, Rahman spoke to Reuters about working on “We Are The World”, the charity single for quake-stricken Haiti, his experience in Hollywood and how India will never really lose its famous son.

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future generations. After a while, when you have achieved everything, it is time to give back. Our people are so hardworking that we can excel anywhere in the world, but they just need to open up their imaginations. We need to be original and nurture creativity. We can’t be slaves to mediocrity, and that can only happen when the right people put in the effort.”

Q: Are there any more international projects in the pipeline? There was talk of you collaborating with Celine Dion.

A: “I can’t really talk about anything at the moment, but you will hear something the minute it is finalized. Celine Dion is just a rumor.”

Q: Some rumors do turn out to be true.

A: “This could turn out to be true, but nothing like that is planned at the moment. I sang with her for “We are the World”, that is all.”

Q: It’s been almost a year since you won the Oscar. How has your life changed?

A: “I am living more in Los Angeles and meeting a completely different set of people; very nice people of course, and things which were impossible before, such as “We are the World”-going in that community and singing there, was fantastic. I have been commissioned to do some stuff for artists, which you will hear about shortly.

There is a tour also. So much has happened in one year.”

Q: You also composed music for your first Hollywood movie, “Couples Retreat”. How is working in Hollywood different from working in India?

A: “In a situation like that, anything can happen. There are a lot of committees which scrutinize the music, they hear it again and again, changes happen. The music took almost three months. I was writing and re-writing. They have research groups to whom they play the music and movie to, and take their reactions, come back.

You may even get fired. It is a studio film, so anything can happen.”

Q: Did that change the way you work?

A: “No, not really, but a composer told me that in Hollywood, if a composer doesn’t get fired, he isn’t a real composer. That is the agony of working on a score there, even the most senior composers get fired. It is the easiest thing to do, fire the composer, because they can’t change the actors or the movie, but they can change the music. It’s risky.”

Q: What is the one aspect that you wish the Indian film industry could borrow from the West?

A: “I think we should think about what we are leaving for

Q: Could you talk about that experience?

A: “It was great. I got a call from the organizers, asking if I was in town. I said yes, and went along for the recording. We recorded from 3 to 8, and it was an overwhelming experience, singing with all these great artists under one roof.”

In this picture taken on December 2, 2009, British actor Ben Kingsley who played the role of Mohandas Gandhi in the film ‘Gandhi’, poses with his wife Daniela Lavender in front of the historic Taj Mahal monument in Agra. —AFP

Q: So much is being said about the fact that India has lost Rahman to Hollywood.

Has it?

A: “Oh, they say that every three years, they want to pack me off. I have a responsibility here, and my family is here, so these things will always pull me back here, wherever I may be.

This is my base, I will keep coming back.” —Reuters

India last December. Kingsley is set to play Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the film “Taj,” about his project to build the Taj Mahal mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz. He is the latest foreign star to appear in a Bollywood movie, as the Hindi-language film industry seeks new audiences overseas and Hollywood increasingly looks for ties with Indian studios. Yadav said she had “no idea” why Bollywood had not approached Kingsley before and indicated that future appearances by global cinema stars in Indian films were likely. “I sent my script to his agent and he ... loved it. He immediately agreed to do the role,” Yadav said. “I feel the world has become a small place and it is not difficult these days to approach agents of Hollywood or international actors.” —AFP

Poles celebrate Chopin with marathon concert, museum oland is celebrating the 200th birthday of one of its most famous sons, composer Frederic Chopin, with a week-long marathon of recitals of his music, a commemorative bank note and a new state-of-the-art museum.

Internationally famed pianists including China’s L ang L ang, Israel’s Daniel Barenboim, Polish prodigy Rafal Blechacz and American Garrick Ohlsson are playing to packed concert halls and Chopin’s wistful face gazes from posters on every street corner.

Long considered a national treasure, Chopin’s bicentenary provides a timely opportunity to market Poland as a land of high culture, firmly back in the European mainstream after a tragic 20th century, and should help lure large numbers of tourists. But a recent poll shows many ordinary Poles know woefully little about their illustrious compatriot and some say Poland would honor Chopin’s memory much better by investing more in music education than in paying foreign artists to come

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here.

With experts split on whether Chopin was born on February 22 or March 1, 1810, festival organizers have decided to bridge the two dates with round-the-clock recitals of his work lasting 171 hours at a neo-classical building in Warsaw’s old town. “People of all ages are coming to our recitals and that is exactly what we were aiming for,” said Edyta Duda-Olechowska, one of the organizers.

“Pensioners who have not been to a concert for more than 10 years are very happy, they can’t believe it is all for free.” Japanese pianist Ai Kayukawa, 25, performed on Monday evening, one of the first of around 250 musicians taking part.

“When I started listening to Chopin (back in Japan), it was the beauty that struck me. That is why I decided to come and study music here in Warsaw,” she said.

Chopin’s oeuvre, ranging from elegiac sonatas and concertos to lively Mazurka folk dances, is revered in Japan and China as well as in the West and concerts mark-

ing his bicentenary will be held in many countries, including at the Shanghai Expo 2010.

Nostalgia in exile Poland’s central bank has unveiled a special 20 zloty bank note bearing Chopin’s image and a refurbished, multi-media museum devoted to Chopin’s life, housed in a Warsaw palace, will open its doors on his second “birthday” next Monday. A new concert hall has opened on the renovated estate of Zelazowa Wola near Warsaw, also a museum, where Chopin was born to a Polish mother and French father 200 years ago.

Chopin left Poland at the age of 20 and spent most of his adult life in Paris but he remained a staunch patriot and his work is suffused with nostalgia for his homeland, at that time partitioned between Russia, Austria-Hungary and Prussia. In exile, he counted fellow composers Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz and artist Eugene Delacroix among his friends. He had a turbulent love affair with the

Piotr Pawlak, 12, plays compositions by Frederic Chopin in the Polish presidential palace yesterday in Warsaw during a concert attended by Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski and First Lady Maria Kaczynska. —AFP

female novelist George Sand.

Dogged by poor health, he died in 1849.

“The language Chopin’s music speaks is perhaps the most intimate in the whole canon of Western music,” wrote historian Adam Zamoyski in his book “Chopin, Prince of the Romantics.”

“It transcends everything we know about the man and draws the listener into a world of spirit which is the very essence of the Romantic artistic experience.”

Yet despite all the hype and enthusiasm surrounding his bicentenary, a poll cited by the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper said only three percent of Poles professed interest in Chopin’s music and barely a third recognized his work.

Sociologist Barbara Pabjan, who conducted the poll, told the daily that Poles were proud of Chopin but his national status prevented them from enjoying him on his own merits. “Chopin has become an icon of mass culture, his image is on chocolate wrappers, on vodka bottles, on stamps. —Reuters

Charlie Sheen enters rehab S Actor Charlie Sheen has entered a rehabilitation facility and plans to take time off his hit comedy series “Two and a Half Men” on US network CBS, his spokesman said on Tuesday. Sheen, 44, was charged earlier this month with assaulting and threatening his wife in a heated Christmas Day argument in Aspen, Colorado. Both had reportedly been drinking.

Sheen is free on bail pending a further hearing on March 15.

“As a preventative measure, Charlie Sheen has entered a rehabilitation facility. He will take some time off from his series ‘Two and a Half Men’. He has asked that his privacy be honored.

No further statements are planned,” publicist Stan Rosenfield said in a statement. It was not clear what sort of treatment Sheen was seeking, and Rosenfield was not immediately available for comment.

Sheen’s wife, Brooke Mueller, has also been in a rehab facility for the past few days in the Los Angeles area, according to several news reports.

Mueller, 32, is said to be undergoing treatment for substance abuse. Sheen, who plays a womanizing bachelor in the top-rated TV comedy “Two and a Half Men” was arrested on Dec. 25 in Aspen after Mueller called police and told them he pulled a knife on her during an argument and threatened to have her killed. —Reuters

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Q: A lot of people in India feel that even though you won for Slumdog, that isn’t your best score. What do you think?

A: “I think it was the best score for the film. In a way it is naive for people to think like that.

There is always a debate over which music is better, whether it is classical or pop, Western classical or Indian classical, and so on.

But for a child, a nursery rhyme is equal to what may be classical music for us. It is the presence of mind and the eye of the beholder that matters. We got two Oscars and two Grammys for it, so it is more than enough.”

Q: Is international success something you coveted before you started out?

A: “In a naive way, yes. I wasn’t too ambitious about it, but it was always in a corner of my mind, that what we do here should be appreciated by the rest of the world. We like their music, but we also have representation in the world stage, and that has come true, which is great. In a small way, there are many more miles to go, but it is a great start. It is not only a good start for me, but also anyone, whether you are in a village, and are making music, if it needs to be heard, it will be heard.”

because of his depiction of the country’s independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, which won him the Best Ac t o r a w a rd a t t h e 1 9 8 2 Oscars. The film is played on Indian Independence Day every year.

Kingsley has been back to India to promote “Teen Patti,” earning plaudits for his professionalism from co-stars.

Bachchan has called him a “wonderful human being,” a “considerate and well-prepared actor and also a gracious man.”

Kingsley - bor n Krishna Bhanji to a British mother and Indian father - has said his love for India was “as strong as ever.”

“I am still connected to ‘Gandhi.’ It’s a recognition.

It’s something indelible and extraordinary in my bones,” he told repor ters at the International Film Festival of

Actress Angelina Jolie sits in a cafe in Paris, during a scene being filmed for the movie ‘The Tourist’, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, unseen, in Paris, yesterday. —AP

Cole splitting from husband

ritish singer and TV personality Cheryl Cole says she is separating from her husband, football (soccer) player Ashley Cole. The 26-year-old Girls

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Aloud pop singer is a judge for the British reality talent show “The X Factor” along withSimon Cowell. She asked the media to respect her privacy “during this difficult time” in a statement issued Tuesday by her publicist.

Ashley Cole plays left back for Chelsea and the England national team. British media had speculated the marriage was in trouble after tabloids published front-page stories reportedly linking Ashley Cole to other women. Cheryl Cole’s song “Fight for This Love” was nominated for a 2010 Brit award. —AP

Placido Domingo to undergo surgery panish tenor Placido Domingo, one of the world’s greatest opera singers, will undergo surgery after suffering lower abdominal pain while performing in Japan, his official website said yesterday.

Domingo, 69, underwent a full physical examination in New York where “his doctors have determined that he needs to undergo ‘medically recommended preventive surgery’,” said the website, www.placidodomingo.com.

“After surgery they will have a better idea when Placido Domingo will return

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to his performing schedule,” it said, without giving details as to the nature of the surgery. “It is hoped that it will be in about six weeks.”

Domingo is general director of both the Los Angeles Opera and the Washington National Opera.

His repertoire encompasses 130 stage roles-a number unmatched by any other celebrated tenor in history.

The Grammy-winner made his operatic debut in a leading role as Alfredo in Verdi’s L a Traviata in Monterrery in Mexico nearly five decades ago. —AFP

ʻScrubsʼ actress joins Farrelly brothers comedy n her first major feature role, Australian actress Nicky Whelan (“Scrubs”) has been cast in the Farrelly brothers comedy “Hall Pass,” which started shooting on Tuesday in Atlanta. The New Line project, headlined

by Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis and Jenna Fischer, revolves around a pair of married couples who decide to experiment with the concept of a free pass for the husbands to use for guilt-free romantic encounters outside their marriages.

Whelan will play Leigh, who tempts Wilson’s character. Derek Waters has also joined the cast as Wannabe, a barista/DJ who becomes an obstacle to

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Nicky Whelan

the pairing. Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, Stephen Merchant and JB Smoove also star. Bobby and Peter Farrelly are directing the script they cowrote with Pete Jones and Kevin Barnett.

Whelan plays a medical student on the ABC comedy “Scrubs.” She also appeared in the horror sequel “Halloween II” and the long-running Australian series “Neighbors.” Waters recently won a prize at the Sundance Film Festival for the comedy short “Drunk History: Douglass & Lincoln,” which he co-directed with Jeremy Konner. — Reuters

SPECTRUM

38

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Fashion

Basso and Brooke show signature prints asso and Brooke showed their signature tight, digital print dresses Tuesday as London Fashion Week neared its climax, with the highly anticipated Burberry collection set to be unveiled.

Fashion Week began in a subdued mood because of the recent death by apparent suicide of revered British designer Alexander McQueen, but the fast pace of shows — and the presence of celebrities including Janet Jackson, Naomi Campbell, Sienna Miller and others — has focused attention on the fashion talent being showcased.

The multicolored Basso and Brooke dresses, including dramatic maxi-dresses with low cut backs, impressed the crowd which has come to see the designers as expert pioneers in the high fashion use of digital prints.

Among their fans are First Lady Michelle Obama, who has worn one of their designs, adding to the five-year-old brand’s growing international reputation. “That has to help,”

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Animal rights activists disrupt fashion show

Models walk down the catwalk wearing creations by Basso & Brooke for the Autumn/Winter 2010 collection on the fifth day of London Fashion Week, in central London, on February 23, 2010. —AFP said Olivia Marks, a fashion journalist with showstudio.com.

“They were one of the first people to do digital prints. It was more of the same, but the response coming out was people saying, ‘Wow, that was really great.’ It will definitely be popular with people who know the brand really well.” She said the consensus was that the influential Liberty store would showcase the brand’s autumn and winter collection, which was seen as very wearable. “They delivered what they were expected to, and it was very polished,” she said. The fall collection includes dresses with skintight sleeves designed to be worn with leather gloves.

Some had fur collars as well.

The colors, even on a single dress, were so varied as to defy description. The more closely one looked, the more gradations one saw.

The contrasting patterns and colors gave each piece a unique feel, and the patterns seemed to undulate as the models walked. Only a few pieces used solid colors to set off the prints.

Even the ankle boots were decorated. The evening dresses provided the highlight, including some off-the-shoulder designs, one with a bright swath with an intricate yellow pattern. Some were set off by red, mid-length gloves, heightening the glamour. —AP

Animal rights activist protesting against the use of fur. wo animal rights campaigners disrupted Tuesday a fashion show by top Spanish designer Jesus Lorenzo who advocates using furs. The man and woman held up black and white signs that read “Fur is murder” in Spanish in front of models wearing coats made of mink, chinchilla and fox and other furs at the end of the showcase of Lorenzo’s fall/winter collection. The activists belong to Spanish animal rights group Animal Equality which said on its website that the pair had been detained by police.

Pamplona-based Lorenzo’s show was held on the last day of the six-day Madrid Fashion Week, which is held twice a year.

“Consumers, tired of the mass market, want to stand out and infuse themselves with the personality of innovative designs that make a functional and daily use of fur,” he wrote in the description of his collection. A total of 51 designers are showing their collections at 43 fashion shows during this edition of Madrid Fashion Week. Two Animal Equality activists disrupted Madrid Fashion Week for the first time in February 2009 during a show by Spanish designer Roberto Torreta. The two men-who also held up signs that read “Fur is murder” were tried for public disorder offences and are awaiting sentencing. —AFP

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Models display Fall/Winter designs by Carlos Diez during the Pasarela Cibeles fashion week in Madrid, Tuesday. —AP

SPECTRUM

Thursday, February 25, 2010

39

Fashion

Burberry draws all-stars to London Fashion Week urberry and star designer Christopher Bailey provided the glittering climax to London Fashion Week Tuesday, drawing a galaxy of stars to the unveiling of its fall and winter collection. American Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour jetted in, wearing a burgundy Chanel dress as she sipped champagne in the front row, and the Hollywood contingent included the actresses Kate Hudson, in a sparkling green dress, and Clare Danes, understated in a cream-colored outfit. A number of top models filled out the front row, including ‘60s star Twiggy, Britain’s Erin O’Connor, Russian transplant Natalia Vodianova, and a host of others top stars.

The attraction that brought people out despite driving rain and snow was a first look at designer Bailey’s vision for autumn and winter, which turned out to be a stunning blend of the brand’s heritage-the trench coats, the military jackets-with sexy, tight skirts and dresses. An ebullient Bailey told the Associated Press after the show that he had been inspired by a visit to the company’s archives and a sketch of an aviator jacket he found there.

“I wanted it to be about our heritage,” he said. “I took flying jackets

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and aviation jackets and ran them through from peacoats to trenchcoats. I wanted it very tight and a celebration of coats.” Bailey has reinvigorated Burberry, a venerable British brand that enjoyed a reputation for quality but languished for some time without fresh ideas.

High boots were in vogue-most went well above the knee-and jacket sleeves often contained buckles and belts, a play on the military theme. There were big leather jackets with oversized lapels and col-

blue and purple. “There were lots of coats, that’s the message,” said Tamsin Blanchard, style director for The Telegraph Magazine.

She said, however, the shortish coats might not be sufficient in midwinter: “They’re not going to keep your bum war m.” As par t of Burberry’s marketing plan, the show was streamed live in 3-D to special venues in New York, Los Angeles, Dubai, Paris and Tokyo.

Also, Internet customers could view the show online and make instant purchases of items they wanted, Burberry executives said.

“The world is moving quickly,” said Bailey, explaining Burberry’s eager embrace of new technology.

“Literally during the show you can click to buy.” That raises a whole new issue: Some fashion-frenzied fans might want to keep their credit cards well out of reach while

Milan fashion starts with tighter schedule ilan kicked off the Italian leg of the international fashion run yesterday with a tighter schedule of catwalk shows aimed at meeting the needs of the foreign press but which has ruffled designers’ feathers. Thousands of journalists and buyers have descended on the Italian fashion capital to see designers such as Giorgio Armani,

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perched in front of their computers watching the show.

JENNY PACKHAM Jenny Packham, who has been honored in Los Angeles as Hollywood Style Designer of the year, presented a collection fit for the stars. Her collection was reminiscent of 70s disco glamour, with an array of beaded and bejeweled dresses in rainbow colors. It was all about attention to detail-every piece was embellished, pleated or draped with precision. Evening wear was made up of glamorous pencil skirts, floor length evening gowns, and delicate silk party dresses. —AP

Models wear creations during the Burberry Womenswear fashion show for the Autumn/Winter 2010 collection on the fifth day of London Fashion Week, in central London, on February 23, 2010. —AFP

lars-some even had belts on the collars-and a breathtaking white furry overcoat that took its styling cues from the Afghan coats popular five decades ago. A few of the olive green jackets seemed like imaginative reinventions of the World War II jacket worn by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“I thought it was fantastic,” said Alexandra Shulman, editor of British Vogue. “I thought the combination of the big, oversized jackets with the kind of sexy little rouched velvet and chiffon was a lovely mixture, kind of Burberry outerwear with sex appeal that you’d want to lighten up.” Many of the skir ts were mid-length, designed to cover the tops of the sky-high boots. The color palette shifted from green to blue midway through the show as Bailey showed an elegant collection of blue overcoats, some with big gold buttons.

Next came seductive evening dresses, still topped with militarystyle jackets. A few purely feminine outfits consisted of lacy blouses in

Anna Wintour, Editor of US Vogue, arrives at the Burberry Womenswear show during the fifth day of London Fashion Week, in London, on February 23, 2010. —AFP Prada and Versace’s womenswear for next winter. But the big names have squeezed their presentations into four days out of the Feb 24 March 1 run after powerful fash-

ion editor, Vogue’s Anna Wintour, reportedly shortened her attendance.

Several designers and businessmen were quick to voice concern that a short show week would reduce the strength of the country’s fashion industry. Paris fashion week runs over nine days.

“No one, not even if she is called Anna Wintour, can allow themselves to make or unmake our fashion calendar,” Milan Mayor Letizia Moratti was quoted as saying in Italian newspapers. “For this reason we must all work united.” Italian daily Corriere della Sera headlined a story about the calendar woes by saying Wintour held the Italian fashion sector “in her fist”.

Wintour, who has an icy reputation, was believed to have inspired the cutthroat editor played by Meryl Streep in the film “The Devil Wears Prada”. Media reports have said she would only be staying three days in Milan because she will then travel to Paris fashion week and then fly to Los Angeles for the Oscars. “I am very much looking forward to going to Italy as always,” she told trade publication Women’s Wear Daily.

Online fashion It is not the first time Milan fashion week has been tainted by calendar wrangles. In September, a last-minute shuffling of slots because of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur threw organizers into a fluster. “Our designers are the best in the world but unfortunately they often show they are not conscious of their power and instead give in to the pressure of the foreign press,” said Mario Boselli, chairman of Italy’s National Chamber of Fashion.

Boselli has promised a new calendar in September, with at least five days of shows. Smaller names and young designers kicked off Milan fashion week, which overall will have more than 80 catwalk shows as well as presentations.

Today, Prada and D&G will start off the intensive run of the bigger names through Sunday.

Continuing the growing trend for online fashion, several shows will be broadcast live on the Internet.

Designers are embracing a growing crowd of Internet-savvy fashion followers taking the glamour of the catwalk beyond the coveted front row. Designer duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have gone one further and will broadcast their D&G and Dolce & Gabbana shows live on i-Phone and Android smartphones.

According to the fashion chamber, the industry’s turnover fell 15 percent to 56.5 billion euros ($76.76 billion) last year. It has forecast a 6.5 percent growth this year.—Reuters

www.kuwaittimes.net

Van Gogh experts authenticate unusual painting

In this file film publicity still released by DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc, Ginormica, voiced by Reese Witherspoon, is shown in a scene with the Missing Link, voiced by Will Arnett, in DreamWorks Animation’s ‘Monsters vs.

Aliens.’—AP

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newly authenticated Van Gogh has gone on display 35 years after a discredited art collector bought it in Paris, convinced it was painted by the famed Dutch master but never able to prove it. Louis van Tilborgh, curator of research at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, said “Le Blute-Fin Mill” was painted in 1886. He said its large human figures are unusual for a Van Gogh landscape but it has his typically bright colors.

It was bought in 1974 by Dirk Hannema, who was known as a brilliant museum curator but a fool when buying for his own collection. When he died in 1984 he claimed to have seven Vermeers, several Van Goghs and a few Rembrandts. He was right only about this one. It went on show yesterday in the Museum de Fundatie in the town of Zwolle.—AP

‘Monsters vs Aliens’ helps DreamWorks beat Street

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ream Works Animation SKG Inc posted a better-than-expected profit, thanks to a strong performance from its television shows and DVD sales for “Monsters vs Aliens.”

But its shares, which have risen nearly 50 percent since June, lost some

ground as investors cashed in recent gains.

“The stock maybe had gotten ahead of itself, like many stocks have over the past year. I don’t see any red flags or any minefields in the report,” said Rick Munarriz, senior analyst at

investing website Motley Fool.

DreamWorks posted a fourth-quarter net income of $43.6 million, or 50 cents per share, compared with $51.6 million, or 58 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.

The company’s results topped ana-

lysts’ consensus estimates for earnings of 37 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates I/B/E/S. Revenue slipped 2.8 percent to $194.2 million from $199.8 million.

DreamWorks said its 2010 results are expected to be driven primarily by

the performance of 3-D movie releases “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Shrek Forever After.”

Shares of DreamWorks fell 1.6 percent in after-hours trading to $40.76, off a regular-session close of $41.42.—Reuters

Opulent antiques: Aphrodite, Tiffany lamp and more

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t is the Holy Grail of Tiffany lamps, a sublime stainedglass shade of lilies in soft hues of pink and green, cascading down in an oblong bell to a bronze base molded to resemble the delicate pads in the water. There is only one left in the world for sale-seven variations are in museums or private collections-and it can be yours from the Macklowe Gallery in New York for $3.5 million.

The lamp was among the most opulent of antiques and antiquities on display at this year’s Winter Antiques show, regarded as the premiere antiques event in America.

Seventy-five dealers were at the annual bazaar, where New York socialites were the main clientele and museum curators perused works as large as 7 tons and as teeny as a US 10 cent piece.

And priced accordingly. Of course, most of these items will be bought by museums or other public institutions with galleries. For people with the money, however, anything is possible. Benjamin Macklowe, of the Macklowe Gallery, said the gallery had waited for the show to reveal the lamp, which would have cost $400 in 1906, or about a year’s salary for a wellemployed person of the time.

“My father has been chasing this lamp for 25 years,” he said.

“He would hear whispers of its existence and just fly off to someplace searching for it. It was a dream come true when he found it.”

And speaking of lilies, Adam Patrick of the New York gallery A La Vielle Russie Inc. showed off a diamond-encrusted lily pin so bright it hurt to stare.

It was the size of an actual flower you would fasten to a groom’s lapel and was made from at least 500 tiny, near-perfect gems. The cost? $110,000.

The brooch was English, dating

This photo released by Lost City Arts shows an Art Deco eagle that was modeled for those on the Empire State building. The glazed plaster eagle was designed by Shreve Lamb & Harmon Architects.

(Left)Tiffany Pond Lily lamp.—AP photos from around 1840, in the days before platinum when silver and gold were used to create jewelry.

“Such a delicate setting, and it’s so big; it must’ve been so involved to make,” Patrick said.

Dealers wait decades for booths at the show, which benefits the East Side Settlement. They view it as a prime chance to show off their best and most fabulous pieces.

James Elkind of Lost City

Whitney Museum

Arts brought his best find for his maiden trip to the show: an Art Deco eagle that was the model for those on the Empire State Building. Created in glazed plaster, it is in remarkable condition and was designed

by Shreve L am & Harmon Architects. It sold for $60,000.

“I mean, that is what I got into the business for,” he said.

“To rescue art, and to come with this to the show ... well, it was amazing.” But for size, a 7-

ton, 9-foot(2.75-meter)-high, solid marble urn designed by Paul Manship, the sculptor who created Rockefeller Center’s “Prometheus,” was hard to beat.

The urn was a private commission by a wealthy industrialist who installed it in his estate in a Cleveland suburb. It was made by Manship’s crew in the Bronx, and looks like it should be from ancient Greece, except the images on the urn are those

of American Indians chasing bison. And it rotates on its pedestal.

“Made in the South Bronx, you couldn’t have more American if you tried,” said Alice Duncan, director of Manhattan’s Gerald Peters Gallery, offering the urn for $6 million.

A statue of Aphrodite, though, really was ancient: from the first century, in fact. The statue, being sold by Rupert

Wace Ancient Art Limited of London, depicts the goddess of love standing on her right leg, left bent at the knee, with her drapery falling in elegant folds around her hips. Her arms and head are missing. The asking price is $650,000.

“We’ve seen fragments before, but nothing this complete,” said Wace, who travels the world looking for ancient works of art. “You won’t find another one like it on the market.” Some among the first photographs ever made are also on sale.

When Jacques Daguerre was creating his daguerreotypes in France, William Henry Fox Talbot was doing the same in England.

And Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographers has several Talbots, including one of the first negatives, known as the “Roofline of Lacock Abbey,” from 1839. It is $400,000 for the image, which measures 9.3-by11.6 centimeters (about 4-by-5 inches).

Talbot worked with paper, while Daguerre worked on a metal plate. The result is a similarly eerie-looking image of intense clarity.

The Lacock Abbey negative has a creepy sort of horror-film look to it, like something from “The Exorcist.” “These are in the finest condition for sale,” Kraus said. “And it’s the largest assemblage I’ve ever displayed.”

The Tiffany lamp and many of the other opulent pieces are on display in shows around the country. Macklowe said he will be a bit sad when the lamp sells, and he hopes it goes to a museum where anyone can see it.

“Could you imagine having this in your home?,” he asked.

“I’d just stare at it all day. I’d never get anything done.”—AP

Whitney art show gets creepy, optimistic N

ew York’s Whitney Museum unveiled a smaller, more intimate biennial show on Tuesday partly in response to the impact of the economic downturn in the United States. The museum, which focuses on American art, has helped discover some of the 20th Century’s great artists through its shows, which have become one of the art world’s gauges for current trends and future stars.

Curators Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari avoided a specific theme and deliberately reduced the number of artists to 55 to allow closer audience interaction with the art.

The last biennial, in 2008, came at the peak of “a very distinct bubble in the art market,” said Michael Plummer of Artvest Partners, an art investment advisory firm. “Now that it has burst,

you’re looking at a biennial in a much more sober market,” Plummer said.

The 2010 biennial can be at turns “creepy” and “optimistic,” Bonami said. “Creepy because there is this apparent calm, like the first chapter of a Stephen King novel in which everything looks normal, but you know it’s not.”

Two photographs entitled “Landscape with Houses” by James Casebere portray a mock-up of a dreamlike suburbia of tract houses-a world almost too perfect and one typical of those hit hardest by the foreclosure epidemic. “This is particular to America. Behind closed doors you can do anything you want, and if you trespass you could get shot,” Bonami said.

Other artworks were clearly political, and crafted in reaction to “the collec-

tive frenzy” around the election of Barack Obama as US president, Bonami said.

The pared-down tone of the show also yielded glimpses of optimism. One artist will invite musicians and shoeshiners from Chicago to interact with the audience.

Another, through a series of photographs, showed the gradual return of normalcy for disfigured Iraq war veteran Ty Ziegel before his marriage.

“We didn’t go in with a theme,” said Carrion-Murayari. “We were hoping to be as responsive as possible to what artists were producing over the past two years. There is a more modest approach to materials because of the economic situation.

Artists aren’t able to act on a spectacular scale.”—Reuters

This image released by Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle, Netherlands, yesterday, shows a painting entitled ‘Le Blute-Fin Mill’,

by Vincent van Gogh.—AP

ʻShot booksʼ mark 21st birthdays

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rom a baby’s first steps to US high school graduation, scrapbooks provide friends and loved ones a way to preserve cherished memories. In some college towns in the Midwest, scrapbooks are also used to chronicle a far more ominous rite of passage: bar-hopping drinking binges, one alcohol shot at a time. They’re called “shot books” and often are used to commemorate 21st birthdays, with one shot for every year represented. “It’s a real tradition here,” said Ken Sher, a Missouri psychological sciences professor who studies alcohol abuse among college students. Shot books are made by and for women almost exclusively, especially in sororities, according to Sher and other experts. The keepsakes come bedecked with photos, drink names, bar locales and progressively sloppier signatures-visual reminders of a night of excess few could recall on their own.

Those who study the phenomenon say it’s primarily a Midwestern ritual, though it has popped up elsewhere. There are online “how-to” guides offering step-by-step instructions, and YouTube videos chronicling such events. Giselle Paris, 22, a sorority member at Missouri State University in Springfield, called 21st birthday scrapbooks an ingrained part of Greek life on campus at her southwest Missouri school.

“I see it almost every weekend here,” she said. Paris, a senior from Kansas City, described an all-day event on her birthday that began with a “wake-up shot” at 9 a.m. and included regular meals, snacks and even a pre-dinner nap before the binge concluded 15 hours later. “I’m sure it sounds dangerous,” she said. “It’s evidence that we condone binge drinking.” In Columbia at the University of Missouri, junior Courtney Schmiemeier of St. Louis said her shot book is more about cherished memories than drunken misbehavior. The English major even invited her mother along for the party-and Mom accepted.

“I’m going to be proud of it forever,” she said. It’s not so much the drinking. I have pages showing all of my good friends.” Alcohol counselors say the shot books not only encourage risky behavior but also expose bar owners and employees-who are sometimes included in the photos-to legal consequences should the birthday drinker get sick from alcohol poisoning or even die. “They’re putting themselves in such a vulnerable position, liability-wise,” said Kim Dude, assistant director of the Wellness Resource Center at Missouri. “If this person ends up dying of alcohol poisoning, that picture is being taken at your bar. ...

Now you have written proof of your role in the ceremony.”

According to the National Institutes of Health, alcohol-related deaths among US college students rose from 1,440 deaths in 1998 to 1,825 in 2005 — a 27 percent increase. The numbers include trafficrelated deaths. For 21st birthday party drinkers, successfully finishing 21 shots is less important than making the effort, said Clayton Neighbors, a University of Houston psychology professor. His research shows that fewer than 10 percent of those who attempt to reach that threshold actually do. “Most of them don’t make it,” he said. “If you get 21 shots down without throwing up, you’re going to be in the hospital, or dead.” Video diaries of 21 shots are as accessible as the nearest YouTube link, Neighbors pointed out. Creating permanent reminders of the birthday ritual can only heighten the risk, he said. —AP

University of Missouri junior Courtney Schmiemeier with her 21st birthday shot book in the lounge of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority Tuesday, in Columbia, Mo.—AP