27 Mar 2010

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

24 PAGES

SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 2010

RABI ALTHANI 11, 1431 AH

Dubai debt insurance costs rise amid doubts on funding

Britain’s Times, Sunday Times to charge for online content

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NO: 14680

Can Hong Kong teach China to quit smoking?

150 FILS

Ronaldo, Higuain fire Real back to the top

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Allawi wins Iraq election Maliki rejects results • Bombings kill 42 before announcement

SIRTE, Libya: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi welcomes HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Sabah as he arrives for a two-day Arab summit yesterday. — KUNA (See Page 2)

Arab leaders set for ‘Jerusalem’ summit SIRTE, Libya: HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Sabah and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Libya yesterday for an Arab summit expected to be dominated by Israel’s controversial building of settlement homes in annexed east Jerusalem.

Abbas was the first Arab leader to fly into the Mediterranean city of Sirte, hometown of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who will be hosting his first Arab summit today and tomorrow.

Gaddafi was not present to greet Abbas, who was received by Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi AlMahmoudi. Shortly af terwards, however, the flamboyant Libyan leader, who is known for his unpredictability and for ruffling the feathers of fellow Arab heads of states, was on the tarmac to receive Jordan’s King Abdullah II. Abbas landed in Libya as two

Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion on the GazaIsrael border and as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to pursue his settlement policy and convened his security cabinet.

The Palestinian leader was to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon later yesterday and also to discuss the latest crisis with Israel with a special ministerial committee. The committee was set up after a Saudi-inspired peace offer to normalise Arab ties with Israel if the Jewish state withdrew from all Arab lands conquered since 1967 was adopted at an Arab summit in Beirut in 2002. The UN chief is expected to brief the committee on a call by the Middle East Quartet European Union, Russia, United States and United Nations - urging Israel to freeze settlement construction in east Jerusalem.

Continued on Page 19

BAGHDAD: Secularist challenger Iyad Allawi’s coalition won the most seats in Iraq’s election, according to official results yesterday, but the tight race foreshadowed long, divisive talks to form a new government. The cross-sectarian Iraqiya bloc headed by former prime minister Allawi took 91 seats with the State of Law coalition led by Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki close behind with 89 seats, a result that highlighted Iraq’s sectarian gulf following a vote Iraqis hoped would stabilise their country after years of war.

“We will work with all sides, whether they won or did not win in the election, to form the next government,” Allawi said in a television interview immediately after the results were announced.

Fireworks were set off and celebratory gunfire was heard in central Baghdad as car drivers honked their horns at traffic intersections after the figures were published. Maliki, however, refused to accept the results, telling a press conference in Baghdad following the release of the figures that they remained “preliminary”. “The election results are not final,” said the prime minister, who has called for a nationwide manual recount of votes, alleging Continued on Page 19

BAGHDAD: Supporters of Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki protest to demand a recount of the votes ahead of the final announcement of results for the country’s general election. — AFP

EU bails out Greece with ‘band-aid’ deal BRUSSELS: Euro zone leaders won muted approval from financial markets yesterday for a “band aid” agreement to create a safety net for debt-ridden Greece, but a row over the IMF’s role flared up just as it had seemed settled.

Central bankers played down the likelihood that Athens, which is struggling to cut a giant budget deficit, would ever need hard cash from European governments and the International Monetary Fund to avoid defaulting on its debt.

But the day after the leaders hammered out their deal in Brussels, the plan remained short on details and the IMF made no direct comment

on its role, which Berlin had demanded due to public hostility in Germany to bailing out Athens. Portugal’s Vitor Constancio, a European Central Bank policymaker and widely expected to be confirmed as its new vice-president, said he remained against the Fund’s involvement.

“The imminent risk of default has been lowered as a result of the support plan,” said Charles Diebel, strategist at Nomura. But he added that the aid was not a quick fix for Greece’s fiscal problems, it has “only put a band-aid on it”.

Greece, which must borrow some Ä16 billion between April 20 and May 23 alone to refinance

maturing debt, declared markets were ditching fears that Athens would fail to honour its debt repayments, and the euro rose against the dollar.

“The market is quickly pricing out any probability of default risk,” Petros Christodoulou, the head of Greece’s debt agency, told Reuters.

Under Thursday’s accord, Athens would get coordinated bilateral loans from other countries that use the euro and the IMF only if it faced severe difficulties.

In Washington, the IMF made no detailed comment on the plan. “We are following developments closely,” it said in a brief statement.

US, Russia ink ‘reset’ pact to cut nuke arms

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama accompanied by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton briefs reporters at the White House after af ter he phoned Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss the new START treaty. — AP

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev yesterday finalized a historic new deal to cut long-range nuclear arms, slashing the number of deployed warheads by a third.

In simultaneous announcements in Washington and Moscow, Obama and Medvedev said the deal they sealed in a 10:00 am (1400 GMT) phone call raised cooperation between the two former Cold War foes to a new level. “We have reached agreement on one of my administration’s top national security priorities, a pivotal new arms control agreement,” Obama said at a press conference with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The new pact, due to be signed April 8 in Prague by Obama and Medvedev, replaces the landmark 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expired in December. The US leader told reporters the deal would help advance his longterm goal of a nuclear-free Continued on Page 19

“As we have said earlier, the Fund always stands ready to consider a request from a member country for our financial assistance.” Greece’s central bank chief said Athens was unlikely to make use of the aid facility as budget cuts which the government has taken would soon yield results. “The solution that was chosen seems to be a workable one which I think will not be used

by Greece, because measures that have been announced will start to bear fruit soon,” Bank of Greece Governor George Provopoulos told reporters.

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Defiant Israel to keep building in Jerusalem

KHAN YOUNIS: Palestinians flee during clashes with Israeli military forces in the east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip yesterday. — AP

Four dead in worst Gaza clash in a year GAZA: Two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinian gunmen were killed yesterday in the most deadly clash on the Gaza Strip border since Israel ended its offensive there 14 months ago. The Israeli army said an officer and a conscript were killed in an ambush by Palestinian gunmen against an Israeli military patrol. Two soldiers were wounded and two Palestinian fighters also died in the clash. At least five Palestinians, one a 10-year-old boy, were reported to be wounded, Gaza hospital officials said.

“I think it’s true to say that this is

one of the fiercest days we have had since operation Cast Lead happened,” Israeli army spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said. It was a “tragic and a painful” incident in a zone where there is “an everyday war”, with Palestinian gunmen planting explosives near the fence and frequent cross-border fire at ranges of a couple of hundred metres.

Israeli forces “have to operate from both sides of the fence in order to have a maximum defensive system” the spokeswoman added. The clash did not appear to be directly linked to Continued on Page 19

JERUSALEM: Israel insisted yesterday it would not change its policy of building homes in East Jerusalem, keeping the Jewish state at odds with Washington on how to renew stalled peace talks with Palestinians. The statement on Jerusalem came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened senior cabinet ministers to consider confidence building steps for reviving negotiations, as proposed by US officials while Netanyahu was in Washington this week.

“Israeli construction policy in Jerusalem has remained the same for 42 years and isn’t changing,” a written statement from Netanyahu’s spokesman, Nir Hefez, said, suggesting Israeli cabinet ministers would not budge on that particular policy. The Obama administration has been pressing Israel to halt settlement construction in East Jerusalem, an issue that created new friction this month when a plan to build 1,600 more housing units was published while Vice President Joe Biden was visiting.

Sparring over settlements risks jeopardising Israel’s vital ties with the United States, its biggest ally.

Continued on Page 19

DAMASCUS: A young Syrian protester holds the Holy Quran and wears a fake dynamite belt as she acts as a suicide bomber as tens of thousands of Syrians and Palestinians gathered in a “march of anger” against Israeli practices in east Jerusalem. — AP

NATIONAL

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Saturday, March 27, 2010

Amir departs for 22nd Arab Summit in Sirte

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir greeted by senior State officials upon his departure to Libya yesterday to participate in the 22nd Arab Summit which will begin today. — Photos by KUNA

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah yesterday departed to Libya heading a delegation to participate in the 22nd Arab Summit that kicks off in the Libyan city of Sirte from March 27-28.

His Highness the Amir was seen off by His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi, Deputy Chief of the National Guard Sheikh Meshal AlAhmad Al-Sabah, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Sabah, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Deputy Minister of the Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah, as well as senior

Arab leaders to address vital issues officials. The delegation accompanying His Highness the Amir include Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of State for Development Affairs and Minister of State for Housing Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shamali, head of His Highness the Amir’s office Ahmad Fahad Al-Fahad, Amiri Diwan Advisor Mohammad Abdullah Abu Al-Hassan, Director of Amiri Protocol Sheikh Khalid AlAbdullah Al-Sabah, as well as Undersecretary of the Foreign

Ministry Khaled Sulaiman AlJarallah and officials from the Amiri Diwan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Finance.

Though the 22 Arab summit will focus on political issues, some vital economic matters will also feature on its agenda. It will address the Israeli settlement project and inter-Arab conflicts, but will also discuss the engagement of Arab economies in a joint Arab market by 2020.

The Arab Economic Summit that was held in Kuwait in January 2009 is a major start for Arab joint action in the economic field.

On the sidelines of the meetings of the economic and social preparatory council of the summit, Finance Minister Mustafa AlShamali told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that in implementing the initiative of His Highness the Amir it was agreed that a fund would be established to finance small and medium projects.

The fund will have a capital of one billion US dollars and will be run by Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, he added.

For his part, Director of the Economic Department at the Foreign Ministry Sheikh Ali Al-

Khalid Al-Sabah, who also took part in the meetings, said the council discussions included following up the implementation of the Arab Economic Summit’s recommendations especially regarding the fund, the world economic crisis, railways, the role of the Arab private sector in supporting joint Arab action, the Arab emergency food security program, the Arab customs union, and Arab water security.

He pointed out that the council also discussed the health situation in Gaza Strip, programs to combat unemployment and poverty, and

Microsoft says anti-software piracy campaign important

KUWAIT: PIC’s medical workers during the ‘Get Fit’ campaign. —KUNA

PIC concludes ‘Get Fit’ campaign KUWAIT: The Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) is keen on providing all elements of success for its employees, and always seeks to develop its human resources, say officials.

Speaking at the conclusion of the ‘Get Fit’ campaign

Thursday night at Boubyan Club, a number of PIC officials said that the company was organizing many health care-related activities for their employee, as part of its social responsibility for their safety. —KUNA

KUWAIT: Microsoft-Gulf in Kuwait has stressed its ongoing efforts to curb the spread of pirated software, to protect customers and ensure a level playing field for the region’s legitimate resellers.

Stressing on the importance of anti-piracy, Jawad AlRedha, IPR Manager, Microsof t Gulf said, “Sof tware piracy hinders economic growth and innovation.

For this reason, Microsoft is determined to protect its customer, reseller and partner ecosystem from the threat and losses associated

with piracy, and to prevent counterfeiters from taking advantage of consumers and gaining an unfair advantage over our partners.

“As part of our regional efforts, we will work closely with government authorities, industry partners and educational bodies, to increase awareness about the value of intellectual property as a driver of economic growth and take action against counterfeiters,” Al-Redha added.

Sheikha Rasha Naif AlJaber Al-Sabah, Director of IPR from the Kuwait Ministry of Commerce and

Industry said, “In addition to the impact on economies and innovation, software piracy poses very real risks to businesses and consumers. The Ministry of Commerce and Industr y is continuously organizing awareness campaigns aimed at educating the public about Intellectual Property Rights laws and the negative impact of using pirated software.

She added, “We therefore remain committed to working with organizations such as Microsoft to combat this growing issue in Kuwait.”

—KUNA

the development of education and health care in the Arab world. In addition, the council discussed financial support needed to combat the Israeli settlement plans in Jerusalem, he added.

Following the first session of the closed ministerial meetings Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyadh Al-Maliki said in press statements that $500 million were requested.

He added that the amount of money was not much compared with what Israel and Jews around the world were paying to support settlement projects in East

Jerusalem.

Palestine and Syria had proposed a joint project to rescue Jerusalem which calls for providing $500 million to the fund responsible of supporting the Jerusalem which is run by the Islamic Development Bank.

The Arab League Secretariat proposed the establishment of a body to be responsible of managing that support.

Arab finance and economy ministers agreed during their meetings on conducting studies on agriculture and using Arabic as an official language at the World Trade Organization, but some countries rejected this on grounds of the costs of implementing this, which was up to USD 15 million per year. —KUNA

April 4 set for Labor Ministry’s full automation KUWAIT: A Social Affairs and L abor Ministry official views that the newly introduced e-government is set to face problems at its beginnings, but will lead afterwards to a huge leap forward in eliminating red-tape from various government procedures and paper work.

On the upcoming first day of operation for the electronically-run government system, ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Labor Affairs Mansour Al-Mansour said that any given system would face a few problems at the beginning, but as time goes by, benefits will be reaped.

He noted to a number of institutions that assisted in the project, including the Civil Service Commission, and a number of local

banks.

The e-government goes into operation as of April 4, and has been delayed since 2007, but the official noted that all malfunctions have been solved and that the project will go into effective operation on the mentioned day, which will not be a trial period.

“The project will offer ease of the exchange of information between the Ministry of Social Affairs with other ministries and government institutions,” said General Coordinator of the project Abdulhakim Shaban.

The move will considerably lower the dependency on paper for procedures, and will also connect the government electronically with local banks, he added. —KUNA

kuwait digest

Israel: The global village thug

By Ruth Riegler srael has once again shown the US, along with the rest of the ‘Middle East quartet,’ (the only quartet named after a region that plays no part in it, not coincidentally) exactly how highly it regards world opinion. They have blithely disregarded US President Obama’s and the quartet’s recent warnings and approved one more Jewish housing project in East Jerusalem hours before Israeli Premier Netanyahu was due to meet with the US leader.

I think it’s fairly safe to say that this move should come as no surprise to anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock in deep Outer Mongolia for the past 62 years or so. One absolute and consistent feature of Israel’s entire history has been their icy, contemptuous and complete disregard for Palestinians, UN resolutions, world opinion, and well, anyone but Israel and Israelis.

If the world is a village, Israel is the thuggish spoilt brat whose ineffectual and wildly overindulgent parents have for decades allowed it to terrorize the neighborhood and, very literally indeed, get away with murder. Even when village elders at the UN get together to adminis-

I

ter warning after warning, the fact that the thug’s parents control the village council and the police means that he knows very well that nothing will be done. Any admonition, any warning, any ‘strongly worded statement’ will be just more empty hot air. The thug, when given the latest reprimand, may manage an apologetic expression, of course, maybe even a mumbled, half-hearted and 100 percent insincere semi-apology. But, evidently, it was - always - ‘all the bad boys’ fault and our global juvenile delinquent cannot and, more importantly, will not be held responsible.

While Israel’s zealously protective, impotent and selectively blind parents continue to insist that this is just one more ‘disagreement’ and that a two-state solution is the only way forward, the rest of the world’s villagers are growing ever more resentful. The village is tired of seeing the global thug call the shots and continue to convince its adoration-blind parents (but nobody else) that it really does want peaceful coexistence, even while its actions keep proving the exact opposite.

Ironically, Israel’s recent actions will only strengthen rather than weaken support for the one thing that the Israeli leadership will never countenance, the binational or one-state solution. Support

among Palestinians for the idea has grown steadily - although it remains in the minority. The sentiment has increased from 25 to 29 percent among those polled in the most recent joint public opinion survey conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research and the Harry S Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Support for the two-state solution among Palestinians, meanwhile, continues to fall, declining from 64% in Dec 2009 to 57% in the very same poll. One expert, Dr Nabil Kukali, Director of the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, asserted that Palestinian public opinion is moving increasingly towards a bi-national state.

“On the whole, Palestinians support the peace process, but there are some changes in attitudes towards the twostate solution,” he said in a press interview published earlier this week. “The Palestinians feel hopeless and they don’t think the Israelis will give the Palestinians one meter of their land.”

Given Israel’s behavior this week and for the past 62 years, that idea seems not only understandable but the only rational conclusion to be drawn.

Talk of the two-state solution has continued for 43 years and counting, with

nothing to show for it but more Israeli settlements, more expulsions, more landgrabs, more brutality and less and less hope of any real or credible Palestinian state.

As in apartheid South Africa, there are those on both sides who believe, along with their supporters that this intolerable, grotesque situation must continue indefinitely until one side ‘wins.’ As in apartheid South Africa, it’s arguable that this dogmatic rigidity only perpetuates the grotesque cycle of injustice, allowing the powerful occupier to remain intransigent, blind and deaf to humanity or compassion while the disempowered and occupied suffer endless wrongs generation after generation, with all resistance doomed to fail against a vast militarily superior opponent.

Some may believe that one state can never exist, that the current terrible situation is doomed to continue infinitely, but I’d remind them of Mahatma Gandhi’s wise words: “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it...always.”

Email: ruth@kuwaittimes.net

KUWAIT: BSK students and an official present the donation to KRCS Chairman. —KUNA

BSK donates $10,000 to Haiti KUWAIT: Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) has received from the British School of Kuwait (BSK) a 10,000 US dollars donation for the victims of the quake that hit Haiti in January.

Speaking to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), BSK Director General Hanan Al-Mutawa said that the donations were raised by the school’s students, aiming to reduce the suffering of the quake’s victims.

She expressed gratitude to the students for

the donation, calling all bodies in Kuwait to support the victims in Haiti.

Kuwait has always supported those in need in other countries as it believed in the unity of the world and the importance of the cooperation of countries, she stressed.

She pointed out that the donation is the second to be provided by BSK for Haiti quake’s victims.

The strong quake killed about 300,000 people and caused great damage in Haiti. —KUNA

NATIONAL

Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Labor Law Section Two Collective Work Contract Article (111) The collective work contract organizes conditions and circumstances of work between one or more syndicates or unions on the one hand and one or more employers or the representatives thereof, on the other hand.

Article (112) The collective work contract shall be made in writing and signed by the worker. It shall also be submitted to the General Assembly of both Labors and Employers organizations. The contract shall be approved by the members of these general assemblies in accordance with the articles of association of each organization.

Article (113) The collective work contract shall be made for a definite period not exceeding three years. However, in the event where both parties continue the implementation of the contract after its expiry, it shall be considered renewed for one additional year with the same conditions stipulated therein, unless otherwise stipulated in the conditions of the contract.

Article (114) In the event where any party of the collective work contract expresses its wish not to renew after the expiry of the contract period, it shall inform the other party and the competent Ministry in writing at least three months prior to the expiry of the contract. In the event where the contract was signed by multiple parties, the termination of the contract in respect of a party shall not be deemed to constitute termination in respect of the other parties.

Article (115) 1- Any condition contained in the individual or collective work contracts and that violates the provisions of this Law shall be considered null even if the contract was signed prior to the entry into force of this Law, unless such condition is more beneficial to the worker.

2- Any condition or agreement signed prior or subsequent to the entry into force of this Law whereby the worker waives any of the rights stipulated in this Law shall be invalid. Any reconciliation or settlement that involves a reduction or discharge of the worker’s rights arising from the work contract made during its term or three months thereafter shall be invalid if it conflicts with the provisions of this Law. Article (116) The collective work contract shall enter in effect upon its registration with the concerned ministry and its publication in the Official Gazette.

The concerned ministry shall have the right to object to the conditions that it deems to violate this Law. Both parties shall amend the contract within 15 days after the receipt of the objection otherwise the application for registration shall be considered null and void.

Article (117) The collective work con-

tract may be concluded at the establishment level, the industry level or the national level. In the event where the collective work contract is signed at the industry level, the Union of Industrial Syndicates shall sign on behalf of the workers. If signed at the national level, the general union of workers shall sign it on behalf of the workers. The contract signed at industry level shall constitute an amendment to the contract signed at the establishment level. The contract signed at the national level shall constitute an amendment to both other contracts within the limits of common provisions therein set forth.

Article (118) The provisions of the collective work contract shall apply to the following: a- Workers syndicates and unions that signed the contract and joined it after the signing thereof; b- Employers or employers unions that signed the contract and joined it after the signing thereof; c- Syndicates of the union that signed the contract and joined it after the signing thereof; d- Employers who joined the union that signed the contract and joined it after the signing thereof.

Article (119) The worker’s withdrawal or dismissal from the syndicate shall not affect their being bound by the provisions of the collective work contract, in the event where such resignation or termination occurred after the union signed or joined the contract.

Article (120) Non-contracting workers syndicates, unions or the employers’ unions may join the collective work contract after the publishing of an outline of the said contract in Official Gazette, pursuant to the agreement of both parties to join the contract, without the need for the approval of the original contracting parties. Joining the collective work contract requires the submittal of an application to the competent ministry signed by both parties. The ministry’s approval of the application shall be published in the Official Gazette.

Article (121) The collective work contract signed by the syndicate of the establishment shall apply to all workers of such establishment, regardless of their membership in the syndicate, without prejudice to the provision of Article (115) of this Law with regard to the conditions that are the most beneficial to the worker.

However, the contract signed between the union, the syndicate and a specific employer shall only apply to the workers of that specific employer.

Article (122) Workers and employers organizations that are party to the collective work contract shall have the right to file all cases resulting from the violation of the contract provisions for the benefit of any member, without need for a power of attorney from that member to do so.

TO BE CONTINUED

False report alarms KU KUWAIT: Police responded to Kuwait University in Kaifan after receiving an emergency call informing them that a dead fetus was found in the ladies’ room, reported Al-Watan. The incident caused an uproar in the university as speculation of a potential abortion circulated. However, police discovered that what was actually found in the bathroom was nothing more than bloodstained toilet paper. A case was opened and the janitor who first reported the incident was taken in for questioning.

Employee rapes woman A 20-year-old Lebanese woman was kidnapped by an employee of the Ministry of the Interior, taken to an apartment in Salmiya and raped by the kidnapper and his friend, reported Al-Watan. After receiving an emergency call from the woman’s friend, police responded to the location and saved the girl after hearing her screams from the apartment. Authorities were also able to arrest her kidnap-

per. Investigations revealed that the kidnapper was also the victim’s boyfriend.

Airport loot Kuwait International Airport security was informed that a passenger lost KD 3,000 upon arriving at the airport, reported Al-Rai. While reviewing surveillance footage, they discovered that two Asian workers reached inside the man’s luggage and stole his money. The two men were arrested and sent to the Jeleeb Al-Shuyoukh police station.

Child killed A 4-year-old Iranian child was killed in an accident on Fifth Ring Road when he fell out of the car’s window and onto the street, reported AlWatan. The child was then struck by a car, which left the scene following the incident.

Paramedics responded to the emergency and pronounced the child dead upon their arrival.

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GCC ex-Sec Gen warns Iran Region currently struggling between extremist and moderate ideologies KUWAIT: The former Secretary General for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) admitted that the region is currently struggling between extremist and moderate ideologies. He described the extremist end of the struggle as being led by Iran, while the moderates were led by Egypt, the GCC, Jordan, Yemen and the Palestinian Authority, reported AlWatan.

Ambassador Abdullah Bushara, who currently heads the Strategic Studies Center, further accused Iran of main-

taining the struggle in order to keep the moderates from achieving success. He indicated that the Iranian regime can hurt GCC countries and the United States in areas like Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He said that Iran uses Afghanistan “to provoke the US, knowing that they can’t hit them.” He added that Iran cannot initiate a military strike against Israel or shutdown the Strait of Hormuz without starting a conflict with rest of the world.

Bushara described the current

Iranian regime as a theocratic republic that will never regain their prominent position in world politics should their countries leadership fail.

That is why the government is trying to create a nuclear weapons program and continues supporting foreign conflicts; to ensure their status as a regional power.

He also addressed the situation in GCC countries. Bushara said that Kuwait achieved their liberation with the efforts of other GCC countries. He added that GCC countries will still face

obstacles defining sovereignty while further developing the Gulf union.

The former secretary general also spoke on Yemen. He stressed the importance of maintaining security in the Arabian Peninsula nation. “Yemen is the backyard of GCC countries and security always needs to be maintained,” he added.

He also warned against the influence of foreign interests in the country.

He pointed out that the Yemini President made a connection between the Houthi rebels and Iran. Bushara

recommended support for the containment of the Houthi rebels because their activities may be too much for the Yemeni authorities to handle on their own.

On the incident of the assassination of senior Hamas member Mahmoud AlMabhouh in Dubai, he said that the uncovering of the incident brought credibility to the security forces of the Gulf Emirate. He indicated that Israel’s Mossad is very active and that they monitored his movements while he was an ambassador to the United Nations.

Fake 6 million cheque found KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti woman, previously held on suspected connections to the money laundering case a former Bahraini minister is accused, is still being investigated. Despite being acquitted of the money laundering charges, investigations have revealed that a 6 million euro cheque she expected to cash for her and her brother’s company was found to be forged. She currently faces charges of attempting to use a forged cheque and, if found guilty, could face a sentence of up to three and a half years in prison.

Meanwhile, a team from the Public Prosecution is expected to head to the Kingdom of Bahrain next week in order to verify the testimony of the former Bahraini minister Mansour bin Rajab. The minster, who was expelled from his position following his connection to the money laundering case, will have his statements compared with those of the female citizen’s. Furthermore, it was revealed that Rajab was aware that the cheque was fake.

The Public Prosecution is also investigating a 300,000 euro cheque issued by a European billionaire found in the female suspect’s car. They will be determining if the cheque is original or forged as well, reported Al-Watan. Investigators have turned over nine additional forged cheques from France to the Public Prosecution. Reports indicate that the discovery was made based on information leaked from the head of the former Bahraini minister’s office who had tensions with the minister over his relationship with the Kuwaiti suspect.

KUWAIT: Firemen put out four burning buses in an open yard in Sulaibiya, the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate (KFSD) said yesterday. In a press release, the KFSD said the firefighters were able to contain the fire, and an investigation was underway to determine the cause. It reminded people to observe preventative measures at all times. —KUNA

Soor TV back as owner vows ‘new surprises’ KUWAIT: Former parliamentary candidate and owner of the controversial Soor TV announced that the broadcast of his channel has been resumed, reported Al-Rai. It was temporarily shut down for a controversy it caused on one of its programs which ultimately led to the most recent no-confidence motion against the Information Minister.

“Al-Soor TV is the pulse of the community.

It echoes the opinions of people in diwaniyas and everywhere”, said Mohammad Al-Juwaihel in a recent statement he made to the press. “It

appears, however, that broadcasting these opinions in the media has made the majority of people uncomfortable because it contradicts their interests.”

The channel was shut down by Al-Juwaihel himself, rather than by the ministry, which couldn’t do so because the channel broadcasts from outside the country. It recently resumed broadcasting from Europe via Nile Sat satellite.

He also announced that the ‘Al-Saraya’ program - the TV show that caused the controversy - will return next week.

“Al-Saraya will be back with new surprises and issues that have never been brought up before,” he said.

Al-Juwaihel addressed the failed no-confidence motion against minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah and said that by renewing confidence in the minister and the MPs that the Kuwaiti public has preserved the integrity of Al-Soor TV. He added that the interpellation’s clauses were not convincing, just like the attacks against the channel.

Over 4,000 bottles of liquor confiscated

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: For the second time in just a few days, Shuwaikh Port customs officials stopped and attempt to smuggle in a large amount of alcohol from a neighboring GCC country.

Authorities confiscated 4,184 bottles which were concealed in cement mixers in a container that arrived from Dubai.

Two killed in road accident

Two men perished in a head-

on collision that took place on the road to Kheiran late Thursday night. The Traffic Department said one of the victims was completely burnt inside the car which caught fire as a result of the impact. It added that the car collision was between a jeep and a Ford sedan. The driver of the sedan, an Indian national, was rushed to a hospital by the Nuwaisib Fire Brigade paramedics but shortly passed away after arrival.

Leaving nothing but small footprints

Climate Change FunRun KUWAIT: Everyone can take small and easy steps to help save the environment and combat climate change. That is what Radisson Blu Hotel, the Netherlands Embassy and the British Council emphasized yesterday by organising the FunRun against Climate Change.

Enthusiastic runners of all ages tried to be the first to conquer the three km distance from Messilah Beach to the Radisson Blu. Among the participants were the Ambassadors of the Netherlands, Australia, United Kingdom and several other members of the Diplomatic Corps.

Besides sharing tips of

how to be friendly to the environment in their own behaviour, participants and supporters enjoyed fun activities such as a recycling game.

These were organised by the Climate Champions, a group of young Kuwaitis assisted by the British Council.

At the event, participants and supporters generously donated to the Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat (K’s PATH). This organisation suffered last week from a devastating fire that seriously damaged their animal shelter at Wafra and left many animals dead.

KUWAIT: Ambassadors take part during the FunRun against Climate Change that was organized by the Radisson Blu Hotel in cooperation with the Netherlands Embassy and the British Council.

—Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

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INTERNATIONAL

Saturday, March 27, 2010

UN tells Iran to end Eutelsat satellite jamming GENEVA: The United Nations’ leading communications agency called on Iran yesterday to end jamming of foreign satellite broadcasts, which is banned under its global regulations. The unprecedented move by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) adds to pressure on Tehran as world powers consider a new round of UN sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme and it faces simmering social unrest.

Iranian authorities have been jamming foreign satellite broadcasts into their territory since late last year, with broadcasters such as the BBC and Deutsche Welle affect-

Move adds to pressure on Tehran amid sanctions debate ed. Access to the Internet for Iranian citizens has also been affected. In a statement, ITU’s radio regulations board said interference coming from Iran was harming signals from satellite networks run by Eutelsat, a French satellite operator.

Iran should find the source of the interference-which affects both radio and television signals-and “eliminate it as a matter of highest priority”. “In this case there is evidence that there is a deliberate attempt to

block the satellite transmissions and so they are saying this should be stopped. This is prohibited under the regulations,” ITU spokesman Sanjay Acharya told a news briefing. “Iran has not admitted it is sending out these signals that are interfering with Eutelsat. They have said they will investigate,” he added.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Iranian authorities have been clamping

down on reformists since last year’s June disputed presidential election returned hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power, sparking protests and clashes. Iran has blamed other nations for stoking unrest. On Monday, European Union foreign ministers also urged Iran to stop jamming transmissions and said they were prepared to take action to put an end to the interference.

France raised the issue at the closeddoor talks of ITU’s 12-member experts

board and provided evidence that there were signals from Iran which interfered with Eutelsat, ITU said. “This is the first time that the radio regulations board has had to take this step,” Acharya told Reuters, noting that the case involved a “deliberate attempt to block a signal”.

Previous disputes brought to the ITU involved satellites from different European states interfering with each other, or Cuba complaining about US-based terrestrial operators sending signals into the communist island, he said.

The board has no policing powers to

enforce its decision, but its appeal is expected to put pressure on Iran, which is one of 191 ITU member states, to stop the practice, Acharya said. “We will put as much pressure as possible and this is the beginning of that,” he said. ITU’s ruling Council could take up the issue at its annual meeting being held in Geneva from April 13-22, but bilateral efforts were expected to continue in the meantime, he said. “Iran is a member of the ITU and has to adhere to treaties that have been signed on radio regulations,” Acharya said. “No one is allowed to block signals, that is clear.” — Reuters

Israel could use tactical nukes on Iran: Think tank Washington-based experts raise prospect of nuclear strike JERUSALEM: Deeply concerned as it is by the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran, Israel has never even hinted at using atomic weapons to forestall the perceived threat. But now a respected Washington think tank has said that low-radioactive yield “tactical” nuclear warheads would be one way for the Israelis to destroy Iranian uranium enrichment plants in remote, dug-in for-

tifications. Despite the 65-year-old taboo against carrying out-or, for that matter, mooting-nuclear strikes, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says in a new report that “some believe that nuclear weapons are the only weapons that can destroy targets deep underground or in tunnels”.

NORTH PYONGAN: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il (center) inspects the Chonma electrical machine plant in North Pyongan province yesterday. — AFP

N Korea threatens to nuke South, US SEOUL: North Korea’s military threatened South Korea and the United States yesterday with “unprecedented nuclear strikes” as it expressed anger over a report the two countries plan to prepare for possible instability in the totalitarian country, a scenario it dismissed as a “pipe dream.” The North routinely issues such warnings. Diplomats in South Korea and the US have repeatedly called on Pyongyang to return to international negotiations aimed at ending its nuclear programs.

“Those who seek to bring down the system in the (North), whether they play a main role or a passive role, will fall victim to the unprecedented nuclear strikes of the invincible army,” North Korea’s military said in comments carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The North, believed have enough weaponized plutonium for at least half a dozen atomic bombs, conducted its second atomic test last year, drawing tighter UN sanctions.

Experts from South Korea, the US and China will meet in China next month to share information on North Korea, assess possible contingencies in the country, and consider ways to cooperate in case of an emergency situation, South Korea’s Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported earlier this month, citing unidentified sources in Seoul and Beijing. The experts will also hold follow-up meetings in Seoul in June and in Honolulu in July, it said.

The North Korean statement yesterday specifically referred to the March 19 newspaper report.

A spokeswoman said the South

Korean Defense Ministry had no information. Gen Walter Sharp, the top US commander in South Korea, says the possibility of turmoil in the North is of real concern, citing the country’s economic weakness, malnourishment in both the military and general population, and its nuclear weapons. “The possibility of a sudden leadership change in the North could be destabilizing and unpredictable,” he said in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee hearing earlier this week.

South Korean media have reported that Seoul has drawn up a military operations plan with the United States to cope with possible emergencies in the North. The North says the US is plotting to topple its regime, a claim Washington has consistently denied. Last month, the

North also threatened a “powerful - even nuclear - attack,” if the US and South Korea went ahead with annual military drills. There was no military provocation from North Korea during the exercises.

China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US have been trying to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons in six party talks. The North quit the negotiations last year. The fate of the North’s nuclear weapons has taken on added urgency since late 2008 as concerns over the health of leader Kim Jong Il have intensified.

Kim, who suffered an apparent stroke in 2008, may die within three years, South Korean media have reported. His death is thought to have the potential to trigger instability and a power struggle in the North. — AP

5 Pakistani soldiers, 32 Taleban fighters killed PARACHINAR: Taleban fighters seized a security checkpoint close to the Afghan border, sparking clashes that killed five soldiers and 32 insurgents in a region where the army is pressing an offensive, officials said yesterday. Many of the dead insurgents in the Orakzai tribal region were Arab and Uzbek, said Maj Gen Tariq Khan, the commander of the Frontier Corps, a major force in the battle against the Pakistani Taleban in the northwest. He was speaking in the regional capital, Peshawar, after attending the funeral of an officer killed in the fighting Thursday.

Khan said the operations in Orakzai were aimed at hunting Taleban insurgents who had fled a large offensive in nearby South Waziristan. That operation has been praised by the United States, which says fighting extremists on the Pakistani side of the porous border is key to winning the war against the related Taleban insurgency in Afghanistan. Militants control much of the region, which has become a magnet for jihadists from around the world. The army said the clashes started when security forces tried to recapture a checkpoint taken Thursday night by militants in the Kalaya area. Khan said 32 militants were killed.

The army said five security force members, including the officer, were killed in the fighting, which ended with the military regaining control of the area. Orakzai is a major base for Hakimullah Mehsud, the Pakistani Taleban’s top commander, who is believed to have died in a US missile strike in January. The Taleban have denied his death, but have not shown any evidence he is still alive. On Thursday, Pakistani fighter jets bombed militant targets elsewhere in

Orakzai, killing 61 militants sheltering in a religious seminary, a mosque and a school, according to security officials.

The Pakistani Taleban have been under pressure in their main stronghold, the South Waziristan tribal region, since the army launched its ground offensive there in October. Orakzai and the neighboring tribal

area of Kurram have witnessed numerous airstrikes over the past few months. The inaccessibility of the regions makes it very difficult to get independent confirmation of the casualty figures provided by officials and the identity of those killed. Civilian casualties are rarely, if ever, mentioned in army accounts of the fighting. — AP

But other independent experts are on record warning that such a scenario is based on the “myth” of a clean atomic attack and would be too politically hazardous to justify. In their study titled “Options in Dealing with Iran’s Nuclear Program”, CSIS analysts Abdullah Toukan and Anthony Cordesman envisage the possibility of Israel “using these warheads as a substitute for conventional weapons” given the difficulty its jets would face in reaching Iran for anything more than a one-off sortie.

Ballistic missiles or submarine-launched cruise missiles could serve for Israeli tactical nuclear strikes without interference from Iranian air defences, the 208-page report says. “Earth-penetrator” warheads would produce most damage. Israel is widely assumed to have the Middle East’s sole atomic arsenal.

Israeli leaders do not comment on this capability other than to underscore its deterrent role; President Shimon Peres has said repeatedly that “Israel will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the region.”

A veteran Israeli defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said preemptive nuclear strikes were foreign to the national doctrine: “Such weapons exist so as not to be used.” A fixture of NATO and Soviet arsenals, tactical nuclear weapons are designed to deliver focussed devastation with less contamination than citykilling bombs like those the United States dropped on Japan to end World War Two. That damage containment would, in theory, off-set diplomatic fallout for whichever country were to use such arms on a foe.

FALLOUT There has been speculation that the United States-which, like Israel, has not ruled out military force to deny Iran atomic arms-could itself resort to tactical nuclear strikes. The Pentagon’s 2002 Nuclear Posture Review, which was leaked to the media, spoke of the need to develop new “mininukes” for defeating bunker systems. The review cited Iran among potential enemies that might eventually warrant a US nuclear deployment.

Yet Toukan and Cordesman think it “very unlikely that any US president would authorise the use of such nuclear weapons, or even allow ... a strong ally such as Israel to use them, unless another country had used nuclear weapons against the US and its allies”.

They say the United States would be central to any diplomatic solution to the Iranian standoff and is the only country that could launch a successful military strike on Iran.

International experts who contributed essays to the 2003 book “Tactical Nuclear Weapons” mostly shied from hawkishness. “Who could predict what might happen next if (the) taboo on the use of nuclear weapons were to be broken?” wrote former CIA director Stansfield Turner.

“Getting tactical nuclear weapons under control, rather than attesting to their use by building new ones, should be our goal.”

Princeton University physicist Robert Nelson assailed the idea that tactical nuclear weapons, detonated below ground, would pose tolerable risks for civilians and the environment. — Reuters

RADFAN: A southern Yemeni man chants anti-government slogans during a rally following the release of separatist leader of the Southern Movement, retired general Qassim Al-Dairi, in the southern Yemeni district of Radfan. — AFP

Yemen risks secessionist insurgency in the south DUBAI: Yemen risks a sustained separatist insurgency in the south, scene of increased tit-for-tat violence, unless it seriously addresses grievances of southerners who say their region is neglected by the state. President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who a week ago declared that Yemen’s separate war with Shi’ite rebels in the north was over, has offered dialogue with opponents in the south. But there is little evidence so far of a rush to the negotiating table.

“If the escalation continues it will be a big, big problem.

It will be a war,” Yemeni analyst Nasser Arrabyee said, but added he was optimistic Sanaa would strike a political power sharing deal to prevent further armed conflict.

Sanaa came under international pressure to quiet domestic unrest and focus its fight on Al-Qaeda, a big-

ger global threat, after the group’s Yemen-based arm claimed responsibility for a failed December bomb attack on a US-bound plane.

But the president’s limited offer for dialogue with the south has come hand-inhand with a security crackdown and arrests campaign that left a trail of dead and wounded on both sides in recent weeks even as violence elsewhere in Yemen fades.

Security forces continue to occasionally fire on often provocative anti-government demonstrations. In one case, a protester was shot dead while trying to remove a Yemeni flag from a government building and replace it with a separatist one. Deaths of protesters have typically sparked clashes, easily ignited in a heavily armed society where many civilians carry arms and state control

is weak. The unrest has often targeted northerners, and northern-owned businesses have been set aflame.

Exiled southern politician Ali Salem al-Beidh, who briefly led a secessionist south Yemen in 1994, said Sanaa was turning its sights on the south after ending the northern war. “What we fear is that they will push us from the path we have chosen, the peaceful path. Citizens will be forced to defend themselves.

When you see a tank in front of your house, what do you do?” Asked if an armed movement would emerge, he said: “We are not thinking of this, and we don’t have an army.” North and South Yemen united in 1990, but many in the south home to most of Yemen’s oil facilitiescomplain northerners have seized resources and discriminate against them. — Reuter

Egypt nabs 22 in Gaza smuggling crackdown Palestinain rocket hits Israel EL-ARISH: Egyptian police arrested 22 people suspected of involvement in smuggling goods into the Gaza Strip as part of major crackdown launched earlier this week, a security official said yesterday.

The men were arrested as part of a large police operation that was launched on Wednesday in Rafah and Sheikh Zuayed, in the northern Sinai, according to the official.

Hundreds of security personnel searched houses, carried out checks at roadblocks and scoured the border area. A large quantity of goods were seized in the operation, the official added, including spare parts for motor vehicles, clothes, cans of food and electric water pumps. The people arrested “are suspected of being implicated in the smuggling operations to supply Gaza through the tunnels” that run beneath Egypt’s border with Gaza.

Cairo recently stepped up its controversial fight against smuggling into Gaza by land and sea, under pressure from Israel and the United States, to prevent the Palestinian enclave being supplied with arms. The impoverished territory of 1.5 million people has largely relied on the vast network of

tunnels on the border since Israel and Egypt sealed Gaza off to all but vital aid after Hamas seized power in June 2007. Last year, Egypt began work on an underground barrier in a new bid to tighten its porous Sinai border with the restive Palestinian territory.

Palestinian militants fired a rocket from the Gaza Strip into Israel yesterday without causing any casualties or damage, the army said. The rocket apparently landed in an empty field and not one of the Israeli communities near the Gaza border, an army spokeswoman said. Gaza militants have stepped up rocket fire in recent days, including one projectile that killed a Thai farm labourer. The renewed fire comes after a year of quiet since Israel launched a devastating assault on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in December 2008 aimed at halting rocket fire. Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the 22-day war. Israel routinely responds to rocket attacks with air strikes targeting smuggling tunnels on the Gaza-Egypt border and workshops Israel says are used to make rockets. — Agencies

INTERNATIONAL

Saturday, March 27, 2010

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Russian prosecutors ban Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ MOSCOW: Russian prosecutors yesterday banned Adolf Hitler’s 1925 semi-autobiographical book ‘Mein Kampf’ as extremist in an attempt to combat the growing allure of far-right politics. Banned in Germany since World War Two, the book outlined Hitler’s vision of racial supremacy. Despite including tracts that are both anti-Jewish and anti-Russian, it has been championed by some Russian far-right groups. The book has “a mili-

taristic outlook and justifies discrimination and destruction of non-Aryan races and reflects ideas which, when implemented, started World War Two,” the prosecutor general’s office said in a statement.

“Up to now, Mein Kampf was not recognised as extremist,” it said, announcing the ban and the addition of the book to a federal list of extremist materials. It had been available in some

‘Book justifies racial violence’ shops and online, the statement said.

Russian extremists have attacked migrant workers from poor nations in Central Asia and the Caucasus who come to Russia and often have menial jobs and squalid living conditions, as well as African and Asian students and Russians who do not look Slavic.

At least 60 people were killed and 306 injured in hate attacks in Russia last year, according to SOVA, a Moscow-based non-governmental organisation that tracks racist violence. The ban was initiated after a regional office of the prosecutor sought new ways to combat extremism and found the book was being

distributed in the Ufa region. Hitler dictated the book to his aide Rudolf Hess while in prison in Bavaria after the failed Munich “Beer Hall” putsch of 1923. It sets out his doctrine of German racial supremacy and ambitions to annex huge areas of the Soviet Union.

In Germany, it is illegal to distribute it except in special circumstances, such as for academic research. But the book is available elsewhere, with bookseller

amazon.co.uk listing it for sale on its website. But the ban will do little to halt material that promotes Nazism in Russia, said Galina Kozhevnikova of SOVA. “I have a feeling that people needed to report that they were fighting extremism,” she said of the book ban.

“It will still be available on the internet, it’s impossible to stop it spreading,” she said. — Reuters

Missile threat ‘growing’ NATO urges missile defence pact, cites Iran threat BRUSSELS: NATO states should agree at a summit this year to make missile defence systems against states including Iran an alliance mission and look at every opportunity to cooperate on this with Russia, the head of NATO says.

In a speech prepared for delivery at a conference in Brussels today, alliance Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said a NATO-wide missile

LONDON: British Liberal Democrat MP Susan Kramer, (2nd left),Labour MP John McDonnell (4th left) and Conservative MP Justine Greening (5th right) celebrate as they leave the High Court yesterday, with other members of the anti-Heathrow expansion coalition group. — AFP

High Court orders review of Heathrow expansion LONDON: Britain’s High Court ordered the government to review its proposal to expand London’s Heathrow airport by building a third runway, handing a temporary victory to environmental campaigners who oppose the plan. In a long-awaited ruling Thursday, Judge Robert Carnwath said the government’s plan is “untenable” because it was based on outdated environmental requirements.

Carnwath stopped short of ruling the plan unlawful, instead inviting the government to hold further consultation on its plans with a particular focus on the effects on climate change policy and surface access to the airport. A coalition of local government councils, green groups and residents had argued that the decision to expand Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, was at odds with the Britain’s overall climate change targets.

The group, which alleged the plan would require destroying 700 homes and significantly increasing noise levels for 2 million people nearby, said Thursday it was happy that the judgment would force the government to “go back to square one and reconsider the entire case for the runway.” John McDonnell, the local councilor for the Heathrow area and a member of the ruling Labour Party, said the government should scrap the plan altogether and look at high-speed rail links instead.

But the Department for Transport vowed to “robustly defend” the plan, stressing the importance of Heathrow, which is already running at capacity. “It is vital not only to the national economy but also enables millions of citizens to keep in touch with their friends and family and to take a well-deserved holiday,” said Transport Minister Andrew Adonis.

“A new runway at Heathrow will help secure jobs and underpin economic growth as we come out of recession.” Adonis also dismissed the court’s ruling that the decision needed to be reviewed because it was made in 2003, before changes to Britain’s climate change laws in 2008 and a commitment to cut carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050. “The Government confirmed support for expansion at Heathrow only after detailed assessment showing that the strict environmental limits set for expansion could be met,” he said.

The government’s decision was designed to keep Heathrow, which now has only two runways, competitive with other major European airports, including Amsterdam’s Schipol, with five runways, and Paris Charles de Gaulle, with four. It had hoped to have the 9 billion pound ($13.3 billion) runway and new passenger terminal open for business by 2020. Officials at British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, the two biggest users of the airport, welcomed the government’s decision and union leaders were pleased with the estimated 65,000 jobs to be created.

In an effort to mollify the powerful environmental lobby, Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government had already made a number of concessions, including limiting the number of flights at the expanding airport to an additional 125,000 per year, instead of the 220,000 originally sought.

Heathrow currently handles more than 450,000 flights a year, including many lucrative crossAtlantic routes.

The government also announced it would spend billions of pounds (dollars) on new high speed rail links to and from Heathrow and a new high speed railway linking London to northern England. — AP

In reiterating his wish to see collaboration with Russia, Rasmussen said this required a decision by Moscow “to see missile defence as an opportunity, rather than a threat”. He said current trends showed a “real and growing” threat from weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, with more than 30 countries possessing or developing missiles with greater and greater ranges. “In many cases, these missiles could eventually threaten our populations and territories,” he said.

IRANIAN MISSILE THREAT Iran, which the West suspects of working to produce nuclear weapons, has said it possesses missiles with a range that would put NATO members Turkey, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria within reach, Rasmussen said. If Tehran were to complete development of intermediate and intercontinental missiles after taking a key step in introducing its SAFIR 2 space-launch vehicle last year, “then the whole of the European continent, as well as all of Russia would be in range”, he said.

“Proliferators must know that we are unwavering in our determination to collective defence.”

Russia reacted positively when Rasmussen called last September for cooperation in missile defence, but has questioned the motives of the US system any pan-NATO system would be linked up with, saying it should be properly consulted on plans.

Last year, US President Barack Obama shelved Bush-era plans to install a land-based missile shield in Europe to guard against long-range threats from Iran, in favour of sea-based interceptors and a second-phase of land-based systems to which existing anti-missile hardware in NATO states could be linked.

Some security experts say that despite NATO enthusiasm for Russian missile defence involvement, technical and security problems mean this would take years and cooperation was unlikely to go beyond limited exchange of early warning data. — Reuters

Nigerian flashpoint city still wracked by killings KANO: Despite tightened security in the restive Nigerian city of Jos following recent sectarian massacres, a wave of revenge killings has claimed the lives of both Muslims and Christians.

The tension is so marked that inhabitants find it difficult to venture out in some parts of the central city, which lies on the faultline between the Muslimmajority north and the mainly Christian south. “We now live in fear as a result of killings in the city, which makes it difficult for us to move about freely,” Muhammad Sani Mudi, spokesman of the Hausa community of Muslims in Jos said.

“We have lost 23 members to such secret killings in the past two weeks, while 58 others are still missing,” he said late Tuesday.

On Tuesday, 25-year old student Adamu Haruna became the latest victim of the violence, said Hausa spokesman Mudi.

He disappeared on the way to Friday prayers. “He was last seen on Friday when he left his home for the central mosque,” Mudi said on phone from Jos. His body, disfigured with machete cuts, was discovered at a city morgue, he added. The dead and missing were mostly street sellers, newspaper vendors and drivers of motorcycle taxis, Mudi said.

But the same fear gripped the other side of the sectarian divide. Donald Maiyaki, a Jos resident, said: “Everybody lives in fear in Jos due to these silent killings going on. “I know of two Christian teenage students

LAGOS: Haze descends on downtown Lagos, Nigeria. Meteorologists say the weather comes from the Harmattan, a yearly trade wind that brings dust from the Sahara Desert through Nigeria and the rest of West Africa. — AP separately kidnapped in the past week. They are still missing”. Information commissioner of Plateau State, Gregory Yenlong, confirmed the problem.

“In the last two weeks not less than 20 people have been killed in selective killings,” he said.

Nigeria’s acting president Goodluck Jonathan deployed troops in Jos after the clashes in January, which left more than 300 mainly Muslims dead. For a while, the troop presence brought a semblance of peace.

But earlier this month, in apparent reprisal attacks, Muslim Fulani herdsmen went on a killing spree in raids on Christian villages. And although police say around 100 people were killed, state government officials have insisted that at least 500 ethnic Beroms per-

ished in the attacks. Plateau State police chief Ikechukwu Aduba has acknowledged the current tensions.

“The city has been polarised,” he said recently.

“There are areas where a Christian will enter and Muslims will kill him and there are areas where a Muslim will enter and Christians will kill him. “This is inimical to peaceful coexistence,” he added.

“The police is aware of the secret killings in the city but we don’t have data on the toll,” Plateau police spokesman Mohammed Lerama said. But efforts were underway to get religious leaders to work towards a lasting peace. The troops are still visible in Jos, but the experts say it has only quelled the more overt, largescale violence.

“The presence of troops has

forced the warring factions to stop fighting openly but mutual animosity and resentment are still high and each faction stealthily strikes at the other ... when it gets the chance,” said Markus Kefas, a specialist at a private security agency. “The troops can only patrol the major streets of the city and these killings are carried out in the recesses,” he said. Just last week the authorities relaxed by three hours a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed on the city in the wake of the violence, arguing that the security situation had improved.

But Mudi said easing the curfew was a mistake, as it only gave the killers more cover. For Kefas however, the curfew had no bearing on the problem, as most of the new wave of killings had happened in broad daylight. — AFP

defence system would show collective will to defend against a growing threat.

“We need a decision by NATO’s next summit in November that missile defence for our populations and territories is an alliance mission. And that we will explore every opportunity to cooperate with Russia,” Rasmussen said in an advance text of the speech made available by NATO.

SARAJEVO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen (right) meets with members of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency in Sarajevo. — AFP

Tough times for white South African squatters Poor whites see little help from government KRUGERSDORP: Sitting in a deck chair at a white South African squatter camp, Ann le Roux, 60, holds a yellowing photo from her daughter’s wedding day. Taken not long after Nelson Mandela became the country’s first black president in 1994, it shows Le Roux standing with her Afrikaans husband and their daughter outside their home in Melville, an upmarket Johannesburg neighbourhood. Sixteen years later, she lives in a caravan and a tent shared with seven other people, including her daughter and four grandchildren, at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans.

She is one of a growing number of whites living below the poverty line in South Africa who blame affirmative action and the ANC-led elected government for their plight. Le Roux had to sell her house after her husband died and she lost her job as a secretary at the city planning councilwhere she had worked for 26 years-after she took time off work to recover from the loss of her husband. “They wouldn’t take me back because of the political situation,” she says, looking down at the fading photo.

“Our colour here is not the right colour now in South Africa,” Le Roux says, echo-

ing the complaint of many impoverished whites, mostly Afrikaners who are descendants of early Dutch and French settlers. While most white South Africans still enjoy lives of privilege and relative wealth, the number of poor whites has risen steadily over the past 15 years.

White unemployment nearly doubled between 1995 and 2005, according to the country’s Institute for Security Studies.

HARD TIMES Seeking to reverse decades of racial inequality, the ruling ANC government introduced affirmative action laws that promote employment for blacks and aim to give black South Africans a bigger slice of the economy. This shift in racial hiring practices coupled with the fallout from the global financial crisis means many poor white South Africans have fallen on hard times.

At least 450,000 white South Africans, 10 percent of the total white population, live below the poverty line and 100,000 are struggling just to survive, according to civil organisations and largely white trade union Solidarity. South Africa’s population is about 50 million. Many poor whites have ended up in places like Coronation Park, in

Cyprus talks could end if rival wins poll: Talat NICOSIA: Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat says if he loses next month’s presidential election, Cypriot reunification talks crucial to Turkey’s EU aspirations will grind to a halt. “My opinion is the process will end,” Talat told Reuters, when asked what might happen to negotiations with Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias to reunite the ethnically split island if his main rival wins the April 18 Turkish Cypriot poll.

Talat’s key challenger is Dervis Eroglu, prime minister of the northern Cyprus breakaway state recognised only by Ankara.

Eroglu says he can offer an alternative to reunification in the form of two states, referring to a Czech-Slovak style “velvet divorce”. This is a prospect Greek Cypriots, who now represent the island internationally, refuse to contemplate. Torn asunder in a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a short lived Greekinspired coup, the island of one

million people has defied multiple efforts at mediation, with repercussions well beyond its tiny borders.

Greek Cypriots, representing Cyprus in the EU, will not agree to Turkey joining the bloc until there is a solution to the decadesold conflict, harming attempts to anchor a country prone to instability closer to Europe. Peace efforts in Cyprus collapsed in 2004, when Greek Cypriots rejected a United Nations reunification blueprint accepted by Turkish Cypriots. The present process, started in late 2008, is Cypriot led, but it is a mammoth task.

DIPLOMATIC MINEFIELD The aim is for the sides to agree to reunification under a federation, but they are negotiating a potential diplomatic minefield on how to co-govern, what territory each side will have and how to reconcile the property grievances of tens of thousands of internally displaced people. — Reuters

Krugersdorp west of Johannesburg, a leafy former caravan site beside a water reservoir and a public picnic park frequented by middle-class families at weekends.

Ringed by yellow-brown hills of earth dug up by generations of gold miners, the park was used by the British as a concentration camp for Afrikaners during the Anglo-Boer war at the start of the 20th century. Now it’s home to some 400 white squatters living in cramped tents and caravans and sharing a single ablution block.

Cats and dogs roam noisily through the camp, dodging heaps of rubbish, piles of scrap metal and abandoned car parts.

Water is heated and food cooked on open camp fires. The local council cut electricity to the camp after failing to evict the white squatters. The council wanted to develop the area into a wide screen viewing area for soccer matches ahead of the soccer World Cup, which South Africa hosts in June and July. Some residents, including three black South Africans, have lived there for years.

Others arrived in recent weeks. “If you’re out of work and you haven’t got money, where must you go to? No one wants to help you-this is the only place to go to,” says Dennis Boshoff, 38. — Reuters

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Saturday, March 27, 2010

Russia nuke deal hands Obama key foreign policy win WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama’s team has scored a key foreign policy win and bolstered international stability with a new nuclear arms reduction deal with Russia, analysts say. The United States and Russia announced yesterday that they have reached an agreement for a successor to the landmark 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that expired in December, after Obama spoke with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, ABC and NBC television correspondents said. Czech TV Nova said both sides would sign the new treaty on April 8 in Prague, where Obama gave a major speech last April calling for a world free of nuclear weapons while acknowledging he may not

live to see that goal achieved.

Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear weapons specialist at the New America Foundation, said the deal “shows we can still do arms control,” adding the United States has negotiated nothing so complex in more than a decade. The deal provides for modest cuts but at least continues “the momentum of reductions,” after former president George W Bush’s administration gutted the US capacity to conduct arms control negotiations, he said.

“This (new treaty) is not the end-all and be-all of arms control. The fact that they could do it at all is what’s impressive,” Lewis said.

The Center for American Progress

(CAP) think-tank said the reported deal “marks an historic achievement that will increase the safety and security of the United States and our allies.” It “reduces the threat of nuclear war, marks a significant step in advancing President Barack Obama’s vision of a world without nuclear weapons, and is a tangible result” of Obama’s bid to improve ties with Russia, CAP added. Analysts say the new agreement paves the way for the two allies to begin hammering out even more far-reaching accords, such as one providing for cuts in tactical or so-called battlefield nuclear weapons.

Analyst Miles Pomper called the agreement “a significant foreign policy achieve-

ment,” as it comes before a nuclear security summit next month and the review conference for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in May. He said the agreement would give “some positive momentum” to the NPT conference, which requires nuclear powers like Russia and the United States to show progress on disarmament. Pomper, with the James Martin Center for Non-proliferation Studies, said states like Iran and North Korea will now find it harder to resist demands for more stringent measures through the NPT. He said the deal may also further boost growing Russian support for US-led efforts to slap a fourth round of tougher UN sanc-

tions on Iran over its failure to comply with demands to curb its uranium enrichment program. “It can help,” Pomper added.

Obama and Medvedev set a goal in July of slashing the number of warheads on either side to between 1,500 and 1,675 and the number of “carriers” capable of delivering them to between 500 and 1,100.

The United States has said it currently has some 2,200 nuclear warheads, while Russia is believed to have about 3,000.

However, Lewis noted that the Russian number is actually closer to the US figure, and in any case the actual nuclear weapons reductions are limited. “We might download some more warheads but we’re not going to cut up any delivery vehicles as a

result of this treaty,” Lewis said, referring to long-range rockets and bombers.

“It is underwhelming,” he said. “The gain here is in convincing the Russians to leave in place some of the START verification measures that we lost in December.”

Mikhail Margelov, an influential player in the upper house of Russia’s parliament, suggested the new treaty would contain a link between Moscow’s resistance to US missile defense and cuts in strategic offensive weapons.

Analysts said US Republicans who staunchly back missile defense may try to deny the Obama administration the twothirds majority it needs in the Senate for the START treaty to pass. —AFP

US standing firm in row with Israel WASHINGTON: The US appears in no mood to blink first in its tense showdown with Israel after reportedly handing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a blueprint to kickstart moribund peace talks, experts said. “The United States thinks it can’t compromise with its national interests,” political analyst Amjad Atallah from the New America foundation said. “I’m not sure the Israelis have adjusted yet to this.”

Netanyahu was met with widespread media derision Thursday as he returned home after three days of meetings in Washington with no signs of a break in the impasse, triggered by Israel’s refusal to back down on settlement building. As Israeli media said he been showered in humiliation, the White House sought to give an upbeat tone to Netanyahu’s trip. “We are making progress on important issues,” spokesman Robert Gibbs insisted as President Barack Obama flew to Iowa on Air Force One. Israeli government spokesman Nir Hefetz similarly claimed Israel and its closest ally had edged closer to an understanding, insisting “there is a narrowing of the gaps between the positions of Israel and the positions of the United States on this issue.” There was however an unusually opaque news blackout throughout the visit, no

CERRALVO: A body is seen under water in a stream after a shootout between unidentified gunmen and Mexican marines in the town of Cerralvo, near Monterrey, Mexico. — AP

40 inmates escape in Mexico border town ‘King of Heroin’ nabbed MEXICO: Police were searching for two prison guards and 40 prisoners who disappeared after a pre-dawn jailbreak Thursday in the Mexican city of Matamoros across the border from Brownsville, Texas. Prison director Orlando Saucedo Pinto was put on temporary pending an investigation into how the prisoners got away, Mexican prison officials said at a news The office said all the prisoners who escaped had been charged under federal law but were being held at the state institution.

Five were serving sentences following convictions and 35 were on trial. The statement did not specify the offenses, but drug trafficking is the among the most common federal charges. State leaders in Mexico have complained in the past that they do not have facilities secure enough to accommodate more serious, federally charged prisoners. Last year guards stood by as more than 50 prisoners walked out of another jail in northern Mexico.

Meanwhile, the federal police have arrested Mexico’s “King of Heroin,” a powerful drug trafficker allegedly responsible for running thousands of pounds of heroin into Southern California each year, authorities said Thursday. Jose Antonio Medina, nicknamed “Don Pepe,” was arrested in the western state of Michoacan on Wednesday and is being held for prosecution, said Ramon Pequeno, head of the anti-narcotics division of Mexico’s federal police.

Medina, 36, ran a complex smuggling operation that hauled 440 pounds of heroin each month across the Mexican border in Tijuana for La Familia drug cartel, Pequeno said. The White House National Drug Threat Assessment says that while heroin use is stable or decreasing in the US, the source of the drug has shifted in recent years from Colombia - where production and purity are declining - to Mexico, where powerful drug cartels are gaining a foothold in the lucrative market.

Heroin production in Mexico rose from 17 pure metric tons in 2007 to 38 tons in 2008, with the increase translating to lower heroin prices and more heroin-related overdoses and more overdose deaths, according to US government estimates in a report by

conference. Prison staff were also being investigated, they said. The federal Attorney General’s Office said in a statement Thursday night that 40 prisoners escaped, while local authorities had earlier put the number at 41. Fifty prison employees were being held for questioning, the statement added.

MEXICO: Guarded by police officers, Jose Antonio Medina, aka Don Pepe (center) is presented to the press in Mexico City. — AP the National Drug Intelligence Center.

Border Patrol agents seized 4.8 million pounds of narcotics at border crossings last year, and heroin seizures saw the most significant increase during that time, with a 316 percent jump over 2008.

Mexico and the US are working together to counter a handful of increasingly violent drug cartels that supply most of the illicit drugs sold in the US. The arrest came the day after top US Cabinet officials, led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, visited Mexico to underscore their shared responsibility for the country’s drug-related violence. Nearly 17,900 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched an assault on cartels after taking office in December 2006.

The bloodshed continued Thursday, when Mexican marines on patrol in the small town of Cerralvo, north of the city of Monterrey, came under fire after ordering a convoy of gunmen traveling in 6 vehicles to stop. Six of the assailants were killed in the ensuing battle, the navy said. The marine patrol, which was supported by two navy helicopters during the firefight, seized 15 rifles, 10 pistols, 2 grenades and ammunition from the vehicles.

A secretary at the Cerralvo town hall said the shootout took place on the outskirts of town on the highway toward the border with Texas. The shooting was heard throughout the town. In Ciudad Juarez, a border city of 1.3 million people just south of El Paso, Texas, police found a decapitat-

ed man lying in a shopping center parking lot, his head inside a black plastic bag nearby.

Police in Ciudad Juarez also evacuated a grade school after two explosive charges were found on the sidewalk in front of the building. The explosives, apparently of the type used in rock blasting, were removed by soldiers. In the southern state of Guerrero, the body of a 16-year-old boy was found at a trash dump in the township of Tecpan de Galeana. State police said the body bore multiple gunshot wounds.

Such killings are believed to be the result of drug cartels fighting among themselves for control of the drug trade, a lucrative business estimated to bring $25 billion in cash into Mexico each year. Federal police in Mexico City said Thursday they had seized $1.7 million in small bills and arrested two Colombians and two Mexicans for allegedly running financial operations for cartels. Federal prosecutors announced Thursday they were taking over the investigation into the March 19 deaths of two university students who were killed when they were apparently caught in crossfire between soldiers and gunmen in Monterrey.

The deaths of the two students caused outrage in the northern city. Mexican law allows cases involving civilians and soldiers to be tried in either the civilian or military justice system.

concrete achievements were reported and the Israeli leader was given none of the trappings usually reserved for visitors such as photo op and press conference.

Early Thursday Defense Secretary Robert Gates was even at pains to renew administration warnings that Israeli-Palestinian tensions harm US security interests in the Middle East. “The lack of progress toward Middle East peace is clearly an issue that’s exploited by our adversaries in the region,” Gates said adding it “does affect US national security interests in the region.”

Netanyahu reportedly returned to Israel carrying a written blueprint to get the peace process moving again, some 15 months after it was suspended following Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip in late 2008. The document covers all issues, including Jerusalem, which need to be resolved to end the deadlock, the Washington Post said. It includes Obama’s demand to freeze all settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, Israeli radio said. Netanyahu is supposed to sell the plan to his cabinet. But Israeli media said a briefing Netanyahu had intended to give his inner forum of seven senior ministers had now been postponed until Friday. Netanyahu’s office would not comment. —AFP

Congress passes ‘fixes’ to historic health law US lawmakers at war over threats after health vote WASHINGTON: The US Congress on Thursday put the final touches on President Barack Obama’s historic health overhaul, passing a set of technical changes to the legislation that will define his political legacy. Following a 56-43 Senate vote, the House of Representatives voted 220-207 for the free-standing package of fixes, four days after approving the underlying bill by a 219-212 margin.

Obama, who triumphantly signed the main measure into law on Tuesday, was expected to sign the changes within days and pursue his efforts to sell the wary US public on the legislation ahead of November mid-term elections.

The newly passed measure does not radically alter the president’s plan to extend health coverage to some 32 million Americans who currently lack it, but makes the legislation more politically palatable to the House. No Senate Republicans voted for the bill, while three Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and Arkansas Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor-voted against it.

Republican Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia was out sick. The House of Representatives approved the so-called “reconciliation” changes on Sunday after passing the main bill, but Senate Republicans successfully challenged some measures in the smaller measure, forcing another House vote.

Meanwhile, the divided US Congress united yesterday to denounce threats and violence aimed at lawmakers who voted for President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, but feuded bitterly over who was to blame. Obama’s Democratic allies linked the abuse to year-long, superheated Republican charges including claims that the law would cripple American freedoms or even usher in Armageddon, the fiery end of the world.

“The debate here has been a very angry debate, very frankly. Implications of socialism, communism taking over the government, none of which is true,” Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said. “We need to be very careful, because while that may be perceived in the halls of Congress as simply hyperbole and debate which is hot, but certainly does not encourage violence or violent actions, nevertheless, can

be perceived by some as doing that,” he said.

Hoyer said Wednesday that police and the FBI had been called in after more than 10 Democrats reported threats or vandalism-including a faxed message with a noose, a brick thrown through a window, and obscenity-laced voicemail messages expressing the hope that a lawmaker would get cancer and die. Democratic lawmaker Anthony Weiner from New York also received an envelope containing an unidentified white powder and a threatening note at one of district offices, although local news reported police found the substance to be non-hazardous.

Democrat Louise Slaughter, who recieved a brick through a window of one of her district offices, said the “rash of ominous threats” were “downright despicable and mark a lowpoint in the nation’s history.” Slaughter, speaking on the House floor Thursday, noted she had also “received a phone call on (her) campaign office phone line that referenced 16 sniper teams and an attempt that would be made to target the children of members of Congress who voted for the health care legislation.”

Obama’s Republican critics denounced the menacing messages and attacks but charged that Democrats aimed to use the abuse to discredit all criticism of the law and complained that they, too, coped with angry Americans. Representative Eric Cantor, the number two Republican in the US House of Representatives, warned some Democrats were “dangerously fanning the flames” by drawing attention to violent incidents.

“Security threats against members of Congress is not a partisan issue and they should never be treated that way. To use such threats as political weapons is reprehensible,” said Cantor.

“Let me be clear: I do not condone violence,” declared Cantor, who said he had been threatened since taking office, sometimes because he is Jewish, and that someone had fired a bullet through a window in his campaign office this week. “Any suggestion that a leader in this body would incite threats, or acts, against other members is akin to saying that I would endanger myself, my wife, or my children,” he said.—Agencies

Thursday’s move suggests the case would proceed through the civilian legal system. Also in Monterrey, a human rights group said a suspected drug trafficker wanted for questioning about a shootout - and the death of a fellow suspect - was in hiding. So was the police chief, who state investigators want to question about the case.—Agencies

Senate looks at suicide on Indian reservations WASHINGTON: At 15, high school sophomore Coloradas Mangas knows all too much about suicide. He’s recently had several friends who took their own lives, and he survived a suicide attempt himself. Coloradas, a member of the Chiricahua Apache tribe, lives on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico, where there have been five youth suicides since the start of the school year. All were his friends. Coloradas went to Capitol Hill Thursday to tell lawmakers about the urgent problem of suicide among Native

Americans. Tribal suicide rates are 70 percent higher than for the general population, and the youth suicide rate is even higher. On some reservations youth suicide rates are 10 times the national average. “Things go wrong that they can’t change,” Coloradas said, trying to explain the high rate of suicide in his community. “They don’t get shown the love they need. They say, ‘You don’t love me when I was here. Now you love me when I’m not here.’ “ On the mountainous Mescalero reservation, located in south-cen-

tral New Mexico more than 200 miles south of Albuquerque, a single mental health clinic serves a tribe of more than 4,500 people. The closest 24-hour Hotline is in Albuquerque.

Calls for help are usually answered by tribal police or law enforcement officers from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said Jeremiah Simmons, coordinator of Honor Your Life, a teen outreach program in Mescalero, New Mexico.

While praising police, Simmons said their highly visible presence often results in what

he called “criminalization” of suicidal thoughts - making teens reluctant to reach out. Decades of shame and silence among tribe members about suicide compound the problem, Simmons said. Coloradas, wearing a traditional Apache shirt and a red bandanna over his long black hair, said he was nervous about testifying, but spurred on by the memory of his late grandmother, a community leader who named him after one of his ancestors, Mangas Coloradas, a well-known Apache chief. — AP

IOWA: President Barack Obama smiles at a baby after delivering remarks on health insurance reform during his event at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.—AP

BUSINESS

Saturday, March 27, 2010

7

Jazeera eyes new destinations

By Ben Garcia

KUWAIT: Surour Alsamerai, General Manager of Human Resources at Gulf Bank is seen with HH Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed AlSabah, Prime Minister of Kuwait and Hadeel Al-Fadhli from Gulf Bank on the opening day.

Gulf Bank celebrates Kuwaiti entrepreneurship KUWAIT: Gulf Bank recently hailed the success of its sponsorship of the “Proud to be Kuwaiti” (P2BK) Forum, which was held at the Mishref International Exhibition Fairground. The opening ceremony was held on the March 16 under the patronage of HH Sheikh Nasser Mohammed AlAhmad Al-Sabah, Prime Minister of Kuwait, and the closing ceremony on the 19th was held under the auspices of Sheikh Ahmad Fahd Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of State for Housing Affairs and Minister of State for Administrative Development.

A competition was held during the P2BK forum to recognise the best idea and the best marketing plan, with the judging panel announcing the results during the closing ceremony. The Arabian Motors Group-Ford also organized a competition and distributed awards Sheikh Ahmad and Dhari AlWazzan, founder of P2BK, honoured all sponsors by handing them mementos as a token of appreciation.

Commenting on Gulf Bank’s sponsorship of the Forum, Fawzy Al-Thunayan, General Manager – Board Affairs of Gulf Bank, stated: “Gulf Bank is honored to sponsor the “Proud to be Kuwaiti” P2BK Forum, for the third time. The Forum is one of the most prominent events that encourage giving, self-achievement, and translation of ambitions

into reality.” “As a Kuwaiti bank, we are proud of our youth and their small projects, which we aspire will develop into great companies and businesses in the future. We diligently endeavor to convert the culture of the Kuwaiti youth from consumption into production, deriving this tendency from the Kuwaiti business heritage, which was propelled by the spirit of initiatives and private projects,” AlThunayan elaborated.

P2BK provided the perfect opportunity to recognise and support young business talent in Kuwait. A key highlight was to introduce a dynamic group of budding young Kuwaiti entrepreneurs, the business leaders of tomorrow to seasoned business experts, such as those from the Gulf Bank team, in order to encourage and assist the growth of their businesses.

Surour Alsamerai, General Manager of Human Resources at Gulf Bank said: “Gulf Bank has invested heavily in the professional development of Kuwaiti talent and in giving young Kuwaitis the opportunity to build a career and contribute to our country’s economic advancement. Proud to be Kuwaiti is a means for youth to grab the opportunity to develop their skills and achieve their potential. Gulf Bank has always been a leader in developing Kuwaiti business talent and is proud of its record of providing employment to more Kuwaitis than any other private company”.

Fawzy Al-Thunayan, General Manager of Board Affairs, receives a token of appreciation from Sheikh Ahmad Fahd Al-Sabah during the closing ceremony.

KUWAIT: In the last four years, Jazeera Airways has served 5.1 million passengers, with this number set to increase. Marwan Boodai, Jazeera Airways’ chairman revealed yesterday that in 2009 alone, the Middle East’s leading regional carrier, recorded 1.8 million passengers, adding that he would like to see it take a far bigger share of passengers this year.

Boodai was speaking at the official launch of Jazeera Airways’ ‘Don’t miss out for summer’ promotion at the JW Marriot Hotel in Kuwait City, which coincided with a briefing about the airline’s achievement and its launch of exciting new destinations. “In July 2009, we were acknowledged by Kuwaiti Airport Management as being the largest carrier operating in Kuwait. We hope that this year we will break our own record,” he said.

Jazeera Airways now flies to over 12 countries and more than 25 cities worldwide. For Jazeera, the achievement would not be possible without the valued support of their passengers and their travel agents in Kuwait. “Our relationship with our partners and guests is very important to us; their invaluable support has helped contribute to the success Jazeera enjoys today,” Boodai stressed.

Kuwait’s first private airline also boasts an upgraded booking system, a 24/7 booking counter, a business class upgrade at the airport and the upcoming launch of GDS next month. Besides the KG40 allowable luggage, passengers can now carry up to 20 kg more complementary allowable luggage. In addition, Jazeera Airways now accepts same-day flight changes at the airport with a minimal fee, while the cancellation period has been shortened to 24 hours prior to departure.

“We will take you to the next level as we try to make our services to you even better and better. Jazeera Airways is always available to you and we’ll ensure that our services are the best value for money,” Boodai said. Besides the regular Jazeera Airways routes, from this summer the airline will also be offering flights to new and exciting destinations like Larnaca,

Dubai debt insurance costs rise amid funding doubts LONDON/DUBAI: Dubai debt insurance costs rose yesterday as doubts surfaced about the emirate’s ability to fund its share of a $9.5 billion plan to repay creditors of its struggling Dubai World conglomerate. On Thursday Dubai unveiled its proposals to repay lenders to Dubai World in five to eight years and fully repay two bonds issued by its property developer unit Nakheel. The $9.5 billion plan includes $5.7 billion previously lent by wealthy neighbour Abu Dhabi, with the remaining $3.8 billion coming from Dubai’s own “internal resources”.

But concerns about where Dubai would get the money helped push Dubai debt insurance costs back above 400 basis points, while the 2015 bond issued by the Dubai Department of Finance fell half a point. “The terms are pretty positive, but now focus has shifted to the cash flow of Dubai government,” said Okan Akin, RBS emerging markets analyst. “The $3.8 billion is supposed to be funded by the government, but this represents 40 percent of the Dubai government’s revenues for 2009.

“The action will increase

government borrowing going forward.”

Dubai, which stunned markets last November with plans to delay repaying $26 billion in Dubai World debt, quickly ringfenced key assets such as ports operator DP World in a bid to protect them against claims by creditors.

Asset sales will be on the cards to raise cash, though officials said there was no immediate need for such a move. “Assets inevitably will be disposed of at the right time, at the right value, at our choosing,” said Aidan Birkett, Dubai World’s chief restructuring officer. But some assets are already being quietly shopped around or put on the auction block.

Dubai World’s investment arm Istithmar has put its Inchcape Shipping Services unit up for sale and is looking for a $700 million price tag.

Dubai World, one of three holding companies controlled

by Dubai, also owns U.S. luxury retailer Barneys, a stake in entertainment group Cirque du Soleil, the QE2 luxury ocean liner and Scotland’s Turnberry Golf course. Khuram Maqsood, managing director at Emirates Capital in Dubai, said the plan may be relying

on the market turning in Dubai’s favour - both for future asset sales and real estate recovery - neither of which could be counted on.

Thursday’s plan was surprising in that it included no further cash from Abu Dhabi.

“Dubai has other debts coming due in addition to Dubai World,” Maqsood said.

“Unless in their plan they have assumed a lot of good things breaking in their favour ... Abu Dhabi will step in, because how else are they going to fill the gap? “Or what’s going to happen is another agonising round of discussions with lenders, saying ‘Sorry, our bad again.’”

Dubai’s other high-profile assets include Emirates airline and, through various holding companies, stakes in foreign companies such as HSBC, Deutsche Bank and London Stock Exchange.

Five year credit default swaps (CDS) for Dubai were quoted at 405 basis points yesterday by CDS tracker CMA DataVision, up 3 bps from Thursday’s close. This is a jump of 45 bps from earlier on Thursday when CDS fell to their lowest since Nov 24, 2009 - a day before the emirate stunned financial markets with a debt repay-

ment standstill. While the 2014 Islamic bond issued by the Dubai department of Finance fell 0.450 points in price with the yield up 11.6 bps.

“The finances of the government of Dubai itself remain stretched and, in fact, appear to be put under greater near-term strain by the terms of the proposed restructuring agreement,” HSBC said in a research note. But bonds on Dubai World subsidiary Nakheel continued to rise. The dirham-denominated Islamic bond due May 2010 was quoted with a bid/offer of 94/97 after trading at 94.75 on Thursday, the highest since July 2008. The January 2011 dollar issue rose half a point.

In a surprise move, Dubai said on Thursday it would pay off the Nakheel 2010 and 2011 bonds, or sukuk, when they come due, if creditors agree its broader proposal to restructure $26 billion in debt linked to Dubai World. Dubai’s finance chief said yesterday the emirate said the bond repayment would avoid “potential complexities”, and there was no preferential treatment for bondholders over other creditors. — Reuters

Statement on sale of Zain Africa to Bharti KUWAIT: Further to the announcement made by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC, ‘Zain’, on February 16, 2010, regarding the sale of its African unit, ‘Zain Africa BV’ to Bharti Airtel Limited, the company confirms that the Board of Directors of Zain met in Kuwait on Wednesday, March 24, 2010, to

review the latest developments and negotiations related to this matter.

The Board is pleased to report that the due diligence process has been completed and that the parties are finalizing definitive agreements, which are expected to be signed in the coming days.

Upon signing, the parties will move towards getting any required approvals.

It has been reported that Bharti has already secured the entire financing requirement of $8.3 billion for this transaction. The sale of ‘Zain Africa BV’ does not include Zain’s operation in Sudan or its investment in Morocco.

KUWAIT: Jazeera Airways officials pose with some representatives and travel agents.

— Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Marwan Boodai, Jazeera Airways Chairman Hurghada, Antalya and Salalah, with the summer promotion sale beginning on Sunday.

The airline’s Chief Executive Officer Stefan Pichler said that Jazeera offers consistently better value than any other airline in the market. “Flying with us makes

holiday budgets go even further; this is especially important when planning family travel this summer,” he said.

Pichler advised summer travelers to book their holiday trips early so as to secure seats, pointing out that Ramadan is taking place earlier this year. “With Jazeera,

Stefan Pichler, CEO you won’t only enjoy the marvelous places to visit but the best value fares available on the market,” he said.

Pichler also discussed the recent launch of Jazeera Business Class, which provides business and premium leisure travelers with an extra level of style and luxury and

more personalized service, as well as announcing the new destinations and the re-opening of some routes like Mumbai, Delhi and Lahore with three times weekly flight.

Passengers can book their flights, select their preferred seat and pay online via: www.jazeeraairways.com.

8

BUSINESS

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Landlocked US traders fight for flying fish MINNEAPOLIS: A quiet street in an American city a thousand of miles from the nearest ocean is an unlikely battleground in the world’s fish trade. But that is exactly what Brent Casper likes about it. “People think you throw a line in the lake and pull up a walleye in Minnesota. But the majority of what we buy is being shopped for aggressively by all the countries of the world,” said Casper, who founded his trading company, The Fish Guys, here in 1993 to buy and sell wholesale seafood.

“It’s tuna that Japan is fighting for, it’s tuna that France is fighting for, Spain is fighting for. So it’s a global economy that’s coming from everywhere,” Casper says of his daily scrambles as a 21st-century fishmonger. Casper and his partner Mike Higgins, who manages the logistics of keep-

ing their fish fresh amid far-flung inspections, flight snags, truck snarls and weather surprises around the world, said they may not be jostled by ocean waves but they still like the action. Fish trade, Higgins says, is “the wild, wild West of the food industry the last completely over-the-counter market.”

Casper and Higgins, both transplanted Chicagoans, have built their firm of 40 employees into a $21 million business, the largest wholesaler in the Midwest, a region known for its corn-fed beef. In fact, most fishmongers are on the US coasts with just handful like The Fish Guys in the Midwest.

Higgins, who exited the bustling world of the Chicago grain markets in 2003, moved north to Minneapolis and met Casper when he was looking for a new business venture.

Casper had started The Fish Guys after learning the seafood business during a 25year career in the famous Randolph Street wholesale fish markets in Chicago. “I can control maybe 20 percent of my day. The other 80 percent is totally at the whims of Mother Nature, the boats, the airlines, my customers, truck drivers,” said Casper. A recent nightmare was the Valentine’s Day holiday weekend in February, when many of his restaurant customers had geared up orders for a crush of diners. But a blizzard snowed in many parts of the United States and, Caspar said, 1,800 kg of their fish ended up in Salt Lake City instead of Minneapolis.

“It’s a challenge and I love that kind of business,” he laughed. “Every day is different.”

Once a fishing boat docks in New Orleans, or Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, or

Halifax, Nova Scotia, brokers representing Higgins and Casper bid aggressively for the catch - wild salmon or halibut, say, or perhaps the occasional rouge fish. Those brokers are bidding against high-end distributors in Japan, China, Europe and other areas of the world. Fish are packed on ice or frozen and flown daily into Minneapolis-St Paul. The Fish Guys then use courier services for next-day delivery throughout Minnesota and into Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and parts of Nebraska and Illinois.

Catches coming in from overseas are handled by forwarders who manage customs and logistics for international freight. “Right now at 9 am there is probably a boat pulling into one of our vendors at a port in Maryland with wild striped bass. That fish is put on

ice, packed by 10 am and on its way to the airport,” Higgins said. “The bass is shipped overnight, filleted here in the morning and ready for lunch at a Minneapolis restaurant by noon.”

The Fish Guys begin their day at 4:30 am as processing crews start filleting whole fish by hand. “We are a commodity business, even though it’s a fresh commodity,” Casper said. Occasionally Casper or Higgins will get a midnight call even before a boat docks somewhere from someone on the vessel describing their latest choice catch, such as a 110-kg sword fish, and asking if they are interested. “You’re trading in a spot market and it’s cash over the counter,” Higgins said.

“We could have the fish sold before it ever lands in Minneapolis.”

The US fish industry brings in about $70

billion a year, according to the US Commerce Department. About two-thirds of US households buy fish for home consumption while 80 percent consume fish at least once a year at a restaurant. Fish protein and oils are praised by nutritionists. But the recession has hurt demand for fish despite its health benefits. Annual US per capita consumption was just under 7.26 kg in 2008 versus 7.39 kg in 2007, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

The fish industry has also been a target of environmental and sustainability groups worried about degraded oceans, over-fishing, species loss and pollution.

The Fish Guys have allied with commercial groups promoting sustainable fishing practices, such as the Marine Stewardship Council. — Reuters

Beijing shows no sign of budging on currency

China makes case for a steady yuan BEIJING: China reaffirmed its determination yesterday to keep the yuan steady, rejecting US arguments that a stronger exchange rate is needed to help iron out global trade imbalances. On a busy day for official pronouncements, a deputy central bank governor painted a rosy picture of China’s eco-

nomic prospects and said Beijing would tweak monetary policy accordingly.

“At a time of crisis, maintaining the stability of major exchange rates is not only beneficial to China, it is also beneficial to the world. We must be responsible,” Liu He, a senior official with the ruling Communist Party, said.

BEIJING: A man walks in front of an advertisement for fashion goods on Thursday. — AFP

Renault-Nissan, Daimler eye stakes TOKYO/FRANKFURT: The Renault-Nissan group and Daimler AG are considering taking symbolic stakes in each other and working on bigger joint projects, sources said, in the face of intense pressure to cut costs and develop cleaner cars. Two sources familiar with the matter said Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, is willing to acquire a small stake of about 3 percent in Renault SA come April, using its own treasury shares as currency to avoid spending any cash.

It remains unclear how junkrated Renault, worth less than a third of Daimler, would finance the deal, while the Nikkei business daily said Nissan Motor Co was looking to take a stake of 12 percent in Daimler. RenaultNissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn has repeatedly said he is open to a third partner for the 11-year-old Franco-Japanese alliance, and that an equity relationship enabled partners to commit and delve deeper into projects.

Renault’s board will meet on April 6 to discuss the partner-

Carlos Ghosn ship with Daimler, Le Figaro newspaper reported on Friday, adding that the deal would be announced to shareholders at the carmakers’ annual meetings later in April. One industry source, who asked not to be identified, said an equity relationship under discussion would form the basis of cooperation through joint purchasing and components sharing. But the source said the option of limiting

Dieter Zetsche their partnership to a projectbased one was still on the table.

The Financial Times reported on Thursday that Renault and Daimler were close to agreeing a wide-ranging strategic partnership that would include a swap of small stakes between them. It did not mention Nissan as being part of those talks. All three companies declined to confirm the reports. Nissan is held 44.3 percent by Renault, which owns

15 percent of its Japanese partner. Carmakers are on the hunt to cut costs by building scale and spreading the load of heavy investments in new technologies such as hybrid and electric vehicles over large numbers of cars.

Renault and Daimler have made no secret of being in talks about cooperating to cut costs, pool technology resources and build scale as the crisis-hit industry tries to become more efficient. Both companies have said they were talking with a wide range of makers. Daimler is seen as wanting scale benefits by building the Smart fourseater, due towards the end of 2013, that would share its underpinnings with the Renault Twingo, while the German automaker could supply large diesel and gasoline engines for Renault and Nissan.

Although analysts said a partnership among the three to seek operational synergies could be positive, shares in Daimler failed to react much as doubts remained over the actual scale of savings possible. — Reuters

Burgan Bank ATMs now at Avenues Mall KUWAIT: Burgan Bank amongst the leading and most dynamic bank in the state of Kuwait expanded its ATM network further, with 4 ATMs at The Avenues Mall, bringing its total number of ATMs in Kuwait to 128. The ATM network expansion of the bank reflects the cornerstone of its evolved corporate identity which is ‘customer-centricity’. The ATMs are located across the different parking areas (P3 P4 P5 and P9) of

The Avenues Mall will allow customers to withdraw cash and perform other banking services at their convenience.

With technological efficiency and transaction speediness being top priorities, the Bank’s new ATM machines are best-in-class and provide fast, reliable service together with the highest levels of security.

Burgan Bank remains focused and committed to serving its customers and meeting their needs.

Karan Kapur, Burgan Bank’s Head of Alternative Delivery Channels, is seen at one of the ATMs at The Avenues.

Liu is deputy director of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, and his comments offered a rare insight into the thinking of a body that is instrumental in shaping decisions made by the Communist Party - and hence the government - but that rarely makes public statements. “If exchange rates are volatile, trade will have no anchor. There will be disorder in capital inflows and outflows. So as a responsible big nation, we must maintain relative stability of exchange rates,” Liu told a conference.

China has effectively pegged the yuan near 6.83 to the dollar since mid-2008 to help its exporters ride out the financial crisis, but its stance is under growing fire from Washington.

Lawmakers are threatening punitive duties against Chinese products unless the yuan resumes its ascent, while US President Barack Obama’s administration must decide on April 15 whether to label China a “currency manipulator” in a semi-annual Treasury Department report.

With the report shaping up to be a flashpoint in Sino-US relations, Beijing sent a vicecommerce minister, Zhong Shan, to Washington this week to press its case. “Some Congressmen and experts simply cited the Sino-US trade surplus to conclude that China is manipulating the yuan’s exchange rate,” Zhong said, according to a statement released by his ministry yesterday. “This argument is wrong.

There is no logic to it,” Zhong said in the statement.

Some economists say the yuan is undervalued by 25 percent or more, serving as a subsidy for Chinese goods and costing jobs in the United States, where unemployment is nearly 10 percent. But Liu, the Communist Party official, said a stronger exchange rate was not in the direct interest of American producers and would increase costs for American consumers. “I am very regretful that some politicians are using this as an excuse. Why are they doing something that is not in the interests of their country? I cannot understand this,” he said.

Fan Gang, an academic member of the central bank’s monetary policy committee, said a stronger yuan itself was not a solution for US economic woes, including employment. In an op-ed article titled “Toying with yuan won’t help us,” Fan did not rule out a more flexible exchange rate. “What is certain, however, is that China’s politicians have a domestic agenda just like the Americans. The key element of that agenda is to maintain employment growth,” he said.

The yuan firmed slightly yesterday in the offshore forward market but remained trapped in its recent range.

Traders were pricing in a 2.36 percent rise in the Chinese currency in 12 months’ time compared with 2.27 percent implied at Thursday’s close. — Reuters

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California: In this file photo made March 3, 2010, a Costco employee cooks chicken at a Costco. The Commerce Department says the economy grew at a 5.6 percent pace in the October-to-December quarter in its third and final estimate of economic activity for the period. — AP

US Q4 growth revised lower WASHINGTON: The US economy grew at a slightly less brisk pace in the fourth quarter than previously estimated, while corporate profits slowed sharply from the previous quarter, government data showed yesterday.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 5.6 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said in its final report for the fourth quarter, instead of the 5.9 percent pace it estimated in February. It was still the fastest pace since the third quarter of 2003.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast GDP, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, growing at a 5.9 percent rate in the October-December period.

GDP increased at a 2.2 percent pace in the third quarter. The department also said after-tax corporate profits grew 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter, slowing from a 12.7 percent rise in the prior period. It was below market expectations for a 10 percent gain. For all of 2009, after-tax profits fell 6.9 percent, the biggest decline since 2000.

This makes inventories “leaner, which implies it could create conditions for stronger orders and restocking going forward. We are already seeing that in the first quarter. I expect a modest upward revision (in forecasts) in first-quarter

growth,” said Richard DeKaser, president of Woodley Park Research in Washington. US stocks held gains after the data, while government bond prices were little changed.

Growth in GDP was lowered because contributions from business investment, consumer spending and inventories were revised down. Much of the economy’s recovery from the most brutal downturn since the 1930s has been driven by government stimulus and businesses being less aggressive in reducing inventories. This has raised concerns that growth could sputter later this year when the boost from the two sources fades, given tepid consumer spending and high unemployment.

When businesses increase inventories or slow the rate at which they are liquidating them, manufacturers raise production and this boosts GDP. Excluding inventories, the economy expanded at a rate of 1.7 percent instead of the 1.9 percent pace estimated last month. Business inventories fell $19.7 billion in fourth quarter, slightly more than the $16.9 billion estimated last month. They dropped $139.2 billion in the JulySeptember period. The change in inventories added 3.79 percentage points to GDP in the last quarter.

This was the biggest percentage contribution since the fourth quarter of 1987. For the whole of 2009, the economy contracted 2.4 percent, the biggest decline since 1946, the department said. There were also small downward revisions to business investment and consumer spending, which contributed to lowering GDP estimates. Business investment rose at a 5.3 percent rate rather than the 6.5 percent rate estimated last month. This reflected reduced spending on structures. Commercial real estate is struggling under the weight of high vacancy rates and tight access to credit.

Spending on new home construction was revised lower to a 3.8 percent rate of increase in the fourth quarter from the 5 percent pace reported in February. It had grown at an 18.9 percent pace in the third quarter. However, sales of new homes are slowing this year, hitting a record low in February. The rise in consumer spending was adjusted lower to a 1.6 percent rate from 1.7 percent. That was below the 2.8 percent increase in the third quarter, when consumption got a boost from the government’s “cash for clunkers” auto purchase program. Consumer spending contributed 1.16 percentage points to fourth-quarter GDP. — Reuters

‘Cash for refrigerators’ boosts appliance sales WASHINGTON: Americans are lining up to snap up rebates for “cash for refrigerators” and “dollars for dishwashers,” as part of a US government program aimed at both economic stimulus and reduced emissions. The effort, modeled after the “cash for clunkers” auto trade-in program, includes nearly $300 million to encourage consumers to dump older appliances in favor of newer, energy-efficient models. US officials say the effort, a small part of the nearly $800-billion economic stimulus measure enacted last year, will help reduce the US carbon footprint because of the heavy electrical consumption of big appliances, and at the same time pump money into the economy that can create jobs.

One level, the program, which is being administered by individual states, appears to be succeeding in jump-starting sales. In Iowa, which offered rebates up to $500 on refrigerators, washing machines and dishwashers, the $2.7 million in federal funds was exhausted in less than a day by stampeding consumers. Minnesota needed less than three days to give out five million dollars in appliance rebates.

In Ohio, which launched its program Friday with $10.5 million, the state agency administering it said it “anticipates the rebates will be exhausted in a few weeks”. As of this week, New York still had $5.6 million remaining from its $18.7 million even though some waited in line on the opening weekend. “It’s been a boon to consumers and retailers,” said Francis Murray of the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority.

The biggest of the state programs will be launched in California April 22, with $35.2 million.

And more states will be launching rebate pro-

grams in the coming months. To qualify for rebates, consumers must buy appliances which meet energy standards set by the federal government and are up to 30 percent more efficient than existing models. Some states are offering extra rebates if consumers recycle old appliances. Some see the program as a natural follow-up to the “clunkers” program, which boosted new car sales, and in turn lifted auto production and jobs to help pull the US economy out of its slump.

Economist Ryan Sweet at Moody’s Economy.com said the appliance program probably had an impact on sales and orders for durable goods, big-ticket items expected to last at least three years that are critical to the manufacturing sector. “Eight states launched rebate programs last month, which would help explain some of the strength in sales at both electronic and building material stores,” he said. “This also argues for strong gains in subsequent months and lends some upside risk to our forecast for real durables spending.”

Joel Naroff at Naroff Economic Advisors said that while the clunkers program appeared to have a positive economic impact, the effect of the appliance program may be far less. He said the impact may be reduced even more for appliances made outside the United States. “On a 600 dollar washing machine, the retailer may make 100 dollars but the manufacturer will make 300 dollars,” he said.

“But if the manufacturer is on the other side of the world, that’s 300 dollars that goes out of the economy.” University of Delaware economists Burton Abrams and George Parsons argue that both the clunkers and appliance programs are lemons for taxpayers, mainly because they are destroying otherwise productive assets. — AFP

TECHNOLOGY

Saturday, March 27, 2010

9

Suspected Twitter infiltrator: ‘I’m a nice hacker’ PARIS: He’s unemployed and isn’t much of a computer expert. The Frenchman accused of infiltrating Twitter and peeping at the accounts of President Barack Obama and singers Britney Spears and Lily Allen says he wanted to reveal just how vulnerable online data systems are to break-ins and he says he didn’t mean any harm.

“I’m a nice hacker,” suspect Francois Cousteix told France 3 television Thursday, a day after he was released from police questioning, adding that his goal was to warn Internet users about data security.

“Hacker Croll,” as he was known online, is accused of breaking into Twitter administrators’ accounts and copying confidential data - as well as peeping at Obama’s and the singers’ accounts, though he didn’t have access to sensitive information about them, a French prosecutor said.

FBI agents sat in on the sessions while French police questioned the young man for two days, said Jean-Yves Coquillat, prosecutor in Clermont-Ferrand, where the suspect will be tried in June for hack-

ing. If convicted on the charge of breaking into a data system, he risks up to two years in prison and a $40,068 fine. The suspect lives near Clermont-Ferrand in central France.

“He says it’s the challenge, the game, that made him do it,” Coquillat said.

Officials say preliminary investigations suggest Hacker Croll did not tweet in other peoples’ names or try to make money out of his information.

“He had access to elements that were so confidential that he could very well have profited from them” through blackmail, for example, said Adeline Champagnat of the French police office on information technology crimes.

She compared the hacker’s actions to “a burglar breaking into the headquarters of a big company, able to look at the files of the all employees and clients, with their passwords and confidential information.”

“In a way, he succeeded in taking control of Twitter,” Champagnat said.

Twitter, based in San Francisco, declined to comment on the case Thursday. At one point, Champagnat said, the hacker attempted to find a password

LONDON: A Scotland Yard police poster is displayed in an internet cafe in London. Scotland Yard noted that several terror plotters have used Internet cafes to coordinate planned attacks. Posters and screen savers with the Scotland Yard logo are being installed at cafes that sign up to the plan. — AP

for Obama’s account but didn’t follow through with it.

With administrator access, “he didn’t even need” Obama’s password, she said but hacking into the president’s account wasn’t his goal.

Cousteix, who was identified as being 23 or 24, said he just wanted to prove a point about Internet security.

“It’s a message I wanted to get out to Internet users, to show them that no system is invulnerable,” he told France 3 television. Hacker Croll confessed to the hacking under questioning, and analysis of his computer backs up his statements, police and the prosecutor said.

The suspect, who lives with his parents and has no college degree, didn’t have any special computer training, the prosecutor said.

His technique was to get administrators’ e-mail passwords’ reset by correctly answering their security questions using information about his prey that he gathered from blogs and other public sites, officials said.

Twitter said in July that it was the victim of a security breach. Co-founder Biz

Stone wrote at the time that the personal e-mail of an unnamed Twitter administrative employee was hacked, and through that the attacker got access to the employee’s Google Apps account.

The French prosecutor said the suspect infiltrated the accounts of “several” Twitter administrative employees. He was able to access information such as contracts with partners and resumes from job applicants, Coquillat said.

Hacker Croll e-mailed some of the documents to TechCrunch, a widely read technology blog, and it subsequently published some of them, including financial projections.

The material was also published on several French sites. Some of the material was more embarrassing than damaging, like floor plans for new office space and a pitch for a Twitter TV show. Using the administrator logins, Hacker Croll looked at Twitter details of Obama, Allen, Spears and other well-known personalities and was able to see information such as IP addresses, when they were last connected and when they signed up, French officials said. —AP

Washington looks to export drone technology to allies Terrorists top concerns over spread of drone technology WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped to export coveted US drone technology to allies, despite legal hurdles, and played down the threat from rival drone programs in nations like Iran. Gates, testifying at

BEIJING: A Chinese flag flies next to the Google company logo outside the Google China headquarters in Beijing.— AFP

China tightens access to Google’s Hong Kong site BEIJING: Chinese access to Google’s search engine grew more restricted with some sensitive searches blocked altogether as the fallout from its decision to redirect mainland users to its uncensored Hong Kong website threatened to undermine the Internet giant’s ability to cling to its hard-won Chinese market share. The move was already reverberating across the Pacific. Google said it would delay rolling out in China mobile applications that run on Android phones after its Chinese partners came under government pressure to pull out of deals with Google.

Chinese Internet and mobiles-services provider Tom Online, run by one of Asia’s wealthiest businessmen, Li Ka-shing, also announced it would stop using Google’s search engine. With the latest transpacific row, it was unclear whether the Hong Kong site will be blocked or Google will be allowed to continue its other operations and partnerships with Chinese companies such as the state-owned telecommunications carrier China Mobile Ltd. “The Chinese will look for ways to squeeze Google across the board,” said James Lewis, a technology expert with the think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Google said Monday it hopes to keep a sales team, research and development operations and a burgeoning stake in mobile phones in China.

Analysts say the attempt at business as usual underscores how dearly the company still wants to succeed in the world’s largest Internet and cell phone market while taking a stand against government censorship.

It’s a tightrope act, with Google leaving the Chinese market without leaving the market, complying with Chinese law while trying to undermine it, said Douglas Paal, vice-president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a senior adviser on Asian affairs in the Reagan and George Bush senior’s administrations.

“Google wants to have its cake and eat it too,” said Duncan Clark, chairman of research firm BDA China Ltd. So far, the dispute between the technology giant that wants to spread information and the government that wants to limit it is not spilling over into already strained diplomatic relations between China and the United States. The Obama administration’s subdued comments echoed the tone of the Chinese government.

National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said Google had informed the White House of its plans and expressed disappointment that Google and the Chinese government had been unable to reach a deal. “The US-China relationship is mature enough to sustain differences,” Hammer said. But tensions have escalated in relations between Google and China, said Benchmark Capital analyst Clayton Moran. “I am a little surprised that Google didn’t voluntarily shut down to have a more diplomatic exit. That in my mind might have helped them in their efforts to keep the other operations going. It appears to me that both sides are taking a pretty hard stance,” Moran said.

State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said Tuesday that Beijing should consider the implications of one of the world’s most recognizable institutions deciding it’s too difficult to do business in China. Google’s Hong Kong site features a simplified form of Chinese characters used in mainland China.

It also has maintained products it had on its Chinese site, such as legal music downloads and partnerships with leading online forums. Experts say Google can earn profits if it proves to advertisers that a migration to Hong Kong servers does not cost the company users.

The search engine also can count on Chinese advertisers who target Google.com. An estimated 40 percent of Google’s ad revenue in China is generated by the American site. Hong Kong, a former British territory, belongs to China but has separate laws that

allow Google to operate an uncensored search engine. Those accessing the site in China are subject to Web content filters, better known as the Great Firewall, that will block connections to sensitive sites.

Earlier Tuesday, searches for sensitive terms such as the banned spiritual group Falun Gong netted results that would have been blocked on Google’s old site. Though they couldn’t be opened, they provided a glimpse at what sort of uncensored material was available. By the evening, the same search immediately resulted in an error message, suggesting government censors already had adapted to the change.

Google also hopes Android can reap benefits for the company in China’s rapidly expanding smartphone market. The company was hoping to use the software to dominate mobile Internet searches and also sell a slew of cell phone applications, much like Apple Inc.’s iPhone. “Android’s share is not significant now, but the opportunity is enormous in a country with over 800-million mobile subscribers,” said Kaiser Kuo, a Beijing-based technology expert.

Experts say a decision from the government will not come easy or swiftly. When one ministry tried to install filtering software called Green Dam-Youth Escort on all personal computers last year, the plan was ridiculed by Web-savvy Chinese who viewed the government as increasingly out of step with technology. “The government got spooked by the reaction to Green Dam,” said Clark of BDA. “I think the debate is raging” about what to do with Google.

But lawmakers are also sensitive to an undercurrent of nationalism that has seeped into the controversy. Some see support for Google from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as evidence that Washington is trying to undermine stability in China and weaken its international standing. “China already has a bad image abroad,” said a law student who only wanted to give his first name, Tim. “This will add to it. I really like Google. I respect their decision, but I don’t understand it.”—MCT

Beware online knights in shining armor, US warns WASHINGTON: Online scammers are posing as US serviceman posted overseas and promising love and marriage to cheat women out of thousands of dollars, the US Army’s Criminal Investigation Command has warned. Special CID agents cautioned that they had learned of multiple incidents in which people online posed as US soldiers and got “romantically involved... with female victims and prey on their emotions and patriotism.”

Army CID spokesman Chris Grey said the scammers often used information about real soldiers, including their names and ranks, and found photographs of soldiers online to create a false identity. These individuals promise “true love, but only end up breaking hearts and bank accounts,” the CID warned. Once they have snared a victim, the criminals request money they claim is needed to purchase items including laptops and return plane tickets.

“These perpetrators, often from other countries, most notably from Ghana, Angola and Nigeria, are good at what they do and quite familiar with American culture,” said Grey.

The Army CID warned women to be cautious when contacted online by people claiming to be US servicemembers. “Be extremely suspicious if you are asked for money for transportation costs, communication fees or marriage processing and medical fees,” the CID warned in a statement.—AFP

“There are other countries that are very interested in this capability and frankly it is, in my view, in our interest to see what we can do to accommodate them,” Gates said. The drones have proven to be a crucial technological advantage for the US military in Afghanistan and Iraq, allowing it to remotely track and kill insurgents and giving troops eyes-in-the-sky battleground imagery in real time. The CIA has used drones armed with missiles to ramp up its covert campaign to kill Al-Qaeda and Taleban targets in Pakistan.

“The reality is so far we have been in situations where (drone) technology cannot be used, or has not been used against our troops anywhere,” Gates said. But that might not remain the case, he said. He cited Iran, which he has said is providing limited support to Afghan insurgents, and which is developing unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. “Iran has UAVs and that is a concern because it is one of those areas where I suppose if they chose to, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, they could create difficulties for us,” Gates said.

Still, he called UAVs “relatively slow flyers” that could be neutralized by the Air Force if they threatened US forces. “I actually think our ability to protect our troops from these things particularly in a theater of combat like this is actually quite good,” he said. Militant groups, as opposed to other countries, were a bigger concern when it came to the spread of drone technology.

“My worry would be capabilities like this getting into the hands of non-state actors who could use them for terrorist purposes,” Gates said.

PENT-UP DEMAND The US aerospace industry estimated in December that US military demand for unmanned aircraft would double over the next five years after rising 600 percent since 2004. It is also hoping for growth abroad. The industry wants to change the Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR, a pact among at least 34 countries aimed at curbing the spread of unmanned delivery systems that could be used for weapons of mass destruction.

Gates said he shared concerns of lawmakers about the spread of the technology to adversaries and “about these capabilities getting into the hands of those who are our adversaries.” But he also said the United States had only sold UAVs to Italy and Britain so far.

“With respect to export ... I think there are some specific cases where we have allies with whom we have formal treaty alliances who have expressed interest in these capabilities,” he said. “And we have told them that we are limited in what we can do by the MTCR, but I think it’s something we need to pursue with them.”

Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk, which provides surveillance capabilities, has drawn interest from countries including South Korea, Japan and Singapore as well as Britain, Spain and Canada, a company spokeswoman said in December. Washington announced plans to give Pakistan surveillance drones but Islamabad also wants shoot-andkill drones, like the Predator, which may be armed with Hellfire missiles. — Reuters

a Senate hearing, said it was in the US interest to try to help friendly nations get drone technology, despite limitations on exports imposed by an international pact.

ATSUGI: Journalists touch a clay model of new Nissan Fairlady Z at a Nissan’s design center in Atsugi, near Tokyo yesterday. — AP

Electric car designs to err on conservative side ATSUGI: Futuristic designs for electric cars are unlikely to enter mass production for a decade as automakers concentrate on conventional looks to help gain consumer acceptance for the zero emission cars, Nissan’s chief designer said yesterday.

Major automakers have already released or are planning electric vehicles but the experimental designs used in prototypes like Nissan’s bubble shaped Pivo with its revolving cabin won’t be seen in showrooms anytime soon.

Tokyo-based Nissan’s first electric vehicle to go on commercial sale, the LEAF, is set to roll out later this year. It is curvaceous but looks much like a standard gasengine car. Electric vehicles can take

strange shapes because they don’t have a bulky standard engine and the battery can be placed practically anywhere in the frame.

“But we are aiming for the mainstream buyer with the LEAF,” the Nissan Motor Co. executive in charge of design, Shiro Nakamura, told reporters at the automaker’s design facility in the Tokyo suburb of Atsugi. “This is not something for just the niche buyer.”

He said electric vehicles will be in their second or third generation, perhaps as much as a decade away, before they take on more futuristic forms. Nissan is by far the most aggressive on electric vehicles compared to other Japanese automakers like Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co.

Automakers plow significant money into design as it’s one important way to differentiate cars from competitors producing vehicles that are increasingly alike in performance capabilities and technology.

Nissan’s design center, where about 600 people work, is dubbed an “imagination factory” by the company. It sports a cuttingedge look with modern furniture, sprawling white walls and huge screens to project car designs.

“When it gets harder to compete in offering the functional value of cars, emotional value is one area where we can still really compete,” said Koji Nagano, a Nissan design director. “And that’s where design becomes critical.” — AP

New species of human being CONDON: For the first time, the analysis of ancient DNA has rewritten the human story.

Some 30,000 years ago, human life was far richer than we could have imagined.

Until recently, palaeontologists’ view of human evolution was desperately lacking. Ask them to paint a picture of human existence 40,000 years ago, say, and they would mention modern humans, Homo sapiens, occupying vast territories. The only other hominid (a human or close relative) in existence back then, Homo neanderthalis, was eking out a life alongside us modern humans, but its populations were in terminal decline. Then the Neanderthals became extinct around 25,000 years ago. That much was agreed upon.

Things changed in 2003. Field researchers working in caves on the Indonesian island of Flores uncovered remains of a diminutive human relative that lived at least 13,000 years ago. The Flores “hobbits” grew to be a metre tall as adults and could be traced back to Homo

erectus, the forerunner of modern humans that left Africa 1.9m years ago. The hobbits’ size is thought to be a direct result of their isolation.

Then there is the latest discovery, with which the number of early human species, or hominids, living 30,000 years ago has risen to four. In the space of a decade, the size of the human family has doubled. And it’s not just the cast list of the human evolution story that has had to be revised. Excavations of fossilised human remains have now led scientists to talk of three great migrations out of Africa. The first footprints leading off the continent were left by Homo erectus (the ancestor we share with the Neanderthals, with those hobbits, and with this new species of human). The next migration, around 450,000 years ago, was the Neanderthals. Then, perhaps as recently as 60,000 years ago, the first modern humans left to populate Eurasia and beyond - the humans from whom all of us alive on earth today are descended. The new species of human

appears to fit in with none of these migrations out of Africa, and instead points to yet another great exodus, one that happened around 1m years ago. To some scientists, even this fairly complicated picture is beginning to feel oversimplistic. “I don’t think we can be absolutely certain about anything now,” says Professor Terry Brown, an expert in ancient DNA at Manchester University. What we do know is that the story starts in Africa, but that early humans then decided to leave. “There’s no reason why a hominid should remain in Africa if the population increases,” says Brown. “The natural thing for it to do is to move.” The march out of the cradle of humanity may have been more of an ongoing wander, with early humans moving farther afield as and when they needed.

What’s also known is that with the exception of the hobbits of Flores, every human species is thought to have evolved before making its way out of Africa. — Guardian

HEALTH

10

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Sex virus blamed for rise in head and neck cancers LONDON: The number of head and neck cancers linked to a virus spread by oral sex is rising rapidly and suggests boys as well as girls should be offered protection through vaccination, doctors said yesterday. Despite an overall slight decline in head and neck cancers in recent years, cases of a particular form called oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) have increased sharply, particularly in the developed world.

This growth seems to be linked to cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), scientists said in a report in the British Medical Journal.

Two vaccines-Cervarix, made by GlaxoSmithKline, and Gardasil, made

by Merck & Co-can prevent HPV, which causes virtually all cases of cervical cancer, the second most common cancer in women worldwide.

Many rich nations have launched HPV immunization programs for girls to try to protect them from the common sexually transmitted virus before they become sexually active.

The scientists, led by Hisham Mehanna of the Institute of Head and Neck Studies at University Hospital Coventry, said while including boys

in immunization plans has been seen as too expensive, it may be time to look again.

“We need to look at the evidence

and repeated his ‘buy’ recommendation for Glaxo stock. “The emergence of new data such as this may increase motivation amongst national

More than 500,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed annually in women and it kills around 200,000 a year. Head and neck cancer is the

Study suggests vaccination should also be offered to boys again to re-evaluate the cost-effectiveness of male children in light of this new and rapidly rising incidence,” he said in an interview.

Analyst Savvas Neophytou at Panmure Gordon in London said such studies would dispel worries about sales prospects for HPV vaccines,

vaccination authorities worldwide to re-double efforts to vaccinate children before they become sexually active,” he said in an equity research note. Glaxo shares were slightly lower, in line with a weaker European pharmaceutical sector and down 0.4 percent by 0905 GMT.

sixth most common cancer among men and women, with about 640,000 new cases each year worldwide.

A recent study found the risk of developing oropharyngeal carcinoma was linked to a history of six or more lifetime sexual partners, four or more lifetime oral sex partners, and, for

men, an earlier age at first sexual intercourse. “Sexual transmission of HPV-primarily through orogenital intercourse-might be the reason for the increase in incidence of HPV related oropharyngeal carcinoma,” wrote Mehanna. The scientists pointed to recent studies which showed a 70 percent increase in the detection of HPV in biopsies taken to diagnose oropharyngeal carcinoma in Stockholm since the 1970s.

HPV-related cancer was also reported in 60-80 percent of recent biopsy samples in studies in the United States, compared with 40 per-

cent in the previous decade, they wrote. Mehanna said the findings had other important health implications.

Patients with HPV-related head and neck cancers were typically younger and employed, he said, and because their tumors appeared to be less deadly than those caused by factors like smoking and drinking, patients may also live longer with the physical and psychological effects of treatment. “This means they would need prolonged support from health, social, and other services, and may require help in returning to work,” he said. —Reuters

Up to a third of breast cancers can be avoided Women need to eat less and work out more BARCELONA: Up to a third of breast cancer cases in Western countries could be avoided if women ate less and exercised more, researchers at a conference said, renewing a sensitive debate about how lifestyle factors affect the disease. Better treatments, early diagnosis and mammogram screenings have dramatically slowed breast cancer, but experts

said the focus should now shift to changing behaviors like diet and physical activity. “What can be achieved with screening has been achieved.

We can’t do much more,” Carlo La Vecchia, head of epidemiology at the University of Milan, said in an interview. “It’s time to move on to other things.”

FREIBURG: In this file photo, a young woman jogs with her dog in southern Germany. — AP

Could Hong Kong teach China to quit smoking?

Nearly one in three smokers worldwide lights up in China, where cigarettes - commonly given as gifts - are so tightly woven into the culture, some believe it’s an impossible habit to kick. But a new report suggests the keys to quitting lie in the country’s own backyard.

Hong Kong has successfully fought tobacco for two decades and seen its smoking rate drop from 23 percent in 1982 when the campaign began to 12 percent in 2008 - the lowest in the world. The former British colony, now under Chinese rule, hit cigarettes hard with taxes up to 300 percent, banned indoor smoking and promoted education through schools and public service announcements - proving that smoking and Chinese culture aren’t necessarily married for life.

“We all learn from shared experiences. The US tobacco program has learned from Australia, Canada and others,” said Jeffrey Koplan, from Emory Global Health Institute in Atlanta, who wrote a commentary published online yesterday in The Lancet medical journal. “Hong Kong is very relevant to Chinese conditions, and the big lesson for all of us to learn is that effective health promotion programs are multidimensional.” About 30 percent of the world’s smokers live in China, a number roughly equal to the entire US population. Within the next 15 years it will kill an estimated 2 million Chinese annually, the report said. The country is home to both the world’s largest tobacco grower and cigarette producer.

The mainland has taken some steps to reduce smoking, such as banning TV and radio ads and adding health warnings to cigarette packaging, and it was successful in banning smoking at both indoor and outdoor venues at the 2008 Olympics. But the government now needs to step up and confront its state-owned tobacco monopoly by slapping cigarettes with steep taxes, said Dr Judith Mackay, a World Health Organization senior policy adviser who’s been a long-standing vocal leader of antismoking campaigns across Asia, working with China since the 1980s.

“You have to price them out of the hands and the pockets and the mouths of children,” she said, adding that China did levy a tax, but it was absorbed by the companies and smokers were never hit with a price increase. “If you can get kids by the age of 19, they don’t start smoking hardly after that.” The price of locally made cigarettes varies widely in China, but a pack can be bought for as little as $1.50 in Beijing. By comparison, in Hong Kong, an imported pack costs just over $5.

In Hong Kong, cigarettes have been taxed a number of times at high rates starting at 300 percent in 1983. When the territory left the tax rate unchanged from 2001 to 2008, it saw a rise in tobacco use, including an increase in the average number of cigarettes being smoked by young people from nine a day in 2005 to 11 three years later. Last year, the government levied a 50 percent tax increase to counter the resurgence. Mackay, who has lived in Hong Kong for 40 years and was not part of the Lancet commentary, said the WHO recently challenged the territory of 7 million to become the first place to push its smoking rate below 10 percent.

She said it’s a target that can hopefully be met, showing China what’s possible with enough direction. Hong Kong’s leaders, along with WHO chief Dr Margaret Chan, the financial hub’s former health director, are also key

to helping China realize just how much smoking will cost the country in the long run.

“Some people in China always think that Chinese are a special case, and actually I don’t buy it at all,” she said. “I’ve worked with kings and communists in this region and the product is the same, the health effects are the same, the obstacles are the same, what has to be done is the same.” Earlier this week, a national study revealed that China is now home to the most people living with diabetes. Smoking is a major risk factor for that chronic ailment along with heart disease, the country’s top killer.

Tobacco-related diseases are already linked to about 1 million deaths a year. “The huge tobacco and cigarette industry and its economic impact are serious challenges to tobacco control,” said Koplan. “But not much different from the tobacco industry in the US Good health eventually trumps commercial profits.” — AP

WENLING: In this photo, a Chinese man smokes a cigarette in central China. — AP

La Vecchia spoke Thursday at a European breast cancer conference in Barcelona. He cited figures from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which estimates that 25 to 30 percent of breast cancer cases could be avoided if women were thinner and exercised more. The agency is part of the World Health Organization. His comments are in line with recent health advice that lifestyle changes in areas such as smoking, diet, exercise and sun exposure can play a significant role in risk for several cancers.

Dr Michelle Holmes of Harvard University, who has studied cancer and lifestyle factors, said people might wrongly think their chances of getting cancer depend more on their genes than their lifestyle. “The genes have been there for thousands of years, but if cancer rates are changing in a lifetime, that doesn’t have much to do with genes,” she told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. In Europe, there were about 421,000 new cases and nearly 90,000 deaths in 2008, the latest available figures.

The United States last year saw more than 190,000 new cases and 40,000 deaths.

A woman’s lifetime chance of getting breast cancer is about one in eight. Obese women are up to 60 percent more likely to develop any cancer than normal-weight women, according to a 2006 study

by British researchers. Many breast cancers are fueled by estrogen, a hormone produced in fat tissue. So experts suspect that the fatter a woman is, the more estrogen she’s likely to produce, which could in turn fuel breast cancer. Even in slim women, experts believe exercise can help reduce the cancer risk by converting more fat into muscle.

Yet any discussion of weight and breast cancer is considered sensitive because some may misconstrue that as the medical establishment blaming women for their disease. Tara Beaumont, a clinical nurse specialist at Breast Cancer Care, a British charity, said her agency has always been careful about giving lifestyle advice. She noted that three of the major risk factors for breast cancer - gender, age and family history - are clearly beyond anyone’s control.

“It is incredibly difficult to isolate specific factors. Therefore women should in no way feel that they are responsible for developing breast cancer,” she said. Yet Karen Benn, a spokeswoman for Europa Donna, a patient-focused breast cancer group, said it was impossible to ignore the increasingly stronger links between lifestyle and breast cancer.

“If we know there are healthier choices, we can’t not recommend them just because people might misinterpret the advice and feel guilty,” she said. “If we are going to prevent breast cancer, then this message needs to get out, particularly to younger women.” That means avoiding becoming overweight as an adult.

Robert Baan, a cancer expert with the international cancer research agency, said it isn’t clear if women who lose weight can lower their risk to the level of a woman who was never fat.

The American Cancer Society Web site says the connection between weight and cancer risk is complex. It says risk appears to increase for women who gain weight as adults, but not for women who have been overweight since childhood. — AP

GUATEMALA CITY: Picture of a Guatemalan spiny-tailed iguana (Ctenosaura palearis) taken at La Aurora zoo in Guatemala City on March 25, 2010. The spiny-tailed iguana, which is only found in this Central American country, was added by the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna) on March 24 in its list of protected species. — AFP

Asthma relief in Pakistan salt mine KHEWRA: A centuries-old salt mine in Pakistan is offering experimental asthma therapy, attracting patients from all over the world. Khewra, billed as the world’s second largest salt mine, has for centuries extracted the crucial mineral for export and has become a tourist attraction complete with a salt mosque and an electric train. Now, the mine is cashing in on salt therapy, already a draw in the salt mines of eastern Europe and a synthetic clinic in Britain.

Clinics claim that asthma patients and sufferers of other respiratory illnesses benefit from inhaling antibacterial salt particles in a sterile environment, helping loosen mucus and clear the lung passages.

“We don’t use any medicine, because the asthmatic allergy patients recover through the air, so we provide them an environment in which their breathing can improve,” said Akhlaq Bukhari, head doctor at the Khewra clinic. Although there have been few clinical studies, salt caves are seen by some as a therapeutic alternative to drugs and there are natural and synthetic salt caves springing up all over the world.

While other clinics offer treatment for bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, and even ear infections, Shah says the Khewra clinic only treats patients whose asthma is triggered by allergies. “I have come here all the way from Canada. I could not recover there through medicine, but I am feeling better since my arrival here,” said Naeem Shamsher, a civil engineer from Canada.

Shamsher had tried medicine doled out by doctors back home but felt little relief and struggled to walk far without becoming breathless, so relatives in Pakistan suggested he visit the Khewra Mines.

“Now I can run and even play soccer just after spending three days in the mine,” said Shamsher, who says he feels 60 percent better after the treatment.

The mine, located 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, was discovered

in 320 BC by Alexander’s troops and first developed

by British colonial rulers in 1872, mine officials say.

Located deep underground in the mine, the asthma clinic resembles an upmarket guesthouse, with 12 beds covered in white sheets and red blankets in six independent cabins separated with salt bricks and softly lit by lamps. There is a reception area decorated with salt lamps and a lounge complete with a fountain, sofas and a television set.

The walls and roof of the clinic are made from pure salt and a fan helps maintain the temperature and humidity, creating the so-called “micro-climate” that offers patients relief, Shah says. A 10-day course at the Khewra Mines salt therapy centre costs 5,300 rupees (62 dollars), with 11 hours a day spent in the caves while nights are spent in a nearby hospital.

Since opening in 2007, the clinic has treated about 500 patients. Shah claims that 60 percent of patients experience some relief from their symptoms and says patients have come from as far as Britain and Saudi Arabia.

But Shahid Abbas, a doctor who runs the private Allergy and Asthma Centre in Islamabad, told AFP that although an asthma or allergy sufferer may get temporary relief, there is no quick-fix cure. “There is no scientific proof that a person can permanently get rid of asthma by breathing in a salt mine or in a particular environment,” he said. Khaled Sajjad Khokhar, managing director of the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation, a government body which owns the mine, says they will assess the success of the Khewra clinic before approving its expansion to 100 beds. But some patients are returning, happy to get even temporary relief. “This hospital is a blessing, it gave me a second life. I never had problems breathing after spending 10 days over there in 2007,” said Pakistani patient Adnan Khan, on his second visit to the clinic. — AFP

World’s first electronic underpants in Australia SYDNEY: An Australian company yesterday announced the rollout of what it said were the world’s first electronic underpants, saying its product was able to send text messages if the wearer became incontinent. Designed for the elderly and infirm, the SIMsystem will be used in homes for the aged across New South Wales state to monitor incontinence after successful trials in Victoria, the company Simavita said. “Incontinence management is a key area in which innovative technologies can benefit aged care,” said chief executive Philippa Lewis.

“We developed SIMsystem to provide greater comfort and dignity to the elderly while aiming to significantly lower costs for aged care facilities.”

Simavita said its underpants have a disposable element similar to a regular incontinence pad and include a detachable transmitter that relays readings from the pad’s sensor strip over a wireless network to a central computer. Alerts are sent via text message or over the institution’s paging system. More than 90 percent of Australians living in elderly care facilities are believed to suffer from incontinence-a problem that currently requires staff to carry out frequent manual checks throughout the day. —AFP

Women with more kids are less prone to suicide TAIPEI: The more children a woman has, the less likely she is to commit suicide, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday, summarizing a study of more than 2,000 mothers who took their own lives. The study, to be published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal, serves as evidence against the notion that a large number of children would lead to more suicides because of the extra stress on mothers.

“Women tend to find solace and support from their children from marital problems, especially in patriarchal Asian societies,” said Yang Chun-yuh, the author of the study. Women with three children are 60 percent less likely to commit suicide than those with one child, according to the study, the first of its kind in Asia.

The study analyzed 2,252 Taiwanese women who had a first live birth between 1978 and 1987 and committed suicide by 2007, the end of the study period. — AFP

SPECTRUM

Matt Damon’s $400 tip thrills staff

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Saturday, March 27, 2010

Scent of Beyonce

he ‘Green Zone’ actor splashed out on a specially-prepared dinner for himself, wife Luciana and a group of friends at New York nightspot Stanton Social and delighted workers at the eatery with his generous manner. A source told the New York Daily News newspaper: “Matt ordered nine chilled lobsters, which aren’t even on the menu. But the restaurant made it happen. “Not only was he extremely polite, he left a $400 tip on top of the added gratuity.” Matt isn’t the only Hollywood star to display their generosity while dining out. Kiefer Sutherland ran up

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eyonce Knowles has sold $3 million worth of her fragrance in one month in the US. During one in-store appearance in New York, 72,000 bottles of the singer’s scent Heat - released in February - were purchased, making it the number one brand in department store Macy’s, where it is exclusively sold.

Beyonce has previously told how pleased she is with the fragrance - a mix of magnolia, neroli and blush peach scents - and has had lots of positive reaction to it from her fans. She said “I’m so happy with it. I’ve been working on it for a while now. I

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was on tour for a year, and I have meet-andgreets with fans. I’ve never in my life gotten so many compliments. “They makers have tests, but that was my testing! The fans loved it. They were like, ‘I love that, I’m getting that, why isn’t it out right now? I need it!’ “ Beyonce was involved in all areas of the fragrance’s design and the name came from her shows. She added: “A lot of my performances have had fire involved, so we thought Heat. Also, red is one of my favorite colors, as is gold.” The singer, who has previously been the face of both Giorgio Armani’s Emporio Diamonds and Tommy Hilfiger’s True Star, also said the bottles design was vintage inspired.

a $500 bar bill buying drinks for everyone in The Spot in San Pedro, California, after finishing filming on US drama ‘24’, and then left staff an additional $200 tip. Last year, Johnny Depp gave a staggering $4,000 gratuity at a Chicago restaurant. The 46-yearold actor was celebrating a red carpet screening of his movie ‘Public Enemies’ with a group of friends - including his costar Marion Cotillard and the film’s director Michael Mann - at Gibsons Bar and Steakhouse when he left the mammoth tip.

Waiter Mohammed A Sekhani confirmed: “Depp hosted a party of 15 people, including Mann and Cotillard, and the tip was split 12 ways. Depp is the finest of all the stars I have ever waited on.”

Miley Cyrus feels ‘claustrophobic’ wearing frills

Cheryl Cole snubs Nadine Coyle’s plans

he singer-and-actress says she’ll be glad when filming on the final series of ‘Hannah Montana’ - the TV show she shot to fame on - is over because she will no longer have to be dressed up in pink and glitter. She said: “When they’re putting me in sparkles and in pink this final season, I have to grit my teeth. I can’t breathe looking like that anymore. A friend came by the set one day and said, ‘You don’t look very happy.’ I said, ‘I’m feeling claustrophobic in all these frills.’ “ Miley, 17, has adopted a new mature look of late and looked stunning in her Jenny Packham dress at the Oscars earlier this month. The British designer famed for her wedding dresses - made a bespoke champagne-colored gown for Miley to wear at the prestigious ceremony and was thrilled to see her in it. She said “She fell in love with a white dress from our spring/summer collection. She loves the softer Champagne colors so I created something especially for her. She is young, beautiful and talented and I was honored to be asked to create her special dress for the biggest fashion event of the year.” The dress was clinched in at the waist with a sweeping floor-length skirt and showed off Miley’s curves to perfection.

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he Girls Aloud singer insists she won’t ever work with just one of her bandmates because it would be too “weird” - just days after Nadine revealed she had written a song for them to record. Discussing the possibility of duetting with one of the Girls Aloud singers, Cheryl said: “Nah, I don’t think so. I think that’s a bit weird. I think we’d either have to all do it together, or separately. One with one would be weird.” This news comes shortly after Nadine took to twitter to dispel rumors

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Katherine Heigl wants to be the best mom he 31-year-old star who has an adopted daughter Naleigh with husband Josh Kelley - has hinted her future plans probably won’t involve quite so much acting work because her family is now her main priority. She said: “I think I’m just going to try and keep it a little more mellow and be a little bit more of a mom, since that’s a big part of my life now.” The ‘27 Dresses’ actress also described her daughter as a “wonderful” addition to her life and “the icing on the

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cake”. Katherine - who has portrayed Dr Izzie Stevens in US medical drama ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ for the past six years - has recently been on maternity leave from the show to look after her daughter and admits the break has made her re-evaluate her priorities. She told People.com: “I took those three months off and I realized how very, very important my family is to me and I want to be more available to them.”

Katherine and musician Josh adopted Naleigh from Korea last September.

the pair had fallen out. She tweeted: “I’m hearing stupid talk about Cheryl and I having a fall out. Def NOT the case. I’ve written a song I’d love for us to duet on. Stay tuned. (sic)” Although she’s ruled out releasing a single as a twosome, Cheryl does want to work with her bandmate Nicola Roberts on a re-shoot of the video for Lady Gaga and Beyonce Knowles’ new single ‘Telephone’. She said: “With the new Lady Gaga and Beyonce video ‘Telephone’, I have made a pact with Nicola that she can be Gaga and I can be Beyonce and we will recreate the video.

I had goosebumps the first time I watched it.” Cheryl also confirmed the girl group - also consisting of Sarah Harding and Kimberley Walsh - are contracted to record a further three albums together, but don’t have any plans to start recording new material in the immediate future. She added to BBC Radio 1 DJ Fearne Cotton: “We did sign a three-album record deal, but the last time we did anything was in when we supported Coldplay at Wembley which was only September. So we haven’t really spoken about anything yet.”

Dakota Fanning wants to grow up he 16-year-old actress, who plays rocker Cherie from the in new biopic ‘The Runaways’, admits she wants to do more hard-hitting roles because it is difficult shaking off her child star image. She said: “I can be sweet little Dakota Fanning, and then I can be totally different in the movies. “A big reason I wanted to do ‘The Runaways’ was to do something unlike anything that I’ve done before. “I’m ready to have people see me in a different way than like the kid in ‘I Am Sam’ or ‘War of the Worlds’. You have to kind of grow up. Everyone has to do it.

I am doing it through films, which may be more difficult but it’s what I love to do.” Dakota - who shot to fame aged just seven in ‘I Am Sam’ - also insists she isn’t worried about media attention as she gets older and has vowed to live her life normally. She added to Parade.com: “I will always live my life and always just do what I want to do and what I need to do. I don’t think you can really let fame effect you. It hasn’t been a problem for me yet, with people following me or anything. If it ever does, I don’t know what I’ll do. But as of now, I think I just have to live my life.” —Bang Showbiz

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Kendra Wilkinson feels ‘unattractive’ he former Playboy model - who gave birth to her first son, Hank Randell Baskett IV, in December - is no longer comfortable with her body and felt “unattractive” when she and a group of her pals went to watch her American footballer husband Hank Baskett play in a recent match. She said: “Even though I was excited that Hank’s team won the game and that they were in the playoffs, I was still depressed. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but I was feeling unattractive and my friends being there just made it worse... because they are so hot. I was just feeling really emotional. “I felt

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jealous. I felt insecure. I felt sad. I felt mad. I thought Hank would look at some of other girls and think that he wants his wife to look like that.” Despite her worries, Kendra went on to have a night out with her pals and says she felt much better afterwards. She added on her reality TV show ‘Kendra’: “I’ve been stuck with boys so much. I feel like a boy sometimes. I need my girls.

“Going out with my girlfriends was definitely therapeutic and helped to get all of the negativity out of mind.”

Kendra recently admitted her post-pregnancy body was a “culture shock”.

She said: “Having a different body was such a culture shock. I’m so used to being hot and fit.”

SPECTRUM

Saturday, March 27, 2010

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Mummies are showstoppers in ‘Silk Road’ at Bowers ystery, dazzle and awe unite the mummies of a man, woman and child who were found in China’s Tarim Basin at different times in different places for an exhibition so rich in history it contains some of the earliest known baby bottles, trousers, sunglasses and pasta.

“Secrets of the Silk Road: Mystery Mummies of China” opens today at the Bowers Museum. Ten years in the works, it will be the first time the mummies will be seen outside of Asia.

“The Beauty of Xaiohe” is around 3,800 years old and is one of the most perfectly preserved mummies ever discovered, said exhibit catalog editor Victor Mair, a professor of Chinese language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania. “I call her the Marlene Dietrich of the desert.

She is stunning,” he said.

A reddish, dishwater blonde, the beauty has long, full eyelashes and is wearing a rakish corded hat with a feather. She probably died in her early 30s, Mair said. Because of her eyelashes, “I keep joking we ought to get Maybelline to sponsor this,” said Peter C Keller, president of the Bowers. Her remains were found at Small River Cemetery No 5 (Xaiohe means small river). Bluebonnet Baby, around nine-months old, and Yingpan Man, about 55 when he died, were found at different burial sites a couple hundred miles (kilometers) apart in the Tarim Basin in the Far Western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.

They were all discovered along

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what would become known as the Silk Road, the rambling, braided trading route between Central Asia and China named for the luxurious fabrics that exchanged hands, along with spices, gold, exotic animals, furs and jade. None of the mummies are Asian-looking, Mair said.

have sheep and goats and cattle, all of which came from western Asia,” Mair said. They also know how to grow wheat, he said, another Asian product. China is protective of its ancient mummies, so many tests have yet to be done, including CT scans and other tests that could

A museum employee photographs the Beauty of Xiaohe, a 3,800-year-old mummy discovered in the Tarim Basin in far western China, at the “Secrets of the Silk Road: Mystery Mummies from China,” exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, Calif, Wednesday, March 24, 2010. —AP They are light-skinned with round eyes, long noses and red or blonde hair.

The beautiful woman lived nearly 1,800 years before the Silk Road was established. “They were just isolated people. They are not trading on a large scale. They’re just subsistence, just making do. I call them egg roll pastoralists. They

tell scientists about the people’s last meals, intestines, hair follicles, diet, cause of death, lungs and other factors.

The exhibit comes with more than 150 pieces of clothing, implements, coins, documents, masks, jewelry, coffins and other items found at the burial sites.

“Everything is beautifully pre-

served. There’s a pair of shoes in the exhibit that you could wear today, made out of cattails. I could see a designer actually copying them,” Keller said.

The child, about 2,800 years old, is displayed next to a sheep’s udder shaped into a conelike drinking vessel. “You can say it’s the world’s first baby bottle,” Mair said. “He’s wrapped in a beautiful purply, red, brown blanket which has a different color from whatever side you look at it. They have used red dye on natural brown wool, so you get the same effect as a woman with brown hair who hennas her hair,” said Elizabeth Barber, a member of the curating team, a prehistorian and noted textile expert from Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Barber was impressed with how much the ancient people did with so little. “The baby blanket has a texture stripe in it. By overspinning the yarn and putting three rows of it in every once in a while, it gnarls up in the cloth and makes the texture stripe,” she said. “The face is just beautiful. You can see these long eyelashes and these little reddish brown eyebrows and this little ski-jump nose,” she said, but the mouth is covered by a layered cashmere bonnet.

Baby Bluebonnet was found next to a tomb in the south Tarim Basin that held a man and three women, Barber said. Three adults were mummified and one was a skeleton, but the colors and cording on their clothing identified them as a family. About 10 percent of the bodies found in the ceme-

tery were mummified and the rest were not. Natural mummification occurred in the winter, when temperatures dipped far below zero, while dying in the summer ensured deterioration, Barber said.

The bodies that were mummified had freeze dried, then when spring

was closed, so rather than reopen it, they dug a shallow grave for the baby. Being so small and so close to the surface, the baby’s body froze and mummified. The third mummy in the exhibit is just clothing and a mask that belonged to Yingpan Man, who died when he

A 2,800-year-old infant mummy, Baby Bluebonnet, is shown at the “Secrets of the Silk Road: Mystery Mummies from China,” exhibit. — AP and hot weather came, there was no moisture left to aide decomposition. Barber believes the man and two women were laid out on the ground and froze while their tomb was dug deep into the rock salt.

They were just about to close up the tomb when the third woman died and they made room for her.

But she didn’t spend any time on the surface so she didn’t freeze.

As a result, her flesh deteriorated, leaving only skeletal remains.

The baby died after the tomb

Cafe scene from La Boheme.

was about 55. He is around 2,000 years old and his remains were found in the north Tarim Basin.

The body was taken out when the clothing was sent for study at the National Silk Museum, Mair said.

“He has the most amazing, spectacular, splendid garments that he’s wearing, with classical, Western, European, Mediterranean, Greek and Roman kinds of designs on it. It’s kind of tour de force clothing, really showing off. He must have been

extremely wealthy. He had an extra set of clothing on his belly,” Mair said. He was at one time thought to be 6 feet and 6 inches (198 centimeters), but his height has been lowered by about six inches (15 centimeters), Barber said. “He has a white mask on his face and gold on his forehead and his boots, Mair said. “He was really lavishly duded up for death. We think he was a trader, out in the middle of nowhere but a very strategic trading post. He had some Roman glass in the tomb with him and other things that indicate he had long distance connections along what had by now had become the Silk Road,” Mair said.

The mummies are the centerpieces of the exhibit, but Mair said other parts are just as mesmerizing, including bronze eyeshades and the fried dough twist, men’s pants, combs, fans, games and masks. But his favorite piece is a 2,500-year-old kneeling bronze warrior, about a foot (30 centimeters) tall, with a bare chest, a big nose and round eyes. “I can just stare at this guy for hours and he’s not a mummy. He’s a statue,” Mair said. “What was he doing in the mountains in the middle of Asia?

What kind of people would have cared?” The exhibit runs at the Bowers through July 25, then goes to the Houston Museum of Natural Science from Aug 28 to Jan 2, 2011, then the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology from Feb 5 to June 5 of 2011.

Keller said a fourth site was under consideration. — AP

The cast of La Boheme.

Puccini Festival Opera presents ‘La Boheme’ hunderous applause raised the roof at the Emirates Palace Auditorium last night as the curtain fell on Abu Dhabi Festival 2010’s presentation of the Puccini Festival Opera’s acclaimed L a Boheme - the first ever full-scale operatic production in the UAE capital. In the UAE performance of this much-loved opera by Giacomo Puccini, a host of international stars took to the stage, including PuertoRican soprano Ana Maria Martinez as Mimi and New Zealand soprano Ana James as Musetta, along with Italian tenor Luciano Ganci as Rodolfo. The British baritone George von Bergen played Marcello, Italian bass-baritone Tiziano Bracci, Schaunard and Canadian bass-baritone Robert Gleadow was Colline.

Organised by the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF), The Abu Dhabi Festival 2010 is held under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and runs from March 20 until April 7. Last night’s performance was attended by VIPs including Massimiliano Simoni, President of the Puccini Festival Foundation and Paolo Dionisi, Italian ambassador to the UAE. La Boheme is a four-act opera set in 1830s Paris, charting the passionate romance between capricious, doomed artist Mimi and her devoted suitor, the handsome poet Rodolfo. In a highlight of her dazzling performance as Mimi, Ana Maria Martinez held the audience spellbound as she delivered one of libretto’s most famous arias, “Si, mi chiamano Mimi” - “Yes, they call me Mimi” while Ana James as Musetta matched her performance with “Quando me n’vo “When I go along”. In another showstopping scene, an ensemble performance by Ana Maria Martinez, Ana James, Luciano Ganci and George von Bergen rendered “Addio dolce svegliare alla mattina!” “Goodbye, sweet awakening in the morning” beautifully, at the end of the third act.

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A beginners’ guide to opera

What is opera? pera is a fantastic mix of singing, orchestral music, drama, costume and stage design. An operatic production is spectacular and is often described as the ultimate arts performance. An opera is a bit like a play but characters mainly sing rather than speak their words. Like a play, it is split into acts and scenes. The music in an opera can be continuous or there can be separate songs linked with dialogue. Many operas begin with an overture played by the orchestra which contains many of the musical themes or highlights of the main songs to come.

Who writes an opera?

A composer writes the music and a librettist writes the words. Some famous composers, like Richard Wagner for instance, wrote their own libretti.

What makes up an opera?

An opera is made up of the libretto which is the words and speech that make up the dialogue and a score which is the music. Arias are songs sung by soloists.

Ensembles are songs sung by more than one singer, for example, a duet is for two voices, a trio is for three singers and a quartet for four.

Who’s in an opera?

The main singers in an opera are called the soloists or the principals. The other singers are called the chorus who will provide backing for the soloists or have songs of their own as an ensemble. There can also be supernumeraries or ‘supers’ who are actors with non-singing roles.

What are the voice types in an opera?

In opera there are four main types of voices - two for men and two for women.

Men will either have tenor or bass voices while women will have either soprano or mezzo soprano voices. A soprano will sing higher than a mezzo soprano, while a bass will sing lower than a tenor. There are

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also contralto female singers and baritone male singers Who plays the music?

The music is played by an orchestra usually made up string, brass, woodwind and percussion sections. The orchestra is directed by the conductor.

When did opera start?

Opera originally started in Italy in the 16th century. It gained popularity across Europe relatively quickly. Members of an artistic group spurred on by the Renaissance, The Florentine Camerata, brought together two things - the pastorale, a type of poetry and the monody, a type of speechsong - and this combination resulted in the first form of opera.

When was the first opera house built?

The first public opera house was built in Venice in around 1637 - a time which saw a new group of operatic composers emerge.

Who are the most famous operatic composers?

There are many famous operatic composers from the home of opera, Italy.

They include great composers such as Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, and Puccini. Giacomo Puccini is known as one of the greatest opera composers to have ever lived. Some of Puccini’s operas are among the most frequently performed operas and include “La BohËme”, one of the best romantic operas ever written, “Madame Butterfly”, “Tosca” and “Turnadot”.

Verdi became one of the most influential Italian opera composers of his time.

His most famous operas include “Rigoletto”, “Il Trovatore”, “La Traviata” and “Aida.” Some say that Mozart is the most well-known opera composer and his operas are as well known as his symphonies. Mozart composed 22 operas including “The Marriage of Figaro”, Don

Giovanni” and “The Magic Flute”.

Richard Wagner was a German composer primarily known for his operas and unlike many others he wrote both the music and the libretto of all his works which include The Ring Cycle and “Lohengrin”.

Is opera always in Italian?

No but there are many great operas in Italian. The next most popular language is French, another melodic language. Opera has spread across many countries and can also be found in other languages including English, German and Russian.

Can children go to the opera?

Opera is for everyone and people of all ages and backgrounds learn to love this unique art form. Just bear in mind the length of the opera for children and the suitability of the plotlines. One of the comic operas would be a good place to start.

Will I be able to follow what is happening in the opera?

Even if an opera is in a foreign language it is usually quite easy to follow the plot through the emotions portrayed. For an even better experience look up the plot online in advance and learn who the principal characters are. Even better, buy a CD or DVD and listen or watch in advance. There will also be a synopsis and cast details in the theatre program to help you.

If I arrive late will I be allowed in?

You will be allowed into the theatre at the first appropriate break in the opera so as not to disturb the performers or audience.

Will I know when to clap?

The easiest thing to do is follow the lead of the rest of the audience. There are also set places where you can clap like the entrance of the conductor to start the overture, or at the end of an act or end of the opera when performers are taking a bow.

Opera glossary Aficionado - an enthusiast or devoted fan aria - a song for solo voice with instrumental accompaniment.

Baritone - the medium male voice which lies between bass and tenor Bass - the lowest of the male voices Bass-baritone - voice combining the quality of the baritone with the depth of the bass Cadenza - a series of difficult, fast high notes that allow the singer to demonstrate vocal ability near the end of an aria.

Diva -a female opera star - literally meaning “goddess” Encore - request to play again Falsetto - the high part of a man’s voice, sounding like a woman’s voice.

Finale - last song of an act Finale ultimo - the last finale Libretto - the libretto is the script or words of an opera Maestro - a title for conductors, composers and directors Mezzo soprano - The female voice between the soprano and the contralto Opus - a single work or composition Orchestra - the group of musicians accompanying the singers Overture - instrumental introduction to an opera, usually incorporating themes and key melodies which will be heard later Prelude - the instrumental introduction to an individual act within an opera Prima donna - the female star of an opera Soprano - the highest female voice Staccato - short, clipped, rapid articulation Supernumerary - a performer who appears in a non-singing role Tenor - the highest male voice Trill - two rapidly and repeatedly alternated notes Vibrato - the slightly wavering quality that a singer has in his voice while sustaining a tone

Some of the opera’s most famous duets are between principals Rodolfo and Mimi and were warmly appreciated by last night’s audience. including the enchanting “Che gelida manima” “Your tiny hand is frozen” when they first meet, “O soave fanciulla” - “Oh gentle maiden” as they sing about their new found love and “Te lo rammenti” - “Ah! Do you remember” when they reminisce about their time together. The emotional drama intensifies until the tragic climax and the death of Mimi.

Speaking directly after the performance, HE Hoda I. Al-KhamisKanoo, Founder of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation, commented “ADMAF is very proud to have presented the first full-scale opera with the passionate and moving telling of the story of La Boheme. We are especially pleased to have the world-class Puccini Festival Opera perform with a dazzling line-up of soloists. Abu Dhabi Festival is engaging in partnerships with more and more festivals around the world. Our collaboration with the Puccini Festival is an excellent example of how this works so well. It is through these relationships that we are able to bring such high quality productions to the UAE capital.”

The Puccini Opera Festival is held every summer in Torre del Lago, the town where Puccini lived, and inspired his enduring masterpieces.

Massimiliano Simoni, its President, said “It is a great honour to have been invited to the Abu Dhabi Festival. It’s the crowning of a dream to bring Puccini with a complete opera to the Arab world. I hope it can be the beginning of a long collaboration.” Alberto Veronesi, conductor of The Puccini Festival Opera said: “I’m very honoured and proud to bring one of the most popular operas in the world, La Boheme by Puccini, for the the very first time to the prestigious Abu Dhabi Festival. It is an ideal platform for the music of Puccini, a man who was fascinated by different cultures in the Western and Eastern worlds. I live on a great Island, Sicily, and I love the island capital of Abu Dhabi, a place where Arabic culture leaves a heritage of invaluable beauty.”

SPECTRUM

14

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Museum exposes Elvis, ‘the threat’ to American morals hen Elvis Presley made his debut he triggered a wave of conservative media outrage scandalized by the young pop idol who they swif tly denounced as a “threat to the morals of young America.” A new exhibition dubbed “Elvis: The groundbreaking, hip-shaking, newsmaking story,” now charts the fortunes of the explosive singer, who was in later years to become known simply as “The King”.

“Elvis startled America and the news media in 1956, and press coverage was of ten scathing and alarmist,” said Ken Paulson, president of the Newseum in Washington, which is hosting the expo.

But by painting Elvis as a danger after his 1956 appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” the media actually

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helped the young singer — trademark quiff, jumpsuit and all-shoot to fame. “The press of the 1950s viewed themselves as arbiters of American values. The press criticism was very harsh, very negative,” Paulson told AFP. “But if you tell America that somebody is too dangerous and too sexy to be on a TV set, you find yourself selling a lot of records overnight.

It turned out to be very helpful to his career.”

The exhibit, which opens in what would have been Elvis’s 75th birthday year, features a flurry of news clips from the 1950s where he is accused of triggering an “orgy of squealing” among “agitated” adolescents and old ladies alike. “He vibrated his hips so much... it was impossible to hear him sing,”

Naomi Campbell wants more ethnic models lthough the supermodel admits the industry is opening up doors for girls from different racial backgrounds, she says there is more work to be done. The 39-year-old beauty - who was one of only a few black models when she was first discovered - said: “I don’t like to use the word ‘racism’. I said ‘territorialism’. I still feel it could be opened up more in the sense of using more women from every ethnicity. I went to see Vivienne Westwood’s show and I was happy to see models of color on the runway. I think London has always been open to it.

When I started off there were always women of color in the French shows, so when there were suddenly none it was very bizarre.”

Despite being one of the world’s most successful models, Naomi also revealed she doesn’t listen when people tell her she’s beautiful. She told Live magazine: “The thing with modeling is that we’re so used to travelling. The thought of just sitting still and having to digest and to think is scary, so you avoid it. It’s terrifying to look in the mirror and face all your fears.

“I have people around me who tell me I’m beautiful. But that goes in one ear and comes out the other.” — Bangshowbiz

Fashion Week

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“American Eagle” jumpsuit and cape worn during rehearsals for his 1973 “Aloha from Hawaii” concert, seen by over a billion viewers

another article read. In a June 16, 1956 Time magazine piece, a policeman quipped: “If he did that in the street, we’d arrest him.”

In addition to rare photographs, newspaper clippings and a news scrapbook compiled by Elvis manager colonel Tom Parker, the exhibit features some of the most memorable costumes from his stage and screen appearances, many never shown publicly before. There is the dress uniform Elvis wore during his US Army service, a signed champagne bottle from his marriage to Priscilla at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas and his 1957 Harley Davidson motorcycle and leather jacket that helped make the singer a symbol of youth rebellion.

The music sensation’s

People walk past advertising for an Elvis exhibition at the Newseum in Washington, DC. — AFP

worldwide, is also featured in the exhibition, which runs until February 14, 2011. Fans can also catch a glimpse of the keys to Graceland, the Memphis property where he

lived until his death at the age of 42 in 1977, and which to this day remains a place of pilgrimage for his legion of fans around the world.

Also on display are the gold-plated belt and velvet jacket Elvis wore during his 1970 White House meeting with President Richard Nixon, an event so closely guarded that it was not leaked to the press until a year later. The photograph of the conservative president shaking the King’s hand is the most requested photo at the National Archives, even surpassing the Bill of Rights or the US Constitution. Elvis came away with a federal narcotics badge which Nixon gave him af ter the singer requested to be made a federal anti-drugs agent-at-large.

— AFP

Fairy girls and city grit at Tokyo Fashion Week ayered chiffon tops and silky hemlines met shiny leather boots on the catwalk of the Tokyo Fashion Show this week in a blend of old-world femininity and edgy city themes. “They are the fairies strolling through the maze of concrete,” said designer Yuma Koshino of the waif-like models showcasing her “Baroque and Block” collection. “They switch back and forth between their time of being mature women and of being girls. They are kitsch, cute and romantic.”

“The story is about women in town,” explained the daughter of fashion maestro Hiroko Koshino about her 2010-2011 autumn/winter collection, a fusion of hard and soft, tight and loose, and black and pastel. “They strut around the city blocks, acting independent in this world, but they also crave the feminine, elegant touch of medieval times.”

The Tokyo Collection, the highlight of the Japan Fashion Week which ended yesterday, kicks off the season ahead of shows in Paris, New York and Milan. Koshino said the “fairy girl” touches in her line-up evoke “Alice in Wonderland”, but she also used elements of “optical art”, the hard geometric patterns, usually black and white, that can confuse the eye. “I wanted to try optical art. I think it’s coming,” she said. “It has always been

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Models dispay creations by fashion designers Cabaret Aki and Jackal Kuzu at Gut’s Dynamite Cabarerts 2010/2011 autumn and winter collection during Tokyo Fashion Week yesterday. — AFP photos

around, but I wanted to use it because it looks both sharp and elegant.”

At the Tokyo show, which brought together 44 Japanese fashion houses, Koshino was not the only designer to experiment with optical art. Eri Matsui, who has long sought to fuse art and science, turned her latest stage show into a mathematical laboratory of geometric silhouettes, including a white evening dress with a pattern resembling sea anemones.

Sticking with a grittier urban noir theme was GVGV designer Mug, who said she tried to recreate the world of David Lynch’s psychological thriller “Mulholland Dr” on her smoke-filled red carpet stage. Seeking to merge chic and avant garde, defiance and elegance, her girls mixed red leather skirts with white chiffon tops. “I wanted to create the air of an erotic womanly scent,” Mug said. “I also wanted to give a touch of a Los Angeles grungy street feeling.” — AFP

Models display creations by designer ‘Mug’ from the GVGV 2010/2011 autumn and winter collection in Tokyo on March 25, 2010 as a part of Tokyo Fashion Week. — AFP

15

WHAT’S ON IN KUWAIT

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Movenpick Hotel & Resort supports Earth Hour 2010 Americas will stand in darkness.

People across the world from all walks of life will turn off their lights and join together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common - our planet.

In line with our launch of the sustainability program, we are pleased to announce our support of Earth Hour initiative for 2010.

Therefore will be shutting off lights today for one hour starting from 8:30 pm. In addition to going dark and using dim lights in all hotel public areas, Movenpick Al-Bida’a will celebrate the Earth Hour with a candlelight dinners at Breeze Restaurant and Beldani Restaurant.

“We are excited to join millions of people around the world in turning off lights to pledge our support for the planet and help reduce our impact on the environment “ said Gary Moran, the General Manager.

arth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. A year later, Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating.

Global landmarks such as the, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The CN Tower in Toronto, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

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Global Lounge opens at College of Engineering and Petroleum

lobal Investment House (Global) announced the opening of the “Global Lounge” at the College of Engineering and Petroleum at Kuwait University, Khalidya campus. The lounge will provide students a relaxing environment to rest between their daily lectures.

The opening was attended by Dr Khaled AlFadhel, Manager - Guidance & Counselling Office at the College of Engineering and Petroleum, Moustafa Zantout, Head of Marketing & Communications at Global, and Ahmed AlHuwaishel, Executive Manager and Official Spokesperson of the Engineering and Petroleum Student Association, along with a number of students.

Dr Khaled Al-Fadhel said, “The association is constantly seeking to provide the best services to students and we are grateful for Global’s continuous support as an active member of the commu-

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nity. The Global Lounge will provide an appropriate relaxing environment for students to meet and socialize with their colleagues.” Dr Al-Fadhel thanked Global for the major role it plays towards the community and students.

Zantout stated, “Global’s interest in supporting the students is part of the company’s commitment towards the community in general and the younger generation in particular, and the lounge is a modest contribution.” He added, “Global’s role towards students is not limited to the Lounge. We regularly organise seminars and lectures aiming primarily to put economic theories into real life practices.”

Al-Huwaishel said, “The Engineering and Petroleum Student Association seeks to provide the best facilities to students.” He thanked Global for regularly taking initiatives to support the students and concluded by promising the students more achievements in the near future.

Magic Cantion Art competi -

Earth Hour 2010 takes place today at 8:30 pm (local time) and is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the world.

It is a call to stand up, to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the way towards a sustainable future. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Europe to Asia to the

agic the Natural Energy drink from Sweden has launched a Magic Can Art competition for university students.

Can Art is an increasing popular concept among artists around the world you use the can to create and art form. The competition was launched earlier this month with great feedback from GUST and AUK students.

The competition is open to university students and can include any art form: Painting Photography - Sculpture - Computer art Mixed media - Digital, etc. At least one Can of Magic or a picture of a Magic can should be used in the work. The Magic can may be illustrated or sculptured. Participants may also use part of the can(s) to create an art. Work should not be smaller than A4 and larger than A0 in surface and volume.

The last date to submit artwork is April 7, 2010. The jury will be formed from representa-

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WOW holds Indian bridal show

OW (Women of the world) celebrated a colorful morning with Indian bridal dress show. Dignitaries and all invitees were welcomed by fresh jasmine flowers. The atmosphere was very cheerful with all glittering dresses, elegant models, fragrance of rose water, fresh flowers and aroma of Indian cuisine. Everybody was enthralled by some energetic Indian music. There was lot of brain storming, games with fun and entertainment and lots of prizes. The program was concluded with the distribution of goodie bags to give a traditional touch.

It was glimpse of Indian wedding.

tives of Magic, Blu Grey and the university representatives. Winner’s names will be announced mid April. The winning art will be displayed on the Magic web site. Each University will have three winners who will get: 1st Prize KD 250 + Certificate 2nd Prize KD 100 + Certificate 3rd Prize KD 50 + Certificate In addition one overall winner will be offered a full time paid internship at Blu Grey Advertising Agency. Magic is thus offering these students an opportunity to use their creativity to launch a career for themselves. Magic encourages all students from these universities to take part in this competition. To know more details students can contact the Magic Teams members who will be present in each university. This is a first of its kind can art competition in Kuwait.

Aware diwaniya he AWARE Center cordially invites everyone to next week’s diwaniya on “Kuwaiti Youth: aspirations and challenges,” by Dhari Al-Huwail. Dari Al-Huwail, Youth Leader & Systems Advisor at LoYAC, will give a presentation about, “Kuwaiti Youth Aspirations and Challenges. Did you know that the majority of Kuwait’s population is composed of youth? Being part of a global village and connected with the most

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remote places on this earth, like other youth, Kuwaiti youth have many aspirations and do face challenges along the way. In his 20-minute presentation, Al-Huwail will address these aspirations and challenges from a personal perspective being one of these youth.

If you are interested to learn about Kuwait’s youth, you are welcome on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 7pm. For more information, call 25335260/80 ext 105 or 104.

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NAFO hosts farewell O

n March 19, 2010, NAFO Kuwait hosted a farewell dinner in honor of renowned teacher and social worker, Kurup and his wife who are leaving Kuwait for good. The function was held at Indian Community School, Amman, and was attended by hundreds of NAFO members, their families and wellwishers. NAFO General Secretary, B S Pillai welcomed the gathering, President, Dr.Srikumar, Patron, Dr CG Suresh, Founder President, Dr Nandakumar Moorkoth, Advisory Board member, KG Nair, former President, Rajan Menon, Ladies Wing Coordinator, Sreekumari Vijayan Nair, Joint treasurer, Rajiv Menon and Executive Committee member, Krishna Pillai felicitated Kurup and his wife.

All speakers acknowledged and praised the immense contributions of Kurup not only as a devoted teacher, but also as a social worker. NAFO members praised Kurup for his commendable contributions and wished him and his wife continued healthy and prosperous life. On behalf of NAFO Kuwait and as a mark of respect and gratitude, Advisory Board member, Karunakaran Nair (Kannan Chettan) presented a memento for Kurup. He in his farewell speech expressed his sincere thanks for the love, respect and affection which he and his family received from the Indian community in Kuwait. The function ended with vote of thanks by NAFO Joint Secretary, Krishna Kumar, who co-ordinated the event.

Embassy informaEMBASSY 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.

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.

EMBASSY OF INDIA The Embassy of India will remain closed tomorrow, 2010 on account of “Mahavir Jayanthi”.

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 BANGLADESH The Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Kuwait will remain closed tomorrow on the occasion of The Independence and National Day of Bangladesh. The Embassy will arrange the following programme tomorrow at 08:00 am to observe the Independence and National Day at the Chancery: Chancery Roof • Ceremonial hoisting of the National Flag.

Chancery Basement • Recitation from the Holy Quran, dua & munajat.

• Observance of one minute’s silence in honour of the Martyrs.

• Reading out of the Messages.

• Discussion on the significance of the day.

All members of the expatriate Bangladesh community in Kuwait are cordially invited to attend the programme.

This is for information of all concerned.

EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy will participate in ‘Earth Hour’ today 7 by joining people and businesses from across the globe in turning off their lights to raise awareness about climate change issues.

Send to What?s On upcoming events, birth days or celebrations by email: local@kuwait -

SPECTRUM

16 CROSSWORD 940

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Calvin Aries (March 21-April 19) You might feel a bit

rudderless today. Try to avoid making really important decisions. Stay out of uncharted waters—the course will be much clearer tomorrow.

This is a great time to work in groups. You may be sought after as just the person for a particular job.

Your management and objective abilities are in high focus. Financially, you should be paying down or off some big bills from the first of the year.

Perseverance should be exercised as much as possible since slow and steady win the race. You could feel moved to give a friend an encouraging word as they may be feeling a lack of self-esteem. This evening is a great time to enjoy your friends, romance or meet new friends. The energies this evening are very good for soothing over some frustration.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) This is a good day for

money. Taking care of business is a major theme where your emotional orientation is concerned.

Shake hands with a firm but appropriate hand-shake.

Be courteous and attentive to those that come into your work area. Although first impressions are always positive with you, today is more important than usual. You will be able to tackle difficult tasks that require real discipline. It is time to speak up for yourself in the areas of investments, collection of debts from others, as well as payments and a show of responsibility. You find yourself in a very practical mood, working with the flow of energies. Good news comes to you from a longdistance call. Patience and love of life are the secret passage through this day.

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. Clothing of a distinctive style or for a particular occasion.

5. Committee formed by a special-interest group to raise money for their favorite political candidates.

8. System of measurement based on centimeters and grams and seconds.

11. Employed in accomplishing something.

12. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

13. (British) A waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric.

14. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research.

17. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

18. An associate degree in nursing.

21. A member of an agricultural people in southeastern India.

23. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

24. Before noon.

28. Type genus of Ochnaceae.

32. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

33. A public promotion of some product or service.

34. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

37. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

42. Any of a number of fishes of the family Carangidae.

43. The month following March and preceding May. 46. Ancient Hebrew unit of liquid measure = 1.5 gallons.

48. A religious belief of African origin involving witchcraft and sorcery.

49. A doctor's degree in education.

50. An Eskimo hut.

51. A decree that prohibits something.

DOWN 1. A Russian prison camp for political prisoners.

2. (Hindu) A manner of sitting (as in the practice of Yoga).

3. (informal) `johnny' was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War. 4. A bachelor's degree in religion.

5. The 3 goddesses of fate or destiny.

6. A dark-skinned member of a race of people living in Australia when Europeans arrived.

7. Being ten more than one hundred ninety.

8. A metric unit of length equal to one hundredth of a meter.

9. An amino acid that is found in the central nervous system.

10. Singing jazz.

15. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.

16. Aircraft landing in bad weather in which the pilot is talked down by ground control using precision approach radar.

19. A genus of Lamnidae.

20. Liquid containing proteins and electrolytes including the liquid in blood plasma and interstitial fluid.

22. The longer of the two telegraphic signals used in Morse code.

25. Having undesirable or negative qualities.

26. A small pellet fired from an air rifle or BB gun.

27. A white soft metallic element that tarnishes readily.

29. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

30. A heavy brittle diamagnetic trivalent metallic element (resembles arsenic and antimony chemically).

31. East Indian tree bearing a profusion of intense vermilion velvettextured blooms and yielding a yellow dye.

35. Harsh or corrosive in tone.

36. The basic unit of money in South Africa.

38. Open-heart surgery in which the rib cage is opened and a section of a blood vessel is grafted from the aorta to the coronary artery to bypass the blocked section of the coronary artery and improve the blood supply to the heart.

39. Relating to the Urdu language.

40. A small cake leavened with yeast.

41. (Old Testament) Cain and Abel were the first children of Adam and Eve born after the Fall of Man. 44. (computer science) The smallest discrete component of an image or picture on a CRT screen (usually a colored dot).

45. A former monetary unit in Great Britain.

46. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

47. The branch of computer science that deal with writing computer programs that can solve problems creatively.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) A battle of egos is highlighted. You could encounter opposition today, even from allies and partners. Your mind could be quite clear and natural—ideas are flowing and come with ease—you can talk, talk, talk. Carry through with your show of strength on the home front today as well as the work arena. There is no need for rude conversation, but a clear understanding of where your limitations and expectations are important. Your need for relationships is thwarted by a need to assert yourself today. You could shake off this frustrated energy by getting a gang together for some cooperative effort this afternoon, like volleyball or touch football—just do not pick a sport that is too rough. The feelings of the evening are perfect for refurbishing the spirit.

Non Sequitur

Cancer (June 21-July 22) You are extremely sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others and today you know just how to present yourself to be the most helpful. Your lack of strong willpower is made up by your sympathy for those with whom you come into contact. A shopping expedition later this afternoon may find you purchasing gifts and cards for others. Moderation in your gift giving choices, however, is the best path to take if you are trying to impress another. Medicine, counseling or clergy type of professions come naturally to you, even if you find yourself in another profession. The day is perfect for self-expression and lends itself to your particular ideas and thoughts. Good conversations with loved ones are possible tonight.

Leo (July 23-August 22) This day should be a buzz with a two-way communication and it is just the way you like it. There are some good indications that your financial situation is improving. This may mean the way you invest, or it could mean a new job, a part-time job, the first day of a garage sale, etc. Whatever the case . . . this is a good time to watch those bills dissipate. This evening there is some sort of social expectations.

Use this as an opportunity to network. Making a good impression and putting your best foot forward takes on greater importance as a new cycle gets underway in your life. Appearances and style may count more than substance. Romance, the arts and other of life’s pleasures seem to take center stage this evening.

Zits

Virgo (August 23-September 22) This day should be a buzz with two-way communication—and this is just the way you like it. The more you can keep in touch with others, the better you feel. The telephone may never stop ringing! Small talk is okay, but you can broach serious stuff, too. Also, this is a good day for any kind of business transaction or contract negotiation. You could come up with new solutions or inventions while working on some technical problem this afternoon. It would not be unusual to be the guest at a luncheon or the one elected to talk at the meeting. You may find that you enjoy your job or the responsibility it entails more than usual. Tonight could be a good opportunity to enjoy a date at the movies or enjoy dinner away from home. Smile!

Libra (September 23-October 22) Your confidence is high and you are expecting a successful day. Before diving into something, think through your motives and picture the end result you want to achieve. Set aside your doubts and initiate the steps necessary to move in a positive direction. You may improve your finances through an unexpected opportunity today. Review your role in a partnership to be sure you are in a balanced situation. Make any necessary changes before the twenty-fifth of next month. Everything is formulated to reveal you at your most elegant, particularly in social situations. Group activities, whether it is social or sports related, will be well attended as well as fun. You have great emotional drive and your attitude is positive and helpful to others.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Contract negotiations

are favored now. There could be some pushing and shoving now between various facets of your life that are normally in balance with other parts of your life. This could be between personal and professional, logical and emotional, or conscious and subconscious. Take a look at your everyday activities, co-workers, friends and family along with responsibilities and relaxation activities. It is natural for one category to outweigh another category occasionally, but where one thing overcomes another, it may be time to gradually swing into a nice balance. The way to do this is with observing where the changes need to be and then create a change. Any past tensions with a loved one should be cleared up soon.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Your emotions are so close to the surface today that anyone could read them from across the room; which means you can read them too. Today, your sensitivity to the needs of others is so acute and your desire to help is so strong, that this should be one super day to work with people. If you are a salesperson, you should double your quota! You may, however, need to move quickly, to secure a tidy profit. There is a sense of invincibility in everything you do. It is a great idea to check out many different projects in order to find the most positive opportunity today. You have a lot of confidence now and you are able to lend support to a friend, even though you may not immediately realize you have helped. Restlessness in a love relationship will calm soon.

Yesterday’s Solution

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Today

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

is good for just about anything. You may be salvaging some business transactions that seem to be failing. You will be able to create a new direction in which to profit. You are also likely to obtain success financially through the powers of attraction. You can enjoy playing the game of business today without any pressure to win. You know who you are and what you can do.

Charisma is high, especially between you and the higher ups in the company. The situation is a natural for self-expression. A balance between your need to give and take will be beneficial, especially if you have a significant other. Socializing, friendships and love are wonderful.

Whether you have a new love, or a steady love relationship; give it the test of time.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Careful, chores before work could slow you down getting into work this morning. You will do your part to ensure smooth sailing on the job today. A good work ethic is rewarded. Reach out to co-workers with some new ideas. A little extra motivation is available to sort out some of those relationship problems you have been pushing aside.

Better deal with them or they could make you irritable. Life will seem richer and more satisfying. Go out on a date with your special someone, or invite your friends over for the evening, you will make them all feel good. Avoid becoming self-indulgent or demanding. It could ruin your fun. Go with the flow and let others decide the action this evening. Music is relaxing.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) You are extremely sensitive today and may want to stay in one place with your head down and concentrating on the work for the day. You like to be on the go and you like to know all the things that are happening around you, but today is better for quiet work and study. If you are not working in an office, a visit to a book or pet store might be an enjoyable thing to do. In communicating with others, you may want to just listen and speak very little. Late afternoon will bring about better energies for more physical activities and a walk or exercise routine can be appreciated. Laughable opportunities seem to happen unexpectedly, as though you had not had enough sleep. Enjoy yourself! A good conversation with those you love is possible this evening.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

17

ACCOMMODATION In Abu Halifa sector 1 police station road sharing accommodation available for a decent Muslim person in a central A/C 2 BR flat with kitchen and tel facilities. Contact: 97910678.

(C 20494) Sharing accommodation available for single working ladies, couple or executive bachelor in a 2 bedroom, 2 toilet CAC apartment new building in Farwaniya behind Metro cinema, only for Indian from Bombay, Delhi, Hyderabad, Goa. Contact: 66625901, 24716975. (C 20497) Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya only for Keralite couples or ladies semi-furnished, centralized A/C flat. Contact: 97134824. (C 2052) 25-3-2010 Sharing accommodation available for one bachelor at Abbassiya near Unique store No. 2 from 1st April with kitchen facilities. Contact: 66110593 or 24313908. (C 20495) Sharing accommodation available from 1st April with Keralite family near Neethi store building in Abbassiya share with couples or bachelors (only for Keralite peoples), furnished double bedroom flat with mini split A/C. Contact: 66944127.

(C 20496) 24-3-2010 Sharing accommodation available for Indian working ladies or couples in a 2 bedroom flat with all facilities near Khaitan police station round about. Contact: 99480468. (C 20488) Looking for room furnished/unfurnished with attached bath required for an executive couple preferably with balcony in Salmiya around garden area or in Mangaf, Block #4. Contact between 5 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 9 pm #

66844722/65533571.

(C 20490) 23-3-2010 Sharing accommodation available for a Keralite bachelor in small single bedroom in CAC flat with all facilities in Farwaniya near Continental suite. Tel: 99716630. (C 20481) Sharing furnished accommodation available for decent executive with a couple in CAC flat at Farwaniya airport road. Call: 99678391. (C 20482) 21-3-2010 Two central A/C rooms available in Bneid Al Gar, very near to Al-Salam hospital. Please call only decent working ladies. Mob: 97879611. (C 20474) Sharing accommodation available for Indian working ladies, couples in a 2 bedroom flat with all facilities near Khaitan police station round about. Contact: 99480468. (C 20473) Sharing accommodation Abbassiya, Neethi store building full furnished room with mini split A/C 2 bedroom flat, share with Keralite family, couples or working ladies only. Call 66944127 (after noon).

(C 20476) Sharing accommodation Abraq Khaitan, single room available for couple or single executive bachelor in new building, beside the main road opp Kuwait clinic from 1st April. Contact: 97523316/ 24745162.

(C 20479) 19-3-2010

TRANSPORT Transportation available from Salmiya to Carmel School, Khaitan; from Salmiya to British School, Salwa and Salmiya to Kuwait City 8 am & Kuwait City to Salmiya 5:30 pm.

Experienced drivers & new cars. Contact: 55497212, 99286433. (C 20492) 24-3-2010

FOR SALE Mitsubishi L300 van, model 2009, very low mileage, very good condition, installment remaining 137 KD x 24 months, owner needs cash 500 KD. Contact: 22465365/66019580.

27-3-2010 Toyota Corolla 1.6 model 2009, white color, good look and excellent condition, one hand use car. Price KD 3650. Only serious persons call 66050484. (C 20487) 23-3-2010

Toyota Corolla XLi 1.6, model 2009, white color, excellent condition, CD player, sensor, folding mirrors, wood trim, alloy wheels, done 7,000 kms only. Cash Price KD 4,200.

Contact: 66211779.

(C 20484) Toyota Corolla XLi 1.8L, model 2007, silver color, excellent condition, done 70,000 kms only. Cash Price KD 2,850. Contact: 97213518. (C 20483) Mitsubishi Pajero, model 2000, automatic gear, in good condition, KD 800.

Contact: 66482700.

(C 20485) Cherry Aster, model 2008, blue color, direct from agent, not used, meter zero km. Final Price KD 2,500 not negotiable. Call: 55451465. (C 20486) 22-3-2010 Nissan X Trail 2003 model, full options, sun roof and heavy trailer, off white metallic color, very good condition, price KD 1,800.

Call afternoon 66944127.

(C 20477) 19-3-2010

MATRIMONIAL Proposals invited from parents of educated good looking girls (below 32 years), for handsome Hindu engi-

neer (Bombay) employed in oil company Kuwait. No dowry. Contact email: kumar117630yahoo.com (C 2051) 25-3-2010 Keralite Orthodox boy, 28/172, B.Com, working as accountant in a reputed firm in Kuwait invites proposals from the parents of girls working in Kuwait. Contact email: abrahamgees@yahoo.com (C 20491) 24-3-2010

SITUATION WANTED MBA finance, B.Com, 6+ years of experience, seeks suitable employment. Contact: 99919274, 99175928.

(C 2053) Available experienced, decent Srilankan girl (31 years) for household/babysitting (full/part-time) with American/European/Indian family only (not bachelors) in Mangaf/Fahaheel/Abu Halifa.

Call: 99292581, 66870113.

(C 20499) Available experienced, decent, Srilankan lady (39 years) for household/babysitting (full/part-time) with American/European/Indian family only (not bachelors) in Mangaf/Fahaheel/Abu Halifa.

Call: 55714865. (C 20500) 27-3-2010 A Srilankan lady who has been working as maid for families for the last 10 years in Kuwait is seeking a live-in maid job in household. English and Arabic speaking and has good experience in taking care of kids & pets.

For further details please call: 97448826. (C 20498) 25-3-2010 A decent housemaid for a family in Hawally. Call 66729068, 67784195.

24-3-2010 Hardworking experienced honest Pakistani young man available to work for high profile people as personal secretary or mandoob or personal driver. Mob: 67730592. (C 20489)

Flight Schedule Arrival Flights on Saturday 27/03/2010 Airlines Flt Route Jazeera 0263 Beirut KLM 0447 Amsterdam/Bahrain Gulf Air 211 Bahrain Ethiopian 620 Addis Ababa DHL 370 Bahrain Turkish A/L 1172 Istanbul Emirates 853 Dubai Etihad 0305 Abu Dhabi Qatari 0138 Doha Cargolux 794 Luxembourg Kuwait 802 Cairo Jazeera 0637 Aleppo Falcon 201 Dubai Jazeera 0503 Luxor Jazeera 0527 Alexandria Jazeera 0529 Assiut British 0157 London Kuwait 412 Manila/Bangkok Kuwait 204 Lahore Kuwait 302 Mumbai Kuwait 332 Trivandrum Kuwait 676 Dubai Kuwait 344 Chennai Kuwait 284 Dhaka Emirates 855 Dubai Arabia 0121 Sharjah Qatari 0132 Doha Etihad 0301 Abu Dhabi Wataniya Airways 1121 Bahrain Gulf Air 213 Bahrain Jazeera 0447 Doha Jazeera 0165 Dubai Jazeera 0425 Bahrain Jazeera 0113 Abu Dhabi Wataniya Airways 1021 Dubai Kuwait 772 Riyadh Egypt Air 610 Cairo Syrian Arab A/L 341 Damascus Kuwait 672 Dubai Jazeera 0171 Dubai Wataniya Airways 2301 Damascus Egypt Air 621 Assiut Nas Air 745 Jeddah Jazeera 0525 Alexandria Jazeera 0257 Beirut Wataniya Airways 2001 Cairo Saudi Arabian A/L 3500 Jeddah Kuwait 678 Muscat/Abu Dhabi Kuwait 552 Damascus Jazeera 0457 Damascus Qatari 0134 Doha Kuwait 546 Alexandria Royal Jordanian 800 Amman Kuwait 562 Amman Jazeera 0173 Dubai Mihin Lanka 403 Colombo/Dubai

Time 00:05 00:10 01:05 01:45 02:15 02:15 02:35 03:00 03:25 04:45 04:45 05:05 05:25 05:35 06:10 06:30 06:40 06:45 07:35 07:55 08:05 08:10 08:10 08:15 08:30 08:55 09:00 09:35 10:45 10:45 11:00 11:05 11:10 11:20 11:20 12:40 12:55 13:00 13:25 13:35 13:35 13:55 14:00 14:05 14:10 14:20 14:30 14:30 14:40 14:45 15:00 15:30 15:40 15:55 16:05 16:40

Bahrain Air Kuwait Emirates Gulf Air Etihad Saudi Arabian A/L United A/L Jazeera Arabia Jazeera Thai Wataniya Airways Srilankan Jazeera Wataniya Airways DHL Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait Rovos Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Singapore A/L Jet A/W Wataniya Airways Oman Air Iran Air Egypt Air Jazeera Jazeera Jazeera Gulf Air Middle East Qatari Emirates Kuwait KLM Indian Jazeera Jazeera Safi A/W Jazeera Jazeera Egypt Air Egypt Air India Express Lufthansa Bangladesh Wataniya Airways Tunis Air Pakistan Wataniya Airways

344 118 857 215 0303 510 982 0493 0125 0217 519 2101 227 0427 2003 473 1025 502 542 0177 618 674 093 786 614 774 104 458 572 1201 0647 617 618 0459 0343 0433 217 402 0136 859 174 0445 981 0449 0429 215 0117 0185 612 606 389 636 043 1029 327 205 1129

Bahrain New York Dubai Bahrain Abu Dhabi Riyadh Washington DC Dulles Jeddah Sharjah Isfahan Bangkok Beirut Colombo/Dubai Bahrain Cairo Baghdad Dubai Beirut Cairo Dubai Doha Dubai Kandahar/Dubai Jeddah Bahrain Riyadh London Singapore/Abu Dhabi Mumbai Jeddah Muscat Ahwaz Alexandria Damascus Sanaa/Bahrain Mashad Bahrain Beirut Doha Dubai Geneva/Frankfurt Amsterdam Chennai/Hyderabad/Ahmadabad Doha Bahrain Kabul Abu Dhabi Dubai Cairo Luxor Kozhikode/Mangalore Frankfurt Dhaka Dubai Tunis/Dubai Lahore Bahrain

16:50 16:55 16:55 17:05 17:15 17:15 17:15 17:30 17:40 17:40 17:45 17:50 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:30 18:40 18:45 18:50 18:55 18:55 18:55 19:00 19:10 19:20 19:30 19:35 19:45 20:05 20:15 20:20 20:30 20:35 20:40 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:20 21:35 21:40 21:45 21:55 22:05 22:10 22:15 22:15 22:25 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:15 23:30 23:40 23:45 23:50 23:55 23:55

Departure Flights on Saturday 27/03/2010 Airlines Flt Route Jazeera 0528 Assiut Shaheen Air 442 Lahore India Express 394 Cochin/Kozhikode Indian 576 Goa/Chennai Pakistan 216 Karachi Lufthansa 637 Frankfurt KLM 0447 Amsterdam Ethiopian 620 Bahrain/Addis Ababa Turkish A/L 1173 Istanbul DHL 371 Bahrain Emirates 854 Dubai Etihad 0306 Abu Dhabi Qatari 0139 Doha Wataniya Airways 1020 Dubai Jazeera 0164 Dubai Jazeera 0524 Alexandria Wataniya Airways 2000 Cairo Jazeera 0112 Abu Dhabi Jazeera 0446 Doha Kuwait 677 Abu Dhabi/Muscat Gulf Air 212 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 1120 Bahrain Jazeera 0422 Bahrain Rovos 094 Dubai/Kandahar Wataniya Airways 2300 Damascus Kuwait 545 Alexandria Jazeera 0256 Beirut British 0156 London Kuwait 671 Dubai Kuwait 551 Damascus Kuwait 771 Riyadh Jazeera 0456 Damascus Jazeera 0170 Dubai Kuwait 101 London/New York Arabia 0122 Sharjah Emirates 856 Dubai Qatari 0133 Doha Etihad 0302 Abu Dhabi Kuwait 561 Amman Cargolux 794 Singapore Wataniya Airways 2002 Cairo Gulf Air 214 Bahrain Kuwait 165 Rome/Paris Jazeera 0342 Bahrain/Sanaa Kuwait 541 Cairo Jazeera 0172 Dubai Wataniya Airways 2100 Beirut Jazeera 0492 Jeddah Kuwait 501 Beirut Kuwait 785 Jeddah Egypt Air 611 Cairo Syrian Arab A/L 342 Damascus Wataniya Airways 1024 Dubai Kuwait 673 Dubai Jazeera 0216 Isfahan Egypt Air 622 Assiut

FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161

Time 00:05 00:15 00:30 00:50 01:10 01:20 01:25 02:30 03:15 03:15 03:50 04:10 05:00 07:00 07:00 07:20 07:30 07:35 07:40 07:40 07:45 07:50 07:55 08:00 08:10 08:30 08:35 08:55 09:00 09:10 09:20 09:25 09:30 09:35 09:35 09:40 10:00 10:20 10:35 11:15 11:30 11:40 11:45 11:50 12:00 12:00 12:05 12:15 13:00 13:40 13:55 14:00 14:25 14:30 14:35 14:50

Nas Air Jazeera Wataniya Airways Jazeera Jazeera Jazeera Kuwait Saudi Arabian A/L Kuwait Kuwait Royal Jordanian Qatari Bahrain Air Mihin Lanka Gulf Air Etihad Emirates Arabia Jazeera Kuwait Saudi Arabian A/L Jazeera Wataniya Airways Jazeera Jazeera Jazeera Wataniya Airways Thai Kuwait Srilankan Wataniya Airways Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Wataniya Airways Jet A/W Oman Air Jazeera Iran Air Egypt Air Singapore A/L Gulf Air DHL Kuwait Middle East Falcon Jazeera Qatari Kuwait Emirates Kuwait KLM Jazeera United A/L Egypt Air Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait

746 0176 1200 0432 0426 0458 617 3505 773 613 801 0135 345 404 216 0304 858 0126 0262 543 511 0184 2010 0116 0448 0428 2102 520 285 228 1028 0512 283 361 351 1128 571 0648 0240 616 619 457 218 171 675 403 102 0188 0137 301 860 205 0445 0526 981 613 415 0502 411

Jeddah Dubai Jeddah Mashad Bahrain Damascus Doha Jeddah Riyadh Bahrain Amman Doha Bahrain Dubai/Colombo Bahrain Abu Dhabi Dubai Sharjah Beirut Cairo Riyadh Dubai Sharm El Sheikh Abu Dhabi Doha Bahrain Beirut Bangkok Chittagong Dubai/Colombo Dubai Sharm El Sheikh Dhaka Colombo Cochin Bahrain Mumbai Muscat Amman Ahwaz Alexandria Abu Dhabi/Singapore Bahrain Bahrain Dubai Beirut Bahrain Dubai Doha Mumbai Dubai Islamabad Bahrain/Amsterdam Alexandria Washington DC Dulles Cairo Kuala Lumpur/Jakarta Luxor Bangkok/Manila

14:55 15:05 15:10 15:20 15:25 15:30 15:35 16:00 16:10 16:20 16:25 16:30 17:35 17:40 17:55 18:00 18:10 18:20 18:25 18:30 18:30 18:35 18:40 18:40 18:50 19:00 19:05 19:05 19:10 19:15 19:30 19:50 20:15 20:20 20:55 21:00 21:10 21:20 21:25 21:30 21:35 21:45 21:55 22:00 22:10 22:20 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:50 22:55 22:55 23:25 23:40 23:45 23:45 23:50 23:55

TV PROGRAMS

18

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings

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

Starter Wife In Plain Sight Life Murdoch Mysteries In Plain Sight The Closer Inside the Actors Studio Starter Wife Without a Trace Survivor Life Murdoch Mysteries Inside the Actors Studio The Closer Life The Unusuals Without a Trace Survivor ER Demons Glee Drop Dead Diva The Closer Nip/Tuck

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

Great Ocean Adventures Animal Cops Phoenix Untamed And Uncut Animal Witness Animal Witness Animal Cops Phoenix Miami Animal Police Going Ape Shamwari: A Wild Life E-Vets: The Interns Aussie Animal Rescue Lemur Street Pet Rescue The Planet’s Funniest Animals The Planet’s Funniest Animals Animal Cops Houston E-Vets: The Interns The Planet’s Funniest Animals Animal Planet’s Most Outrageous Britain’s Worst Pet Animal Crackers Cell Dogs The Most Extreme The Most Extreme The Most Extreme The Most Extreme The Most Extreme Xtremely Wild Xtremely Wild Up Close And Dangerous Up Close And Dangerous Cell Dogs Untamed And Uncut Untamed And Uncut

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

00:05 00:30 01:20 01:45 02:15 03:00 03:45 04:45 05:15 05:45 06:15 07:00 08:00 08:50 09:40 10:30 11:20 12:10 13:00 13:50 14:40 15:30 15:50 16:10

Holby Blue Egypt Child Of Our Time 2006 Robin Hood Holby Blue Egypt Cash In The Attic Bargain Hunt Balamory Fimbles The Roly Mo Show Tikkabilla Yoho Ahoy Little Robots Balamory Fimbles The Roly Mo Show Tikkabilla Yoho Ahoy Little Robots Balamory Tommy Zoom Garden Rivals Garden Rivals Eastenders Eastenders Eastenders Eastenders Antiques Roadshow Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt Bargain Hunt The Week The Women Went The Week The Women Went The Weakest Link Holby City Holby City Doctor Who Doctor Who Confidential

Sweet Baby James Gary Rhodes’ Local Food Heroes Cash In The Attic Usa Hidden Potential Antiques Roadshow Antiques Roadshow What Not To Wear Cash In The Attic Usa Cash In The Attic Usa Hidden Potential Living In The Sun What Not To Wear Antiques Roadshow Antiques Roadshow Antiques Roadshow Antiques Roadshow Antiques Roadshow Living In The Sun Living In The Sun Living In The Sun Living In The Sun Cash In The Attic Usa Cash In The Attic Usa Cash In The Attic Usa

20:10 20:40 21:05 21:30 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:15

00:15 Streets Of Hollywood 00:40 Ths 01:30 25 Most Stylish 02:20 Sexiest 03:15 25 Celebrity Near Death Experiences 05:05 Dr 90210 06:00 Ths 07:45 Extreme Hollywood 08:35 E! News 09:00 The Daily 10 09:25 Ths 11:05 Kendra 11:30 Kendra 12:00 25 Most Stylish 12:50 Ths 13:40 E!es 14:30 Ths 15:25 40 Smokin’ On Set Hookups 17:10 Behind The Scenes 17:35 Behind The Scenes 18:00 E! News 18:25 The Daily 10 18:50 Kendra 19:15 Kendra 19:40 Ths 20:30 Ths 21:20 Leave It To Lamas 21:45 Leave It To Lamas 22:10 E! News 22:35 The Daily 10 23:00 Dr 90210 23:50 Perfect Catch

P2 on Show Movies 16:30 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:30 22:30

01:00 03:30 06:00 09:00 10:45 13:00 PG15 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:30 23:15

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

Cash In The Attic Usa Saturday Kitchen Saturday Kitchen Big Chef Takes On Little Chef Cash In The Attic Usa Come Dine With Me

The Indian Runner-PG15 Bridges To Madison County-PG15 Topsy Turvy-PG15 Mean Creek-PG15 Les Miserables-PG15 There’s Only One Jimmy GrimbleTeknolust-PG15 Moll Flanders-PG15 La Graine Et Le Mulet-PG15 The Basketball Diaries-18 Transamerica-18

Untamed & Uncut Miami Ink Street Customs American Chopper Massive Speed Massive Speed Mythbusters How Stuff’s Made Dirty Jobs Smash Lab Brainiac Mythbusters How Stuff’s Made Street Customs 2008 Wreck Rescue Wreck Rescue Fifth Gear Fifth Gear American Chopper Street Customs 2008 Industrial Junkie Industrial Junkie Mega Engineering Extreme Explosions How Stuff’s Made Destroyed In Seconds Destroyed In Seconds Storm Chasers Ultimate Survival Extreme Fishing Wild Swimming Adventure Untamed & Uncut

00:15 Weird Connections 00:40 Building The Biggest 01:30 The Colony 02:20 Sci-Fi Science 02:45 Sci-Fi Science 03:10 Weird Connections 03:35 Weird Connections 04:00 Beyond Tomorrow 04:50 Sci-Fi Saved My Life 05:45 Cool Stuff And How It Works 06:10 Green Wheels 06:40 One Step Beyond 07:10 The Colony 08:00 Thunder Races 09:00 Robotica 10:00 The Future Of...

10:55 Sci-Trek 11:50 Sci-Trek 12:45 Sci-Trek 13:40 Sci-Trek 14:35 Sci-Trek 15:30 Sci-Trek 16:25 How Stuff’s Made 16:55 Weird Connections 17:20 Weird Connections 17:50 Nyc: Inside Out 18:45 Download: The True Story Of The Internet 19:40 How It’s Made 20:05 How It’s Made 20:30 Nextworld 21:20 Sci-Fi Science 21:45 Sci-Fi Science

22:10 The Future Of...

23:00 Mythbusters 23:50 Mythbusters

00:00 My Friends Tigger And Pooh 00:20 Handy Manny 00:45 Special Agent Oso 01:10 Imagination Movers 01:35 Lazytown 02:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 02:25 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 02:45 Handy Manny 03:10 Special Agent Oso 03:35 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 04:00 Fairly Odd Parents 04:25 Hannah Montana 04:45 I Got A Rocket 05:10 Wizards Of Waverly Place 05:35 Phineas & Ferb 06:00 Little Einsteins 06:25 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 06:45 Handy Manny 07:10 Lazytown 07:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 08:00 Fairly Odd Parents 08:25 Suite Life On Deck 08:50 Wizards Of Waverly Place New Episodes 09:15 Jonas 09:40 Hannah Montana 10:00 Sonny With A Chance 10:30 Luck Of The Irish 12:00 Hannah Montana 12:25 Jonas 12:50 Replacements 13:15 Fairly Odd Parents 13:40 Sonny With A Chance 14:00 Suite Life On Deck 14:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place 14:50 Phineas & Ferb 15:15 Fairly Odd Parents 15:35 Replacements 16:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 16:25 Hannah Montana 16:45 Fairly Odd Parents 17:00 Jonas 17:25 Suite Life On Deck 17:50 Wizards Of Waverly Place New Episodes 18:10 Hannah Montana 18:35 Sonny With A Chance 19:00 Luck Of The Irish 20:35 Hannah Montana 21:00 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 21:25 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 21:45 The Replacements 22:00 Hannah Montana 22:25 Jonas 22:50 Replacements 23:15 Fairly Odd Parents 23:40 Sonny With A Chance

07:00 07:25 07:50 08:15 08:40 09:05 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:25 13:50 14:20 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:30 20:00

Phineas & Ferb The Suite Life of Zack & Cody Kid vs Kat American Dragon Phineas & Ferb Aaron Stone Power Rangers Jungle Fury Fantastic Four

X MEN New SpiderMan American Dragon Pokemon DP: Battle Dimension Kid vs Kat Phineas & Ferb I’M IN THE BAND K9 ADVENTURES Zeke & Luther The Suite Life of Zack & Cody I’M IN THE BAND Suite Life On Deck Power Rangers Jungle Fury American Dragon Iron Man Zeke & Luther NEXT X U.S SHORTS Aaron Stone Pokemon DP: Battle Dimension Phineas & Ferb Kid vs Kat K9 ADVENTURES I’M IN THE BAND Zeke & Luther PIXEL PERFECT Kid vs Kat NEXT X U.S SHORTS

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 17:10 18:00 18:50 19:40 20:30 21:20 22:10 23:00 23:50

Dr G: Medical Examiner Fbi Files A Haunting Undercover Fugitive Strike Force Forensic Detectives Black Museum Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghosthunters Ghosthunters Forensic Detectives Fbi Files Undercover Forensic Detectives Forensic Detectives Fbi Files Guilty Or Innocent?

Fugitive Strike Force Royal Inquest Forensic Detectives Fbi Files Undercover Forensic Detectives Forensic Detectives Fbi Files Guilty Or Innocent?

Fugitive Strike Force Royal Inquest A Haunting A Haunting

01:15 Favour, The Watch, And The Very Big Fish 02:45 I’m Gonna Git You Sucka 04:15 A Dangerous Woman 05:55 Keaton’s Cop 07:30 Cooley High 09:15 Juggernaut 11:05 Ski School 12:35 Home Is Where The Hart Is 14:00 From Noon Till Three 15:40 The Lost Brigade 17:00 Doc 18:35 A Doll’s House 20:10 Of Mice And Men 22:00 The Offence 23:50 Miami Blues

00:00 How I met you mother 00:30 Two and a half men 01:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 03:00 Cougar Town 03:30 East Bound & Down 04:00 The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson 05:00 How I met you mother 05:30 Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 06:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 07:00 The Nannyt 07:30 Three sisters 08:00 Yes dear 08:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 09:00 The Colbert Report 09:30 George Lopez 10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:30 Frasier 11:00 Dharma & Greg 11:30 The Bernie Mac show 12:00 The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson 13:00 Two and a half men 13:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 14:00 The Nannyt 14:30 Three sisters 15:00 Yes dear 15:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 George Lopez 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 The Bernie Mac show 18:30 Dharma & Greg

19:00 How I met you mother 19:30 Gary Unmarried 20:00 Best of Late night with Jimmy Fallon 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Bored to Death 22:30 Flight of the Conchords 23:00 The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

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

What’s Good For You 10 Years younger S3 Look A Like S3 The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Monique Show Chef’s table Fresh GMA (repeat) GMA Health What’s the Buzz What’s Good For You Chef’s Table Fresh Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The View The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show Parenting Job Club GMA Weekend Live GMA Health What’s the Buzz The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Downsize Me S2 The View The Ellen DeGeneres Show Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno The Monique Show

00:30 P2-18 02:30 Let Him Be-PG15 04:00 A Plumm Summer-PG15 06:00 Elizabeth: The Golden Age-PG15 08:00 Definitely Maybe-PG15 10:00 Frozen River-PG15 12:00 Bedtime Stories-FAM 13:45 Son Of Rambow-PG 15:30 Definitely Maybe-PG15 17:30 The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian-PG 20:00 Beyond A Reasonable Doubt-U 22:00 Milk-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

Anaconda: Trail Of Blood-R Art Of War II: Betrayal-18 Prisoner-PG The X Files-PG15 The Watch-PG15 The Other Side-PG15 Dark Mind-PG15 The Watch-PG15 Dead Water-PG15 Gangster Exchange-18 The Least Of These-PG15 Pulse 3-18

00:00 Fifty Pills-PG15 02:00 Prom Wars-18 04:00 Heartbreakers-PG15 06:00 Picture This-PG15 08:00 Clueless-PG15 10:00 Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants 2-PG15 12:00 Good Burger-PG15 14:00 Life Or Something Like It-PG 16:00 Fifty Pills-PG15 18:00 Lymelife-PG15 20:00 Callback-PG15 22:00 Easy-18

00:00 Mamma Moo And Crow-FAM 02:00 My Dog Skip-FAM 04:00 How To Eat Fried Worms-FAM 06:00 Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters-FAM 08:00 Pocahontas II: Winter Of The Rocky Mount-FAM 10:00 How To Eat Fried Worms-FAM 12:00 Legend Of The Titanic-FAM 14:00 My Dog Skip-FAM 16:00 Yogi And The Invasion Of The Space Bears-FAM 18:00 Clockstoppers-FAM 20:00 Superman: Doomsday-FAM 22:00 Legend Of The Titanic-FAM

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Burn Notice Burn Notice Sex and the City Sex and the City Beauty and the Geek Flash Forwards Frasier Coach Better off Ted Billable Hours Life on Mars Frasier Coach Beauty and the Geek (TBA) Flash Forwards Better off Ted Billable Hours Frasier Coach Burn Notice

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Burn Notice Life on Mars Smallville Emmerdale Coronation Street Psych Psych In Treatment In Treatment “24” Sex and the City

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Barclays Premier League Preview Premier League World Premier League Barclays Premier League Preview Scottish Premier League Highlights Premier League Classics Premier League Classics Barclays Premier League Preview Premier League World Scottish Premier League Highlights Premier League Barclays Premier League Preview Barclays Premier League Premier League Classics Premier League Scottish Premier League Highlights Premier League World Live Toshiba Super Saturday Live Premier League Live Toshiba Super Saturday Live Premier League Live Toshiba Super Saturday Premier League

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Premier League Preview Show Super 14 Live Super League Premier League Preview Show ICC Cricket World AFL Toyota Premiership Live NRL Premiership Live NRL Premiership Live NRL Premiership Live Scottish Premier League Live Toshiba Super Saturday Live Premier League Live Toshiba Super Saturday Live Premier League Live Toshiba Super Saturday Premier League

SHOW SPORTS 3 02:00 Super Leagu 04:00 NRL Premiership 06:00 Premier League Preview 06:30 Mobil 1 07:00 Super League 09:00 Premier League Preview 09:30 Live Super 14 11:30 Live Super 14 13:30 Premier League Preview 14:00 Live Super 14 16:00 Live PGA European Tour 20:00 World Sport 20:30 Live Super League 22:30 Dubai World Cup

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Take The Lead-PG Into The Storm-PG15 Madagascar 2-PG Music And Lyrics-PG Take The Lead-PG Rocky Balboa-PG15 Grey Gardens-PG15 Miracle At St. Anna-18

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Some Came Running Vampira The Screening Room Wild Rovers The Screening Room Flipper The Prize Khartoum 2001: A Space Odyssey Living Free 40 Carats 2010 The Time Machine Only When I Laugh

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Mega Disasters Dinosaur Secrets Mega Movers Monsterquest Ax Men 2 Tunnellers The Universe Mega Disasters Dinosaur Secrets Mega Movers Monsterquest Ax Men 2 Tunnellers The Universe Mega Disasters Dinosaur Secrets Mega Movers Monsterquest Ax Men 2 Tunnellers The Universe

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Trucker-PG15 Charlie Wilson’s War-18 Georgia Rule-PG15 The Day The Earth Stood Still-

Clean House Peter Perfect Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane The Dish How Do I Look?

Split Ends Dr 90210 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane Area How Do I Look?

08:00 Style Star 08:30 Style Her Famous 09:00 Clean House 10:00 What I Hate About Me 11:00 Ruby 12:00 How Do I Look?

13:00 Clean House 14:00 Dr 90210 15:00 Dr 90210 16:00 Dr 90210 17:00 Dr 90210 18:00 Dr 90210 19:00 Dr 90210 20:00 20 Best And Worst Celebrity Plastic...

22:00 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 22:30 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 23:00 Dallas Divas And Daughters 23:30 Dallas Divas And Daughters

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Globe Trekker Angry Planet The Thirsty Traveler Globe Trekker Intrepid Journeys Angry Planet Photoxplorers Globe Trekker Swiss Railway Journeys The Thirsty Traveler Angry Planet Globe Trekker Essential Essential Inside Luxury Travel-varun Sharma Distant Shores Distant Shores Distant Shores Distant Shores Globe Trekker Planet Food Chef Abroad Chef Abroad Floyd On Africa Travel Today Globe Trekker Globe Trekker Inside Luxury Travel-varun Sharma Floyd Uncorked Chef Abroad Chef Abroad Chef Abroad Planet Food Essential Essential

00:00 Vh1 Pop Chart 01:00 Boogie Night 03:00 Vh1 Music 07:00 Chill Out 09:00 Smooth Wake Up 11:00 Vh1 Music 13:00 Vh1 Weekly Album Chart 14:00 Top 10 Genesis 15:00 Music For The Masses 16:00 New Tones Weekend 19:00 Final Countdown Best Love Songs 23:00 Vh1 100 Greatest Songs ¬†of The 90’s Pt1

Discovery Channel gets viewers revved up with fuel-injected turbo month on OSN New programming season delivers hours of electrifying motoring entertainment Discovery Channel (OSN) puts pedal to the metal from the end of March and throughout April, when it hosts five weeks of full throttle motoring fun in Turbo Month – a celebration of horsepower, extreme engineering and the passion, dedication and craftsmanship of the real people behind the most faithful, practical and outrageous motorcars and bikes.

Beginning 29 March 2010, Turbo Month puts viewers in the driver’s seat with a variety of riveting programmes from across the two- and four-wheel spectrum – at the same time, in the same place, every weekday night. Hit cruise control and enjoy entertaining motoring magazine, motorcycle travel and car renovation shows, or revel in all the high-octane action of bike and car customisation and fabrication.

Turbo Month is one of the most anticipated Discovery Channel seasons of 2010. The programming line up promises to set hearts a flutter as it indulges every viewer’s ultimate motoring fantasy.

The Turbo Month line-up includes the ‘docu-soap’ series Heartland Thunder; the most comprehensive motorcycle documentary series ever produced, Twist the Throttle; the finest showcase of the world’s best cars and consumer motoring advice in Fifth Gear; the art of fixing, buying and selling automobiles in

Wheeler Dealers; the ins and outs of awesome bike design in American Chopper; and the ultimate in car customisation in Street Customs Berlin.

Whether you’re a devoted enthusiast or casual admirer, complete petrol head or simply appreciate the finesse of fine auto workman-

ship, you’re going to love Turbo Month!

Turbo Month will be a one-hour programming block from Monday to Friday at 22:00, with an extended block every Friday during primetime from 23:00 to 01:00, only on Discovery Channel (OSN)

Star Listings (UAE Timings) STAR Movies 20:20 C.I. Frank Mcklusky 21:45 The Thin Red Line 00:35 Wargames: The Dead Code 02:20 Phantom Racer 03:45 C.I. Frank Mcklusky 05:10 The Thin Red Line 08:00 Wargames: The Dead Code 09:45 The Happening 11:15 Spy Hard 12:35 Rocketman 14:10 Carrie 15:45 Alien Resurrection 17:30 Alien Vs Predator - Requiem 19:00 Rain Man STAR World 20:00 Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

21:00 American Idol 23:00 Stone Undercover 00:00 American Idol 02:00 [V] Tunes 03:00 [V] Tunes 04:00 Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

05:00 [V] Tunes 06:00 [V] Tunes 07:00 [V] Tunes

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American Idol Stone Undercover Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

Scrubs The Bold And The Beautiful The Bold And The Beautiful The Bold And The Beautiful The Bold And The Beautiful The Bold And The Beautiful October Road American Idol [V] Tunes Stone Undercover Scrubs According To Jim According To Jim According To Jim

Granada TV 21:00 I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! (Series 7) 22:00 City Lights 23:00 I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! (Series 7) 00:00 At Home With The Braithwaites (Series 2) 01:00 SuperAgents

01:30 Poor Little Rich Girls (Series 2) 02:00 All About George (Series 1) 03:00 Blue Murder (Series 1) (Double Bill) 05:00 I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! (Series 7) 06:00 Emmerdale (Weekend Omnibus) 07:30 Undercover Customs (Series 2) 08:00 City Lights 09:00 Total Emergency 10:00 Fat Club 10:30 City Cabs (Series 1) 11:00 Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 1) 12:00 An Audience With Take That 13:00 Stars In Their Eyes (Series 12) 14:00 Prime Drama: Cheers & Tears (Series 1) 16:00 Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 1) 17:00 An Audience With Take That 18:00 Stars In Their Eyes (Series 12) 19:00 Prime Drama: Cheers & Tears (Series 1) Channel [V] 22:00 The Playlist 00:30 Double Shot

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Loop [V] Plug Keys To The VIP Backtracks [V] Tunes [V] Plug Double Shot Videoscope [V] Countdown [V] Tunes Loop Backtracks [V] Special [V] Countdown

Fox News 20:00 Happening Now 22:00 The Live Desk 00:00 Studio B with Shepard Smith Live 01:00 Your World with Neil Cavuto 02:00 Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck 03:00 Special Report with Bret Baier 04:00 The FOX Report with Shepard Smith 05:00 The O’Reilly Factor 06:00 Hannity 07:00 On the Record with Greta Van Susteren

08:00 The O’Reilly Factor 09:00 Hannity 10:00 On the Record with Greta Van Susteren 11:00 Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck 12:00 Fox Report 13:00 Special Report with Bret Baier 14:00 Hannity (repeat) 15:00 The O’Reilly Factor (repeat) 16:00 FOX and Friends Saturday 17:00 FOX and Friends Saturday 18:00 FOX and Friends Saturday 19:00 Bulls and Bears 19:30 Cavuto On Business National Geographic Channel 20:00 Megastructures -World’s Biggest Shredder 21:00 Riddles Of The Bible -Lost Cities S1 22:00 Florence Unlocked 23:00 Theme Week -2012: The Final Prophecy 00:00 Locked Up Abroad -Sao Paulo Death Trap 01:00 Helicopter Wars -Duel In The Desert 02:00 Megastructures -USS Ronald Reagan

03:00 Nat Geo Junior -Wild Detectives : Fur Seals 03:30 Nat Geo Junior -Wild Chronicles : 3 04:00 Animals in Danger -Forgotten Rhino 05:00 Monster Fish Of The Congo 06:00 The Living Edens -Palau: Paradise Of The Pacific 07:00 Mega Factories -Audi 08:00 World’s Toughest Fixes -Rocket Launch 09:00 Theme Week -Is It Real? : Nostradamus Effect S2 10:00 Theme Week -2012: The Final Prophecy 11:00 Six Degrees Could Change The World 12:00 Gone To Save The Planet -1 12:30 Earth Hour 13:30 Gone To Save The Planet -10 14:00 Mega Factories -Audi 15:00 Monster Fish -Giant Stingray 16:00 Megastructures -USS Ronald Reagan 17:00 Helicopter Wars -Duel In The Desert 18:00 Mega Factories -Audi 19:00 Typhoon Hunters

Saturday, March 27, 2010

NEWS

19

Abu Dhabi SWF’s chief missing after plane crash ABU DHABI: The managing director of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), considered the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, is missing after a glider plane crash in Morocco, the state news agency WAM said yesterday. Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed Al-Nahayan is a younger brother of the ruler of Abu Dhabi, who is also president of the United Arab Emirates, but is not immediately in line for succession.

“Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed AlNahayan...was in a crash of a glider which was airborne in Morocco. The pilot was rescued and is in good condition. The

search for His Highness is still continuing,” WAM said in a statement. The plane had crashed into a lake, WAM reported.

An ADIA spokesman declined to comment.

Sheikh Ahmed was No. 27 on Forbes list of the world’s most powerful people last year and is in his early 40s. The magazine described him as “elusive” and he rarely gives interviews. The sovereign wealth fund, formed in 1976, is believed to have assets of around $500-$700 billion, and range from Citigroup bonds to a stake in Britain’s Gatwick airport to resi-

dential property in major cities.

ADIA has seldom given details of its investment strategy or investments. In an interview in January, Sheikh Ahmed said the wealth fund was refining its investment approach and might consider a larger investment than its rarely exceeded 5 percent stakes. “The rumours that circulate occasionally about ADIA planning takeover bids or looking to buy controlling stakes in one company or another are invariably a case of mistaken identity,” he said in the interview published in German business daily Handelsblatt.—Reuters

UK’s Times, Sunday Times to charge for online content LONDON: The Times and The Sunday Times will become the first British newspapers to charge readers to access all online content from June, Rupert Murdoch’s News International announced yesterday.

Customers will have to pay one pound ($1.50) for one day’s access and two pounds for a week’s subscription, in a move that will be closely watched in a newspaper industry experiencing steadily dropping sales. Both Times titles will launch new websites in early May, replacing the existing combined site, Times Online.

The two new sites will be available for a free trial period to registered customers.

Access to the digital services will be included in the seven-day subscriptions of print customers of the two newspapers. News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks said: “At a defining moment for journalism, this is a crucial step towards making the business of news an economically exciting proposition. We are proud of our journalism and unashamed to say that we believe it has value.

This is just the start. The Times and The Sunday Times are the first of our four titles in the UK to move to this new approach.”

News International, a division of Murdoch’s News Corporation, also owns The Sun tabloid and Sunday tabloid News of the World. With newspaper sales in decline and advertising increasingly moving online, owners have been searching for a business model that will make profits from their websites.

The Financial Times already makes readers pay for some online content, while the Wall Street Journal - also part of Murdoch’s media empire - is currently the only major US newspaper charging readers for full access online.

The New York Times announced in January that it would start charging for online content in early 2011. The US-based Christian Science Monitor has gone one step

RIYADH: A Saudi checks a musket during a public street auction of goods yesterday. — AP

Allawi wins Iraq election Continued from Page 1

LONDON: A man reads the online version of Britain’s Times newspaper yesterday. — AFP further towards embracing the Internet, dispensing with its daily print version in favour of a daily online edition and a weekly print version. The decision to charge for the Times and Sunday Times makes them the first British titles to impose a paywall for all their online content rather than for selected articles. Murdoch announced in August last year that he intended to start charging for online content from all his newspapers but acknowledged the need to make their online content distinct from other publishers.

But with so much news content available for free on the Internet, the move is fraught with risk. News International has criticised the publicly-funded BBC for the “chilling” size and power of its news website, arguing it has an unfair advantage over newspapers.

George Brock, professor and head of journalism at City University London, described the

move as an “experimental toe in the water”, but said its success could depend on whether or not the Times’ competitors also started charging. “Presumably the plan is that if it does start to work and other people swing in the same direction then prices can start to rise,” he told AFP. “What is striking about this is that they are wrapping the paywall around the entire content. My suspicion is that the majority of newspapers will still go for a mixture of paid-for and free online content.”

Steve Hewlett, a media consultant, said there was evidence that specialist information such as that supplied by the Financial Times could generate substantial revenues under a paid-for online system. “What is not clear, what no one else has yet demonstrated, is whether it is possible to do that for general news,” he told BBC radio. — AFP

Four dead in worst Gaza clash in a year Continued from Page 1 the current diplomatic impasse between Israel, the Palestinians and the United States over Israeli settlement of occupied West Bank land and stalled efforts to relaunch peace talks. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

The militant Islamist group Hamas which has ruled the enclave since 2007 said its men had fired on Israeli soldiers who crossed into the Strip. Hamas has largely held its fire since a costly threeweek war with Israel in the opening days of 2009 in which some 1,400 Palestinians, mainly civilians, and 13 Israelis, mainly soldiers, were killed. But smaller factions have violated the de facto truce by firing rockets and mortars into neighbouring Israeli territory.

Israel said it was holding Hamas accountable for the violence, which made further retaliatory action likely. “Hamas is

accountable for any activity that takes place from Gaza to Israel. It doesn’t matter if it took responsibility or not,” a military spokeswoman told reporters. Hamas took part in the fighting but said its gunmen acted to repel an Israeli incursion. “An Israeli army force raided 500 metres into Palestinian territory, and was confronted by our gunmen,” said Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Hamas armed wing.

“This was our work, but it was carried out for defence.”

Two other groups, Islamic Jihad and AlAqsa Martyrs Brigades, said their men also took part in the fighting. The Israeli army spokeswoman said the army unit was fired upon after crossing into Gaza in an operation to dismantle a mine. Such pursuits are common practice for the Israelis, who try to maintain a buffer zone within the border fence off-limits to Palestinians. Palestinian sources said there were further casualties but no details were immediately available.

The witnesses said that, during the fighting, soldiers stretchered away a wounded comrade and helicopters came to the scene, apparently for medical evacuations. The statements by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades did not make clear who might have carried out the initial ambush on the Israeli patrol.

Tensions have run high along the Gaza frontier this month, with Israel launching repeated air strikes in response to Palestinian rocket attacks, one of which killed a Thai worker in a kibbutz last week.

An Israeli soldier was accidentally shot dead by comrades earlier this month as they rushed to intercept three Palestinian border-jumpers, who were later found to have been going in search of work in Israel. The last time an Israeli soldier was killed on the Gaza border was 9 days after the offensive ended in January 2009, when a bomb planted by Palestinian gunman exploded. — Reuters

irregularities in the counting process.

Nearly three weeks after the March 7 ballot, the final results showed Maliki taking ethnically and religiously diverse Baghdad and predominantly Shiite southern provinces, while Allawi dominated largely Sunni northern and western regions. The results showed the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a Shiite bloc with close ties to Iran, in third place with 70 seats. The INA, an alliance which includes anti-American cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, is negotiating a merger with Maliki’s State of Law, officials from both blocs have said.

Maliki also said after the results were released that he was on the way to forming the biggest bloc in parliament. But any attempt to sideline Allawi in what could be weeks or months of perilous negotiations to form a new government could be taken as a slight by Sunnis shunted to the political wilderness when Iraq’s majority Shiites rose to power following the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

The results released yesterday represented a 100 percent preliminary count of

Continued from Page 1 world which he laid out in a major speech a year ago in the Czech capital.

“With this agreement, the United States and Russia - the two largest nuclear powers in the world - also send a clear signal that we intend to lead,” said Obama. “By upholding our own commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, we strengthen our global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons, and to ensure that other nations meet their own responsibilities.”

Clinton added the United States does “not need such large arsenals to protect our nation and our allies against the two greatest dangers we face today, nuclear proliferation and terrorism”. Obama said the deal advances his priority to “reset” ties between the two countries, which have deepened cooperation on the US-led war against Muslim extremists in Afghanistan and on efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Ties slumped into deep distrust under former president George W Bush.

In Moscow, the Kremlin said “the presidents agreed that the new treaty marks the transfer of Russian-US cooperation to a higher level in the development of new strategic ties”. Obama said the treaty “significantly reduces” US and Russian missiles and launchers, and sets up a “strong and effective” verification

regime. The new deal specifies limits of 1,550 deployed warheads, which is about 30 percent lower than a previous upper warhead limit set in 2002. The United States has said it currently has some 2,200 nuclear warheads, while Russia is believed to have about 3,000.

The treaty, which must be ratified by the US Senate and the Russian Duma, limits missile forces to 800 deployed and non-deployed intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, submarine launched ballistic missile launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear weapons.

The cap on deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine launched missiles is set at 700, the White House said.

Clinton, who traveled to Moscow last week in a bid to clear the last hurdles to the deal, said she was “confident” the Obama administration would be able to convince the Senate to ratify the treaty.

Analysts said US Republicans - who staunchly back US missile defense plans that have worried Moscow - may try to deny the Obama administration the twothirds majority it needs in the Senate to ratify the START treaty.

But there were contradictory signs from both Moscow and Washington on whether missile defense provisions were in the treaty. Gates said the treaty does not set constraints on US plans to develop and improve missile defense systems

in Europe and elsewhere. But the Kremlin said the new treaty establishes a “legally-binding” linkage between offensive strategic weapons and missile defense systems - an apparent reference to US missile shield plans.

Moscow has strongly opposed US plans to set up missile defenses in eastern Europe and has long insisted on an explicit recognition of the link between offensive and defensive systems in any new strategic arms pact. The agreement hands Obama his second major political victory in a week after he signed his landmark health care overhaul into law on Tuesday. Analyst Miles Pomper called the agreement “a significant foreign policy achievement,” as it comes before a nuclear security summit next month and the review conference for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in May. He said the agreement will give “some positive momentum” to the NPT conference, which requires nuclear powers like Russia and the United States to show progress on disarmament.

Signed in 1991, START led to huge reductions in the Russian and US nuclear arsenals and imposed verification measures to build trust between the two former Cold War foes. Delays in the START talks and missed deadlines had cast a shadow over the Russian and US leaders’ efforts to make good on their pledge to improve bilateral ties. — AFP

have severe consequences for the perpetrators.”

Sectarian violence exploded as politicians took more than five months to agree a government after the last parliamentary vote in 2005. The Sadrists’ strong election showing gives the Shiite cleric, whose Mehdi Army fiercely fought US troops, a potential kingmaker role in the new parliament. A merger of State of Law and INA would take the two blocs close to the 163 seats needed to form a government.

Such an alliance could leave Sunnis vulnerable after they turned out in force at the polls. Their participation was considered a key to Iraq’s future stability af ter the sectarian bloodshed that engulfed the country in 2006-07. Sunni insurgents are blamed for daily bombings and other attacks despite a significant drop in overall violence during the last two years. A merger could also leave Maliki exposed in his quest for a second term as prime minister. The Sadrists were infuriated when Maliki sent federal troops to crush their militias and authorities still hold hundreds of Sadrist prisoners. — Agencies

EU bails out Greece with ‘band-aid’ deal Continued from Page 1 European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet, expressing a widely-held hope that investors will gradually regain confidence in Greek government debt, also said on Thursday that the mechanism would probably not be used. But this fed market scepticism. “It looks like we have a fund which Greece doesn’t want to use and Germany doesn’t want to pay for,” said Citigroup economist Juergen Michels. Nevertheless, Trichet won praise in Athens when he effectively announced on Thursday that the ECB would continue to accept Greek bonds as collateral for cash loans, even if the government’s debt rating was cut.

A statement by euro zone leaders included no numbers on the deal, but a senior European Commission source said the support package would be worth €2022 billion ($27-29 billion) if required in an emergency. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the euro zone would put up two-thirds of the money, and the IMF the

rest.

However, the IMF’s participation remained contested. Constancio made clear he didn’t like any suggestion of IMF involvement in a euro zone family problem.

“As I said during my hearings in European parliament, I think the IMF is not necessary and should not have a role,” he told reporters. Constancio has been nominated as ECB vice-president and was backed by the European parliament on Thursday.

Trichet has had similar misgivings, although he welcomed the deal after it was struck. Injecting further uncertainty, a major German state bank said it was still waiting for the Berlin government to decide whether it should buy any Greek government bonds.

Market reaction was mixed. The yield on the 10-year Greek government bond fell as low as 6.21 percent, well off this week’s peak of 6.67 percent. The spread over benchmark German Bunds slipped to 306 basis points, the tightest in more than a week. But that still means Greece would

have to pay roughly double the interest rate on any new bonds it sells than Germany would, a burden that Athens can ill-afford as it fights to cut its budget deficit with unpopular austerity measures.

The euro rose 0.9 percent against the dollar from a 10-month low, helped by the chance that Athens would not need aid. On Thursday it had fallen as investors believed IMF involvement showed the euro zone could not handle its problems alone. German Chancellor Angela Merkel German Chancellor welcomed the small fall in Greek debt yields.

But she made clear that far more work needed to be done, saying that it would be difficult to avoid changes to the European Union treaty if the bloc wanted to learn from the Greek crisis. Merkel had long resisted offered aid to Greece because of public opposition in Germany and concerns that any deal could face a legal challenge at home. She also faces a tough state election in May that she can ill afford to lose. — Reuters

Defiant Israel to keep building in Jerusalem Continued from Page 1

US, Russia ink ‘reset’ pact to cut nuke arms

the votes, but the final results, which have to be certified by a court, could take weeks. The potential power vacuum and likely instability during the coalition negotiations will be watched closely by Washington as the US military prepares to formally end combat operations by Sept 1 and pull its troops out by the end of 2011, and also by global oil firms that inked multibillion-dollar contracts to refurbish Iraq’s rich but dilapidated oilfields.

Underscoring Iraq’s fragile security and the tensions caused by the March 7 election, two explosions in the town of Khalis, in Iraq’s mainly Sunni northern Diyala province, killed at least 42 people and wounded 65 just before the release of the results. Earlier in the day, hundreds of Maliki’s supporters gathered at Baghdad’s provincial government building to echo the prime minister’s demand for a recount, waving banners that read: “No, no to fraud” and “Where have our voices gone?” “We condemn the work of IHEC and cases of fraud that have occurred for the benefit of the Iraqiya list,” said protester Arkan Shahab, 47. “The process of fraud that has openly occurred and the abolition of the will of the Iraqi people will

Yet Netanyahu has to balance these concerns with the possibility his pro-settler government may fall apart should he bow to US demands. Israel captured East Jerusalem in a 1967 war, and annexed it as part of its capital in a move not recognised internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as capital of a future state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also insists settlement must cease totally for peace talks stalled since Dec 2008 to resume. He faces domestic opposition to diplomacy from the Hamas Islamists who control Gaza and spurn the Jewish state.

The West has long objected to Israeli construction of Jewish settlements in land Palestinians seek for a state, and the issue again dogged Netanyahu’s talks with

President Barack Obama on Wednesday as they sought a way to renew Middle East diplomacy. Hefez said Netanyahu and Obama had reached a “list of understandings” in the talks on Wednesday, although some disagreements remained. He said they had an understanding “based on the principle that on the one hand construction policy in Jerusalem doesn’t change, and on the other, Israel is ready to take steps to move the diplomatic process”.

Later Hefez clarified that he had not meant to say Washington had agreed to Israel building in East Jerusalem, but to stress Israel’s own policy on the issue. In a statement to Reuters, Hefez said what he had told the radio “was related only to Israel’s position and did not relate at all to the American position”. Netanyahu’s office said he would yesterday “present to the forum of seven (ministers) the

progress on a list of issues in the diplomatic contacts he held in the United States in order to make progress in the peace process”. The meeting concluded after nearly five hours without any official comment. Israel Radio said no decisions were taken and that Israel likely wouldn’t deliver its reply to the US before the Jewish Passover holiday ends April 5.

In the Syrian capital of Damascus, tens of thousands of Syrians and Palestinians gathered yesterday for a governmentorchestrated “march of anger” against Israeli construction in Jerusalem’s eastern sector. Protesters waved Syrian and Palestinian flags and pictures of Hamas leaders as they shouted anti-Israel slogans, and senior Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal condemned what he called Israel’s “brutal aggression” on holy sites. — Agencies

Arab leaders set for ‘Jerusalem’ summit Continued from Page 1 Ban, who also flew in yesterday in Libya, said in the run-up to the summit that he would ask leaders to back US-brokered indirect peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians despite tensions over Israel’s settlement plans. “Settlements are illegal under international law. This must stop,” said Ban, who is to address the summit’s opening session. But a defiant Netanyahu told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz he refuses to halt settlement construction in mostly Arab east Jerusalem

because of his own beliefs and not because of pressure from his right-wing coalition.

The leaders of Algeria, Mauritania and Somalia also arrived for the summit while the rulers of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates sent representatives. Several leaders from the 22-member Arab League will be absent. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is recovering from surgery in a German hospital and Lebanese counterpart Michel Sleiman is also staying away, amid a diplomatic spat with Tripoli. It was not clear if King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who traded insults with Gaddafi at last

year’s Arab summit in Doha, would attend.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, meanwhile, is to travel today to Sirte as the only foreign head of state to have been invited to attend the summit, officials in Rome told AFP. Berlusconi is expected to call for an Israeli settlement freeze in a speech at the summit and urge Arabs to show signs of normalisation of ties with Israel, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said. Italy has longstanding links with its former colony Libya. —AFP

20

SPORTS

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Dos Anjos hopes to strike a blow for MMA’s image SINGAPORE: Like gladiators battling in the blood and roar of the Colosseum, Rafael dos Anjos believes mixed martial arts (MMA) makes compulsive viewing because it taps into the human survival instinct.

Brazilian dos Anjos, who will fight Terry Etim in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s April 10 event in Abu Dhabi, told Reuters in an interview that MMA’s rapid global growth could see it become the biggest sport in the world within a few years.

The 25-year-old is putting the finishing touches to his training at the Evolve MMA Academy in Singapore, where world champions in Brazilian jiujitsu, Muay Thai and

boxing are intent on turning him into an unbeatable human weapon.

“Fighting is something that every human being can understand,” dos Anjos said.

“Other sports are very country or region specific, but fighting is global-and it has been since the beginning of time.

“The cavemen fought for leadership and food. The Roman gladiators fought for honour and glory. Fighting is genetically wired in every human being because it is the survival instinct.”

Dos Anjos won his spot in the lucrative UFC after stringing together a nine-fight winning run in smaller organisations, inflicting defeat on Japanese and fellow Brazilian

opponents with a variety of vicious locks and chokes.

In search of a 10th consecutive win, dos Anjos made his much-heralded UFC debut against Jeremy Stephens in a fight still remembered as having one of the most stunning knockouts in MMA history.

Dos Anjos, however, was the one knocked out.

“I was sad for about three days after the Stephens fight,” he recalled. “And then it was business as usual for me. In the fight game, you have to take the good with the bad and not let it get to your head.”

A loss to Tyson Griffin in his second UFC fight prompted speculation he would be cut

from the organisation, but two impressive wins over Rob Emerson and Kyle Bradley have thrust him back into the spotlight.

Beating Etim in Abu Dhabi would confirm him as a genuine contender and edge him closer to some of the leading names in the lightweight division such as BJ Penn and Shinya Aoki.

Dos Anjos, all tattoos and toughness with the misshapen, mangled ears of a fighter, has no doubts his decision to finish his preparations in Singapore will pay dividends.

He goes to work on an unfortunate heavy bag, making it grunt and yelp and jerk backwards with a flurry of elbows, punches and

cruel kicks. In the cage, sparring partner Leandro “Brodinho” Issa blocked, braced, ducked and dodged as a barrage of blows rained down. The air whistles from his lungs as dos Anjos spikes him to the mat with a mighty takedown.

Slipping seamlessly from submission to submission, dos Anjos rehearses the end game, how he will force Etim’s surrender.

“I’ve been training so that this fight doesn’t go to the third round,” he said.

“We’ll probably fight standing up but I’m hoping to bring the fight to the ground so I can use jiujitsu, which is my strength.”

Dos Anjos smiled as he spoke of his contentment with life as a fighter. The risk of

serious injury did not seem to weigh heavily on his shoulders.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t dangerous.

But I am a highly trained, professional athlete. So no, I don’t really think about the dangers of the sport,” he said.

The financial security of his contract had allowed him to focus fully on fighting.

“A while ago I had to separate my life, I couldn’t really train, I had to do other jobs,” he added.

“Now I can dedicate myself to fighting 100 percent, which I love. Now I do what I like and I wake up happy everyday to go to work, but it’s not really work because I have so much fun doing it.” — Reuters

NHL results/standings NHL results and standings on Thursday. Tampa Bay 5, Boston 3; NY Rangers 4, New Jersey 3 (So); NY Islanders 3, Calgary 2; Minnesota 4, Philadelphia 3 (OT); Carolina 3, Washington 2 (SO); Toronto 2, Atlanta 1 (OT); Columbus 8, Chicago 3; Montreal 4, Florida 1; St. Louis 3, Los Angeles 1; Nashville 4, Phoenix 3 (SO); San Jose 3, Dallas 0. (OT indicates overtime win; SO indicates shootout victory).

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF New Jersey 43 25 5 198 Pittsburgh 42 25 7 228 Philadelphia 37 31 6 215 NY Rangers 33 32 9 195 NY Islanders 30 34 10 192 Northeast Division Buffalo 40 22 10 203 Ottawa 39 30 5 198 Montreal 37 30 8 202 Boston 33 28 12 183 Toronto 27 35 12 195 Southeast Division Washington 49 14 11 289 Atlanta 32 30 12 219 Tampa Bay 30 32 12 196 Florida 30 32 11 191 Carolina 31 34 9 206

GA 176 212 205 200 229

PTS 91 91 80 75 70

182 212 204 186 243

90 83 82 78 66

209 236 230 214 231

109 76 72 71 71

Western Conference Central Division Chicago 46 20 7 239 187 99 Nashville 43 27 5 211 209 91 Detroit 37 23 13 200 195 87 St. Louis 35 30 9 201 204 79 Columbus 30 32 12 198 238 72 Northwest Division Vancouver 45 25 4 242 191 94 Colorado 41 25 7 220 197 89 Calgary 37 28 9 189 185 83 Minnesota 36 32 6 203 218 78 Edmonton 24 42 7 187 250 55 Pacific Division San Jose 45 19 10 239 193 100 Phoenix 46 23 6 204 185 98 Los Angeles 42 25 6 215 195 90 Dallas 32 28 14 211 234 78 Anaheim 34 31 8 205 224 76 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L).

STMC bags third Mar Chrysostom trophy UNIONDALE: Matt Stajan #18 of the Calgary Flames battles for the puck with Bruno Gervais #8 of the New York Islanders in the second period of an NHL game at the Nassau Coliseum March 25 in Uniondale, New York. The Islanders won 3-2. — AFP

Stamkos leads Lightning past Boston Bruins Habs end losing run with victory over Panthers BOSTON: Steve Stamkos scored twice to take a share of NHL season lead with 45 goals, and Paul Szczechura also had a pair of goals to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.

Antero Niittymaki stopped 47 shots for the 500th victory. The Lightning have won two straight since losing five in a row — and 12 of 14 — to fall to the brink of elimination in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Niittymaki stopped 19 shots in the third period as Boston tried furiously but belatedly to come back from a three-goal deficit.

Tuukka Rask made 13 saves for Boston, which has won just two of its last 14 home games.

Stamkos scored just 49 seconds into the game and then added another with 26 seconds remaining in the second period to make it 4-2 and give him 45 for the season. That equals Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby for the NHL lead.

Martin St. Louis also scored for Tampa Bay. Zdeno Chara, Johnny Boychuk and Mark Recchi scored for Boston. The Bruins are eighth in the Eastern Conference, two points head of Atlanta for the final playoff spot.

Sharks 3, Stars 0 At San Jose, California, Evgeni Nabokov made 27 saves for his 50th career shutout as San Jose clinched a playoff berth while climbing back atop the Western Conference. Defensemen Dan Boyle and Rob Blake scored powerplay goals in the second period for San Jose, which has won two straight after a

0-5-1 skid over the previous 10 days.

Logan Couture also scored.

Rangers 4, Devils 3, SO At Newark, New Jersey, Chris Drury scored the equalizer with 16.5 seconds left in regulation and Erik Christensen had the only tally in the shootout for New York. Christensen scored on the first attempt of the shootout, and Henrik Lundqvist made it stand up with saves against Zach Parise, Patrik Elias and Travis Zajac. The Rangers, 10th in the Eastern Conference, moved within three points of eighth-place Boston and five behind No. 7 Philadelphia.

Jamie Langenbrunner and Elias both scored tiebreaking goals in the third for the Devils, who regained first place in the Atlantic Division over Pittsburgh.

Maple Leafs 2, Thrashers 1, OT At Atlanta, Mikhail Grabovski’s tip-in 39 seconds into overtime gave Toronto the victory, damaging Atlanta’s playoff hopes.

Toronto rookie Jonas Gustavsson stopped 19 shots for his sixth straight win. Atlanta’s Zach Bogosian and Toronto’s Phil Kessel traded goals in the first period. The Thrashers closed within two points of eighth-place Boston for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Hurricanes 3, Capitals 2, SO At Raleigh, Chad LaRose scored in the fifth round of a shootout to lift Carolina past Eastern Conference-leading Washington.

The contest marked the first time

three rookie defensemen — Carolina’s Jamie McBain and Bryan Rodney and Washington’s John Carlson — have scored goals in a game since Toronto and Chicago did it on March 8, 1947.

Alexander Semin also scored for the Capitals.

Blue Jackets 8, Blackhawks 3 At Columbus, Antoine Vermette had two goals and an assist, and Columbus scored four second-period goals to hand Chicago its worst loss of the season.

The Blackhawks missed a chance to clinch a playoff berth on their own, but secured a spot when Calgary lost to the New York Islanders.

Kristian Huselius also scored twice, and Mike Commodore, Andrew Murray, Jackub Voracek — on a penalty shot — and rookie Mike Blunden also found the net. Kris Versteeg, Tomas Kopecky and Adam Burish scored for Chicago.

Wild 4, Flyers 3, OT At Philadelphia, Kyle Brodziak scored in overtime for Minnesota, sending the Flyers to their sixth loss in seven games.

Martin Havlat, Andrew Brunette and Marek Zidlicky also scored for the Wild.

Oskars Bartulis, Simon Gagne and Dan Carcillo scored for the Flyers.

Philadelphia is seventh in the Eastern Conference, four points ahead of ninthplace Atlanta in the race for the eight playoff spots.

Islanders 3, Flames 2 At Uniondale, Matt Moulson and Bruno Gervais scored third-period goals

in the New York Islanders’ comeback victory.

Trent Hunter had his first goal since Jan. 19 to help the Islanders end a threegame losing streak. Eric Nystrom had a goal and an assist for his first multipoint game in almost six months, and Nigel Dawes also scored for the Flames.

Calgary is four points behind idle Detroit for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Predators 4, Coyotes 3, SO At Nashville, David Legwand scored the shootout winner for the home teama after Steve Sullivan, Patric Hornqvist and Dan Hamhuis connected in regulation. Lee Stempniak, Wojtek Wolski and Keith Yandle scored for Phoenix.

Nashville has won seven of its last eight. After winning nine consecutive games, the Coyotes have lost their last two.

KUWAIT: 2010 began on a sporting note for the Youth League of the St Thomas Marthoma Church, Salmiya and a new chapter in their activities as they hosted the 3rd Mar Chrysostom Ever Rolling Volleyball tournament, at the magnificent Al Arabi Club indoor court in Mansouriya.

The weekend crowd and sports enthusiasts alike were treated to some good quality matches that eventually paved the way for the champion.

The two day affair culminated with the semis and the finals, followed by the awards ceremony.

The matches, was a mixed bag as some predictable victories were notched up, the home team, St. Thomas Marthoma Church (STMC) defeating St. Peter’s CSI church comfortably. SMTC, playing like a well oiled machine, produced quality finishes and near perfect net blocks. They were not really tested at any time by the opposition.

The second match of the afternoon had more bite in it as STMC Choir team locked horns with Ahmadi Marthoma Parish.

If the latter came thinking that they would have a field day, they had another think coming. As the match unfurled, the points indicated a different story. The audience were treated to some excellent volleying skills and a couple of good rallies that elicited huge cheers from the supporters.

Another easy game was

STMC versus the St. Daniel Comboni Parish (SDCP), as the men of the home team came away victorious yet again with some level headed play and solid defensive maneuvers. Led by their captain, Binoy they notched up another win on the points table. The final schedule of the day pitted SDCP against the St Peter’s CSI team, which was won by SDCP. Immediately after the semis, the match that decided the 3rd position was won by St Daniels Comboni Parish as they defeated the Ahmadi Marthoma Church.

The presence of two special chief guests was an added attraction during the finals. M. Murli MLA from Mavelikara Constituency and long serving Panchayat member Mr. Asharaf President Bharanikav Pachayat met with the teams before the match.

The final was a nail biter as five sets were played between the hosts St Thomas Marthoma Church played an enthusiastic St Thomas Marthoma Choir team.

The hosts found early rhythm and settled in comfortably for the first set, but were in troubled waters during the second and fourth sets as the Choir team outplayed them. For the first time in the tournament, the fifth set was played and deservingly so. The audience was truly entertained with the display of serves and smashes and overall

Canadiens 4, Panthers 1 At Montreal, Brian Gionta scored twice — including Montreal’s second empty-net goal — and Jaroslav Halak made 23 saves.

Tomas Plekanec and Benoit Pouliot scored for the Canadiens. Halak lost his bid for a shutout when Radek Dvorak scored with 3:36 left to draw Florida to 2-1.

Blues 3, Kings 1 At St. Louis, T.J. Oshie scored his first goal in 10 games, B.J. Crombeen and Paul Kariya also scored, and Chris Mason stopped 30 shots for St. Louis. Dustin Brown scored for Los Angeles. — AP

Winners STMC

Hiroshima assembly axes 2020 Games budget TOKYO: Hiroshima’s 2020 Olympic hopes suffered a severe blow yesterday when the city council voted to ditch the draft budget for its proposed Games bid.

Nagasaki abandoned its ambitions in January after the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) rejected a joint bid with Hiroshima.

The vote by Hiroshima’s assembly paves the way for Tokyo to again become Japan’s bid city but a senior

JOC official said that Hiroshima mayor Tadatoshi Akiba would appeal the decision.

“They denied the budget but Mayor Akiba has not given up yet,” the JOC’s Olympic cooperation director Yasuhiro Nakamori told Reuters. “He will appeal to continue with the bidding activity.”

Akiba was expected to hold a press conference later on Friday, Nakamori added.

The motion to reject the Olympic

draft budget was submitted earlier this week by two conservative factions on the grounds of costs and citing a lack of local public support.

“It’s as if the pencil snapped in the middle of drawing a picture,” JOC secretary general Noriyuki Ichihara told Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper.

“But Hiroshima’s Olympic principle has has received high praise around the world. The mayor deserves credit and we would like him to continue in his

efforts.” Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only cities to have suffered atomic attacks, had initially planned a joint bid to demonstrate their commitment to nuclear disarmament.

Tokyo, which staged Asia’s first Olympics in 1964, lost out to Rio de Janeiro in last October’s IOC vote for the 2016 Games.

Hiroshima hosted the 1994 Asian Games. London will host the 2012 Summer Games. — Reuters

Runners-up

teamwork. The fifth set was a backbreaking one and St Thomas Marthoma Church team came out with flying colours with the score board reading (18:25, 25:22, 21:25, 25:22 & 9:15 ) The tournament and the finals were ably compered by Roby Mathews & Jithu assisted by the smooth work on the computerized scoreboard by Rakshak & Joemon.

Referees for the tournament were Prajeesh, Dileep, Vinoy who did commendable jobs of keeping the flow of the game.

The final witnessed by a huge turnout of people of the faith and also sports lovers.

The organizers & especially the General Convener for the tournament Mr. Rajesh Varkey certainly deserve a pat on the back for their dedicated team work in packaging the event thoroughly and comprehensively and who were ably supported in the various departments by the Church Youth League led by Rev. Sunny Thomas, who has been with the previous two tournaments as well.

Main sponsors were the Gulf Bank, and FITCO Technical Services, who were wholeheartedly felicitated with mementoes for their commitment and friendship.

As the dust settled, the tournament will be remembered for its rising stars, new friendships, the joy of victory, tears of defeat and a memorable day.

SPORTS

Saturday, March 27, 2010

21

Highlanders tame Lions after shaky start DUNEDIN: The Otago Highlanders overcame a disappointing start to run away with a 39-29 win over fellow Super 14 cellar dwellers the Golden Lions here yesterday.

The Highlanders celebrated only their second win from seven games this season while the South Africans remained winless despite running in five tries to the hosts’ three.

The Lions gained an early dominance to go out to a 17-6 lead midway through the

opening spell, but they squandered the lead as the Highlanders piled on 33 points before the visitors scored again.

Occasional ill discipline cost the Lions dearly as Highlanders fullback Israel Dagg kicked 24 points from three conversions and six penalties in an immaculate kicking display.

“Our discipline cost us-stupid penalties, we kept them in the game with the penalty kicks,” Lions captain Cobus Grobbelaar

admitted afterwards.

But there was plenty of relief for the Highlanders, whose season reached a new low last week with a home loss to the previously winless Coastal Sharks.

“It was a difficult week for the boysprobably one of the toughest weeks of my rugby career-but the boys showed a lot of courage and ticker, especially in that first 20 to 30 minutes when we were down,” captain Jimmy Cowan said.

The Highlanders took 30 minutes to kick into gear in the first spell, taking a full toll of penalty opportunities and starting to find some defensive holes to go into the break with a 22-17 lead.

Early on they had no answer to the Lions’ dominant lineout and driving maul, which set up the three tries they racked up in the first 21 minutes.

Fullback Michael Killian scored the first for the Lions after seven minutes, and

flanker Grobbelaar and winger Wigan Pekeur added two more.

The first penetrating attack from the Highlanders led to a try to lock Hayden Triggs after 30 minutes as the momentum swung away from the visitors.

The Highlanders came out firing in the second spell with Kenny Lynn scoring an opportunist try after 52 minutes, chasing a Dagg kick into the in-goal area where Lions winger Tonderai Chavhanga failed to

control the ball.

The result was almost beyond doubt midway through the spell when referee Stu Dickinson awarded the Highlanders a penalty try after their driving maul was brought down illegally just short of the line.

In the last 10 minutes Pekeur scored his second try for the Lions and replacement back JP Joubert touched down, but it was too little too late. —AFP

Samoa crush Italy, as NZ, Fiji cruise to easy win Hong Kong Sevens

CHICAGO: Miami Heat’s Joel Anthony, left, stops Chicago Bulls’ Taj Gibson, center, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, in Chicago. — AP

Miami Heat scorch Bulls to dent Chicago playoff hopes CHICAGO: The Miami Heat put a serious dent in Chicago’s playoff prospects with a resounding 103-74 victory on Thursday.

Jermaine O’Neal scored 24 points while Dwyane Wade was the team’s playmaker with 12 points and 10 assists as the Heat (38-34) built a 30-point halftime lead and moved into sole possession of sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

“We knew how they were going to try to defend us and put a lot of guys on me so I made easy plays and it became contagious,” Wade told reporters.

Wade acknowledged that he had previously struggled to play well in his hometown Chicago.

“Today I decided to slow down and play like I would anywhere else.”

The defeat dropped Chicago 2 1/2 games behind the eighth-placed Toronto Raptors with 11

regular season games left.

The Bulls, who came into the game winners of two in a row following a 10-game losing streak, were boosted by the return of Derrick Rose (wrist) and Joakim Noah (foot).

However, Chicago (33-38) shot a woeful 33 percent from the field with Hakim Warrick leading team in scoring with 14 points from the bench.

The Bulls’ decision to double-team Wade early on backfired as the Heat scored 31 points in the first quarter.

Michael Beasley finished with 15 points and Udonis Haslem had 14 to give the Heat their third win in a row.

“We’re playing very good ball and I think we’ve finally found our identity,” O’Neal said. “We’ve been doing this for the last month or so that’s why our record is that way.” —Reuters

NBA results/standings NBA results and standings on Thursday.

Miami 103, Chicago 74; LA Clippers 99, Houston 93; Portland 101, Dallas 89.

Western Conference Eastern Conference Atlantic Division Northwest Division W L PCT GB Denver 47 25 .653 Boston 46 25 .648 Utah 47 25 .653 Toronto 35 35 .500 10.5 Oklahoma City 43 27 .614 NY Knicks 26 45 .366 20 Portland 43 29 .597 Philadelphia 25 47 .347 21.5 Minnesota 14 58 .194 New Jersey 8 63 .113 38

Cleveland Milwaukee Chicago Indiana Detroit

Central 57 39 33 26 23

Division 15 .792 31 .557 38 .465 46 .361 48 .324

Orlando Atlanta Miami Charlotte Washington

Southeast 50 46 38 37 21

Division 22 .694 25 .648 34 .528 34 .521 49 .300

3 4 33

17 23.5 31 33.5

LA Lakers Phoenix LA Clippers Sacramento Golden State

Pacific Division 53 18 .746 45 26 .634 27 45 .375 24 48 .333 20 51 .282

8 26.5 29.5 33

3.5 12 12.5 28

Southwest Division Dallas 47 25 .653 San Antonio 42 28 .600 Memphis 38 34 .528 Houston 36 35 .507 New Orleans 34 39 .466

4 9 10.5 13

Pakistan sports committee head resigns over fake degree ISLAMABAD: The head of Pakistan’s parliamentary sports committee has resigned for allegedly holding a fake degree in Islamic studies.

Jamshed Dasti, chairman of national assembly standing committee on sports, tendered his resignation to a six-member larger bench of the supreme court, local media reported yesterday.

Leading newspaper The News said Dasti failed to answer a volley of questions from the court regarding his education when he appeared Thursday.

“He (Dasti) remained unable to tell the court even about the duration of the (Islamic) course,”

The News reported. Dasti has been critical of the working of several Pakistan sporting bodies _ especially the Pakistan Cricket Board. He summoned PCB officials several times and even questioned then Pakistan team captain Younis Khan over allegations of match-fixing during the Champions Trophy last year.

Dasti contested the general elections in Feb. 2008 from the Muzaffargarh district of Punjab province. Dasti’s electoral opponent had challenged his education credentials in supreme court. The court told Dasti if he did not resign he would not be able to contest upcoming byelections. — AP

HONG KONG: Tournament big guns Samoa overwhelmed Italy as fellow favourites New Zealand and Fiji crushed weaker opposition to get off to convincing starts at the Hong Kong Sevens yesterday.

A stultifying lull was later lifted not by exciting play but a blonde streaker who made a tantalising dash before she was tackled by security guards, to roars of delight from the filling 40,000 capacity stadium.

Samoan Fautua Otto scored the tournament’s opening try two minutes into the curtain-raiser, touching down in the corner against Italy.

Further tries from Ofisa Treviranus, Mikaele Pesamino, Uale Mai and Simaika Mikaele made it a comfortable outing for the Samoans, although they did not have it all their own way, with Italians Riccardo Pavan and Andrea Bacchetti both crossing the line to make the final score 40-12.

New Zealand cruised to an easy win over Taiwan with tries from Save Tokula and Zar Lawrence in the opening two minutes before a 50-metre break from Toby Arnold made the score 19-0.

Fritz Lee took a clever reverse pass to cross over between the posts and stretch the lead before half-time.

Taiwan offered little resistance as the Kiwis piled on the agony with fluent, accurate passing and clinical finishing but the Asian side managed a breakaway try midway through the second half.

Kurt Baker, the game’s topscorer with 19 points, replied for the Kiwis with three minutes to go, however, with a smart diagonal break and before DJ Forbes and Nafi Tuitavake added two more to make the final score 595.

Fiji notched up the biggest total of the first pool matches, thrashing Thailand 82-7 with tries from eight players including a Setefano Cakau hat-trick and braces from Waisale Beci and Niumaia Rokobuli.

Sarayuth Thiengtrong’s single try did little to spare Thailand’s blushes, with the Southeast Asian minnows missing seven tackles and breaking into their opponents’ 22 just once in a one-sided encounter.

England dismissed hosts Hong Kong 45-0 in a clinical demonstration of pacy try-scoring and aggressive defence, with new boy Oliver Lindsay-Hague and sub Nick Royle crossing the line twice each.

“That was a better start for us than in Adelaide. We came out fighting,” Lindsay-Hague told AFP. The biggest roars of the day were reserved for China’s Jin Ye and Li Yang who edged the underdogs into an unlikely 12-7 lead against Australia in a plucky performance which, in the end, was not enough to see them through, the antipodeans adding a further 33 points without reply.

Australian coach Michael O’Connor said: “China played particularly well and put on the pressure. They scored a couple of good tries.”

Kenya ran in 51-7 winners against Korea, with Humphrey Kayange and Collins Injera scoring two tries each.

Results later in the day were closer with Argentina, France and the USA edging Russia, Scotland and Portugal respectively by just a single try before the topless blonde pitch invader livened up proceedings.

Elsewhere, Canada beat Tonga 12-10 in the first of the day’s two closest and lowestscoring contests while Wales, wearing a garish shade of yellow, defeated Japan by the same scoreline.— AFP

HONG KONG: Ofisa Treviranus (3rd R) of Samoa breaks away from his Italian opponents during their match on the first day of the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament yesterday. Organisers hope the world-renowned Hong Kong Sevens, where packed crowds of 40,000 roar on 24 teams over three days of rugby, will reinforce interest in the sport ahead of its Olympic debut in Brazil in 2016. — AFP

Chris Hoy primed as French prepare sprint crown assault COPENHAGEN: In track cycling terms, the men’s match sprint tournament is about as close as you can get to a fight to the death.

And Sir Chris Hoy, the reigning Olympic champion who missed the world championships last year due to injury, could face his biggest challenge yet as he bids to win back the title over two days of intense competition this weekend.

In 2009 Frenchman Gregory Bauge overcame diminutive but gutsy Malaysian Azizulhasni Awang to win his first world crown, with Kevin Sireau of France winning bronze ahead of Australian Shane Perkins.

However Bauge will have taken note of Hoy’s form in dominating the men’s keirin for his third title in the event and 10th overall.

Hoy admitted after Thursday’s tournament, in which Francois Pervis was France’s main hope but finished fifth, he was more than ready for the challenge of regaining the sprint crown he last won in 2008, “This win is great for my confidence,” said the Scot.

“I certainly ride on morale and when my confidence is up I get the best out of

myself. There’s no pressure on me now.

I’ve retained the world title in an Olympic event.

“The sprint is going to be an extremely hard challenge but it’s one I’m looking forward to now, so bring it on.”

To some, Hoy’s tactic of leading from the front and imposing an almost unassailable pace has killed off some of the suspense from the keirin and sprint events.

But Bauge’s coach Florian Rousseau, a former Olympic champion in the kilometre who won sprint silver at Sydney in 2000, believes it’s up to his rivals to adapt to his racing style if they want to beat him.

“Each era has its own particularities in the sprint events, riders are using bigger gears and so some are riding faster,” he told AFP. “Hoy simply races to his strengths. It’s really up to his opponents to try and adapt to his style and find ways to beat him.”

The shoulder injury Bauge suffered in January might now be a distant memory, but after lamenting France’s loss of their coveted team sprint crown to on-form Germany on Wednesday the Frenchman of Guadeloupean heritage now has no excuses.

“We have to get over this defeat, but I don’t think it will affect me for the individual competition,” said Bauge.

Pervis will also compete in the sprint, and while he is not his country’s biggest hope he believes France will be Hoy’s biggest worry.

“This year he’s not on his biggest form.

In the sprint our team should be confident of their chances,” said Pervis.

Although France have a maximum of five riders hoping to oust Hoy, and Britain’s Olympic silver medallist Jason Kenny, from the competition Rousseau says there could be a few surprises.

“I think the tournament is going to be really tight,” he added.

“The Brits will be up there as usual, so will the Australians, the Germans and there’s even a New Zealand rider (Ed Dawkins) who won a recent World Cup event.

“And then there’s (Azizulhasni) Awang, who caused Bauge all sorts of problems last year, so it’s going to be interesting.”

The women’s sprint tournament also concludes today, with Britain’s Victoria Pendleton favourite to win a fifth career and fourth consecutive world title. —AFP

COPENHAGEN: New Zealand’s team of Lauren Ellisleft, Alison Shanks, and Rushlee Buchanan in action as they set a new world record for the Women’s Team Pursuit at the World Track Cycling Championships in the Ballerup Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark, Thursday. — AP

SPORTS

22

Saturday, March 27, 2010

World’s richest horse race tops Meydan gala night DUBAI: The richest horse race ever run caps the official opening ceremony today of the spectacular $2 billion Meydan complex in Dubai.

Billed as the world’s largest integrated racing facility, stand-out features include two tracks, a grandstand for 60,000, a luxury hotel and a marina.

Celebrating the extravaganza, prize money for the Dubai World Cup (1745

GMT) has been hoisted from $6 million to $10 million, by far the biggest purse the sport has to offer.

Seven other races on the card boost the total on the night to a record figure for a one-day meeting of over $26 million.

The spectacular opening ceremony includes a cast of 750 performers, vast pyrotechnics and possibly the largest moving projected image screen in the

world at 6,725 square metres across 15 projection wings.

These will help wow the capacity crowd as they await the 15th running of the World Cup but the first at Meydan after the move from Nad Al Sheba and the first on the new Tapeta surface.

Rounding off the evening, a finale showcases a concert by the internationally renowned Elton John and Carlos

Santana.

Meydan CEO Saeed Humaid Al Tayer has described the launch of Meydan as making a “monumental mark in history.”

The horses may be even in danger of being overshadowed, at least for part of the extravaganza.

The big race is one of the most open for years with bookmakers in London struggling to name a firm favourite.

French-trained Vision d’Etat, winner of the 2008 French Derby and the Hong Kong Cup in December, is quoted at 4-1.

English raider Twice Over is at 9-2 after a gallant third in the last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic to Zenyatta where U.S. trained Gio Ponti (5-1) finished second.

Gloria de Campeao was runner-up in the 2009 Dubai World Cup to runaway

winner Well Armed but is a 14-1 chance.

Godolphin’s Mastery, winner of last year’s English St Leger, is quoted at 16-1 despite having Frankie Dettori on board.

Latest London betting: 4-1 Vision d’Etat, 9-2 Twice Over, 5-1 Gio Ponti, 6-1 Gitano Hernando, 8-1 Red Desire, 10-1 Crowded House, 12-1 Richard’s Kid, 14-1 Gloria de Campeao, 16-1 Mastery, 20-1 and upwards, others. — Reuters

Davis Love grabs share of Palmer Invitational lead Doral winner Els two back

CARLSBAD: Taylor Leon hits her tee shot on the seventh hole during the first round of the Kia Classic Presented by J Golf at La Costa Resort and Spa on March 25, 2010 in Carlsbad, California. — AFP

Medvedev warns against repeat of Vancouver debacle MOSCOW: Russia President Dmitry Medvedev blasted sports officials for the nation’s debacle at the Vancouver Games and told them yesterday to make sure the team wins more medals, especially in four years at Sochi. Medvedev said the team’s abysmal performance in Vancouver came despite generous funding on par with other nations and blamed sports officials for inefficient use of state money. He said that seven of Russia’s 12 sport federations will get new bosses, and demanded a sprawling audit of how the government money has been spent.

He also warned the new federation chiefs that they will be replaced if they don’t perform.

Russia brought home just 15 medals from Vancouver. The team was 11th in the gold medal count with only three — the team’s worst Olympic performance.

“You must work 24 hours a day, not just wear the seats of your pants and rove abroad,” Medvedev told sports federations chiefs in televised remarks at the Olympic flag-raising ceremony in Sochi for the 2014 Winter Games. “We must show that we are a capable, hospitable and technologically developed nation.

And the Olympics must also show that we can stand for ourselves and win.” In the flag-raising ceremony at the Black Sea resort, the Olympic and Paralympic

flags were carried from the airport on a special train to the center of Sochi.

Russia’s Olympic and Paralympic medalists then carried them to the city’s main square.

Medvedev said Russia still has to do a lot to prepare for the games, but voiced confidence that Sochi will prove to be the right choice. “We must do everything to make the 2014 games one of the most memorable events of the century,” he said.

Medvedev said Russia needs to shed the image of a doping-tainted nation, but added that Russian athletes sometimes have been targeted unfairly. “Let’s not forget that doping scandals are to a certain extent an element of score-settling and an element of global sports competition,” Medvedev said. “We must know how to defend ourselves and not offer the other cheek.” He added that Russia must increase its profile in international sports organizations, saying Russian representatives haven’t been active enough in defending their athletes.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that from 2006 to 2009, 343 Russian athletes, including 31 participants in international competitions, have been caught doping. Many participants in the meeting acknowledged that Russia has effectively lost its sprawling Soviet-era

network of sports facilities in the economic quagmire that followed the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Many athletes, coaches and doctors have left abroad seeking better wages and conditions. Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov blasted sports officials for inefficiency, corruption and infighting. “We are witnessing a complete collapse of the Russian Olympic Committee, many sports federations are corrupt and the Sports Ministry is helpless,” he said. “The system of financing sports is corrupt from the top to the bottom.” Russian Olympic Committee president Leonid Tyagachev, deputy sports minister Gennady Alyoshin and several other sports officials have stepped down since the Vancouver Olympics.

Medvedev said government auditors will probe how sports federations and agencies spent the government money allocated for Olympic preparations. He said the lack of clear distribution of responsibility between various sports agencies contributed to the Olympic flop.

“As it usually happens, when four or five agencies are in charge, that means no one is,” he said. He sternly warned sports officials against any infighting.

“If I find out that the bosses, including the new ones, again start fighting each other, I will have to reshuffle the cards again.” — AP

MOSCOW: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev delivers a speech during a ceremony in Sochi yesterday with members of the Russian winter paralympics team recently returned from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic games. Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi will play host to the 2014 Winter Olympic games. — AFP

ORLANDO: US veteran Davis Love chipped-in twice in five holes on his way to a sixunder par 66 to share the lead with countryman J.B. Holmes after the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

South African Ernie Els, fresh from his win at Doral, and in-form Australian Robert Allenby were both among the players two shots back from the lead.

Love, who last won at Disney in 2008 for his 20th career title, needs a victory this week or next week in Houston to qualif y for the Masters, the year’s first major that starts April 8 at Augusta National Golf Club.

“It’s always in the back of your mind-or the front of your mind,” Love said. “After a few weeks where I played kind of poorly ... I was just mentally kind of frazzled.

“I just said, ‘You’re going to have to just to play the ones you get in and do the best job you can and quit worrying about everything else,’” Love said.

Love, who last played the Masters in 2007, opened with a bogey but chipped in at the par-3 second for a birdie, followed by sinking a 12-foot birdie putt at the third, then chipped in for an eagle at the par-5 fourth hole.

Changes to the Bay Hill course opened the door to the pitch rather than a blast out of the rough as would have been required under the old set-up.

“Last year, it would have been just hacking it out of the rough, trying to get it up on the green,” Love said. “So I think it’s a great way to play, and it’s a great style for the fans. I think it’s more fun to watch.” After following with a 15-foot birdie at the fifth and a two-putt birdie at the sixth, Love moved into contention, then sank a 45-foot birdie putt and an eight-footer for par to grab a share of the lead.

“I kept it in play and kept myself either chipping or putting for birdie all day,” he said.

Love has never won at Bay Hill, missing a 1999 playoff by a stroke and settling for second in 2000 to Tiger Woods, the world number one who will not return from his break following a sex scandal until the Masters in two weeks.

Holmes sank a 40-foot birdie at the 10th and eagled the 12th in a bogey-free round. Canada’s Mike Weir and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson shared second, one stroke off the pace, with South African Ernie Els, Australian Robert Allenby and Americans Kevin Na and Kevin Streelman on 68. Weir had skipped Bay Hill for four years but Palmer asked him to play and together with changes on the layout, the 2003 Masters champion has played in the event four of the past five years.

“It just wasn’t a great setup for me, much as I loved this tournament,” Weir said.

“I didn’t see the point if I couldn’t contend but I think he’s done a nice job blending that back.”

Stenson, whose wife Emma gave birth to son Karl earlier this month, succeeded despite some sleepless nights due to the newborn.

“A little bit less sleep, maybe, but didn’t seem to effect me too bad,” he said.

“I’ll blame that some other day.”

Els, who fired six birdies, is playing his first event since snapping the longest windrought of his career two weeks ago at Doral.

“I feel good,” Els said. “I don’t want to feel like I’m totally back because I know I’ve still got a lot of work to do. “Hopefully I can get on and push on from this.” — AFP

International Bank team

Socer tournament for Kuwait Bankers Union season concludes KUWAIT: The soccer tournament of the Kuwait Bankers Union for the 2010 season concluded yesterday at the Sabah Al-Salem Stadium in the Arabi Club at 8 pm.

The closing of the tournament was held under the patronage and in the presence of the Kuwait Bankers Union Chairman Hamad AbdulMohsen Al-Marzouq, in addition to the union’s board members, senior officials of the banking sector and a large audience including bank employees, club members, affiliated companies and their families. The International Bank team played against the Gulf Bank squad in the final match after the International Bank’s win over the National Bank of Kuwait team in the golden square.

The National Bank of Kuwait team occupied the fourth position behind the Ahli Bank squad which took the third position after

winning 1-0 in two matches.

The Gulf Bank team entered the championship as the champion of the 2009 Bankers Union soccer tournament after a winning streak without any loss.

For his part, Hesham Al-Buaijan expressed gratitude for all participating teams and other sides that took part in making the 2010 tournament a success. He praised the level of organization and the high sport level of the teams throughout the matches of the tournament.

Al-Buaijan also extended many thanks to the Kuwait Football Union for its effort in managing the matches with a qualified crew of referees. He also thanked the Ministry of Information and the Arabi Club, adding that the Club’s management has allocated valuable prizes for the winners.

Gulf Bank team

Hamilton, Button give McLaren early edge MELBOURNE: Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button put McLaren-Mercedes in good shape ahead of qualifying for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix with the fastest times in yesterday’s practice.

Hamilton, who won the Australian race two years ago on the way to claiming the world title, clocked the quickest lap time of one minute 25.801 seconds in the second session, thrown into disarray by light rain. Hamilton, who was third in the season-opening Bahrain GP, was 0.275sec ahead of his teammate and reigning world champion Button, whose best effort was 1:26.076.

“We’ve definitely made some improvements from Bahrain and we’re comfortable going into qualifying where we’ll be able to attack the guys at the front,” Hamilton said. “I’m relaxed, it’s a good car and it feels better than it’s ever felt here at this track, which is a major positive.”

Button believed he could have trumped his teammate’s time had he not been held up by Sauber driver Pedro de la Rosa while on a flying lap late in the second session.

“I had a lot of traffic-the last seven laps I didn’t get a clear lap once. It’s frustrating,” Button said. “Pedro at the end was in the way coming out of a quick left-right. It was obviously a pretty dangerous place. I’ve spoken to Pedro.”

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh cautioned against taking too much out of the first two practice sessions ahead of tomorrow’s Australian race.

“We’ve had a reasonable day today, but it’s only Friday and it’s pretty impossible to know exactly where you are, you’ve just got to follow your own pro-

gramme,” Whitmarsh said.

“But we had a reasonable day, unfortunately it doesn’t count for anything and we’ll see how we get on tomorrow.”

The race grid positions will be decided in today’s qualifying.

The McLarens held a sizeable advantage over their nearest rivals, Red Bull-Renault’s Mark Webber and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, making a comeback to F1 in a Mercedes after three years off the circuit.

Webber, bidding to win his home GP at the ninth attempt, was third fastest in 1:26.248, some 0.447secs down on Hamilton’s chart-topping time.

“It wasn’t too bad today as everyone’s programmes were disrupted in P2 (second practice) with the intermittent weather,” Webber said.

“We had a couple of windows where we got some information though, so we have good data to go through tonight.”

Schumacher, who is chasing his fifth Australian race victory this weekend, was fourth best in 1:26.511, 0.710sec adrift of Hamilton. “My first session was a bit handicapped by red flags, later we faced some rain in the second session,” Schumacher said. “But we learned a lot and we could improve the set up of our car quite reasonably. In the end our times were competitive so I think we can look forward to the rest of the weekend.” It was a frustrating practice session for the other main race contenders with Ferrari’s Spanish two-time world champion Fernando Alonso down in 15th position with 1:29.025 and 3.224secs behind the best time. —AFP

MELBOURNE: Former seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher of Germany prepares to take his Mercedes-Benz out for the second practice session of Formula One’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne yesterday.

The Australian Grand Prix will take place at the Albert Park street circuit on March 28. — AFP

SPORTS

Saturday, March 27, 2010

23

Match-fixing scandal a microcosm of China’s ills BEIJING: China’s soccer match-fixing problem is finally being tackled but the travails of the game are merely a reflection of wider problems in Chinese society and the taint of corruption looks destined to return.

The new Chinese Super League (CSL) season, delayed for a week because of the chaos caused by the scandal, kicks off this weekend minus two teams relegated because of their role in the fixing of matches.

The arrest of at least 20 officials this year, including the head of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) Nan Yong, might deter such activity for a while but the conditions that allowed corruption to flourish remain in place.

“Football, full of fraud, gambling and crime, epitomises the whole of Chinese society. Within government, academic and legal circles and even NGOs, everyone is suffering

similar problems,” well known human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang told Reuters.

“The rules are not respected. And the rules themselves are made without transparency. Everyone is trying their best to turn his power and influence into cash.

“Refs take bribes, the head of refs manipulates the results, players are hired by casino owners.”

The Communist Party came down hard on all forms of corruption following the 1949 revolution but the problem has resurfaced with a vengeance since market economic reforms began in the late 1970s.

Tawdry tales of CFA officials acting as gobetweens to fix matches, clubs paying for places in the China squad and players trying to score own goals in attempt to get the right betting “spread” have filled the Chinese media this year.

Reports of diamonds, gold bars and Swiss watches discovered at Nan’s home last week only added to a picture of rapacious soccer officials who came to feel they were untouchable.

Pu believes that unless there is openness and transparency in the governance of Chinese institutions, corruption will remain a problem.

Soccer in China is ostensibly run by the CFA but there is little pretence that the real power lies with the General Administration of Sport (GAS), the monolithic government ministry which oversees the Soviet style sports system.

Rowan Simons is a long-time Beijing resident and author of “Bamboo goalposts”, a book on Chinese football in which he argued that the game must be totally rebuilt from the grass-roots.

“It’s exactly what we’ve been complaining about for the last decade,” he said of the scandal.

“There’s no accountability, no responsibility for people to look after their own game.

It’s viewed as a government game and therefore there’s no respect for it.”

Few doubt the genuine desire of the government to clean up the game as the police investigation was driven in part by a series of comments from senior Communist Party officials, including President Hu Jintao.

Having seen what “soft power” benefits China harnessed from the success of the Beijing Olympics, the government are keen for soccer to do the same after long years of failure on the pitch.

Wei Di, who was brought in to replace Nan, has been handed the task of cleaning up the game and creating a national team capa-

ble of regularly qualifying for the World Cup finals, as China’s East Asian rivals Japan and South Korea do.

Wei has no background in football but earned his appointment after his term in charge of water sports at the sports ministry resulted in a bagful of medals at the 2008 Olympics.

China’s success at the Beijing Games was seen by its advocates as a vindication of the state-controlled sports system and Wei soon made it clear that he was one of them.

After well-received moves to ballot for the allocation of referees to matches, his next major proposal was to play China’s under-21 team in the CSL, a plan met with withering contempt by China’s boisterous sports media.

“Wei has been implanted from the ministry of sport,” said Simon. “The CFA only

cares about the results of the national team ...

I don’t think the CFA cares at all about the CSL, which was reflected in Wei Di’s grand plan.”

After years of poor quality football and suspicious results, many long-suffering fans, like Pu, would probably settle for watching a game they knew was not fixed.

A certain cynicism at the long-term prospects of the current police investigation ending corruption is understandable, however, given the last such probe in 2006 was headed up by a policeman and Nan. “The campaign could temporarily improve football’s credibility,” said Pu. “But in general I am not optimistic about it. The root of the problem is still there. Some people have been arrested but none of the problems have actually been solved.” — Reuters

Ronaldo, Higuain fire Real Madrid back to top Atletico climbs to eighth

TURIN: Italy’s Carolina Kostner performs during the Ladies Short Program competition at the World Figure Skating Championships yesterday at the Palavela ice-rink in Turin. — AFP

Takahashi ready to inspire new generation TURIN: Daisuke Takahashi insisted he wanted to inspire a new generation of Japanese men after creating history on Thursday night by being crowned his country’s first men’s world figure skating champion.

Just weeks after putting Japan on the Olympic men’s podium for the first time with his bronze, the 24-year-old led all the way to seal victory with a near flawless free skate to the music from the Italian movie “La Strada”.

And he said he hoped his gold would lead the way for Japanese men to be as successful as their countrywomen who have won four world and an Olympic title.

“I really hope that I can spur everybody so that the Japanese men also will do well,” he said.

“I’m not going to be complacent about what I have achieved so far. I need to continue to evolve.

“As for the future, I see a lot of little kids.

The juniors are doing very well including Yuzuru Hanyu, who won the world junior championships.

“I myself feel that I can’t be satisfied with where I am now and I’m always threatened by these younger skaters.”

But he showed few signs of feeling under threat in the Palavela with an entertaining routine that brought the crowd to their feet.

Skating last, Takahashi two-footed a quadruple jump, but produced a huge triple axel to score 168.40 for the free skate and an overall 257.70 points.

He finished over ten points ahead of last year’s runner-up Patrick Chan of Canada (247.22) with France’s 2007 world champion Brian Joubert taking bronze, despite both falling during their routines.

Takahashi is the only medallist from Vancouver competing at the world championships with Olympic champion Evan Lysacek and runner-up Yevgeny Plushenko both opting not to take part.

“I don’t know why, but somehow I didn’t feel pressure in this competition,” said Takahashi.

“I really enjoyed that challenge. I even missed Evan and Stephane (Lambiel) not being here.” It was a triumphant comeback for the skater, who returned this season after missing the entire 2008/2009 campaign after tearing ligaments in his right knee as he achieved his second world medal after silver in 2007.

But he admitted he was still not back at his

best.

“Before I had my injury and surgery, I succeeded my quads,” he said.

“I was able to do two quads in a programme.

I want to be back where I was before. I think that is the major reason of the importance of the quad to me.

“The toeloop is not really consistent the way I want it to be.

It is a great challenge for me to continue to work on it.

Chan, who finished fifth at the Olympics, fell during his Phantom of the Opera routine but the 19-year-old was able to extend his narrow 0.1 advantage on Joubert.

“Today it’s the silver medal, but I think that it’s more gold for the effort I put into this season, coming out from the injury, having a bad Skate Canada’s performance and disappointing Olympic performance as well,” said Chan.

Joubert, 25, found himself on the world podium for the sixth tme in a remarkable comeback following his humiliating 16th place at the Olympics.

He completed two quadruple jumps but fell on the triple lutz which had caused him problems in Vancouver during his routine to Ronan Hardiman’s Ancient Land, but held on for third place with 241.74.

“This medal is like a world title for me,” said Joubert. “This makes me more confident for the future. I wanted to show I could compete again.

I now have the answer and I will come back next season for sure.”

However, Takahashi’s teammates Nobunari Oda and Takahiko Kozuka had less memorable worlds.

Oda failed to qualify for the free skate after struggling into 28th in the short programme, while Kozuka dropped to tenth overall from fourth after a fall and errors left him just 12th best in the free skate.

“I was very tired from Vancouver and yesterday’s competition, I think this is the reason for my mistakes,” said Kozuka.

“The first mistake caused the following mistakes. I’m quite satisfied with this experience even if I think I could do better.”

Competition continues Friday with Olympic ice dancing champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir leading going into the free dance final as South Korea’s Kim Yu-Na opens her bid to defend her world title in the women’s short programme. — AFP

Matches on TV (local timings) Italian League AS Roma v Internazionale.............20:00 Al Jazeera Saport +1 Palermo v Bologna FC..................22:45 Al Jazeera Sport 1 English Premier League Birmingham v Arsenal FC..............18:00 ShowSports 4 Tottenham v Portsmouth...............18:00 Sho Shasha West Ham United v Stoke City FC....18:00 Show Movies kids Wolverhampton v Everton FC........18:00 Extreme Sport Hull City v Fulham FC...................18:00

Fox Sport Europe Chelsea FC v Aston Villa...............18:00 ShowSports 1 ShowSports 2 Bolton v Manchester United...........20:30 ShowSports 1 ShowSports 2 Spanish League Malaga CF v CD Tenerife.............20:00 C+ Sport Extra Real Mallorca v FC Barcelona ........22:00 Al Jazeera Sport +2 Al Jazeera Sport +3 Real Zaragoza v Valencia ...............00:00 Al Jazeera Sport +2

MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain each scored twice as Real Madrid beat Getafe 4-2 to return to the top of the Spanish league on Thursday.

With Barcelona on 71 points after its 2-0 win against Osasuna on Wednesday, Madrid needed a win to go top on goal difference and it delivered a stunning first-half performance.

“Real Madrid will never have another game as easy as the one we’ve just given them,” Getafe goalkeeper Oscar Ustari said.

Ronaldo put Madrid ahead by curling a free kick into the top right-hand corner in the 13th minute from the edge of the area.

In the 20th, Higuain ran on to Rafael Van der Vaart’s pass and fired a low shot past Ustari.

Three minutes later, the Argentina striker received Fernando Gago’s long through pass and rounded Ustari for his 22nd league goal of the season.

Ronaldo scored the goal of the game and his 17th of the season in the 37th, dribbling down the right and blasting the ball into the far corner from a tight angle.

Getafe’s Daniel Parejo responded a minute later by sweeping the ball in after goalkeeper Iker Casillas had run out of the area to clear. An enraged Casillas claimed he was injured by a Getafe player just before the goal, although he remained on the field for the full 90 minutes. “That goal seemed very disloyal to me,” said coach Manuel Pellegrini of former Madrid youth team player Parejo. “I don’t think anyone is happy about that goal. I hope my team wouldn’t do the same.

Casillas took a knock to his ankle that has to be looked at.” Pedro Leon cut the deficit further in the 79th when the ball rebounded off a defender to his feet and he tapped home.

“We’re going to fight for the league title right to the end,” said Higuain. “We’ve just got to keep playing like this.” Also, Atletico Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0.

Atletico climbs to eighth on 37 points and Bilbao is sixth on 42 points.

Real Madrid pressured from the start in wet conditions and looked determined to improve on its record of one win in five visits to Getafe’s Alfonso Perez Stadium. Xabi Alonso was particularly effective in midfield and Ustari only just managed to stop his low shot in the seventh.

Ronaldo nearly scored when he cut in from the left and fired a right-footed shot that Ustari pushed over the bar. The Getafe ‘keeper was tested again when Sergio Ramos charged in to meet a cross with his head. Getafe coach Jose Miguel “Michel” Gonzalez, a member of the great Real Madrid team of the 1980s, replaced Parejo and Jaime Gavilan with Fabio Celestini and Manuel del Moral at halftime.

Higuain nearly scored his hat trick shortly after the break when he chipped past a defender and just failed to beat Ustari to the ball.

However, with Madrid pressuring less in the second half, Getafe started to create chances.

Nicolas “Miku” Ladislao fired over in the 59th and Leon shot wide a minute later, before drawing a save from Casillas with a long-range effort.

Raul Gonzalez came on for Van der Vaart in the 67th and Jose Maria “Guti” Gutierrez replaced Higuain 10 minutes from the end. —AP

GETAFE: Real Madrid’s Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo (L) vies with Getafe’s Ghanaian midfielder Derek Boateng during their Spanish League football match at Coliseum Alfonso Perez stadium in Getafe on March 25. — AFP

Celtic fight for scraps after Mowbray exit GLASGOW: Neil Lennon will take charge of Celtic for the first time since he was named caretaker-manager when the Hoops face Kilmarnock at Parkhead today.

The reserve team coach has taken on the role until the end of the season after the sacking of Tony Mowbray on Thursday following the shock 4-0 defeat to St Mirren.

It was the Parkhead club’s seventh league defeat of the season and leaves them ten points behind Rangers, having played two games more than their Old Firm rivals.

Mowbray swept into Celtic seven months ago with promises of attacking football and quickly set about dismantling the side he inherited.

Several players who were regulars under previous manager Gordon Strachan were shipped out while the former West Bromwich Albion boss brought in eight new signings in the January transfer window alone.

But high profile arrivals such as Spurs on-loan striker Robbie Keane couldn’t save Mowbray and one of the players he sold soon after his arrival had no sympathy. “It’s a results-based business,” said Bristol City midfielder Paul Hartley.

“The St Mirren game was the final straw. It’s hard to find any positives. He got rid of too many players too quickly. The backbone of the side had been a lot of the Scottish lads but now there is no leadership on the park. The team looked desperate against St Mirren.

“Rangers haven’t bought a

player in 18 months and yet they could be 16 points clear if they win the games in hand.”

Now former Celtic captain Lennon must rally his side as they attempt to finish the season strongly. He will not be helped by Celtic’s lengthy injury list with defenders Thomas Rogne and Joos Hooiveld still battling to be fit while Shaun Maloney is injured.

Glenn Loovens and Paddy McCourt continued their rehabilitation from injury in a midweek practice game but Saturday’s

match may be too soon for them.

Josh Thompson and Darren O’Dea are expected to remain at the heart of Celtic’s defence which, before their heavy defeat to St Mirren, had managed to keep three clean sheets on the trot, the club’s best form in two years.

It is just two weeks since Celtic defeated Kilmarnock 3-0 and the Rugby Park side, who sit just four points above the bottom, will want to improve on that result. In the early kick-off, Hearts host Rangers at

Tynecastle. Walter Smith’s side get back to league duty for the first time in two weeks after their hopes of winning a domestic treble this season were ended by defeat in the Scottish Cup by Dundee United on Wednesday.

However they could close in on retaining their league title with a win over Hearts, who are pushing for a top-six finish.

Defenders Madjid Bougherra and Kirk Broadfoot remain on the sidelines but Kevin Thomson and Lee McCulloch return after suspension. —AFP

JENIN: Palestinian women drivers Marah Zahalqa (L) and Mona Inabb (R) attends a rally in the West Bank city of Jenin yesterday. The British consulate sponsored three Palestinian women with helmets and uniforms in order to participate in the rally. — AFP

www.kuwaittimes.net

Ferguson believes goal difference to decide title LONDON: Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson is convinced the English Premier League championship will be decided on goal difference for the first time in 21 years. With two points separating United, Chelsea and Arsenal and only seven games to go, Ferguson believes the title race will be its closest for many seasons, especially after Chelsea’s 5-0 win at last place Portsmouth on Wednesday. “Chelsea’s win the other night has brought them level with us on goal difference (47) and goals could be important,” Ferguson said on Friday. “I’ve said that a few times over the years but I just have a feeling I’m going to be right this time. We’ve always been in a strong position with goal difference over the years, but it’s very tight

this time. The only way to solve it from our perspective is to win our games starting with Bolton today.” Chelsea has a home game against Aston Villa and Arsenal, which has a goal difference of 40, goes to Birmingham. While all three title contenders should win these games, they know there is extra pressure with so few games left in the title race.

United didn’t concede a goal in its two league victories over Bolton last season but Ferguson knows his team lost 1-0 there the season before.

“Going to Bolton is a battle. It’s always been that way,” Ferguson said. “Losing points at this time of year can be damaging.

“I think there will be some points dropped by the three teams between now

and the end of the season, not a lot, but some. We just have to make sure we don’t drop as many as Arsenal and Chelsea.”

Ferguson confirmed that top scorer Wayne Rooney would be fit to face Bolton despite limping off the field after last weekend’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool, and that Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs were also available after injuries. “Wayne is fit and there’s nothing wrong with his knee,” the United manager said. “Scholes is OK again after an ankle knock and Ryan is a further week on with his training.

Whether I start him or not is another matter. But his and Scholes’ experience is invaluable at this time of year.” After the visit to Bolton, United has a home game against Chelsea looming in its next league match and that comes after a Champions

League quarterfinal journey to Bayern Munich next Tuesday.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is confident his players won’t have next Wednesday’s Champions League confrontation with Barcelona on their minds when they face Birmingham at St. Andrews. But today’s game might bring back painful memories for striker Eduardo da Silva who broke his leg and dislocated an ankle at the same ground two seasons ago and was sidelined for almost a year.

“It will certainly have a weight on his mind,” Wenger said. “That is part of a career as well, to show you have that mental strength to deal with those kind of situations and Eduardo has a lot of mental strength. He can deal with that.

“Overall we want him to come back

there and just win our game, that is the only way you can deal with that situation.”

Arsenal will be without suspended centerback Thomas Vermaelen, who was sent off in last weekend’s victory over Hull while another defender, William Gallas, has only just returned to training after missing seven games with a calf injury.

Chelsea has also been hit by injuries in defense as it prepares to host Villa.

Ricardo Carvalho has joined Branislav Ivanovic on the sidelines alongside longterm injury victims Ashley Cole and Jose Bosingwa. Midfielder Michael Essien is also out at a time when Ancelotti needs all of his top players available. Down at the foot of the standings, Portsmouth is all but relegated with only 13 points from 31 games and Hull and Burnley, who have 24,

are favorites to go down too. Portsmouth goes to fourth place Tottenham, Hull hosts Fulham and Burnley welcomes neighbor Blackburn on Sunday. West Ham is also in serious danger of going down, however, especially after losing 3-1 at home to Wolves on Tuesday. That put more pressure on manager Gianfranco Zola, and his team badly needs to rebound with a home victory over a Stoke side which has won only two of its 14 away games in the league.

That victory lifted Wolves seven points above the relegation zone and Mick McCarthy’s team hopes to follow that up with a home victory over Everton today.

Liverpool hosts Sunderland on Sunday and Manchester City welcomes Wigan on Monday. — AP

Marseille eager to end trophy drought

KEY BISCAYNE: Sorana Cirstea of Romania returns a shot against Venus Williams of the United States during day three of the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 25 in Key Biscayne, Florida. — AFP

Kuznetsova battles for three-set win in Miami Odesnik facing ban over drug charge MIAMI: Top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova overcame an errorridden performance to beat China’s Peng Shuai 6-2 3-6 6-4 on Thursday to advance to the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open on a clear and cool day in Key Biscayne, Florida.

The 24-year-old Russian, who won a title in Miami in 2006, has not advanced out of the round of 16 in any tournament she has played this season. She made 43 unforced errors before beating Peng in one hour, 51 minutes.

“I’m not thrilled because I was getting mad with myself and I was fighting with myself,” said Kuznetsova, who finished with seven aces and won 38 of 54 first serve points. “I felt the ball very well and I felt my game, but I was up and down.”

The two-time grand slams winner and world number four had some trouble getting by Peng, who only recently returned to action after having appendicitis in February.

After Kuznetsova took a 3-1 lead in the third set, Peng tied it 3-3, then 4-4, before Kuznetsova pulled away by breaking serve in the final game.

Third seed Venus Williams, wearing a new red tennis dress,

joined Kuznetsova in the third round after a 6-4 6-3 victory over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in the night match.

“New outfit definitely inspired by tie dye,” said Williams.

“I brought back another tie dye. The motif is really about

sporty sexy, and kind of that whole attitude of bringing that to my game.” Former world number one Ana Ivanovic continued her quest to get back to the top by advancing with a 6-4 6-3 win over France’s Pauline Parmentier in an earlier match.

Defending champion Victoria Azarenka plays on Friday in the day session along with Kim Clijsters and top 10 players Novak Djokovic, Samantha Stosur, Jelena Jankovic and Rafa Nadal.

Meanwhile, the governing

Bikini-clad wife puts Roddick in the shade MIAMI: Andy Roddick was initially bitter when his wife Brooklyn Decker graced the cover of Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue last month in a tiny yellow bikini-and it was not because of her skimpy attire.

The eighth-ranked Roddick has never appeared on the cover of the weekly magazine, not even after the American won his first grand slam title at the 2003 US Open.

Decker, who married Roddick last April, teased her husband about beating him to the cover. “Trust me, that fact wasn’t lost on her. I promise you,” Roddick jokingly told reporters on Thursday at the Sony Ericsson Open. “That was one of the things I was bitter about... she gave me a little crap.” Roddick lost to Roger Federer in an epic five set battle at the All England Club

in 2009 and the American said match left him heartbroken, but not down.

“It was a lot tougher being that close than compared to the ‘05 Wimbledon final where I lost in straight sets and didn’t feel like I was ever really too far into the match,” said Roddick.

Decker had been modelling for Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issues for five years before getting the nod for the cover. Now she is working on a movie with Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler called “Just Go With It.” “As far as our year, it’s been great. I think we both realise-probably me more than her at this point-but in the grand scheme of our lives, this is probably a very important three or four years for me.”Roddick plays Russian Igor Andreev in the second round in Key Biscayne, Florida. — Reuters

body of world tennis said Wayne Odesnik could face a two-year ban after the American player pleaded guilty in an Australian court to importing human growth hormone (HGH) yesterday.

Odesnik, the 24-year-old world number 98, pleaded guilty to importing HGH after eight vials each containing six milligrams were found in his luggage in January before he planned to play in Brisbane and at the Australian Open, local media reported.

He was fined 8000 Australian dollars ($7,286) and was ordered to pay costs, Australian Associated Press said.

“For possession there’s a possible two-year ban,” a spokeswoman for the International Tennis Federation said yesterday.

“We know the court hearing is over and we now await a report to be sent to our Tennis Anti-Doping Programme. Until then we can’t provide any further comment.”

The ITF is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Authority’s code under which a two-year ban can be imposed for possession of prohibited substances.

Odesnik reached a career-high ranking of 77 in April last year. — Agencies

PARIS: Marseille will be chasing its first trophy in 17 years when it faces Bordeaux in the League Cup final today.

The last time Marseille landed some silverware was when it won the Champions League in 1993. Since then, pressure has built on the club to end the drought. “We don’t mention those 17 years without a title to the players,” Marseille sporting director Jose Anigo told the club’s Web site. “They know the history of the club. It’s no use reminding them.” Marseille has had its chances in recent years but it lost French Cup finals in 2006 and 2007 and then finished second behind Bordeaux in the league last season. “We wanted to win so much in our last two French Cup finals that it polluted our minds,” Anigo said. “A final is all about winning. Losing a final is strange: you get the feeling that you have worked for months for nothing.” Marseille has won the league eight times and lifted the French Cup on 10 occasions but it has never won the League Cup. Bordeaux is the favorite on paper. It won the League Cup in 2002, 2007 and 2009 and it is currently top of the league table, three points clear of fourth-place Marseille. “We have more experience to handle this kind of match,” Bordeaux captain Alou Diarra told the club’s Web site. “It will be an advantage for us.” The two sides have drawn both of the games against each other in the league this season — 0-0 at Marseille and 1-1 at Bordeaux.

“It will be a hard-fought match between two highly motivated teams,” Diarra said.

“Marseille has been chasing a trophy for several years and we are the title-holders. We want to retain that great trophy.” The teams’ coaches know each other very well: Laurent Blanc (Bordeaux) and Didier Deschamps (Marseille) played together in the France side that won the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship.

Blanc guided Bordeaux to the league title last season while Deschamps replaced Eric Gerets at Marseille last summer.

Marseille will rely on Senegal forward Mamadou Niang, who is the top scorer in the league with 15 goals, Brazilian striker Brandao and Argentina midfielder Lucho Gonzalez to

crack the Bordeaux defense.

Bordeaux has gained a strong reputation for its efficiency at set-pieces. Brazilian midfielder Geraldo Wendel and France playmaker Yoann Gourcuff are outstanding free-kick takers, while players such as Alou Diarra, Michael Ciani and Morocco striker Marouane Chamakh are all good in the air.

Bordeaux is without defender Marc Planus (knee) and Marseille is missing midfielder Benoit Cheyrou (calf). Meanwhile, Lyon plays last-place Grenoble in the French league on Saturday as it tries to make up ground in the race for a Champions League spot.

The French league initially accepted Lyon’s request to move its match with Grenoble to Friday. But it changed its mind after Bordeaux complained as it will play Lyon on Tuesday in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal.

Lyon had its appeal rejected by the French league on Wednesday and by the French Olympic Committee on Thursday. “We must win,” Lyon manager Claude Puel told the club’s Web site. “We have a tough schedule, therefore it will be tough to go and get what we need to go and get.” In the next two months, Lyon will take on seven teams in the upper half of the standings, including Bordeaux, Montpellier, Auxerre, Lille, Rennes and Monaco. “We have no maneuvering room left,” Puel said. “but there are nine matches left and all of them will be important.” Lyon is in sixth place with 51 points, trailing Bordeaux by five points. Grenoble has only 15 points and likely to be relegated. Since the 2002-03 season, when the French league’s top division switched back to 20 clubs, the lowest total reached by a team avoiding demotion was 39 points. On Sunday, second-place Montpellier visits Lille. Lille is in fifth place, level on points with Lyon, and is looking to bounce back from two straight defeats. It was crushed 3-0 at Liverpool in the Europa League a week ago and lost 3-1 at Bordeaux last Sunday. “We must absolutely beat Montpellier on our turf to reach the club’s goal, which is to finish in the top five,” Lille midfielder Florent Balmont told French daily L’Equipe. — AP

SAINT-DENIS: French L1 football club Bordeaux’s coach Laurent Blanc (C) talks to his players during a training session, yesterday at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on the eve of their French League finale versus Marseille. — AFP

Real face second derby test, Barcelona face Euro hopefuls MADRID: Real Madrid have a second derby in a week at home to Atletico Madrid today as they bid to hold top spot for the upcoming ‘El Clasico’ against Barcelona.

Real were comfortable 4-2 winners over local rivals Getafe on Thursday as they moved back to the summit, above Barcelona on goal difference, and now face more illustrious neighbours Atletico at their fortress Santiago Bernabeu where they have won all 14 home matches in the league.

Madrid have held the upper hand in the city derby to the extent that Atletico have not managed to beat their rivals for over a decade with their last win back in the 1999/00 season.

Real have plundered 78 goals in the league this season with Gonzalo Higuain leading the way with 22 goals in 22 appearances after grabbing a brace against Getafe.

“I am happy with my form and to be scoring goals,” said Higuain.

“There are 10 games left which is a long way to go and we have to stay calm and do what we have been doing. Now we have to concentrate on beating Atletico (Madrid) tomorrow.”

Real, who will face Barcelona on the weekend of April 10/11, won the first game 3-2 in a scintillating derby at the Vicente Calderon that could have ended in a draw but for a fine last minute save from Iker

Casillas.

Atletico defeated Athletic Bilbao 2-0 on Thursday to move five points off the top six and captain Antonio Lopez said his side were far from intimidated.

“Real Madrid don’t scare me,” said Antonio Lopez. “They are special games and we hope for a different result to that of the last few years.

“We started the league campaign very poorly and now we are in no-man’s land but we are going to climb up some places in the table.”

Champions Barcelona, behind Real on goal difference, have a testing game today when they travel to fourth-placed Real

Mallorca who have been a real force at home this season.

Mallorca have won 12 out of their 13 home games and beat Barcelona in this fixture last season, although Barca had already been crowned champions.

Barcelona scrapped to a 2-0 win over Osasuna on Wednesday in what was a far from vintage performance but they got the points thanks to late goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Bojan Krkic.

“We have to win games whatever it takes because we have a team (Real Madrid) up there with us that is doing very well and it is going to be very complicated for us and them,” said midfielder Andres Iniesta.

People are saying Barcelona are not as strong as last season but their tally of 71 points is two more than they had at the same stage last season. The problem is Real have upped the ante with 71 points compared with their 63 at this stage 12 months ago. In other matches, Sevilla travel to Villarreal on Sunday as they come to terms with the dismissal of coach Manolo Jimenez on Tuesday following the 1-1 draw with bottom side Xerez.

Jimenez has guided Sevilla to the Kings Cup final but a Champions League exit to CSKA Moscow and no win since late February in the league brought about the end of his two-and-a-half year tenure.

Sevilla are currently outside the Champions League spots in fifth, two points behind Mallorca, and have a long injury list with Diego Perotti, Jesus Navas and Luis Fabiano three key players on the sidelines.

Villarreal have changed coaches too this season getting rid of Ernesto Valverde and his replacement Juan Carlos Garrido is trying to get the club into the top six.

At the moment Villarreal are five points off the European places.

Valencia have taken advantage of Villarreal’s and Sevilla’s woes this season to claim third place, six points above Mallorca, and are targeting a third consecutive win at Real Zaragoza today. —AFP