1 April

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

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THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2010

RABI ALTHANI 16, 1431 AH

Lebanese inmates stitch their way out of prison

Serbia apologises for Srebrenica massacre

Belgian panel votes to ban burqa, niqab PAGE 14

NO: 14685

Arsenal comeback stuns Barcelona

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150 FILS

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Kuwait to enforce minimum wage ILO: Kuwait third globally over proportion of migrant workers

By Khaled Abdullah KUWAIT: Kuwait intends to set minimum wages for expatriate workers in the private sector to ensure decent living conditions for them, the minister of social affairs and labor announced yesterday. “The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor will approve proper mechanisms to enforce minimum wages for various worker categories in the private sector,” Mohammed Al-Afasi told a press conference after presiding over a meeting with the ministry’s human rights team yesterday.

He said the ministry has enforced several regulations that would abolish the kafeel (sponsor) system, adding that the ministry is in the process of establishing an independent labor authority. “The laws and conditions of human rights will be observed in Kuwait,” Afasi affirmed, adding that the ministry’s team was preparing a document to show Kuwait’s

in the news Zain nets $3.3bn from sale KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Zain telecom said yesterday it will post a net profit of $3.3 billion from the sale of its African operations to India’s Bharti Airtel for $10.7 billion. Zain in a statement posted on the Kuwait Stock Exchange website said it expects to add the profit to its results in the second quarter of the year. The company last month had expected to post returns of “up to five billion dollars,” from selling operations in 15 African nations. Zain units in Sudan and Morocco are excluded. Zain and Bharti Airtel on Tuesday signed definitive agreements for the sale of the African operations and are expected to close the deal shortly after completing necessary regulatory approvals. In statements following the signing of the agreement, CEO Nabeel Bin Salamah said the deal allows Zain to focus on its highly cash generative operations in the Middle East and to substantially improve its balance sheet.

“We are excited about the growth prospects of the Middle East and we believe Zain is well positioned to capture this opportunity,” Salamah said.

commitment to human rights.

He stressed that the ministry is keen to ensure freedom of expression to enable expat workers to convey their demands to the relevant authorities through legitimate channels that guarantee the elimination of any harm and ensure the continuity of work. Afasi announced that the ministry has received a new facility to provide proper and humane shelter for workers who have been exposed to physical abuse, violence or were not granted their rights in a way to preserve their dignity.

He added that the working conditions of female employees will be improved to meet international standards. “The ministry will ensure that women workers are not subjected to any form of restrictions while performing their duties,” the ministry said, adding that the ministry will issue a number of regulations in this respect. The meeting was attended by ministry’s Undersecretary Mohammad Al-Kandari,

Assistant Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Jamal AlDousari and a number of senior ministry officials.

Separately, Kuwait ranks third in the world among countries that have the highest proportion of migrant workers following Qatar and UAE, according to a report which was published yesterday. The study called “International labor migration: A rights-based approach” says that the dearth of “decent jobs” in the developing world that are not “created fast enough to absorb the growing numbers of people ready to join the labour force every year” have in a way created a demand for employment in other countries.

The report published by the Geneva-based International Labour Organization examines trends in international labour migration, its impacts on origin and destination countries, and conditions of work experienced by migrant workers.

Continued on Page 14

Gulf navies at the ready Mullen visits Kuwait • US tests missile in Saudi drill • US jet crashes into Arabian Sea

Medicine prices cut KUWAIT: Minister of Health Hilal Al-Sayer said yesterday prices of medicines and pharmaceutical formulas would be slashed by five percent. The move is part of the Health Ministry’s efforts to provide better, but low-priced, medical services for Kuwaiti citizens and expatriates, he said. The reduction will involve as many as 5,000 types of medicines, the minister told KUNA. “The reduction of medicine prices will contribute to cutting medical treatment costs for citizens and expatriates,” he said.

Meanwhile, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health for Medicines and Medical Preparations Omar Al-Sayed Omar said the medicine quotation committee had been reshaped. He added that prices of medicines and food supplements would be reconsidered every six months.

KUWAIT: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Army Admiral Michael Glenn “Mike” Mullen (center), flanked by Kuwaiti Chief of Staff Lt Gen Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khaled Al-Sabah (right) and US Ambassador to Kuwait Deborah Jones (left), salutes as he arrives in Kuwait on an official visit. — KUNA

KIPCO downgraded twice KUWAIT: Standard and Poor’s has lowered the rating of Kuwait’s biggest private holding firm Kuwait Projects Co for a second time in a week, but with a stable outlook, a statement said yesterday. S and P downgraded KIPCO’s long-term and short-term corporate credit ratings from “BBB” to “BBB-” and from A-2 to A-3, respectively. Last week, S and P lowered KIPCO’s long-term corporate credit rating to “BBB” from “BBB+” over deterioration of its investment portfolio. But the KIPCO vice chairman said in a statement yesterday the company has enough cash to cover the firm’s debt over the coming three years. “At a group level KIPCO is in a very strong position and has enough cash to cover all its debt due in the next three years,” Faisal Al-Ayyar said. KIPCO expects to be profitable in 2010, Ayyar added. (See Page 21)

DOHA: Gulf naval forces share sustained military coordination for responding to all potential circumstances whether northerly in Kuwait or southerly in Oman, Kuwait’s navy chief said yesterday. Speaking to KUNA on the sidelines of the 2nd International Marine Defense Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX) which kicked off here on Monday, Kuwaiti Naval Force Commander Vice Admiral Ahmad Yussef AlMulla said GCC naval forces are in constant harmony thanks to sustained joint military exercises.

Gulf navies are equipped with sophisticated communication technology systems, and have joint maritime operation centers, he said. All this has laid several constant pillars and bases for joint military action that could enable Gulf naval forces to be on standby for looming circumstances, the Kuwaiti navy commander added.

Al-Mulla considered the conference as a good Continued on Page 14

Assembly lifts immunity of three MPs Tension-packed session marred by tirades

Agility results delayed KUWAIT: Logistics firm Agility will delay the release of its financial results until April 6 pending clarity on its negotiations with US authorities over fraud charges, the company said yesterday. The company’s shares slumped 6.8 percent in early trading on the Kuwaiti bourse before recovering. Agility is in talks to resolve an indictment accusing it of overcharging the US Army by $60 million on supply contracts in Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan. “The board has decided to suspend the release of its financial results for the year ended Dec 31, 2009 to allow the company to determine whether or not a settlement will be reached with regard to the dispute with the US government,” Agility said in a statement to the bourse. The company said in a statement the results would be released April 6. Agility said trading in its stock would be halted from April 1 to April 6.

ABU DHABI: HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah (left) meets UAE President and ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed AlNahayan to express his condolences over the passing away of his brother Sheikh Ahmad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. — KUNA

By B Izzak KUWAIT: The National Assembly yesterday witnessed heated exchanges between a number of MPs during a debate to lift the immunity of MPs Mussallam AlBarrak, Faisal Al-Mislem and

Khaled Al-Sultan, leading acting speaker Abdullah Al-Roumi to adjourn the session in a bid to restore order. The first heated argument took place between MPs Barrak and Adel Al-Saraawi, who at one stage called each other “liars”.

Saraawi accused Barrak of using

extremely harsh words to criticize the finance minister and said this should not be allowed to happen.

Barrak answered back by reminding Saraawi of even harsher criticisms he made against the government and a number of MPs and criticized his position on a number

night,” Lilia Ambay, of Miss Philippines-Universe Charity Incorporated, told AFP. She was stripped of her position not due to citizenship issues but because her birth certificate contained false information, Ambay said.

Raj’s birth certificate showed that she hailed from Camarines Sur in Bicol, south Luzon, and her father was registered as a Catholic Filipino.

The birth certificate was filed three years after her birth. Her mother’s cousin who worked at the government-run Civil Registrar’s Office was allegedly behind the fabrication. Second runner-up Nicolette Henson has replaced Raj. Miss Philippines is a highly prestigious title and winners often go on to lucrative modelling or showbiz careers. — Agencies

Single bloc sweeps Chamber elections

By Khaled Abdullah KUWAIT: The Economic Family Bloc yesterday dominated the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (KCCI) elections, winning all 12 seats in the chamber’s board. Seventeen candidates who contested the elections included 12 members including one women from the Economic Family Bloc competing against five independents.

The Economic Family, led

by KCCI Board Chairman and veteran businessman Ali AlGhanim, gathered almost 50,000 votes compared to 4,000 that went to the five independent candidates Mohammad Kakoli (1,681 votes), Khaled Al-Mutairi (860), Bader Al-Otaibi (738 votes), Waleed Al-Qabandi (641) and Hassan Al-Atifi (218).

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New blasts shake Russia

Philippine beauty ejected from show MANILA: The Philippines’ entry for the Miss Universe beauty pageant has been disqualified after local organisers discovered she was born overseas and out of wedlock, a contest official said yesterday.

Maria Venus Raj, 21, was set to represent her country in August and begin charity work af ter winning the Miss Philippines-Universe competition early this month.

But the journalism graduate was stripped of her title on Monday after the foundation that runs the local competition discovered she had been born in Qatar to an Indian man who was not married to her Filipina mother. Her birth certificate stated she was born in the Philippines to married Filipinos.

“We found out about the inconsistencies after the coronation

of issues. At this stage, the two MPs entered into heated arguments and called each other “liar”.

Roumi was forced to adjourn the session for the second time after postponing it the first time for a lack of quorum.

Continued on Page 14

KUWAIT: Anas Al-Saleh (left), who received the highest number of votes in the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and joint runner-up Abdullah Al-Mulla are all smiles after the results were declared late yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Islamist group claims metro attacks

QUEZON CITY, Philippines: Photo taken on March 6, 2010 east of Manila shows dethroned 2010 Miss Philippines-Universe Maria Venus Raj during the coronation night. — AFP

MOSCOW: Suicide bombers killed 12 people yesterday in double strikes targeting police in Russia’s turbulent North Caucasus, just two days after attacks in Moscow claimed by an Islamist group left 39 dead. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the latest attack in the North Caucasus region may be linked to the strikes on the Moscow metro by two female suicide bombers. The leader of the Islamist “Emirate of the Caucasus” Doku Umarov has claimed responsibility for the Moscow metro bombings, two Internet sites reported yesterday, citing a video message and adding that he threatened more attacks.

Continued on Page 14

CHEKOV, Russia: Friends and relatives mourn Maxim Mareyev, a 20-year old university student who was killed in Monday’s suicide bombings in Moscow and was buried yesterday in this town near Moscow. — AP

NATIONAL

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Thursday, April 1, 2010

Kuwait hosts conference

Women’s contributions to Islamic renaissance KUWAIT: The conference “Women and the rebirth of the nation” review ed yesterday, the third and last day of its activities, the creative achievements made by w omen in the course of Islamic history and the desired role w oman can play under the changes brought about by globalization. The conference,

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah yesterday travelled to the UAE to offer his condolences on the passing away of Sheikh Ahmad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. HH the Amir was seen off on his departure from Kuwait International Airport by HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah. HH the Amir’s delegation consists of the Deputy Chief of the National Guard Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the Advisor at the Amiri Diwan Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Sabah Al-Sabah and other senior state officials. — KUNA

Kuwait’s growing unemployment problem

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period, but the government bodies said that the new financial year is approaching and they can’t provide employment grades without complex procedures and impossible conditions.”

Many experts have warned that the unemployment situation among citizens will escalate with the passage of time due to the structural defects in the job market, as well as the nature of Kuwait’s oil revenue-oriented economy. The experts also warn that the inadequate patchwork of policies that the government comes up with now and then will not be beneficial since they do not get to the heart of the problem, but deal with the superficial elements or immediate results, as was the case with the issue of the private sector workers laid off following the economic downturn.

It is inevitable that unemployment among Kuwaitis will escalate fast in the short term due to the pressure for unrealistic and unexamined privatization policies; what results from this, as we have seen here and worldwide, is a sharp rise in unemployment.

It is regrettable that the framework of the government plan approved by the National Assembly as the five-year plan for Kuwait did

Meanwhile, Dr. Faiza Maala, of Denmark, highlighted the contributions of Muslim women to human civilization through active participation in the public awareness and Islamic advocacy.

“The Muslim women advocacy in Europe passed through different stages.

In the beginning women sought to build females divisions at mosques and Islamic centers in order to provide platform for preaching and lecturing.

“Now Muslim women are getting increasingly involved in the public activities in the European communities; they

are pressing for launching independent Islamic female centers to attract more European women,” she said.

“After nine years of perseverance, Muslim women were able to launch a female division at the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE).

“However, Muslim women are striving against a number of challenges including how to preserve their identity, how to achieve equitable citizenship and how to contribute to social reforms in their respective communities,” Maala added. — KUNA

MoE plans study on disabled pupils

kuwait digest

egrettably, there is still no sign of any coherent government policies to deal with Kuwait’s unemployment problem, writes columnist Bader Al-Daihani in AlJarida.

This policy failure continues despite the devastating effect of unemployment, which turns society’s positive energy into a negative force, resulting in numerous social, political, health-related and ethical problems.

Evidence of these negative effects is given in an interview with a Civil Service Commission official published by Al-Qabas newspaper last Sunday, who said that there is an unemployment crisis in the country, with the number of jobless Kuwaitis currently standing at nearly 22,000.

In what resembled an admission that the government cannot absorb the huge numbers of citizens seeking jobs, the official talked about the inability of the state’s employment bodies to provide job opportunities for unemployed Kuwaitis, even with a vastly inflated government apparatus.

“We worked hard to avert any problem over providing the necessary jobs for the current

Addressing yesterday’s session, Dr. Amal Obaid, of Bahrain University, said the field sociological studies affirmed the need of GCC communities for women’s role to strengthen the social texture under globalization.

“The Kingdom of Bahrain launched ‘the friendly wife project’ in 2005 in a bid to check the growing number of marital breakdowns,” she noted.

“The project entails training courses free of charge to educate wives about the best ways to strengthen family relationships,” Dr. Obaid added.

organized here by the Islamic Studies Department at the Ministry of Aw qaf and Islamic Affairs under auspices of His Highness the Kuw aiti Crow n Prince Sheikh Naw af Al-Ahmad Al-J aber Al-Sabah, drew participation from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states and other countries.

not give any details of how it will confront the steadily increasing unemployment problem among citizens, indicating that this problem will continue to worsen, eventually growing unmanageable.

As a recent study by Dr. Nadira Wadhan showed, the problems that accompany unemployment are potentially extremely dangerous, with joblessness considered a major reason for the spread of crime, with 78 percent of those committing rapes and assaults, 65 percent of those involved in prostitution-related crimes and 75 percent of thieves being unemployed. Furthermore, the study shows that unemployment is a major causative factor in drug addiction, family breakdown and antisocial deviancy. This is before we factor in the role played by unemployment in other political, social and economic problems.

We desperately need a new and transparent government policy to resolve the unemployment problem, one which offers new, short and long-term employment opportunities to our young people, and we need it soon.

We can only hope that the government realizes this before it’s too late.

KUWAIT: A team comprising senior officials from the Ministry of Education (MoE), the Down’s Syndrome Society and the Disabled Society is to conduct a study evaluating the recent integration of disabled pupils into some mainstream local schools.

Announcing the study, MoE Undersecretary Tamadher Al-Sdairawi explained that it would examine a variety of aspects involved in the process,

including the schools’ curricula, the accessibility of buildings, and the impact on teachers and disabled and non-disabled pupils, as well as looking at the use of teaching aids.

An international body for the disabled will be working with the committee to help in carrying out the study.

According to Al-Sdairawi, the team will examine the integration process and evaluate its progress to date, reported

Al-Jarida.

This follows a few years of experimentation by the education ministry in integrating pupils with a variety of disabilities, including hearing, speech and visual impairments, as well as mobility problems, into the mainstream education system, while children with various learning disabilities, including Down’s Syndrome, have recently been integrated into it.

local spotlight

Plight of domestic workers in Kuwait

By Muna Al-Fuzai

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hen the n e w labor law was passed I was hoping that this type of complaint would disappear and be cont r o l l e d .

Unfortunately, and according to a reader who wrote in about their experience, employers are still able to manipulate and harm the lives of their former employees. A past employer can even go so far as to get a former employee arrested and even deported!

The email I received was from an expat who is now facing just that situation. She was accused of absconding by her former company and her new company refuses to help her.

She wrote; “I would like to expose the injustice done to me by my previous employer who filed an absconding case against me. I was served a one month notice period and terminated by my company in the month of March, 2009. I filed a complaint with the labor office for my benefits and for the release of my passport on the last day of my employment, as per the termination letter. There were four hearings in the labor office and later the matter was referred to the court in Riggae. The case is still ongoing.”

“I received my release papers from my company in July 2009 and gave them to my new company. Due to some managerial issues though, my new company was unable to transfer my residency immediately. I was under the impression that the company could not take any action against me because I was the first to file a complaint in the court and because the case is ongoing. My residency expired in the middle of February and I got a new work permit by the end of the same month. When my new company went to the immigration department to make my residency, they were told that there is an absconding case against me and that they cannot transfer my residency.”

“I really wonder on what grounds the company has filed an absconding case against me and on what basis the police have acknowledged their complaint. Is this justice? Even if an individual wants to file a criminal charge against anyone the police will summon the other party to at least hear their part first. If they don’t appear in the police station then they will file a case. What are the procedures to follow in the police station before filing an absconding case. As a human being shouldn’t I have the ability to claim my rights in a legal way? Is this a punishment for approaching the legal authority? How can a company with any conscience file accuse a former employee of absconding after terminating an employee and signing release papers?

While I have court papers and a new work permit from the new company, I am unable to process immigration procedures.”

I personally admire her courage and trust that she will get her rights, as a human and a worker, acknowledged by the court. It is great that she has not allowed anyone to manipulate her right to work somewhere else. It is sad to know that the police station accepted the complaint without confirming that she is a runaway.

Last time I covered this topic I received complaints that workers were accused of absconding while still working with the same company! Does that mean that an employer can just file a case against their employees when it suits them? Right now this lady is at risk of being caught and deported by the police, just because she left one company and worked for another one.

In order to best follow up on her case, I would recommend that she collect all the documents that prove she was employed until the last day of her employment with the first company. That way, any allegation made against her by the old company will collapse in court.

This would also oblige the company to compensate her for any money she may be entitled to. A quicker solution may be to negotiate the matter with the former employer out of the court. muna@kuwaittimes.net

Service centers to receive absconding complaints KUWAIT: In a statement provided by the Interior Ministry, it was announced that service center administrations will now receive complaints regarding absconding domestic helpers, as defined under article 20, during regular working hours.

The decision was based on the instruction of Interior Ministry undersecretary Lt General Ahmad Abdellatif Al-Rujaib, acting undersecretary Lt General Ghazi Al-Omar, and director general of Ahmadi security, Brig Abdelfattah Al-Ali. Such centers will now take care of the procedures related to absconding workers in coordination with the criminal investigations department.

As for private sector employees, as defined under article 18, complaints will be now be reported through the police stations where the company is located, provided that the residence permit is valid. Also, a letter from the Ministry of Social Affairs regarding the absconding case must be available. This procedure relieves citizens of responsibility regarding absconding workers in coordination with concerned authorities at the ministry.

NATIONAL

Thursday, April 1, 2010

3 Kids’ day at Bayt Wataniya

KNPC challenges outdated public views of disability

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) held an Open Day for Children yesterday at the Bait Wataniya.

Many children, able-bodied and disabled, from different schools and institutes across Kuwait, along with KNPC employees’ kids, attended the highly enjoyable day out. The Open Day featured a variety of different attractions, including beach and garden-based activities, a bouncy castle, various competitions, face-painting and hair-braiding, with a DJ providing music for the kids. Near the entrance, there was an exhibition of artwork by disabled kids from different centers, with all the paintings and other objects on sale and proceeds going to the ‘Bayt Abdullah’ children’s hospice.

KUWAIT: Venezuela Ambassador Eloy Fernandez, Counsellor Marco Salmeron and Third Secretary Hilal Issa visited Kuwait Times and discussed matters of mutual concern with Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman Alyan and presented a memento of Venezuela. —Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

kuwait digest

Other activities, including stage contests and shows, were held at the Clubhouse Theater, with competitions for different age groups and a magic show among the fun events on offer.

One feature greatly enjoyed by the kids was an opportunity to take part in ‘Mad Science’ experiments.

This was the KNPC’s first Open Day for disabled children, with the event being part of the company’s ‘Celebrate Ability’ campaign.

“KNPC intends to make this an annual event as part of its activities,” said Bekhit AlRashidi, the Deputy Managing

Director of KNPC’s Planning and Local Marketing Department, in his inaugural speech. “The disabled are among the most important groups in our society and we believe that people in this group are able to give to and work for this country as long as they receive the suitable care. By holding this event for the disabled, we are strengthening this view.”

The event aims to challenge outdated views of disability and to highlight the fact that disability need not be an obstacle in the path of creativity and achievement, Al-Rashidi continued,

adding, “In many cases, the disability is a main engine for creativity and pushes it forward.”

The senior KNPC official thanked all the participating schools and institutions for the great work they do with the disabled throughout the year and for their participation in making yesterday’s event a success.

The open day concluded with the distribution of prizes, along with an open buffet for all those attending the event.

KNPC launched its ‘Celebrate Ability’ campaign at the start of this year to honor Kuwait’s disabled children. The campaign works with children

with a broad spectrum of disabilities, including Down’s Syndrome, autism, quadriplegia and Cerebral Palsy, as well as with children suffering lifethreatening illnesses such as cancer.

Other activities and events organized as part of the campaign include art workshops held in many schools and centers for the disabled, offering the kids a chance to draw and paint using a variety of mediums, including glass and fabrics, as well as to try their hands at pottery, doll-making and other creative activities of their choice.

Canceling nationality is unconstitutional n his column yesterday with Al-Qabas, Abdullatif Al-Duaij wrote on the topic of Kuwaitis with dual nationalities. He pointed out that whenever the issue gets brought up, MPs from the fifth and occasionally the fourth constituency demand that those with American nationality have their Kuwaiti citizenship canceled. ‘It appears as though these MPs are not concerned with canceling the citizenship of dual citizens,’ he added. ‘Their goal is to keep the ban on dual citizenships not applicable, similar to other laws in the country that are ignored because of the government’s lack of commitment to their enforcement.

These MPs continue to challenge the ministers while being 100 percent sure that they won’t.’

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Deputy speaker receives European parliament team KUWAIT: Deputy Speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly (parliament) Abdullah Al-Rumi received here yesterday a visiting European parliament delegation, led by EU-GCC relations committee member Angellica Nebler.

During the meeting, which was attended by several Kuwaiti members of parliament, they exchanged views on the latest regional and international developments, and ways and means of promoting and developing parliament-to-parliament relations.

Stressing bilateral relations as firm, Al-Rumi said the Kuwaiti-European Parliamentary Friendship Group will visit the European Parliament on May 6-8.

For her part, the EU GCC relations committee member hailed the meeting as a vivid model for open and effective dialogue.

Extolling the democratic experiment in Kuwait, Nebler invited Kuwaiti members of parliament to visit the European Parliament in Brussels.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem AlSabah received a written message from Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen dealing with means of promoting bilateral relations between Kuwait and the Netherlands.

Sheikh Mohammad received the message during a meeting with the Dutch Ambassador to Kuwait Ton Boon Von Ochssee.

The meeting was attended by Foreign Undersecretary Ambassador Khaled Suleiman Al-Jarallah, the acting director of the bureau of the deputy premier and foreign minister, the plenipotentiary minister, Saleh Salem Al-Loughani.

The deputy premier and foreign minister also received the United Kingdom Ambassador Frank Baker, accompanied by Iran Coordinator at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Anthony Phillipson. The British diplomat handed over a written message to Sheikh Mohammad from the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, dealing with regional and international political issues of common concern. The meeting was attended by AlLoughani. Separately, the minister received a delegation of the European Parliament, specialized in European relations with GCC states, headed by Angelika Niebler, a German politician. —KUNA

He added that the Minister of Interior is not only accused of failing to enforce the law but also of discriminating against Kuwaiti citizens by seeking to cancel the citizenships of GCC dual citizens while ignoring those with American nationalities. ‘Since these MPs continue to make these accusations against the minister and accuse him of damaging national unity, why don’t they present an interpellation against him?’ he questioned ‘This contradiction is not surprising coming from the same MPs who broke the law that criminalize preelections, among others.’

‘That said, it’s important to clarify the issue regarding American citizenships,’ he wrote.

‘US passports carried by Kuwaiti citizens are mostly used as US travel documents that they

were entitled to after being born on United States soil. The laws of the United States indicate that those born in the United States cannot enter its land unless they use US travel documents, regardless of the citizenships they hold from other countries. For example, that means a Kuwaiti citizen born in America can only access America with his US travel document, while his Kuwaiti citizenship would not help in this case.’

‘Therefore, the minister’s commitment to cancel the citizenships of those with American passports is unconstitutional in my opinion. It would violate their transportation rights because this procedure would make them unable to travel to the US, unlike any other Kuwaiti citizen,’ he concluded.

kuwait digest

‘Dual loyalty’ problem

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uring the early days of the Iraqi invasion that took place in 1990, several citizens had fled the country, mainly fearing for their lives. While most carried their citizenship documents with them, some left their documents and identifications proving Kuwaiti citizenship behind,’ wrote Aziza Al-Mufarrej in Al-Watan.

The writer feels that some may believe that these people left their documents behind in a state of shock. That being said, it is also important to notice that a small percentage of these people obtained the citizenship of other Gulf countries.

Al-Mufarrej felt that they had intentionally opted to leave their Kuwaiti passports behind believing that Kuwait would never recover from the war.

These so-called citizens did not hesitate to

abandon their country during times of need, and seek refuge in another country, the writer observed. These ‘dual’ citizens had displayed ‘dual’ loyalty. They made use of their nationality to achieve maximum benefit. Following the country’s liberation, these individuals’ Kuwaiti nationalities were restored. They, however, made sure that different data was entered into both the documents.

These days, when the dual citizenship issue has flared up, these individuals passionately urge that no investigations be conducted into the issue, under the pretext that this issue hurts national unity. ‘They don’t realize that what really damages national unity is their practices; they try to benefit from Kuwait illegally,’ she concluded.

KUWAIT: The Environmental Control Center’s Geologist Noura Al-Banni recently headed a special team that surveyed various sanctuaries in Kuwait by preparing a fully computerized database on Kuwait’s wildlife. The announcement was made by the Head of the Environmental Control Center at the Public Authority for Environment (PAE), Mohammed Al-Ahmed. The team began by visiting the northern Sulaibikhat sanctuary and is expected to visit other ones to conduct further topographical, vegetation and wildlife surveys. —KUNA

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NATIONAL

Thursday, April 1, 2010

1,400 bottles confiscated

Kuwaiti in police net for alcohol smuggling

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: The General Department of Drug Control (GDDC) has arrested an unemployed Kuwaiti man over an alcohol-smuggling operation and is searching for his accomplice, also a Kuwaiti citizen. The investigation and arrest followed the discovery of 1,400 bottles of alcohol in one of the Road accidents A 32-year-old Kuwaiti man died from extensive head injuries he sustained in a car crash on Kabad Road. His body was removed for autopsy. Meanwhile, a 29-yearold Indian man died in another fatal car crash, this time at the Amghara roundabout. His body was also removed for autopsy.

In another accident, a 20-year-old Kuwaiti man was taken to Mubarak Hospital after suffering a broken kneecap in a collision on Fahaheel Road. In a separate incident, a 35-year-old Kuwaiti woman was taken to Jahra Hospital when she complained of back and ankle pain after being hit by a car in the area.

In another accident, a 20-year-old Kuwaiti woman was taken to Mubarak Hospital complaining of pain in her neck and ankles following a crash on the Fourth Ring Road. Meanwhile, a 38-year-old Lebanese man suffered a broken shoulder bone in a collision in Salmiya. He was taken to Mubarak Hospital. In another incident, a 27year-old Egyptian man was taken to Farwaniya Hospital after suffering a head injury when he was hit by a car in Rabiya.

In a separate accident, a 55-year-old

Firefighters raise kids’ awareness

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A team of firefighters from Mishref fire brigade visited the Al-Kharafi Center for Disabled Children in Sabah AlSalem area yesterday, where the children and staff were asked about their knowledge of fire equipment and what action to take in the event of a fire breaking out.

The team from the brigade’s ‘B Shift’ were received at the center by director Ayesha Al-Salem before inspecting the center building and exit routes, and conducting an awareness program, instructing the kids and staff on how to behave in case of a blaze

Man stabbed A young man was admitted to the intensive care unit of Jahra Hospital after he was attacked in the area, reported Al-Watan. The man was severely injured after being stopped by a group of men and stabbed repeatedly.

When the victim’s friends discovered that he was injured they drove him to the local hospital. A case was opened and police are searching for the assailants.

Bribery An Asian woman offered a KD 500 bribe to authorities at the Fintas police station, reported Al-Watan. She offered the money in exchange for the release of four Asian women arrested for being inside a brothel.

The woman was arrested and placed in the same cell as her associates.

Piracy Ahmadi police discovered a store in Fahaheel where

Egyptian suffered multiple injuries in a collision in Shuwaikh and was taken to Sabah Hospital. Meanwhile, a 22-year-old Kuwaiti man was taken to Adan Hospital after sustaining head injuries in a car accident that took place on King Fahad Road. In another incident, a 50-year-old Kuwaiti man was taken to Adan Hospital after suffering abdominal pain and a nosebleed following a car crash under the Dhaher Bridge.

Sports club death A 20-year-old Gulf nation expatriate died of drowning at a local sports club. His body was removed for autopsy.

Suicide The body of a 50-year-old expatriate was found hanging from a noose in his Mangaf apartment. The body was removed for autopsy and an investigation is underway into the apparent suicide.

Electric shock A 23-year-old Kuwaiti man was taken to Sabah Hospital after he suffered a severe electric shock which resulted in burns to his fingers.

Injured in fall A 38-year-old Egyptian man suffered cuts to his scalp and face when he fell from a high window of a building in Firdous. He was taken to Farwaniya hospital.

Embezzlement case The Criminal Court has referred five former municipality officials accused in an alleged case of embezzlement to the experts’ department, adjourning the trial until June. The Public Prosecution Service has charged the five accused with facilitating the embezzlement of KD 260,000 by the main suspect, the director of a contract cleaning firm, while they were employed by the municipality. One of the five allegedly sent a letter which he signed, along with attached invoices from the cleaning firm, to the Kuwait Municipality’s finance department approving payment of the sums charged, reported Awan. The official was allegedly instructed to send the letter along with the other documents by two of the others accused, despite their awareness that the vehicles, equipment and labor billed for in the invoice had not been delivered.

Contradictions in issue of naturalization breaking out.

The director of Mishref fire station Abdulkarim Al-Otaibi

explained that yesterday’s visit was part of the brigade’s daily work to increase citizens’ and

Fugitive arrested after hot pursuit in Hawally KUWAIT: A fugitive sentenced to life in prison was apprehended by police after a pursuit in Hawally, reported Al-Watan. The bedoon man attempted to escape police on foot after he was pulled over for driving suspiciously.

The man was eventually caught by police and an inspection into his identification revealed his criminal history. He was taken to the proper authorities.

shipping containers used, which was left in an empty area of Ahmadi. The GDDC had reportedly subsequently covertly monitored the two men behind the alcohol-smuggling operation, who had been smuggling the booze via Shuwaikh Port, with one of them caught red-handed during an inspection when the liquor was uncovered during a customs officials’ search.

pirated multimedia and pornographic CDs were being sold, reported AlWatan. More than 55,000 CDs were confiscated in the operation. The five Asian men responsible for the store were arrested at the time of the raid and placed under arrest. They were sent to the proper authorities.

Domestic dispute A citizen accused his exwife of setting his apartment on fire in protest of his marrying another woman, reported Al-Watan. The man extinguished the small fire himself but insisted that his ex-wife was responsible for the incident. In his report to police, he explained that his former wife sent several hateful messages to him and his new wife for weeks, some of which included threats to burn down his home.

Police station raid A group of young, angry bedoon men attempted to raid the Thahar police station in an attempt to release their locked up friend, reported Al-Rai. Shortly after the man was arrested and admitted to the police station, authorities noticed a group of 30 young men march toward the station led by 5 people armed with light weapons. When back up was called, a special forces unit responded to the emergency and managed to

put the situation under control. The five armed men were arrested by police for questioning. Police discovered that the men were relatives of the arrested fugitive and that they are responsible for the attempt to set him free.

Public intoxication Three young men were arrested for firing weapons in Yarmouk while under the influence of alcohol, reported Al-Rai. Police received an emergency call from residents in the area who informed them that youngsters were driving a car and firing a handgun into the air.

The young men were referred to the General Department of Criminal Investigations and face charges of possessing an unlicensed weapon, discharging a weapon in public and public intoxication.

Jahra scam An Arab man was arrested for convincing a compatriot to give him KD 17,000 to start a restaurant in Jahra, reported Al-Rai. The scammed man informed police that a few days after he paid his share of the money to open the business he realized that the project was nonexistent. He then discovered that the man could not be reached. Police launched an investigation and arrested the suspected scam artist.

expatriates’ awareness of the dangers of fire, particularly among those working in high-risk areas.

Bedoons’ checkpoint problems due to technical trouble KUWAIT: Around fifty Bedoon (stateless) residents of Kuwait were recently refused entry to Saudi Arabia, being turned back

by Saudi customs officers at the Riggae checkpoint.

Asked about the incident, Saudi Ambassador to Kuwait Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Fayez told local daily Al-Watan that he had been informed by senior Saudi officials that it had taken place due to a technical error with passport-scanning equipment rather than due to any policy.

No policy has been put in place banning Kuwait’s bedoon residents from traveling to Saudi Arabia, he emphasized, noting that several other bedoon individuals had crossed the border at the Khafji checkpoint during the same period with no problem.

Ambassador Al-Fayez issued an assurance that all the technical problems would be resolved as quickly as possible.

Garbage dump sites KUWAIT: Three residential garbage dump sites have not received sanction from the Municipal Council, the Municipal Environment Affairs Committee Rapporteur Jinan Boushehri said. Boushehri observed that the committee was surprised that the Council had failed to receive its approval with the aim of allocating sites. The committee stated that a report be submitted on the rehabilitation of a closed residential garbage dump site in Qurain, reported Al-Jarida. It was referred to the Cabinet with the aim of advising the committee on actual procedures.

KUWAIT: The government’s approach in addressing the issue of naturalization is mired in the fates of thousands of stateless residents and the safeguard of national unity. While the issue has been escalating, the Cabinet announced in February that the Supreme Council of Planning would come up with a final solution to the Bedoons crisis, and release a report within a few months.

Since then, there has been high anticipation on the Council’s decisive report.

However, the Minister of Interior Sheikh Jaber AlKhalid Al-Sabah broke his silence on this issue and claimed to be the sole state personality that is authorized to pass a decision pertinent to granting citizenships.

This move contradicted the duty bestowed upon the Supreme Council and the minister’s statements. After the former was assigned the duty of making a final decision on the fates of Bedoon residents, Al-Khalid announced that he is the only person entitled to pass final decisions on that regard, reported Al-Qabas.

Furthermore, this complicated issue has further exposed a struggle between some members of the ruling family.

The then Undersecretary of the Cabinet’s Diwan Sheikh Thamer Jaber Al-Ahmad AlSabah had ignored the officials of the Interior Ministry when his investigation committee had suggested that 33 individuals’ citizenships be canceled.

Moreover, the citizenship was rescinded while the officials responsible for these errors were not penalized, leaving only the people to pay a price. The Cabinet should provide clarifications on this issue so that it is not used as a political tool.

Sheikh Salem Al-Jaber Al-Ahmad AlSabah.

The Prime Minister of Djibouti, Dileita Mohammad Dileita.

Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah poses in a picture with Dileita and a number of attendants.

NBK launches spring offer KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the leading bank in Kuwait and the highest rated in the Middle East, launches its Thahabi tempting spring offers exclusively to its World MasterCard holders starting April 4th. The offer promises discounts at many of NBK’s leading partners being Etihad Airways, Henri Lloyd, Jaeger, and the Al Essa group restaraunts being CafÈ Blanc, Living Colors, Falafel Nadia, Zaher El Leymoun, Casper & Gambini, WaterLemon, The Spice Club and The Shogun Lounge.

“Etihad Airways will be giving our World MasterCard holders up to 25% off on Pearl Business Class tickets purchased this month, while Henri Lloyd and Jaeger will offer 20% off their purchases”, stated Adel Al Jenaie Head of

Adel Al Jenaie Thahabi adding that “Al Essa group will give 10% instant discount off their bill as well as 10% in NBK Reward Points when dining at any of their restaurants as well. We are pleased to be able to treat our Thahabi customers to the best offers available, from some of the better names in fashion and dining as well as travel. We do

however stress that our World MasterCard holders hurry as this offer is available for a limited time.”

Thahabi is the Premier affluent customer package from NBK that offers personalized and ‘best in class’ products and services, delivered by professional Personal Banking Officers. Furthermore, Thahabi customers also enjoy many banking related discounts, fee waivers and value-added lifestyle benefits. Qualification for the Thahabi package is subject to meeting the minimum deposit criteria of KD 30,000 in any interest or non-interest bearing account (including Jawhara), fixed deposit, or any Watani Investment Fund for a minimum of six consecutive months and/or a minimum continuous monthly salary transfer of KD 1,500 for a minimum of three consecutive months.

Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah is seen with members of the Djiboutian delegation.

Djiboutian PM visits Kuwait Towers KUWAIT: Sheikh Salem Al-Jaber Al-Ahmad AlSabah, Consultant of the Diwan of HH the Prime Minister, recently hosted a dinner banquet in honor of the Prime Minister of Djibouti, Dileita Mohammad Dileita and his entourage. The reception was held at the Horizon Restaurant in Kuwait Towers to honor his visit as per an invitation

extended by HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah. The event was attended by several Foreign Ministry officials, in addition to a number of diplomats including the Ambassador of Djibouti to Kuwait. The reception was supervised by the Development Manager of Kuwait Towers, Roger Dummar.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

NATIONAL

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Kuwait plans to launch solar power project soon KUWAIT: A committee formed by the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) to implement a solar power technology project at government buildings will convene soon in order to set a timetable for operation. Those companies that are experienced will be reviewed. The ministry has coordinated with Japanese companies on this matter.

Solar power technology can be used to run air conditioning units, which alone consumes 60 percent of the ministry’s power production. According to a study conducted by the Japanese team, a project can be established to produce between 150 and 200 megawatts of power using solar energy.

The committee comprises personnel from the Ministries

of Defense, Municipality Affairs, and Public Works, in addition to the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW), the Kuwait University, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), in addition to cooperation from the Environment Public Authority (EPA) and the Kuwait Society of Engineers (KSE), reported Al-Watan.

Meanwhile, maintenance opera-

MP to submit new co-op law proposal KUWAIT: MP Naji Al-Abdulhadi has voiced reservations on behalf of himself and a number of colleagues over the proposed Co-op society bill submitted to the National Assembly by the parliamentary health and social committee.

Indicating that all the proposed amendments to the existing legislation contained in the bill would be discussed during a forthcoming parliamentary session reserved for that purpose, Al-Abdulhadi told those attending a ceremony hosted by the AlSalam and Al-Sideeq Cooperative Society to honor outstanding students that he intends to submit proposals to amend certain articles of the current legislation, reported Al-

KUWAIT: The ambassador of Germany Dr Michael Worbs hosted a reception for the visiting Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs of the Federal State of Bavaria, Emilia Muller on the occasion of German week and tourism road show at his residence on Monday evening.—Photos by Joseph Shagra

Watan. Al-Abdulhadi asserted that the concept of cooperation underpinning the Cooperative Societies is aimed not at curbing their advancement but at supporting their cause through continuing to enable the achievements they have accomplished since their establishment.

The awards ceremony for outstanding students is hosted annually by the Co-op and is part of its corporate social responsibility program designed to show its active and positive role in society.

Al-Abdulhadi was supervising the ceremony honoring the exceptional male students, while fellow parliamentarian Dr. Aseel Al-Awadhi patronized the ceremony to honor their female peers.

tions carried out at the production units of Al-Zour power plant are expected to be completed within a few days. They

will be put into service immediately, as soon as all the malfunctions are rectified. The ministry has also formed technical teams

to take follow up action on cases of malfunction that have taken place at power plants situated across the country.

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NATIONAL

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Time to foster concrete actions

Key role for Kuwait at World Energy Forum

Kuwaiti message to Lebanese president BEIRUT: Advisor Mohammad AbulHassan, the Special envoy of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, delivered a written message yesterday to Lebanese President Michel Suleiman dealing with bilateral relations between the two countries.

HH the Amir, in the message that dealt with the Kuwaiti-Lebanese ties, congratulated Suleiman on election of Lebanon as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, representing Asian and Arab states.

The Lebanese president, during the meeting with the special envoy, expressed gratitude to Kuwait for its permanent support for Lebanon, asking Al-Hassan to convey his greetings to HH the Amir and wishing ever-lasting stability and prosperity for the Gulf state.

Abul Hassan held separate meetings with Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri and Foreign Minister Ali Al-Shami, discussing the bilateral ties. A foreign ministry statement said the envoy and the minister discussed the relations and mutual cooperation

at the international level during Lebanon’s mandate as member of the Security Council.

The meetings were attended by the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Lebanon Abdul a’l Al-Ginaee and a delegation accompanying Abul Hassan.

Lebanon has been elected a non-permanent member in the Security Council for a 2010-2011 mandate.

The Lebanese presence in the council may be helpful for promoting the 2002 Arab peace initiative, aimed at establishing an independent Palestinian state. — KUNA

Gulf nations well-placed in Arab competitiveness indices KUWAIT: The GCC member states boast distinctive positions in Arab competitiveness indices, Kuwait-based Arab Planning Institute (API) Director General Isa Al-Ghazali said here Tuesday.

Speaking at a seminar organized by the API under the title “Competitiveness of Gulf Economies “ - Al-Ghazali said the high-profile performance of Gulf countries is due to sustainable development efforts that have created a competitive atmosphere buoyed by a stable economic situation.

Gulf development efforts are

based on modern infrastructure utilities, continued development of information technology, building of transparent institutions, control over work costs and boosted capability for developing and settling technology, rationalized government involvement in economic activities and human capital development, he said.

However, the API chief regretted that Gulf competitive atmosphere has failed to create a competitive edge for exporting manufactured goods and trade services, saying that Gulf nations are still mostly reliant

upon oil as a key source of income.

The continuity of such a model, which hinges upon oil earnings to build a prosperous economic state, could be unsustainable given the future of energy on the international arena, he added.

Therefore, Gulf nations are required to revise their competitive equations and to harvest the benefits of its good environment by means of adopting a careful industrial policy that could lead to a productive system targeting economic development, he recommended. — KUNA

OSSC, KNPC sign security deal KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Oil Sector Services Company (OSSC) and the Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) have signed a new security service agreement.

Under the new deal, the OSSC will provide security services to the KNPC, with joint committees to be composed of senior officials from both companies working together to complete the relevant procedures within six months’ time, the OSSC announced in a press release issued yesterday.

The agreement comes at the behest of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), which

instructed the oil sector’s security services to bring their operations under the umbrella of one agency with a view to delineating security visions for the vital sector and for improving its security performance.

In a speech delivered during the signing ceremony, OSSC’s Acting Board Chairman and Managing Director Ali Al-Ebeid said that the company is willing to cooperate with all Kuwait’s oil firms in order to attain the desired goals.

He added that the OSSC is determined to upgrade KPC’s and its subsidiaries’ security performance. — KUNA

in the news Jaber bridge approval KUWAIT: No governmental pressure was exerted on the Environment Public Authority (EPA) to retract the previous approval granted to build the Sheikh Jaber Bridge.

It recently denied being instructed to do so to in order allow a project to connect AlSubbiya with Kuwait City. “A few years ago, the EPA had approved of the project’s location which started from the Kuwait Towers area.

However, we retracted our decision after learning that the project’s course has been changed so that it can be operated from Al-Shuwaikh,” said the EPA’s Head Dr Salah AlMadhahi. “We asked the [Public Works] Ministry to provide us with necessary data in order to carry on with our studies, which are still u n d e r w a y. ” A l - M a d h a h i explained that the decision may have negative effects on the marine environment. He indicated that their duty is to ensure that these negative effects would be minimal as much as possible, reported AlQabas. The EPA’s role is restricted towards providing advice to executive authorities on projects that are nonessential. However, the government will take responsibility over environmental complications that could take place in the future.

Doha accidents KUWAIT: A committee has been formed to investigate the regularly occurring accidents at Doha West power station. The committee, to be headed by the director of the Zour power station Faraj AlSaeed, was created on the orders of the Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Electricity and Water’s (MEW) Power Station Operations and Maintenance Section Hamad Al-Khaldi, reported Al-Anba. The investigation follows numerous questions over the issue of the frequent breakdowns and accidents at the Doha West facility, which led Al-Khaldi to demand a detailed investigation into the matter in order to resolve it.

Citizenship of newborns KUWAIT: Reports indicated that some with dual citizenships attempted to hand over their foreign passports to the General Department of Passports and Citizenships, reported Al-Qabas. However, it was reported that they were denied by security sources. It was explained that the department only accepts the passports of newborns born in foreign countries where they are allowed to adopt that country’s citizenship, such as the United States. The law states that parents must turn over their child’s foreign passport before a Kuwaiti birth certificate can be issued.

CANCUN, Mexico: Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon formally inaugurated here late Tuesday the 12th International Energy Forum (IEF) which is co-hosted by Kuwait and Germany and where Kuwait will be hosting the 13th IEF and fifth IEBF in 2012. In a speech he addressed before the Forum, the Mexican President affirmed that the world economy, including Mexico, is “beginning to show signs of recovery,” which he described as a “significant recovery.” He affirmed that now it is “time to take advantage of the lessons learnt from the crisis and design frameworks that will be much more stable as concerns public policy that will attend to achieve what this forum this year has proposed which is to be able to ensure energy security and environmental sustainability.”

He added that it is time to “foster concrete actions and promote them in light of the economic challenges that people in our countries share.”

The President stressed that this forum represents a “unique opportunity to establish a closer and more open dialogue to face the problems that we must resolve together” as producers and consumers.”

“It is clear that the developed nations and the developing nations need to balance their use of renewable and fossil fuels,” he affirmed.

He continued saying that “all actors can have a frank talk about energy security and the factors that represent a challenge for supply and demand.”

For his part, IEF Secretary CANCUN: Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon (center) addresses the General Noe van Hulst said in International Energy Forum (IEF) in Cancun on Tuesday. — AP his speech that the IEF and cated that over the next year the financial crisis, the global produce and consume energy the Secretariat has worked they will be drafting a charter economic downturn, energy for the proper functioning of with over 700 experts from for the IEF. our societies.” poverty and climate change. producing and consuming The Mexican minister “We have the option to He also called for frankness countries across the globe and openness with the com- choose the path that we choose added that to do so “we must “focusing on key topics that ments and suggestions that will to follow and it seems to me boost our ties of cooperation the ministers in Rome have be presented and “to take that we have already taken the and guarantee our energy secuguided us with.” advantage of this extraordinary first step in the right direction; rity.”

The issues that will be dis- opportunity.”

“Our presence in this forum working in order to have a cussed here during the forum, Furthermore, Mexico’s mutual understanding and pro- reinforces our mutual commithe affirmed, can “build on the Energy Secretary Georgina moting dialogue,” she affirmed. ment to achieve a fruitful diaconcrete output of that work Kessel said in her speech that She stressed that “it is clear logue between producers and that will also guide the discus- the Forum will discuss “the that if we want to arrive at a consumers of energy, a diasions for the next two years of actions aimed at energy securi- destination where we all feel logue that is imperative to the the IEF’s work as we engage ty that is so much needed and that our needs have been met efficient and harmonious funcwith every corner of the ener- demanded by our countries.” then this dialogue and under- tioning of energy markets gy community to build trust She affirmed her conviction standing are only the begin- worldwide,” she remarked. and advanced mutual under- that this forum will provide ning.”

Kuwait’s Oil Minister She stressed the need to Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al“the platform in order to visualstanding.”

He added that the IEF is the ize the necessary commit- explore complimentary fuels Sabah chaired yesterday the “most inclusive energy organi- ments and as a result be able to that will pollute less “since this fourth and final session of the zation in the world” and that it promote concrete actions.” She is the one of the great chal- IEF, which is entitled “The has a “big potential and it indicated that the agenda of this lenges that we face as human Global Energy Dialogue: The believes that the time has come forum contains many key kind in the 21st century.” She Way Forward”, during which to fully realize to advance the issues, such as the growing noted that it is necessary “to he will be delivering a IEF to its next level.” He indi- volatility in the energy prices, change the way in which we speech. — KUNA

PAHW board takes steps to improve housing care KUWAIT: The board of directors of the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) yesterday adopted a range of decisions to improve the housing service for the Kuwaiti families.

The decisions include one allowing the youngest son of a family to apply for housing welfare and resume claiming rent allowance, according to a statement issued here by the press center of Deputy Premier, Minister of State for Development Affairs and Minister of State for Housing Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Ahmad AlSabah.

The rent allowances were suspended for some families due to reorganization of the priority order relating to the distribution, the statement noted.

The board meeting, chaired by Sheikh Ahmad, decided that the youngest son has the right to choose either to continue to live with his family or have an alternative housing.

The move, aiming to achieve social stability and equality among all members of a Kuwaiti family, resulted from a meticulous study of the concerns of the citizens, the minister said during the meeting.

The minister instructed coordination with the other concerned state departments to accelerate issuance of acquisition documents to the applicants for plots of housing land or provision of temporary housing.

He urged enforcement of all related legal and administrative measures to improve the housing care and enhance social stability.

The meeting also approved the statutes of the overseas missions and scholarships in line with the PAHW’s needs, the statement added. — KUNA

Burgan Bank sponsors sports fest for people with special needs KUWAIT: Burgan Bank amongst the leading and the most dynamic banks in the state of Kuwait, recently sponsored the “Fifth Gulf Week for the Disabled”. The last day of the weeklong event concluded with a sports festival for people with special needs which was held under the auspices of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah.

The weeklong event was organized by the Kuwait Society for Guardians of the Disabled in coordination with Bahrain-based Gulf Society for

Disability.

The event which was held at the Kuwait Sports club located in Keifan, witnessed a number of sports activities which were performed by people with special needs. The event included races, competitions, folklore singing and parade of classic cars and motorbikes. The winners were awarded for their performances by His Highness the Prime Minister. The evening also presented a magnificent performance by Girl Scouts and guides and concluded with a spectacular firework show.

Burgan Bank continues to remain committed to its CSR initiatives, which reflects its philosophy of giving back to the society and investing in their future. It is noteworthy to mention that Burgan Bank has initiated the Al-Mass Award which is in its 9th year and rewards disabled Kuwaitis who demonstrate distinctive efforts to help their integration in the community. The objective of the Award is to recognize and appreciate the talents of people with special needs and encourage them to continue with their endeavors despite their challenges.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Low flows and pollution threaten Iraq vital rivers BAGHDAD: Corpses have stopped turning up in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, but Iraq’s waterways now face another form of contamination from pesticides, pollution and excess salinity, a deputy environment minister said. Dams and irrigation have cut flows so much that marshes thought by some scholars to belong to the Biblical Garden of Eden might not revive without a moveable barrier system to divert water, said Kamal Hussein Latif, deputy minister for technical affairs.

And even as it recovers from war and sectarian bloodshed, Iraq is being battered by dust storms that have increased some 20-fold in frequency since the 1970s amid a lingering drought and increasing desertification, he said in an interview.

“The low water flows have led to increasing contamination in the rivers,” with salinity in the Tigris at Baghdad reaching levels almost four times those of four decades ago, Latif said. He added: “It is a very bad situation.” But efforts to discuss water quality and share data withcountries upstream on the Tigris and Euphrates-Iran, Turkey and Syriahave gone nowhere.

“We are always trying to talk to Turkey and Iran and so far we have not had a response. We’ve tried hard, it’s a very serious issue,” he said. “I think the master card is in the hand of the neighbors.” Baghdad has accused Turkey of choking off the Euphrates, the longest river in Southwest Asia, with hydroelectric and irrigation dams. Flows on the Tigris are now about 280 cubic meters a second and about 220 cubic meters on the Euphrates, Latif said, down from about 500 cubic meters in the 1970s.

LACED WITH PESTICIDES Iraq, home of ancient civilizations based on control of water, has one of the most extensive irrigation systems in the world. About 85-90 percent of the rivers’ water is used for crops, Latif said. That water returns to the Tigris and Euphrates laden

with pesticides and minerals, with salinity at about 350 parts per million (ppm) for the Tigris at the Turkish border. “Now it’s reaching 1,000 ppm at Baghdad (in central Iraq) because of low water flows and a bad irrigation system,” Latif said. “In 1970, it was 280, it was excellent water. Now, 600 would be sufficient for Baghdad.” The reduced water flows also threaten revival of marshes at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates in southern Iraq, the biggest wetlands in Southwest Asia.

Diversion schemes under Saddam Hussein almost wiped out the marshes. A UN project reflooded almost half the 9,000 square km of permanent wetlands by late 2006, but Latif said the figure had fallen to 34 percent because of drought and reduced water flows. “With these flows, you cannot restore the marshes. You have to restore these marshes mechanically, not naturally,” he said. Latif said a movable barrier could be installed on the Tigris, similar to that in an anti-flooding project at Venice, Italy, to divert water to the marshes.

OIL STRAINS Oil development deals Iraq struck last year also mean more strain on water resources, Latif said.

Production of a barrel of oil uses up 1.6 barrels of water, he said, and rivers could face contamination from oil spills and waste. He said his ministry was prepared to block oil projects if environmental protection measures, such as water treatment, were not guaranteed. “We have a parliament, we are now a democratic country and we can focus on a lot of issues. We have the media, it is not like the previous (Saddam) regime,” he said. At least one form of pollution is down as violence has waned.

The Tigris and Euphrates was a favorite dumping ground for dead bodies during the years of sectarian fighting. “In the past, we used to see dead bodies in the water, but not anymore,” Latif said. — Reuters

Allawi: Iraq oil law ‘a priority’ BAGHDAD: Former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said yesterday he would honor deals signed with global oil majors in recent months and would move quickly to pass a new hydrocarbons law if his bloc forms the government. But Allawi, whose cross-sectarian Iraqiya coalition won the greatest number of seats in Iraq’s March 7 parliamentary election, said the deals might need some minor adjustments and he wanted to see more competition in Iraq’s energy sector.

“We are going to honor all contracts. We are going to honor all agreements because we believe this is very important,” Allawi told Reuters in an interview. Iraq awarded billions of dollars of contracts to oil majors to refurbish its dilapidated oil fields after years of neglect and war. Baghdad’s goal is to expand production capacity to 12 million barrels per day (bpd) in about six years from about 2.5 mln bpd now.

The contracts could catapult Iraq into the top

ranks of global producers. The war-shattered nation has the world’s third-largest reserves but is just the 11th largest producer. Companies involved in the deals include US major Exxon Mobil Corp; Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company; Russia’s Lukoil; and China National Petroleum Corp.

Allawi lamented Iraq’s lack of an oil and gas law to govern the sector and said he would move quickly to put one before parliament. “It will definitely be a priority,” Allawi said. “It won’t take us long.”

Allawi, who led a transitional government in 2004-05, said he had “strong reservations” about the way the government headed by Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki handled the contracts.

“But the agreements have been signed. We have to respect them and we have to honor them, maybe with little adjustments here and there,” Allawi said.— Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

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Washington wants 4-month Jerusalem building freeze JERUSALEM: The United States wants a four-month Israeli building freeze in occupied east Jerusalem, one several US demands aimed at reigniting dormant peace talks, media reports said yesterday. In return for a Jerusalem freeze-something Israel has refused to contemplate in the past-the United Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned last week from a tense visit to Washington that appeared to deepen a bitter row with the administration of President Barack Obama over the building of Jewish settlements, including in annexed Arab east Jerusalem.

He was reportedly given a set of demands for wide-ranging measures including the extension of a partial settlement halt and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to promote a restart of the stalled peace process.

Neither Israel nor the United States have said what the US demands are.

However, Netanyahu has been meeting with his security cabinet to craft a response. Israel’s Channel Two news, which also reported the demand for a Jerusalem freeze, said no answer was expected from Israel until the Passover holiday ends next week. Officials in Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on the reports. The spat with Washington erupted after Netanyahu’s government announced it would build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem as US Vice President Joe Biden was in the region earlier this month hoping to promote peace talks.

The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state, and have long refused to resume direct negotiations with Israel without a complete freeze of settlement construction in the occupied territories. The two sides had agreed earlier this month to hold USbrokered indirect talks but the announcement of the settlement project during Biden’s visit brought the initiative to an abrupt halt. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas agreed to indirect talks after foreign ministers representing the 22-member Arab League gave him the green light to engage in them for four months during a meeting in Cairo on March 3.— Agencies

States would pressure the Palestinians to hold direct talks with Israel, the Haaretz daily reported. The paper, quoting unnamed Israeli officials, said the four-month freeze would coincide with the period the Arab League had backed for renewed indirect talks between the two sides.

SAKHNIN: The Palestinian flag and the word “Palestine” are drawn on the face of an Arab Israeli girl in the northern Israeli village of Sakhnin.— AP

Obstacles block efforts to form new Iraq government BAGHDAD: Charges of Iranian meddling, constitutional conflicts and bad blood between bitter rivals: obstacles blocking the formation of a new government have piled up in the aftermath of Iraq’s general election. Little progress has been made in forming a government coalition in the more than three weeks since the March 7 poll, while negotiations between its main blocs have revealed key differences between the parties.

Hopes for rapid results have dimmed as ex-premier Iyad Allawi’s slim lead-his bloc won 91 parliamentary seats, two more than Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s-has failed to give him a commanding negotiating position. On Tuesday, Allawi complained that Tehran was “interfering” in the political process to try to block his path by holding

talks with all of Iraq’s major political groups except his secular Iraqiya bloc. “Iran is interfering quite heavily and this is worrying,” he told the BBC in an interview.

Asked whether the Islamic republic wanted to stop him becoming prime minister, he replied: “I think so. They made it very clear ... that they have a red line.”

Senior figures from Maliki’s State of Law Alliance and other major Iraqi blocs have visited the Iranian capital since the polls, but no official from Iraqiya is known to have travelled to Tehran. Both Allawi and Maliki are seeking to assemble coalitions with the 163 seats necessary to secure a majority in parliament and form a government.

They have each met with the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a bloc led by Shiite religious groups, and Kurdistania, made up

of the autonomous Kurdish region’s two long-dominant blocs, which have 70 seats and 43 seats, respectively. Those negotiations, while thus far largely unsuccessful, have illustrated crucial differences between Iraq’s main political groupings, at least two of which must close ranks to form a government.

While State of Law and the INA share sectarian common ground-both are Shiitedominated parties-any potential partnership is being held up by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr’s movement, which has emerged as the INA’s most powerful faction. Maliki ordered an assault on Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia in Baghdad and Basra in 2008, and relations between him and the Sadrist bloc, which holds more than half of the INA’s seats, remain poor.— AFP

INTERNATIONAL

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Thursday, April 1, 2010

Fear of anti-Muslim backlash after Russia blast MOSCOW: Her only fault was she looked different. Nargiza, a 17-year old daughter of a half-Armenian janitor mother, was beaten up by enraged Muscovites as their anger over Monday’s metro bombings linked to Caucasus militants boiled over into blind prejudice. “She was beaten up in the street, her hair torn, face injured, her clothes torn,” said Galina Kozhevnikova of Moscow-based Sova Centre, a rights centre that tracks hate crimes, citing an acquaintance who witnessed the incident.

The girl-assumed to be Muslim because of her darkish skin-became an unfortunate victim of a spike in antiIslamic sentiments stirred up by the twin bombings that claimed the lives of 39 people, Kozhevnikova said. “They stood there, recorded on phones and yelled: go on, finish off a shahid,” said the account posted by the witness, who was not named, on LiveJournal, one of Russia’s top online communities. Many Russians refer to suicide bombers as “shahids,” the

word meaning “martyrs” throughout the Muslim world.

The country’s FSB security service has linked the attacks to residents of Russia’s volatile North Caucasus, a largely Muslim region. Kozhevnikova said the girl has temporarily left the city and was out of reach. “Everyone is in shock,” she said. In a similar incident, several men and women beat up two headscarved women on the metro Monday afternoon, yanking them off their seats and throwing them out of the train, popular radio Ekho of Moscow reported, citing an unidentified witness.

The witness said no-one had called police and other passengers just looked on. A spokesman for the Moscow metro police said no such incident had been registered. In a country where anti-immigrant sentiments are already running high, such incidents are to be feared after the attacks, the deadliest since 2004 when similar metro blasts killed 41, say hate crime experts. Kozhevnikova, whose cen-

MOSCOW: A friend of Maxim Mareyev, a 20-year-old university student who was killed in Monday’s suicide bombings in Moscow, reacts on the coffin during his funeral in the town of Chekhov near Moscow yesterday. — AP

Nigeria seeking Gulf farmland investment Gulf investors can export 100 percent of the produce DUBAI: Nigeria is offering to lease farmland to Gulf countries seeking food security and will allow investors to export all of their produce, the head of a private Nigerian agriculture consultancy firm said. Gulf Arab

countries reliant on food imports have intensified efforts over the last year to buy land in developing nations ranging from Pakistan to the Sudan and Ethiopia.

“Nigeria has the terrain to provide 100 percent of the Gulf’s food needs,” Enbong Jimie Idiong, chief executive of Global Corp Ltd, told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an industry conference in Dubai. Global Corp Ltd is working as a consultant to the Nigerian government on ways to develop the agriculture sector, Idiong said.

Nigeria has around 71.2 million hectares of farmland, of which less that 50 percent is being used, according to data from the firm.

“We need investment to fully utilize this land and we will allow the investors to export back 100 percent of the crop and this will create employment opportunities for people in Nigeria,” said Idiong. The land could be leased for up to 30 to 40 years at a cost of around $10,000 per hectare for that period, he said. “Because of the large size of land we can offer investors as much as they want, and there is no particular kind of crop that can’t be WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrive for a joint grown in Nigeria.” For years Nigeria relied on oil producpress conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington. — AFP tion to fuel its growth, and paid little attention diversification, said Idiong.

CURSE OF OIL “The oil is a curse, and all of these large oil companies are causing a lot of pollution and I think for our generation this is a time we need to pay more attention to developing agriculture.” Asked what type WASHINGTON: First names only, floods of ciate that very much,” the US president joked meeting with Sarkozy in 2006, praising the of guarantees could be precompliments and a shared weakness for hot as he praised the “discriminating palate” of the French leader’s “eloquent” speech to the US sented to investors, a comdogs: Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy put on French leader who he addressed as “Nicolas.” Congress the following year. mon concern for Gulf nations Far from frosty, relations between the hisan elaborate show this week to quash talk of bad “I had a good friend in Washington who had when considering investchemistry between the leaders of France and actually recommended that restaurant,” toric allies have never been so close, Sarkozy ments in Africa, Idiong said insisted in return, junking reports that the the United States. The two presidents stood Sarkozy quipped in return. the government would back European observers argued last year that Elysee and White House had a fraught working shoulder to shoulder at a news conference any deals. called after one-hour-plus talks in the Oval Sarkozy had not received the kind of close relationship. “Why is it so easy for us to work “Before you step in to Office on Tuesday, calling for swift new UN attention from Obama consistent with France’s together? Firstly because when President sanctions against Iran over its nuclear enrich- status as a major ally, during two visits by the Obama says something, he keeps his word. His invest one penny you will US leader to France. The White House repeat- word is his bond. When he can deliver, he says ment program. have a sovereign guarantee But each also devoted long minutes to an edly dismissed talk of a snub, but Obama seized so. When he can’t he says so too.” “Rarely in from the government,” he exchange of courtesies and jokes, seemingly a new chance to talk up the quality of their ties, the history of our two counties has the commusaid. Developing countries all designed to scotch niggling reports their rela- thanking Sarkozy and his country for their “hos- nity of views been so identical between the US over the world have been tionship was awkward, even cold, and that pitality” towards himself-and his young daugh- and France,” he said. Sarkozy said he was in competing to attract foreign Obama had at times been “irritated” by the ter Sasha.”I don’t think that Sasha will ever for- “constant discussion” with Obama on issues investors seeking food securiFrench leader. Obama insisted he was “delight- get celebrating her eighth birthday at the ranging from Paris’ resumption of dialogue with ty to buy or lease land under ed” to welcome his “dear friend” and his super- Elysee palace with the president of France,” he Syria-”at no point has President Obama turned attractive terms. Last May, model wife Carla Bruni, the first presidential said, looking back at his “family’s wonderful his back on what we were doing” — to relations with Moscow. “Before even we inform our couple to join the Obamas for dinner in their pri- visit to Paris last summer.”

Pakistan offered investors 6 Sarkozy visibly glowed as Obama went on to Russian partners, I pick up the phone and call vate quarters at the White House. million acres of farmland to The US president slipped in an ice-breaking praise his “extraordinary leadership”-repeating President Obama,” the president said. “There lease under long term agreemention that the Sarkozys had taken time out to the word three times-on the economy, defor- may be disagreements, but never for the wrong ments, but will require outstop by an historic Washington food joint, estation or the “historic step” of bringing reasons. And as we are very transparent on siders to share half of their “Ben’s Chili Bowl,” which he himself has visit- France back into NATO’s military command. “I both sides, there’s confidence, there’s trust,” he crop with local growers. ed. “My understanding is he had a half-smoke. immediately came to admire your legendary said before walking out with the US president, So far Nigeria has not He was sampling the local wares and we appre- energy,” Obama gushed as he recalled his first hands over each other’s shoulders. — AFP signed any deals with Gulf nations to lease farmland.

“Regrettably this has to do with the attitude of our officials who are not proactive, I don’t understand why Saudi and the UAE have gone to LONDON: When it comes to predicting earth- Open University is one of the first to docu- earthquake early warning system.” Initially places like Pakistan and quakes, toads - warts and all - may be an asset. ment animal behavior before, during and after puzzled by the toads’ disappearance in the Sudan where climate and British researchers said yesterday that they an earthquake. The scientists were studying middle of the breeding season, the scientists political conditions are less observed a mass exodus of toads from a the common toad - bufo bufo - at a breeding tracked the population in the days that folstable,” said Idiong. “We are breeding site in Italy five days before a major colony in central Italy when they noticed a lowed. They found that 96 percent of males just not marketing ourselves tremor struck, suggesting the amphibians sharp decline in the number of animals at the who vastly outnumber females at breeding may be able to sense environmental changes, site. Days later, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake spots - abandoned the site, 46 miles from the enough.” Foreign investors imperceptible to humans, that foretell a com- hit, killing hundreds of people and badly dam- quake’s epicenter, five days before it struck have acquired some 15-20 ing quake. Since ancient times, anecdotes and aging the town of L’Aquila. on April 6, 2009. million hectares of farmland in folklore have linked unusual animal behavior Researcher Rachel Grant said the findings The number of toads at the site fell to zero poorer countries since 2006, to cataclysmic events like earthquakes, but suggested “that toads are able to detect pre- three days before the quake, according to the according to the International hard evidence has been scarce. seismic cues such as the release of gases and study, published in the Zoological Society of Food Policy Research A new study by researchers from the charged particles, and use these as a form of London’s Journal of Zoology. —- AP Institute. — Reuters

Obama, Sarkozy scotch talk of bad chemistry

Toads can detect quakes

tre has recorded several separate incidents since Monday, estimated that there could have been at least 10 such attacks in Moscow as more went unrecorded.

But they will remain isolated incidents unless authorities and media choose to whip up anti-immigrant hysteria, analysts say. “As I see it, the real danger is that such incidents could be used by politicians,” said Leokadia Drobizheva, head of the Research Centre for Inter ethnic Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences. With around 2.5 million migrant workers, Russia has the second largest migrant worker population after the United States. After the blasts law enforcement officials pledged to beef up security and President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday urged officials to improve anti-terror laws.

Immigrant leaders said those measures would almost inevitably make life harder for thousands of workers living in Moscow where they can now expect tougher immigration rules. “I have a feel-

ing of foreboding,” Alisher Madanbekov, a leader of Moscow’s Kyrgyz diaspora said.

“When terror attacks hit before, labor migrants were the first to suffer,” added Usmon Baratov, a leader of Moscowbased Uzbek community. Human rights activists say officials have long turned a blind eye to nationalism and xenophobia in a country where racially-motivated acts of vandalism and attacks have become a regular occurrence.

According to the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, between January and midMarch of this year there were 31 xenophobic attacks that killed 10 and injured 28 in Russia. But while diaspora leaders say the authorities will tighten the screws they do not expect mass violent attacks from ordinary Russians.

“People of non-Slavic appearance will for the next several days be afraid to get out on the street,” said Sova’s Kozhevnikova. “But Russians gradually realize that people from the Caucasus and terrorists are not the same.” — AFP

Suicide bombers hit Russia MOSCOW: At least 50 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded over the past three days by suicide bombers who detonated explosives on packed Moscow metro trains and near a school in the southern region of Dagestan. The following is a look at how events may unfold after the attacks.

MORE ATTACKS? The metro bombing, which killed at least 39 people in the bloodiest attack on Moscow in six years, has raised fears that Islamist militants could carry out a series of attacks on the Russian heartland. The attack in Dagestan, which killed at least 12 in one of the most turbulent regions of the North Caucasus, underlines the growing Islamist insurgency along Russia’s southern flank. Such attacks in Dagestan have been on the rise over the past year but a follow-up attack outside the North Caucasus or against economic targets such as pipelines could alarm investors and increase pressure on Russian leaders for a show of force. Russia has increased security at airports, train stations and across the North Caucasus.

ECONOMIC TARGETS? The rouble initially fell on Monday’s bombings but soon recovered while stock and bond markets shook off the news. The bombings in Dagestan had no immediate market impact. But any attacks on Russia’s economic infrastructure- including gas and oil pipelines or even one of Russia’s 10 nuclear power stations-could spook markets. Chechen rebels have promised to wage an economic war on Russia with attacks on gas and oil pipelines, as well as power stations, attacks on the electricity grid and factories.

A group known as the “Riyadus-Salikhin Battalion of Martyrs” in August claimed responsibility for a Siberian dam disaster that killed 75 people. The claim posted on the unofficial Islamist rebel website www.kavkazcenter.com was dismissed by Russian officials. But a new bombing campaign against the Russian heartland could drive up the risk premium investors demand for buying Russian assets. “For portfolio investors, any sharp escalation of attacks could in the medium term result in a widening of discounts to comparable markets across asset classes,” Eurasia Group said in a research note sent to clients. “They could also lead foreign direct investors in Russia to reassess their plans, and/or push investors to require higher rates of return to justify their presence in the Russian market,” the group said.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombings, but Russian authorities blamed female suicide bombers with connections to the North Caucasus for the attacks in Moscow. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who called for the culprits to be scraped “from the bottom of the sewers,” said one group could have been behind the bomb-

ings in Moscow and Dagestan. He gave no further details. Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov, who styles himself the “Emir of the Caucasus Emirate”, in February vowed to spill blood in Russian cities.

“Blood will no longer be limited to our (Caucasus) cities and towns. The war is coming to their cities,” he said in an interview on the www.kavkazcenter.com site.

A representative of the militant group Umarov leads denied responsibility yesterday for the Moscow bombings. Analysts in Moscow said that if the trail led to the North Caucasus then the Riyadus-Salikhin group, which specializes in suicide attacks, could be behind the attacks. The group was involved in the Dubrovka Theatre siege in Moscow in 2002 and in the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis, when at least 334 people died, half of them children. Riyadus-Salikhin was once under the command of Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, but survived his death in 2006, and is still active.

Its command structure is unclear, but some say it reports to Umarov.

CRACKDOWN ON REBELS Putin, who gained power and popularity in 1999 by launching a war to crush Chechen separatists, has told law enforcement agencies to track down and punish those responsible for the attacks. “We know they’re lying low, but it’s a matter of honor for law enforcement bodies to scrape them from the bottom of the sewers and into the daylight,” Putin said. After the blasts in Dagestan, Putin said police forces should be strengthened across the North Caucasus and analysts said Putin’s tough rhetoric was likely to go down well with most of the Russian electorate.

But many local leaders have cautioned that heavy-handed tactics by law enforcement agencies have driven recruits into the hands of the Islamist insurgents. President Dmitry Medvedev has mixed warnings that insurgents will be destroyed with milder language about respecting human rights and the need to focus on measures to alleviate dire poverty and other social problems in the North Caucasus. “All of these must be realized, no matter what, because the key to many of these problems lies in the social and economic sphere,” Medvedev said on Wednesday.

POLITICAL FALLOUT A campaign of attacks could increase calls for a return to the Kremlin by Putin, Russia’s most popular politician, who is known in Russia for his uncompromising line on militants. Many observers say he is already planning to return to the Kremlin in 2012, and he has not rule out running for president in that election. A renewed focus on the North Caucasus in domestic politics could bolster Putin’s standing as Russia’s paramount leader while strengthening the position of hardliners in the security forces. — Reuters

in the news Snowstorms grip Britain EDINBURGH: A 17-year-old schoolgirl died yesterday in a bus crash as heavy snowstorms paralyzed transport links and cut power to thousands of people in Scotland and northern England, emergency services said. Eleven other children were injured in the early morning accident in southern Scotland when the bus plunged over the side of a bridge in heavy blizzards, while travelling to the Alton Towers theme park. Four of the children were seriously injured and taken to hospital, in what a local resident said were “absolutely atrocious” conditions. Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England have been hit by freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls since Tuesday, in a reversal of recent springlike weather. More than 300 motorists had to be rescued overnight in the Londonderry region of Northern Ireland, while 45,000 homes had their power cut in Northern Ireland, and nearly 20,000 in Scotland.

Muslim policeman fired LONDON: Britain’s most senior Muslim policeman was sacked yesterday after being jailed for attacking a man and trying to frame him in a petty row over money. Commander Ali Dizaei, 47, was dismissed from London’s Metropolitan Police after being put behind bars last month for misconduct in public office and perverting the course of justice. “(We have) today dismissed Commander Dizaei from the Metropolitan Police Service with immediate effect,” said James Cleverly, vice-chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority’s professional standards cases sub-committee. “As far as the authority is concerned, this is the end of the matter.” Investigators who led the probe against Iranian-born Dizaei branded him a “criminal in uniform” and said he had behaved like a bully. His trial heard how Dizaei had met his victim, 24-year-old Iraqi businessman Waad al-Baghdadi, in a west London restaurant run by a friend of the police officer in July 2008. The Iraqi approached Dizaei, who became head of the National Black Police Association (NBPA), and asked him for 600 pounds (940 dollars, 685 euros) he was owed for creating a website for him.

4 guilty in landmark non-jury trial in UK LONDON: Four men were found guilty yesterday

PEEBLES: A pedestrian struggles through heavy snow in Peebles yesterday. Up to 48,000 homes were without power as severe winter storms battered parts of Britain for a second day. —AP of carrying out a 1.75 million pound armed robbery at London’s Heathrow Airport following Britain’s first ever criminal trial to be heard without a jury.

John Twomey, 62, Peter Blake, 57, Barry Hibberd, 43, and Glenn Cameron, 50, were jailed after being convicted of charges relating to the warehouse heist in February 2004. New laws introduced in 2003 meant the trial could be held in front of a judge sitting alone after the Court of Appeal ruled last year there was a “very significant” danger of jury-nobbling. The historic trial, which campaigners said set a dangerous precedent, was the fourth time the defendants had faced court proceedings over the raid after the previous trials had collapsed. The court heard that a gang of six armed masked robbers, wearing high-visibility jackets and dark woollen hats, carried out the raid on the Menzies World Cargo warehouse, planned with the help of insider Darren Brockwell, who later turned supergrass. During the hold-up, 16 members of staff were tied up and threatened while one was shot at by Blake as he tried to escape and raise the alarm.

INTERNATIONAL

Thursday, April 1, 2010

9

In Texas, fear follows Mexicans who flee drug war FORT HANCOCK: When black SUVs trail school buses around here, no one dismisses it as routine traffic. And when three toughlooking Mexican men pace around the high school gym during a basketball game, no one assumes they’re just fans. Fear has settled over this border town of 1,700, about 50 miles southeast of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, epicenter of that country’s bloody drug war. Mexican families fleeing the violence have moved here or just sent their children, and authorities and residents say gangsters have followed them across the Rio Grande to apply terrifying, though so far subtle, intimidation.

The message: We know where you are.

At schools in Fort Hancock and nearby Texas towns, new security measures and counseling for young children of murdered parents have become a troubling part of the day. “I have friends with fathers who’ve been annihilated,” said Israel Morales, a junior at Fort Hancock High School. “They just hug you and start crying. It just traumatizes you.” He said school doesn’t always feel safe. “I try to be stoic,” Morales said.

“But it still worries the heck out of me.”

Mexican drug gangs have not fired a single shot in Fort Hancock, and no one has disappeared.

But as drug violence continues unabated in and around Ciudad Juarez, residents of Texas border towns fear it will spread their way. “There’s been incidents of school

buses followed, and threats to some of the students and threats to some of the staff,” Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Lt. Robert Wilson said. “It’s caused us to really go on high alert.” Three mysterious men walked into the Fort Hancock High School gymnasium last month during a basketball game, setting off worries that they were drug cartel members sent to deliver a message.

Parent Maria Aguilar said “a panic” swept through the gym and only subsided when they left. “They walked in and they were laughing,” Aguilar said. “They were probably like, ‘We’ll just scare everybody.”‘ Wilson said a suspicious car was noticed following a packed school bus earlier this year.

Rumors that the car belonged to cartel members were never validated, but after other suspicious cars were spotted, the department began following buses as a precaution.

“We don’t know if it was to find out where a student of a certain person he was looking for gets off, or to find out where he was living,” Wilson said. “We’re not sure what the motivation was. But the rumor and concern was great enough.” Schools have installed security cameras and hired an armed off-duty sheriff’s deputy to patrol its three campuses for the first time. Fort Hancock is an impoverished town of rundown homes and a single diner. Fathers of many students work as farmhands in the surrounding alfalfa and cotton fields, but

MONTERREY: Soldiers stand over the body of a suspected hit man lying on the side of the road in the municipality of China on the outskirts of Monterrey. According to the army, two alleged hit men were killed during a shootout with soldiers along the highway to Reynosa after refusing to stop at a military checkpoint.— AP most are jobless.

Aguilar said her fourth-grade daughter shares playground stories of “how so-andso got killed in Mexico this weekend,” and

once asked whether a classmate’s mother would be next. One Fort Hancock High student picked up for truancy told a judge he was too scared to go to class after witness-

ing a murder in Mexico. Police say his mother and grandfather were tortured with ice picks this week in El Pornevir, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande from Fort Hancock. They were in critical condition in an El Paso, Texas, hospital. The student has resumed attending classes. School administrators say dozens of fellow students also have relatives who were killed or tortured in drug violence.

“A lot of time your family is involved,” said Modesta Morales, Israel’s mother.

“Some of the killings that happen, it’s not because of the people that were killed, it’s because they’re trying to reach someone. If they can’t find that someone, they’re going to get their brothers, their sisters, their nephews, their fathers - whoever they can to try and bring that person out.” Down the road in Fabens, fliers in the teacher’s lounges ask faculty to watch for a gunman wanted for four killings in Ciudad Juarez.

He’s the father of two boys at the middle school.

Paul Vranish, superintendent of the Tornillo school district outside El Paso, estimates that about 10 percent of his 300 students have lost a close family member in Mexico’s drug war. One Tornillo High School student was gunned down in Mexico at the start of the school year while racing back to the border, Vranish said. Tragedy becomes so routine that students shrug off counseling. “This is like Iraq. This is part of

the landscape,” Vranish said. “I’m not in any way trying to put our kids down. It’s not like they don’t have feelings. But like a soldier, you have to develop a certain amount of callous to continue to function.”

US authorities say they have seen a recent uptick in asylum claims at the port of entry in Fort Hancock, and schools here are enrolling more students. At least seven new students enrolled in Fort Hancock schools in one week in March, an increase that would normally take a year or two.

Texas public schools educate children regardless of immigration status.

“They told us themselves, there’s more coming,” said Hudspeth County Constable JR Sierra, who now doubles as Fort Hancock’s school officer. “They’re being threatened to either leave now or suffer the consequences.”

Drug-related violence in Mexico has claimed 17,900 lives since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug gangs in December 2006. In Ciudad Juarez, more than 2,300 were killed last year alone.

Powerful drug cartels have been battling not only authorities but each other for turf and drug routes. No US schools have reported any violence tied to the drug war, but Modesta Morales said the violence has already come to them. “Sometimes you feel helpless. They saw their dad shot, in the head,” Morales said. “What do you tell a 10year-old that sees that?” —AP

Missing Iranian nuclear scientist defects to US Obama wants Iran sanctions within ‘weeks’ WASHINGTON: An Iranian nuclear scientist who had been reported missing since last summer has defected to the US and is assisting the CIA in its efforts to undermine Iran’s nuclear program, ABC News reported Tuesday. The scientist, Shahram Amiri, has been resettled in the US, according to the report.

SOCHI: Russian president Dmitry Medvedev (right) and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ski at the Krasnaya Polyana resort in Sochi. Putin will visit Venezuela tomorrow. — AFP

Putin’s Venezuela trip focuses on energy, arms Venezuela wants to beef up its weaponry MOSCOW: Russia will cement energy ties with its closest Latin American ally, Venezuela, when Prime Minister Vladimir Putin travels to Caracas this week for a trip that could also lead to arms deals that worry Washington. Venezuela, South America’s top oil exporter and a member of the oil producers cartel OPEC, is seeking funds and technology to help develop its oil deposits and is also seeking loans to buy Russian military hardware.

“We should expect a lot of big arms and energy contracts. When Putin has travelled recently to centres like India he brought back a lot,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the magazine Russia in Global Affairs.

“It is always a good chance for Putin to show to the United States that we have a lot a friends all over the world.” Putin secured $10 billion in energy, nuclear and arms deals in India this month and Russia is offering New Delhi a role it its energy projects, Russian military hardware and its nuclear reactors, amid rising competition from French and US firms.

“It is an opportunity to advance cooperation in the fields of energy, industry, agriculture and defence, among others,” Venezuela’s foreign ministry said ahead of the visit. Putin’s office was due to comment on the visit later in the week. Chavez

travelled to Moscow in September to receive over $2 billion in loans for weaponry, including tanks and the S-300 advanced anti-aircraft missile.

During the trip he announced Venezuela recognised two pro-Russian rebel regions of Georgia as independent states, a rare diplomatic success for Moscow, which has tried unsuccessfully to persuade its allies to do so. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called Russian, Iranian and Chinese economic and political gains in Latin America disturbing after failed attempts by the previous US administration to isolate Venezuela and Bolivia. Clinton also expressed concern last September about Venezuelan arms purchases and their potential for triggering an arms race in the region.

ENERGY RELATIONSHIP Venezuela wants to beef up its arsenal to resist what Chavez terms US imperialism in Latin America, though tensions have also been rising with neighbouring Colombia, a close US ally and historic rival of Venezuela. “Russia sees the strengthening of its positions in this region as an extremely important and a good answer to the widening US influence in Central Asia,” said Alexei Mukhin, who directs the Moscow-based Centre for Political Information.—Reuters

Refugees sworn in as US citizens WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has joined immigration officials and well-wishers in welcoming 27 refugees from the world’s trouble spots as they were sworn in as US citizens. “This is now officially your country,” Obama said in a televised message that was beamed into the black-glass headquarters building of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services in Washington.

“In America, no dream is impossible. Like the millions of immigrants who have come before you, you have the opportunity to enrich this country through your contributions to civic society,” Obama said before a technical glitch cut short his address to the brand new US citizens. Moments earlier, the 27 men and women who years ago had fled wars, oppressive regimes and persecution in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, had raised their right hands and pledged loyalty to the United States.

The mass naturalization ceremony was held almost 30 years to the day that president Jimmy

Carter signed the Refugee Act into law on March 17, 1980. “This ceremony speaks of our country as a refuge for people who are fleeing despair or circumstances that our country does not tolerate within its borders,” Alejandro Mayorkas, director of the USCIS, told AFP after the ceremony. The new citizens came from Bhutan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan and Vietnam. Around three quarters of all refugees resettled every year come to the United States, said Lori Scialabba, associate director of the refugee, asylum and international operations directorate at USCIS. Since the refugee act became law, the United States has offered protection to approximately 2.5 million refugees and 500,000 asylum seekers. Last year alone, USCIS processed 110,000 refugee applications from 109 countries and completed 33,867 asylum applications. In the past decade, some 5.6 million people have taken the oath to become become US citizens. — AFP

Amiri, who worked at Tehran’s Malek Ashtar University, an institution closely connected to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, disappeared last June while in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage. While his disappearance led to speculation that he had defected and was assisting the West in its efforts to keep track of Iran’s nuclear program, the Iranian foreign minister accused the US of helping to kidnap him.

Citing people briefed on the intelligence operation, ABC News said Amiri’s disappearance was part of a long-planned CIA operation to persuade him to defect. The CIA reportedly approached Amiri in Iran through an intermediary who made an offer of resettlement on behalf of the United States, ABC News said. Amiri has been extensively debriefed since his defection, according to the report, and has helped to confirm US intelligence assessments about the Iranian nuclear program.

UN SANCTIONS Obama said he wanted tough new UN sanctions imposed on Iran within “weeks” as visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy blasted Tehran’s “mad” nuclear race. But Obama admitted that key world powers had “not yet” closed wide gaps on the specifics of the biting new measures, as he and Sarkozy made an apparently coordinated effort to up pressure on China and Russia for action.

“My hope is that we are going to get this done this spring,” Obama said, warning, as he faces rising domestic pressure on the issue, that he was not interested in waiting months for the new United Nations measures to be imposed.

“I am interested in seeing that regime in place within weeks,” Obama said during a joint press conference with Sarkozy which saw both leaders go out of their way to profess US-French friendship. Sarkozy indicated after his closed Oval Office talks with Obama that months of diplomacy to prepare the way for sanctions must now come to fruition. “The time has come to take decisions.

Iran cannot continue its mad race,” Sarkozy said, adding that Europe would stand united in the push for sanctions.

The joint presidential pressure came as G8 foreign ministers meeting in Canada urged “in the strongest possible terms” that Iran cooperate with five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton predicted the next few weeks would see “intense negotiation” in the Security Council on Iran, which the West suspects of developing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

The Obama administration has spent months trying to convince China, which has been reluctant to embrace tough sanctions on Iran, to join the international effort.— Agencies

The CIA had no comment on the report, a spokesman said. President Barack Obama said Tuesday he hopes international sanctions against Iran for pursuing its nuclear ambitions will be in place this spring. Iran maintains that its nuclear research is for peaceful purposes and not to develop weapons.

in the news Drive-by shooting kills 4 WASHINGTON: Four people were killed and five were wounded in a drive-by shooting in Washington, DC, police said yesterday. Three suspects have been arrested in the shooting Tuesday, but investigators said the motive wasn’t clear. A gunman in a moving vehicle sprayed a crowd with bullets, hitting six men and three women, around 7:30 p.m. in the southeastern part of the US capital city, said DC Police Department spokesman Officer Hugh Carew. Fire Department spokesman Pete Piringer says all were in their 20s and 30s, except for one teenager. One shooting victim died at the scene, one was dead on arrival at the hospital, and the third died in the operating room, said Carolyn Hammond, spokeswoman for Washington Hospital Center. Police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump confirmed early yesterday that the fourth victim had died.

Three people were arrested and a weapon was recovered. The Washington Post reported that police pursued a van from the scene, aided by a helicopter.

Killer, rapist executed WASHINGTON: A convicted murderer and rapist has been put to death in Texas, making it the state’s fifth execution so far this year, state penitentiary officials said. Franklin DeWayne Alix, 34, shot and killed a man after kidnapping and raping the man’s sister in 1998. He was administered a lethal injection and pronounced dead Tuesday at 6:20 pm, prison officials said. Both his own family and his victim’s family witnessed the execution.

“I am not the monster they made me out to be,” said Alix before being put to death. “I made lots of mistakes that took your son. I’ll take it to my grave. I will be at peace.” In an interview before his execution, Alix admitted to making “some bad mistakes in life,” according to the local Houston Chronicle newspaper. “There are things I would like to take back... I stopped going to church. Look at the results.” It was the fifth execution so far for Texas, which by far has put more inmates to death than any other US state. It was the country’s 452nd execution since the

US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Flood hits US northeast NEW YORK: Heavy rain in the northeastern United States has left the region at risk from dangerous flooding yesterday, with President Barack Obama issuing an emergency declaration for the small state of Rhode Island.

Obama late Tuesday ordered “federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the area struck by severe storms and flooding,” said a White House statement. The emergency declaration authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts in the state. “Runoff from the very heavy rainfall of the past two days will continue to flow into area rivers,” the National Weather Service said in a flood warning.

“Widespread and potentially severe dangerous flooding... will be occurring through much of the morning,” the service said.

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Thursday, April 1, 2010

China official denies cutting off water to SE Asia BEIJING: China denied yesterday it has “hijacked” water from the Mekong River, causing its lowest levels in 20 years for areas downstream in Southeast Asia. Liu Ning, vice minister of water resources, suggested that China’s dams and irrigation projects upstream have actually helped stave off some of the effects of drought - though it was not clear whether he was referring just to parched areas of southwest China or the wider region.

The Mekong River, which originates in the Tibetan Plateau, is at its lowest level in nearly two decades, halting cargo traffic on the waterway that is the lifeblood for 65 million people in Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, according to the Mekong River

Commission. Nongovernmental organizations have long blamed China for shrinking the Mekong and causing other ecological damage. China has built several dams on the upper reaches of the river and has more planned.

“We cannot say that China hijacked water resources and contributed to the drought,” Liu told a news conference when asked about the effect of China’s water projects on the water supply in Southeast Asia.

“If there were no irrigation facilities and reservoirs built in drought areas, the drought would have come earlier, the situation would have been more severe, and there would have been more people suffering from a lack of drinking water,” Liu said. He did not specify which areas he meant.

KUNMING: Villagers fetch water from the bottom of a water tank in Yantou village of Awang township in Kunming, in southwest China’s drought-hit Yunnan province. — AP

Racism, discrimination common in Japan: UN Japan urged to protect immigrants’ rights TOKYO: Nearly 20 years after Japan first allowed in immigrant workers, many of them still face discrimination as the government has failed to protect their rights, a UN official said yesterday. UN Special Rapporteur Jorge Bustamante

said immigrants are often exploited in Japan as cheap labor and discriminated in terms of salary, promotion, health care and compensation for accidents at work. Their children are often left out of the local school system, he said.

KABUL: An Afghan prisoner looks out from a fenced window at the Female Detention Centre in Kabul. — AFP

Sold, raped and jailed, a girl faces Afghan justice US pushes for better rule of law to match military gains KABUL: For the shy Afghan girl who sat quietly in a detention centre with a pale blue headscarf, teenage rebellion had come at a heavy price: seven years in prison. Engaged to an older man who had offered $5,000 to her father but in love with a boy she spoke to on the phone, the 16-year-old girl was hauled before a court that found her guilty of running away from home, according to an account she provided.

“I was engaged to an older man and I was not happy. He was painting his beard black,” said the girl, who cannot be named because of rules protecting juvenile detainees.

Now pregnant, she said she did not know who the baby’s father was, adding she had slept with both the boy she was in love with and the man she was engaged to. She also said she had been raped while in detention before being sent to the Kabul facility.

The girl’s story offers a glimpse into the nature of Afghanistan’s rudimentary justice system, underscoring the uphill task ahead as US President Barack Obama calls for improving the rule of law to match military gains in the country.

Obama has ordered an extra 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan to beat back a resurgent Taleban, but officials also recognise progress on civilian issues like corruption, governance and justice will be essential to bringing stability to the country.

“I’ve seen travesties in court,” said Kimberly Motley, a US lawyer who interviewed 348 detainees, judges and others for a report on the juvenile justice system and also represents the pregnant Afghan girl in an effort to win her freedom.

“I’ve seen kids not even being brought into court for their hearing. Cases without

any witnesses. And more times, no evidence than any evidence. And the verdict is always guilty.”

Young girls usually fare the worst within the system, she said. In a deeply conservative Muslim society where women were banned from education during Taleban rule, anything from trying to escape a forced marriage to walking down the street with a boy who is not a relative can land them in jail.

NO-WIN SITUATION About half the young girls locked up in Afghan detention centres are charged with “moral crimes” like running away from home and adultery, Motley said.

At times, runaways are booked on the surreal charge of “kidnapping” themselves, she said. Though Afghan law does not specifically cite moral crimes like running away as illegal, judges often use Article 130 that allows courts to “rule in a way that attains justice in the best manner” when faced with a case where other laws do not apply.

“That opens up a window for all sorts of things,” said Francesco Ponzoni, a legal adviser to the Italian Cooperation, the development arm of the Italian embassy.

Italy was the lead nation on justice in Afghanistan within the NATO alliance, and rule of law remains a focal point.

Aside from “moral crime”, about 30 percent of the detained girls are locked up on murder charges, though often that is a case of guilt by association-they may have been present when somebody else carried out a killing, Motley said.

The rest are detained on assorted charges like theft. With Afghan womenespecially in rural areas-taught to play a pas-

sive role in public, the odds are further stacked against the young girls when they enter a courtroom. “Culturally, they’re put in a no-win situation,” said Motley. “If they speak up, they look like they’re going against the grain. If they don’t speak up, it’s an admission of guilt.”

‘MADE A MISTAKE’ Afghanistan is said to have as many as 30 juvenile detention centres with about 600 detainees, but detainees likely number closer to 1,000 if boys who are wrongly told they are over 18 and informal detention centres are included, Motley said.

The Italian Cooperation is trying to push alternatives to ordinary detention for juveniles and funded the construction of an “open” centre in Kabul, where inmates are allowed to go to school or work during the day. Still, only about 10 children are at the open centre now, which is hampered by the reluctance of judges to send them there and limited transport available to shuttle children out and back.

At the closed detention centre in Kabul, high concrete walls and barbed wire fence off the young Afghans from the outside world, prompting curious inmates to crowd around its grilled windows when visitors arrive. In the female section, a room with benches, a carpet-weaving machine, a few sewing machines and paint peeling off the walls serves as a classroom.

A group of girls locked away in a room of bunk beds with red blankets jump up and demurely stand in attention when the warden throws open its heavy black doors.

Some look scared. “I made a mistake,” one girl in a black headscarf said softly when asked how she ended up there. —Reuters

“Many challenges still need to be addressed by the government in order to protect the human rights of migrants and their children,” Bustamante said at the end of a nine-day visit to investigate immigrant conditions. He urged Japan to take steps to integrate migrants into society and adopt legislation to eliminate rights violations against them. “Racism and discrimination based on nationality are still too common in Japan, including in the workplace, in schools, in health care establishments and housing,” he said.

Bustamante said he will report his findings to the United Nations’ Human Rights Council later this year. Japan’s Justice Ministry said it had no immediate comment. In the early 1990s, Tokyo relaxed its tight immigration laws to allow special entry permits for foreigners of Japanese ancestry, mostly from South America, to fill a labor shortage at then-booming factories, taking jobs largely shunned by Japanese.

The immigrants, mostly from Brazil and Peru, are culturally distinct and not always fluent in Japanese.

Bustamante also alleged some companies exploit a governmentfunded industrial training program by using interns from developing countries as cheap labor that “in some cases, may well amount to slavery.” Under the program, Japan accepts interns from more than a dozen countries for up to three years. Japan last year accepted some 50,000 interns, mostly from China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Bustamante said the training program should be replaced by an employment program. — AP

Arms from Iran sent to Afghanistan KABUL: Iran is having a growing, negative influence in its neighbor Afghanistan, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said yesterday, citing what he said was a shipment of Iranian arms to fighters. The United States has frequently accused Iran of providing some assistance to insurgents in Afghanistan, although Washington says it has not been nearly as important a factor as in Iraq, Iran’s other neighbor where US troops are waging war. “Iran is working to increase its influence in the area. On the one hand, that’s not surprising, she is a neighbor state, a neighbor country. On the other hand, the influence I see is all too often negative,” Mullen told a news conference during a visit to Kabul, in response to a question about Tehran’s influence.

“I was advised last night about a significant shipment of weapons from Iran into Kandahar, for example,” Mullen said. “I have seen them over the last several years-the last couple of years anyway, certainly be more than just interested, provide some capabilities,” Mullen added. “I am also concerned that that desire to be influential is increasing.”

Pentagon officials declined to give further details about the Iranian arms shipment. Asked later if it represented an important development, Mullen said: “I was taken aback. It wasn’t insignificant.” — Reuters

Liu emphasized the need to step up the construction of more water conservancy projects to insure adequate drinking water.

He said neighboring countries are aware of China’s measures and China will discuss with groups like the Mekong River Commission, an intergovernmental organization that oversees the sustainable development of the river basin. “The building and use of hydropower plants will only be done based on scientific evidence, and this process is very strict in China,” said Liu, who is also secretary-general of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters. Little rainfall since late last year in southwest China has left millions of residents facing water shortages in that region’s worst

drought in a century.

About 24 million people, twice more than in the same period during normal years, face drinking water shortages, Liu said.

“We should prepare to fight a long drought ... to prepare for the worstcase scenario,” he said.

Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guizhou regions have been the hardest hit by the drought despite teams of workers drilling for wells and transporting drinking water, Liu said.

Liu said the severity of this year’s drought was due to a decline in rainfall, low river flows, higher temperatures, and inadequate water storage facilities and is likely to continue until mid- to late May, when the rainy season begins.— AP

Japan PM mired in row over US base TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said yesterday he has a plan to resolve a row with Washington over the relocation of a US Marine base on Okinawa island, but he did not want to make it public. He had previously set himself a self-imposed deadline of yesterday to gather together proposals to untangle the crisis, but dismissed questions about whether failure might force him to resign.

Hatoyama needs to resolve the feud to help restore confidence in his six-month old government ahead of an upper house election expected in July, which his ruling Democratic Party must win to avoid a policy stalemate. A string of financial scandals involving ruling party lawmakers has eroded support in opinion polls to between 30-40 percent, about half the peaks hit when the Democrats took power in September. Following are some questions and answers about the issue: WHY HAS THIS DISPUTE COME TO A HEAD NOW? Before Hatoyama’s election victory, he raised hopes that a 2006 plan agreed by the previous government with Washington to shift the Futenma Marine base to another part of Okinawa could be changed and the facility moved off the island. Angered by the noise, crime and pollution they associate with the bases, many residents want him to stick to that stance. Hatoyama pledged to pull together alternative proposals by the end of March, though not necessarily make them public, and to reach a final decision by the end of May, ahead of a possible meeting with US President Barack Obama. Nearly half of respondents to a newspaper poll last week said Hatoyama should resign if he failed to reach a deal by the end of May and media have interpreted his comments to mean he shares that view.

WHAT DO FINANCIAL MARKETS THINK? Japanese financial markets are not reacting to the base row on a daily basis, because expectations were low from the outset that Hatoyama could resolve the issue quickly. But any sudden and serious worsening of bilateral ties could jolt confidence in Japanese stocks, the yen and Japanese government bonds.

CAN HATOYAMA RESOLVE THE DISPUTE AND STAY ON? Maybe, but chances are fading that a new deal can be reached by the May deadline. U.S. officials have repeatedly said they believe the current plan is the best, while the Democrats’ tiny coalition allies oppose it. Media say several

options are being floated, one involving building a new runway within the existing Camp Schwab base on Okinawa. This would reduce the bases’ overall footprint and avoid landfill in a bay frequented by the dugong, a rare marine mammal.

Another involves construction on landfill off another part of Okinawa, media say, but neither option is likely to find favour with local residents.

Hatoyama might agree to the current plan, or one with slight modifications, but that would also outrage many Okinawans and cause a rift with two tiny parties whose backing is needed to pass laws smoothly. It might also spark puzzlement as to why Hatoyama raised the issue in the first place. The dispute seems unlikely to spill over into trade and investment ties between the world’s two biggest economies.

But damage to the alliance could create uncertainty in a region home to a rising China and an unpredictable North Korea, eventually affecting investment flows.

WHY CLOSE FUTENMA BASE AND REPLACE IT? Residents of Okinawa, 1,600 km south of Tokyo and reluctant host to about half the 49,000 US military personnel in Japan, have long resented what they see as an unfair burden in maintaining the security alliance. Outrage flares periodically among residents, most strikingly after the 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by three US servicemen. As part of a 1996 pact to reduce the US military presence, the United States and Japan agreed to close Futenma Air Station, home to about 4,000 Marines and located in crowded Ginowan City, within seven years if a replacement could be found on Okinawa. An initial plan for an offshore facility in northern Okinawa was opposed by locals and environmentalists. The current plan is for relocation to Nago, where it would be partly built within another base and on reclaimed land.

IS THIS JUST ABOUT FUTENMA? No. The issue is much broader. Washington and Tokyo agreed in 2006 on a “road map” to transform the decades-old alliance, the pillar of Japan’s post-World War Two security policies.

Part of a US effort to make its military more flexible globally, the realignment fitted efforts by the then-ruling LDP to shed the constraints of Japan’s pacifist constitution and assume a higher security profile. Central to the pact was a plan to reorganise US troops in Japan, including a shift of up to 8,000 Marines by 2014 to the US territory of Guam from Okinawa. The Marines’ move, however, depends on finding a replacement site for Futenma. —Reuters

Mumbai terror attack trial closes, verdict due May 3 MUMBAI: The trial of a Pakistani accused of being in a 10-man team of gunmen who killed 166 people during a rampage through Mumbai in 2008 closed yesterday after a year of dramatic courtroom testimony.

The judge will deliver a verdict on May 3 on 22-year-old Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, said to be the lone surviving gunman from the attacks, which traumatised India and strained already tense relations with Pakistan.

The prosecution has demanded the death penalty for Kasab and presented evidence it considers overwhelmingly proves his guilt, including a photo of him carrying an AK-47 machine gun through the main train terminal in Mumbai.

The school dropout is accused on scores of charges including waging war against India and murder over three days of carnage from November 26-29 which targeted luxury hotels, a restaurant, the railway station and a Jewish centre. “Now my job begins. May 3 will be the day of judgement,” Judge M L Tahaliyani said after final legal arguments in the special courtroom set up in a prison in Mumbai. Kasab, dressed in a traditional long white shirt from his native state of Punjab, in Pakistan, was subdued as the trial ended. He held a handkerchief to his face for much of the day as he stood in the dock.

During his final arguments

earlier this month, state prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had called Kasab a “conniving, depraved murderer” who was trained by the Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba. “The case against Kasab is overwhelming and enough evidence has been given of Pakistani involvement,” Nikam told the court. Kasab initially pleaded not guilty when the trial started in April, but in July made a shock confession, admitting being one of two gunmen who opened fire at the train station.

He also detailed how the group was trained by the banned

LeT, and he then asked for swift justice.

“Please go ahead and hang me,” he said at the time. But in December he retracted his confession, saying he had been framed by police after coming to Mumbai to seek a career in the Bollywood film industry. “Kasab has taken different defences in order to save his skin,” Nikam told reporters. Kasab’s lawyer, KP Pawar, had said the confession was “nothing but a manipulated and fabricated document of the prosecution” and that he had shown the “improbabilities” of the case against his client.—AFP

MUMBAI: Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the accused gunman walks at the Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminal railway station in Mumbai, India. The trial into the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and the murder of 166 people during the three-day siege closed yesterday. —AP

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Indians scale down in Afghanistan, fearing more attacks KABUL: India has suspended medical aid and teaching programmes in Afghanistan, where Indian businesses and charities are slashing staff over fears they are increasingly targeted by militants. Kabul-based Indians believe they were the specific targets of three recent attacks in the Afghan capital, including a February 26 bomb and gun assault on a guesthouse that killed 17 people, among them seven Indians. Indian charity Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), which promoted economic independence for Afghan women, said it had pulled all staff from Afghanistan.

“At the moment there is no one on behalf of SEWA in Kabul because after the 26 February disaster we were advised to come back (to India),” said SEWA’s Afghanistan coordinator Pratibha Pandiya.

Indian officials said a December 15 suicide car bombing that killed eight people also targeted Indians, although former Afghan first vice president Ahmad Zia Massoud had a home in the same street. The manager of an IT company that many Indians believe was the target, said his Indian staff had

since halved to 11.

“We cannot stop people from leaving and we cannot guarantee anyone’s safety,” the manager, also an Indian, said on condition of anonymity and asking that his company also not be named. “Our office and residences are like fortresses,” he said, adding that extra security promised by the Afghan government had yet to materialise.

Indians in Kabul said they see themselves as victims of a struggle with Pakistan for influence in Afghanistan, which is fuelling attacks on Indian interests in the country.

The Indian embassy was hit on October 8 last year, with the deaths of 17 people, and on July 7, 2008 when more than 60 people were killed.

The Pakistan government denies supporting militants, pointing to its own fight against the Taleban, and says it is committed to peace in Afghanistan. Since a US-led invasion ended the Taleban’s 1996-2001 regime, India has committed 1.2 billion dollars to Afghanistan, mainly aid for social services including health and education, making it one of the biggest regional

KHENJAKAK: Afghan villagers haul away bags of flour, beans and cooking oil following a local meeting, in Khenjakak, Afghanistan. — AP donors. The two countries are historically

close and many urban Afghans speak Hindi

Zardari back in spotlight in Pakistan’s graft cases Court battle could further destabilise government ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari faced more political turmoil yesterday as a lawyer for the anti-corruption agency said it had asked Switzerland to reopen old graft cases against him, signalling a Supreme Court challenge to his The dramatic back and forth comes after the Supreme Court last year ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to revive corruption cases against Zardari, many senior government officials and thousands of political activists. “In light of directions of the court on the revival of the Swiss cases, the NAB has initiated the process,” said Abid Zuberi, an NAB lawyer.

Swiss Prosecutor-General Daniel Zappelli also said his office had not yet received any request from Pakistan to reopen the case.

At the heart of the issue is a 2007 amnesty law, which was thrown out by the Supreme Court in December on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. The amnesty had protected several thousand people-including Zardari-from old corruption charges and allowed their return to politics. Zardari spent 11 years in jail on various charges but was never convicted.

The revival of the cases is set to herald a destabilising face-off between the judiciary and the government. Because while Zardari may be shielded by his office, his friends and associates are not and there seems little evidence the Supreme Court will ease off on prosecuting the remaining local corruption charges. The amnesty law, known as the National Reconciliation Ordinance, was passed under former military president Pervez Musharraf and widely seen as the basis for a power-sharing deal between himself and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. She was assassinated in December 2007 after returning from self-imposed exile.

Both Zardari and Bhutto were convicted by a Geneva court in 2003 of laundering $13 million linked to kickbacks. But that verdict was overturned on appeal.

Swiss judicial authorities in August 2008 said they had closed the money-laundering case against Zardari and had released $60 million, frozen for a decade in Swiss accounts, after Pakistan dropped out of all cases it had initiated there. That’s where things stood until Tuesday, when a senior official of the police’s top investigation agency, Ahmed Riaz Sheikh, who

immunity as head of state. But in an apparent setback to the court’s prosecution of top officials for perceived corruption, the Swiss prosecutor-general said any case against Zardari could not be reopened-because of his immunity.

ISLAMABAD: A traffic police officer drives past a giant portrait of Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari on display on a fense near Supreme Court in Islamabad. Pakistan has sent a letter to Swiss authorities asking that they reopen a money-laundering case against Zardari after an amnesty protecting him from graft prosecution was struck down by the Supreme Court. —AP

was also a close associate of Zardari, was detained on the orders of the court after a similar case was revived against him.

Though Zardari’s aides say he is protected by presidential immunity, he may be vulnerable to legal challenges to his 2008 election as president on the grounds that other old corruption charges against him-in addition to the Swiss case-made him ineligible to stand for office in the first place.

Zardari has had tense relations with the independent-minded Supreme Court chief, Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was sacked in 2007

by Musharraf. Zardari promised to reinstate Chaudhry after his party formed a government in 2008 but dragged his feet and only did so in March 2009 when protesting lawyers and opposition supporters were converging on the capital for a protest rally.

The political wrangling is hampering the government’s ability to focus on economic issues, Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday, but it does not pose an immediate risk to its sovereign ratings.

Moody’s has a B3 sovereign rating for Pakistan with a stable outlook.

And as a reminder of the violence that brought Zardari to power, a UN panel’s report on Bhutto’s assassination was due to be presented Tuesday but was delayed until April 15 at Zardari’s request.

“We requested them to include the views of three countries which had warned (Bhutto) after her return that she should take extra precaution because they had information she would be assassinated,” said presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar. He declined to identify the three countries he said had warned Bhutto. Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack after an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi on Dec 27, 2007, weeks after she came back from eight years in self-imposed exile.

In the Khyber tribal region near the Afghan border meanwhile, 20 Taleban militants and five Pakistani soldiers were killed in a firefight in which dozens of militants carrying automatic weapons and rockets attacked a security post Tuesday night, an official said. —Reuters

32 killed in Pakistan 6 troops die as troops battle militants PESHAWAR: US missiles and clashes between Pakistani troops and militants killed up to 32 people, including six soldiers, as predawn violence swept the tribal badlands on the Afghan border yesterday. Pakistan’s fight against militants and a covert US drone war against Taleban and Al-Qaeda leaders is concentrated in the mountains of Pakistan’s northwest border area which Washington calls the most dangerous region on earth.

In the Khyber tribal district that straddles NATO supply lines, Pakistan’s military said 80 to 100 militants armed with guns, rockets and suicide vehicles attacked a paramilitary camp, sparking clashes that killed six soldiers. Troops said they repelled the militants from storming the paramilitary Frontier Corps camp in the lawless northwest district.

Khyber is the main route from northwest Pakistan across the mountains into neighbouring Afghanistan and the main land supply route for US and NATOled troops fighting a nine-year

insurgency across the border.

Around 100 militants launched an attack on the camp in Jansi near Bara town around 2:00 am, said local administration chief Shafirullah Wazir. “Security forces effectively responded and repulsed the attack. During an exchange of fire with security forces, about 20 terrorists were killed and more than 30 were injured,” the military said.

Six security force personnel were killed and 15 others wounded, while vehicles rigged up with explosives were destroyed. None of the military’s figures could be verified independently because access to remote areas where operations take place is extremely limited. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bloody pre-dawn raid. Several militant groups, including Pakistan’s main umbrella Tehreek-eTaleban faction and local extremist group Lashkar-e-Islam are active in Khyber, where militants frequent attack security forces and supply convoys.

Under US pressure, Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A young Afghan refugee girl (center) looks out the window of her family’s makeshift home as she talks with a girl, at their camp on the outskirts of Islamabad. — AP has in the past year significantly increased operations against militants in its tribal belt. Paramilitary and soldiers are pressing a new offensive against the Taleban into a second week in the tribal district of Orakzai in a bid to eradicate those believed to have fled a major offensive in South Waziristan last year. Unmanned US aircraft fired three missiles

that destroyed a compound in the North Waziristan, a stronghold of Afghan Taleban and Al-Qaeda affiliates, killing six suspected militants, Pakistani security officials said. Washington considers the semi-autonomous tribal belt the headquarters of Al-Qaeda and accuses militants there of plotting and staging attacks on the 126,000 US and NATO-led troops fighting

a nearly nine-year war in Afghanistan. The missiles struck a compound owned by Zamir Khan, a local tribesman, in the village of Tapi, about 20 kilometres east of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan, security officials said. The identities of the dead were not immediately clear, nor whether they included any high-value targets. — AFP

and Urdu learned watching Bollywood movies. About 4,000 Indians are building roads, sanitation projects and power lines in the volatile country. India is building the new Afghan parliament.

Doctors were recruited from the Indian military for India’s medical mission (IMM) to Afghanistan, which focused on five cities, providing free treatment and medicine for 30,000 Afghans each month, an embassy official said.

The IMM had been temporarily suspended, he said, as those members of the 11-man team who survived the attack were repatriated for treatment. The IMM had 25 doctors and paramedics in Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabd and Mazar-I-Sharif, said Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash, adding the programme provided free treatment to 300,000 Afghans in 20082009.

IMM would resume as soon as new staff could be recruited, another ministry official said. “There is no question of scaling down any aid and or development activity,” the official said on condition of anonymity. The

head of the Indira Ghandi Children’s Hospital in Kabul, run by IMM, said sick Afghan children were the main victims.

“The attack has done nothing but deprive people coming from far provinces of free treatment and medicine,” said Noorulhaq Yousufzai. English-teaching programmes had been also suspended, the embassy official said, as two of three Indian teachers died as a result of the February attack.

India brings in hundreds of Afghans on scholarships each year. Another Indian official, also speaking anonymously, said Pakistani militants had been caught casing diplomatic residences before the February attack.

“The professional manner of the planning, the fact that the Taleban did not know about it for three or four hours, that the attackers were speaking Urdu-all these things make us conclude it was Lashkar-eTaiba (LeT),” he said. LeT was also blamed for the Mumbai attacks in late 2008, although it denied any involvement in that assault or the February Kabul bombing. —AFP

Corruption cases threaten Pakistan’s senior officials ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is asking Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, a lawyer for the government’s top anti-corruption agency told the Supreme Court yesterday. The move came a day after the detention of a senior figure in the top police investigation agency, the first official to face legal action over revived corruption charges after a controversial amnesty was thrown out by the Supreme Court. Here are some questions and answers on the corruption cases threatening Pakistani officials.

WHY WERE THESE CASES REVIVED? The 2007 amnesty, known as the National Reconciliation Ordinance, was widely seen as the basis for a power-sharing deal between former military president Pervez Musharraf and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, assassinated in December 2007 after returning from self-imposed exile. The Supreme Court in December last year threw out the amnesty deal on the grounds it was unconstitutional. The amnesty had protected several thousand peopleincluding Zardari-from old corruption charges and allowed their return to politics.

IS ZARDARI VULNERABLE? The government says Bhutto’s widower, Zardari, who faces corruption cases filed in the 1990s which he says were politically motivated, is protected by presidential immunity. The decision to ask the Swiss authorities to reopen cases against Zardari-which came at the Supreme Court’s direction - may mean the Court is seeking to challenge that immunity. Both Zardari and Bhutto were convicted by a Geneva court in 2003 of laundering $13 million linked to kickbacks. But that verdict was overturned on appeal.

Zardari is also vulnerable to legal challenges to his 2008 election as president on the grounds other corruption charges in addition to the Swiss cases against him made him ineligible to stand for office. Under severe pressure, Zardari has agreed to hand over his key powers to the prime minister. He may also be calculating that his Pakistan People’s Party will remain a dominant political force, a highly likely scenario.

WHAT ABOUT TENSIONS BETWEEN JUDICIARY AND THE GOVERNMENT? The judiciary appears determined to press on

with the potentially explosive cases. So Pakistan might face a new destabilising showdown between the judiciary and the executive, who have a history of hostile relations. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, seen as a tough champion of the rule of law and transparency, is a reminder that the government can’t afford to push the judiciary too hard. After he reviewed legal cases challenging the legality of Musharraf’s government in 2007, he was removed by the president on charges of misconduct.

The move triggered large protests and violent clashes. He was reinstated by Zardari after Musharraf left office, but not immediately and only after considerable pressure on the new president.

WHAT IS AT STAKE? Money, for one. A consequence of the uncertainty is the likelihood foreign investors, already spooked by a Taliban militant insurgency, will stay away. It will also concern the United States, a vital source of aid and a long-time ally Pakistan can’t do without. Washington believes a stable Pakistan is its best bet in helping establish stability in Afghanistan so US troops can start withdrawing in 2011 and not risk a return to chaos in the country.

Aside from being encouraged to crack down on Afghan militants operating from its side of the border to attack US troops, Pakistan faces a range of explosive domestic issues. The economy is sluggish. Power cuts are making the government more unpopular. Zardari was already deeply unpopular even before the amnesty issue arose, so this won’t help. And it might not help Pakistan’s troubled path toward democratic rule. Ultimately, the military continues to call many of the shots. Seen as a state within a state, along with its ISI intelligence agency, the army makes security decisions and even shapes foreign policy.

In the end, the nuclear-armed country could get caught in the same vicious circle that has often earned it the reputation of being ungovernable. A civilian government, usually seen as corrupt, devours itself by infighting and fending off opponents. A political crisis erupts and the military steps in, often with public support, despite hurting Pakistan’s democratic credentials. It’s a pattern that could have bigger consequences this time around, with the country squeezed from all sides. — Reuters

in the news Bicycle bomb kills 13 KABUL: A bomb concealed on a bicycle killed 13 people yesterday in southern Afghanistan, as the Pentagon’s top military officer said NATO forces hope to reverse the Taleban’s momentum in the south with an upcoming offensive in Kandahar. Forty-five people, including eight children, were wounded in the blast, which occurred in the Nahr-e-Sarraj district just north of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, deputy provincial police chief Kamaluddin, who uses one name, said. The bomb exploded near a crowd gathered to receive free vegetable seeds provided by the British government as part of a program to encourage them not to plant opium poppy, provincial government spokesman Daoud Ahmadi said. Casualty figures fluctuated several times during the day because of communications problems in the area, Kamaluddin said. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which President Hamid Karzai blamed on “enemies of the Afghan people who are against peace.”

5 sentenced to death NEW DELHI: A court in northern India has sentenced to death five men for murdering a young couple who married in defiance of caste traditions. The five sentenced to hang over the so-called “honour killing” were relatives of the woman, named Babli, whose body was found alongside her husband Manoj’s mutilated corpse in June 2007, in Haryana state. The two were slain near Karnal district after a local “khap panchayat,” or caste council, decreed they both belonged to the same sub-caste and were therefore “brother and sister.” Council chief Ganga Raj was given a life sentence by district judge Vani Gopal Sharma, who lashed out at the councils. “Khap panchayats have functioned contrary to the constitution, ridiculed it and have become a law unto themselves,” the judge said. India’s ancient Hindu caste system was banned soon after the country’s independence from Britain more than six decades ago, but its influence

remains powerful.

India begins to count its billion-plus population NEW DELHI: An army of 2.5 million officials will be deployed in India this week to help carry out the latest census of the world’s secondlargest population, an official said Tuesday. The survey will cost 60 billion rupees ($1.25 billion) and will consume 11.63 million tonnes of paper, partly because instruction manuals for the head counters will be printed in 18 languages. Adding to the complexity of counting and classifying India’s billion-plus population will be a separate and simultaneous process of collecting biometric data on every person, to be used in a new National Population Register. This register, which will fingerprint and photograph every person aged over 15, will be used in an even bigger and more ambitious project to give each citizen a unique identity number similar to a US Social Security number.

50 in vinegar tanker BUCHAREST: Romanian border police caught 50 Afghan immigrants, including 15 children, attempting to illegally cross into Hungary hidden in a road tanker transporting vinegar, officials said yesterday. Police on Tuesday checked the tanker with a “special device which detects heart beats and the result was positive”, authorities said in a statement. They found the vehicle had been divided into two compartments-one for the vinegar and one furnished with benches, lighting and ventilation for illegal immigrants.

Authorities said the Afghans — 28 men, seven women and 15 children-wanted to go to Italy to find jobs. The driver, who was identified as 25year-old Greek national Georgios C., said he was not aware he was transporting people. He was being investigated, the statement said.

Afghans make up a large portion of illegal immigrants who rely on people smugglers to flee their dangerous and destitute country, with Europe the main destinations.

12

OPINION

Thursday, April 1, 2010

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Mideast oil giants eye Asian storage

By Luke Pachymuthu and James Topham

M

iddle East oil producers are making moves to boost their onshore crude storage capacity in Asia as they seek to strengthen their position with buyers in a region which still has a strong thirst for more oil.

As the traditional demand centres of the United States and Europe flatline following the global financial crisis, Middle East producers are increasingly being forced to fight for market share with Russia inside Asia. New supplies from Russia to Asia may speed moves by Middle East producers to procure Asian storage.

Cheaper and higher quality crude flowing in from the Russian East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline in the Far East, threatens to displace Middle East producers from key consuming Asian markets like China, India, South Korea, and Taiwan.

“ESPO volumes are still low and do not pose a threat in the near term, however once ESPO flows increase in volume, Middle East producers may have to protect their market share,” said said Vivek Mathur, an analyst at Energy Security Analysis Inc. Last December, Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said the kingdom had accepted an offer to put “millions of barrels” of crude oil in commercial storage in Japan underscoring the increasing importance of China and Asia as demand centres. The deal is still under negotiation.

“The Saudis want a break bulk point and this is another way for them to get into China,” said Al Troner, president of Houston-based Asia Pacific Energy Consulting (APEC). “Japan will act as a springboard...smaller tankers can be used to move the oil to smaller refineries in China located on the coast.”

The storage would facilitate breaking down large 2 million barrel cargoes that sail east from Saudi into smaller cargoes that can more easily meet demand variations and deliver to smaller coastal refineries.

“The Saudis have storage in what they know is a key market, and they’d be able to get the oil to Japan or and China in case of any disruptions,” said David Kirsch, PFC Energy’s Director of Market Intelligence Service.

The Saudi move comes well behind Abu Dhabi, which pumps most of the oil being produced in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In 2009, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) put the first crude in a reserve base in southern Japan, as part of deal it reached with Japan to store crude in the world’s third-largest oil consumer. The deals mirror similar agreements between South Korea and foreign oil firms including Norway’s Statoil, Algeria’s state-run Sonatrach, and France’s Total,

which Korea is looking to expand.

Still, storage has been in demand since the global economic slowdown ate into demand and encouraged traders to keep oil for sale later at a profit. This would make it harder for Middle East and other producers to procure more tanks for their oil.

“Although there is lots of demand for joint-stockpiling, there is no space to fill in,” a source with State-run Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC), which runs the joint crude stockpiling program, said, referring to demand including from producers and traders.

“It is not easy to build stockpiling systems, it takes years, and it is hard to guess if demand will still there when they are completed.”

Besides North Asia, Middle East oil producers are also studying the options of storing their crude in South and Southeast Asia and South Asia, industry sources said.

Qatar has eyed storing crude on an Indonesian island 45 minutes sailing from trading hub Singapore. Underground oil caverns Singapore is building have attracted interest from some Middle East producers including the Saudis, sources said. “Yes, at one point there was some discussion about the possibility of storing crude in those caverns, but nothing has come of it yet,” a source familiar with the caverns said.

The kingdom has also considered storage in China. In 2006, it agreed with Beijing to build a crude storage facility on Hainan Island, which has been selected to become a site for its state and commercial oil reserves, although nothing has been decided about what role, if any, the kingdom will play in the project.

Iran, the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in 2007 with China about the possibility of building a strategic crude storage terminal there.

Officials familiar with the project said that Tehran was making a concerted effort in 2010 to push this project.

“This will be one of the key objectives for us (this year) - we want to get started,” an NIOC official said. India has also held talks with Middle East producers to jointly set up crude oil storage facilities to secure supplies.

Russia is pumping around 300,000 bpd of ESPO crude to Asia, and aims to boost it the flow to 600,000 bpd by the end of this year. The flow is small compared to Gulf exports, but is going straight to one of the few global oil demand growth centres and threatening Middle East producers’ market share. “Asian demand is where the action is, and this explains why the Middle Eastern producers are increasingly focusing their attention eastwards,” said Vivek Mathur, analyst at Energy Security Analysis Inc. —Reuters

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

‘Below’ 2C opens rift in climate battle

By Alister Doyle

A

goal to limit global warming to “below” 2 degrees Celsius is opening a new rift for 2010 talks on a UN climate treaty as developing nations say it means the rich must deepen cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. An alliance of 101 developing nations and island states says the temperature target, endorsed by major emitters since the Copenhagen summit in December, is tougher than a previous goal by industrialised nations of 2 degrees as a maximum rise.

“2.0 degrees is unacceptable,” said Dessima Williams, Grenada’s ambassador to the United Nations who represents the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) which wants to limit temperatures to below 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial times. But rich nations and some researchers say the

Copenhagen Accord’s “below” 2 is vague - it can mean 1.999 degrees and so be indistinguishable for policy purposes from 2. The Accord does not lay down how the temperature goal will be reached.

“It can mean anything until we may agree on what it means concretely,” European Union Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said of the temperature target. “The good thing about saying ‘below 2C’ is that you then have a ceiling. A number of countries say 1.5 C and this has not been taken off the table,” she said.

Senior officials meet in Bonn, Germany, from April 9-11 for the first UN talks since Copenhagen, trying to work out a new pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol after the UN summit failed.

“We do not see a redefinition of the ‘2 degree C limit’ through the Copenhagen Accord: in that sense we

interpret it as 1.9999 degree C,” said Brigitte Knopf, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

The semantic dispute has huge economic implications for guiding a shift from fossil fuels towards renewable energies. The UN panel of climate scientists said in 2007 that a greenhouse gas goal consistent with 2 degrees C would cost about 3 percent of world gross domestic product by 2030. It did not work out the higher costs of 1.5.

Williams said that promises for cuts in emissions outlined by developed nations so far put the world on track for a 3.9 degrees C rise in temperatures that would bring droughts, floods, mudslides, heatwaves and rising sea levels. “Climate change leadership is certainly not forthcoming from actions and actors committing to such dangerous levels of emissions,” she said. Hedegaard also said current targets are insufficient to

meet the 2C goal.

Many analysts doubt that the next annual talks of environment ministers in Cancun, Mexico, in late 2010, will end with a treaty. One reason is that U.S. legislation to cut emissions is stalled in the Senate. Temperatures have already risen by about 0.8 Celsius above pre-industrial times.

“To stay below 1.5 C is probably impossible given the massive inertia of the socio-economic and biophysical systems,” said Pep Canadell, head of the Global Carbon Project at Australia’s Commonwealth, Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.

“It will be very tough to stay below 2C.” The Copenhagen Accord recognises the scientific view that the rise in global temperature “should be below 2 degrees C”. The Group of Eight and big emerging nations agreed at a mid2009 summit in Italy that the rise

“ought not to exceed 2 degrees”. The Copenhagen Accord also holds out the prospect of $10 billion a year from 2010-12 in climate aid for developing nations, rising to $100 billion a year from 2020.

Knopf noted that the Accord adds a new element by saying that the tougher 1.5 degrees target should be reviewed in 2015. So far, about 110 nations have endorsed the Copenhagen Accord, including top emitters led by China, the United States, Russia and India. The deal was only “noted” by the Copenhagen summit after objections from a handful of developing states. Canadell said the world could emit 1,000 billion tonnes of carbon “starting now and stay at 2 degrees C or below with a 50 percent probability.” Limiting emissions to 600 billion would raise the probability to 90 percent, but boost costs. —Reuters

A year on, Malaysians still await PM’s reforms

By David Chance

W

hen he was about to take office a year ago Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak appealed to reporters to “judge me by my actions”, but a year on his benchmark reforms are still at the consultative stage. By setting up a series of non-government bodies - the latest one is the “Economic Delivery Unit” to oversee the reform process, Najib has divorced acceptance of reform from the political process, critics say, leading to a series of policy flip-flops that have unnerved investors.

That has allowed antireform pressure groups to spring up and the main party in the ruling coalition that Najib leads appears to have washed its hands of responsibility for policies announced on Tuesday which aim to more than double Malaysia’s income by 2020.

“Najib is not willing to stand up, when you have political pressure he buckles,” said Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia expert at Singapore Management University. The urbane 56-year old Britishtrained economist appeared to be a breath of fresh air when he took office last April after the National Front coalition scored its worst ever results in elections in 2008 under the grey Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Najib pledged economic and social change to reinvigorate a country once one of Asia’s favoured investment destinations, but which in 2008 and 2009 saw net portfolio and direct investment outflows of $61 billion as the global economic crisis unfolded and political risk mounted after the polls. “Last year he sold the investment community on the right talk and doing things in a

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak speaks at an investment conference in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. —AFP progressive fashion but a year on, the substance is not there and he is still talking,” said Welsh.

In a sometimes passionate speech on Tuesday Najib hinted he would roll back an affirmative action program that favours the majority Malay population and which was introduced by his father, Abdul Razak Hussein, who took the helm of the country in the wake of race riots in 1969. But there was little meat on the policy bones and the country’s ringgit currency and the bond markets have barely budged in reaction to what was a “bold transforma-

tion”.

Najib’s government appears ill-at-ease actually implementing reforms such as planned electricity and petrol price hikes and the introduction of a goods and services tax so as to cut a bloated budget deficit that hit a 22-year high of 7.4 percent of gross domestic product.

While tough and politically unpopular actions languish, there is however a stream of announcements, ranging from the concept of 1Malaysia brand that is supposed to bring together Malays and the minority ethnic Indian and Chinese populations to the grandly

named “government transformation program”. “The government has too many visions and so far there have been too many announcements but very little success, so people doubt these programs will be implemented,” said independent political analyst Khoo Kay Peng.

Key to making Malaysia more competitive so that its economy will grow at the 6.5 percent annual rate to get the country to “developed” nation status will be to shake up a system of government tenders that favours mainly Malay contractors. The majority of the

tens of thousands of “Class F Contractors”, which are the smallest businesses that can tender for government projects - in their case those worth up to 200,000 ringgit ($61,220) are the core support of the United Malays National Organisation, the main party in the governing National Front coalition. These businesses often carry out building works in schools and for local councils and are the smallest cog in a web of government-linked graft that has seen Malaysia’s ranking drop to a record low of 57th in anti-corruption body Transparency International’s

2009 report.

Often government tenders get subcontracted to non-Malay businesses for a cut of the fee, wasting government money, and many of the “Class F” contractors would go to the wall if they had to compete in an open market.

Najib said on Tuesday he would seek to end this “rent seeking” behaviour with “clear rules for the whole of the Bumiputera community” (referring to Malays and other indigenous people), although he failed to spell it out. “With respect to competitive tender process when it comes to government procurement the commitment seems to make it competitive within the Bumiputera community first,” said Ibrahim Suffian of independent pollster the Merdeka Center. “Beyond that it does not speak more clearly that procurement will be made competitive to include everyone,” Ibrahim said.

There are warning signs flashing for Najib such as the formation of a group known as Perkasa (Strength) that has sprung up to “defend” Malay rights and Islam. Although it attracted a few thousand people to its first meeting this weekend, including former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, it is not clear how strong a force it could become. Mahathir himself adopted a cagey position in an interview with Reuters yesterday, saying Najib needed to push ahead with reforms and at the same time engage Perkasa.

Signals like that will likely make investors sit on their money. A recent rally in the ringgit currency that has added 4.63 percent to its value this year against the dollar was due to the central bank’s pre-emptive rate hike this month, economists say. —Reuters

13

ANALYSIS

Thursday, April 1, 2010

TV debates add fresh twist to British election

By Keith Weir

T

he first ever live television debates between the leaders of the main parties could prove crucial in Britain’s closest election in almost two decades. Broadcasters ITV, Sky and the BBC will host three 90-minute sessions at weekly intervals during the campaign. If the election is held on May 6 as expected, the first debate would take place on April 15. Rather than a straight head-tohead between Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Conservative rival David Cameron, the debates will also feature Nick Clegg, leader of the smaller opposition Liberal Democrats.

Any slips or memorable rhetorical flourishes could play a decisive role at a time when the polls point to an inconclusive election in which neither Brown’s Labour nor the Conservatives win an outright majority in the 650-seat parliament. “The public will get 270 minutes of prime time exposure to these people and it’s not just what they say but how they say it that is important,” said Nicholas Jones, a former BBC reporter who has written a number of books on politics and the media.

“They are going to bring these people

into homes in a way they have never been brought before.”

The debates will each have a central theme - domestic policy, foreign affairs and the economy and be controlled by no fewer than 76 rules laid out in a code of conduct. Brown, a 59year-old Scot who replaced Tony Blair as prime minister mid-term in 2007, is portrayed in the media as brooding and uncharismatic. He was ridiculed last year for what many saw as his inappropriate smiles during a video on a parliamentary expenses’ scandal, the clips getting wide exposure on YouTube.

Cameron, an expensively educated former public relations executive for a media company, has a reputation as a smoother communicator but arguably has more to lose. “On his track record, I would have said that Cameron would have fancier footwork than the other two, but the danger is that he comes over as too slick,” said Jones. Cameron, 43, has appeared with tie off and sleeves rolled up in some of his recent media events, seeking to show himself as vigorous and engaged with ordinary people.

Timothy Clark, a professor of Organisational Behaviour at Durham Business School, said the format with

British prime minister Gordon Brown makes a speech on immigration in east London yesterday. —AFP three leaders each standing behind a podium may not play to Cameron’s strengths. “The formality of the occasion may suit Brown more than Cameron,” he said, adding that Brown’s experience being ambushed in the weekly cut-and-thrust of prime minister’s questions in parliament might also help him. Any perceived gaffe could be costly. “People will remember the errors and any lack of eloquence,” Clarke said.

TV debates have long been a staple of political campaigns in other western democracies.

Richard Nixon’s weak performance in a 1960 debate with younger rival John F. Kennedy on the then unfamiliar medium of television was seen as a major factor in his defeat in the presidential election. France’s Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist rival Segolene Royal traded barbs in an ill-tempered debate watched by millions before the 2007

presidential election.

Sarkozy extended his poll lead after the broadcast and went on to win the presidency.

Brown agreed to the debates late last year when his Labour Party was seemingly headed for defeat.

Labour’s ratings have improved and Brown is hoping that a mastery of detail will make him appear the heavyweight candidate. The three main parties had a dress rehearsal for the debates in late March when their finance spokesmen debated the economy in an hour-long program. Most commentators agreed that Liberal Democrat Vince Cable stole the show, underlining how the third party could gain ground if Cameron and Brown cancel each other out.

Surveys show that many voters struggle to identify Clegg and he sometimes appears upstaged by the quick-witted Cable. The debates represent a real opportunity for Clegg to stamp his personality on the campaign. “I think Brown and Cameron might come out pretty even ... but I expect the Lib Dems to gain from the greater visibility and prestige that will accrue to Clegg,” said Ivor Gaber, professor of political campaigning at London’s City University. —Reuters

Minor parties could play major electoral role

By Michael Holden

T

hey may win no seats in Britain’s parliamentary election, but the votes taken by smaller parties could dash the opposition Conservatives’ hopes of securing a clear-cut victory. From the Greens and the far right British National Party (BNP) to the eccentric Official Monster Raving Loony Party, British voters will face a huge array of choices when they vote in an election expected on May 6. Under Britain’s first-past-the-post system, winning individual seats for the 650-member parliament counts more than the nationwide share of the vote.

That makes “marginal seats”, those constituencies where the main Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have small majorities, key to determining the outcome.

The system usually means it is rare for minor parties and other independent candidates to win seats. But losing support to minor parties in marginals could be costly for the big three.

A parliamentary expenses scandal, where some lawmakers (MPs) were revealed to have claimed taxpayers’ money for things ranging from dog food to moat cleaning, has infuriated voters and led to a rise in support for the smaller parties. “A record number of British voters will certainly vote for the other parties on May 6, more than ever before,” said Professor Patrick Dunleavy from the London School of Economics. “Their vote is not going away at this general election unlike previous general elections, and so you need to factor that in,” he told Reuters.

According to his team’s assessment of recent polls, support for “other” parties - such as the Greens, BNP, and Welsh and Scottish nationalists - was up to as high as 16 percent, an unprecedented level with an election weeks away. Last summer’s elections for the European Parliament, where minor parties traditionally perform better, saw the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) beat Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour into third place and amass 2.5 million votes. There were also breakthrough wins for the BNP and more success for the Green Party. Dunleavy said it appeared this “protest” vote was not collapsing as before.

“It will have very strong implica-

tions for the Conservatives and Labour,” he said. “It’s not very helpful for (Conservative leader) David Cameron at all to have UKIP and the BNP on his right. “Labour has problems with the Greens and that erodes their position in some urban constituencies where they are in a tight race with the Tories (Conservatives) or the Liberal Democrats.”

The Conservatives are leading in polls but an Ipsos Mori survey commissioned by Reuters last week showed they were failing to gain enough ground in the marginals, meaning both of the main parties could be left without a majority. Such an outcome, known as a “hung parliament”, is rare in Britain and markets fear it could lead to political paralysis and possibly another election in a few months.

Malcolm Pearson, UKIP’s leader, said stopping the Conservatives from winning was central to his party’s strategy.

Commentators say UKIP, which appeals to a hardline anti-European element of British opinion which feels Cameron has failed to match rhetoric with action on a federal Europe, cost the Conservatives some 28 seats in the last election in 2005. “My aim in this election is for UKIP to do well enough to contribute to a hung parliament,” Pearson told Reuters this month at his party’s conference in Milton Keynes, central England. “If we do prevent Cameron having a working majority, then we will have succeeded.”

The Green Party, which hopes to win its first parliamentary seat in the southern English seaside city of Brighton, currently held by Labour, is fielding its largest group of candidates. “If that means we might swing some marginals then great,” party leader Caroline Lucas told Reuters. “I think a hung parliament would be very exciting.” On the streets of cosmopolitan Brighton, Britain’s gay capital, voters often cite a lack of trust in mainstream politicians as being a crucial factor.

“I’m not voting Labour and I won’t be voting Conservative. They’re as bad as each other,” said 78-year-old pensioner Roma Carter, who usually votes Labour. “I might be voting UKIP or BNP.” Professor Steven Fielding, director of the Centre for British Politics at Nottingham University, said the

backing for small parties pointed to a failure by Cameron. “We’ve got a government that’s been in office for 13 years, it’s in the midst of the

worst recession that the country has suffered since the 1930s, and in those circumstances why are the Conservatives doing so badly?” he

told Reuters. “The BNP and UKIP and all the other parties would be irrelevant if Cameron had got his act together.” —Reuters

Srebrenica vote a ‘step forward’

By Ksenija Prodanovic and Nicholas Rigillo

S

erbia’s landmark parliamentary resolution condemning the 1995 Srebrenica massacre shows that the country is keen to put its recent past behind it and move closer to European Union membership. But its fraught approval also highlights the persistence of deep divisions within Serbian society over its role in the Bosnian war. And while it has been welcomed in Brussels, it has been dismissed as “worthless” by relatives of the victims.

The resolution condemns the massacre of 8,000 Muslims living in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica and offers an overdue apology to the families of the victims. But it stops short of calling the killings “genocide,” as deemed by two United Nations tribunals based in The Hague. And its passage was only achieved thanks to the support of a wafer-thin majority and after a marathon 13-hour session and feverish debate on Serbia’s role in the war and about the scale of the killings.

Out of 250 members of parliament, 127 lawmakers from the ruling coalition of democrats and socialists voted for the resolution, with Serbian media reports suggesting that the word “genocide” had been left out in order to secure the majority. Serbian nationalists, who had vehemently opposed the declaration by arguing that Serbia would thus be “signing its own guilt,” left before the vote.

They have long argued that reports of the killings have been overblown and that Srebrenica was no different from other atrocities committed against Bosnian Serbs. A separate resolution tabled by nationalists condemning crimes committed against Serbs during the Yugoslav wars is now due to be debated by parliament. The ruling parties, however, see the vote as a “politically responsible” step that helps clear Serbia’s name.

“We are taking a civilised step of politically responsible people for the war crime that took place in Srebrenica,” said Branko Ruzic of the Socialist Party, which in the 1990s was led by Slobodan Milosevic.

Milosevic died in 2006 while being prosecuted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Jelena Trivan of the Democratic Party says the resolution “clears the face of the nation”. And yet, the parliamentary debate has left a bitter taste in the mouths of political activists and relatives of the victims. The resolution is “making fun of the victims,” Ljiljana Radovanovic from the non-governmental organisation Women in Black told dpa. “Justice was not served and the resolution (without the word geno-

cide) is a compromise, an incomplete act,” she said.

Women of Srebrenica, another pressure group, called the resolution an “insult”. “This is an insult for us and for the victims’ families. They should not have bothered adopting this kind of resolution,” Hajra Catic told dpa. For the Mothers of Srebrenica, the resolution is “worthless” without the arrest of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general who was in charge of Serb forces in Srebrenica at the time. “Until war criminals are arrested, that resolution means nothing to us. It is a dead letter on paper,” Hatidza Mehmedovic from the Mothers of Srebrenica told dpa.

Mladic is wanted by the ICTY on charges of war crimes and genocide but remains on the loose. There are suspicions that he may be hiding in Serbia itself or in Bosnian areas populated by Serbs, and that he may be enjoying the protection of die-hard Serb nationalists. Mladic’s arrest, as well as Serbia’s full cooperation with the ICTY, remains a key condition for Serbia’s EU membership aspirations.

While a spokesman for the European Commission in Brussels has welcomed the resolution’s approval as “an important step forward,” experts note that big challenges still lie ahead. “It is important that Serbs come to terms with their recent past,” says Rosa Balfour, an analyst at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre, but the “the main hurdle” remains the handling of Mladic and full cooperation with the ICTY. Balfour says that while the resolution may at least have a positive impact on sceptical public opinion in the Netherlands, it is unlikely to lower the threshold for EU membership.

The Dutch remain among the strongest opponents to Serbia joining the EU because of accusations that its forces, present at the time in Srebrenica as part of a UN peacekeeping contingent, did nothing to stop the massacre.

And while Serbia formally applied for EU membership in December, no one in Brussels dares suggest a possible date for when Serbia might eventually be allowed to join the club. “There isn’t a lot of enthusiasm for enlargement these days,” says Balfour, who also points to divisions within the EU over the status of Kosovo, a former Serbian province which has declared independence.

And yet, human rights groups in Serbia say the importance of the resolution that was approved overnight should not be underestimated. “Despite all the flaws, the resolution is a first step on a long road of facing with the past,” Dusan Bogdanovic of Serbia’s Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights told dpa.

“Without it, Serbia could never have a European future,” he added. —dpa

Japan PM quells postal feud, may not lift support

By Chisa Fujioka

P

rime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has stamped out a cabinet rift over the privatisation of Japan’s postal system in a bid to deflect voter criticism of weak leadership, but the move may do little to lift support ahead of an election.

Hatoyama’s Democratic Party needs to win a majority in the upper house vote expected in July to avoid policy deadlock that could get in the way of efforts to beat deflation and strengthen a fragile economic recovery.

Public support for his six-monthold government has fallen to less than half the figure when it first took power, raising the risk that the Democrats will need to maintain their current coalition with two tiny parties with whom they differ on policies.

With support down on voter perceptions of Hatoyama’s inability to make tough decisions, the premier stressed on Tuesday that he himself had resolved the squabble within his gov-

ernment over the future of postal service operator Japan Post.

But critics said Hatoyama had simply caved in to demands by his outspoken banking minister Shizuka Kamei, the head of a tiny party in his coalition government that the Democrats must rely on to pass bills smoothly in parliament. “This outcome is very negative for the Democratic Party,” said Yoshiaki Kobayashi, political science professor at Keio University.

“It would’ve been fine if the postal plan had been drawn up by cabinet ministers, but

since Kamei announced his own plans first, it just gives the impression that the Democrats are being pushed around by Kamei.”

Kamei had unveiled a proposal last week on how to scale back the privatisation of Japan Post, which has retail banking and insurance services making it the world’s largest financial conglomerate with financial assets of about 300 trillion yen ($3.2 trillion). Several cabinet ministers had opposed the plan, however, including Kamei’s proposal to raise the entity’s limit on bank deposits, a move that could trigger an

inflow of deposits into its banking service from private banks.

Kamei, head of the tiny People’s New Party (PNP) in Hatoyama’s coalition government, is keen to appeal to post office chiefs - a key support group - ahead of the upper house election. The PNP began as a group of lawmakers opposed to postal privatisation. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano tried to play down concerns that Hatoyama had allowed his tiny coalition partner to have too much say in policymaking. “The entire cabinet left the decision up to the prime minister and he made that decision promptly,” Hirano told a news conference on Wednesday.

“Some people are saying Mr Kamei forced this through, but that is not the case.”

Japan Post, which provides postal, banking and insurance services, holds about a third of the 700 trillion-yen government bond market and some analysts say a doubling of deposits under the privatisation plan could see

it buying more bonds. That could provide a crutch for a government that issued a record amount of new bonds in the financial year to the end of March and which faces a public debt burden running close to 200 percent of GDP, the highest in the developed world.

The latest bickering among cabinet ministers could add to worries among voters and investors on how decisions were being made in Hatoyama’s government, which had promised to make policymaking more efficient and transparent when it took power last year. Kobayashi said policies risked being swayed by individual ministers, despite the Democrats’ plans to centralise decision-making in a strategy bureau and debate key policies in meetings with all related ministers. “It hasn’t been clear to voters how policies are being formed in the coalition government,” said Kobayashi. “Perhaps the policymaking process hasn’t been thought out yet and this is worrisome.” —Reuters

focus

Algorithms that make journalism

By Mercedes Bunz

J

ournalistic texts are characterised by a certain structure that algorithms can be programmed to imitate. The first tests still read or hear like early prototypes, but they’re already around in sports journalism, with finance or local news to come next. In the US, two different projects have started work on algorithm produced journalism. Last week the sports statistics website StatSheet announced a plan to produce completely automated sports content as of this summer. The algorithm produced content will take the form of blogs, with a target that at least 90 percent of the readers should think the content was created by a human.

And in a partnership with the Medill school of journalism, the Intelligent Information Laboratory of the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University has developed an algorithm called StatsMonkey that publishes game stories.

Automated journalism can basically be understood as search algorithms programmed to look out for certain key findings. then to put them into a certain structure.

For a report on a football game for example, the StatsMonkey calculates the narrative based on the numerical data.

Using the score, the algorithm captures the overall dynamic of the game, highlights the key plays and key players, looks for quotes, and generates a text out of these elements. In addition, it configures an appropriate headline and a photo of the most important player in the game - and there goes a very rough sketch of a sports article.

Thus: Michigan State silences Notre Dame, 3-0 SOUTH BEND, Ind: Tony Bucciferro put the Michigan State Spartans on his back Sunday and spurred them to a 3-0 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-11) at Frank Eck Stadium.

Bucciferro kept the Fighting Irish off the board during his nine innings of work for Michigan State (12-4). He struck out five and allowed one walk and three hits.

Senior Matt Grosso was not able to take advantage of a big opportunity for the Irish in the ninth inning.

After freshman Frank Desico walked, Ryne Intlekofer doubled and Ryan Connolly was hit by a pitch, the Fighting Irish were trailing by three when Grosso came to the plate against Bucciferro with one out and the bases loaded, but he flew out.

Brandon Eckerle was perfect at the plate for the Spartans. He went 4-4 at the dish. Eckerle singled in the first, third, fifth and ninth innings and walked in the seventh inning. Michigan State scored in two innings to claim the victory. The Spartans scored one run in the first and two runs in the third. In the first, senior Eric Maust gave up one run on a double by Jeff Holm.

In the third, Maust gave up one run on a single by Holm. Later that inning, a run came in when Bo Felt reached on a fielding error by third baseman Adam Norton.

Maust took the loss for Notre Dame. He went six innings, gave up one walk, struck out three, and allowed three runs. Michigan State’s next game is on Friday, March 26 at Oakland.

As programming semantics got better and better in the recent years, automated journalism will become more widely available. “Sports is an unbelievable ground for this because it’s data intensive,” says Kristian Hammond, co-director of Intelligent Information Laboratory in Illinois. “The

system knows how to go off and find information, it knows how to find quotes, it knows how to collect data, but then a traditional journalist has to bring his or her perspective to that story. It will only provide journalists with a starting point.”

Both projects emphasise that they are working in areas where journalists aren’t working. The Lab in Illinois for example is testing its StatsMonkey algorithm in a pilot with The Big Ten Network which is dedicated to covering college and university sport. “We are the premier publisher of women softball stories,” says Hammond. The Intelligence Information Laboratory is also interested in programming algorithms to cover local stories. As the local news outlets are struggling to stay alive, they might have better chances if they can expand their news coverage, to additionally expand their advertising, Hammond says.

“We see it as an engine that is increasing the scope what is out there and what is publishable.”

Apart from StatsMonkey, which is focused on dataintensive information, the lab also programmed a system that automatically generates a virtual show designed to be funny, focusing on light news like celebrity gossip or movie reviews. The system, supported by the National Science Foundation, collects, parses, edits and organizes news stories and then passes the formatted content to artificial anchors for presentation.

The outcome is sometimes barely comprehensible, but gives a rough idea of what is possible. Picking up opinions using the comments of people, the anchors have a dialogue to balance the pros and cons. If everybody likes the film, they talk about different aspects of it.

The programs are just early prototypes, but will improve quickly with the further development of intelligent semantics. The team of the Intelligence Information Lab is already working on a couple of related projects Brussell, for example, helps people track developments in ongoing news situations, and Beyond Broadcast is watching television with the user to be able to search for deeper content when asked.

“We know enough intelligent semantics to guide intelligent information systems.

We don’t want to give them a list of links, so we started working on machine generated content. The next step is finance where we are often looking at data and raw numbers. You can create a graph, or you can write a story out of that,” says Hammond.

While the first prototypes stutter a lot, it is likely that algorithms will change journalistic tasks in the long term, although they won’t replace journalists, just as much as spell-checking programs haven’t replaced anybody. “As far as I can tell, journalists are terrified and needlessly so,” says Hammond. In the future, writing might not be something anymore that is entirely done by humans, which will surely be debated - and necessarily so.

Apart from the man v machine issue, there are a lot of topics on the table. Should it be made transparent if a text is written by a human or an algorithm? Who controls what the algorithms finds? Is an algorithm more or less open to influence than a journalist? And as the algorithm partly uses what was already written, what happens with copyright? And last but not least, assumed the programming is getting better: do algorithms steal the work of journalists - or help them to cope with information overload? —Guardian

NEWS

14

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Serbia apologises for Srebrenica massacre BELGRADE: Serbia’s parliament apologised to the Bosnian Muslim victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre yesterday, ending years of denial in a move seen as an important step on Belgrade’s road to Europe. The parliament voted by a slender majority - 127 out of 250 seats in the House - in favour of a text condemning the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 people and issuing an apology to the victims.

The resolution voted however stopped short of using the word genocide, although it referred to an International Court of Justice decision which does use the term.

“The parliament of Serbia strongly condemns the crime committed against the Bosnian Muslim population of Srebrenica in July 1995, as determined by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling,” the text says. The lawmakers also formally extended “their condolences and an apology to the families of the victims because not everything possible was done to prevent the tragedy.”

Human rights activists and observers hailed the apology, which ends years of denial by Serbian politicians about the scale of the killings, but in Bosnia survivors slammed it because it avoids the word genocide. In Srebrenica where some 100 women gathered to commemorate the first burial of victims in the special site on the former UN base of Potocari the mood was bitter. “This reso-

lution caused a lot of pain and sadness among all those who attended the commemoration since we will never accept a text that does not contain the word genocide,” survivor Sehida Abdurahmanovic told AFP. Others in Sarajevo dismissed the apology as a cynical political move. The timing of the historic declaration coincides with Serbia’s push to join the European Union, hoping to achieve candidate status next year. Brussels was quick to praise Serbia, with a European Commission spokesman welcoming the resolution as “an important step forward ... very important for Serbia and for the whole region”. Washington also welcomed an apology, calling it a step toward reconciliation. State Department spokesman Mark Toner called the parliamentary resolution “a positive step towards reconciliation, addressing the crimes of the past, fostering regional relations and promoting stability in the region.”

Earlier, Serbian President Boris Tadic rejected suggestions that Belgrade was pressured into adopting the resolution by the international community. “This decision was our own,” he told journalists, adding that the apology “is proof that we as a nation and a culture are an inseparable part of European culture and civilisation”. With the resolution Serbia had clearly shown it has distanced itself from “this monstrous crime”, he said, adding,

“I am sorry it was not adopted earlier.”

Tadic was blasted by politicians here when he attended the 2005 Srebrenica commemoration and apologised to survivors.

In the adopted text, parliament also vowed to continue cooperating with the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and stressed the importance of “the discovery and arrest of Ratko Mladic so that he might stand trial before the ICTY”. Mladic, the UN war crimes court’s most wanted fugitive, was in charge of the Bosnian Serb troops who overran the UN protected enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995 before carrying out the massacre. On the run for more than 15 years, the former Bosnian military commander is believed to be hiding in Serbia.

The Srebrenica massacre is the only episode in Bosnia’s bloody 1992-95 war to have been ruled as genocide by the international courts. In their ruling, ICJ judges cleared Serbia of responsibility for the actual killings but said Belgrade was responsible for doing nothing to prevent them. After separating them from the women, Bosnian Serb troops led by Mladic summarily executed about 8,000 Muslim men and boys and buried the bodies in various mass graves. So far more than 5,600 victims exhumed from various grave sites around the town have been identified by DNA analysis. — AFP

Belgian panel votes to ban burqa, niqab BRUSSELS: An influential committee of Belgian lawmakers voted yesterday to impose a nationwide ban on wearing the burqa in public, paving the way for the first clampdown of its kind in Europe. The federal parliament’s home affairs committee voted unanimously to endorse the ban on any clothes or veils that do not allow the wearer to be fully identified, including the full-face niqab and burqa. Those who ignore it could face a fine of €15-25 ($2034) and/or a jail sentence of up to seven days, unless they have police permission to wear the garments.

With the governing parties and opposition in agreement, officials expect the full house to easily endorse the draft law on April 22. “This is a very strong signal that is being sent to Islamists,” French-speaking deputy Denis Ducarme, from the centre-right Reformist Movement that proposed the bill, told the assembly in Brussels. He said he was “proud that Belgium would be the first country in Europe which dares to legislate on this sensitive matter”. “We have to free women of this burden,” said his colleague Corinne de Parmentier.

The head of the party, Daniel Bacquelaine, said: “Just like dwarf throwing - even if it’s on a voluntary basis - the

burqa is contrary to the dignity of women.

It’s a walking prison.” If endorsed, the vote would see the ban imposed in streets, public gardens and sports grounds or buildings “meant for public use or to provide services” to the public, according to the text of the bill. Exceptions would be allowed for certain festivities like carnivals if municipal authorities decide to grant them.

The vice-president of the Muslim Executive of Belgium, Isabelle Praile, warned that the move could set a dangerous precedent. “Today it’s the full-face veil, tomorrow the veil, the day after it will be Sikh turbans and then perhaps it will be miniskirts,” she said. “The wearing of a full-face veil is part of the individual freedoms” protected by Belgian, European and international rights laws, she said.

The Catholic bishop - Belgium is traditionally Catholic - in the southern town of Tournai, Guy Harpigny, said: “Does the state really have the right to regulate the symbols of personal beliefs?” The decision comes amid controversy in the kingdom over the wearing of Muslim religious symbols in public places. A Muslim mathematics teacher at a municipal school has been given until the middle of next week to return to her classroom after a protracted

court battle to stop her wearing a simple veil there or face losing her job.

In June last year, a Belgian lawmaker of Turkish origin was sworn in at the Brussels regional parliament wearing an Islamic headscarf in a first for the country.

At the time opponents of the veil distributed flyers at the entry to the assembly building, but they did not disturb proceedings as 26-year-old Mahinur Ozdemir was triumphantly sworn in to applause and camera flashes.

Belgium’s far-right Vlaams Belang party welcomed yesterday’s vote. “It’s true that there aren’t many burqas in Belgium, but the niqab is starting to appear in the streets,” one Vlaams Belang lawmaker warned the assembly. Controversy has also raged elsewhere in Europe over the wearing of Muslim veils and other religious garments in state or public institutions. On Tuesday, France’s top administrative body ruled that there were no legal grounds for a complete ban on the wearing of full-face veils in public, but it said the burqa could be outlawed in some places for security reasons. Staunchly secular France passed a law in 2004 banning the wearing of headscarves or any other “conspicuous” religious symbols in state schools. — AFP

Assembly lifts immunity of three MPs Continued from Page 1 When the session resumed, Barrak entered into a lighter duel with MP Khalaf Al-Enezi who criticized Barrak’s remarks against Sheikh Talal Fahad Al-Sabah. Roumi was forced to adjourn the session again when he failed to enforce order in the session, but MPs came back to complete the session. During the session, the Assembly agreed to lift the immunity of the three MPs to face trial on press charges. MPs also continued to discuss a report on the response to the Amiri Address delivered at the opening session in late October.

MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei strongly criticized the government for making no achievement during the past four years despite spending close to KD 60 billion.

“The government spent KD 60 billion during the past four years and the end result

was nothing. No hospitals, no bridges and no roads. It was a total government failure, marred with wild corruption in ministries and government agencies,” Tabtabaei said.

“Where has our money gone?” he questioned.

Communications Minister Mohammad Al-Busairi said the country has experienced a series of political crises in the past few years, marred with many grillings that stalled development projects. “Now, we are on the verge of a new phase with a new development plan which requires the help of all parties,” he said. But Tabtabaei charged that certain print and TV media are assisting corruption and defending corrupt forces. “Many newspapers and satellite channels are bought, like a number of writers. They insult and campaign against those who attempt to fight corruption,” Tabtabaei said.

MP Adnan Abdulsamad said that 25 percent of spending is on salaries of ministry employees. It becomes 45 percent if employees of independent state establishments and agencies are added, he said.

Abdulsamad however said that salaries of government staff make up 85 percent of oil revenues when oil price is $50 a barrel.

MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan submitted a DVD to minister Busairi claiming it contains recordings of allegations of sexual abuse at the state-run orphanage. He called for an investigation. MP Barrak warned the government on its treatment of about 2,000 Kuwaiti children who are deprived of their rights because their mothers are bedoons, or stateless Arabs. Barrak said that the children are deprived of their basic rights as the government refuses to issue birth certificates, civil IDs and “even clinics refuse to vaccinate them”.

Kuwait to enforce minimum wage Contiued from Page 1 The study also explores how standards can be used in the formulation and implementation of migration policies and practices.

In a press release posted on the ILO website, the organization says that “amid growing challenges due to the global economic crisis”, the study highlights the need to adopt a “rights-based approach” to provide a “fair deal” for the world’s 105 million migrant workers. Migration, the study says, can thus be seen as a means to increase economic security. “In Pakistan, for instance, emigration to the Gulf countries resulted in increased wages for skilled construction workers and possibly also for low-skilled construction and agricultural workers. The report also says that “serious problems would arise in many countries if most migrants suddenly

returned home. This, in fact, happened after the first Gulf War in 1990, when about 2 million foreign workers were driven out of Kuwait and Iraq and went back home, seeking work in their own countries.”

The report highlights that in the Middle East, “there are large wage disparities between national and migrant workers, as well as a high level of segmentation in the labour market”. In some destination countries there are even differences in rates of pay between groups of migrant workers: that is migrant workers of the some nationalities receive more pay for same or similar work than migrant workers of other nationalities, the study said.

“An ILO study on Kuwait revealed that migrants from the Philippines working in Kuwait tended to receive higher salaries than those from South Asia,” the report said.

“The study brings out the positive con-

tributions made by migrant workers to both their countries of employment and origin. However, it also highlights the decent work and protection deficits they still experience today, including low wages, non-payment of wages, unsafe working environments, a virtual absence of social protection, denial of freedom of association and workers’ rights, discrimination and xenophobia,” the release says.

“International migration is primarily a labour market, employment and decent work issue, and less a security and asylum seeker-refugee issue”, Ibrahim Awad, chief of the ILO’s International Migration Branch was quoted in the press release as saying. “The challenge is to govern migration in such a way that it can serve as a force for growth and prosperity in both origin and destination countries, while protecting and benefitting migrant workers themselves,” he added.

DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad (left) meets Lebanese MP and Head of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) Walid Jumblatt at Al-Shaab Palace yesterday. The meeting reflects the vastly improved relations between the former arch-foes. —AFP

Single bloc sweeps Chamber elections Continued from Page 1 Candidates from the Economic Family Bloc who ran in the elections and won included Anas Al-Saleh (4,991 votes), Sayer Al-Sayer (4,896), Abdullah Al-Mulla (4,896), Khaled Al-Saqer (4,862), Derar AlGhanim (4,771), female candidate Wafa AlQatami (4,681), Fahd Al-Jouan (4,676),

Khaled Al-Khaled (4,556), Abdul Wahab AlWazzan (4,544), Waleed Al-Dabbous (4,506), Hussein Al-Khorafi (4,492) and Khaled Al-Madahka (4,283).

Earlier in the day, Al-Ghanim expected a large turnout of voters. He told journalists that this year’s election of the 12 new members for the board is taking place amid a new set of circumstances. Al-Ghanim

also expected members of the newly-elected board to be summoned by the National Assembly’s Financial Affairs Committee to discuss a number of draft laws. “We hope to see understanding of our point of view as well as the state’s current political and economic state of affairs, and to see appreciation of the role the chamber has played since its creation,” he said.

Gulf navies at the ready Continued from Page 1 opportunity for a world military naval gathering involving all continents, which he said could provide the participants an opportunity for getting better acquainted with many sophisticated military equipment. This international military gathering is meant to protect maritime navigation and to maintain the concept of “navigation freedom”, especially in the Indian Ocean, Arabian Gulf and Red Sea, AlMulla noted.

Representatives of 150 global companies specializing in naval industries are partaking in the DIMDEX. Some 13 warships and submarines from nine countries are berthed at Doha seaport as part of activities of the exhibition.

Separately, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) of the US Army Admiral Michael Glenn “Mike” Mullen and a delegation accompanying him arrived yesterday on an official visit. The Kuwaiti Army’s Moral Support and Public Relations Dept. said that Mullen would be meeting with Kuwaiti Chief of Staff LtGen Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, Commanding general of Third US Army Lt Gen William G Webster and US Ambassador to Kuwait Deborah Jones.

Meanwhile, the US test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads during a joint military exercise yesterday with Saudi Arabia, a Western military official said.

The Trident missile launch was carried out in the kingdom, the official said, but he would not give a precise location. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The US has been strengthening missile defenses in allied Arab nations in the Gulf to help counter any potential missile strike from Iran. Like its nuclear work, Iran’s missile program is of top concern to Washington and Arab nations wary of Tehran’s growing influence in the region.

A defense official in Washington confirmed the missile launch on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized

to speak on the record. He said, however, that it took place late last week and was part of a demonstration.

The Western military official in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, said US Lt Gen Patrick O’Reilly, head of the Missile Defense Agency, attended the test launch. Earlier this month, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited the kingdom to tell Saudi officials that the Obama administration’s efforts for diplomatic engagement with Iran had come to naught, and he asked for the influential kingdom’s help to win wide backing for biting economic penalties against Tehran over its nuclear program. Gates also discussed bolstering Saudi air and missile defense capabilities as part of the broader US effort to boost security in the Gulf in the face of Iran’s expanding arsenal of ballistic missiles.

The United States has promised to speed up weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf allies, which have bought billions of dollars worth of American weapons - including missile defense hardware - in recent years. The US military is trying to reassure Gulf allies by buttressing its defense systems with upgraded Patriot missiles on land and more US Navy ships in the Arabian Gulf capable of destroying missiles in flight.

The Patriot missile systems, which originally were deployed in the region to shoot down aircraf t, have now been upgraded to hit missiles in flight. Saudi Arabia has long warned of the potential for a nuclear arms race in the Gulf region if Iran were to gain the bomb. Iran’s assurances that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes such as power generation have failed to ease concerns.

On Monday Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khaled bin Sultan said Saudi and US warplanes will carry out joint exercises soon.

Also, a crewmember went missing but three others were rescued yesterday as a US Navy radar plane supporting operations in Afghanistan ploughed into the Arabian Sea, the US Fifth Fleet said. The

E-2C Hawkeye aircraft “was returning from conducting operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom” when it malfunctioned, the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said in a statement. “Operation Enduring Freedom” is the name used by the US military for its war in Afghanistan.

The crew “performed a controlled bailout” from the plane, which was on its way back to the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier on which it is based, when it went down in the northern Arabia Sea, the statement added. Three crewmembers were “rescued, and they’re back on the USS Eisenhower,” Fif th Fleet public affairs officer Lieutenant Commander Corey Barker told AFP. “They are alive and well,” he added.

“Search and rescue efforts are continuing for the missing aviator and are expected to continue through the night or until he or she is found,” said Lieutenant Matthew Allen, another Fifth Fleet public affairs officer. The crash was under investigation. The US Navy says the E-2C Hawkeye is used to provide “all-weather airborne early warnings, battle management and command and control functions”. Based on US aircraft carriers, the E-2C is also used for “ground surveillance, strike coordination and communications relay”.

According to the US Navy website, an E-2C costs $80 million. The aircraft, which is 17.5 m long and has a 28-m wingspan, is built by Northrop Grumman Aerospace Corp and was first introduced in 1964, the website says. Hawkeye aircraft provided command and control support during the 1991 Gulf War, for late1990s NATO operations over the former Yugoslavia, and gave “critical” support for US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Hawkeye has also been “extremely effectively” in aiding US law enforcement drug interdiction operations, it says. The current version of the aircraft entered service in 1973, and surpassed one million flight hours in 2004, according to the website. — Agencies

New blasts shake Russia Continued from Page 1 Russia has for years been fighting an Islamist-fuelled insurgency in the North Caucasus but the metro bombings in the heart of Moscow, largely spared attacks for the last six years, shook the country to its core. Nine police including a local police chief were among the dead in the double attack 48 hours after the Moscow bombings in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan, a region on the Caspian Sea already wracked by militant violence.

“I do not rule out that the same gang (as in Moscow) was at work here,” a stern-looking Putin told a government meeting in televised remarks. President Dmitry Medvedev meanwhile told a security council meeting that “the terrorists’ goal is the destabilisation of the situation in the country, the destruction of civil society, a desire to sow fear and panic among the population”. “We will not allow this,” he added.

Yesterday’s first blast was caused by a car occupied by a suicide bomber that blew up when police tried to stop it during a regular check in the town of Kizlyar in Dagestan, officials said. The force of the first blast left a massive crater and reduced surrounding cars to burned-out wrecks. After 20 minutes, another blast was caused by a second suicide bomber wearing a police uniform who approached police working at the

scene of the first blast, a spokeswoman for the Dagestani interior ministry told AFP. Investigators said the first blast was caused by explosives of 200 kg of TNT equivalent stuffed into a Niva jeep, Interfax reported. The investigative committee of Russian prosecutors said in a statement that 12 people were killed, nine of them police, and 23 were wounded. Among the dead was local Kizlyar district police chief, Vitaly Vedernikov. Russia’s leaders pledged after Monday’s blasts to hunt down and destroy the organisers of the bombings who they said had links to Nor th Caucasus militant groups. Muslim Dagestan has been one of the Caucasus region most troubled by violence, along with Chechnya and Ingushetia.

In the claim of responsibility for the metro attacks reported by the SITE monitoring group and a Chechen Internet site, the Islamist leader called it revenge for a “massacre by Russian invaders of the poorest residents of Chechnya and Ingushetia”. According to the reports, Umarov, who uses the nom de guerre Abu Usman, said the residents were “picking wild garlic in the Arshty village on February 11, 2010, to feed their families”. Umarov also warned of fresh strikes against Russia. The “war will come to your streets, and you will feel it with your own lives and skins,” he

warned in the first claim of responsibility for Monday’s metro bombings, though its authenticity could not be independently confirmed.

Security in the tense Russian capital was further intensified after the new attacks. Moscow’s police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev said three times as many police as usual - many of them equipped with sniffer dogs - were on patrol in the metro system. The head of the metro, Dmitry Gayev, said that as part of new security measures the metro would start to introduce chemical detectors at stations from April. Putin had on Tuesday ordered security forces to snare the masterminds of the metro bombings, saying they should be scraped out from the sewers in language reminiscent of a 1999 promise to strike at rebels in the “outhouse”.

The Kommersant daily quoted an investigation source as saying Tuesday that militants had recruited 30 potential suicide bombers in recent months, with 21 still at large after nine already blew themselves up. Police have also released grisly photographs of the two bombers’ severed heads. Unconfirmed reports have said they arrived in Moscow from the Caucasus by bus early Monday. Last month, Islamist rebels led by Chechen militant leader Usman pledged a holy war, saying attacks would be staged throughout the country. — AFP

SPORTS

Thursday, April 1, 2010

15

NHL results/standings NHL results and standings on Tuesday.

Atlanta 3, Toronto 2; Boston 1, New Jersey 0 (OT); NY Rangers 4, NY Islanders 3; Ottawa 5, Washington 4 (OT) Columbus 3, Tampa Bay 2; Detroit 5, Edmonton 4; St. Louis 4, Chicago 2; Los Angeles 2, Nashville 0; Vancouver 4, Phoenix 1. (OT indicates overtime win) Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF GA PTS Pittsburgh 44 25 7 237 217 95 New Jersey 44 26 6 203 184 94 Philadelphia 38 32 6 221 210 82 NY Rangers 34 32 10 201 206 78 NY Islanders 31 35 10 199 236 72

Buffalo Ottawa Montreal Boston Toronto

Northeast Division 42 23 10 215 42 30 5 210 37 31 8 204 35 29 12 191 28 36 13 204

189 220 208 189 253

94 89 82 82 69

Washington Atlanta Carolina Florida Tampa Bay

Southeast Division 49 15 12 296 34 31 12 227 32 35 9 210 30 33 12 195 30 34 12 199

219 242 236 220 240

110 80 73 72 72

Western Conference Central Division Chicago 46 22 7 243 195 Nashville 44 28 6 214 214 Detroit 40 23 13 212 201 St. Louis 37 30 9 207 207 Columbus 32 32 13 208 246

99 94 93 83 77

Vancouver Colorado Calgary Minnesota Edmonton

Northwest 46 26 41 27 38 29 37 33 24 45

Division 4 248 7 225 9 194 6 208 7 194

196 207 193 226 260

96 89 85 80 55

Pacific Division San Jose 47 19 10 247 198 104 Phoenix 47 24 6 211 191 100 Los Angeles 43 27 6 220 202 92 Anaheim 36 31 8 211 227 80 Dallas 33 29 14 216 238 80 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L).

NEWARK: Marco Sturm No. 16 of the Boston Bruins is stopped by Martin Brodeur No. 30 and Travis Zajac No. 19 of the New Jersey Devils as Mike Mottau No. 27 defends against Boston’s Zdeno Chara No. 33 at the Prudential Center. The Bruins defeated the Devils 1-0 in overtime. —AFP

Senators down Capitals in OT, Canucks roll WASHINGTON: Alex Kovalev scored a power-play goal with 18 seconds remaining in overtime as the Ottawa Senators beat the Washington Capitals 5-4 on Tuesday for their fifth consecutive win. Kovalev picked up his 18th goal of the season after Nicklas Backstrom was called for a tripping penalty with 33 seconds left in the extra period, handing the NHL standings leaders their third straight loss. Jason Spezza had two goals and two assists, and Peter Regin and Chris Campoli also scored for the Senators.

Daniel Alfredsson added two assists, and Brian Elliott made 17 saves. Alexander Semin scored his 36th and 37th goals, and Mike Green and Mathieu Perreault also scored for the Capitals. Alex Ovechkin had an assist for his 101st point of the season.

Canucks 4, Coyotes 1 At Vancouver, British Columbia, Henrik

Sedin scored a short-handed goal and added two assists for Vancouver to regain the NHL scoring lead.

Alex Burrows, Mason Raymond and Daniel Sedin also scored, and Roberto Luongo finished with 32 saves as the Canucks moved seven points ahead of Colorado atop the Northwest Division.

Radim Vrbata scored for Phoenix.

Bruins 1, Devils 0 At Newark, New Jersey, Patrice Bergeron scored from a rebound with 18.3 seconds left in overtime as Boston beat New Jersey to maintain its hold on the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

Tuukka Rask stopped 21 shots to pick up his fifth shutout of the season, keeping Boston two points ahead of Atlanta in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the conference.

Red Wings 5, Oilers 4 At Detroit, Brad Stuart scored with 1:07 left to lift Detroit to the win over Edmondon after blowing a 4-0 second-period lead.

Johan Franzen had a goal and an assist, and Andreas Lilja, Nicklas Kronwall and Drew Miller also scored for Detroit, which won its sixth straight. Jimmy Howard stopped 22 shots.

Tom Gilbert scored twice, Mike Comrie added a goal and an assist, and Zack Stortini also scored for Edmonton. Jeff Desluriers made 39 saves.

Rangers 4, Islanders 3 At Uniondale, New York, Vinny Prospal, Olli Jokinen and Marian Gaborik scored second-period goals, and Marc Staal got the winner early in the third to lift the Rangers.

Henrik Lundqvist posted 25 saves for the Rangers in their third win in four games.

New York remains four points behind Boston for the final playoff spot in the East with six games left.

Blake Comeau scored twice and Mark Streit added a goal before the Islanders lost for the fourth time in six contests. The Islanders are 10 points back of the Bruins with six to play.

Blue Jackets 3, Lightning 2 At Colombus, Ohio, Rick Nash scored twice for Columbus, including the winner on the second of four consecutive power plays in the first 12 minutes of the final period.

Mike Lundin and Vincent Lecavalier gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead heading into the third period.

Tampa Bay goalie Antero Niittymaki had 13 of his 22 saves in the final period. Fedor Tyutin tied it at 6:21 of the third from the high slot with a drive that hit underneath the

crossbar before crossing the goal line. Nash scored just over a minute later.

Thrashers 3, Maple Leafs 2 At Toronto, Nik Antropov scored the winner against his former team to help Atlanta keep its playoff hopes alive. Maxim Afinogenov and Evgeny Artyukhin scored for Atlanta, which is two points out of the final playoff spot in the East with 80 points.

Boston, Montreal and Philadelphia all have 82.

Maxim Afinogenov and Evgeny Artyukhin also scored for Atlanta. Viktor Stalberg had both goals for the Maple Leafs.

Blues 4, Blackhawks 2 At St. Louis, Alex Steen had two goals and an assist, and scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period to help St. Louis keep alive faint playoff hopes.

Porsche drives new Middle East race series back to Saudi Arabia DUBAI: The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East reaches its climax at Reem International Circuit, outside Riyadh, over the next nine days, with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Abdulaziz Al Faisal on the verge of creating history as the first winner of the drivers’ title.

Prince Abdulaziz has won six out of eight rounds since the new one-make Porsche series was launched in Bahrain back in December, finishing second in each of the other two races.

He holds a massive 45-point lead over his nearest rival, team-mate and cousin Prince Khalid Al Faisal, and while there are four rounds remaining he can clinch the title with another couple of second place finishes in Rounds 9 & 10 at Reem over the next two days (March 2425). Should he need more time, the final two rounds follow at Reem late yesterday and today.

There were jubilant scenes when the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East made its first appearance at Reem in January, with Prince Abdulaziz marking Saudi’s first ever international circuit race meeting with back-to-back victories.

He repeated that feat when the Michelin and Mobil 1-sponsored series moved on to Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit last month and a fortnight later scored another win and a second place in the UAE capital.

The only other two drivers to score victory in the series to date are Prince Khalid and fourth-placed Bahraini star Sheikh Salman bin Rashid Al Khalifa, both of whom will be eager to grab their second wins

Eric Brewer and Erik Johnson also scored for the Blues, who are six points out of the final Western Conference playoff spot with six games to go.

Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa scored for Chicago, which lost its seventh in nine games.

Kings 2, Predators 0 At Nashville, Tennessee, one day after being recalled from Manchester of the minor league American Hockey League, Jonathan Bernier made 34 saves to record his first career shutout for Los Angeles.

Scott Parse and Sean O’Donnell scored for the Kings, who ended a four-game losing streak and beat Nashville for the first time since October 23, 2007 — a span of seven games. The Predators have lost two of their last three with both losses coming in shutouts.—AP

Fitzgibbon relishing his first taste of Hull derby

Prince Abdulaziz

Porsche GT3 CC in action in this file photo during the last four rounds in Saudi. Designed to identify top Arab and local-based talent in the Middle East and become a platform for entry into the world of international GT and sports car racing, the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East is a new regional version of the GT3 Cup one-make series already running with huge success in Brazil, New Zealand and the US. The series is organised and managed by Austrian-based Lechner Racing on behalf of Porsche Middle East & Africa.

All the drivers compete in identi-

cal 2010 model Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. “We are extremely excited to have launched the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East at a time when motorsport in the region is enjoying enormous popularity,” said Deesch Papke, Managing Director, Porsche Middle East & Africa. “It has been an excellent first season so far, and we’re confident that the series will go from strength to strength in the years ahead.”

Headed by Walter Lechner, who had great success as a sports car driver with Porsche in

the 1980s, Lechner Racing have established a permanent base for the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East at the Bahrain International Circuit.

“Like its counterparts in Brazil, New Zealand and America, the new GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East series is run at the same very high technical level as the Porsche Carrera Cup series which has been staged so successfully worldwide over the last 16 years,” said Lechner, who has managed many Porsche racing teams.

Competitors in a one-make

series all drive identical, equally well-prepared racing versions of production cars. The main benefits are that costs are minimised, making the sport more accessible, while the emphasis is on driver skill, with no driver having the advantage of a faster, superior vehicle.

The 11-strong line-up for Rounds 9 and 10 includes Saudi’s Bandar Alesayi, who returns to action on home territory lying third in the championship. After Sheikh Salman in fourth, the next three positions are currently filled by Bison Reem Racing

team-mates Bandar Alireza, Raed Abuzenadah, and Faisal Binladen who has a 100 per cent winning record in the Mobil 1 Trophy for rookies and true amateur drivers.

He again faces competition from Bahrain-based Dutchman, Jaap Vandrager and from Saudi businessman Fawaz Al Gosaibi.

Completing the line-up are Al Gosaibi’s teenage son, Fahad, who made history at the start of the series by becoming the youngest driver to compete in a Porsche worldwide, and Abu Dhabi’s Khaled Al Qubaisi.

LONDON: Veteran forward Craig Fitzgibbon won every club honor going in his career Down Under — but admits picking up a victory in his first Hull derby will be one of his toughest tests yet.

The Hull FC loose forward collected an NRL Premiership and a World Club Challenge trophy in his nine years at Sydney Roosters as well as making appearances for New South Wales in the State of Origin and winning 19 caps for Australia.

Fitzgibbon has settled in quickly in Hull following his transfer from the Roosters and has already earned rave reviews for his all-action displays for the Airlie Birds.

But the 32-year-old insists facing Hull’s fierce rivals Hull KR on Good Friday will be the acid test to their Super League ambitions.

“It pretty much got rammed in my face as soon as I arrived how important the derby was so it’s a big game for myself and the team,” said Fitzgibbon.

“I’m loving it over here and my family is settled as well so it allows me to concentrate on the rugby side of things.

“There are some aspects of my game that I want to improve - you are never perfect in this game - but I’ve had a reasonable start. “There is pressure on us this season to perform but you show me a team that’s not under pressure.

“There will be pressure on the derby because both clubs want to win so much - but if you can’t handle pressure, rugby league is the wrong sport for you. “To give the fans a derby win would be fantastic but it’s going to be hard.”

While Hull have been

unbeaten at the KC Stadium, Richard Agar’s men have struggled on the road this season and have lost their last three away games.”

But Fitzgibbon added: “We’ve played well in our last three games away but probably haven’t got the results our performances deserve.

“I’m not sure what the Rovers match will be like so it’s hard to compare it to anything else. But I can’t wait to find out.”

Meanwhile second row Harrison Hansen will be missing for league-leaders Wigan’s trip to rivals St Helens after he was ruled out for three months with a shoulder injury.

The New Zealand-born forward has suffered a slight tear in his bicep while ex-Canterbury Bulldogs full-back Cameron Phelps faces a late fitness test.

Coach Michael Maguire said: “It’s unfortunate when you get injuries in the squad but we have some good young guys coming through underneath and I am looking forward to see how they perform.”

Leeds welcome back exGold Coast Titans centre Brett Delaney as well as influential skipper Kevin Sinfield for the visit of in-form Bradford Bulls but Scott Donald (shoulder) and Greg Eastwood (wrist) are still absent. Wakefield Trinity Wildcats prop Shane Tronc is expected to line up for their game against Castleford despite being linked with a return to Australia. Tronc, who was signed from North Queensland during the off-season, is reportedly being courted by Brisbane Broncos as a replacement for Sydney Roosters-bound Lagi Setu.—AFP

SPORTS

16

Thursday, April 1, 2010

OneAsia starts second year with third force dream BEIJING: Say what you like about organisers of the OneAsia Tour, and their rivals at the Asian Tour have said plenty, but they certainly do not lack ambition.

The tour’s second season tees off at this week’s Chengdu Open but the 10 tournaments confirmed for this year, up from five last year, are just the start of a bid to shift the balance of power in world golf, according to chief executive Ben Sellenger.

“Ultimately, we dream of the day when a player can play full time in Asia and be the number one golfer in the world. That vision is at the core of what OneAsia is, and it is achievable,” the

Australian said. The plan calls for 17-20 events with a minimum purse of $1 million across nine countries for 2011, which would, Sellenger said, “clearly mark” OneAsia as the “third force” in world golf alongside the US PGA and European tours.

“The first steps need to be creating a platform that is commensurate with Europe, that has the events, that has the prize money, that has the points,” Sellenger told Reuters. “The next step is then to take that long journey which is to step up to the level of the US PGA. “Somewhere along that pathway ... I would hope that our platform would have

the strength that a player, save for the odd major, could gain that number one stature playing in Asia.

“Looking at the region, looking at the partners, looking at the economies, it’s almost not if it’s going to happen but when it’s going to happen.” Sellenger’s aim would clearly be for that player to hail from the Asia-Pacific region.

OneAsia, a project driven by the Australian PGA along with the Chinese and South Korean governing bodies, had a difficult start last year due to the hostility of the Asian Tour, which views itself as the standard bearer of golf in the region.

Asian Tour chief Kyi Hla Han accused them of being “Australian invaders” who “cannibalised” existing events and players from his tour who played in OneAsia events were punished.

“What you read in the press doesn’t reflect the discussions that we have behind closed doors,” said Sellenger.

“Having said that, there clearly hasn’t been a meeting of the minds that we’re going to co-exist.”

Sellenger is keen, therefore, to stress that the ambition of OneAsia is to “complement” the existing structure in the Asia-Pacific. “Existing tours in AsiaPacific continue to be extremely success-

ful in identifying and developing leading golfers,” he said. “OneAsia is about working with the existing Tours to create an elite next step. A platform that ensures Asia can retain the best talent right here, for Asian audiences.”

The 10 tournaments this year will be played in four countries-Australia, China, South Korea, Thailand-but there are none in Japan, initially announced as a founder member last year.

Sellenger remains “very, very” confident the Japanese will eventually get on board. “We’re progressing slowly towards that mark. Japan has a very strong schedule,” he said. “They’re tak-

ing a cautious and conservative path.”

That progress, he believes, can only be helped by the “unparalleled” television platform the tour has created.

“All OneAsia events will be broadcast live for over four hours a day to more than 260 million homes in more than 40 countries across the globe,” he said.

OneAsia must succeed, Sellenger said, or the current major international tours, who already sanction several events in Asia, will step in to fill the vacuum.

“If we don’t seize the opportunity, it’s going to continue to be a trickling of European or U.S. events to take over this region.”—Reuters

Player: Woods ready for media spotlight

Tiger Woods seen in action in this file photo

Westwood ready for Masters HUMBLE: After a flying visit to the venue of the season’s first major at Augusta National in April, world number four Lee Westwood said he was more ready than ever before to tackle the US Masters.

Last year’s European number one made a two-day pit stop in Augusta on his way to this week’s Houston Open, playing the famous course twice with barely anyone in sight.

“It really is a bit of an advantage to be able to do your work with nobody watching you. I feel more ready for the Masters this year than ever before,” the Briton, who has yet to win a major, told reporters on Tuesday ahead of today’s opening round in Houston.

While most top players regularly enjoy a

practice round there in peace and quiet prior to tournament week Westwood was doing so for the first time, and he wonders why it took him so long.

“It was good to get out with no crowds there and just wander around,” he said. “I never really thought about doing that before.”

The Houston Open has taken advantage of its date on the schedule to attract a topnotch field for this week’s PGA Tour event.

The tournament goes out of its way to set up the Redstone course to resemble Augusta as much as possible in the final tune-up for next week’s Masters, with fast greens surrounded by shaved run-off areas.

“That’s why they’ve got such a great field

here this week,” Westwood said.

“I don’t want to call it a warm-up for the Masters, but it is reflective of next week’s course,” the Briton added.

“It’s a great test of golf. If you hit the ball well you get rewarded and if you hit it poorly you get penalized. That’s all you can really ask for from a golf course.

“The greens will firm up and they’re obviously running very quickly. They do that to help us with next week in mind.”

South African Ernie Els, coming off his Arnold Palmer Invitational victory on Monday, headlines a field that also includes American Phil Mickelson, Irishman Padraig Harrington and Argentine Angel Cabrera, who defends his Masters green jacket next week.—Reuters

RANCHO MIRAGE: Tiger Woods will not be distracted by the intense media scrutiny when he steps into the unknown at next week’s US Masters, according to golfing great Gary Player.

South African Player believes Woods will be more focused on the game than ever before when he makes his highly anticipated return from self-imposed exile in the wake of his stunning fall from grace at the end of last year.

Woods, who has not played competitive golf since his victory at the Australian Masters on Nov. 15 following tawdry revelations that he had a string of extra-marital affairs, will face the Masters media at Augusta National on Monday.

“Tiger will have to deal with a much different kind of media pressure when he returns,” Player, 74, told Reuters on Tuesday.

“Throughout his career the focus of every interview was his golf game, now it will be on his personal life.

“This will be a challenge for him because he will have to answer questions that he is not comfortable answering, but I don’t think that it will have a negative effect on his ability to win.

“Tiger has one of the best minds in the game and when you learn how to master the mind you learn how to win while dealing with distractions,” said Player, a ninetimes major champion.

“I really believe Tiger will return to golf and be even more focused and I would not be surprised to see him win one of the four grand slam events this year.”

Woods, a 14-times major winner, became engulfed in a media frenzy following a bizarre early-morning car crash outside his Florida home on Nov. 27.

As allegations of his serial philandering escalated, the world number one took an indefinite break from the game while he tried to salvage his marriage to his Swedish wife Elin. Woods, a four-time Masters champion, said earlier this year he was undergoing therapy for sex addiction.

Player, who was one of golf’s so-called ‘Big Three’ with fellow greats Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer in the 1960s, firmly believes the private lives of high-profile sports figures should remain private.

“The media, and the public for that matter, tend to get caught up in people’s private lives far more than what I consider to be acceptable,” he said in an interview by e-mail.

“Tiger’s situation is a private matter between him and his wife Elin and it should remain that way. All too often our society puts athletes on a pedestal and then waits for the pedestal to crumble.

“Everyone is imperfect and everyone makes mistakes. The appetite today for sensationalism is incredible and our society thrives on it.

“I would much rather see our focus be about events or people who inspire us and help make us better human beings.” The Masters, the year’s first major, runs from April 8-11 at Augusta National.—Reuters

Rana Naved-ul-Hassan

Naved seeks reason for ban KARACHI: Pakistan all-rounder Rana Navedul-Hasan legally requested cricket authorities explain why he was banned for a year and fined heavily, an official said yesterday.

“Naved has sent a legal notice to us in which he has inquired about the reasons of his punishment and we will soon respond to it,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) legal adviser Taffazul Rizvi told AFP. Naved was one of seven Pakistani players who were handed bans and fines on March 10, following an inquiry into team defeats in Australia and discipline breaches on earlier tours of New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates.

Pakistan lost all three Tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match on the tour of Australia between December and February.

Former captains Younus Khan and Mohammad Yousuf were banned indefinitely “over infighting which brought the team down”, while Shoaib Malik and Naved were banned for one year and fined two million rupees (24,000 dollars).

Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal and Umer Akmal were also fined heavily.

On Monday, Yousuf announced he was retiring from international cricket to protest against the punishment. Rizvi said players had been given reasons for their punishments and could appeal.

“We have already issued charge sheets and now the players can appeal to an arbitrator through the PCB governing board, and if the arbitrator asks us to give detailed reasons of punishments we will comply,” said Rizvi.

The players have 30 days from the date of receiving the charge sheets to appeal to a three-judge tribunal. The PCB has also received a letter from Younus demanding detailed reasons for his punishment.

“We have also advised Younus to appeal and if the arbitrator asks for detailed reasons of his punishment we will follow the process,” said

Rizvi.

Afridi was the first to appeal against his punishment. Malik, whose engagement and imminent wedding to Indian tennis star Sania Mirza is making international headlines, and the Akmal brothers have also hinted that they may appeal.

Meanwhile, former cricketers on Tuesday lamented the retirement of Mohammad Yousuf, saying Pakistan will badly miss the ace batsman if he sticks to his decision.

Yousuf said Monday he was quitting international cricket to protest against a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) ban imposed over a disastrous tour of Australia, but kept his options open by saying his decision was “for the time being”.

Former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas said the 35-year-old Yousuf was still up to Test cricket. “Yousuf is a world-class batsman and can still play Tests for Pakistan,” Abbas told AFP. “Everyone knows the reason behind his decision, so he should decide on his future and we must respect that.” The PCB banned Yousuf and fellow former captain Younus Khan indefinitely earlier this month over infighting following an investigation into dismal performances on the tours of United Arab Emirates, New Zealand and Australia.

Yousuf took on the captaincy following Younus’s withdrawal after the UAE tour.

Pakistan lost all three Tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match on their December-February tour of Australia.

“Yousuf has served the country for 12 years and deserved a better end to his career. It’s now a catch-22 situation for him, but he will have to think about his future himself,” said Abbas, himself a great batsman in his day.

Another former captain, Ramiz Raja, rued the “bitter end to a glorious career”. “For the last six months controversies have followed him and forced him to take this decision,” Raja added. Yousuf’s former team-mate Inzamam-ulHaq criticised the PCB punishments.—AFP

New Zealand to host stop on Volvo race MADRID: Auckland, New Zealand will host a stop in the Volvo Ocean Race during the 2011-2012 edition of the world’s most gruelling offshore yachting event, the organisers said yesterday.

The announcement completes the route for the 11th edition of the round-the-world event, which was launched in 1973 as the Whitbread race. The race will start in its home base of the Spanish port of Alicante andconclude in Galway, Ireland.

In between, there are stops in Cape Town in South Africa, Abu Dhabi, Sanya in China, Auckland, Itajai in Brazil, Miami, Lisbon and Lorient in France.

It is the eighth time that Auckland, which has already hosted the America’s Cup, will be a stop on the Volvo race.

“Many of the world’s best-known sailors are from New Zealand, and we are proud to bring the

race back to the City of Sails, where we will be sure of a huge reception,” said the director of the Volvo Ocean Race, Knut Frostad. Between 10 and 12 teams are expected to take part in the 20112012 edition.

Only four have teams so far registered-from Brazil, Spain, France and Italy, while a yacht from Abu Dhabi is also expected to participate.

Swedish automaker Volvo meanwhile said its recent takeover by China’s Geely will not affect the event’s sponsorship. “This will go on as planned, definitely. No changes whatsoever,” a Volvo spokesman told AFP in Stockholm.

The cost of sponsoring the eight-month race is estimated at around 35 to 40 million euros. The 2008-09 edition, won by Sweden’s Ericsson 4, included a stop in China for the first time, in Qingdao, while the Chinese port of Sanya will welcome the crews during the next race.—AFP

SPORTS

Thursday, April 1, 2010

17

Berdych stuns Federer, Miami upsets continue

MELBOURNE: McLaren-Mercedes driver Jenson Button of Britain. —AFP

Button looking for glory in Malaysia SEPANG: The Formula One season exploded into life in Melbourne on Sunday and while fans will be hoping for more of the same in Malaysia this weekend, officials will be happy just to see the race completed.

After a tedious opening race in Bahrain, a combination of a ban on refuelling, rainy weather, an early pitstop and Sebastian Vettel’s mechanical misfortune means Jenson Button will be looking for back-to-back wins for a second year in a row.

Button won six of the first seven races last season on his way to a maiden world championship with Brawn GP but the Briton’s victory in Malaysia was only worth half points as a tropical downpour ended the race after just 32 of the scheduled 56 laps.

More rain is forecast over the Sepang circuit this weekend, putting an even greater emphasis on strategy as the prospect of another rain-shortened race looms large on the horizon.

Following an off-season switch to become compatriot Lewis Hamilton’s partner at McLaren, Button won his first race with the team last week in Australia in a car that still lags behind the Red Bulls and Ferraris in terms of pace.

The Briton made his own call on an early change of tyres in Melbourne and capitalised on the latest problem with Vettel’s fast-but-

unreliable Red Bull to inherit a lead he would not relinquish after a mechanical failure ended the German’s race early.

“I think we travel to Sepang mindful that the characteristics of the circuit probably won’t suit our car as well as it will suit some of the others, but I’m confident that, once again, we’ll be fighting at or near the front,” Button said.

Hamilton could only qualify 11th in Melbourne but after roaring through the field to press Renault’s Robert Kubica for second, an ill-advised tyre change left him stuck behind the Ferraris before a late collision with Mark Webber consigned him to sixth place.

“Last year we saw what could happen once the weather took over,” Hamilton said as he looked forward to the Malaysia race.

“While I’m hopeful that this year’s race will be run in the dry, you can never discount the threat of rain. Either way, I think we’ll be competitive.”

Fernando Alonso showed his class by winning the season opener on his Ferrari debut and had it not been for a first-lap spin, the Spaniard could have challenged for a second victory in the only car capable of matching the speed of the Red Bulls.

Despite that setback, the Ferraris have started the season well with a Bahrain onetwo followed by Felipe’s Massa’s podium fin-

ish in Australia, ahead of Alonso in fourth, which put the Italian team clear of McLaren in the constructor’s standings.

“We are happy with the Melbourne result, even if, on Sunday morning, we might have expected a slightly better one,” Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said.

“Considering what happened in the race, we can be pleased with finishing third and fourth, partly because our closest rivals either failed to score, or at least did not pick up many points.” Vettel remains positive of his team’s chances but still curses his bad luck in the opening two races.

“I would have rather left Melbourne with 50 points (25 for a win) on my side instead of 12. We have a very fast car, that is a fact. We just have to make sure that we see the chequered flag,” Vettel said.

“But it is only the second race so there is no need to get nervous. We just have to see that we have a good car at hand for the second half of the season.”

In Melbourne, the first four finishers completed the race on a one-stop strategy by nursing their wearing tyres through to the finish.

The Sepang circuit has two very long straights which leads to the likelihood of more stops than the Australia race due to the abrasive effect of heavy braking on the Bridgestone tyres. —Reuters

MALAYSIA: Mercedes Formula One driver Michael Schumacher of Germany talks to the media. —AFP

Schumacher eyes podium finish KUALA LUMPUR: Michael Schumacher is not writing off the Formula One championship but concedes his Mercedes car is less competitive than others on the grid.

The Mercedes team is eyeing the podium at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday but seventime world champion Schumacher said yesterday that “probably is the maximum we can look for at the moment.”

The Mercedes is having difficulty following other cars closely, Schumacher added — and overtaking is “almost impossible unless someone makes a mistake.” “From our side we are not the most competitive car at the moment,” he said.

“We are here for the best. It is a little bit difficult to position ourselves right now.” Mercedes — which won the 2009 championship as Brawn GP — has had a challenging start to the season, lagging behind the other top teams in terms of performance.

They have collected 29 points from the first two races to place third in the constructors’ standings after Ferrari and McLaren but Schumacher remains positive about the team’s chances. “It’s too early to write off the championship for now,” said Schumacher. “We still can fight for the championship.”

Team principal Ross Brawn was more upbeat about achieving

a podium position at the Sepang International Circuit, though the team acknowledges that the cars of Schumacher and his teammate Nico Rosberg needed to be improved.

“We’d like to get on the podium this weekend... There is no reason why that shouldn’t be possible,” Brawn said, adding he was hoping for rain as the two German drivers were strong in

wet-weather conditions. Brawn also said it was “far too early to say how the championship is going to develop.”

“There have been lots of seasons where the start is quiet and it gets stronger, and there are lots of seasons where it starts strong and then gets quiet,” he said. The team is working to improve the car’s aerodynamics and mechanics to make it more

Lotus eager to hit back at doubters KUALA LUMPUR: With the new-look Lotus’ first home grand prix just days away, team boss Tony Fernandes would like nothing more than to upstage the Formula One old guard who have dismissed the newcomers as irrelevant.

However Fernandes knows, despite the ardent support of local fans, that victory is a long way beyond Lotus’ reach at this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. The Air Asia impresario is the team principal of Lotus, which has inherited the name, colors and tradition of one of F1’s most famous old teams but is very much a Malaysian operation, with backing from the national government.

After the first two races of the season — in Bahrain and Australia — Lotus has achieved its goal of being the best of the three new teams for 2010, outperforming Virgin and Hispania.

However its performance is still a long way off the top constructors, and Fernandes feels driven to change the way his team is regarded by the top end of pitlane.

“No one takes us too seriously at the moment so we are fairly welcome,” Fernandes told The Associated Press. “There is a bit of snobbery as well, that these guys are four seconds off the pace or whatever. —AP

competitive, Brawn said.

Schumacher said the car will be upgraded by the Barcelona race in early May. Rosberg said the team is “quite a step behind” favorites Ferrari and Red Bull, which are seen to have the fastest cars — though Red Bull has suffered problems with reliability and currently lies below Mercedes in the constructors’ championship.

“We have to push very hard to catch them again,” he said. “We have big steps coming so I look forward to it, and I hope that we can close the gap to the people in front.” Rosberg said he was looking forward to Sunday’s race as it is on one of his favorite tracks.

Brawn added it was “normal” for Schumacher to take two or three races to settle in and get back to his maximum speed after returning to the sport following a three-year absence. The 41-yearold Schumacher retired after the 2006 season but was tempted back to racing at the end of last year.

Schumacher insisted he was “quite happy I’ve made the maximum out of my possibilities.”

Schumacher finished 10th in the Australian Grand Prix and sixth in the season’s opener in Bahrain, placing him eighth in the drivers’ standings with nine points. Rosberg came fifth in both races, leaving him fifth with 20 points. —AP

MIAMI: Roger Federer became the latest upset victim at the Sony Ericsson Open after the world number one went down 6-4 6-7 7-6 to 16th seeded Czech Tomas Berdych in the fourth round on Tuesday.

The 16-times grand slam champion had beaten Berdych in eight of their previous nine encounters but paid the penalty for an error-strewn display in which the Swiss top seed could only convert two of 12 break point opportunities.

Federer’s defeat means the top three men’s seeds have all been knocked out after Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Britain’s Andy Murray both suffered shock defeats earlier in the tournament.

“It was a tough match.

Look, it’s no secret I’ve struggled the last, what is it, five matches I’ve played here in the states,” Federer told reporters after his second early exit in a row since winning the Australian Open in January. “It’s disappointing, I think, my performance overall, if I’ve got to analyse right now after the match, but I fought as much as I could with my game having issues at the moment.

“Definitely lacking timing.

I don’t know where that comes from because I played so nicely in Australia. Maybe the sickness (a lung infection in February) did take it out of me more than I thought.”

Berdych cautioned against getting too carried away with one of the best wins of his career. “To beat the number one player in the world, the best player so far is a great feeling. But still, it was not a final. There is another match waiting next day, another really tough opponent,” he said.

Earlier, world number eight Andy Roddick needed to overcome a sluggish start to book his ticket to the quarterfinals while Rafa Nadal also advanced after being tested early in his match.

Roddick, fresh from finishing runner-up at Indian Wells, beat Germany’s Benjamin Becker 7-6 6-3 while Nadal brushed past Spanish compatriot and Davis Cup team mate David Ferrer 7-6 6-4.

The big-serving American fell behind 4-1, 0-40 in the first set but rallied back against Becker. After breaking to get to 4-3, Roddick served a 134 mph (214kph) ace as he tied it 5-5.

It was downhill from there for the unseeded Becker as Roddick won the tiebreak 7-4 before easing through the second set.

“He came out aggressive and ready to play from the first ball,” Roddick, who limited his unforced errors to 15, told reporters. “I was maybe looking to work my way into the match a little bit more than he afforded me.”

Roddick will face Spain’s Nicolas Almagro in late yesterday’s quarter-final and could possibly face Nadal in the semi-finals. World number four Nadal is now the highestranked player left in the tournament after he held off Ferrer in just under two hours as the Spaniards gave the crowd a stirring spectacle.

After edging a tight opening set, Nadal squandered a 30 lead in the second set before breaking Ferrer in the 10th game to seal match, improving his record to 9-3 against his friend with his fourth straight victory.

“It was a match of highs and lows,” Nadal said. “I started the second set well then played the next three games poorly, but I accepted it and kept working and waiting for my opportunity.”

American Mardy Fish retired when trailing 6-1 1-0 against Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny after injuring his sciatic nerve during the first set, while Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced after beating Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero 62 6-2.

On the women’s side, third seed Venus Williams won her 14th successive match after beating Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 6-1 in their quarter-final match.—Reuters

KEY BISCAYNE: Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic returns a shot against Roger Federer of Switzerland during day eight of the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open. —AFP

Suns clinch playoff spot CHICAGO: Jason Richardson scored 27 points and Channing Frye hit a vital 3-pointer with 41.6 seconds to go Tuesday as the Phoenix Suns clinched a playoff berth by beating the Chicago Bulls 111-105 for their eighth straight win.

Steve Nash scored seven of his 22 points in the final two minutes and had 10 assists. Amare Stoudemire added 21 points for the Suns, 13 in the first quarter.

Flip Murray and Derrick Rose, who kept Chicago close down the stretch with 10 points in the final period, had 23 points each. The Bulls are 1 1/2 games behind Toronto for the eighth playoff spot in East.

Thunder 111, 76ers 93 At Philadelphia, Kevin Durant had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Jeff Green added 16 points as Oklahoma City cruised over Philadelphia.

Nenad Krstic added 14 points and Russell Westbrook had 10 points and 14 assists for the Thunder (45-28). James Harden also had 12 points and Serge Ibaka 10 for Oklahoma City, which is nearing its first playoff appearance since 2004-05 as the Seattle SuperSonics.

Elton Brand scored 22 points, Andre Iguodala added 21 and Jrue Holiday had 11 for the Sixers, who had their two-game winning streak snapped.

Bucks 107, Clippers 89 At Milwaukee, rookie Brandon Jennings scored 17 points and went the extra distance to protect Milwaukee big man Andrew Bogut in a win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Bogut scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds in his second straight game since missing one with a sore back, and Jennings, who added

six assists and five rebounds, came to the Australian’s aid late in the third quarter when tensions rose after a spat of rough play.

Pacers 102, Kings 95 At Indianapolis, Danny Granger scored 25 of his 33 points in the second half to lead Indiana over Sacramento for its eighth straight home win.

Troy Murphy added 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Roy Hibbert and Earl Watson each scored 10 for the Pacers, who have won six of seven to improve to 28-47. They had their fivegame winning streak snapped at Atlanta on Sunday.

Jason Thompson and Beno Udrih each had 18 points, and Carl Landry finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds for Sacramento (24-51), which has lost five straight. Rookie of the Year candidate Tyreke Evans, who missed the previous five games due to a concussion, had 17 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and four steals.

Rockets 98, Wizards 94 At Houston, rookie Chase Budinger hit a goahead jump shot with 28 seconds remaining and made two free throws as Houston escaped with a win over Washington. The win breaks a fourgame skid for the Rockets and extends Washington’s team-record losing streak to 16 games.

In this matchup of banged-up and undermanned squads, it seemed for most of the game that neither team would pull away. The Rockets finally did, thanks to Budinger’s career-high 24points, to win their first game since Kevin Martin has been out of the lineup with a sore shoulder. —AP

CHICAGO: Phoenix Suns’ Channing Frye (8) celebrates a 3-point basket against the Chicago Bulls with Grant Hill late in the second half of an NBA basketball game.—AP

NBA results/standings NBA results and standings on Tuesday.

Indiana 102, Sacramento 95; Oklahoma City 111, Philadelphia 93; Phoenix 111, Chicago 105; Milwaukee 107, LA Clippers 89; Houston 98, Washington 94.

Western Conference Eastern Conference Atlantic Division Northwest Division W L PCT GB Utah 49 26 .653 Boston 47 26 .644 Denver 48 27 .640 1 Toronto 36 37 .493 11 Oklahoma City 45 28 .616 3 NY Knicks 26 47 .356 21 Portland 45 29 .608 3.5 Philadelphia 26 48 .351 21.5 Minnesota 14 60 .189 34.5 New Jersey 10 64 .135 37.5 Pacific Division Central Division LA Lakers 54 20 .730 Cleveland 58 16 .784 Phoenix 48 26 .649 6 Milwaukee 41 32 .562 16.5 LA Clippers 27 47 .365 27 Chicago 35 39 .473 23 Sacramento 24 51 .320 30.5 Indiana 28 47 .373 30.5 Golden State 21 52 .288 32.5 Detroit 23 50 .315 34.5 Southwest Division Southeast Division Dallas 49 25 .662 Orlando 52 22 .703 San Antonio 44 29 .603 4.5 Atlanta 47 26 .644 4.5 Memphis 38 35 .521 10.5 Miami 40 34 .541 12 Houston 37 36 .507 11.5 Charlotte 38 35 .521 13.5 New Orleans 35 40 .467 14.5 Washington 21 52 .288 30.5

SPORTS

18

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Fans keep the faith despite trophy drought NEWCASTLE: At the heart of Newcastle, by the ruins of an ancient city wall, St James’ Park soars over Tyneside, its white cantilever roof gleaming in the pale sunlight.

“On a good day you can see the North Sea, on a bad day you can see Sunderland,” says a stadium tour guide to knowing chuckles from tourists conscious of the ancient enmity between the two northeastern English cities.

The stadium’s location in the city centre overlooking the banks of the river Tyne gives a clue to the enduring affection local fans hold for Newcastle United Football Club.

It is a devotion which survives despite the club’s repeated inability to win any trophy, domestic or European, since the 1969 European Fairs Cup. Last season they were relegated from the Premier League.

“It’s the only ground in England that’s in

a city centre, it’s the heartbeat of the city, it’s the heartbeat of the region,” explained life-long Newcastle fan Mick Edmondson in one of a series of interviews conducted by Reuters this month.

“The city wall is right next to St James’ Park, it’s a stone’s throw from the original city wall from the Roman times. It’s always been part of the city.”

Within kicking distance of the ground, near the ruins of the old brewery which used to produce the local ale Newcastle Brown now brewed in Yorkshire, stands The Strawberry public house where fans meet on match days.

It is named after the strawberry fields cultivated by nuns who made wine from the fruit until 1840 despite threats of excommunication from the Bishop of Durham.

Beyond a street containing the city’s China Town, Edmondson runs The Back

Page, a shop selling sports books, mostly on football, DVDs and assorted memorabilia. At the foot of the hill lies the 12th century St Andrews church, the oldest in Newcastle and the parish church of St James where the Reverend Glynn Evans presides.

“Football teams are based on parishes.

The original football games were played between parishes,” said Evans, a dedicated Newcastle supporter since moving to the northeast from south London 23 years ago.

“I have been a football fan all my life and I’ve always seen a comparison between football and religion, the coming together of communities.”

Evans wears the black-and-white Newcastle strip to conduct weddings. He shows red cards to parishioners who nod off during sermons, rewords hymns (sample offering “All Things Black and Beautiful”) and named his son after one of Newcastle’s

former managers, Argentine Ossie Ardiles.

“When people go to a football ground they have hope,” he said. “You go together, you sing songs together, you have a love of football from everybody.”

The Adelphi, a 15-minute walk from the ground and formerly a theatrical pub as befits its location in Shakespeare Street near the Theatre Royal, is now a shrine to Newcastle United. A portrait of Jackie Milburn, Newcastle’s favourite son, stares at the bar and the exhibits include the wrapping from a loaf of bread entitled “Northern Pride”, baked to celebrate an FA Cup triumph in the 1950s.

Milburn scored in two of his three FA Cup finals, each won by Newcastle in the early 1950s. The third was in 1955, the club’s last domestic trophy.

Edmondson’s earliest footballing memory is travelling with his father on the back

seat of a double-decker bus to the airport shortly before his fourth birthday to watch Newcastle bring back the 1969 European Fairs Cup, which was to evolve into the UEFA Cup. Edmondson, a promising footballer who once roomed with the young Paul Gascoigne, another Tyneside native, said Newcastle supporters were inured to disappointment.

“What we want when we go to St James’ Park is to be entertained, not necessarily to see a winning team,” he said. “All we want is the players to give 100 percent. Put on that shirt, get on the field and give us 100 percent and we don’t care if you’re not the greatest.”

Terry Mann, who runs the Adelphi, is less sanguine and not optimistic that the present Newcastle side, who look assured of a swift return to the Premier League this

season, can regain past glories.

For Mann, 41 years without a trophy is far too long. “We are not a big club,” he said.

“We are big fans.” Newcastle is reversing a decline after the slow death of the shipbuilding and coal-mining industries which had been the life blood of one of the world’s great workshops.

Parts of the city have regenerated.

Posters now boast the virtues of a flourishing airport where travellers can fly direct to long-haul destinations without a stopover in the distant south.

The Angel of the North sculpture south of Gateshead near the city is an impressive landmark, Newcastle’s pubs and restaurants appear to be thriving despite the recession and the city’s reputation as a party town is confirmed nightly. Newcastle football fans, long overdue some silverware from their club, pray for a similar revival.—Reuters

Rooney out for one month due to injury LONDON: Wayne Rooney will miss between two to four weeks because of a sprained ankle, according to a person close to Manchester United.

The England striker was hurt in the final minute of Tuesday’s 21 Champions League loss at Bayern Munich. The person, who can’t be identified because the news hasn’t been officially released, told The Associated Press that Rooney hadn’t broken any bones.

Rooney scored his 34th goal of the season in the second minute of the game at Allianz Arena.

Although Rooney is expected to be fit for the June 11-July 11 World Cup, England coach Fabio Capello said the injury was terrible news.

“I think he will have a scan tomorrow,” Capello said yesterday. “I’m not happy when a player from the England team is injured, it’s terrible. It’s not a good thing for me. I will speak to him this evening or tomorrow morning.”

Rooney is set to miss Saturday’s Premier League match with Chelsea at Old Trafford. The result is likely to have a major effect on the title race, with United a point ahead of Chelsea at the top of the standings.

An absence of two weeks would rule Rooney out of three games: league matches against Chelsea and Blackburn and the Champions League return leg against Bayern. Three weeks would mean Rooney also misses the derby at Manchester City. If out for a month, the striker will be sidelined for the league game against Tottenham and possibly a Champions League semifinal against Lyon or Bordeaux - if United qualifies.

With Michael Owen out for the rest of the season, United is left with Dimitar Berbatov as the team’s only senior forward until Rooney returns.

Rooney flew back to Manchester yesterday with his right foot in a protective boot, returning to some gloomy headlines in the papers.

“England’s worst nightmare” said The Times, while the mass circulation Sun had one word: “Pray.” “Get well soon” said the Daily Mail alongside a photo of Rooney grimacing and lying on the turf in pain. “Please don’t let this be the moment England’s World Cup dream died.”—AP

FIFA world rankings FIFA world rankings yesterday. The rankings are based on performances over the last four years. (last month’s positions in brackets)

MUNICH: Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney leaves a hotel in Munich. Rooney returned to Britain yesterday afternoon for tests on the ankle he injured in Manchester United’s Champions League loss to Bayern Munich.—AP

Interpol gives the nod to World Cup security DURBAN: Global police agency Interpol yesterday said South Africa’s World Cup security planning surpassed its expectations, with no tournament terrorism threats identified ahead of the June 11 kick-off.

“What I have seen so far is very positive. South Africa can be proud of the level of security that is in place,” Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble told AFP. “My opinion is that South African police services is doing all that is in its power to ensure that South Africa is as safe as possible during the World Cup.” Interpol was in South Africa to assess

security plans ahead of the tournament, where it will work alongside South African police and provide links to its database of lost and stolen passports.

“South Africa’s planning covers everything. South African planning is above our expectations,” Noble told journalists.

Speaking earlier in Johannesburg, Noble said passports would be screened at all South African entry ports to identify security risks and to crack down on organised crime and drug and human trafficking.

“In our database, we’ve not yet found any terrorism or hooliganism threats directly linked to the 2010 FIFA World

Cup,” the government news agency BuaNews quoted him as saying.

South African deputy police commissioner Andre Pruis said the country is ready to deal with the issue of hooliganism.

“We are ready to deal with any form of hooliganism during the event. We’ve been working closely with France, Britain and the Netherlands to furnish us with personal information of individuals who might embark on actions of hooliganisms.” South Africa will deploy 41,000 police officers during the month-long tournament, which runs from June 11 to July 11. — AFP

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(1)Spain (2)Brazil (3)Netherlands (6)Portugal (4)Italy (5)Germany (8)England (7)France (9)Argentina (11)Croatia (10)Greece (12)Russia (14)Chile (17)Egypt (13)Serbia (18)UnitedStates (15)Mexico (19)Uruguay (23)Australia (20)Cameroon

RIYADH: Jose Gustavo Sand of the United Arab Emirates’ Al-Ain club celebrates after scoring against Al-Shaba from Saudi Arabia during their AFC Champions League Group C soccer match at King Fahd Stadium.—AP

Newcastle not quite ready to open up the champagne NEWCASTLE: Newcastle United fans are a stoic bunch, as their stalwart support for a soccer club bereft of a domestic trophy for 55 years would indicate.

To the supporters’ delight, the northeast England side are poised for a quick return to the Premier League, a promotion which could be confirmed this weekend if they win at Peterborough and third-placed Nottingham Forest lose at Bristol City.

Manager Chris Hughton, though, made it clear he would not give any hostages to fortune when he said the champagne crates would not be packed for the trip to Peterborough after his team’s 2-0 win over Forest on Monday.

Hughton’s caution is understandable.

Nothing in Newcastle’s history over the last half-century gives any grounds for complacency.

One man’s name comes up repeatedly in conversations on Tyneside with members of possibly the most loyal fan base in the country.

The term Messiah is at best overblown and at worst tasteless in connection with a sports team. It is still invariably associated with the name of Kevin Keegan, whose almost reckless devotion to the attacking game brought Newcastle within sight of the promised land in the 1995-6 season.

Keegan as a player in the 1980s had helped to take Newcastle back to the top tier. Now, as manager, he had performed the same feat and at the start of 1996, with typical bravado, he had pledged to win the Premier League and both domestic Cups.

Both Cup dreams vanished in the January chill but by Jan. 20, Newcastle were a scarcely believable 12 points ahead of Liverpool at the head of the Premier League and playing glorious football.

The tale of their subsequent implosion was to become a weekly soap opera, with Keegan’s finger-pointing outburst at Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson-”I’d love it, if we beat them, love it!”-now part of English folklore. Ged Clarke records the local reaction in his 2005 book “Newcastle United. Fifty years of hurt.”

“The 1995-6 season was the ultimate Newcastle United roller-coaster ride. Our only other near misses in the previous 40 years had been two Cup finals in which all the hopes and dreams of the faithful rested on 90 minutes of football, each time ending in a day of massive disappointment,” he wrote.

“But this was different. This time we clearly were one of the best two teams in the country-and for a long time the best...Of the 50 seasons that have passed since Newcastle United last lifted one of the major domestic prizes, this was the one

that hurt the most.”

Hughton is no Keegan and his approach all season has been to play down expectations. There is, also, a darker side to the club’s success this season.

This month former England Under-21 captain Steven Taylor’s jaw was broken in an altercation with team mate Andy Carroll.

Carroll, playing with black gloves covering both hands, played in the following league match against Doncaster, scoring the only goal of the match and his 16th of the season.

Newcastle have closed ranks, refusing to comment on the incident which comes at a bad time for Carroll who is due to appear in court next month on assault charges after an incident in a Newcastle nightclub.

Hughton has been criticised for continuing to select the striker, who started against Nottingham Forest before being substituted by Shola Ameobi. The Newcastle manager remains unapologetic.

“I don’t really have to go into specifics,” he told reporters. “For every team I pick, I pick what I feel is the best team to win a football match for me. Around that there are issues of fitness, form, individuals, players coming back. Those are the things that I take into account.

“My job is to manage this football club and this group of lads. Around that will always come decisions. I have to make decisions every week on whichever team I pick. Sometimes you get things right, sometimes you get things wrong and I will continue to make decisions I believe are right.”

Carroll and Taylor are home-grown players and the club is likely to open contract talks with both at the end of the season despite the controversy. For now, though, Newcastle’s goal remains the drive to return to the Premier League in the latest upswing of the Newcastle roller-coaster ride.—Reuters

Todayʼs matches on TV (local timings) Europa League Fulham v Wolfsburg ..............22:00 Al Jazeera Sport +6 Hamburg v Standard..................22:00 Al Jazeera Sport +7 Valencia v Atletico ..................22:00 Al Jazeera Sport +5 Benfica v Liverpool..................22:05 Al Jazeera Sport +3

SPORTS

Thursday, April 1, 2010

19

South Africa expects delayed returns on World Cup WHITE RIVER: The Ingwenyama Lodge has an Olympic swimming pool, driving range, indoor cricket courts, a gym and two regulation football fields spread across 10 hectares (24 acres).

The grass on those fields wasn’t up to FIFA standards, however. They had to be stripped and re-turfed when Chile chose this eastern South African hotel as its World Cup base.

Ingwenyama also needed a sauna, steam baths, a whirlpool, better fencing — even brighter light bulbs, more sophisticated TVs and spare wardrobes for the players’ rooms.

Henk Bredenoord, general manager of the nationwide Status Hotels chain to which Ingwenyama belongs, estimated the upgrade cost at 7 million rand (just under $1 million), and said the Chileans were paying 4 million rand for their stay. But instead of a shortfall, Bredenoord sees opportunity.

“We’ll be a better standard resort and better able to compete in the marketplace,” he said in an interview in the lodge’s lobby, adding that the right to brag about having hosted a World Cup team won’t hurt.

“Remember, there’s a long-term vision involved,” Bredenoord said, calling the World Cup “a catalyst for growth.” Bredenoord could be speaking for all South Africa. The government and private entrepreneurs have spent millions renovating airports and building roads, bus and rail systems, hotels and stadiums for the monthlong tournament. In the short-term, the World Cup is a money-losing proposition, but South Africans are hoping for a payoff in the future.

“We want the post-2010 South Africa to be able to compete in the global economy,” said Danny Jordaan, the head of the organizing committee.

Yvonne Themba, head of a Johannesburgbased organization that supports small businesses, said for new entrepreneurs in particular, benefiting from the World Cup will be difficult.

FIFA has set tight rules meant to protect the big corporations with which it has partnered, like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. That means fans will find McMeals at the stadiums, not South African favorites like steak and pap — a corn pudding — prepared and sold by locals. “It is so tightly managed,” Themba said. “There are very few opportunities that are lucrative in my view.

Because everything is FIFA.” Themba advises South Africans to prepare for after the World Cup. FIFA and its sponsors will be gone and South Africans will have a chance to do business when the stadiums are used for local sports and other events.

Managing stadiums and other infrastructure will be crucial after the World Cup, said Gillian Saunders, who has tracked South Africa’s preparations as a strategist for Grant Thornton South Africa, which provides risk analysis, financial and other services.

There have been concerns that some of the new stadiums in smaller cities won’t see much use after the World Cup. Even Johannesburg might find it hard to fill the 94,700 seats of Soccer City, which cost 2.2 billion rand (about $300 million), after it hosts the World Cup final.

Other spending, organizers say, included 655 million rand (about $90 million) for helicopters, vehicles and other equipment to help police provide security during the tournament. Long after the World Cup ends, the investment in policing is expected to continue to benefit a country with one of the highest crime rates in the world.

While crime is a concern, poverty is a greater worry for most South Africans. More than 40 percent of South Africans live below the poverty line set by their government. A quarter of the work force is unemployed.

The infrastructure building boom sparked by the World Cup had already begun to die out when the global recession reached South Africa late last year and even more jobs were shed.

Still, Sibongile Mazibuko, who led World Cup preparations in South Africa’s economic hub of Johannesburg, said construction workers gained new skills putting up state-of-the-art stadiums that will put them in a better position when the economy revives.

Exposure to football fans from around the world will also build skills and expertise in the tourism industry, she said. Bredenoord, the hotelier, said while the Chileans are at Ingwenyama, the lodge will be employing four young South African Spanish speakers who took advantage of language instruction for impoverished students offered by a Johannesburg university in the lead-up to the World Cup. SA Tourism, the state-owned tourism development company, says more than 9.6 million tourists came to South Africa in 2009, and expects the figure to top 10 million this year, much of the increase due to the World Cup. The challenge will be to build on that in 2011 — when there won’t be a World Cup — and keep building to reach a goal of 14 million by 2014.

Jabu Mabuza, chairman of SA Tourism’s board and chief executive of a national hotel and casino chain, said the key is getting World Cup visitors to return, and bring friends and family.

The World Cup is “the biggest billboard we can ever get,” Mabuza said. Saunders, Grant Thornton’s director of strategic solutions, said the World Cup alone won’t solve South Africa’s economic problems. Grant Thornton estimates that 480,000 fans will come for the World Cup, and Saunders has seen estimates they will contribute less than 1 percent to the country’s GDP. “We still need the 6 to 7 percent growth, and we’re not anywhere near that,” she said.

Economist Stefan Szymanski and sportswriter Simon Kuper, whose study of the economic impact of big sporting events was published last year as “Soccernomics,” question whether hosting a World Cup is the most efficient way of revitalizing an economy, especially in a country like South Africa that had to start from scratch for so much of the infrastructure.

But Mazibuko said much of the new infrastructure was in the pipeline, with work speeded for the World Cup. Because prices can only be expected to rise, getting the new roads early meant they were cheaper, Mazibuko said.

Mazibuko said that because of the nationwide renovation, South Africa can now set its sights on hosting the Olympics.

“I’m of the view that South Africa has the capacity to do it,” Mazibuko said. “I really feel that we can only grow.”—AP

SOUTH AFRICA: In this Saturday Feb. 20, 2010 photo children sit behind a fence with an old soccer ball in Shoshanguwe, north of Pretoria. While crime is a concern, poverty is a greater worry for most South Africans. More than 40 per cent live below the poverty line with a quarter of the workforce being unemployed.—AP

Rustenburg shaping up as quietest World Cup city RUSTENBURG: Football fans with an interest in nature reserves, old churches and platinum mines will enjoy Rustenburg.

Those looking for a party atmosphere should probably look elsewhere.

Built on the wealth of mines centered on the most platinumrich region in the world,

Rustenburg is an early-rising, early-to-bed town with limited nightlife. Not surprising since the city’s name in Afrikaans means “town of rest.”

Still, fans attending the six World Cup matches scheduled for Royal Bafokeng Stadium will at least have the famous, formerly blacklisted, Sun City holiday and

entertainment resort just a 45minute drive away. And the bustling city of Johannesburg is a relatively easy 165 kilometers (100 miles) to the southeast.

Rustenburg itself is in the foothills of the Magaliesburg Mountains at the heart of the savannah bushveld. While the 45,000-seater Royal Bafokeng

Stadium is well below the highest point of the mountain range, it is still at what could be a testing altitude for teams at 1,500 meters (4,905 feet).

The altitude means the city gets very cold at night during the southern hemisphere winter when the World Cup is staged.

Lows of about 2 degrees Celsius

(35 degrees Fahrenheit) are common and daytime temperatures hover at about 16 degrees C (61 degrees Fahrenheit).

Rustenburg has almost all-year sunshine, however, and rainfall is usually limited to the summer.

Originally a stadium for the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the Royal Bafokeng is actually in Phokeng,

which is a drive out of the city. The venue was used for last year’s Confederations Cup, so the United States already has experienced it.

The Americans return on Day 2 of the World Cup to meet England in the first round, 60 years after they famously upset a star-studded English lineup at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.—AP

Estudiantes top group

PERU: Argentina’s Estudiantes de la Plata’s Mauro Bosselli (right) fights for the ball with Peru’s Juan Aurich’s Jesus Alvarez at a Copa Libertadores soccer game. —AP

Lyon restore pride in all-French affair LYON: Olympique Lyon reminded Girondins Bordeaux they were still alive and the rest of Europe they could still be a threat in the Champions League with their victory in a thrilling first leg of the all-French quarter-final.

With many eyes focused on Tuesday’s more glamorous clash between Bayern Munich and Manchester United, won 2-1 by the German side, the French teams offered an exciting, free-flowing contest on the Gerland pitch.

Lyon won the game 3-1 courtesy of two goals from Argentine Lisandro Lopez but also thanks to shaky defending by their visitors and great saves from France keeper Hugo Lloris, taking a clear advantage into the second leg in Bordeaux next week.

There was plenty at stake for Lyon, who had won seven Ligue 1 titles in succession before surrendering their crown

to Bordeaux last year, and they used the match to show their rivals they could still teach them a thing or two.

“It was a spectacular game with a good result for Lyon,” Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas, whose side stunned heavyweights Real Madrid in the previous round, told reporters. “It was really a high quality match with both sides looking for a knockout and plenty of goals.”

Aulas, who used his entrepreneurial skills to turn Lyon from a sleepy provincial outfit into the measure of all things in France, thought the second leg would be equally as exciting. “We will go to Bordeaux to score,” he added. “We could witness another great match there as well.”

While shining in Europe, Bordeaux have slowed down significantly in domestic action since the start of the year.

Although they still top the standings with two games in hand, they now have several sides breathing hard down their necks, among them Lyon.

Ironically, they played better on Tuesday than they had for a while but Lyon’s greater experience made the difference.

There is also a question mark over Bordeaux’s ability to handle big matches, already raised when they lost 3-1 to Olympique Marseille in the French League Cup final on Saturday.

“It’s a long time since I hadn’t seen Bordeaux play that well,” Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc told reporters. “But we were too nervous at the back and that was the problem. We’re a young team.

We still need to gain experience.” Blanc can take encouragement from the fact that Lyon will miss Lisandro and fellow forward Sidney Govou through suspensions for the return leg.—Reuters

BUENOS AIRES: South American champions Estudiantes beat Peru’s Juan Aurich 2-0 away to return to the top of Group Three in the Libertadores Cup on Tuesday.

Man-of-the-match Jose Sosa brilliantly beat three men at close quarters in the box and squared the ball for striker Gaston Fernandez to open the scoring in the 51st minute.

Midfielder Rodrigo Brana then superbly beat goalkeeper Diego Morales with a lob from the centre circle in the 67th minute to make the result safe.

Juan Aurich had central defender Jesus Alvarez sent off in the 85th minute and striker Luis Tejada dismissed in injury time. Estudiantes took the first half to get used to the synthetic Elias Aguirre pitch in Chiclayo and control the home side’s speedy forwards before imposing their well organised game.

The Argentine side have taken 10 points from five matches. They are two ahead of Peru’s Alianza, who can reclaim the lead if they beat eliminated Bolivar of Bolivia at home next week. Juan Aurich have six points and Bolivar one.

In Group Four, 10-man Lanus of Argentina snatched a 1-1 draw away to Paraguay’s Libertad in a poor match at the Defensores del Chaco stadium in Asuncion.

Libertad left back Adalberto Roman surprised Lanus when he stole in behind the defence on the right to head home a free kick to the far post.

The Argentine side’s Paraguayan striker Santiago Salcedo was sent off in the 40th minute for a second booking.

With seven minutes remaining, Lanus left back Maximiliano Velazquez stunned Libertad goalkeeper Bernardo Medina when he lobbed him with a shot from a narrow angle when the home defence were expecting a cross.

The group is led by Libertad with nine points from five matches. Peru’s Universitario are second with eight points and a match in hand. Lanus have seven points while Bolivia’s Blooming have none.—Reuters

GERMANY: Bayern Munich’s scorers Ivica Olic (right) and Franck Ribery celebrate in this file photo during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match against Manchester United. —AP

Bayern’s victory boosts treble talk MUNICH: The confidence gained from Bayern Munich’s 2-1 Champions League victory over Manchester United on Tuesday could be the key ingredient for the German team in their bid for an unprecedented treble.

Bayern’s quarter-final first leg success came in the middle of what coach Louis van Gaal has labelled the “weeks of truth” with their German championship chances essentially being decided in the next two games.

The Bavarians, who are also in the German Cup final, face Bundesliga leaders Schalke 04 on Saturday and then fellow title contenders Bayer Leverkusen with the United return leg squeezed in between. “This win was hugely important for our confidence,” said Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. “Now we should not think of the return leg next Wednesday but our minds should be just on Saturday.”

Bayern have suffered two consecutive league defeats and are two points behind Schalke and three ahead of Leverkusen.

The battling win against United, with Bayern coming back from a goal down to score twice in the second half, including Ivica Olic’s last-gasp winner, sent a warning to their domestic rivals.

“We are still competing for three titles and I want to win all of them,” van Gaal said before the United match.

They must now show the fighting spirit exhibited on Tuesday but lacking in their league defeats to Eintracht Frankfurt and VfB Stuttgart to remain in contention for a treble of titles. The confident talk is in stark contrast to 12 months ago when Bayern were out of the running for the league title and suffered a humiliating 5-1 aggregate defeat to Barcelona at the same stage of the Champions League.

“We now have a chance to go past United,” van Gaal told reporters, quick to point out that Bayern are going into the Schalke match with no injury concerns.

Despite Bayern eyeing a last four place in the Champions League for the first time since they won the competition in 2001, the domestic title has been more on the coach and board’s mind as van Gaal consistently played down his team’s chances against United.

For this reason, Dutch winger Arjen Robben did not play on Tuesday, with van Gaal fearful a minor muscle injury could worsen and his best player this season could end up missing the key Bundesliga matches. —Reuters

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Man United’s season teeters on the edge PARIS: It wasn’t just Wayne Rooney’s ankle that turned painfully on the turf in Germany.

The whole of Manchester United’s season is teetering on the edge of disaster after it succumbed to Bayern Munich in the Champions League and its vitally important striker hobbled on crutches out of the arena.

Until Tuesday night, and largely because of Rooney, United’s parsimonious decision last year to sell Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid in the offseason and not buy a like-forlike replacement for the Portuguese goal-scorer hadn’t really seemed to matter.

United manager Alex Ferguson said he wasn’t willing to spend silly sums on a worldclass star — someone, for instance, like Bayern’s Franck Ribery, whose darting runs exposed United on Tuesday and who scored the first of its two goals.

Fans, meanwhile, worried that the real reason why Ferguson largely held on to the millions that Real forked out was because United’s American owners needed the money to soak up some of the club’s huge debts.

Whatever the truth, Rooney ensured that the loss of Ronaldo was quickly forgotten. As Rooney rained in goals, United’s underlying problems could be pushed onto the backburner.

No longer. The coming weeks, when trophies and leagues are decided, will be surgeon-like in exposing the weaknesses in clubs across Europe — quite possibly including United if Rooney is absent for long.

In France, Bordeaux was cruising just weeks ago but now could finish empty-handed unless manager Laurent Blanc, spoken of as a possible eventual replacement for Ferguson at United, can rally his side.

The French champions lost the League Cup final to Marseille last Saturday. Their unbeaten Champions League run this season ended with a 3-1 quarterfinal first- leg loss in Lyon on Tuesday. Their French league lead, a comfortable nine points at the start of 2010, has melted like winter snow.

In Italy, Jose Mourinho hung out a “for hire” sign after AS Roma beat his Inter Milan side 2-1 last weekend to move within a point of the Serie A leader with seven games remaining.

The former Chelsea manager has always had an inflated opinion of himself and his shameless angling for another job before Inter’s Champions League quarterfinal against CSKA Moscow on Wednesday put his own interests before those of his team.

“I’m not happy in Italian football,” Mourinho said. “I don’t like it and they don’t like me.

Simple.” Either Real Madrid or FC Barcelona will win Spain’s lopsided league, as one of them has done every year since

Valencia was champion in 2004.

Yet Real’s expensively assembled squad has yet to convince. Already eliminated from the competition, the closest it will come to the Champions League trophy this season will be when it lends its stadium for the May 22 final.

Rooney twisted his ankle at the end of United’s 2-1 loss to Bayern and hobbled off, supported under the arms by United staff. Whether his injury is bad wasn’t immediately clear, but even a sprain that sidelines him for a week or two could be fatal for United, because now is when Ferguson needs his goals most.

Of the six Premier League matches United has left, none are more important than against second placed Chelsea this weekend. A loss could sink United’s prospects of a fourth consecutive title.

And unless it can score at least one goal when Bayern travels to Old Trafford in the return leg of their quarterfinal next week, United will be out of the Champions League.

Rooney has carried United this season, scoring 34 — or one-third — of its 107 goals. His very presence makes defenders nervous. Now 24, married and a father, Rooney is no longer the short-tempered player he was once. But because Ferguson has tailored so much of his attack around the striker, turning United into something of a oneman team, losing Rooney for any length of time could be hard to compensate for.

United’s only other player in double figures this season is Dimitar Berbatov, who has 12 Premier League goals but none in the Champions League.

Chelsea defenders, for one, wouldn’t be as worried about containing Berbatov as they would be about the more physical and consistently dangerous Rooney.

It was Rooney, with a header in the final, who secured United its only trophy so far this season, the League Cup. But Ferguson probably wouldn’t keep his toothbrush in that shiny memento. It is not a competition he cares about passionately like the lucrative Champions and Premier Leagues, for which he needs Rooney to win.

A consolation for Ferguson is that United rarely plays as poorly as it did in Munich. The team lacked the competitive hunger that is a trademark of his sides.

It was bullied and sloppy in midfield and defense and would have suffered a much heavier loss had Bayern done better at putting good chances into the net.

A master motivator, Ferguson will tell his players that they are capable of far better and he will be crossing all of his fingers and toes that Rooney is available to score their goals.

Otherwise, selling Ronaldo might not appear to have been such good business. — AP

LONDON: Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas (second right) competes for the ball with Barcelona’s (from left, Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets and Seydou Keita) during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match. — AP

Arsenal comeback stuns Barcelona LONDON: Arsenal came off the ropes to secure a 2-2 draw with Barcelona that kept their Champions League dream alive in the most unlikely fashion on an exhilarating night at the Emirates.

Having completely outclassed their hosts for much of the first half, the defending champions appeared to be cruising into the last four after two goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the early stages of the second period.

But Theo Walcott’s strike and a late penalty from Cesc Fabregas set the stage for a tensionfilled second act in the Nou Camp next week.

Barca will be without both their first-choice centrebacks for the return leg with Gerard Pique, who was booked here, and Carles Puyol, who was sent off for the foul on Fabregas that led to Arsenal’s equaliser, both ruled out by suspension.

Arsenal will scarcely be in better shape however with Fabregas also suspended after picking up a booking here and William Gallas and

Andrey Arshavin both forced off with injuries.

From the outset it was clear that Lionel Messi, Xavi and co. regarded the wide spaces and immaculate surface of the Emirates as an invitation to party.

For more than 20 minutes, the home side was restricted to the exhausting pursuit of shadows that is more commonly the lot of visitors to north London.

That Arsenal survived the torrid opening unscathed was largely down to Manuel Almunia, who threw himself full length to deny Sergio Busquets, deflected a Messi effort over the bar with his legs and then pushed out a strong lefthand to deny Ibrahimovic, blocking Xavi’s follow-up for good measure.

Profligacy also contributed to the lack of a breakthrough, notably from Ibrahimovic, who lifted a sixth minute chance over the the bar from the edge of the six-yard box and then found the side netting after Thomas Vermaelen’s slip had allowed him

to run clear of Arsenal’s back four.

Arsenal conjured up their first moment of menace in the 23rd minute, Samir Nasri sidestepping Daniel Alves on the corner of the penalty area before curling a shot narrowly beyond the far post with Victor Valdes, the Barca goalkeeper, struggling to cover.

There was also a reminder of Barcelona’s vulnerability in the air when Nicklas Bendtner got free on the right and sent in a cross that Abou Diaby, having outjumped Gerard Pique, nodded wide.

There was a palpable sense of relief among the home supporters that their team reached the interval on level terms.

Within 30 seconds of the restart however, Barcelona were in front thanks to a Pique punt that caught both Alex Song, who had been redeployed to centreback following the exit of Gallas, and Almunia badly out of position.

Allowed a free run through the inside right channel, Ibrahimovic had his mind made up for

Inter defeat CSKA to take slim lead MILAN: Inter Milan will take a slender lead to the Luzhniki Stadium next Tuesday after beating CSKA Moscow 10 at the San Siro here yesterday in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

‘Il Principe’ Diego Milito scored the only goal of the game during an Inter siege in the second half after a thoroughly forgettable first 45 minutes.

Jose Mourinho’s team, listless in the first period, were unrecognisable after the break and will be disappointed to have managed only the one goal.

That it stayed 1-0 was thanks largely to goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, a reported target for Manchester United who will have bolstered his burgeoning reputation with this performance.

In the first quarter of an hour there was little to get excited about although Wesley Sneijder made sure Akinfeev was awake from a free-kick and then Sergei Ignashevich returned the compliment for Julio Cesar.

The first real opportunity came on 22 minutes as Goran Pandev hit a rising shot from almost 25 yards that sailed just over the bar.

Moments later Japan star Keisuke Honda teed up Milos Krasic in a great shooting position inside the box but the Serbian midfielder shanked his effort miles off target.

Nine minutes before the break Samuel Eto’o jinked into the CSKA area but his shot hit Esteban Cambiasso, who was in an offside position, and that really summed up a disjointed and dire first half.

Mourinho must have said something to his players at half-time because Inter finally got going an hour in af ter a dreadful clearance from C SKA fell straight to Cambiasso 25 yards out and he fed the marauding Dejan Stankovic — but the Serbian got the ball caught between his feet and his poked finish was straight at Akinfeev.

The hosts were playing with more urgency and intensity and Pandev brought a flying one-handed save out of Akinfeev with a curling shot while the goalkeeper then plunged low to his right to hold onto an Eto’o effort.

The sudden surge of pressure told on 65 minutes as Sneijder passed to Milito, who found the bottom right hand corner from the edge of the area.

Next up it was the turn of veteran

him by Almunia’s charge off his line and duly lifted the ball over the goalkeeper.

Only a superb stop from Valdes prevented Bendtner from heading Arsenal back into the contest after a fine cutback from Gael Clichy.

But it was no surprise when Barca extended their lead shortly afterwards. Xavi was the instigator, clipping a delicate through ball into the area and Ibrahimovic produced an emphatic finish to beat Almunia at his near post.

Wenger’s response was to throw Walcott into the fray and the England winger’s introduction yielded an almost immediate result that will have been noted by the watching Fabio Capello.

Typically neat build-up work culminated in Bendtner playing Walcott in behind Puyol and the winger’s shot managed to slither under Valdes’s dive.

Arsenal had secured a lifeline and they took a firmer grip on it with five minutes left after Fabregas, attempting to latch on to a Bendtner knockdown, was impedged by Puyol. — AFP

Preview

Fulham enjoying best run in Europa League

ITALY: Inter Milan Argentine forward Diego Milito (left) celebrates with his teammate Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon after scoring during a Champions League quarterfinal, first leg soccer match between Inter Milan and CSKA Moscow. — AFP centre-half Marco Materazzi to head over from a free-kick.

Inter were now rampant and Pandev played a one-two with Milito before rounding Akinfeev but Aleksei Berezutski got back to hack his shot off the line on 71 minutes.

Sneijder had a golden opportunity to double the lead on 84 minutes as Eto’o

found him free on the left hand side of the area but instead of shooting left footed he pulled the ball back onto his right and then fired it wide of the near post.

Two minutes later and Akinfeev was a double hero punching away a rifled effort from Cambiasso and then deflecting a rocket from Stankovic over the bar. — AFP

LONDON: Fulham are billing it as the biggest night in the club’s history but for Liverpool it is painful reminder that they are now operating amongst the also-rans-welcome to the Europa League quarterfinals.

Fulham take on German champions VfL Wolfsburg today in the home first leg still trying to come to terms with their astonishing 4-1 second leg victory over Juventus in the last round.

The journey that began against Vetra Vilnius last July and that has already involved 14 matches and a victory over holders Shakhtar Donetsk has been a heady one for Fulham fans and players unused to such adventure.

“They’ve done very well to get where they are, we’ve done very well to get where we are so it’s a meeting of fairly similar clubs and I’m looking forward to it,” said Fulham coach Roy Hodgson, who has turned the club round completely after taking over when relegation seemed likely two years ago.

Defender Aaron Hughes said that everyone around the club was buzzing. “You get to this stage and you do start to think that anything can happen,” he said. “Obviously it gets tougher the further you go but we haven’t got this far through luck — we’re here on merit.”

Like Fulham, Wolfsburg are enjoying their best run in a UEFA competition, though they entered this one through the side door after their Champions League groupstage exit. That was Liverpool’s route too and for fans who watched them win the Champions League in 2005 and reach the final in 2007, the Europa League is something of a comedown.

With their chances of securing Champions League football via the Premier League far from guaranteed as they face an uphill battle for fourth place, fans are reluctantly turning to the secondar y competition, which they won in 2001, to give

them something to cheer about.

The travel to Benfica on Thursday but their recent record against them is poor, having lost their last three meetings. The Lisbon club, who eliminated Olympique Marseille with a lastgasp goal in the last round, are brimming with confidence.

They beat Porto in the League Cup final then secured a six-point League lead with a win over second-placed Braga on Saturday.

The winners of that tie will play the winners of the all-Spanish match up between Valencia and Atletico Madrid.

Valencia, who won the UEFA Cup under Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, should welcome back Spain striker David Villa after he sat out Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Real Zaragoza.

He spent a night in hospital after receiving a blow to the head in last week’s 1-0 win over Malaga and was ordered to rest.

Atletico, who beat Valencia 4-1 in the league a month ago, are without in-form winger Jose Antonio Reyes and defender Juan Valera, who both picked up muscle injuries in Sunday’s 3-2 defeat at city rivals Real. The other quarterfinal sees Hamburg at home to Standard Liege, having got past another Belgian side, Anderlecht, in the previous round.

Hamburg will be without inform midfielder Marcell Jansen who has sustained an ankle injury and will be out for several weeks, even putting his World Cup hopes in doubt.

Coach Bruno Labbadia is under mounting pressure to produce results after the northern German club have won only two of the last 10 league games, dropping to sixth place, and have managed only one point from their last three matches.

With the Europa final in Hamburg this year the club is desperate to redeem themselves for a disappointing Bundesliga season with a European title on home soil. — Reuters

KES and CFA Kuwait announce MOU

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ABYAT launches furniture showroom

Germany agrees tax on banks as crisis buffer

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Bharti gains after Zain deal, eyes on execution Telecoms firm needs to work on regulatory approvals

NAIROBI: A Zain store displays mobile phones in the Kenyan capital Nairobi yesterday.

Indian telecoms tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal has finally achieved his dream of breaking into the African market with a $10.7-billion deal to buy Kuwait-based Zain’s Africa assets. —AFP

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel’s billionaire chairman Sunil Mittal has signed on the dotted line to pay $9 billion for Kuwaiti telco Zain’s mobile operations in 15 African operations.

Now he has to make the deal work. Bharti must win regulatory clearance in key markets such as Nigeria for what is India’s second biggest overseas acquisition after Tata Steel’s $13 billion buy of Corus in 2007 — and turn around the loss-making assets.

The deal, which makes Bharti the world’s No 5 wireless firm by subscribers with a presence in 18 countries, brings tough financial and management challenges for a company scrambling to defend its lead in a fiercely competitive home market.

“A big challenge is streamlining operations across all these countries with limited resource availability,” said Kamlesh Bhatia, principal analyst at research fir m Gartner. “They also have to turn the company around in the fastest time possible.”

Bharti shares rose as much as 2.7 percent yesterday after the company signed agreements with

Zain in Amsterdam late on Tuesday. By 1015 GMT, the stock was up 0.3 percent in a slightly easier Mumbai market.

The deal brings Bharti 42 million new subscribers and a combined estimated annual revenue of $3.6 billion in a business that was loss-making for the first nine months of last year.

“The main challenge for Bharti lies in raising revenues and adding subscribers as Zain has been losing both in some of the countries,” said Amit Ahire, analyst with Ambit Capital.

Bharti uses outsourcing and network-sharing to keep costs low and focuses on generating high network usage, rather than the more popular ARPU (average revenue per user) model- squeezing more revenue out of each customer. It will look to bring its “minutes factory” model to Africa, where it is untested.

Bharti already has a taste of some of the potential obstacles that lie ahead in Africa. The gover nment of the small central African nation of Gabon has come out against the deal, saying Zain Gabon had not complied with reg-

ulations, and it reserved the right to take “all necessary measures”.

There is also a dispute about minority ownership of Zain’s operations in Nigeria, the biggest market in the deal. Econet is seeking to overturn a 2006 deal by Zainthen called Celtel-in which it bought a majority stake in Nigerian mobile operator Vee Networks Ltd, now Zain Nigeria.

There are seven different lawsuits being heard in various courts across countries such as Nigeria, Britain and the Netherlands on the Nigeria issue, according to a BNP Paribas report.

“Gabon is a very small market and in most cases regulators can always be dealt with. But Nigeria is a bigger stumbling block because it’s a key market and shareholders are always trickier to deal with,” said Gar tner’s Bhatia.

Mittal, who is a step nearer his goal of making Bharti a global operator, particularly in emerging economies-he twice failed recently to buy South Africa’s MTN has said Bharti will work with regulators and expected “tremendous support” in countries including

Gabon.

Bhar ti would also talk to minority shareholders in Zain Nigeria, he said. Many telecoms industry experts reckon Bharti is paying over the odds with its $9 billion in cash. After assuming $1.7 billion of debt on Zain’s books, the deal is valued at around 10 times EBITDA, more than Bharti’s own valuations. Bharti has secured debt of up to $8.5 billion from a clutch of lenders to fund the deal, and may have to spend more to expand networks that analysts say have been underinvested for years. The success of Bharti’s “minutes factory” model will depend on deepening networks and upgrading technologyall at a price.

After the deal, Bharti’s gearing is seen rising to more than 2 times EBITDA, from 0.4 times now.

On top of that, Bharti must spend to compete in next week’s third-generation (3G) spectrum auction in India, which analysts estimate could cost up to $2 billion. Building 3G networks across sprawling India will cost billions of dollars more. —Reuters

US private Kuwait KIPCO has enough cash to cover debt: Official sector sheds more jobs in March NEW YORK: US private employers unexpectedly shed more jobs in March, dampening hopes for job growth ahead of Friday’s key employment report.

Adding to the day’s weaker sentiment, US Midwest business activity expanded less than expected in March while a gauge of New York City business conditions fell, separate reports showed yesterday.

US private employers cut 23,000 jobs in March, missing expectations for an increase in jobs although fewer than the adjusted 24,000 jobs lost in February, according to the data by a private employment service.

“It throws a little cold water on the idea we were going to be adding jobs in March, which is a little disappointing, people thought finally this might be the month,” said John Canally, investment strategist and economist for LPL Financial in Boston.

The median forecast in a Reuters poll of 82 analysts calls for payrolls to rise by 190,000 in the month, but a forecast of 20 most-accurate economists polled by Reuters is for slightly more optimistic gains of 200,000.

Job creation is considered key to keeping the economic recovery alive. A March payrolls rise would mark just the second time jobs have increased since December 2007, when the recession started.

The median of estimates from 35 economists surveyed by Reuters for the ADP Employer Services report, jointly developed with Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, was for a rise of 40,000 private-sector jobs this month.

US stocks were down slightly following the ADP data, while the dollar fell against the euro and US government debt prices rose.

The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago business barometer slipped to 58.8 in March from 62.6 in February. Economists forecast the index at 61. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the regional economy. Meanwhile, the Institute for Supply Management-New York’s seasonally adjusted index of current business conditions fell to 60.6 in March from a revised 78.1 in February. The 50 level separates growth from contraction.

In a slightly more upbeat report, the C o m m e rc e D e p a r t m e n t s a i d n e w orders received by US factories rose for the sixth straight month in February. The number was slightly more than expected.

Other economic data showed US mortgage applications rose in the latest week for the first time in three weeks as demand for home purchase loans reached the highest level since October. —Reuters

KUWAIT: Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO) has enough cash to cover the fir m’s debt over the coming three years, the company’s vice chairman said in a statement yesterday.

“At a group level KIPCO is in a very strong position and has enough cash to cover all its debt due in the next three years,” Faisal Al-Ayyar said. KIPCO, Kuwait’s largest investment fir m, expects to be profitable in 2010, Ayyar added.

“[Growth in 2010 will be] seven to ten percent above what we achieved last year.”

Earlier this month, Kipco said it had plans to sell pension products worth up to $500 million in the first five years of operation of its pensions firm. KIPCO owns stakes in 50 companies and operates in 21 countries.

Meanwhile, Standard and Poor’s has lowered the rating of Kuwait’s biggest private holding firm Kuwait Projects

Co. for a second time in a week, but with a stable outlook, a statement said yesterday.

S and P downgraded KIPCO’s longterm and short-term corporate credit ratings from “BBB” to “BBB -” and from A-2 to A-3, respectively. L ast week, S and P lowered KIPCO’s longterm corporate credit rating to “BBB” from “BBB+” over deterioration of its investment portfolio.

“The downgrade reflects our view

that KIPCO’s financial risk profile is weakening as a result of the company depositing a relatively significant share of its cash balances at its banking subsidiaries,” S and P said.

KIPCO’s investment portfolio is now concentrated in two entities, pay-TV Orbit-Showtime and investment bank United Gulf Bank, which together account for 62 percent of KIPCO’s value at the end of last year, the agency said.

“The concentration of these two investments weighs negatively on KIPCO’s portfolio risk profile,” it said.

“Never theless, we take a positive view of KIPCO’s investment discipline throughout a difficult period for equity markets, which we believe supports its stand-alone credit profile,” it added.

The stable outlook reflects “our belief that KIPCO will maintain appropriate asset coverage of debt for the rating level,” S and P said. —Agencies

SEATTLE: A Boeing Co 787 airplane is towed to the tarmac after coming in for a landing at Boeing Field in Seattle. Factory orders rose in February, bolstered by strong demand for industrial machinery and commercial aircraft. —AP

Abu Dhabi-based fund bets on ‘reasonable’ Gulf valuations DUBAI: Abu Dhabi-based Invest AD believes valuations in the Gulf Arab markets have come down to “reasonable” levels as it launches two openended funds seeking to tap growth opportunities in the region.

Mohammed Salih AlHashemi, head of asset management, said Invest AD’s newly launched GCC Focus Fund will invest across the Gulf in stocks with strong fundamentals while its MENA Dynamic Fund will use technical tools to gain from shortterm market moves.

“Valuations have come down to reasonable levels, and

that presents us with some great oppor tunities in the region and a sweet entry point for investors,” Hashemi told Reuters in an interview.

Most Middle East indices lagged emerging markets in 2009 with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index gaining more than 78 percent, significantly outper for ming the MSCI Arabian Markets Index which gained 22 percent. Hashemi believes that increased risk appetite among international investors coupled with the fact that emerging markets like India and Brazil have shot up significantly should benefit frontier markets in the Gulf

region.

“Emerging markets have already seen good per formance. Due to the growing confidence and risk taking globally we are seeing an increased interest in our markets as well,” he said.

Hashemi said he was bullish on banks and other financial firms in Qatar due to the government backing enjoyed by these firms. The fund also preferred petrochemical stocks in the region, he said.

“The Qatari Government has been ver y proactive in ensuring the health and growth of the overall economy and also by supporting key compa-

nies and banks,” he said.

In Saudi Arabia, the fund was looking at investments in companies in the consumer staples and petrochemicals sector which were not impacted by the financial crisis.

The Saudi gover nment’s spend on infrastructure was another factor favoring investments in the region, he said.

Infrastr ucture spending in Saudi Arabia is expected to rise with a recent study showing a need for 1 million household units in the next three years.

Hashemi believes that last week’s plan by the Dubai government to inject $9.5 billion

into its debt-laden Dubai World conglomerate will help improve confidence among foreign investors towards the region. Both the open-ended funds were incepted a year ago but launched last week, the asset manager said.

The funds were provided with seed capital from Invest AD which helped to track performance before its launch.

The performance of the funds during the one-year period has been encouraging, Hashemi said. “Our per for mance exceeds all the other 31 GCC funds in the region,” he said.

Invest AD, formerly known as Abu Dhabi Investment

Company, is targeting high net worth individuals and institutions in the region and internationally for the two funds.

“We will continue to raise assets for these funds until we reach a point where it becomes difficult to trade in and out of these funds. But we are still far away from that,” he said.

Invest AD is owned by Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), which focuses on countries closer to home and is a separate entity from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. —Reuters

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BUSINESS

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Plan to support professional development within investment community

TMC, Mazda agree to hybrid system technology license

Kuwait Economic Society and CFA Kuwait announce MOU KUWAIT: CFA Kuwait, the national chapter for CFA Institute, the world’s pre-eminent association of investment professionals, and Kuwait Economic Society (KES), an independent non-government organization and one of Kuwait’s oldest professionals societies are KES was founded in 1970 as a professional and intellectual initiative. It has actively supported and assisted CFA Kuwait since the latter was established in 2008, sharing many similar ideals and objectives.

Since then, CFA Kuwait has subsequently seen its membership increase by 50%, ensuring that 11% of CFA members in the Gulf are from Kuwait.

These figures are expected to grow substantially as Kuwait’s investment markets continue to expand.

Much of the work currently being undertaken by CFA Kuwait to assist in the development of the investment industry in the country MR Raghu, President of CFA reflects KES wider aspirations to Kuwait

KUWAIT: Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and Mazda Motor Corporation (Mazda) have reached an agreement on the supply under license of hybrid technology used in the Toyota Prius.

Leveraging this agreement, Mazda plans to combine the hybrid system with its next-generation SKY engine that is currently under development, and develop and manufacture a hybrid vehicle in Japan. Mazda is aiming to commence sales of a hybrid vehicle starting in Japan by 2013.

Positioning response to environmental issues as a management priority, TMC began sales of the Prius, the world’s first mass-production hybrid vehicle, in 1997. Since then, over 2.3 million TMC-produced hybrid vehicles have been delivered to customers in over 70 countries and regions.

TMC recognizes the importance of benefiting the environment by encouraging the popularization of its eco-friendly technologies, which are represented by its hybrid systems.

Accordingly, TMC has announced that it will consider requests from other companies to supply hybrid technology.

Through this partnership, each company intends to offer technologies and products with outstanding environmental benefits to as many people as possible.

TMC, which launched the Toyota Prius as the world’s first mass-produced hybrid vehicle in 1997 and has now sold more than

pleased to announce a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) to provide organizational support and to help drive education and broaden awareness within the investment and other associated sectors here in Kuwait.

“It is further evidence of CFA foster and encourage continued economic growth within the national Institute’s continued ambition to build strong working partnerships economy.

As CFA Kuwait seeks to promote with key organizations around the ethics, education and the impor- Gulf in order to ensure that the tance of good, strong corporate gov- investment community in the ernance, so KES has sought to cre- region continues to develop to the ate opportunity and greater under- very highest international stanstanding across the business com- dards.”

Dr Rola Dashti, Chairperson at munity, government, parliament and Kuwait Economic Society added: other organizations.

Commenting on the new agree- “As an international organization ment, MR Raghu, President of CFA with a strong educational element Kuwait said: “The Kuwait Economic as part of its principal charter, we Society has been hugely supportive can learn a lot from CFA Institute.

“It represents much of what we of what we are trying to achieve.

This MOU will bring significant were established to deliver so we benefits to CFA Kuwait, as well as are delighted to be able to work to our members and we very much together to promote best practice here in Kuwait.” look forward to working together.

Saudi cement profit margins to decline in 2010: Report JEDDAH: Cement sales in Saudi Arabia are likely to rise 19 percent in 2010 but prices are expected to drop, dragging profit margins down as new entrants, combined with a partial export ban, increase market saturation, NCB Capital said.

“We expect gross margins of 53.8 percent in 2010 compared to 54.3 percent in 2009,” NCB Capital, the investment arm of Saudi Arabia’s biggest lender, National Commercial Bank, said in a report.

Cement sales are expected to reach 44 million tons this year, the report said, as the country is undertaking multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects. “Domestic cement sales volumes increased by 23 percent in 2009 and we expect this to expand a further 19 percent in 2010.”

Saudi cement companies are considered among the most profitable globally as they benefit from low energy and feedstock costs.

In 2008, the government imposed an export ban to curb cement prices, which soared as producers sought more lucrative offers abroad. The ban, coinciding with the launch of new production lines, saturated the local market and led prices to fall. There are currently 12 cement companies in the kingdom, eight of them listed on the bourse, with an annual production capacity of 48 million tons. Total sales volume in 2009 did not exceed 38 million tons, NCB said.

“We expect the ongoing excess supply situation to lead to lower pricing and ultimately to margin pressure for the incumbent cement companies ... The incumbents lost 20 percent market share through 2008 and 2009 as new companies entered the market and we expect this to continue,” it said.

Production capacity is expected to increase to 51 million tons this year as three new cement companies are expected to start operation. “We believe capacity in the Saudi cement sector will continue to exceed demand. This concern is exacerbated by the ongoing conditional export ban which we believe is unlikely to be completely lifted in the short term,” NCB Capital said. — Reuters

200,000 hybrid vehicles worldwide, is committed to helping preserve the Earth’s environment and has openly pursued a policy of broadly sharing its environmental technologies. In 2002, for example, TMC and Nissan Motor Co, Ltd concluded a basic agreement on the long-term, continuous transaction of hybrid systems including technical cooperation.

Hybrid vehicles, which have been characterized by their environmental performance in terms of clean emissions and being low producers of CO2, are evolving in terms of driving performance. Thus, their demand is increasing as vehicles of new appeal for the new century.

At the same time, Ford being a 33.3% owner of Mazda’s shares and TMC concluded an agreement that covers licensing a variety of each company’s emissions purification technology patents for lean-burn engines. TMC patents licensed to Ford and Ford group companies involve TMC’s NOx storage reduction three-way catalytic converter system applicable to lean-burn engines, such as direct-injection gasoline engines or diesel engines. Ford patents licensed to TMC and TMC group companies involve NOx control and Direct Injection Spark Ignition (DISI) technology. Toyota and Ford intend to promote their environmental technologies-both in-house and by licensing them to other manufacturers upon request-to contribute to the preservation of the global environment.

‘Superbrands 2010’ status for Wataniya Telecom

The magnificent city of Alexandria

Wataniya Airways set to fly to Alexandria starting on June 1 Airline to provide four flights per week KUWAIT: Wataniya Airways, Kuwait’s premium service airline, announced yesterday that it will start a regular service to Alexandria, selected as the Capital of Arab Tourism for 2010, from June 1st. The new schedule will provide four flights a week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Monday from the exclusive Wataniya Airways Sheikh Saad Terminal to Alexandria’s Borg El Arab airport. Alexandria is Wataniya Airways’ tenth destination since the launch of its commercial operations in January 2009.

Abdulsalam Al Bahar, Chairman and Managing Director of Wataniya Airways said: “Alexandria is a historic center and a destination for culture known for its wealth of arts, cultural diversity and its historic

civilizations. We believe the launch of our new service brings many benefits for both Kuwait and Egypt and will continue to strengthen our long standing trade and tourism links.

“We have chosen Alexandria to be our tenth destination as it is a city with the rich history of several civilizations, abundant with, and characterized by, many monuments, and cultural sites.

Alexandria is our third destination in Egypt after Cairo and Sharm ElSheikh and it’s a city that continues to attract an increasing number of visitors from Kuwait and the region throughout the year, and we are happy to offer our guests a premium service option to travel to the Mediterranean city. We very much look forward to welcoming

guests on board our class leading fleet in the near future.”

Al Bahar added that “Wataniya Airways made a decision to operate its flights to the new state of the art Borg El Arab Airport in Alexandria after numerous reports of the closing of the old Al Nozha Airport at any given time, we wanted to deliver a consistent premium travel experience and believe that Borg El Arab airport allows us to do that.

The decision to fly to Borg El Arab was made to avoid any future disruption of our guests travel plans.”

The city of Alexandria is one of the world’s most attractive cities for tourists because of its culture and close associations with some of history’s greatest civilizations, especially the Greek and Roman empires.

KUWAIT: Wataniya Telecom, the leading telecom company in Kuwait once again makes headlines by getting accorded the “Superbrands 2010” status for the second consecutive year. Wataniya Telecom emerged as a Superbrand once more following rigorous assessment across well established criteria by the Superbrands Kuwait Council.

Eclipsing big names in the communication industry, telecom industry, trading industry and other sectors, Wataniya was recognized for its outstanding achievement for the year 2009-2010 among over 1300 short listed brands Brands have been short listed based on their demonstrations of high brand awareness, consumer recall, a credible reputation, corporate social responsibility programs and strong product offerings. With this principle in mind, the Superbrands organization which is acclaimed worldwide as being an “independent authority branding excellence” has bestowed out Wataniya with the Superbrand title.

Riham Al-Ayyar, Communications Manager, said “To be voted as a Superbrand is a very important acknowledgement of our performance. We are proud of the fact that Wataniya has been recognized for the second year of succession in this

Wataniya Telecom Communications Manager Riham Al-Ayyar second edition of Superbrands Kuwait. This places Wataniya amongst the strongest brands in Kuwait.”

“Superbrands is important industry recognition and this credit reflects on our continuous efforts to build upon our competencies and offer customers added value in the coming years,” Al-Ayyar added.

“Added value and a sustainable approach have always been at the core of our business philosophy. We believe that one of the key

elements of our success is our approach towards our customers. We are committed to providing our customers with the best quality of products and services at pocket friendly prices,” further concluded Al-Ayyar.

Wataniya has received an award by the Superbrands Council in Kuwait. Winning the title of the Superbrands came after a long assessment of the company’s services and performance, according to the Superbrands regulations and measurements.

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2840000 .4300000 .386000 .2690000 .2800000 .2620000 .0045000 .0020000 .0782350 .7622180 .4020000 .0750000 .7472220 .0045000 .0500000

.2940000 .4390000 .3930000 .2760000 .2880000 .2690000 .0075000 .0035000 .0790210 .7698780 .4180000 .0790000 .7547320 .0072000 .0580000

US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2878500 .4319550 .3882930 .2710660 .2819530 .0521700 .0397240 .2644890 .0370720 .2060330 .0031190 .0064320 .0025300 .0034570 .0042170 .0784090 .7639110 .4070970 .0767990 .7480340 .0063960

.2899500 .4350050 .3910350 .2729850 .2839500 .0525400 .0400050 .2663570 .0373350 .2074920 .0031410 .0064770 .0025480 .0034820 .0042470 .0789090 .7687820 .4099800 .0772880 .7528030 .0064410

US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals

TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2899500 .4350050 .2729850 .0772880

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES Japanese Yen 3.122 Indian Rupees 6.426 Pakistani Rupees 3.435

Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

2.534 4.021 207.120 37.310 4.179 6.392 8.953 0.301 0.292 GCC COUNTRIES 77.254 79.590 752.600 769.400 78.892

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound Yemen Riyal Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

ARAB COUNTRIES 55.555 52.640 1.320 207.300 409.100 194.330 6.354 35.311

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 289.550 Euro 390.500 Sterling Pound 438.520 Canadian dollar 286.300 Turkish lire 189.340 Swiss Franc 273.030 Australian dollar 265.000 US Dollar Buying 287.500 GOLD 215.000 110.000 57.500

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

SELL CASH 268.800 769.840 4.400 287.800 568.500 15.800 53.200 167.800 55.220 392.500

38.000 6.680 0.035 0.298 0.260 3.200 410.930 0.195 90.360 47.600 4.270 209.500 2.183 49.100 751.990 3.520 6.560 80.060 77.290 207.750 41.920 2.743 441.000 40.900 274.800 6.400 9.300 217.900 78.990 289.900 1.380

10 Tola

GOLD 1,200.660

Sterling Pound US Dollar

37.850 6.415

409.200 0.195 90.360 3.030 208.000

SELL DRAFT 267.300 769.840 4.180 286.300

207.700 52.652 391.000

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Cyprus Pound Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees

Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.

273.300 9.140 78.990 289.500

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Nepali rupee Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Candaian Dollars

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 439.000 289.500

289.400 288.295 441.350 393.015 270.656 709.340 766.010 78.770 79.470 77.140 408.385 52.643 6.422 3.443

2.525 4.185 6.386 3.132 8.935 6.314 3.994

Currency 751.810 3.460 6.390 79.830 77.290 207.750 41.920 2.534 439.000

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash

Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

289.150 3.455 6.445 2.540 4.180 6.430 78.790 77.280 768.300 52.555 439.100 0.00003195 3.980 1.550 410.500 5.750 395.000 290.000

Al Mulla Exchange Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

Transfer rate 289.300 391.700 440.500 286.300 3.200 6.435 52.630 2.536 4.180 6.390 3.445 769.650 78.675 77.050

BUSINESS

Thursday, April 1, 2010

23

ABYAT launches furniture showroom KUWAIT: The largest home improvement store in the Middle East, ABYAT, yesterday launched in a press conference its new exclusive furniture product lines, making ABYAT the first store in the Middle East to offer everything a home owner or renovator needs, from piping to trendy, designer furniture all under one roof.

ABYAT Operations and CRM Director, Abdullah Hussein Ghadanfar, said: “This is great news for home owners and renovators in Kuwait. Now Kuwaiti homeowners are the only ones in the Middle East who can build and furnish their homes all at one place at great prices and amazing quality. Our 22,000 square meter store enables customers to browse through over 22,000 products with ease and comfort.”

The furniture showroom brings over 7,000 new designer products to Kuwait showcased in ABYAT’s new and trendy 4,000 square meter furniture section. All designs are exclusive to ABYAT built with the highest European quality standards and come in classic, modern, and ultra contemporary designs.

The furniture section includes seven categories: living rooms, bedrooms, dining, curtains and fabrics, accessories and cutlery, carpets and canvases.

Unique to ABYAT’s furniture collection is how it empowers customers to design their homes and rooms either by mixing and matching products or purchasing pre-

From world-class piping to designer pillows • Over 22,000 products in a 22,000 square meter showroom

KUWAIT: Abdullah Ghadanfar and Yasser Hassan Abul addressing the press conference to announce the opening of Abyat furniture showroom. designed furniture sets, enabling customers to customize ABYAT’s furniture’s collection to suit their own individual tastes and home decor.

To celebrate this launch, ABYAT is offering great discounts on select furniture products as well as 10% product rebate on the total receipt

from the furniture showroom redeemed as free purchases.

Shopping at ABYAT’s megastore is an experience in itself. From inspiring assortments of tiles and stylish kitchens, to tried and tested world-class plumbing and pipes.

The state-of-the-art store is designed for easy browsing with

open spaces, high ceilings, and stunningly colorful display areas.

The store is also equipped with a trendy cafeteria for customers, a supervised play area for children, and prayer rooms, to making every visit to ABYAT Megastore a truly exciting and comfortable family experience.

KUWAIT: Zahraa Khairallah during the tour of the furniture showroom ABYAT services include project consultancy, special customer service, delivery and installation, full warranty, 3D design, and financing services with lowest prices guaranteed.

Earlier this year ABYAT launched the ‘ABYAT Academy’ in collaboration with the Kuwait

Society of Engineers (KSE), an instore do-it-yourself (DIY) academy for customers looking to learn more about ways to best build or refurbish their homes while managing costs, contractors, and suppliers.

ABYAT also supports the Engineering Department at Kuwait University and environmentally-

friendly initiatives by partnering with suppliers that uphold the same values and standards in their daily operations.

ABYAT was launched in 2008 to provide solutions for building, finishing and furnishing needs of homes owners, professionals and contractors.

Wataniya Palestine plans IPO Number of subscribers beats expectations

Even more dynamic, even more efficient The New Porsche Cayenne 7 GENEVA: Even more sporting and dynamic, even more fuelefficient, even more spacious and lighter, pointing into the future of technology and robust in its classic characteristics - the new Cayenne is more of a Porsche than ever before. Led by the Cayenne S Hybrid, the first Porsche with hybrid drive, the new generation of the Cayenne sets the standard in its class in terms of efficiency and performance. Compared with the former models fuel consumption, for example, is down by up to 23 per cent. Quite simply because the new Cayenne, like every Porsche, has been developed according to the principle of Porsche Intelligent Performance: More power on less fuel, more efficiency and lower CO2 emissions. The Cayenne is making its European debut on 8 May in no less than five different versions -so that right from the start Porsche offers each and every customer exactly the right model for his personal taste and requirements. The highlight of this change in generations is the world debut of the highly efficient Cayenne S Hybrid consuming a mere 8.2 litres/100 kilo - metres, equal to 34.4 mpg imp. At the same time the combination of a 333-bhp three-litre supercharged V6 and a 34 kW (47 bhp) synchronous electric motor offers all the performance of an eight-cylinder,

with overall system output of 380 bhp (279 kW). The entrylevel model is the 3.6-litre V6 Cayenne. Despite engine output now raised to 300 bhp, fuel consumption in the New European Driving Cycle in combination with optional eight-speed Tiptronic S is down versus the former model by 20 per cent to 9.9 ltr/100 km, equal to 28.5 mpg imp.

Thanks to the combination of materials minimised in weight and changes in the concept of the overall vehicle such as the new, active and extra-light allwheel drive, overall weight of the Cayenne S, for example, is down by a substantial 180 kg or 397 lb, despite the improve ment in product substance and an even higher standard of safety. This has positive results not just in terms of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, but also when it comes to performance, agility and handling.

The Cayenne S Hybrid is Porsche’s first production model with hybrid drive. Through its intelligent interaction of a threelitre supercharged V6 power unit and the electric motor, the Cayenne S Hybrid focuses on maximum efficiency from the vehicle’s overall driving system.

Depending on driving conditions, this is achieved, as the case may be, by only one of the drive systems operating alone, or by both units running at the same time.

RAMALLAH: Wataniya Palestine, part owned by Qatar Telecommunications Co, plans to offer 30 percent of its shares in an initial public offering (IPO) later this year, Mohammad Mustafa, head of the company’s board, told Reuters yesterday.

“We hope that this summer the company will be able to put about 30 percent of its shares in the market for the public to own,” he said. Mustafa said Wataniya Palestine had hired an advisory team to determine the share price and the date for the IPO. The shares would be offered on the Palestine Securities Exchange, based

in Nablus.

“This would help (in) deepening the Palestinian stock market. The impact of Wataniya in the market is going to be significant (to) the financial market and the economy at large,” Mustafa said.

Mustafa is head of the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), which is owned by the Palestinian Authority and is a major shareholder in Wataniya Palestine with 47 percent, alongside Qatar Telecommunications with 53 percent-stakes that will drop to 30 percent and 40 percent respectively after the IPO. Mustafa said the company, which

was launched in November as the second mobile operator in the Palestinian territories, had so far invested some $320 in infrastructure and license fees.

The other operator, Jawwal, is owned by The Palestine Telecommunications Co (Paltel).

Wataniya Palestine’s performance has so far been “very promising, very encouraging”, Mustafa said. The company had beaten expectations for subscriber growth and has more than 160,000 customers, Mustafa said.

Since the launch of the second operator, Wataniya and Jawwal have been competing in service provision and

cutting prices.

“The 160,000 figure is above expectations. We are very pleased about that. That shows clearly that the demand is there that the customer has been waiting for this operator to start providing service.

“We hope this success (will) continue and we look forward to even better results by the end of the year,” he added. The company began setting up its West Bank network three years ago but the launch was held up by factors including lengthy delays in getting equipment through Israeli customs and a struggle to obtain frequencies for the network.

Israel, which occupied the West Bank in a 1967 war, controls the airwaves of the territory, home to 2.5 million Palestinians.

Wataniya Palestine was launched without the full range of frequencies which Israel had agreed to release for it.

“I assume that this is being settled ... because the agreement with the Israeli side was that as soon as Wataniya reaches a certain level — 150,000 customers-they would be able to use (an) extra 1 MHz,” Mustafa said. “We have notified the Israeli side recently that we did reach that level and we will have to start using it.” — Reuters

Gulf Bank congratulates winners of Al-Danah draw KUWAIT: Gulf Bank launched Al-Danah 2010 with more chances for its AlDanah customers to win cash prizes throughout the year.

The Bank holds weekly, quarterly and annual prize draws for its customers, encouraging them to keep their money in their account for as long as possible to enhance their chances of winning.

The Bank held its eighth draw on March 28th, 2010, announcing a total number of 10 Al Danah weekly prize draw winners, each awarded with prizes of KD 1,000. The winners were: Fawziyah Mohammed Rashed AlMutairi, Jurmett Singh Jektar Singh, Essam Ahmad Khalil Hamooda, Mouda Majbal Bandar Khaled,

Abdulamir Wael Hassan AlMuhana, Faisal Abdulrazzak Ahmad AlBahar, Fateeman Mohamed Abd AlNabi AlSaraf, Musaaef Edrees Mubarak Ahmed, Seham Khaled Ahmed AlHajeri and Naha Sameer AlAjizy A minimum deposit of just KD200 is needed to open an Al-Danah account. Not only

does Gulf Bank’s Al Danah account allow customers to win, but it is also encourages customers to save money.

The more money deposited and the longer it is kept in the account, the more chances there are to win.

Al-Danah also offers a number of unique services including the Al-Danah Deposit Only ATM card

which helps account holders deposit their money at their convenience; as well as the Al-Danah calculator which is now in operation to help customers calculate their chances of becoming an AlDanah winner.

To be part of the Al-Danah draw customers can visit one of Gulf Bank’s 51 branches, transfer on line, or call the

Telebanking service 1805805 for assistance and guidance.

Customers can also log on to www.e-gulfbank.com, Gulf Bank’s bilingual website, to find all the information regarding Al Danah or any of the Bank’s products and services or log on www.egulfbank.com/aldanah, to find out more about Al-Danah and who the winners are.

Saudi Feb money supply Magic adds energy to NBK Walkathon growth falls for fifth month Natural drinks are an essential part of healthy living RIYADH: The annual growth in Saudi Arabia’s M3 money supply slowed in February for a fifth straight month, central bank data showed yesterday. M3, one factor potentially influencing inflation, grew 5.6 percent in February year-on-year, down from 8.3 percent in January, due mainly to a near 10 percent drop in time and savings deposits, data published by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) showed.

Demand deposits, a more liquid component of M3, rose by almost 21.6 percent in February yearon-year. Inflation in Saudi Arabia accelerated to an annual 4.6 percent in February, its highest level since June and up from 4.1 percent in January after a rise in food costs.

SAMA said last month that housing will keep inflation rising during the first quarter but a stabilization in food prices will keep it below the 1.5 percent recorded in the previous quarter.

SAMA data showed however that bank claims on the private sector rose by an annual 1.6 percent

in February to 742.1 billion riyals, and up 0.9 percent from January, their highest month-on-month jumps since August.))

The growth in bank claims on the private sector, which also includes investments in private securities, measures lender confidence in the economy’s prospects. Bank credit to the private sector, which excludes bank investment in private securities, rose by an annual 0.6 percent in February to 714.2 billion riyals up from less than 0.1 percent in January. Saudi bank credit growth was flat throughout much of 2009 due to global turmoil and after defaults by local family firms. An annual decline in SAMA’s net foreign assets fell to about 2 percent in February from 5 percent in January. These stood at 1.553.7 trillion riyals in February up from 1.535.4 trillion riyals in January and 1.584.8 trillion riyals in February, 2009.

SAMA has said it started drawing on reserves accumulated during years of high oil prices to keep the economy going. — Reuters

KUWAIT: Magic participated in the NBK walkathon held March 27, 2010 for a distance of 8 kilometers that started from the Scientific Center and ended at the Green Island.

Magic Natural Energy drink was offered to participants at the start of the Men’s and Women’s races where participants enjoyed Magic and got energy for the race. Magic had a huge presence at the finish line at Green Island. The participants and onlookers enjoyed the cold refreshing cans of Magic in the hot sun.

Loai Houran, General Manager, announced on the occasion of this participation: “healthy living starts with exercising and walking plays an important part in reducing illness and building a stronger body. This is followed by safe eating and drinking and especially natural products that help build the energy in the body and build its immune system.

Magic Natural Energy drink provides the body with energy the natural way”.

Houran added: “The NBK walkathon has become a national event and Magic

is supporting this and many other activities”.

Made from all natural ingredients, Magic Energy Drink is nature’s recipe for keeping you alert, concentrated and focused for the demands of today’s complex environment. A unique blend of selected ingredients, the Magic Energy Drink formulation works in various stages with a carefully balanced combination of Guarana - for fast acting energy and Ginseng - for long-lasting energy.

Magic provides the body with a long lasting energy boost sharpening senses, improving concentration, quickening reflexes and enhancing coordination.

This is all achieved by the utilization of natural substances.

Magic is bottled in Kuwait by AlSayer Soft Drinks Factory.

24

BUSINESS GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT

KSE faces selling pressure

Stocks fall as investors sell at quarter-end MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE), ended the last session of March 2010, registering a fall in the major indicators. While the market recorded gains of 2.88 percent for the Global General Index (GGI). GGI shed 1.67 points (-0.79 percent) during yesterday’s session to reach 210.95 points. In addition, the KSE Price Index decreased by 6.60 points (0.09 percent) and closed at 7,533.60 points. Market capitalization was down KD273.77mn yesterday to reach KD34.60bn.

Market breadth During the session, 153 companies were traded.

Market breadth was skewed towards decliners as 76 equities retreated versus 51 that advanced. A total of 83 stocks remained unchanged during yesterday’s trading session.

Trading activities ended on a negative note yesterday as volume of shares traded on the exchange decreased by 26.82 percent to reach 308.12mn shares. Furthermore, value of shares traded dropped by 7.71 percent to stand at KD73.97mn. The Investment Sector was the volume leader, accounting for 33.46 percent of total traded volume. While the Services Sector was the value leader, with 42.31 percent of total market value. Investors Holding Group Company saw 18.64mn shares changing hands, making it the volume leader. Zain was the value leader, with a total traded value of KD15.02mn.

In terms of top gainers, Education Group Holding Company was the top gainer for the day, adding 9.62 percent and closed at KD0.114.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

On the other hand, National Cleaning Company shed 8.20 percent to close at KD0.280, making it the biggest decliner in the market.

Regarding Global’s sectoral indices, they mainly ended the day on a negative note with Global Services Index being the top decliner. The index ended the day with a loss of 1.73 percent backed by heavyweight Zain ending the day down 2.86 percent and closed at KD1.360. In addition, Mubarrad Transport Company also contributed to the index’s decline by posting a 6.10 percent loss and closed at KD0.154.

Global Banking Index post-

ed a 0.67 percent decrease yesterday making it the second biggest decliner in the market. Kuwait Finance House and Boubyan Bank, the biggest decliners in the sector, ended the day down 3.45 percent and 1.89 percent, respectively.

On the other side, Global Insurance Index was the top gainer, up 2.11 percent backed

by First Takaful Insurance Company and Warba Insurance Company ending the day with gains of 8.33 percent and 4.35 percent, respectively.

Regarding Global’s special indices, Global High Yield Index was the only gainer.

The index ended the day up 0.79 percent backed by First Takaful Insurance Company.

Global Islamic Index posted a 2.22 percent decliner backed

by Kuwait Finance House.

Oil news The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $78.21 a barrel on Tuesday, compared with $77.77 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. Kuwait’s crude oil exports to Japan plunged 41.6 percent in February from a year earlier to 7.24mn barrels, or 259,000 barrels per day (bpd), for the third consecutive monthly drop,

the government said yesterday.

Market news The bank formerly known as Bank of Kuwait and the Middle East (BKME) was crossed out from the local conventional banks list and is to start its Sharia-compliant operations as of today listed as “Ahli United Bank,” said the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK). This step follows the bank’s full implementation of measures required for the conversion. It comes in compliance with the fourth article of law 30/2003 on CBK and banking regulation in the State of Kuwait.

DUBAI: Middle East markets retreated yesterday as investors closed positions at quarter-end, but declines were modest, with some analysts forecasting a rebound. “It’s the end of the quarter, so investors are closing positions and most Gulf markets are down,” said Adel Nasr from United Securities. “I believe the market will rebound tomorrow.”

The Saudi index slipped 0.2 percent, retreating for a third session in four as a fall in bank profits and a fifth straight monthly decline in money supply growth weighed on sentiment.

SABB dropped 1 percent, Arab Bank lost 1.5 percent and Al-Rajhi Bank dipped 0.6 percent. “Saudi equities ticked down today on profit-booking after the market scaled recent high levels,” said Mohammed Ishaq Ali, a fund manager at Al Rajhi Capital.

“The slowdown of money supply growth and fall in banking sector profit also reflected on market sentiments.”

Heavyweight Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) rallied late to end flat at a 17-month closing high. It is up 20.6 percent year-to-date, bolstered by rising oil prices.

Egypt’s main index fell 0.2 percent as investors switched to cash ahead of a four-day Easter weekend.

“It’s too much of a risk to stay four days and not be able to take action if any news happens,” said Mohamed Helmy of HC

Brokerage.

“So more investors would prefer to stay in cash.”

Previous holidays have coincided with the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the start of Dubai World’s debt worries.

Orascom Construction Industries dropped 0.2 percent after saying it will buy the fertilizer and melamine units of Dutch chemicals group DSM. “It’s not clear how much the new acquisition will add to the company,” Helmy said. “Basically, it’s neutral.” Zain fell 2.9 percent, its biggest drop for two weeks, after the telecoms operator said it would make a net profit of about $3.3 billion from its African asset sale. In February, Zain said it would net up to $5 billion from the deal with Bharti Airtel.

Global Investment House dropped 1.9 percent after the Kuwait bourse suspended it from today arbitration with two companies over about $50.2 million.

Air Arabia fell 9.3 percent after going ex-dividend and most other Dubai stocks struggled to advance as investors booked profits from a March index surge, gaining 15.7 percent for the month.

“The market needs to take a breather to build stronger supports and give investors confidence that it can hold around these levels,” said Ayman el-Saheb, Darahem Financial director of operations. “The longer

it takes for the market to consolidate the more sceptical investors will become.”

Industries Qatar hit a 15week intraday high, ending 1.6 percent higher, but Doha’s index edged lower.

“Market volumes are still low,” said Hesham Kalla, investment manager at Doha Bank. “Seasonally, we see this occurrence as the market ramps up prior to dividend season in anticipation of generous payouts by the local companies.”

HIGHLIGHTS SAUDI ARABIA The index slipped 0.2 percent to 6,801 points.

DUBAI The index dropped 0.4 percent to 1,843 points.

ABU DHABI The benchmark fell 0.6 percent to 2,908 points.

KUWAIT The measure dropped 0.1 percent to 7,534 points.

QATAR The index slipped 0.04 percent to 7,462 points.

EGYPT The index fell 0.2 percent to 6,806 points.

OMAN The benchmark fell 0.2 percent to 6,698 points.

BAHRAIN The index dropped 0.4 percent to 1,547 points.

— Reuters

BUSINESS

Thursday, April 1, 2010

25

Libya aims to privatise half of economy in decade TRIPOLI: Half of Libya’s economy will shift into private hands within 10 years, a privatization official said, creating opportunities for foreign investors to snap up assets in the oil-exporting country.

After decades of Socialist-style economic policy and international isolation, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has begun tentative liberalization of some parts of the economy and foreign investors are beginning to return.

The business environment remains unpredictable and decision making can be painfully slow but Libyan officials say that in the past 10 years they have privatized 110 state-owned companies — a third of the

total-and they want to go further.

“We prefer that the state withdraw from all economic activities and focus on making laws and regulations,” Abdelkarim Mgeg, head of the strategic projects department at the government’s Privatization and Investment Board, told Reuters in an interview.

“I expect that more than 50 percent of the economy will be in the hands of the private sector within the next 10 years,” he said on the sidelines of the Libya Business and Investment Summit.

“We want to put 100 percent of the economy under the control of private investors but we are still far from that goal. The speed

and time to get there depend on the appetite, capability and successes of the private sector.”

Libya’s privatization policy is not driven by a need for capital-it sits on a vast mountain of oil money. Instead, officials have said they want to attract private sector expertise to create jobs and reduce the country’s dependence on oil and gas.

It remains a challenging place for investors, especially because government rules can change without warning. For several weeks, Tripoli stopped issuing visas to most European citizens over a dispute with Switzerland. Swiss businessman Max Goeldi who ran Libyan operations for engi-

neering firm ABB is serving a four-month prison sentence in Tripoli on charges that Switzerland says are linked to a diplomatic row over a Swiss entry ban on scores of Libyan officials, including Gaddafi and his family. Libya denies any connection.

Analysts say Libya’s lingering suspicion of foreign interference, ponderous bureaucracy and opaque legal system mean it will struggle to match the rapid growth in industry and services that helped Gulf states diversify away from oil.

But Libyan officials say their country has competitive advantages including security, plentiful credit, cheap energy and proximity to Europe.

Privatization officials have said Libya had revamped its economic laws to end privileges for local investors over foreigners.

“The new legalization puts foreigners on an equal footing with local investors,” said Hashem Azwai, head of the investment department at the Privatization and Investment Board.

There are exceptions. In the banking sector, foreign ownership is capped at 49 percent and restrictions also apply in oil and gas exploration and production.

Libyan officials said the areas they are targeting for privatization are oil and gas refining, petrochemicals, tourism and services but they gave no new details on which

companies were scheduled for privatization.

Officials announced last year that shares of four state-owned companies would come up for sale through initial public offeringsmobile operators Al Madar and Libyana, Iron and Steel Company, and National Commercial Bank.

“We think the prospects for Libya are significant,” said Pervez Akhtar, a partner with law firm Allen & Overy. “They are comparable to what we have seen in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council states) over the last decade. The rewards are there. First mover advantage ... If you delay, the competitiveness will increase, so don’t delay.” — Reuters

FIs to pay up to $1.6bn annually into common pool

Germany agrees tax on banks as crisis buffer BERLIN: The German government agreed yesterday on a new tax on banks for a fund which could be used for bailouts in the event of another banking crisis, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said. Financial insti-

NEW YORK: President and CEO of Ford Alan Mulally speaks at the New York International Auto Show in New York yesterday. — AP

British island tax havens seek eastern promise ST HELIER/ST PETER PORT: The rocky islands that lie off France’s northern shores are angling for the new rich of Asia, as clampdowns on offshore tax havens and tougher regulation threaten their traditional sources of income.

Jersey and its Channel Island neighbor Guernsey, which are British, have since the 1960s thrived off financial services sold to wealthy people attracted by low, or no, tax rates and high levels of banking secrecy.

Aside from its French street names, Jersey’s capital St Helier resembles a wellto-do English suburb, with the island’s inhabitants earning an average annual salary of 31,000 pounds ($46,250), compared with around 26,000 on the British mainland.

The jobs advertised in the windows of employment agencies-Senior Private Banker, Japanese Speaking Trust Administratorspeak volumes about the source of the islands’ relative wealth.

But the finance industry, still reeling from the global banking crisis, is facing a challenge.

Bank deposits were down 25 percent in Guernsey and 20 percent in Jersey last year, while the value of investment funds in Guernsey was down 8 percent and more than 4 percent lower in Jersey.

At the same time, an international crackdown on tax avoidance through offshore banking, attacks on banking secrecy and proposed European laws on alternative investment funds are forcing the islands to look elsewhere for future prosperity. “Historically, we’ve just sat back and all the business has come to us,” said Peter Niven, head of Guernsey Finance, a publicly funded body set up to promote the island’s finance industry internationally.

“It’s a different dynamic now. We have to be out there pleading our case,” he said.

One serious worry is the threat to a burgeoning alternative private equity and hedge fund sector from proposed European Union restrictions. The EU directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers could exclude funds in the Channel islands, which are outside the union, from selling into Europe.

This could be a blow to private equity groups such as Terra Firma, based in Guernsey and run by Guy Hands who recently joined a growing colony of British tax exiles living on the island.

Both Jersey and Guernsey are responding by seeking new business in the fast-growing economies of Asia. But the push to market the financial services of two micro states to the east is proving tough. Channel Island specialities such as trusts-assets held for protection by a separate legal entity-are difficult to sell to nations like the Chinese.

“Trusts are based on a fairly esoteric branch of British law. You have to question how comfortable a first generation Beijing entrepreneur will be with the idea of handing legal title of his assets to a foreigner on an island in the Channel,” said Catherine Tillotson, head of research at Scorpio Partnership, a wealth management consultancy.

Alan Chick, a Guernsey trust professional, agrees. “It’s very difficult to persuade the Chinese to actually part with their funds....

The Chinese don’t understand (the trust) principle,” said Chick, chairman of Guernsey-based Richmond Fiduciary Group in a phone interview from Hong Kong.

Another possible growth area is to persuade more fund managers to relocate to the islands where their funds are registered, to escape higher UK taxes.

While the top tax rate in the UK is about to rise to 50 percent, income tax on rich migrants to Jersey who qualify for residency through a tough vetting process is levied at 20 percent on the first 1 million pounds of earnings, 10 percent on the next 500,000 pounds and 1 percent on the rest. Guernsey taxes income at a flat rate of 20 percent.

Neither island levies inheritance or capital gains tax.

The tax benefits need to be impressive, as in Guernsey, non-natives are limited to purchasing property from a pool of 1700 homes designated “open market” and set aside for outsiders, costing at least twice as much as “local” housing.

“It’s difficult to find your dream home on the open market,” said Matthew Henry of Guernsey estate agents Swoffers. He expects open market prices to rise further and reports a growing number of enquiries from disgruntled UK taxpayers. Guy Hands, who set up home on the island last year, bought Ocean House-newly built, equipped with the latest in electronic gadgetry and with a sea view-marketed at 8 million pounds, equal to the most expensive home ever sold here. — Reuters

The proposals “aim to draw lessons from the financial crisis and put precautions in place so that such a crisis does not occur again or does not reach the same level,” Schaeuble said.

Banks will be taxed according to their size and their importance to the overall banking sector, agreed the cabinet, also attended by French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.

A draft law should be hammered out before the German government breaks for its summer recess in midJuly, Schaeuble said, adding he hoped the legislation could pass through parliament “fairly quickly.” It was not immediately clear when the tax would come into effect but Schaeuble said: “We do not need to wait for European regulations.”

The plan aims to provide a safety net in the case of another banking crisis like the one that rocked the global industry in 2008-2009.

tutions will pay up to a combined 1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion) annually into a common pool for potential rescues if banks get into difficulty, the minister added.

BERLIN: German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble (L) and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde address a press conference in Berlin yesterday. The German government agreed on a new tax on banks for a fund which could be used for bailouts in the event of another banking crisis, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said yesterday. — AFP

Currency chaos has shaken North Korea, says analyst SEOUL: North Korea’s botched currency reform has shaken the reclusive communist regime to its core and may hasten its bankruptcy or force it to reach out to neighboring nations, analysts said yesterday.

“The currency revaluation has shaken the foundations as North Korea continues to be penetrated by the forces of globalization,” said Scott Snyder, head of the San Francisco-based Asia

Foundation’s Center for USKorea Policy.

He and other speakers at a forum on the North’s economy described the November 30 revaluation as a failure that damaged Kim Jong-Il’s regime.

“Such an overt failure might be particularly divisive within North Korea,” said Snyder, given that accomplishments over the past year were reportedly attributed to Kim’s chosen successor and third son JongUn. “The currency revaluation

fiasco has surely hastened the day when North Korea begins to move in a direction that requires even greater integration with its neighbors,” he said.

The redenomination was widely seen as another attempt to curb a burgeoning free-market economy, but it backfired disastrously according to numerous reports. North Koreans were forced to swap old banknotes for new ones at a rate of 100 to one, but the

amount that could be exchanged was restricted.

Savings were wiped out, prices soared and distribution networks were disrupted, aggravating hunger and unrest.

The regime was forced to suspend its campaign to shut private markets, the prime minister made a rare apology and the North reportedly executed a top financial official, Park NamKi, to try to quell public anger.

Professor Zhu Feng, at the Center for International and

BA-Iberia merger to be signed soon LONDON: British Airways said it would not sign a merger agreement with Spanish airline Iberia yesterday, although a deal to create the world’s third largest airline by revenue deal will be sealed soon.

“We will not sign the merger agreement with Iberia in the first quarter of 2010. This is due to technical issues that need to be resolved and we anticipate that the agreement will be signed in due course,” a BA spokesman told Reuters.

An Iberia spokesman said an agreement would be signed shortly, and that technical issues would not derail the deal. Both carriers had

previously said they would sign a definitive deal by the end of March, but BA has been distracted by recent cabin crew strikes and could face more stoppages if it cannot reach a deal with unions in a dispute over pay and jobs.

BA shares were 1.4 percent down at 241.7 pence by 1130 GMT, while Iberia was down 2.4 percent at 2.57 euros. BA and Iberia had been expected to sign a definitive deal last week, but an Iberia board meeting ended without a decision on the tie-up.

“We expect the merger to proceed, and include estimated synergies in our target

prices, but if the timetable is seen to slip, this may raise some concerns in this regard,” said Societe Generale analyst Jonathan Wober. Struggling against a sharp industry downturn and rising low-cost competition, the two loss-making airlines hope to fly the merged entity-which would only be behind Air France-KLM and Lufthansa in sales termswith 419 aircraft by the end of the year.

Industry body IATA on Tuesday said airlines were climbing out of recession with further strong increases for passenger travel and freight in February. —Reuters

A further aspect of the proposal, to make banks pay for the aid they received in the past, was shelved. “The tax we discussed today... is geared towards the future.

You should not confuse it with the past where all the states handed out financial guarantees,” said Lagarde.

Other countries are considering similar schemes.

Paris plans a tax on banks whose proceeds will flow directly into government coffers.

US President Barack Obama in January unveiled a plan to tax risky assets of big American financial institutions to recoup the cost of a bailout of the sector that cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

European Union finance ministers are due to discuss the issue at a meeting on April 16 and 17 in Madrid.

The European Commission has said it wants a “solution that is coordinated at the global level.” — AFP

HEFEI: A group of young Chinese women get final pointers on how to sit properly during final selection to be airline flight attendants in Hefei, in central China’s Anhui province. Some 9.4 million jobs were created in China’s cities during the first ten months of 2009, exceeding the goal of nine million for the entire year, state media reported. — AFP

Strategic Studies at Peking University, said the currency reform had served to “push the North Korean economy closer toward bankruptcy”.

Both the government’s price-setting system and the planned economy had “collapsed” and state restrictions on the prices of basic commodities had been a total failure, Zhu said.

“Apart from a few enterprises directly controlled by the central government, it is possible that the socio-economic system may reach a state of paralysis,” Zhu told the forum.

Professor Kim Byung-Yeon of Seoul National University said the revaluation had advanced a possible “political implosion” of the communist state.

South Korean Vice Unification Minister Um JongSik said the North was now wooing foreign investment to minimize the fallout.

“However, it would be a misunderstanding of the reality... if the North assumes it can achieve economic development while leaving the nuclear issue unsolved,” he told the forum.

Kim Jong-Il is highly likely to visit China soon, South Korea’s presidential office said Wednesday, a move that could signal his country’s return to nuclear disarmament talks involving the United States, China and others.

However, professor Jo DongHo of Seoul’s Ehwa University said it was premature to determine the revaluation a failure.

“In terms of the North’s purpose to nip capitalism in the bud, it was a success,” Jo said, adding that rice prices had halved since their peak about a month ago. — AFP

Darling says global bank tax should go to govts LONDON: G20 countries should agree a global bank tax that would go direct into national budgets, rather than into a stand-alone fund to pay for future bailouts, British finance minister Alistair Darling said yesterday.

In a letter to finance ministers from the G20 group of major economies, Darling said that measures to safeguard the financial system against future crises

needed to be globally coordinated to avoid creating loopholes or rules that were inconsistent across borders.

The International Monetary Fund will produce a report at the end of this month on how to make banks pay back some of the cost of recent intervention to stabilize the financial system, and Darling restated his support for a global bank tax or levy.

But he rejected the idea that this revenue should be kept out of politicians’ reach to cover the cost of a future crisis.

“While internationally coordinated, the proceeds of any levy should be for national governments to use,” Darling said, according to a copy of the letter provided by his office.

“A systemic risk levy should not be seen as an insurance policy to benefit

individual institutions, shareholders or creditors. To minimize moral hazard the proceeds of a levy should go into general taxation rather than a stand-alone fund,” he continued.

Britain, like most developed G20 economies, needs to significantly reduce its budget deficit which ballooned as a result of the global recession which follows the credit crunch. — Reuters

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BUSINESS

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Protests greet new round of Taiwan-China trade talks TAOYUAN, Taiwan: Taiwan and China held a new round of talks on a contentious trade pact yesterday as protesters wary of the island’s closer ties with the mainland scuffled with police and rival demonstrators.

A group of about 100 anti-China demonstrators gathered as representatives of the two sides met in a hotel in Taoyuan near the island’s capital, but were kept back by a cordon of uniformed police.

“We should protect Taiwan’s sovereignty and Taiwan’s own future,” said Chang Jaw-liang, one of the protest organizers. “Taiwan should not lean towards China.”

One woman set a Chinese flag ablaze, while scores of protesters holding placards opposing “unification” briefly

clashed with pro-China supporters before police separated them.

The two-day Taoyuan meeting is the second round of formal talks on the planned pact and will focus on drawing up a list of industries entitled to preferential tariff treatment as soon as the agreement comes into force.

The pact, known as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, has set off a great deal of debate in Taiwan, which has governed itself since 1949.

In Beijing, the Cabinet-level Taiwan Affairs Office called for solving areas of disagreement through dialogue. “People of different opinions should improve their understanding and solve disputes through rational and reasonable communication rather than resorting to drastic methods,” said spokesman Yang Yi.

Taiwan’s Beijing-friendly government wants to sign the pact as soon as possible, arguing it will boost growth and employment, but opponents fear it will erode the island’s de facto independence from the mainland.

“ECFA is not a cure-all, and it’s not a monster,” said Tang Wei, the head of the Chinese delegation and a senior official with the mainland’s commerce ministry.

The leader of the Taiwanese delegation, Huang Chih-peng, noted that farmers and workers in low-technology industries were concerned about the consequences of the agreement.

“We should try to take into account all the different opinions and ease their concerns,” said Huang, who is also the director general of Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade.

The director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Wang Yi said the ECFA would not affect the island’s “vulnerable” industries or laborers, in an interview with a Taipeibased newspaper.

“The mainland will try to select products that will benefit Taiwan’s mediumand small-sized companies and local residents when it comes to tax reduction as part of an early harvest program,” he told the Want Daily. He also said that China does not intend to export labour to Taiwan and will not require the island to increase its imports of agricultural products from the mainland, he said.

Taiwan and China have been split since the end of a civil war six decades ago, but Beijing considers the island part of its territory and has vowed to get it back, by force if necessary. — AFP

European growth hampered by budget cuts, eyeing abroad

EADS defense executive sees acquisitions to spur growth MUNICH: Europe’s EADS is ready to launch piecemeal acquisitions abroad to expand its defense business in the face of domestic spending cuts, its top defense executive said yesterday. In an annual review of the group’s 5 billion

euros ($6.71 billion) Defence and Security unit, the second largest after planemaker Airbus, divisional chief executive Stefan Zoller said EADS had enough cash to expand internationally despite a recent cost crisis.

MIAMI: An American Airlines plane is shown at Miami International Airport in Miami. American Airlines said yesterday it plans to add an additional 23 flights to and from seven new destinations out of New York’s JFK and LaGuardia airports by the end of the year. — AP

BG gas group announces gas deal in Japan LONDON: British gas firm BG Group announced yesterday that it had tied up a contract to sell liquefied natural gas to Tokyo Gas, just a week after doing a similar deal with Chinese state company CNOOC. Under the latest agreement, BG Group is to supply Tokyo Gas with 1.2 million tons of LNG a year for 20 years from 2015, and most of the supplies will come from a planned production facility in Queensland, Australia.

Australian company QGC, which makes methane gas from coal and which BG Group bought at the end of 2008, wants to build the plant on Curtis Island near the town of Gladstone.

The gas contract is linked to an arrangement for Tokyo Gas to acquire an interest in some of BG Group’s assets. The Japanese

company is to buy 1.25 percent of some gas resources held by QGC, and a share of 2.5 percent in one of the two liquefaction units to be built on the island.

BG Group said that Tokyo Gas was the biggest supplier of gas to cities in Japan and had 10.51 million customers.

BG Group said in a statement that its wholly owned subsidiary QGC Pty Limited “is establishing one of Australia’s largest capital infrastructure projects to turn Queensland’s world-class coal seam gas reserves into liquefied natural gas (LNG).”

Gas would be carried through an underground pipeline from coal seam gas reserves in southern and central Queensland to Curtis Island.

This is the second big contract within a week for the intended new facility

which is expected to begin production in 2014.

On March 24, BG Group signed a deal to supply 3.6 million tons of LNG a year for 20 years to the Chinese state oil company CNOOC. In the Asia-Pacific region, BG Group already has contracts which should help to underwrite the future of the new plant.

It has a contract, signed in 2007, to supply 1.7 million tons per year for 21 years to Chilean company Quintero LNG, and an agreement announced in April 2008 to supply 3.0 million tons per year to customers in Singapore. Big energy consuming Asian countries are turning increasingly to LNG as a source of power because it is considered to be a cleaner source of energy than fossil fuels. — AFP

HEFEI: Chinese stock investors gather to check their share prices at a security firm in Hefei, central China’s Anhui province yesterday. China’s stock market launched a long-awaited trial for margin trading and short selling which will allow investors to bet on markets falling as well as rising. — AFP

“European growth is over.

Whatever growth there is in the future will be global growth,” he told a news conference.

France, Germany and Spainmost of whose aerospace assets were combined to form EADS 10 years ago-have growing budget pressures and Britain, Europe’s largest arms market, faces both a budget crisis and a defence review after upcoming elections.

EADS has meanwhile been hit by 4.2 billion euros in losses on the Airbus A400M military airlifter even after a financial lifeline from European governments, squeezing a cash surplus which stood at 9.8 billion euros at the end of last year.

Zoller, whose division was ordered by the board to scrap a US acquisition worth an estimated $1 billion as EADS moved to conserve cash during the financial crisis, said EADS could now afford to expand but there were no specific deals in the works.

“There is enough cash to allow us to do what we want to do,” he said. He declined to say whether the group was once again looking at targets in the United States where it paid $350 million for Californian security systems company PlantCML in 2008.

India is a key priority for expansion, he added. Zoller said the defence and security division, which is responsible for the EADS share in Eurofighter and missile programs, had consistently outperformed its targets and aimed to improve on its 2009 margin of 8.4 percent.

However margins will tend to “flatten out,” having now reached an industry benchmark, he said, adding that 10 percent was a natural ceiling for profitability in the sector.

Zoller, who is campaigning to win European government support for development of the company’s Talarion surveillance and reconnaissance drone, said the A400M crisis could take a toll on the ability of European powers to fund new projects.

“Our customers are not too delighted to spend more money ... and somehow it will limit the willingness of governments to spend on new developments and new products,” he said.

“It is clear that the extra spending will cause reprioritization of programs in all the respective countries and I have to accept that the mood today for large international cooperative programs is limited,” he added.

“It is obvious you can only spend the money once.” Under the A400M deal, European governments raised the price of the Airbus military transporter plane by 10 percent in an offer costing taxpayers 2 billion euros while also agreeing to provide reimbursable export guarantees worth 1.5 billion.

Zoller’s division supplies systems for the A400M but the project is managed by Airbus, while Zoller declined to comment on a possible Airbus bid to sell refueling tankers to America. The medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned Talarion was designed to meet the needs of France, Germany and Spain. The three nations have yet to place an order that could net EADS 1.5 billion euros for development and as much again for production. — Reuters

TAOYUAN, Taiwan: Protesters from the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) display banners that read “President Ma Ying-jeou sells out Taiwan through Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA)” at the entrance of the Dashi Golf Course in Taoyuan county, northern Taiwan yesterday. — AFP

Turkish economy emerges from crippling recession ANKARA: Turkey emerged from a crippling recession with strong 6.0-percent growth in the fourth quarter, official data showed yesterday, supporting analysts’ forecasts of similar growth this year.

The growth in gross domestic product (GDP) — which exceeded market expectations of 4.0 percent-broke a slump which had lasted for four quarters. The surge at the end of the year helped to reduce contraction of the economy in 2009 to 4.7 percent, the Turkish statistics institute said.

The government had projected a 6.0-percent contraction for 2009, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had estimated that the Turkish economy was likely to shrink by 6.5 percent in the whole of 2009.

The statistics institute also revised contraction rates for the first, second and third quarters from 14.7 to 14.5 percent, from 7.9 to 7.7 percent and from 3.3 to 2.9 percent.

Economy Minister Ali Babacan said that the latest data was evidence that the economy was benefiting from sound government policies and forecast that growth this year would exceed the 3.5-percent target set in an economic program for 2010-2012.

“The economic recovery that began at the end of 2009 will strengthen in 2010 and we expect a better growth performance than the target for this year,” he said in a written statement.

Babacan had said earlier this month that growth in 2010 could be between 3.7 and 5.5 percent.

“Several international organizations, among them the European Commission, have said that Turkey will be one of the first countries in Europe to rapidly emerge from the crisis and achieve strong growth,” the minister added.

Analysts estimated that GDP could grow by 5.0 or 6.0 percent in 2010.

“We expect today’s strong print to be followed by an even stronger growth rate in the

first quarter in 2010, possibly reaching double digits,” Inan Demir, chief economist at Finansbank, said in a research note to investors.

He forecast that the growth rate would slow down later in the year owing to weakening base effects, but said: “A growth rate in 5.0 to 5.5percent range for full year 2010 looks plausible.”

Fortis Bank forecast that annual growth in 2010 could reach 6.0 percent. The return to growth could pave the way for the central bank to raise its benchmark interest rate which it had slashed by 10.25 percentage points to a record low level of 6.5 percent since November 2008.

The bank has been holding the rate steady since December but said recently that it might be coming to the end of the loose monetary policy.

“We maintain our expectation for 200 basis points of rate hikes this year,” Demir said.

Turkey’s once-booming economy started to slow down in 2008 and shrank 7.0 percent in the last quarter of the year, its first contraction in 27 quarters, before officially falling into recession in the first quarter of 2009. Inflation fell to 6.53 percent last year, undershooting the official target of 7.5 percent but unemployment rose to record levels, hitting 16.1 percent at one time.

But since late 2009, there have been signs of recovery in the form of a slowdown in the contraction rate, a rise in inflation and an easing in unemployment.

Earlier this year, Turkey called off loan talks with the IMF, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying that the country was “able to stand on its own feet” and did not need emergency funds. The decision ended nearly two years of negotiations on a stand-by deal dogged by disagreement on key issues that saw Erdogan accuse the Fund of making “political demands.” An IMF staff mission is set to visit Turkey in May-the first such visit in three years-to evaluate the country’s economic outlook and policy plans. — AFP

EU calls for overhaul of Anglo Irish Bank BRUSSELS: European Union regulators launched a probe yesterday into Irish government help for property lender Anglo Irish Bank, warning that the bank has to draw up a new business plan and “restructure profoundly.”

The European Commission also approved Ireland’s emergency capitalizations of up to 10.44 billion euros ($14.08 billion) for Anglo Irish Bank and 2.7 billion euros for Irish Nationwide Building Society to shore up their financial stability. Ireland’s government said Tuesday it will help banks raise nearly 22 billion euros ($30 billion), much of it from taxpayers, to meet stiff new capital requirements that are part of a plan to resolve the nation’s banking crisis. Irish banks lent heavily to fuel a housing boom that ended abruptly in 2008, forcing the country’s major financial groups to call for government help — loading Ireland with heavy debt as tax revenues fell and unemployment started to climb.

Worst affected was Anglo Irish Bank, a specialist commercial lender that took great risks and profited handsomely from Irish property developers snapping up offices and homes across Europe from 1994-1997. It was nationalized in January 2009 after piling up catastrophic losses when the property speculation bubble burst in 2008.

Irish finance minister

Brian Lenihan said Tuesday that the government planned to pump euro 8.3 billion into Anglo, warning that another 10 billion euros may be needed. He ruled out winding up the bank, which he said would cost up to 70 billion euros.

The EU’s competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia said he could approve the aid announced Tuesday for the two lenders for six months and that they must hand in new restructuring plans by June 22.

Irish Nationwide Building Society “needs to establish a viable restructuring plan and Anglo Irish Bank has to restructure profoundly in a

way that effectively tackles the weaknesses of the past business model and ensures a sustainable future without continued state support,” he said.

Anglo Irish Bank officials are also being investigated for suspected fraud for trying to conceal the scale of losses and prop up the plunging share price with off-the-books transactions, including 450 million euros in loans to 10 top customers on condition that they bought Anglo shares. Former CEO and chairman Sean FitzPatrick and former finance director William McAteer were arrested and released without charge by fraud detectives last week. —AP

Uganda inflation falls to 7.5% in March KAMPALA: Uganda’s headline inflation rate eased to 7.5 percent in March from a revised 8.1 percent in February driven by a fall in food prices, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

“During the month, the food prices index dropped by 1.6 percent mainly attributed to the reduction in prices of staple foods, milk, bread and cereals,” it said in a statement. The statistics office said the decrease in prices of some food items was mainly due to increased supplies to the market.

Surging food and oil prices pushed inflation rates into double digits in 2008 and a drought in the region last year slowed a subsequent decline in food prices. But rains have since improved food supplies. It said the core inflation rate, which excludes food, energy and metered water, remained relatively stable at 6.5 percent in March, up slightly from a revised 6.4 percent in February.

Non-food inflation went up to 6.2 percent in March from 5.8 percent in February, the body said.

Monthly headline inflation decreased by 0.3 percent in March while monthly core inflation increased by 0.1 percent, it said.

Monthly food crop inflation fell by 3.3 percent. — Reuters

Thursday, April 1, 2010

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

27

McAfee Inc raises the stakes with next generation data loss prevention solution CALIFORNIA: McAfee, Inc., announced plans for the latest version of its data loss prevention solution that addresses growing concerns about the security of regulated data and sensitive information. McAfee Data Loss Prevention technology is planned to include a common policy across all components, database crawling, easier workflow through the McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator(r) platform and greatly improved support for Microsoft Active Directory. Built upon unique data analytics technology, McAfee Data Loss Prevention technology provides comprehensive data protection — from the USB drive to the firewall and beyond.

The Data Loss Prevention (DLP) market is rapidly growing, fueled by ever increasing government and industry regulations and businesses emphasizing the importance of protecting valuable corporate data such as product plans, financial records and intellectual property. Until now, the

DLP customer has had to endure such challenges as large amounts of build-out time, cost and effort. McAfee Data Loss Prevention technology changes the game by delivering industry-leading data protection quickly and efficiently. Organizations now have a way to meet their data security needs without the huge expense of endless rounds of consulting and trial and error tuning.

“We found that because the system captures all of the data we can do more with McAfee Data Loss Prevention than other products on the market,” said Mark Moroses, Assistant CIO for Continuum Health Partners in New York. “This is a unique capability and we use it extensively.

The system doesn’t just present us with a static view of user rule violations; it allows us to go back in the past and look for patterns of behavior and abuse. This capability has enhanced our ability to investigate incidents more thoroughly and in less time.

Our team can now rapidly access more information related to an incident and they can review the past activities of the user under investigation as well. The system gives us the peace of mind that we are not missing anything. This is essential because interrogating anything less than 100% of the information is unacceptable.”

McAfee Data Loss Prevention Technology Differentiators: • Ease of Deployment - Deployment can occur within days as opposed to the typical six to nine month period, allowing organizations to immediately test policies against corporate data and achieve faster time to value. Advanced and intuitive data analytics lets IT departments gain knowledge of unknown data risk and understand how to quickly and effectively protect corporate data.

• Management - Users have an easy workflow to manage data incidents from ePolicy Orchestrator platform, a single con-

sole which supports case management, configuration, reporting, monitoring while providing historic data-use insight, that can be centralized or delegated to best suit specific user requirements.

• Integration - Tight integration between McAfee Data Loss Prevention technology and the rest of the McAfee data protection portfolio allows for automated responses to threats in a coordinated way.

Integration with leading rights management technologies including Adobe and Oracle allows the protection of sensitive data to extend beyond the boundaries of the enterprise, increasing security and confidence and enabling the flexible business to thrive.

• Proactive - Advanced data analytics gives customers deep understanding about how their data is used allowing them to better anticipate problems that would otherwise go undiscovered.

According to Gartner, “Organizations

have always struggled to balance security and privacy needs with the needs of the business. IT has long sought to enable the business, and now risk management and security must follow suit.

“We need to learn to embrace transparency, and accommodate the two-way flow of information rather than fearing it. In addition to protecting information, we also need to learn how to enable and guide the appropriate use of information. This is essential if we’re going to take advantage of opportunities as we prepare for the return to growth.”

The McAfee approach to DLP is unique because it is delivered via pre-integrated, hardened appliances and a host agent that is simply pushed via the ePolicy Orchestrator platform, so data is protected in days, not months. That same ease of use also applies to policy creation, delivering a wealth of knowledge about how data is actually used providing the ability to test policies against

actual data history before putting them into production. Due to this, policies are right the first time without guesswork, costly consulting or the business disruption caused by false positives. That historic data knowledge can also be used to accelerate incident investigations which can be completed in minutes and allows for deep understanding about how organizations use data.

“Due to limitations inherent in legacy DLP solutions, organizations have had to take a brute force approach to protecting data,” said Gerhard Watzinger, executive vice president and general manager of McAfee Data Protection Business Unit.

“These approaches are like using a sledge hammer to crack a nut and are usually used because of the high cost and complexity with deployment of traditional DLP. With McAfee Data Loss Prevention technology we can now enable the deployment of DLP that is cost effective and quick to value.”

Yahoo email accounts hacked in China, Taiwan Google says China search problems resolved after blocking BEIJING/SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo email accounts of some journalists and activists whose work relates to China were compromised in an attack discovered this week, days after Google announced it would move its Chinese-language search services out of China due to censorship con-

PILBARA: This photo taken on March 4, 2010 shows remote-controlled stackers and reclaimers moving iron ore to rail cars at Rio Tinto’s Port Dampier operations in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. —AFP

Robots, space technology run Australia’s mining miracle DAMPIER: The heavy clank of machinery rings out across a seemingly deserted Outback mine site as an invisible satellite signal fires Rio Tinto’s production line into motion. Massive stackers and re-claimers begin the task of sifting through rust-colored piles of rich iron ore, readying them for the rail journey hundreds of kilometers from mine to port. It’s an industrious scene-with hardly a living being in sight.

“People frequently ask whether we have anyone working here at all,” one miner at Rio’s Dampier operations told AFP. “Due to automation and stuff most people are pretty well tucked away from the heat. There’s not a lot of manual workers.”

Automation has long been a part of the mining industry, but advances in satellite, motion-sensor technology and robotics have made the stuff of science fiction a fact of everyday life.

Machines which scoop the ore, dump it on a conveyor belt and hose it down are now controlled from the air-conditioned comfort of Rio Tinto’s Perth operations centre, 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away from the arid mine pit. Hundreds of specially trained operators who once directed machines from on-site offices watch and direct the action from afar using satellite technology, with surveillance cameras feeding into some 440 monitors.

Once fully operational-currently scheduled for June-the operations centre will allow all of Rio’s rail, mine and port systems to be coordinated from one place. Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto is one of the world’s biggest mining companies, with aluminium, copper, diamonds, gold and iron ore among its major products. “Process plants have long been managed from a console-it’s just as if this task is now performed with a much, much longer extension cord,” Rio said in its latest innovations update.

“But never before, on anything like this scale, has the huge number of tasks been accomplished in full view and full knowledge of everyone else involved.”

The operations centre in Perth is central to Rio’s “Mine of the Future” program, which aims for driverless trucks and trains, and sensor-fitted “smart drills” that can be operated remotely.

Since December 2008 it has been trialing automation technologies at a test site called “A-Pit”, where robotic trucks with artificial intelligence “learn” the

layout of the mine and use sensors to sense and avoid obstacles. Australian government scientists are working closely with the mining industry, drawing inspiration from space exploration to troubleshoot, explains researcher Ian Gipps.

“It sounds crazy but quite a few of the problems in space and in remote mining can be similar,” said Gipps, from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). “You don’t necessarily want to have people there... so a lot of exploration on planets requires automated and remote operating systems, particularly automated.”

Current research was focusing on the use of robots fixed with radar and light-spectrum technology to detect and gauge the quality of minerals, he added. It could be available in as little as two years.

“We want to be able to put sensors on machines that can look at the (rock) face and say, ‘the ore’s on one half of the face and not the other half of the face and the ore’s of a particular grade’,” Gipps said.

“You can’t just take a sample and send it off to a lab and get it back in 24 hours or 48 hours and say, ‘ok, we want to mine that area’. We want to know that within a couple of seconds of being there,” said Gipps. The shift to automation is not without its challenges-chief among them securing vast satellite networks against cyber-attacks-but Gipps said it was critical to addressing chronic labor shortages.

“If the industry wants to keep on advancing then it has to make employment more attractive,” he said.

In the cyclone-prone and brutally hot Pilbara, the “APit” trial is due to finish later this year. Its findings will form the basis for an operations-wide rollout of remote and driverless technologies. Chief executive Tom Albanese hopes to position Rio as the world’s most technologically advanced mining company, describing it as key to the company’s ambitions to boost annual iron ore production above 600 million tons.

“Rio Tinto is changing the face of mining,” he said at the Mine of the Future’s 2008 launch. But will humans ever be removed entirely from the equation?

Gipps is skeptical. “A lot of the challenge is getting machines to understand what’s happening around them,” he said. “It’s remarkable how clever a human is in doing that.”—AFP

Job exposure to chemicals boosts breast cancer risk PARIS: Workplace exposure to synthetic fibers and certain oil byproducts before her mid-30s triples a woman’s risk of breast cancer after menopause, a study among Canadian patients said. France Labreche of the National Institute of Public Health in Montreal led an investigation into the health records of 1,169 women aged 50 to 75.

Just under half had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996 and 1997, after having undergone menopause.

The other 613 women were diagnosed during the same period with other forms of cancer and acted as a comparison. A squad of chemists and industrial hygienists probed the extent to which all the women had been exposed to about 300 different substances throughout their working life.

After filtering out other known causes of breast cancer, they found a strong link between higher rates of risk and exposure to several common synthetic materials, found in textile factories and other industrial settings.

Compared to the non-breast cancer group, the risk peaked before the age of 36, when still-active cells in breast tissue are thought to be more sensitive to harmful chemicals. Women occupational-

ly exposed to acrylic fibres ran a seven-fold risk of breast cancer, while exposure to nylon fibers nearly doubled the risk. Among breast cancer patients, those whose tumors responded well to oestrogen treatment, but not progesterone treatment, were more than twice as likely to have breast cancer for every decade they were exposed to so-called monaromatic hydrocarbons-a byproduct of crude oil-and to acrylic or rayon fibres.

Oestrogen and progesterone are both naturally-occurring hormones used in breast cancer treatment. Exposure before the age of 36 to another class of hydrocarbons found in petroleum products tripled the risk for women whose tumors responded to both types of hormone treatment.

The authors concede that the results are not conclusive, but point out that they are consistent with the theory that breast tissue is more susceptible to chemical toxins in women under 40. They also note the rising rate of breast cancer in rich countries, which could also be due to earlier and better diagnosis and increased rates of alcohol consumption. The study is published in a British journal, Occupational and Environmental Medicine.—AFP

The compromised accounts include those of the World Uyghur Congress, an exile group that China accuses of inciting separatism by ethnic Uighurs in the frontier region of Xinjiang. “I suspect a lot of information in my Yahoo account was downloaded,” the group’s spokesman, Dilxat Raxit, told Reuters yesterday. He said the email account, which was set up in Sweden, has been inaccessible for a month.

“A lot of people I used to contact in Lanzhou, Xi’an and elsewhere have not been reachable by phone for the past few weeks,” he said, adding he had used the Yahoo email account to contact them in the past. Andrew Jacobs of the New York Times in Beijing said yesterday his Yahoo Plus account had been set, without his knowledge, to forward to another, unknown, account.

In late 2009 and early this year, several human rights activists and journalists whose work related to China had similarly discovered their Gmail accounts had been set to forward to unfamiliar addresses, without their knowledge. Google cited the Gmail attacks in January, when it announced a hacking attack on it and more than 20 other firms. It cited those attacks and censorship concerns in its decision to move its Chinese-language search services last week to Hong Kong.

Yahoo did not comment on the nature of the attacks on its accounts, or whether they were co-ordinated or isolated incidents.

“Yahoo! condemns all cyber attacks regardless of origin or purpose,” spokeswoman Dana Lengkeek said in an email response to a Reuters query. “We are committed to protecting user security and privacy and we take appropriate action in the event of any kind of breach.”

Google’s announcement of the hacking attacks drew unprecedented outside attention to cybersecurity and China’s Internet controls, used to limit discussion of topics deemed sensitive or threatening to “social stability”.

Google said yesterday said it had identified cyber attacks aimed at silencing opposition to a Vietnamese government-led bauxite mining project involving a major Chinese firm. The attacks were separate from, and less sophisticated than, those at the heart of the company’s friction with Beijing.

China’s control of the Internet and media has intensified under the current leadership and reflects a lack of understanding of the Chinese public, said Hao Xiaoming, a China media expert at Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information in Singapore. “China is going back rather than going forward in terms of information and control.

That reflects the lack of confidence in the (current) Chinese leaders,” Hao said.

“China’s Internet has become a controlled Internet, an internal Internet rather than linked internationally. It defeats the whole purpose.” On Tuesday, Internet users in mainland China were sporadically unable to conduct searches through Google’s portal in Hong Kong, a disruption that Google attributed to changes in China’s Internet filtering configuration. —Reuters

cerns. Several journalists in China and Taiwan found they were unable to access their accounts beginning March 25, among them Kathleen McLaughlin, a freelance journalist in Beijing. Her access was restored yesterday, she told Reuters.

DUISBURG: A young giant otter sits in its enclosure in the zoo in Duisburg, western Germany yesterday. At the moment, a total of 20 giant otters live in German zoos. —AFP

New drugs seen for tragic sleeping sickness PARIS: A consortium of scientists reported yesterday that they had identified new potential treatments to combat a form of sleeping sickness that kills around 30,000 Africans a year. The breakthrough entails disabling an enzyme essential for the parasite causing human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), as the disease is called.

Further work is needed to narrow down the shortlist of candidates for the orallytaken drug, and the most promising one could be available for human trials “in around 18 months,” the team said in a press release. Between 50,000 and 70,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HAT, which is transmitted in the bite of the

tsetse fly, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates.

It is sometimes called sleeping sickness because the parasites infect the brain and disrupt the sleep cycle. Two drug types already exist for tackling HAT, but are laden with problems. One, melarsoprol, is an arsenic-based treatment that kills around five percent of patients. The other, eflornithine, is costly, requires long hospital treatment, is not effective against all forms of the disease and appears to be encountering parasite resistance.

Because people infected with HAT are generally the rural poor, there is little motivation for pharmaceutical companies to

search for new drugs, which makes the disease high on the WHO’s list of so-called neglected sicknesses.

The paper, published in the British journal Nature, was led by the Drug Discovery Unit for Tropical Diseases at the University of Dundee, Scotland. Researchers from the University of York and the Structural Genomics Consortium in Toronto also took part.

Another form of trypanosomiasis, called Chagas disease, is prevalent in 15 Central and South American countries. It is spread by blood-sucking triatomine bugs that hole up in walls and roofs and feed on the victim’s face at night.—AFP

Solar power lights up Bangladesh central bank

HANNOVER: Two barbary lions (Panthera leo leo) stand for the first time in their outside enclosure in the zoo in Hanover, northern Germany yesterday.

Both lions have been chosen from a zoo in Morocco for a European breeding program. —AFP

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s central bank has switched over to solarpowered lighting, in a move to encourage green energy in a country drastically short of electricity, bank officials said. The bank has spent around 13.5 million taka ($195,000) on a solar power plant that will generate 8 KW of electricity a day.

“It is not possible to meet the country’s fast-growing power demand only using gas and coal. So we have to go for alternative energy resources,” central bank governor Atiur Rahman told reporters late on Tuesday. “From now on, we will light up our offices with solar energy and spread the message across so more people follow suit.” Bangladesh has recent taken a number of measures, including rush-hour rationing of power, to deal with a shortage the World Bank estimates costs it up to 2 percent in GDP growth each year.

Currently renewable energy contributes less than 1 percent to overall power generation in this south Asian country of more than 150 million people, barely 45 percent of whom have access to electricity. The central bank last year launched a 2 billion taka ($29 million) refinance scheme for renewable energy in an effort to help ease a power and gas supply crisis and reduce pollution. About 80 percent of electricity is produced from natural gas, with state-owned and private sector power plants only able to generate up to 4,000 megawatts of electricity a day against a demand of 5,500 megawatts.

The government says it is exploring various means, including nuclear power generation, to overcome the problem, which is one of the key constraints to growth. — Reuters

TV PROGRAMS

28

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings

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

Murdoch Mysteries The Unusuals Burn Notice CSI ER Lie to Me Law & Order Life Murdoch Mysteries CSI Burn Notice Life The Unusuals Lie to Me Law & Order Starter Wife CSI Without a Trace Ghost Whisperer Sons of Anarchy The Tudors

ANIMAL PLANET 03:30 Animal Cops Phoenix 04:25 Miami Animal Police 05:20 Going Ape 05:45 Planet Wild 06:10 E-Vets: The Interns 06:35 Aussie Animal Rescue 07:00 Wildlife SOS 07:25 Pet Rescue 07:50 Tigers Attack 08:45 Corwin’s Quest Specials 09:40 Beverly Hills Groomer 10:05 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:30 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:55 Going Ape 11:20 Planet Wild 11:50 Miami Animal Police 12:45 E-Vets: The Interns 13:10 Pet Rescue 13:40 Animal Cops Phoenix 14:35 Wildlife SOS 15:00 Aussie Animal Rescue 15:30 Tigers Attack 16:25 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 16:50 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 17:20 Beverly Hills Groomer 17:45 Deep Into the Wild with Nick Baker 18:15 Living with the Wolfman 18:40 Living with the Wolfman 19:10 Saba and the Rhino’s Secret 20:10 Animal Cops Phoenix 21:05 Untamed & Uncut 22:00 Living with the Wolfman 22:25 Living with the Wolfman 22:55 Animal Cops Phoenix 23:50 Saba and the Rhino’s Secret

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

13:15 Kendra 13:40 30 Most Outrageous Celebrity Feuds 15:25 Behind The Scenes 15:50 Behind The Scenes 16:15 Ths 17:10 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 17:35 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 18:00 E! News 18:25 The Daily 10 18:50 Streets Of Hollywood 19:15 Battle Of The Hollywood Hotties 19:40 Ths 20:30 Ths 21:20 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 21:45 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 22:10 E! News 22:35 The Daily 10 23:00 Dr 90210 23:50 Wildest Tv Show Moments

Casualty Casualty The Ship Bargain Hunt Teletubbies Me Too Tweenies Teletubbies Me Too Tweenies Teletubbies Me Too Tweenies Bargain Hunt The Ship Red Dwarf Red Dwarf The Weakest Link Eastenders Doctors Bargain Hunt Cash In The Attic Red Dwarf Red Dwarf The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Casualty Casualty The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Green Green Grass Extras The Keith Barret Show The League Of Gentlemen The League Of Gentlemen

03:30 Cash In The Attic USA 03:50 Cash In The Attic USA 04:15 Hidden Potential 04:35 Living In The Sun 05:30 The Clothes Show 06:15 Cash In The Attic USA 06:35 Cash In The Attic USA 07:15 Cash In The Attic USA 07:35 Cash In The Attic USA 08:10 Antiques Roadshow 09:00 Cash In The Attic USA 09:25 Hidden Potential 09:55 Gary Rhodes’ Local Food Heroes 10:40 Living In The Sun 11:25 Living In The Sun 12:15 Antiques Roadshow 13:05 The Clothes Show 13:55 Gary Rhodes’ Local Food

Ghost Town on Show Movies Heroes 14:40 Living In The Sun 15:30 Daily Cooks Challenge 16:00 Daily Cooks Challenge 16:30 Cash In The Attic USA 16:50 Hidden Potential 17:10 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 18:00 The Clothes Show 18:50 Antiques Roadshow 19:40 Daily Cooks Challenge 20:10 Daily Cooks Challenge 20:40 MasterChef Goes Large 21:10 Come Dine With Me 21:35 Come Dine With Me 22:00 The Home Show 22:50 The Home Show 23:40 Sweet Baby James

03:00 05:00 07:00 PG15 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

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Sexy Beast-18 Arlington Road-18 Maradona: The Hand Of GodBopha!-PG15 Calendar Girls-PG15 Trekkies 2-PG Looking For Richard-PG15 Save The Last Dance-PG Diamond 13-18 Man On Wire-PG15 The Contender-18

Wheeler Dealers Ultimate Biker Challenge Ultimate Biker Challenge Mythbusters How Stuff’s Made Dirty Jobs Man Made Marvels Ultimate Biker Challenge Ultimate Biker Challenge Street Customs 2008 How Do They Do It? Mythbusters Ultimate Survival Wheeler Dealers Wheeler Dealers How Do They Do It? How Stuff’s Made American Chopper Miami Ink Mythbusters Dirty Jobs Verminators Street Customs 2008 Destroyed in Seconds How Do They Do It? How Stuff’s Made Heartland Thunder My Shocking Story My Shocking Story

Beyond Tomorrow Science of Star Wars Cool Stuff & How it Works Green Wheels One Step Beyond Engineered Junkyard Wars Science of Star Wars What’s That About?

How Stuff’s Made Stunt Junkies Engineered Green Wheels One Step Beyond Science of Star Wars What’s That About?

Human Cloning How Stuff’s Made Junkyard Wars Brainiac The Greatest Ever The Future of...

Brainiac How It’s Made How It’s Made Mythbusters Specials

22:00 The Future of...

22:50 Brainiac 23:40 The Greatest Ever

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

Special Agent Oso Brandy & Mr Whiskers Fairly Odd Parents Hannah Montana I Got A Rocket Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas & Ferb Higglytown Heroes Handy Manny Lazytown Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Imagination Movers Special Agent Oso Fairly Odd Parents Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Sonny With A Chance Jonas Hannah Montana Wizards Of Waverly Place The Suite Life On Deck Replacements American Dragon Kim Possible Famous Five Fairly Odd Parents Phineas & Ferb The Replacements Chicken Little Sonny With A Chance Fairly Odd Parents Phineas & Ferb Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana The Replacements High School Musical Wizards Of Waverly Place The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody The Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Sonny With A Chance Jonas

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American Dragon Phineas & Ferb Phineas & Ferb Zeke & Luther Zeke & Luther Suite Life On Deck Kid vs Kat Kid vs Kat KID VS KAT Kid vs Kat Kid vs Kat Zeke & Luther Suite Life On Deck Suite Life On Deck DADNAPPED Phineas & Ferb The Suite Life of Zack & Cody

03:15 20 Best And Worst Celebrity Plastic...

05:05 Dr 90210 06:00 Ths 07:45 Style Star 08:10 Style Star 08:35 E! News 09:00 The Daily 10 09:25 Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami 09:50 Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami 10:15 E!es 11:05 Ths 12:00 E! News 12:25 The Daily 10 12:50 Kendra

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Serial Killers Forensic Detectives Black Museum Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghosthunters Ghosthunters Forensic Detectives FBI Files Royal Inquest Solved Forensic Detectives FBI Files The Prosecutors Guilty Or Innocent?

CSU Forensic Detectives FBI Files Royal Inquest Solved Forensic Detectives FBI Files The Prosecutors Guilty Or Innocent?

CSU On the Case with Paula Zahn Crimes That Shook the World Dr G: Medical Examiner

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Barefoot Contessa Great British Menu Tyler’s Ultimate Barefoot Contessa Giada At Home 30 Minute Meals Barefoot Contessa Kitchen Criminals Grill It! with Bobby Flay Barefoot Contessa Tyler’s Ultimate Throwdown With Bobby Flay

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Madonna: Truth Or Dare Nobody’s Perfect Crusoe Fast Food Beach Blanket Bingo Heart Of Dixie The Black Stallion Returns The Field Broadway Danny Rose After the Fox Mac and Me Contamination .7

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

Destination Extreme Surfer’s Journal Treks In A Wild World Madventures Chasing Time Departures Jailed Abroad Jailed Abroad Bondi Rescue Destination Extreme Surfer’s Journal Treks In A Wild World Madventures Chasing Time Lonely Planet Bondi Rescue Bondi Rescue Wild Rides First Ascent Bondi Rescue Destination Extreme Surfer’s Journal Treks In A Wild World Madventures Chasing Time Lonely Planet Bondi Rescue Bondi Rescue Wild Rides First Ascent Bondi Rescue Destination Extreme Surfer’s Journal Treks In A Wild World Madventures Chasing Time Lonely Planet

03:00 03:30 04:00 05:00

Reno 911 Weeds Sauturday Night Live Scrubs

05:30 Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 06:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 07:00 The Nanny 07:30 Malcolm in the Middle 08:00 Yes dear 08:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 09:00 The Nanny 09:30 Drew Carey 10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:30 Frasier 11:00 After you’ve gone 11:30 Eight Simple Rules 12:00 The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson 13:00 The Office 13:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 14:00 The Nanny 14:30 Malcolm in the Middle 15:00 Community 15:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Drew Carey 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 Eight Simple Rules 18:30 Just Shoot me!

19:00 Modern Family 19:30 New adventures of old Christine 20:00 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Family Guy 22:30 Hung 23:00 Sauturday Night Live

03:00 04:00 Leno 05:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 Leno 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 Leno 23:00

The Monique Show The Tonight show with Jay GMA Live GMA Health What’s the Buzz The Martha Stewart Show Look A Like 10 Years younger Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The View The Ellen DeGeneres Show What’s Good For You GMA Live GMA Health What’s the Buzz The Tonight show with Jay Look A Like 10 Years younger The View The Ellen DeGeneres Show Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The Tonight Show with Jay The Monique Show

04:30 Skin-PG 06:15 Ghost Town-PG15 08:00 A Previous Engagement-PG15 10:00 Sarah Landon And The Paranormal Hour-PG 12:00 Two Weeks-PG 14:00 Drillbit Taylor-PG15 16:00 A Previous Engagement-PG15 18:00 The Bucket List-PG15 20:00 Tropic Thunder-18 22:00 Prom Night-PG15

03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:45 23:15

Death Warrant-PG15 Mercury Man-PG15 Stargate: Continuum-PG15 Lost-PG15 Death Warrant-PG15 Fire From Below-PG15 Lost-PG15 The Shepherd-PG15 The Patriot-PG15 April Fool’s Day-18 The Forsaken-18

04:00 06:00 PG15 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 PG15 18:00 20:00 22:00

Griffin And Phoenix-PG15 Much Ado About NothingThe Hammer-PG15 Tortilla Soup-PG15 Americanizing Shelly-PG Parenthood-PG15 Satellites And MeteoritesNew York City Serenade-PG15 Fanboys-PG15 Doctor Detroit-18

04:00 Alexander The Great-FAM 06:00 Curious George: Follow That Monkey-PG 10:00 Alexander The Great-FAM 12:00 Barbie In The NutcrackerFAM 14:00 Zeus And Roxanne-PG 16:00 The Nameless Warrior-FAM 18:00 The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian-PG 20:30 Christmas In Wonderland-PG 22:00 Barbie In The Nutcracker

03:00 04:00 04:30 05:00 06:00

Tess of the D’Urbervilles Every Body Loves Raymond Coach 24 Emmerdale

06:30 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 23:30

Coronation Street Criminal Minds Every Body Loves Raymond Coach Tess of the D’Urbervilles 24 Criminal Minds Emmerdale Coronation Street Every Body Loves Raymond Coach Grey’s Anatomy Private Practice 24 Beauty and the Geek Emmerdale Huey’s Cooking Adventure Bones Dollhouse Cold Case Life on Mars Sex and the City Sex and the City

04:00 Premier League 06:00 Portugol 06:30 Brazil League Highlights 07:00 Premier League 09:00 Premier League Classics 10:00 Premier League 14:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 14:30 Brazil League Highlights 15:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 17:30 Futbol Mundial 18:00 Barclays Premier League Highlights 19:00 Premier League 21:00 Premier League World 21:30 Futbol Mundial 22:00 Goals Goals Goals 22:30 Premier League Classics 23:30 Premier League

03:00 Premier League Darts 07:00 AFL Highlights 08:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 08:30 NRL Premiership 10:30 Futbol Mundial 11:00 Weber Cup Bowling 12:00 Premier League World 12:30 AFL Highlights 13:30 Barclays Premier League Highlights 14:30 ICC Cricket World 15:00 World Hockey 15:30 Futbol Mundial 16:00 Guinness Premiership 18:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 18:30 Goals Goals Goals 19:00 AFL Highlights 20:00 World Sport 20:30 Premier League World 21:00 Live Premier League Darts

04:30 AFL Premiership Highlights 05:30 Goals Goals Goals 06:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 06:30 ICC Cricket World 07:00 Super 14 09:00 Goals Goals Goals 09:30 European Tour Weekly 10:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 11:00 Super League 13:00 Futbol Mundial 13:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 14:00 NRL Premiership 16:00 Brazil League Highlights 16:30 ICC Cricket World 17:00 European Tour Weekly 17:30 Live PGA European Tour 20:30 WWE NXT 21:30 World Sport 22:00 Live Super League

03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 23:00

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

The Invasion-PG15 Impact 1-PG15 Impact 2-PG15 Son Of The Mask-PG Dan In Real Life-PG15 Genghis Khan-PG15 All Hat-PG15 Mama I Want To Sing-PG Momma’s Man-PG Familiar Strangers-PG A Number-PG15 Race To Witch Mountain-PG15

03:25 The Screening Room 04:00 Nicholas And Alexandra 07:00 The Bad And The Beautiful 08:55 Crazy In Love 10:25 Sunday In New York 12:10 Echoes Of A Summer 13:50 After The Fox 15:30 My Favorite Year 17:00 The Glass Bottom Boat 18:50 Canadian Bacon 20:25 The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight 22:00 Real Genius 23:45 Fun With Dick And Jane

03:10 Conspiracy?

04:00 Nostradamus Effect 04:55 God vs. Satan: The Final Battle 06:40 Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 07:30 Lost Worlds 08:20 Dead Men’s Secrets 09:10 Conspiracy?

10:00 Nostradamus Effect 10:55 God vs. Satan: The Final Battle 12:40 Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 13:30 Lost Worlds 14:20 Dead Men’s Secrets 15:10 Conspiracy?

16:00 Nostradamus Effect 16:55 God vs. Satan: The Final Battle 18:40 Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 19:30 Lost Worlds 20:20 Dead Men’s Secrets 21:00 Life After People 21:55 Evolve 22:50 Dinosaur Secrets 23:40 How the Earth Was Made

03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 14:30

Split Ends Dr 90210 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane How Do I Look?

Style Star Style Her Famous My Celebrity Home Style Star Dress My Nest Peter Perfect Whose Wedding Is it Anyway?

Ruby Clean House Clean House Comes Clean Dress My Nest

15:00 16:00 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 21:30 22:00 23:00

What I Hate About Me Split Ends Dallas Divas & Daughters The Dish Running in Heels Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane Split Ends Clean House Dress My Nest Style Her Famous Clean House Ruby

05:04 06:00 08:04 08:45 13:04 13:50 14:00 15:00 16:04 16:45 18:00 18:45 20:04 20:45 21:00 21:15 22:00 22:24

Legend Playlist Latina Playlist Urban Hit Playlist Trace Video Mix Playlist RNB Playlist Urban Hit Playlist Sound System Playlist Guest Star Playlist Code Compilation Playlist

08:00 Globe Trekker 09:00 Essential 09:30 Dream Destinations 10:00 Distant Shores 10:30 Distant Shores 11:00 Chef Abroad 11:30 Entrada 12:00 Planet Food 13:00 Globe Trekker 14:00 Chef Abroad 14:30 The Thirsty Traveler 15:00 Sophie Grigson in the Souk 15:30 Entrada 16:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 17:00 Globe Trekker 18:00 Essential 18:30 Journey Into Wine-South Africa 19:00 Chef Abroad 19:30 The Thirsty Traveler 20:00 Globe Trekker 21:00 Essential 21:30 Essential 22:00 Distant Shores 22:30 Wild At Heart 23:00 Julian and Camilla’s World Odyssey

05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 Songs

Chill Out Vh1 Hits Vh1 Music Aerobic ¬† Top 10 Queen Music For The Masses Vh1 Pop Chart Vh1 Music Music For The Masses Vh1 Music Vh1 Viewer’s Jukebox Final Countdown Best Love

UFC - The Ultimate Fighter Live UFC Fight Night 21 WWE Smackdown WWE Vintage Collection FIM World Cup Ironman Bushido WWE Smackdown LG Action Sport UAE National Race Day Ironman NCAA Basketball WWE Vintage Collection UFC Wired UFC - The Ultimate Fighter UFC Fight Night 21 UFC Unleashed

03:00 December Boys-PG15 05:00 Largo Winch-PG15 07:00 Bring It On 5: Fight To The Finish-PG15 09:00 Bring It On 5: Fight To The Finish-PG15 11:00 December Boys-PG15 13:00 Where God Left His Shoes-PG 15:00 The 11th Hour-U 17:00 Bring It On 5: Fight To The Finish-PG15 19:00 Happy Go Lucky-PG15 21:00 Gran Torino-PG15 23:00 Meet The Spartans-PG15

Largo Winch on Super Movies

Star Listings (UAE Timings) STAR Movies 21:25 No Bad Days 23:00 Day Watch 01:10 Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger 03:00 La Linea 04:50 No Bad Days 06:25 Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger 08:15 Conan The Barbarian 10:20 La Linea 12:15 The Merry Gentleman 13:50 I’m Reed Fish 15:25 Moulin Rouge 17:30 Overboard 19:20 The Transporter STAR World 20:00 90210 20:50 Married With Children 21:50 Different Strokes 22:50 Married With Children 23:00 Criminal Minds 23:50 Married With Children 00:50 Different Strokes 01:50 Married With Children 02:00 90210 03:00 [V] Tunes 04:00 [V] Tunes 05:00 [V] Tunes

06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:50 10:00 10:50 11:00 11:50 12:50 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:50 15:00 15:50 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30

7th Heaven Scrubs The King Of Queens According To Jim According To Jim Criminal Minds Married With Children Grey’s Anatomy Different Strokes 90210 Married With Children Married With Children The King Of Queens The Bold And The Beautiful 7th Heaven Different Strokes Grey’s Anatomy Married With Children [V] Tunes Criminal Minds Scrubs The King Of Queens According To Jim According To Jim

Granada TV 20:00 Rough Diamond (Series 2) 21:30 Shampoo

22:00 23:00 00:00 01:00 02:00 03:30 04:00 05:00 05:30 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00

Cosmetic Surgery From Hell Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 1) The Jeremy Kyle Show Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 1) Crime Monday: Rough Diamond (Series 2) Shampoo Total Emergency Emmerdale Coronation Street The Jeremy Kyle Show Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 1) Crime Monday: Rough Diamond (Series 2) Shampoo Young, Posh And Loaded The Sunshine Girls Emmerdale Coronation Street The Jeremy Kyle Show Trinny And Susannah Undress (Series 2) Crime Monday: Rough Diamond (Series 2) Shampoo Emmerdale Coronation Street The Jeremy Kyle Show Trinny And Susannah Undress (Series 2)

Channel [V] 21:30 Love Net Ep 01

21:50 22:00 22:50 23:00 23:50 00:00 01:00 03:50 04:00 06:00 06:50 07:00 09:00 11:00 12:00 12:50 13:00 13:30 13:50 14:00 14:40 14:50 15:00 15:30 15:50 16:00 16:50 17:00

Music Campus Top 10 Ep 4 Music [V] Zabardast Hits Music Latenight [V] Latenight [V] Fresh [V] Deo Latenight [V] [V] Zabardast Hits Fresh [V] Deo [V] Mindblasting Mornings [V] Mindblasting Mornings [V] Zabardast Hits [V] Double Shot Lola Night School Ep 33 Love Net Ep 01 Deadly Dus Ep 02 Campus Blog Ep 46 [V] Zabardast Hits Fresh [V] Deo Bollywood Busters Ep 11 Bollywood Nonsensex Ep 07 [V] R Family Ep 02 Music [V] Zabardast Hits Lola Talkies Ep 33 [V] Nach Le

17:40 17:50 18:00 18:50 19:00 19:50 20:00 20:40 20:50 21:00

Fresh [V] Deo Bollywood Busters Ep 11 [V] Zabardast Hits Music Campus Top 10 Ep 4 Music [V] Zabardast Hits Fresh [V] Deo Campus Blog Ep 46 [V] Zabardast Hits

Fox News 20:00 America’s News HQ 21:00 America’s News HQ host Shannon Bream 23:00 Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 00:00 The O’Reilly Factor(repeat) 01:00 America’s News HQ hosts Gregg Jarrett and Julie Banderas 03:00 FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 04:00 FOX Report Sunday host Julie Banderas 05:00 Huckabee with Mike Huckabee 06:00 Hannity with Sean Hannity 07:00 Geraldo At Large with Geraldo Rivera 08:00 Huckabee with Mike Huckabee 09:00 Hannity with Sean Hannity 10:00 Geraldo At Large with Geraldo Rivera

11:00 FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 12:00 War Stories with Oliver North 13:00 Bulls and Bears (repeat) 13:30 Cavuto On Business (repeat) 14:00 FORBES on FOX (repeat) 14:30 Cashin’ In (repeat) 15:00 FOX & Friends First Live 16:00 FOX & Friends Live 18:00 America’s Newsroom 19:00 America’s Newsroom National Geographic Channel 20:00 Mega Factories -Audi 21:00 Theme Week -Is It Real? : Nostradamus Effect S2 22:00 Theme Week -Secret Bible : Apocalypse 3 23:00 Theme Week -2012: The Final Prophecy 00:00 Air Crash Investigation -Phantom Strike S5 01:00 ABOUT ASIA -Inside : Ice Vegas 02:00 Locked Up Abroad -Conned In Quito 03:00 Dangerous Encounters -Dangerous Encounters With Brad : Countdown Crocs 04:00 The Living Edens -Madagascar: A World Apart 05:00 ABOUT ASIA -Inside : Ice Vegas 06:00 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet -

30

WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Embassy information

TRASSK new office bearers

EMBASSY OF UKRAINE The Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait informs that it has started updating the information about Ukrainian citizens, who live and work in Kuwait. In this connection, we are asking you to refer to the Embassy and update your file in consular register in order not to be excluded from it.

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.

T

hrissur Association of Kuwait (TRASSK) held its Annual General Body meeting at Khaitan Indian Community School on Friday 26th March’ 10 and elected its new Office Bearers for the year 2010-11. TRASSK President Vijayan Thayath congratulated members, central committee members and office bearers for their contribution to the growth of TRASSK during his presidential address. General Secretary K.R. Prasad presented the annual working report and Treasurer Ramaswamy presented the financial report. Thereafter members from various areas participated in the general discussions. The general body elected Sunny Kavalakat (President), Mohammed Rafi (General Secretary), Jelson Akkara (Treasurer) V.V Sebastian (Vice President) Benoy Erinjeri, Shameer Ahmed & Shijo Manjaly (Joint Secretaries), and Suneer Abdulkader (Joint Treasurer) as new office bearers for the year 201011. The general body also elected Susan Sebastian (President), Kripa Sujith (General Secretary), Shiny Frank (Treasurer) & Saritha Sasikumar (Vice President) as new office bearers for Vanitha Vedi for 2010-11. Sujith Chandra, K.M. Naseer and Ramachandran were the returning officers.

St Peters celebrates 40th anniversary T he St. Peters, CSI Church celebrated its 40th anniversary with a colorful Public Meeting held at National Evangelical Church on last Thursday, was fully packed with church members, their families and well wishers. The public meeting started at 7.30 pm with opening prayer by Rev. Sunny Thomas, Vicar, Marthoma Church, Salmiya, followed by anthem by Choir, under the leader-

ship of Mr. Thomas Koshy.

Parish Priest, Rev Jacob T Abraham welcomed the dignitaries, the Sunday school students presented rose flower bouquet to the dignitaries under the Supervision of Dr Grace Alex and Annie Susan Chandy.

Briefing the Church history by the Secretary, Suresh Thomas, Presidential speech by former East Kerala Diocese Bishop, Rt Rev

Michael John, lighting of the Traditional lamp, inaugural speech and release of the Souvenir ‘Anugraha’ 2010, by His Excellency, Ajai Malhotra, Ambassador of India, Felicitations by Rev. Emanuel Ghareeb, Pastor, Arab Language Congregation, K P Koshy, ChiefAdministrator, National Evangelical Church, Kuwait, Rev.D Justin Devadhasan, Vicar, St. John Tamil

CSI Congregation, Rev Fr Abraham. T George, Vicar, Ahamadi Orthodox Church. 63 senior members who completed 25 years were presented with mementos and ponnadas by the Bishop and its reply speech was delivered by senior member K K Koshy.

The function ended with Vote of thanks by J Secretary, PC Johnson, later prayer and benediction by Bishop, Rt. Rev. Michael John.

UIS bag close cluster overall championship for the fourth time

U

IS bagged the Chess Overall Championship trophy for the 4th time in the CBSE Cluster Chess Tournament held at Fahaheel Al Wataniya Public School on 3rd, 4th and 5th of October 2009. A total of 11 schools took part in this tournament. At the onset itself, Under 14 and Under - 19 Girls team kept a tight reign on the hapless opponents to win the laurels hands down.

The UIS team with their strategical movements in 3 categories (U - 19 Girls, U - 14 girls and U - 19 mixed category) knocked down their opponents to reach the top and claim the Championship Trophy for the 4th time.

Out of the four categories, UIS were the winners in U - 14 girls, U - 19 girls and third place in U - 19 mixed category in the 3 days Tournament hosted by FAIPS. The Championship Trophy and certificates were distributed to the winners by FAIPS Principal Mrs. Anju Dheman.

Results Under 14 - girls (winner) Category Fiona Sunny, Preeti Manoj, Ashmy Sajan, Swetha Dinesh, Archana Mohandas.

Under 19 - girls (winner) Category Jacksy Susan Johnson, Sofiamma P. Chacko, Jyothitha H. Chandran, Anjaly Mohandas

The overall champions of the CBSE Cluster Chess Tournament - 2009-2010 with UIS Principal Susan Roy, Vice Principal Cherian Thomas, Physical Directors Jacob Vaidyan (left) and Siby Kurian (right).

Under 19 - mixed (3rd Place) Category Abhishek Koshy Vaidyan, Nevin Paul, Anu James, Ansu Mariam, Asha Jane.

KMBS Thesis Defense one non-stop week

O Get a taste of your ocean favorites at the Beldani

E

very day from 7:00 pm until 11:30 pm Beldani Restaurant at Movenpick Hotel & Resort Al Bida’a is your fish market!

Select your catch of the day with a wide choice of fresh crabs, lobsters, jumbo shrimps, Scottish salmon, Hammour, amongst others.

Steamed, baked, grilled or fried - our chefs will prepare your selection, cooked to perfection and your preferences.

Accompanied by a great range of sides and wide array of seafood cold dishes and salads, guests can sit back, relish the seaside ambiance and enjoy a nice evening “out of the pier”. The great news for the month of April is that you can enjoy all this for half price. Beldani is offering throughout April 50% discount.

Looking forward to welcoming all!

For reservations or more information, please call: 22253100 extension: 5444.

nce again, Kuwait Maastricht Business School MBA students have come to the last stage of their program, that is, the thesis defense. Some are excited, some are anxious and stressed, but at the end, this is one of the moments KMBS-MBA students remember the most.

The Oral Thesis Defense is equivalent to final exams in the graduate program which is one crucial step away from the graduation ceremony. KMBS Thesis Defense runs for eight consecutive days until Saturday 3rd of April. KMBS students are scheduled to present and expertly defend their long prepared thesis in front of a panel of academics from Maastricht School of Management and KMBS. At KMBS, the verdict is delivered shortly after the defense session is over, saving the students from additional stress and waiting time.

“Not many MBAs have a thesis built into the program and when it is, it is not actually a thesis but a mere project. KMBS-MBA students can be proud that they have to complete a real thesis that testifies they are ready to join an elite that has actually earned a Master’s degree.” said Professor Hernan E.

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Riquelme - Head of Academic Affairs at KMBS, adding “The thesis at KMBS, in addition, gives the possibility to contribute to knowledge within a field of the student’s interest in the context of Kuwait; thus a thesis is, undoubtedly, an asset on all counts for students and for the society of Kuwait. KMBS MBA students rejoice- you are making a difference!”

MBA students are expected to raise the standard of professionalism in the marketplace; therefore they need to prove they understand the market’s current situation and its challenges to offer their best solutions in one chosen field related to a specific company or sector.

Here are some of the MBA Thesis topics expected this week at the KMBS Thesis Defense:

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Leadership Styles Adopted by Top Management of Construction Companies & The Relationship With Their Organisational Performance The Role of Adopting The Balance Score Card (BSC) in Creating Strategy Focused Organisation: An Explanatory Study in Kuwait Job Satisfaction & Work Commitment in Kuwait: Special Case Achieving Profitability Without Abandoning Creativity in Kuwaiti Architectural Firms The Intellectual Capital Performance of Kuwait Banks An Exploratory Study Predicting Entrepreneurial Opportunity Recognition in Kuwait Market Characterising Leadership Style Service Marketing in Pharmacy Practice Succession Planning In Family Owned Businesses in Kuwait Evaluating Corporate Governance Challenges in Kuwait Private Sector Service Quality Measurement

EMBASSY OF INDIA 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 NETHERLANDS On the occasion of Easter, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands will be closed on Sunday, 04 April 2010 and Monday 05 April 2010. The Embassy will re-open on Tuesday, 06 April 2010. Fridays and Saturdays are the usual weekend of the Embassy.

Opening hours are: Sunday- Thursday 09.00- 12.00 hrs (visa section) and 08.00- 15.00 hrs (all other sections).

EMBASSY OF KENYA The embassy of the Republic of Kenya wishes to inform the general public that the embassy will remain closed on Sunday 4th and Monday 5th April, 2010 to observe Easter. Normal office operations will resume on Tuesday 6th April, 2010.

31

WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Civil Aviation joins Gethealthykuwait.com G

ethealthykuwait.com, Kuwait’s largest health initiative launched by Diet Care and Taiba Hospital, announced that it provided more than 90 employees at the Civil Aviation with free health tests and consultations in its 27th community outreach visit.

Since the launch of gethealthykuwait.com, more than 3430 people are now on their way to a healthier living.

During gethealthykuwait.com’s weekly outreach visits, expert nutritionists provided employ-

ees and students in the community with free cholesterol and glucose tests, body analysis tests and offer free health consultations to empower individuals to take the first steps to better their lifestyles.

The Civil Aviation joined forces with gethealthykuwait.com and opened its doors to help improve its employees’ eating habits. Expert nutritionist Sarah Dimashkieh also provided a health lecture on health tips and information for employees

to lead a more productive work day. Gethealthykuwait.com team’s visit to the Civil Aviation comes as part of a series of ongoing outreach activities to large businesses in Kuwait, including National Bank of Kuwait, Zain, Burgan Bank, Wataniya Telecom, KNPC, and United Real Estate Company.

The initiative also expanded its outreach visits to government entities, schools, and public centers.

Gethealthykuwait.com Chief Nutritionist and Diet Care

Operations Manager, Sami Al Bader said, “Gethealthykuwait.com is more than just an awareness campaign that emphasizes the dangers of obesity and the importance of eating healthy.

Gethealthykuwait.com provides the first steps to bettering people’s lifestyles through the free testing and consultations given by our expert nutritionists on a weekly basis to the community, as well as provides healthy programs to empower people to jumpstart their way into better-

ing their lifestyles. To this day, we have encouraged more than 3400 people including the Civil Aviation employees to care for their health.”

Gethealthykuwait.com Head of Testings and Taiba Hospital’s Chief Operating Officer Rashed Al Fadalah said: “Many individuals don’t realize the dangers of their eating habits until we provide them with their health results onthe-spot. With these results, gethealthykuwait.com expert nutritionists provide each indi-

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island of Bali, Indonesia, for the person who loses the most percentage of his body weight after the program. The winner during cycle one was Ivan Kristovic who lost 8.8 per cent of his body weight in 28-days. The winner of cycle 2 was Nawaf AlThabian who lost 32 kilograms in three months. Two more prizes await the person who loses the most percentage of their body weight during cycle three and four of the campaign.

Gethealhtykuwait.com will also extend to every individual,

couple, and family the opportunity to subscribe to a nutritional or weight-loss program provided by Diet Care at a heavily discounted rate as part of Diet Care’s efforts to help people overcome their weight challenges. On their part, Taiba Hospital is offering up to 50% discounts on full medical checkups for every GHK participant.

Once enrolled at GHK, every member receives free access to Diet Care’s dietitians and better health sessions provided by Diet Care and Taiba Hospital.

Congratulations

Indian Food Festival opens at Kuwait Towers n “Indian Food Festival” is being organized at the landmark Kuwait Towers from April 1-7, 2010, by Touristic Enterprises Company, Kuwait, and the Embassy of India, Kuwait. A top Indian Chef accompanied by two experienced cooks from the Ashok Hotel, New Delhi, the flagship hotel of The Ashok Group of Hotels in India, would showcase their culinary skills and tickle your palate with a variety of Indian cuisine at Kuwait Towers during the week starting April 1.

Overseeing the food preparations for the “Indian Food Festival” will be Chef Balram Jaiswal. He is the Main Kitchen Chef of the prestigious, five-star Ashok Hotel, New Delhi.

As the top Chef of the Ashok Hotel, he specializes in Indian Cuisine. He will be assisted

by Cook Mahboob Alam, who has been working for over 20 years with the Ashok Group of Hotels. He is a specialist in Indian Curry, Tandoor and Kashmiri cuisine, and prepares food for banquets and VVIP parties in New Delhi. Also assisting would be Cook Naresh Kumar, who too has been working for over 20 years with the Ashok Group of Hotels. He is a specialist in Tandoori food, Indian Sweets, Soups, etc, and prepares food for banquets and

vidual with the first steps that help them make healthier changes. Our community outreach visits, like the one to Civil Aviation, play an important role in combating obesity by reaching out to as many people as we can.”

Gethealthykuwait.com is extending an opportunity for the community to take the necessary steps to better their health through its 28-day nutrition program. Gethealthykuwait.com is also offering a free vacation for three people to the magical

VVIP parties in New Delhi.

The “Indian Food Festival” promises food lovers in Kuwait an array of mouth watering Indian delicacies with special focus on exotic dishes from Punjab, Kashmir, etc., using in some instances recipes going back to the era of the Mughals. These dishes include Mutton Seekh Kabab, Hasina Murgh Kabab, Chicken Reshmi Kabab, Chicken Bannu Kabab, besides delicacies like Tabakhmaz, Rogan Josh and Aloo Dum Kashmiri. The Festival promises to be a unique and unforgettable culinary experience. The opportunity to enjoy some of the exotic flavors of India during the “Indian Food Festival” at the landmark Kuwait Towers should not be missed.

The “Indian Food Festival” would be inaugurated on April 1, 2010, in the presence of Ajai Malhotra, Ambassador of India to the State of Kuwait, Khaled A Al-Ghanem, Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC), Meshary AlSanoussi of TEC, senior representatives of India Tourism, Dubai, and other dignitaries.

The organization of the “Indian Food Festival” is being facilitated by the Government of India through India Tourism Office, Dubai, and The Ashok Group of Hotels, New Delhi.

Stress management in modern day life

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Congratulations Farah Mousa on your great performance at school

Congratulations Nour Mousa on your great score at school

s a part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations in the service of its customers and well-wishers, City International Exchange Company, the Premier Exchange Company in Kuwait, is arranging a talk on “Stress Management In Modern Day Life” by Dr K P Misra, MD,DSc,FRCP., an eminent Cardiologist and one of the founding fathers of Apollo Hospitals Group in India and a scholar who had already taught more than 100,000 medical students and doctors world-wide. The venue is Indian Community School (Senior Girls School) Auditorium, Salmiya, on 01-04-2010, at 18:30 Hrs. All are WELCOME.

Aware diwaniya

T A fun-packed get-together outdoors!

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t is time to take a break and make the best use of the current climatic conditions. All alumni members of the Union Christian College, Aluva and their families

The Safir Marina Hotel launches Marina Nights

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sian, Italian and Mexican flavors will be wafting through the Atlantis Restaurant as a part of their latest culinary offering to the theme

nights The “Safir” Marina Hotel Kuwait celebrated the launch its “Mexican Night” which is a part of the recently launched “Marina Nights” at The Atlantis Restaurant. The theme night’s launch which is driven by the “Safir” International Hotel Management was attended by the local media, prominent dignitaries and guest of honor Manuel Pardenas - Ambassador of Cuba.

The Mexican Night is held every Saturday at The

Atlantis Restaurant.

Jan Verduyn, General Manager of the “Safir” Marina Hotel Kuwait along with the entire management team welcomed the guests upon their arrival to an evening of traditional hospitality reflected by a range of sumptuous buffet tables laden with superb delicacies and Mexican cuisine. The authentic ambience was reflected in the impressive décor, aromatic flavors, soothing live music, lighting and attire of the staff.

Speaking on the occasion of the launch Jan Verduyn, General Manager of the “Safir” Marina Hotel Kuwait said “Our aim as a boutique hotel is to ensure

that our guests are completely satisfied with our various culinary offerings and services. We always try to raise our performance standards in the variety we offer and with the launch of the “Marina Nights” we would like to provide our guests with an opportunity to explore the various indigenous recipes specially created with ingredients that are of the highest grade and quality in a unique setting with high service standards.

The theme nights also gives us a chance to bring to the local and expatriate community living in Kuwait to experience such fabulous cuisines from around the world like Asia, Italy and Mexico”.

The Atlantis Restaurant features the Asian Night every Tuesday, Bar-be-que Nights every Wednesday, Italian Night every Thursday and Mexican Night every Saturday. Guests are also encouraged to come along with their families to a delectable brunch buffet all prepared by the hotels team of professional chefs every Friday. Post a nice meal they can spend time enjoying their dessert, tea, coffee and let the children participate in the Marina

are invited to a fun-filled day outside on Friday, April 16 at Mishref Gardens from 8:30 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. The picnic package awaits you with plenty of surprises - sports,

Kids Club program at the hotel premises.

With the re launch of its yearly Bar-be-que Nights, guests can experience a feast for the senses which include a delicious appetizing assortment of freshly char- grilled meat, chicken and sea food from the barbeque along with a wide range of salads followed by tasty deserts. Indulge yourself amidst a warm ambience under the starlight and enjoy the extraordinary wizardry by executive Chef Maher Assad and his culinary team at the live cooking station whilst listening to the rhythm of an Oriental Band.

In addition to the theme nights The “Safir” Marina Hotel invites guests to socialize relax and unwind every day from 7pm onwards at the “Marina Diwaniya” located outside the hotel, by the poolside, overlooking the Arabian Gulf. Leave the stress of work behind; take some time to catch up with friends over a cup of refreshing tea or coffee and relish on the delectable refreshments while having shisha and listening to the sounds of the waves. Enjoy the hotel’s spectacular settings and hospitality combined with the warm spring

games, quiz, gifts, sumptuous meals and lots more!! So grab the opportunity and register!

For additional information and registration please call: 99032839, 9959397,66024732. weather reflecting the elegant ambience and the serenity of the Arabian Gulf view.

Commenting on all the new developments taking place within the hotel Mr. Verduyn further concluded “Its quality service, eminent location, and contemporary ambience that makes the “Safir” Marina Hotel a perfect place for families, friends and business meetings” Tuesday: Asian Night Wednesday: Bar-be-que by the Pool Thursday: Italian Night Friday: Family Brunch along with Kids Club Activities Saturday: Mexican Night The “Safir” Marina Hotel Kuwait also participated in the Earth Hour on the very same day of the launch to send a powerful global message about environmental awareness and caring for the planet. For one full hour several measures were taken to save electricity and lights were switched off in the entire hotel further underscoring the Hotel’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

he AWARE Center cordially invites you to its diwaniya about, “The sponsorship system in Kuwait,” by Dr Khalid Al-Jenfawi from Kuwait University in the department of English Literature.

What is the meaning of “Kafeel” translated sponsor/guarantor? What are the rules and regulations regarding: private employers, employees in the government and private sector, obtaining maids, drivers, etc. Kuwait has implemented new labor laws rectifying the sponsorship system, which has hitherto been in favor of employers to the detriment of employees. He will also shed some limelight on visa traders who extort some money from jobseekers promising them satisfactory jobs only to dump them in the end. All are welcome on April 6th at 7pm.

For more information, call 25335260/80 ext 105 or 104 or e-mail: Htaware.hassan@gmail.com

TV PROGRAMS

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Thursday, April 1, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings

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

Murdoch Mysteries The Unusuals Burn Notice CSI ER Lie to Me Law & Order Life Murdoch Mysteries CSI Burn Notice Life The Unusuals Lie to Me Law & Order Starter Wife CSI Without a Trace Ghost Whisperer Sons of Anarchy The Tudors

ANIMAL PLANET 03:30 Animal Cops Phoenix 04:25 Miami Animal Police 05:20 Going Ape 05:45 Planet Wild 06:10 E-Vets: The Interns 06:35 Aussie Animal Rescue 07:00 Wildlife SOS 07:25 Pet Rescue 07:50 Tigers Attack 08:45 Corwin’s Quest Specials 09:40 Beverly Hills Groomer 10:05 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:30 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:55 Going Ape 11:20 Planet Wild 11:50 Miami Animal Police 12:45 E-Vets: The Interns 13:10 Pet Rescue 13:40 Animal Cops Phoenix 14:35 Wildlife SOS 15:00 Aussie Animal Rescue 15:30 Tigers Attack 16:25 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 16:50 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 17:20 Beverly Hills Groomer 17:45 Deep Into the Wild with Nick Baker 18:15 Living with the Wolfman 18:40 Living with the Wolfman 19:10 Saba and the Rhino’s Secret 20:10 Animal Cops Phoenix 21:05 Untamed & Uncut 22:00 Living with the Wolfman 22:25 Living with the Wolfman 22:55 Animal Cops Phoenix 23:50 Saba and the Rhino’s Secret

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

13:15 Kendra 13:40 30 Most Outrageous Celebrity Feuds 15:25 Behind The Scenes 15:50 Behind The Scenes 16:15 Ths 17:10 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 17:35 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 18:00 E! News 18:25 The Daily 10 18:50 Streets Of Hollywood 19:15 Battle Of The Hollywood Hotties 19:40 Ths 20:30 Ths 21:20 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 21:45 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 22:10 E! News 22:35 The Daily 10 23:00 Dr 90210 23:50 Wildest Tv Show Moments

Casualty Casualty The Ship Bargain Hunt Teletubbies Me Too Tweenies Teletubbies Me Too Tweenies Teletubbies Me Too Tweenies Bargain Hunt The Ship Red Dwarf Red Dwarf The Weakest Link Eastenders Doctors Bargain Hunt Cash In The Attic Red Dwarf Red Dwarf The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Casualty Casualty The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Green Green Grass Extras The Keith Barret Show The League Of Gentlemen The League Of Gentlemen

03:30 Cash In The Attic USA 03:50 Cash In The Attic USA 04:15 Hidden Potential 04:35 Living In The Sun 05:30 The Clothes Show 06:15 Cash In The Attic USA 06:35 Cash In The Attic USA 07:15 Cash In The Attic USA 07:35 Cash In The Attic USA 08:10 Antiques Roadshow 09:00 Cash In The Attic USA 09:25 Hidden Potential 09:55 Gary Rhodes’ Local Food Heroes 10:40 Living In The Sun 11:25 Living In The Sun 12:15 Antiques Roadshow 13:05 The Clothes Show 13:55 Gary Rhodes’ Local Food

Ghost Town on Show Movies Heroes 14:40 Living In The Sun 15:30 Daily Cooks Challenge 16:00 Daily Cooks Challenge 16:30 Cash In The Attic USA 16:50 Hidden Potential 17:10 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 18:00 The Clothes Show 18:50 Antiques Roadshow 19:40 Daily Cooks Challenge 20:10 Daily Cooks Challenge 20:40 MasterChef Goes Large 21:10 Come Dine With Me 21:35 Come Dine With Me 22:00 The Home Show 22:50 The Home Show 23:40 Sweet Baby James

03:00 05:00 07:00 PG15 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

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

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

Sexy Beast-18 Arlington Road-18 Maradona: The Hand Of GodBopha!-PG15 Calendar Girls-PG15 Trekkies 2-PG Looking For Richard-PG15 Save The Last Dance-PG Diamond 13-18 Man On Wire-PG15 The Contender-18

Wheeler Dealers Ultimate Biker Challenge Ultimate Biker Challenge Mythbusters How Stuff’s Made Dirty Jobs Man Made Marvels Ultimate Biker Challenge Ultimate Biker Challenge Street Customs 2008 How Do They Do It? Mythbusters Ultimate Survival Wheeler Dealers Wheeler Dealers How Do They Do It? How Stuff’s Made American Chopper Miami Ink Mythbusters Dirty Jobs Verminators Street Customs 2008 Destroyed in Seconds How Do They Do It? How Stuff’s Made Heartland Thunder My Shocking Story My Shocking Story

Beyond Tomorrow Science of Star Wars Cool Stuff & How it Works Green Wheels One Step Beyond Engineered Junkyard Wars Science of Star Wars What’s That About?

How Stuff’s Made Stunt Junkies Engineered Green Wheels One Step Beyond Science of Star Wars What’s That About?

Human Cloning How Stuff’s Made Junkyard Wars Brainiac The Greatest Ever The Future of...

Brainiac How It’s Made How It’s Made Mythbusters Specials

22:00 The Future of...

22:50 Brainiac 23:40 The Greatest Ever

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

Special Agent Oso Brandy & Mr Whiskers Fairly Odd Parents Hannah Montana I Got A Rocket Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas & Ferb Higglytown Heroes Handy Manny Lazytown Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Imagination Movers Special Agent Oso Fairly Odd Parents Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Sonny With A Chance Jonas Hannah Montana Wizards Of Waverly Place The Suite Life On Deck Replacements American Dragon Kim Possible Famous Five Fairly Odd Parents Phineas & Ferb The Replacements Chicken Little Sonny With A Chance Fairly Odd Parents Phineas & Ferb Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana The Replacements High School Musical Wizards Of Waverly Place The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody The Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Sonny With A Chance Jonas

06:00 07:40 08:05 09:30 10:00 10:30 12:25 12:50 13:20 13:30 14:00 14:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:30 21:25

American Dragon Phineas & Ferb Phineas & Ferb Zeke & Luther Zeke & Luther Suite Life On Deck Kid vs Kat Kid vs Kat KID VS KAT Kid vs Kat Kid vs Kat Zeke & Luther Suite Life On Deck Suite Life On Deck DADNAPPED Phineas & Ferb The Suite Life of Zack & Cody

03:15 20 Best And Worst Celebrity Plastic...

05:05 Dr 90210 06:00 Ths 07:45 Style Star 08:10 Style Star 08:35 E! News 09:00 The Daily 10 09:25 Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami 09:50 Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami 10:15 E!es 11:05 Ths 12:00 E! News 12:25 The Daily 10 12:50 Kendra

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

Serial Killers Forensic Detectives Black Museum Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghosthunters Ghosthunters Forensic Detectives FBI Files Royal Inquest Solved Forensic Detectives FBI Files The Prosecutors Guilty Or Innocent?

CSU Forensic Detectives FBI Files Royal Inquest Solved Forensic Detectives FBI Files The Prosecutors Guilty Or Innocent?

CSU On the Case with Paula Zahn Crimes That Shook the World Dr G: Medical Examiner

03:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 14:20 17:00 18:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Barefoot Contessa Great British Menu Tyler’s Ultimate Barefoot Contessa Giada At Home 30 Minute Meals Barefoot Contessa Kitchen Criminals Grill It! with Bobby Flay Barefoot Contessa Tyler’s Ultimate Throwdown With Bobby Flay

04:20 07:40 09:10 10:45 12:15 13:50 15:25 17:05 18:55 20:20 22:00 23:40

Madonna: Truth Or Dare Nobody’s Perfect Crusoe Fast Food Beach Blanket Bingo Heart Of Dixie The Black Stallion Returns The Field Broadway Danny Rose After the Fox Mac and Me Contamination .7

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

Destination Extreme Surfer’s Journal Treks In A Wild World Madventures Chasing Time Departures Jailed Abroad Jailed Abroad Bondi Rescue Destination Extreme Surfer’s Journal Treks In A Wild World Madventures Chasing Time Lonely Planet Bondi Rescue Bondi Rescue Wild Rides First Ascent Bondi Rescue Destination Extreme Surfer’s Journal Treks In A Wild World Madventures Chasing Time Lonely Planet Bondi Rescue Bondi Rescue Wild Rides First Ascent Bondi Rescue Destination Extreme Surfer’s Journal Treks In A Wild World Madventures Chasing Time Lonely Planet

03:00 03:30 04:00 05:00

Reno 911 Weeds Sauturday Night Live Scrubs

05:30 Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 06:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 07:00 The Nanny 07:30 Malcolm in the Middle 08:00 Yes dear 08:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 09:00 The Nanny 09:30 Drew Carey 10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:30 Frasier 11:00 After you’ve gone 11:30 Eight Simple Rules 12:00 The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson 13:00 The Office 13:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 14:00 The Nanny 14:30 Malcolm in the Middle 15:00 Community 15:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Drew Carey 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 Eight Simple Rules 18:30 Just Shoot me!

19:00 Modern Family 19:30 New adventures of old Christine 20:00 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Family Guy 22:30 Hung 23:00 Sauturday Night Live

03:00 04:00 Leno 05:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 Leno 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 Leno 23:00

The Monique Show The Tonight show with Jay GMA Live GMA Health What’s the Buzz The Martha Stewart Show Look A Like 10 Years younger Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The View The Ellen DeGeneres Show What’s Good For You GMA Live GMA Health What’s the Buzz The Tonight show with Jay Look A Like 10 Years younger The View The Ellen DeGeneres Show Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The Tonight Show with Jay The Monique Show

04:30 Skin-PG 06:15 Ghost Town-PG15 08:00 A Previous Engagement-PG15 10:00 Sarah Landon And The Paranormal Hour-PG 12:00 Two Weeks-PG 14:00 Drillbit Taylor-PG15 16:00 A Previous Engagement-PG15 18:00 The Bucket List-PG15 20:00 Tropic Thunder-18 22:00 Prom Night-PG15

03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:45 23:15

Death Warrant-PG15 Mercury Man-PG15 Stargate: Continuum-PG15 Lost-PG15 Death Warrant-PG15 Fire From Below-PG15 Lost-PG15 The Shepherd-PG15 The Patriot-PG15 April Fool’s Day-18 The Forsaken-18

04:00 06:00 PG15 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 PG15 18:00 20:00 22:00

Griffin And Phoenix-PG15 Much Ado About NothingThe Hammer-PG15 Tortilla Soup-PG15 Americanizing Shelly-PG Parenthood-PG15 Satellites And MeteoritesNew York City Serenade-PG15 Fanboys-PG15 Doctor Detroit-18

04:00 Alexander The Great-FAM 06:00 Curious George: Follow That Monkey-PG 10:00 Alexander The Great-FAM 12:00 Barbie In The NutcrackerFAM 14:00 Zeus And Roxanne-PG 16:00 The Nameless Warrior-FAM 18:00 The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian-PG 20:30 Christmas In Wonderland-PG 22:00 Barbie In The Nutcracker

03:00 04:00 04:30 05:00 06:00

Tess of the D’Urbervilles Every Body Loves Raymond Coach 24 Emmerdale

06:30 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 23:30

Coronation Street Criminal Minds Every Body Loves Raymond Coach Tess of the D’Urbervilles 24 Criminal Minds Emmerdale Coronation Street Every Body Loves Raymond Coach Grey’s Anatomy Private Practice 24 Beauty and the Geek Emmerdale Huey’s Cooking Adventure Bones Dollhouse Cold Case Life on Mars Sex and the City Sex and the City

04:00 Premier League 06:00 Portugol 06:30 Brazil League Highlights 07:00 Premier League 09:00 Premier League Classics 10:00 Premier League 14:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 14:30 Brazil League Highlights 15:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 17:30 Futbol Mundial 18:00 Barclays Premier League Highlights 19:00 Premier League 21:00 Premier League World 21:30 Futbol Mundial 22:00 Goals Goals Goals 22:30 Premier League Classics 23:30 Premier League

03:00 Premier League Darts 07:00 AFL Highlights 08:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 08:30 NRL Premiership 10:30 Futbol Mundial 11:00 Weber Cup Bowling 12:00 Premier League World 12:30 AFL Highlights 13:30 Barclays Premier League Highlights 14:30 ICC Cricket World 15:00 World Hockey 15:30 Futbol Mundial 16:00 Guinness Premiership 18:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 18:30 Goals Goals Goals 19:00 AFL Highlights 20:00 World Sport 20:30 Premier League World 21:00 Live Premier League Darts

04:30 AFL Premiership Highlights 05:30 Goals Goals Goals 06:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 06:30 ICC Cricket World 07:00 Super 14 09:00 Goals Goals Goals 09:30 European Tour Weekly 10:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 11:00 Super League 13:00 Futbol Mundial 13:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 14:00 NRL Premiership 16:00 Brazil League Highlights 16:30 ICC Cricket World 17:00 European Tour Weekly 17:30 Live PGA European Tour 20:30 WWE NXT 21:30 World Sport 22:00 Live Super League

03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 23:00

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

The Invasion-PG15 Impact 1-PG15 Impact 2-PG15 Son Of The Mask-PG Dan In Real Life-PG15 Genghis Khan-PG15 All Hat-PG15 Mama I Want To Sing-PG Momma’s Man-PG Familiar Strangers-PG A Number-PG15 Race To Witch Mountain-PG15

03:25 The Screening Room 04:00 Nicholas And Alexandra 07:00 The Bad And The Beautiful 08:55 Crazy In Love 10:25 Sunday In New York 12:10 Echoes Of A Summer 13:50 After The Fox 15:30 My Favorite Year 17:00 The Glass Bottom Boat 18:50 Canadian Bacon 20:25 The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight 22:00 Real Genius 23:45 Fun With Dick And Jane

03:10 Conspiracy?

04:00 Nostradamus Effect 04:55 God vs. Satan: The Final Battle 06:40 Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 07:30 Lost Worlds 08:20 Dead Men’s Secrets 09:10 Conspiracy?

10:00 Nostradamus Effect 10:55 God vs. Satan: The Final Battle 12:40 Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 13:30 Lost Worlds 14:20 Dead Men’s Secrets 15:10 Conspiracy?

16:00 Nostradamus Effect 16:55 God vs. Satan: The Final Battle 18:40 Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 19:30 Lost Worlds 20:20 Dead Men’s Secrets 21:00 Life After People 21:55 Evolve 22:50 Dinosaur Secrets 23:40 How the Earth Was Made

03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 14:30

Split Ends Dr 90210 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane How Do I Look?

Style Star Style Her Famous My Celebrity Home Style Star Dress My Nest Peter Perfect Whose Wedding Is it Anyway?

Ruby Clean House Clean House Comes Clean Dress My Nest

15:00 16:00 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 21:30 22:00 23:00

What I Hate About Me Split Ends Dallas Divas & Daughters The Dish Running in Heels Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane Split Ends Clean House Dress My Nest Style Her Famous Clean House Ruby

05:04 06:00 08:04 08:45 13:04 13:50 14:00 15:00 16:04 16:45 18:00 18:45 20:04 20:45 21:00 21:15 22:00 22:24

Legend Playlist Latina Playlist Urban Hit Playlist Trace Video Mix Playlist RNB Playlist Urban Hit Playlist Sound System Playlist Guest Star Playlist Code Compilation Playlist

08:00 Globe Trekker 09:00 Essential 09:30 Dream Destinations 10:00 Distant Shores 10:30 Distant Shores 11:00 Chef Abroad 11:30 Entrada 12:00 Planet Food 13:00 Globe Trekker 14:00 Chef Abroad 14:30 The Thirsty Traveler 15:00 Sophie Grigson in the Souk 15:30 Entrada 16:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 17:00 Globe Trekker 18:00 Essential 18:30 Journey Into Wine-South Africa 19:00 Chef Abroad 19:30 The Thirsty Traveler 20:00 Globe Trekker 21:00 Essential 21:30 Essential 22:00 Distant Shores 22:30 Wild At Heart 23:00 Julian and Camilla’s World Odyssey

05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 Songs

Chill Out Vh1 Hits Vh1 Music Aerobic ¬† Top 10 Queen Music For The Masses Vh1 Pop Chart Vh1 Music Music For The Masses Vh1 Music Vh1 Viewer’s Jukebox Final Countdown Best Love

UFC - The Ultimate Fighter Live UFC Fight Night 21 WWE Smackdown WWE Vintage Collection FIM World Cup Ironman Bushido WWE Smackdown LG Action Sport UAE National Race Day Ironman NCAA Basketball WWE Vintage Collection UFC Wired UFC - The Ultimate Fighter UFC Fight Night 21 UFC Unleashed

03:00 December Boys-PG15 05:00 Largo Winch-PG15 07:00 Bring It On 5: Fight To The Finish-PG15 09:00 Bring It On 5: Fight To The Finish-PG15 11:00 December Boys-PG15 13:00 Where God Left His Shoes-PG 15:00 The 11th Hour-U 17:00 Bring It On 5: Fight To The Finish-PG15 19:00 Happy Go Lucky-PG15 21:00 Gran Torino-PG15 23:00 Meet The Spartans-PG15

Largo Winch on Super Movies

Star Listings (UAE Timings) STAR Movies 21:25 No Bad Days 23:00 Day Watch 01:10 Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger 03:00 La Linea 04:50 No Bad Days 06:25 Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger 08:15 Conan The Barbarian 10:20 La Linea 12:15 The Merry Gentleman 13:50 I’m Reed Fish 15:25 Moulin Rouge 17:30 Overboard 19:20 The Transporter STAR World 20:00 90210 20:50 Married With Children 21:50 Different Strokes 22:50 Married With Children 23:00 Criminal Minds 23:50 Married With Children 00:50 Different Strokes 01:50 Married With Children 02:00 90210 03:00 [V] Tunes 04:00 [V] Tunes 05:00 [V] Tunes

06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:50 10:00 10:50 11:00 11:50 12:50 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:50 15:00 15:50 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30

7th Heaven Scrubs The King Of Queens According To Jim According To Jim Criminal Minds Married With Children Grey’s Anatomy Different Strokes 90210 Married With Children Married With Children The King Of Queens The Bold And The Beautiful 7th Heaven Different Strokes Grey’s Anatomy Married With Children [V] Tunes Criminal Minds Scrubs The King Of Queens According To Jim According To Jim

Granada TV 20:00 Rough Diamond (Series 2) 21:30 Shampoo

22:00 23:00 00:00 01:00 02:00 03:30 04:00 05:00 05:30 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00

Cosmetic Surgery From Hell Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 1) The Jeremy Kyle Show Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 1) Crime Monday: Rough Diamond (Series 2) Shampoo Total Emergency Emmerdale Coronation Street The Jeremy Kyle Show Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 1) Crime Monday: Rough Diamond (Series 2) Shampoo Young, Posh And Loaded The Sunshine Girls Emmerdale Coronation Street The Jeremy Kyle Show Trinny And Susannah Undress (Series 2) Crime Monday: Rough Diamond (Series 2) Shampoo Emmerdale Coronation Street The Jeremy Kyle Show Trinny And Susannah Undress (Series 2)

Channel [V] 21:30 Love Net Ep 01

21:50 22:00 22:50 23:00 23:50 00:00 01:00 03:50 04:00 06:00 06:50 07:00 09:00 11:00 12:00 12:50 13:00 13:30 13:50 14:00 14:40 14:50 15:00 15:30 15:50 16:00 16:50 17:00

Music Campus Top 10 Ep 4 Music [V] Zabardast Hits Music Latenight [V] Latenight [V] Fresh [V] Deo Latenight [V] [V] Zabardast Hits Fresh [V] Deo [V] Mindblasting Mornings [V] Mindblasting Mornings [V] Zabardast Hits [V] Double Shot Lola Night School Ep 33 Love Net Ep 01 Deadly Dus Ep 02 Campus Blog Ep 46 [V] Zabardast Hits Fresh [V] Deo Bollywood Busters Ep 11 Bollywood Nonsensex Ep 07 [V] R Family Ep 02 Music [V] Zabardast Hits Lola Talkies Ep 33 [V] Nach Le

17:40 17:50 18:00 18:50 19:00 19:50 20:00 20:40 20:50 21:00

Fresh [V] Deo Bollywood Busters Ep 11 [V] Zabardast Hits Music Campus Top 10 Ep 4 Music [V] Zabardast Hits Fresh [V] Deo Campus Blog Ep 46 [V] Zabardast Hits

Fox News 20:00 America’s News HQ 21:00 America’s News HQ host Shannon Bream 23:00 Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 00:00 The O’Reilly Factor(repeat) 01:00 America’s News HQ hosts Gregg Jarrett and Julie Banderas 03:00 FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 04:00 FOX Report Sunday host Julie Banderas 05:00 Huckabee with Mike Huckabee 06:00 Hannity with Sean Hannity 07:00 Geraldo At Large with Geraldo Rivera 08:00 Huckabee with Mike Huckabee 09:00 Hannity with Sean Hannity 10:00 Geraldo At Large with Geraldo Rivera

11:00 FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 12:00 War Stories with Oliver North 13:00 Bulls and Bears (repeat) 13:30 Cavuto On Business (repeat) 14:00 FORBES on FOX (repeat) 14:30 Cashin’ In (repeat) 15:00 FOX & Friends First Live 16:00 FOX & Friends Live 18:00 America’s Newsroom 19:00 America’s Newsroom National Geographic Channel 20:00 Mega Factories -Audi 21:00 Theme Week -Is It Real? : Nostradamus Effect S2 22:00 Theme Week -Secret Bible : Apocalypse 3 23:00 Theme Week -2012: The Final Prophecy 00:00 Air Crash Investigation -Phantom Strike S5 01:00 ABOUT ASIA -Inside : Ice Vegas 02:00 Locked Up Abroad -Conned In Quito 03:00 Dangerous Encounters -Dangerous Encounters With Brad : Countdown Crocs 04:00 The Living Edens -Madagascar: A World Apart 05:00 ABOUT ASIA -Inside : Ice Vegas 06:00 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet -

Thursday, April 1, 2010

33 ACCOMMODATION Accommodation available for a decent non-smoking Keralite in Abbassiya near Lovely/Garden stores. Contact: 24334851, 99185377.

(C 2079) Sharing rooms available in CAC building near Salmiya garden and Maidan Hawally with bath, single or couple, rent KD 100, 50, 40. Call 97151921. (C 2075) Spacious one room with balcony available for rent in a double bedroom flat at Salmiya, behind Al Jazeera complex, Gulf road, close to Pizza Hut & Rays One restaurant, rent KD 70. Contact: 97471492. (C 2076) Two central A/C rooms available in Benaid-AlGar, very near to Al-Salam hospital for decent working ladies from April.

Contact: 97879611.

1-4-2010 Sharing accommodation available for Keralite couples in a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom new flat at Abbassiya, near United Indian School.

Mob: 97345539. (C 2070) Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya for decent bachelor or working lady with Keralite family.

Contact: 97534972.

(C 2072) Furnished room with attached bath next to the main street Farwaniya is available with a small Pakistan family from 1st April for 2 months (possibility to continue) visiting family or working ladies can call.

66509289. (C 2068) Sharing accommodation for single family or working lady, Abbassiya nearest India house. Contact: 66670285. (C 2073) 31-3-2010 Sharing accommodation available for Indian working ladies or couples in a double bedroom flat in near Khaitan police station roundabout with all facilities.

Call: 99480468. (C 2066) 30-3-2010 Sharing accommodation available for a Christian bachelor at Abbassiya near

Neethi store from 1st April.

Rent KD 25. Contact: 66063182. (C 2065) Sharing available for one or two Indian bachelors in a furnished big mulhaq room at Abrak Khaitan close to bus stop and Jamiya (kitchen and bathroom attached). Rent KD 25. Call: 66036893. (C 2059) Sharing accommodation in Abbassiya for working ladies or couple. Contact: 97501647. (C 2060) Salmiya furnished accommodation available for a single executive bachelor in a window air conditioned flat to share with a small family, hailing from Kerala, next to Salmiya church, behind Woodlands restaurant (from 1 April 2010). Contact: 99754537 or 25657681.

(C 2063) 29-3-2010

MATRIMONIAL Proposals invited from parents of well educated qualified boys for a Keralite CSI girl, 24 years, 165 cm, B.Tech (electronic & communication) working as project engineer in a reputed company. Please respond with boyʼs complete personal/career details to email kamkwt@hotmail.com (C 2077) 1-4-2010

FOR SALE Toyota Camry Grande model 2006, 6 cylinders, done 86,000 kms only, golden beige color, excellent condition, cash price KD 3,400. Contact: 66211779.

(C 2078) Toyota Camry 2006 model, GL, 4 cy, white color, km 82,000, good condition, cash 3,200 KD. Contact: 97800987. (C 2080) 1-4-2010 Honda Accord, 4 cylinder metallic white color, alloy wheels, automatic, used 52,000 km, in excellent condition, model 2008. Price KD 3,600.

Contact: 66659560. (C 2071) Toyota Camry XLi, model 2002, 4 cylinders, done

93,000 km only, white color, excellent condition, cash price KD 1,900. Contact: 97213518. (C 2069) 31-3-2010 Pajero model 98, grey color, price KD 1250. Contact: 67613250. (C 2064) 29-3-2010 Pentium 4, Intel, 40 GB HDD, 256 MB RAM, CD ROM, 56K modem, sound card, speakers, 17” CRT monitor, ready for internet, KD 30. P4, Intel, 3 GHz, 80GB, 512 MB, DVD combo with 17” CRT monitor, KD 45. Contact: 66244192.

(C 2061)

MOH, seeking immediate placement in companies or pharmacies or hospitals.

Please call 66076805, 66038171.

(C 2058) 28-3-2010 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.

SITUATION VACANT

SITUATION WANTED Sri Lankan housekeeper/ maid with very good references is currently available for work with European/ Western family either part time or live in. Please call 97413349. (C 2074) 31-3-2010 Indian female (MBA in HR), 10 years experience in HR/Administration, specializing in recruitments, PMS, MIS reports & overall Admin functions. Proficient in MS Office.

Good communication skills.

Please contact: 66634322. (C 2049) 29-3-2010 Indian male pharmacy graduate passed license exam

Full time Filipino live-in maid required for a European family with 2 children.

Must speak good English, previous experience with young children and references required. Please contact: 65887206. (C 2067) 30-3-2010

MISCELLANEOUS Required diesel generator 40 KVA, 45 KVA or 60 KVA, used or new ones US, UK, or Japan made. Please contact: 97424362, 99165971, 23719684, email: info@pentadinternational.com (C 2055) 28-3-2010

Flight Schedule Arrival Flights on Thursday 01/04/2010 Airlines Flt Route Bangladesh 045 Dhaka/Bahrain Royal Jordanian 602 Amman Wataniya Airways 188 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 306 Cairo Turkish A/L 772 Istanbul Jazeera 436 Mashad Gulf Air 211 Bahrain Jazeera 513 Sharm El Sheikh Ethiopian 620 Addis Ababa DHL 370 Bahrain Emirates 853 Dubai Etihad 305 Abu Dhabi Qatari 138 Doha Kuwait 802 Cairo Cargolux 794 Luxembourg Jazeera 503 Luxor Falcon 201 Dubai Jazeera 637 Aleppo Jazeera 527 Alexandria Jazeera 529 Assiut Kuwait 412 Manila/Bangkok British 157 London Kuwait 204 Lahore Iran Air 605 Isfahan Kuwait 302 Mumbai Kuwait 332 Trivandrum Fly Dubai 053 Dubai Kuwait 676 Dubai Kuwait 284 Dhaka Kuwait 362 Colombo Emirates 855 Dubai Arabia 121 Sharjah Qatari 132 Doha Etihad 301 Abu Dhabi Jazeera 425 Bahrain Gulf Air 213 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 182 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 102 Dubai Jazeera 165 Dubai Jazeera 447 Doha Jazeera 113 Abu Dhabi Syrian Arab A/L 341 Damascus Jazeera 171 Dubai Egypt Air 610 Cairo Jazeera 457 Damascus Kuwait 872 Dubai Kuwait 772 Riyadh Royal Jordanian 800 Amman United A/L 982 Washington Dc Dulles Wataniya Airways 432 Damascus Egypt Air 621 Assiut Jazeera 257 Beirut Wataniya Airways 422 Amman Saudi Arabian A/L 500 Jeddah Kuwait 552 Damascus Nas Air 746 Jeddah Qatari 134 Doha

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

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

546 678 173 118 403 303 857 215 402 510 493 562 525 239 617 126 343 227 104 304 106 502 542 202 788 618 674 177 459 614 344 774 458 433 093 061 647 402 572 618 0445 404 183 372 217 859 136 178 981 429 449 117 636 612 043 185 389 205 108

Alexandria Muscat/Abu Dhabi Dubai New York Colombo/Dubai Abu Dhabi Dubai Bahrain Beirut Riyadh Jeddah Amman Alexandria Amman Ahwaz Sharjah Sanaa/Bahrain Colombo/Dubai London Cairo Dubai Beirut Cairo Jeddah Jeddah Doha Dubai Dubai Damascus Bahrain Bahrain Riyadh Singapore/Abu Dhabi Mashad Kandahar/Dubai Dubai Muscat Beirut Mumbai Alexandria Amsterdam Beirut Dubai Bahrain Bahrain Dubai Doha Geneva/Frankfurt Chennai/Hyderabad/Ahmedabad Bahrain Doha Abu Dhabi Frankfurt Cairo Dhaka Dubai Kozhikode/Mangalore Lahore Dubai

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

Departure Flights on Thursday 01/04/2010 Airlines Flt Route Jazeera 528 Assiut Shaheen Air 442 Lahore Egypt Air 607 Luxor India Express 394 Cochin/Kozhikode KLM 0447 Amsterdam Lufthansa 637 Frankfurt Indian 576 Goa/Chennai Pakistan 216 Karachi Bangladesh 046 Dhaka Turkish A/L 773 Istanbul Ethiopian 620 Bahrain/Addis Ababa DHL 371 Bahrain Emirates 854 Dubai Etihad 306 Abu Dhabi Qatari 139 Doha Wataniya Airways 101 Dubai Jazeera 164 Dubai Royal Jordanian 803 Amman Jazeera 112 Abu Dhabi Jazeera 422 Bahrain Jazeera 446 Doha Gulf Air 212 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 181 Bahrain Rovos 094 Dubai/Kandahar Jazeera 456 Damascus Wataniya Airways 431 Damascus British 156 London Kuwait 545 Alexandria Jazeera 256 Beirut Fly Dubai 054 Dubai Iran Air 606 Mashad Kuwait 677 Abu Dhabi/Muscat Kuwait 671 Dubai Jazeera 170 Dubai Jazeera 342 Bahrain/Sanaa Wataniya Airways 421 Amman Kuwait 551 Damascus Arabia 122 Sharjah Kuwait 101 London/New York Emirates 856 Dubai Qatari 133 Doha Kuwait 771 Riyadh Etihad 302 Abu Dhabi Cargolux 794 Singapore Jazeera 524 Alexandria Wataniya Airways 401 Beirut Gulf Air 214 Bahrain Kuwait 165 Rome/Paris Wataniya Airways 303 Cairo Jazeera 172 Dubai Kuwait 541 Cairo Jazeera 492 Jeddah Kuwait 561 Amman Jazeera 238 Amman Kuwait 501 Beirut Syrian Arab A/L 342 Damascus Kuwait 785 Jeddah Wataniya Airways 201 Jeddah Egypt Air 611 Cairo Jazeera 458 Damascus Jazeera 432 Mashad

FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161

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

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

105 801 673 622 176 403 617 746 505 773 613 135 182 304 404 858 216 305 543 126 511 116 616 285 448 184 428 228 407 107 321 283 266 345 512 361 457 062 351 648 1781 403 571 187 619 0445 240 218 373 675 860 102 137 301 205 480 526 502 411 981 415 613

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

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

SPECTRUM

34 CROSSWORD 945

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Calvin Aries (March 21-April 19) You could be viewing the world through spiritual glasses today. Your sensitivity to and with others’ moods and emotions is extremely strong. If you think you have psychic abilities, this time could be the time you would be able to confirm that suspicion. Daydreaming alone or discussing these dreams with others may also be part of today’s scenario. It may be best to stick with your more trusted friends for today, however. Any changes you may encounter now could be looked at as enlarging your experiences, not in loosing something. You work through the day successfully and perhaps into the late afternoon. You may decide to initiate a change. Your hobby could be a topic of conversation with other hobbyists this evening. You light up with talk.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Life flows more smoothly now and you may find yourself more creative as well.

Today will bring great opportunities to be with others and to work together. You may be requested for a new job opportunity. You organize and take care of any household business with expert swiftness. Take time today to make your communication to others clear. Quick answers, great wit and a surplus of insights and solutions are available. This afternoon is a good time to write and communicate with real originality. You enjoy learning more and expressing your thoughts. Perhaps if you need to study, or research, this is that time, for you have a real appreciation for ideas and thoughts. You may enjoy long conversations about your interests this evening.

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. Absent without permission.

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

8. A doctor's degree in dental medicine.

11. Goddess of the dead and queen of the underworld.

12. Being ten more than one hundred eighty.

13. A column of light (as from a beacon).

14. Jordan's port.

16. Lower in esteem.

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

19. A rapid bustling commotion.

21. British composer (1857-1934).

22. Plant with an elongated head of broad stalked leaves resembling celery.

24. A lipoprotein that transports cholesterol in the blood.

25. A wooden pin pushed or driven into a surface.

26. The Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Dali region of Yunnan.

30. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

34. A public promotion of some product or service.

35. COmmon Business Oriented Language.

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

40. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

41. Small terrestrial lizard of warm regions of the Old World.

42. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

44. A very attractive or seductive looking woman.

46. The waging of armed conflict against an enemy.

47. Consisting of or made of wood of the oak tree.

48. A nearly horizontal passage from the surface into a mine.

49. A digital display that uses liquid crystal cells that change reflectivity in an applied electric field.

DOWN 1. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

2. Flightless New Zealand rail of thievish disposition having short wings each with a spur used in fighting.

3. Leaf or strip from a leaf of the talipot palm used in India for writing paper.

4. Hungarian choreographer who developed Labanotation (18791958).

5. Being ten more than one hundred.

6. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

7. (Scottish) Bluish-black or gray-blue.

8. The phenomenon of resistance to motion through a fluid.

9. An independent group of closely related Chadic languages spoken in the area between the Biu-Mandara and East Chadic languages.

10. Someone whose job is to dye cloth.

15. (Babylonian) A demigod or first man.

17. (pathology) An elevation of the skin filled with serous fluid.

20. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

23. A soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal.

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

28. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.

29. A diacritical mark (two dots) placed over a vowel in German to indicate a change in sound.

31. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

32. Wood of a sumac.

33. The hair growing on the lower part of a man's face.

36. Leaf or strip from a leaf of the talipot palm used in India for writing paper.

37. (computer science) A data transmission rate (bits/second) for modems.

38. A ship's small boat (usually rowed by 4 or 6 oars).

43. A state in northwestern North America.

44. An associate degree in nursing.

45. Being one more than fifty.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Enthusiasm and creative energies are prevalent today. You are always ready to overcome obstacles and seek new challenges. The exchange of ideas becomes a focal point in your life now.

Learning and knowing a little about many things, staying in touch and on top of the latest developments are the things that satisfy a need for mental stimulation. You have a strong desire now to lead the way for others, finish first and prove yourself more through actions and deeds than through words. As a rule, you may get your feet wet in many different things without realizing the commitment or giving the complete attention necessary to succeed. You can be extremely successful when you complete what you start or when you guide others.

Non Sequitur

Cancer (June 21-July 22) This is a good day, and there are plenty of direction and instruction to guide you.

Put your talents to work and complete any unfinished business that is before you now. You have a high desire for self-expression and originality. Get your ideas on paper with dates and witness-signatures. Later you can show your boss or the group a new project that will benefit your company. Because you thought of it, you will want credit. Appreciate the law or what you know to be the truth. A loyal friend will boost your energy by their support and advice. This is a good day to get things accomplished. Be yourself! You may have time to fulfill your romantic fantasies this evening. Perhaps a trip this evening to a romantic setting would be fun.

Leo (July 23-August 22) This is a favorable day to work but you might rather not—rest and relaxation seems more inviting. You are most persuasive with others however and may find yourself encouraging your co-workers to dive in and complete difficult projects that none would have attempted in previous months. A hint of good choices and good fortune fills the air. Stability and permanence satisfy a deep emotional need. Generosity, warmth and a desire to be at peace with the world go hand in hand. You are attracted to high-minded people and any new love relationship found today could grow strong, like a tree. Music is likely to play a more important role this evening. This may include a concert, new music or a new instrument with which to play the music.

Zits

Virgo (August 23-September 22) This could be a favorable day to tend to some unfinished business. A little relaxation seems far more inviting—but there is work to be done. Generosity, warmth and a desire to be at peace with the world go hand in hand. You are very much in demand in the work place and might be able to get someone else to help you if you ask. You may think about running for some office or trying out for the lead in a play. It may be fun to be included in all the production excitement. If this does not work out you could settle for organizing some sort of ball game with your working friends or even the neighborhood friends. Working out some of your great physical energy on the playing field helps you to focus better, clear the thinking process and become more creative.

Libra (September 23-October 22) You prefer to enjoy this day with your family. You have been making the most of professional business meeting to networking and let your viewpoint be known. Now, there are opportunities to hug this day as well as the friends and the loved ones that come into your life. A mature friend may give you advice today with regard to some family needs. You are agreeable and responsible and could do well to just go with your own instincts. All will be pleased with the results of your plans for the family. Perhaps some volunteer service in which everyone can contribute their talents. Care for humanitarian causes done as a family can be an activity that is good for everyone. Look for ways in which to rid yourself of the things that do not carry you forward.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Today and tomorrow are high-cycle days, so do not give into negative feelings.

Privacy may be hard to find today and mental work may serve you best. Your awareness is sharp and your psychic abilities are in tune with the universe; if you are paying attention. You may become interested in improving your community through some information or through a continued problem that can only be solved when groups gather for problem-solving issues. Relating with old chums is easy and extremely pleasant later today. This is not the best time to make new friends, however. Discover something new about yourself. A look inside your heart uncovers some pertinent information. Don’t accept any criticism unless it is constructive.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You may meet someone today that will boost your energies. This is not a new friend but rather a visitor in your work place; they seem to have a sense of humor. Co-workers help to lessen your work load today. Laughter and friendships are at the top of the list this evening. Every few years there must be some changes in the type of social environment you enjoy. This could mean a move or a change of personalities with whom you communicate. Don’t be too surprised if you are offered a job in another location outside your city. If possible, give yourself time to think through your options. Try to keep your emotions in check for now. Remaining objective is the best course of action.

This evening is a good time to be with your friends or loved ones.

Yesterday’s Solution

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) You appear perhaps more charming and refined than usual.

Now could be the time to make that special date or apply for a weekend job or otherwise make yourself known. You could find yourself mentally acute and in a problem-solving mood. However, there is a real possibility that the decisions you make today and the solutions you find may have to be re-done or re-negotiated. Your current situation may demand some re-evaluation or otherwise challenge your ideas. You may spend a lot of time balancing your commitments or schedule. Find ways in which to eliminate or allocate some of your responsibilities and you will relieve some of the stress. You may want to see intellectual stimulation through your social life or leisure time now.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Interests in

Yesterday’s Solution

religion or mysticism are high on your list to explore just now.

Your sympathy and understanding of others is great and you find subjects that enhance your understanding of the nature of mankind and enjoy social interaction as much as possible. You may be of tremendous help to an associate or stranger because of your compassionate nature. The path to a more secure financial future occupies your mind this afternoon and you might decide to busy yourself and gather all the most important information to take to a financial advisor in the near future. Actually, you are apt to obtain financial gains through the power of attraction; your actions will also provide a nice safety net. Conflicts surround your personal desires tonight; patience.

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Kuwait Qatar Abu Dhabi Dubai Raas Al Khayma Al-Shareqa Muscat Jordan Bahrain Riyadh Makkah - Jeddah Cairo Alexandria Beirut Damascus Allepo Tunisia Rabat

00965 00974 009712 009714 009717 009716 00968 009626 00973 009661 009662 00202 00203 009611 0096311 0096321 0021610 002127

Washington New York Paris London Madrid Zurich Geneva Monaco Rome Bangkok Hong Kong Pakistan Taiwan Bonn New Delhi Mumbai Madras Hyderabad

001212 001718 00331 004471 00341 00411 004122 0033 00396 00662 00852 0092 00886 0049228 009111 009122 009144 009140

Word Sleuth Solution

Pisces (February 19-March 20) You are motivated and your health is at its best just now. This is a time of selfexpression. If you are living true to your ideals, then you will see great satisfaction. If not, then you could feel depressed and frustrated. Get a grasp on the path you are taking because you will soon find that all sorts of business relationships and financial ventures are ready for your taking. You may have serious doubts about the way in which your direction of life is moving, however. Patience is golden! This is the time for you to set aside your doubts or initiate any changes that you feel are necessary. Get rid of the things that do not serve a purpose. This is a most rewarding day—one in which much is accomplished, realized and understood. This evening favors romance!

INFORMATION

Thursday, April 1, 2010

35 FIRE BRIGADE Operation Room 777 Al-Madena 22418714 Al-Shohada始a 22545171 Al-Shuwaikh 24810598 Al-Nuzha 22545171 Sabhan 24742838 Al-Helaly 22434853 Al-Fayhaa 22545051 Al-Farwaniya 24711433 Al-Sulaibikhat 24316983 Al-Fahaheel 23927002 Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 24316983 Ahmadi 23980088 Al-Mangaf 23711183 Al-Shuaiba 23262845 Al-Jahra 25610011 Al-Salmiya 25616368

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw

For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 HOSPITALS Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha始a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

24874330/9 CLINICS

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

4892674

Al-Omariya

4719048

N.Kheitan

4710044

Rabiya

4732263

Fintas

3900322

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988 AIRLINES

PHARMACIES ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE Ahmadi

PHARMACY Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

ADDRESS Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

PHONE 23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Hawally

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554

EMERGENCY 112

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists: Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea Dr. Masoma Habeeb Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy Dr. Mohsen Abel Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly

25622444 25752222 25321171 25739999 25757700 25732223 25732223

Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT): Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners: Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists: Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Plastic Surgeons: Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf 22547272

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari Dr. Abdel Quttainah

22617700 25625030/60

Family Doctor: Dr Divya Damodar 23729596/23729581

Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr.

Zahra Qabazard Sohail Qamar Snaa Maaroof Pradip Gujare Zacharias Mathew

25710444 22621099 25713514 23713100 24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari 22635047 Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan 22613623/0 Gynaecologists & Obstetricians: Dr Adrian Harbe 23729596/23729581 Dr. Verginia s.Marin 2572-6666 ext 8321 Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan 22655539 Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami 25343406 Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly 25739272 Dr. Salem soso 22618787 General Surgeons: Dr. Abidallah Behbahani 25717111 Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer 22610044 Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher 25327148

Paediatricians: Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed 25340300

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi 25330060 Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah 25722290

(2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535 Dentists:

Dr Anil Thomas

3729596/3729581

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Neurologists:

Internist, Chest & Heart: DR.Mohammes Akkad 24555050 Ext 210 Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Tel: 25339667 Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Consultant Cardiologist Tel: 2611555-2622555 Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri 25633324 Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

Internists, Chest & Heart: Dr. Adnan Ebil 22639939 Dr. Mousa Khadada 22666300 Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan 25728004 Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra 25355515 Dr. Mobarak Aldoub 24726446 Dr Nasser Behbehani 25654300/3

Physiotherapists & VD: Dr. Deyaa Shehab 25722291 Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees 22666288

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly 25322030 Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Endocrinologist: Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman 25339330 Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari

25658888

Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr

25329924

Psychologists/Psychotherapists Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688 info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677 William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

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SPECTRUM

Thursday, April 1, 2010

By Sajeev K Peter ourism industry in Thailand has come of age.

Over the last few years, the country has reinvented itself as one of the most fascinating tourist spots in the world. Experimental tourism is the new buzzword that guides the country’s tourism industry today as it is Thailand’s ‘emotional response to its journey through time and space.’

“This form of tourism shows and involves rather than describes. It is the opposite of mass tourism. It is personal and it is individual that means that the visitor is no longer sidelined as a passive spectator but he becomes an active participant of the experience,” said an official of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

The evolving lifestyles and interests of travelers are increasingly focused on involvement, seeking diverse experiences that match their interests and provide a sense of personal accomplishment. The experience includes, people one meets, places they visit, places where they stay and activities they participate in.

Tour operators and service providers encourage visitors to participate and promote activities that draw people into cultures, communities and outdoors. Once people are drawn outside into the cultures and the environment, it is the perfect platform to stage a true experience. The new trend is also based on activities but the trend moves to an evermore diverse field of activities, to cater the many interests and evolving niches, the official explained.

Visitors who adhere to this form of tourism are drawn to top sights and destinations, in Thailand’s case that would be among others, Koh Samui, Chiang Mai, Koh Phi Phi, Wat Phra Kaew and many more. But nowadays, more and more people plan what they want to do on holiday and based on that they choose the location, not vice versa, he added.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding with a Golden Jubilee Media Mega Fam Trip that brought together travel journalists in Thailand and worldwide. The journalists were taken to visit the country’s five geographical regions and 10 main tourism products of each region.

During this special event, the TAT held a product seminar titled, “Thailand; Today’s Trends, Tomorrow’s Tourism” on 23 March 2010 at ESCAP Hall, United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok.

The seminar was designed to provide the media with in-depth information on Thailand’s current and potential tourism products.

In his welcome speech, Minister of Tourism and Sports Chumpol Silapa-archa, outlined objectives of the tourism industry.

Addressing the gathering, TAT Governor Suraphon Svetasreni said, “Through the past 50 years, the TAT has worked hard to enhance the prosperity of Thailand’s tourism industry.” Today, Thailand remains one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, well-regarded for the quality and variety of its tourist attractions, a premier shopping venue and value-for-money products and ser-

Dok Khun Siang Khaen festival, Khon Kaen

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Phi Phi Islands,Krabi

g n u i n k l der the sea a W

By Sajeev K Peter

W

alking around the main tourist district of Pattaya is a fun adventure because of the sheer variety of things to see and do. The main promenade is a four-kilometer Beach Road which runs parallel to the city’s curving Acapulco-like coastline. During the day, the road looks more like a seaside park - cool and breezy under the

Managing Director Sathon Srirak gave us a briefing ahead of the trip to the island and detailed how he procured the Belgium-made submarine. Later, we were transported from Pattaya pier to a barge ship at Kor Sak by a speed boat anchored close to an island which has a beautiful curvy beach with restaurants and markets for souvenirs and garments.

Later, we and our Chinese friends were ushered into a yellow-colored sub-

Similan, Phang-nga canopy of palm leaves with the blue calm waters providing a breath-taking backdrop.

On the second day our stay in Pattaya, our group was invited to join the Thai Submarine team in Pattaya, for an underwater expedition. As we waited at Thai Submarine office, a Chinese media delegation also joined us. Vimantaitalay

marine to experience a 45-minute underwater sightseeing. Sitting inside the submarine and watching the real world underwater was an exciting experience.

Our guide Savitree from TAT told us that Pattaya is one of the three dive centers in Thailand. Being more in the northeastern side of the country, Pattaya is not affected by the monsoon season. It offers almost every form of underwater adven-

Tham Lod, Mae Hong Son

ture with the help of dive instructors accredited by the internationally recognized associations such as PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) and NAUI (National Association of Underwater Instructors).

Only four of us dared to join the Seawalker team to dive into the depths of the sea, a hitherto unexplored realm for my friends and me. Initially, as we went down, I felt breathless. But as I reached the bottom of the sea, probably some 30 meters down, I began to feel alright with the huge oxygen mask fitted on my head started functioning. You see hundreds of fish swimming past you. We fed them as they surrounded us in hordes. And we walked on the seabed watching the flora and fauna of the sea.

Pattaya’s emergence as a one of Southeast Asia’s top tourist destinations has made it part of the travel itinerary with several top resort and hotel chains having established their presence there.

It also has been chosen as the venue for several water sports competitions.

Before the economic boom in the late ‘80s, Pattaya was just a quiet fishing village with hardly any accommodation facilities. Then, only the occasional backpacker or adventurous Bangkok resident took the time to explore the town.

But today, it is visited by every one for its miles of beaches and vibrant nightlife. Amusement parks, restaurants and nightclubs have sprouted all the main streets, giving Bangkok a run for its money when it comes to entertainment.

Probably, the most interesting section of the city is south Pattaya, a narrow street on southern tip of the main beach that is practically empty by day but is packed at night. There is always been something for everyone in Pattaya.

Walking Street Tapae, Chiang Mai

Cruising the canals

TAT Governor Suraphon Svetasreni and other TAT officials pose for a photo with visiting journalists during the TAT Golden Jubilee celebration at Grand Palace, Bangkok.

vices.

Visitor arrivals have grown from only 81,000 visitors in 1960 to 14 million in 2009. This year, TAT is expecting 15 to 15.5 million arrivals, with a target expenditure of 12.7 billion euros.

Suraphon said, “Tourism today plays a major role in Thailand’s socio-economic development.

Billions of dollars worth of investment have poured into the industry which employs about three million people in direct and indirect jobs nationwide.

Tourism revenue is still a major source of foreign exchange income compared with the overall income from the export of goods and services.”

He added, “The spectacular growth in tourism has contributed to the sustainable development of numerous communities and tourism attractions nationwide. It has spurred domestic tourism, the revival of traditional festivals and given rise to countless tourism-related activities.”

Phi Ta Khon festival, Loei Thailand began officially promoting both inbound travel and domestic tourism with the establishment of the Tourism Organization of Thailand (TOT) as an independent agency within the Royal Thai Government on 18 March 1960. One of TOT’s founding objectives was to inform Thai people of the potential importance of tourism to the nation. The national tourism organization was renamed the Tourism Authority of Thailand in 1979, and has been instrumental in putting Thailand on the world tourism map.

The seminar was divided into four sessions on Health and Wellness by Dr Zadok S Lempert, Medico Management & Travel Services Co, Ltd, on Community-Based Tourism by Peter Richards, Thailand Community-Based Tourism Institute (CBT-I), on Luxury Products by Sonu Shivdasani, Six Senses Resort and Spa and on Experiential Tourism by Christin Grothaus and Michael Biedassek, Bangkok Vanguards.

In the evening, the TAT 50th Anniversary reception dinner was held at Nakarapirom Park (on the Chao Phraya Riverbank, opposite the Temple of Dawn).

By Sajeev K Peter hai capital Bangkok has many tourist attractions, none more compelling than a boat trip on the Chao Phraya river. Taking one of the all-day public boats plying the river is certainly more exhilarating than crawling through busy streets - and is a real bargain too.

Our tour guide Savitree had arranged a special boat for us to cruise the river.

Hatsanai Chaisri, Marketing Officer, TAT Dubai and Middle East Office also accompanied us during the cruise. The boat took us past the famed Oriental Hotel and several landmarks such as the Temple of Dawn, the Royal Palace and numerous smaller temples, all the way to Nonthaburi and its busy, colorful market. The Royal Barge Museum by the Bangkok Noi canal displays dozens of beautiful barges used for royal processions. Each barge bears the name of a mythical animal, and each is a masterpiece of Thai craftsmanship. The most important barge, the majestic Suphannahongsa or ‘Golden Swan,’ has been taken as the symbol of the Tourism Authority of Thailand along with the spire of the Temple of Dawn.

You may want to travel the whole day to Nonthaburi despite your long tiring seven-hour journey from Kuwait. The most important piers for the tourists are Tha Thaksin, Tha Chang (for the Royal Palace) and Tha Phra Athit (close to Khaosan Road and a range of restaurants and guesthouses.) While cruising in Chao Phraya, you see hundreds of wooden houses built along the riverside.

The Chang and Tha Taksin also have long-tailed boats for hire for trips across the river and along nearby canals, such as Khlong Bangkok Noi, or to visit the Taling Chan weekend floating market and orchid farms. Another destination is the Lat Mayom floating market, a small weekend market on a bypass canal where

T

Sanctuary of Truth, Chon Buri

Sakaekrang river cruise, Uthai Thani orchard farmers sell their produce amid their heartwarming, traditional community. Hatsanai informed us that in the evening, many restaurant boats cruise up and down the river offering excellent food and music in view of the bright lights and nightlife of Bangkok.

Floating Markets Thailand has many picturesque floating markets where goods are sold by itinerant vendors who ply rivers and canals in their boats, delivering to people’s homes or meeting to exchange goods. These markets always attract tourists from all over the world. The best known locations are: Amphawa Floating Market, Samut Songkhram province: This old market is a favorite tourist destination, crowded from Friday afternoon to Sunday.

Grand Palace Thailand’s most sacred statue, the Emerald Buddha, resides at grandiose Wat Phra Kaeo (Temple of the emerald Budhha), right next to the former residence of royalty, the Grand Palace. The murals depicting the scenes from the

Ramayana, a magical epic, are otherworldly. But so are the gilt-covered pagodas and Buddhist images in the country’s number one tourist attraction.

The Grand Palace complex was established in 1782 and consists of not only the royal residence and throne halls, but also a number of government offices as well as the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It covers an area of 218,000 square meters is surrounded by four walls, 1,900 meters in length. After King Rama I ascended to the throne in 1782, the palace was built. Prior to this, the royal palace and center of administration was located in Thonburi, on the west side of the Chao Phraya River. For various reasons, the new king considered the former capital to be unsuitable and decided to establish a new capital on the other side of the river.

By his royal command, a new palace was built to serve not only at his residence but also at the site of administrative offices.

The royal compound has been known since as the Grand Palace. The two earliest structures erected within the complex were the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall, and the Phra Maha Monthian.

Surin elephant roundup

SPECTRUM

Thursday, April 1, 2010

37

Music & Movies

Composer Peter Eotvos makes modern opera ‘angelic’ “C

ontemporary” and “opera” are scary words, but when Hungarian composer Peter Eotvos writes one that includes the sound of car horns and slide guitars, his aim is to engage his audience from the minute the curtain goes up. “My experience with the public is very positive-if you give them something interesting they are open to take it,” Eotvos, 66, said in London where his 2004 opera based on the 1970s AIDS play “Angels in America” was performed at the Barbican Centre last week, garnering rave reviews.

It was one of six of his operas that will be staged by major companies this year, which puts the shy, professorial Eotvos, a onetime protege of the completely out-there composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who believed he had come from the planet Sirius, in league with the likes of Philip Glass, John Adams or Kaija Saariaho for getting their operas staged and heard. If other composers aren’t quite as successful,

Eotvos thinks he knows why.

“Many new operas, in my observation, show not enough experience in the theatre. The theatre is something special- when you open the curtain, it’s another world and you must take the audience in there with you. “‘Come, let’s play together’-and this play-together feeling, that’s what theatre needs.” It also may be that Eotvos’s Hungarian background, and his fascination for all things American, which comes through not just in “Angels” but also a concerto inspired by the Columbia shuttle disaster, has allowed him to develop a musical language and style that are all his own, yet somehow familiar.

For someone growing up in then-communist Hungary, a closed-off country behind the Iron Curtain in the Soviet bloc, America was “something very, very far away, another part of the world, we’d never seen anything like it,” Eotvos said, adding that when he was able to visit the US in the early 1970s he found it to be “very big and very violent.” “It was

a place of extreme positives and extreme negatives, with a very large scale of possibilities”-in short, a lot like Eotvos’s music. Here’s what else he had to say about why he likes opera, his composing techniqueand that man from Sirius: Q: It’s been said that when you compose, you write everything in one go, like Mozart. Can anyone really do that?

A: “The preparation time is very long, it takes three to six years before I start with the first note and everything must be ready to write the music-the singers, producers. I need everything fixed before I start because before I start the first note everything is decided, there is no chance to go backwards. This is normal for me, and I think it’s better when I am writing the pieces if I play and sing and hear it in my imagination.”

Q: You also have a conducting career, specializing

verybody’s got the blues.

They just don’t know it yet.” These words go so directly to the heart of the music called the blues that it’s easy to imagine them sung in a raspy growl by a graying guitar player in some smoky night spot in New Orleans. In fact, though, they come from one of the youngest and most notable blues players in the United States, Little Joe McLerran, who will soon bring his own style of America’s most influential and enduring music to the Gulf.

The Little Joe McLerran Quartet will visit Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman on a three-week tour. McLerran, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, in America’s heartland, said in a recent interview with America.gov, “We look forward to meeting new people and experiencing another culture. It’s going to be priceless.”

“E

Little Joe McLerran The blues’ popular image is of grizzled musicians who have lived long years on the meanest of streets. McLerran is an exception. At age 25, McLerran, who stands a full six feet tall (1.82 meters), has already won the prestigious International Blues Challenge, issued four albums, toured throughout the United States and in Europe and recently was listed by Roots Music Report as the most-listened-to blues player in America.

Critics sing his praises. In 2009, the Blues Blast Review said McLerran “may be ... the best around. This guy oozes talent.” The Tulsa World wrote about McLerran, “There ain’t nothin’ little about his sound. ...

His show wins over audiences.”

The Brookside Blogger adds, “Joe is by far the best living acoustic blues player I have ever heard.” Blues News said McLerran is “perhaps the finest Piedmont Blues player on the face of God’s green earth.”

It would be a mistake to think of McLerran as a smooth-faced apprentice with more notoriety than experience. At age 25, he is a 17-year veteran of blues music, having started at age 8 singing blues songs for his fourth-grade classmates. By the time he was 9, he was playing the blues with his brother, Jesse, in a local shopping mall, raking in a couple of hundred dollars from marveling passersby in as little as two hours. As teenagers, the brothers played regularly in restaurants and recorded a compact disc.

Jesse’s accidental death in 2003 devastated Joe, but he eventually returned to performing, quickly working his way up through coffee house jobs to blues festivals and tours, playing

solo or in duets and occasionally fronting larger groups, rapidly gaining the attention of blues audiences and the admiration of other musicians. His award as best solo act at 2009’s International Blues Challenge confirmed his status as one of the foremost blues players in the United States.

So, what are the blues? In casual American speech it signifies a feeling of depression or dejection. As music, it expresses life lived in solitude and heartache, usually in poverty. It is a cry of anguish and yet a cry of strength, affirming that no matter how tough life gets, one can, and must, bear it. Musically, it is characterized by “bent” or “blues” notes and, most commonly, a 12-bar structure.

Historically, the blues comes from the African-American community, with its common cryand-response motif coming directly from African music.

And every American community has added its own flavor.

Joe’s bass player, who goes by the stage name Robbie Mack and mentions almost incidentally that he is Joe’s father, says, “The style of music we play is the result of the input of all the people who came to America - some willing and some not so willing. ... What we’re trying to present is the fact that America is a composite of all the different immigrants who came here. They’ve all contributed to our culture and our music.”

Millions of music fans around the world who may not have heard of the blues are more than familiar with its most popular offspring, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll, both of which developed directly from the blues. Mack says, “All American popular music is rooted in the blues, whether it’s rock ‘n’ roll or country, even hip-hop.”

Underlining his point and bringing it full circle to the Middle East, Mack points out that the quartet will play “Miserlou,” a surf-music classic that, like all rock, owes a debt to the blues. But it can also trace its roots to Arabic music through its composer, an Arab American, Dick Dale. Dale, who is universally hailed as the father of surf music, grew up on Arabic music, and Arabic music makes a distinct contribution to such groups as the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean and the Ventures.

McLerran and his father both talk about their excitement regarding the Middle East tour.

McLerran says, “I’m really looking forward to going over there and sharing the music I love so much, and hoping they really dig what we’re doing.”

Keenly aware of their lack of Arabic language skills, members of the quartet have taken special classes in nonverbal communication to help them during the master classes and jam sessions.

McLerran points out that the learning will not flow simply one way, saying, “If we’re lucky enough to get into a jam session with local players, we’ll be able to learn from them. This is a cultural exchange. I’m going over there hoping that people will hip us to things in their culture that we can use.”

They know that the threeweek tour will be grueling, but they seem certain that it will bring its own rewards. McLerran sums up their hopes: “We look forward to meeting new people and experiencing another culture. It’s going to be priceless.”—www.us.gov

Q: You wrote a piece that was a homage to Bartok, who is perhaps the most famous Hungarian composer. Is there something special about being Hungarian, for you?

A: “I think so because just to come from this culture, from East European culture, was to come from a very special place with a very different language and mentality. I wouldn’t say if it was

good or bad but it’s different and we Hungarians are in the position to observe, especially in the Socialist era. For me that was a positive side, to be a little bit pushed down and to fight to have something that we need and observe the West European culture, how they do that. Today the difficulty in Hungary is the economy has become similar to West European and ...that’s the problem-we lost the possibility to fight for something because we are in it, there is no other side.”

Q: You worked with Stockhausen for 40 years. Did you ever think he was from Sirius?

A: “He told us this....but it is not important. It was not in reality that he was from Sirius, but in his mind and everything he created was in this sense. ...I know his music well because I created many pieces by him, I know every note. So this is not a good question-because I am ‘in’ this music.”— Reuters

Bruce Lee’s daughter thrilled by his legacy

Young American star bringing the blues to the Gulf

By Steve Holgate

in modern music, and you have written instrumental pieces, so why do you find opera, perhaps the most difficult musical art form, so fascinating?

A: “It is because of this mix of many elements, from the time of Wagner (19th century), that you can put practically everything on the stage. And we have many more possibilities, with film, television, these are new languages, and now with amplification we can take something very close to you. It is truly musical theatre.”

he daughter of late kung fu legend Bruce Lee said yesterday she was thrilled his fame had endured four decades after his untimely death, and hoped Hong Kong would soon have a museum in his memory.

Shannon Lee Keasler was visiting Hong Kong with her mother Linda Lee Cadwell to launch an exhibition dedicated to the “Enter the Dragon” star, who died of brain swelling at the peak of his film career in 1973 aged just 32.

“We are absolutely thrilled that so many people continue to be inspired by him and find so much value in his life and work,” Lee told AFP, adding that she would be in Tokyo next month to launch another exhibition of her father. Keasler, who is an actress in the United States, said some of the exhibits were from the family’s collection, including a pair of sunglasses, boxing headgear, film costumes, and samples of her father’s handwriting.

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People view an exhibition of late kung fu legend and film star Bruce Lee on the sidelines of an International film festival in Hong Kong yesterday. — AFP

Rehab for Bullock’s scandal-plagued husband

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scar-winner Sandra Bullock’s husband, Jesse James, is seeking unspecified inpatient treatment after being caught in a media firestorm amid reports he had multiple mistresses, People magazine reported yesterday. “Jesse checked himself into a treatment facility to deal with personal issues,” his representative told the entertainment magazine in a statement.

“He realized that this time was crucial to help himself, help his family and help save his marriage.” Though James’ statement did not specify a type of treatment facility, a source confirmed to the magazine he checked into a treatment facility March 26.

Bullock, 45, won her first best actress Oscar this month for her role in “The Blind Side.”

She moved out of the couple’s home this month amid reports that James, 40, had affairs with at least four women. James, Bullock’s husband of nearly five years, earlier issued a statement apologizing to his wife and children. — AFP

In this March 7, 2010 file photo, Sandra Bullock and Jesse James arrive at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in West Hollywood, Calif. — AP

New film has Japan vets confessing to Nanjing rape or years, Japanese activist Tamaki Matsuoka tried to counter denials of her country’s notorious wartime massacre of civilians in the city of Nanjing with books and photo exhibitions. Now the retired teacher says she has indisputable proof of the atrocities: Japanese veterans admitting on camera they forced themselves on Chinese women and mowed down Chinese refugees with machine guns.

Matsuoka was angered by accounts in her country’s textbooks that whitewashed the crimes committed by Japan’s Imperial Army during World War II. Her documentary, shown for the first time outside of Japan at the Hong Kong International Film Festival on Sunday, attempts to set the record straight. Matsuoka isn’t a professional filmmaker, but “Torn Memories of Nanjing” breaks new ground with interviews of both aggressors and victims-an elderly Chinese woman tearfully giving details about being sexually assaulted as a girl then a Japanese veteran admitting that he enjoyed rape.

F

The former soldiers even describe in detail the routineholding victims down as a team, checking their private parts for sexually transmitted diseases and drawing lots to decide who would go first. Few veterans showed any remorse.

Out of the 250 former soldiers she interviewed, only three expressed regret for their actions, Matsuoka said through a translator. “Chinese and Japanese perceptions of this war are totally different. That’s why this documentary is called ‘Torn Memories of Nanjing.’

My mission is to help more Japanese people learn the facts,” Matsuoka told The Associated Press in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Japanese troops began a rampage-known in the West as the “Rape of Nanking” — in December 1937 that many historians generally agree ended with the slaughter of at least 150,000 people and the rape of tens of thousands of women in Nanjing, then the capital of China’s Nationalist government. Nanking is the old spelling for the city now called Nanjing. —AP

Japanese director Tamaki Matsuoka poses at a Hong Kong hotel Tuesday, March 30, 2010.

— AP

The exhibition, which will end on April 6, is part of a series of events to pay tribute to Lee during this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival. The future martial arts hero was raised in Hong Kong before moving to the United States in his late teens.

Keasler said they were raising funds for a US museum, and hoped a government plan to transform Lee’s former home in Hong Kong’s Kowloon Tong district-now a seedy love hotel that rents out rooms by the hour-would begin soon. “We hope there will be some sort of symbiotic relationship between the museums in Hong Kong and the US, so that the two museums can share some of the exhibits.” A local design contest ended earlier this year. But the Hong Kong museum’s final look, building costs, and the project’s completion date have yet to be determined. — AFP

Judge finds accused Garner-Affleck stalker insane A

judge is sending a man arrested outside a school attended by Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck’s daughter to a state mental hospital. Los Angeles County District Attorney’s spokeswoman Jane Robison says Steven Burky pleaded no contest Tuesday to two counts of stalking the celebrity couple and their children.

Robison says a judge found the 37-year-old to be not guilty of the offenses by reason of insanity after a hearing. Burky was ordered to stay away from Garner, Affleck and their family for 10 years if he is released.

Burky was arrested in December outside a school attended by one of the couple’s daughter, a violation of a civil restraining order Garner obtained in 2008. — AP

‘Dancing With the Stars’ dismisses its first celeb fter two weeks on “Dancing With the Stars,” Shannen Doherty is leaving the ballroom. The actress was the first celebrity eliminated from the new season of the hit ABC dance competition show. She and professional partner Mark Ballas were axed during Tuesday’s episode.

“Dancing isn’t really my thing,” she said after learning her fate. “I did it for my dad.” The 38year-old “Charmed” and “90210” star said on last week’s season premiere that she joined the “Dancing” cast to honor her father, a big fan of the show who recently suffered a stroke. He sat in the audience, watching his daughter perform. “To see my dad’s face light up the way that it did and how proud he was of me just filled me with this kind of amazing emotion of thankfulness,” Doherty said Tuesday. “I call that

A

In this image actress Shannen Doherty, left, and her partner Mark Ballas perform on the celebrity dance competition series, ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ Monday, in Los Angeles.—AP a success.”

She said her elimination may have been fate, as Ballas hurt his

knee during rehearsals and was using a crutch during Tuesday’s episode. “I pulled the muscle off

the bone so I’ll be out for six weeks,” he said.

The judges seemed to appreciate the couple’s two dances, calling their jive “energetic” and their Viennese waltz “ambitious.” But fans failed to keep them afloat.

Judges’ scores are combined with viewer votes to determine which celebrity is eliminated each week.

Viewer votes saved the lowest-scoring contestant, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who earned 14 points out of 30 for his cha-cha last week and 12 points for his foxtrot on Monday’s episode. Besides Aldrin, remaining competitors include Olympic figure skater Evan Lysacek, actors Niecy Nash, Pamela Anderson and Aiden Turner, reality TV stars Jake Pavelka and Kate Gosselin, singer Nicole Scherzinger, sportscaster Erin Andrews and football star Chad Ochocinco. — AP

Huppert to guest star on ‘Law & Order’ sabelle Huppert is poised to join the ranks of acclaimed French actresses who have graced “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” According to series executive producer Neal Baer, Huppert is expected to guest star in the NBC drama’s season finale as the mother of a kidnapped child. The episode airs April 28.

Huppert is among the most-nominated actors ever in France’s annual Cesar competition, which is comparable to the Academy Awards. She was head of the Cannes Film Festival jury last year. Leslie Caron and Jeanne Moreau also have appeared on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” at Baer’s invitation.

— AP

I

Sir Paul McCartney gestures to fans during a stop on his Up and Coming Tour at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Tuesday. — AP

SPECTRUM

38

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Fashion

ack in the Mod 1960s, when Twiggy conquered London and fashion changed forever, the waif of a teen with huge eyes, a boyish bob and long legs craved the glamour and curves of a different icon.”Whether you’re thin, fat, small, dark, blond, redhead, you wanna be something else,” said the world’s first boldface supermodel. “I wanted a fairy godmother to make me look like Marilyn Monroe. I had no boobs, no hips, and I wanted it desperately.”

What she wanted was all around her: fullerfigure models with names nobody remembers, many of them middle-class or uppercrust older girls biding their time before landing husbands.

Absent any of that, what Twiggy had was extreme youth, a thirst for fashion and triple-layered false eyelashes that fed her right into the decade’s social revolution alongside the Beatles and Pop art. Now 60, she remains a one-name wonder with a joyous laugh, a gift for chat and a home girl cockney accent. She has achieved, slightly, some of those coveted curves, but she has not lost her edge. The singer, dancer, actress and author is not done just yet.

Twiggy soon will hit the HSN shopping television network with an affordable line of skinny jeans, ruffled blouses, gypsy skirts, jackets and accessories in bold colors and price points of under $100. That, she said, would have pleased her younger self, who saved up spending money to splurge at London’s popular Biba boutique. “I’ve always had the strong belief that fashion should be for everyone, not just for wealthy people,” said Twiggy, lounging on a white hotel settee between Union Jack accent pillows. “Lots of people can’t afford to spend lots of money on clothes, and they should have nice things, too.” Lots of people who wear lots of different sizes. The “Twiggy London” line will be available up to around size 20, said the creator, who cites genes, not starvation, for the rail-thin look that made her the face of 1966 at age 16.

It is not the first time Twiggy has indulged her interest in design, or remote shopping. Her “Twiggy Collection” of last decade was sold online through the portal Great Universal. There were other home shopping ventures as well. Back in the ‘60s, she put out a line for teens but left it in the dust of some bad business partners after three years.

“We were very green then. We’re a bit wiser now. A little bit older, a little wiser,” she laughed. The youngest of three girls, she was born Lesley Hornby in north London’s Neasden to a carpenter dad and a factory worker mom who worked a Woolworth’s counter to earn extra money.

At 5-feet, 6 inches, — short for a modelTwiggy weighed only 91 pounds when she exploded into the culture. Working Saturdays as an assistant in a hair salon, she met Nigel Davies, who became her boyfriend and manager, changing to the flashier Justin de Villeneuve. They arranged for a popular hairdresser to engineer her androgynous ‘do for photos he put up in his salon. The pictures were spotted by one of his clients who wrote for the Daily Express and splashed Twiggy across two pages to launch her career.

By 1967, she was on the cover of Vogue magazine and jetting around the world working six days a week and spreading the London look to America. Knee-length hems and pillbox hats inspired by Jackie Kennedy still were the norm when she made her first visit to the United States that year.

Before she was discovered, she was already painting on tiny lower lashes — “my twigs” — to help make her eyes look as large as tea saucers. Her look was perfect for emerging unisex trends and everrising hemlines, but it opened the debate still raging over whether skinny models promote an unhealthy body ideal, especially for young girls.

“It was debated when I hit the headlines

In this Feb16, 1967 file photo, British fashion model Twiggy is pictured at a London Salon where she is presenting the first collection from her line of clothing in England.

—AP photos

B

This 1967 file photo shows fashion model Twiggy in her short haircut in London, England.

This photo shows Twiggy in one of her designs for HSN, in London.

This photo shows Twiggy in one of her designs for HSN, in London.

This photo released by HSN, Home Shopping Network, shows handbags from the Twiggy fashion line for HSN. and I always came out and said that I was very healthy, which I was, and always ate, which I do. I love my food. I just come from a lineage. My dad was very slim, so it’s kind of in the genes really,” she said.

In today’s crowded model marketplace, where competition is far more fierce than when Twiggy came up, girls have died as a result of starvation. She thinks the publishers of fashion magazines, booking agents, modeling agencies and designers all share responsibility. “They ask for these girls. It’s gotta stop. I don’t know how you go about it, so the debate goes on,” she said. “The agencies have to protect these girls.”

Twiggy’s interest in fashion design was stronger than modeling ever was.

“I didn’t plan to be a model.

I thought the world had gone stark raving mad,” she said. “I was used to being teased at school for being so skinny, and I thought I was really funny looking, but I was obsessed with clothes.” She retired from modeling in 1970 after four years, joking at the time: “You can’t be a clothes hanger for your entire life.” She moved on to stage, films, TV and singing, earning two Golden Globes and a Tony nomination. The ultraskinny look remains dominant in fashion.

“Twiggy will be an icon until her dying day and beyond,” film director and writer Ken Russell, who cast her as Polly Browne in a musical adaptation of “The Boy Friend,” told The Biography Channel in 2007.

Twiggy spent four seasons as a judge on “America’s Next Top Model.” There also was a memoir, a book on looking good at 40 and a return to modeling in 2005 for the British department store chain Marks & Spencer.

And there was her daughter, now 31year-old Carly, a textile designer for Stella McCartney who made a scarf in a repeated hummingbird motif for her mother’s HSN line that launches April 3. Twiggy cites teen innocence and solid supervision for

not succumbing to the more destructive aspects of the era that made her famous.

“My dad was always a very strong presence in my life. He instilled a kind of being down to earth, being sensible, especially when this whole thing happened to me,” she said.

How does she see it now, looking back over the last 44 years? “It was just so weird,” she said. “I was this funny little kid from working-class London. It could have gone horribly wrong.”—AP

In this 1967 file photo, Twiggy models a dress at a fashion show in England.

Photos show designs from the Twiggy fashion line for HSN.

Teen bloggers find fashion world at fingertips ane Aldridge hoped to get a few readers when she started a style blog at age 15. Today that sounds impossibly modest. Aldridge, now 18, gets about 70,000 hits a day at her blog Sea of Shoes. She has been featured in magazines like Vanity Fair and Teen Vogue and has designed shoes for Urban Outfitters.”I didn’t realize at the time that I started my blog that blogs would ever become what they are now,” she said. Young bloggers like Aldridge have become an unexpected powerhouse in the fashion industry, gracing front rows at Fashion Week, teaming up with top magazines and working with mainstream clothing brands.

Aldridge is among those who have been read by editors and designers for the last couple of years, said Jane Keltner, fashion news director for Teen Vogue. “In the last year it’s just exploded,” Keltner said. Thirteen-year-old Tavi Gevinson, who writes the blog Style Rookie, has helped Rodarte introduce its line for Target, appeared on the cover of Pop magazine and been spotted at various fashion shows around the world. Her fashion commentary has even appeared in Harper’s Bazaar. American Apparel has featured several young bloggers in ads, including Karla Deras of Karla’s Closet. Marc Jacobs named a bag after blogger Bryanboy.

Keltner said that brands are smart to get on board with bloggers who already have a following and are influential in the fashion world. It was a good way for Target to connect with customers, said spokesman

J

Young bloggers Tavi Gevinson, 13 and Jane Aldridge, 18. — AFP Joshua Thomas. “Obviously Tavi’s blog is extremely popular, and she’s really developed a loyal following,” Thomas said. Aldridge’s retail ventures have included designing a trench coat for Gryphon with her mother Judy, who has her own blog called Atlantis Home. Gryphon designer Aimee Cho said she liked

how the mother and daughter were able to wear a lot of the same clothes, but in different ways and have fun with fashion.

“I do think clothes should be fun, and that’s what I like about Jane and Judy,” she said. Cho said bloggers, especially teenagers, offer an unfiltered per-

spective. Still, there have been some rumblings against the wunderkinds, especially Tavi. In December, Elle magazine’s Anne Slowey told New York magazine’s the Cut blog that she thought Harper’s Bazaar hiring Gevinson “feels a big gimmicky.” “What am I getting out of a 13-year-old’s opinion about fashion?” she asked.

Simon Doonan, creative director of Barneys New York, said that while he respects their work and enthusiasm for fashion, he feels a bit protective of the young style bloggers who are getting so much attention at such a young age. “In your 20s, it’s great to be a nobody so that you can figure out who you are and not place any expectations on yourself,” he said.

Success in the fashion world, he said, calls for talent plus maturity. “You need some maturity to handle that kind of ‘I love you, I hate you’ that life can deliver,” he said. Tavi also got quite a bit of Internet buzz when she appeared at a fashion show with a large bow-shaped hat. She said in a February blog entry, “It seems that with all this ‘Backlash!’ many people have lost sight of what MY blog is actually about: fun, dammit!” It’s that personal take that makes consumers feel they can develop their own thoughts on fashion, said John Gerhardt, creative director of Canadian high-end retailer Holt Renfrew. Over the summer, Holt Renfrew designed store windows inspired by the work of six fashion bloggers, including Aldridge.

“We saw it as a real trend in terms of fashion

communication,” he said. He said that we’re being oversaturated right now with fashion bloggers, but those who stand out have an ability to reference trends from the past and look into the future. “The ones that actually gain popularity and a following, I think they do have an eye. You see it with the ones that rise to the top,” he said.

With a love of designer vintage, Aldridge said she started her blog as an outlet for a fixation on fashion that was not shared by her peers in Trophy Club, a small town about 30 miles northwest of Dallas nestled among the city’s sprawling suburbs.

“Living out here I was kind of isolated in my love of fashion,” she said. Her blog is mostly pictures of herself in her home or wooded areas nearby posing in outfits she has put together-from modeling a pair of knee-high black leather Balenciaga boots to a frothy peach Comme des Garcons skirt paired with a gray cropped sweatshirt from Zara. She said that she finds inspiration in being far away from a fashion hub like New York City: “It sort of inspires you to create your own little world,” she said.

Being home-schooled for her senior year, Aldridge works on photo shoots for the blog about four days a week for several hours each day, she said. She said she is happy with a life focused on her blog and the opportunities that brings, including attending Paris’ Crillon Ball dressed in Chanel. “I’m not sure that a normal life would be for me,” Aldridge said. — AP

39

SPECTRUM

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Fashion

lats, platforms, wedges and stilettos. Sandals, slippers, boots and clogs. Craftsmen and haute designers have been tweaking women’s footwear for centuries to reflect culture, politics and utility, but few have broken through with truly renegade reinventions.

“There are adaptations, but actual world-changing innovation is a lot less common than we might want to believe,” said Elizabeth Semmelhack, senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.

The museum collects, exhibits and interprets footwear from around the world, with 13,000 examples of early designs and styles. Many are still referenced today, from thong sandals of the ancient East to towering chopines of Renaissance Europe.

Semmelhack gives credit to thinkers like Salvatore Ferragamo for his wartime cork wedges and Alexander McQueen for his 10-inch lobster claws, but she points to the rise of celebrity designers themselves as perhaps the most influential development of all. “Did you even think about who made your Keds? Over the course of the 20th century, shoemakers have gone from anonymous craftsmen to fashion trendsetters,” she said. “It’s a relatively new phenomenon.”

So when, exactly, did shoes begin? No one knows precisely. Researchers at Washington University in St Louis theorize that western Eurasians used supportive footwear nearly 30,000 years ago, based on a shortening and weakening of the bones of the smallest four toes while leg muscles remained long and strong.

Simpler, more ill-fitting coverings protected feet in harsh climates about 50,000 years ago, according to other research.

The oldest surviving specimens of shoes appear to be sagebrush bark strap sandals found in caves of the Northern Great Basin in Western North America; they are thought to be more than 9,000 years old.

Sandals have not changed much since, or from ancient times in Egypt, Greece and China.

Strappy gladiator touches have never gone out of style, bejeweled thongs mimic the practice of placing precious gems on shoes for royalty and platforms in the West can be traced in an almost unbroken timeline right on through to Carmen Miranda and Lady Gaga. A surviving Spanish chopine mule with tooled leather over cork heels dates to before 1540 as one of the earliest platforms, Semmelhack said. One of the oldest depictions of people in high wooden clogs is “oriental” servants found in stone carvings on a 12th-century church in France, according to the Bata museum’s exhibition “On a Pedestal: From Renaissance Chopines to Baroque Heels.” Even older, a wooden Japanese thong platform called a geta, with separate heel pieces, has been traced to 300 BC. High, narrow stilettos did not come into their own in the West until

F

This ‘sculptural shoe’ attempts to capture the same sense of kinetic energy found in Wassily Kandinsky’s ‘Lithography for the fourth Bauhaus bag.’ Fluid forms have been juxtaposed with angular structured lines.

Gucci gray leather high heel open-toe platform boot with cut-out detail.

This photo released by The Bata Shoe Museum, European stilted clogs, like this 15th century example, were simple, carved wooden platforms. The shape was probably based on the qabqab worn in the Near East and was first adopted by wealthy Europeans in the 13th century as an item of fashion. Clogs like these fell out of favor at the end of the 15th century.

This shoe is the epitome of late 1930s Hollywood glamour. The heel is reminiscent of art deco architecture while the red and gold color combination suggests the exotic. — AP photos the 1950s, but chunkier heels detached from the front of a sole were everywhere among the upper crust in the 17th and 18th centuries. The separate high heel, Semmelhack said, “came into fashion in Europe but was worn in the Near East before it was of any interest to Europeans.”

Height has a long history played out in the extreme in chopines nearly 20 inches high in 16th-century Venice. “Venetian women were actually sequestered and only put on view at certain times of the year,” Semmelhack said. “You don’t actually see the chopines themselves. They were put under women’s dresses. The cost of textiles was so high that wearing chopines meant more fabric and therefore higher status. They needed to lean on two servants and that was also a statement of how incredibly wealthy their families were.” Color, in the same way as comfort food, often shows up in shoes via long-lasting books and movies, taking women back to their childhood romps through the closets of their mothers.

“Footwear has this special place, as we all know,” said Stuart Weitzman, who has a long relationship with glitzy heels and a new line of chunky jeweled and studded jelly sandals and shoes for spring. Year after year, he said, his best-selling color in sandals is no color at all.

“Who is the first hero, the first story that every girl ever reads or learns or is told about in her lifetime? The transparent shoe in Cinderella,” Weitzman said. “Before you can read or write, you’re brainwashed into what a transparent shoe can do for your life. It takes everybody back to that time, the mystery.” Weitzman does sell color as well. A consistent favorite is red.

“Red, every year. Dorothy’s ruby slipper is second only to Cinderella’s shoe for so many,” he

Despite being made using conventional materials, the architecture of this pair of shoes is highly idiosyncratic. The shoemaker made a sole by combining elements of a chopine with a high heel and he made an upper that combines a shoe and a mule.

said. As mass media and mass production made fashion “more democratic,” according to Semmelhack, politics often revolutionized it.

Shoes were no exception. Heels went immediately flat in 1800 and stayed that way through 1850 in response to the French Revolution, a time that ornate heels were preferred by the ruling class, she said.

“Styles became much more widely available with mass production, but they also were much more regimented in terms of design,” Semmelhack said. “It’s interesting that when we head into more difficult economic times, we see a rise of very, very architectural and sculptural footwear.” Platforms were reborn at the height of the Great Depression, linked to Hollywood glamour and excess. Not all high shoes appear built for torture, although many were promoted then and are sought after now for their slim silhouettes and dainty gaits, the same coveted traits that drove foot binding in China for thousands of years.

Ferragamo is one of the biggest names in women’s shoes. Some have speculated his wedges were inspired by chopines, but few realize he was genuinely interested in women’s comfort, Semmelhack said. “With the wedge, he says he was trying to make an orthopedic shoe. He was attempting to offer women support all along the instep of their foot. He took courses in biology and the structure of the human foot,” she said.

“He was trying to make a very comfortable, fashionable shoe and it just so happened he also created a fashion craze.”

Herman Delman, who founded the Delman brand 91 years ago, also built shoes of style and comfort. His company does a booming business in basic ballet flats today. Over the years, Delman

In this undated photo released by the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, shown is a 1937 Delman day shoe, black silk faille.

hired Roger Vivier, Herbert Levine and other top designers as he attracted star clients like Marilyn Monroe and Joan Crawford, releasing ready-towear copies of shoes he made exclusively for the rich and famous, according to a student-curated exhibition at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, “Scandal Sandals and Lady Slippers: A History of Delman Shoes.”

Delman put out a gold-studded platform with black leather crossed straps at the toe in 1939, with strikingly similar silhouettes still selling well. His strappy “Scandal Sandal” of the mid1940s with ties crossing up the calf was based on a 1920s custom shoe for Irene Castle, a popular ballroom dancer and fashion icon. At the time, Delman called the look “daring.” Ferragamo debuted his wedges in the 1930s. They stayed strong until the mid-40s, surfacing again during the social upheaval of the Vietnam War and the oil crisis of the late 1960s and ‘70s. “It seems to be about pushing boundaries, escapism,” Semmelhack said. “If Ferragamo was looking to the past, he was looking to the 16th century to be inspired by the last time a platform was in fashion.” Cycles in shoes and fashion overall have become “tighter” in recent years, she said.

“We’re looking back 20 years, even 10, to be inspired. Our concept of vintage is contracting.”—AP

In this Oct 6, 2009 file photo, a model presents a creation by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen for his Ready to Wear Spring Summer 2010 fashion collection, presented in Paris.

This undated photo shows wooden qabaqib shoes inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

Sweet but not sugary, makeup embraces pastels gnore the jellybeans and chocolate eggs. You can have something sweet this Easter season that is not sugary: trend-right, candy-colored makeup. The cheerful hues give off a youthful, happy vibe while definitively moving your look from winter to spring.”Spring is a season of change. Everyone wants a new look or a pick-me-up,” says Erin McCarthy of the beauty brand Make Up For Ever. “These pastel colors work really well for that. It’s a pop of something fun, but it’s not too much, not too scary. It’s a safe experiment.” McCarthy says she saw a lot of peach and pinks on the fashion runways, and they already have made it to the street. “It’s a very girlie, feminine look.” And the best part? No sugar high.

Some tips from makeup experts on how to wear these shades:

I

This image released by Make Up For Ever shows the HD Invisible Cover Foundation, a cream blush that naturally sculpts and highlights the cheeks for a healthy glow.

This image released

by Make Up For Ever shows the Glossy Full Couleur, a gel-textured lip gloss.

EYES Pick one area to play up, either the eyes, lips or cheeks, says Dominic Driguglio, Stila celebrity makeup artist, but do not do it all at once. You will get the brightest pop on your eyes, he says. Use a bright blue or green shadow on the lid, no eyeliner and lots of black mascara, he says, or, alternatively, you can do a mix of pink, purple and blue shadows; the pink goes in the center of the lid, purple to contour the corners, the blue at the inner corner, with pur-

ple eyeliner applied in a subtle cat-eye shape.

Jean Ford, co-founder of Benefit Cosmetics, says light purple and light green are “universally” flattering and wearable, and McCarthy says she likes a mint green for women with brown eyes, which brings out their natural yellow or golden specks. “Think watercolors,” adds Achelle Dunaway, creative director at ELF. Cosmetics. “You’ll get that softness.” Colors will appear even brighter if you prep the eye area beforehand with a neutral primer. A concealer, applied both around and on top of the lid, would do, according to Ford.

CHEEKS A creamy product is easier to blend than a powder, says McCarthy, Make Up For Ever’s education manager. It also will look more natural. She recommends applying blush with the fingers. (You can do the same with cream blush on the eyelids, McCarthy adds, noting that a little stain of pastel pink or peach at the center of the lid makes for a very flattering look.) But no neon blush, says Benefit’s Jane Ford, who likes a multicolored blush-powder compact. Swirl together with your brush flattering shades of peach, soft plum, shimmering pink and rose, then make sure to tap off any excess and sweep the brush upward from your cheekbone to temple to hairline.

This image released by Make Up For Ever shows the Aqua Lip Waterproof Lipliner Pencil, a waterproof, extremely long-wearing lip liner.

But just as with the eyes, you need to even out the skin tone first, says Driguglio. If your complexion has traces of green or yellow, you risk looking sick if the cheeks are very pink, and pink makeup on very pink skin can make you look tired, he explains. He does, however, recommend sticking to the same color family for lips and cheeks. “It’s not so much about a ‘trend’ with these colors. Nude lips, for example, was a ‘trend’ but was not flattering on everyone. But a natural pink glow? You just look prettier,” says McCarthy.

LIPS Any lip with a lot of color, be it pink, red, purple or fuchsia, is best complemented with an otherwise neutral face, says ELF’s Dunaway. (Think Sandra Bullock at the Oscars, she says.) The candy-colored lip would go well, she says, with another seasonal musthave, the little white dress. For newbies to the world of brighter lipstick, Dunaway suggests starting with a pink that has a noticeable purple undertone. It probably is going to be lighter, sheerer and more wearable than you are expecting, she says. Another way to tone down a deeply pigmented lipstick is to apply a layer of clear gloss on top, Dunaway says, which acts as a filter.

Stila’s Driguglio’s favorite shades right now

Ever shows a color face chart for Candy Color Make Up. — AP photos are a youthful watermelon lip gloss or a flirty bubble-gum pink called Giggle that is offered in a lip enamel (which he promises is not as sticky as a gloss, so blowing hair in the wind is not a problem). They both will announce a new playful, fun-loving attitude, he says. “I think pastels are synonymous with brunch or sundresses. There are no places you can’t wear them, you just have to wear them right.”—AP

www.kuwaittimes.net

rom her rank cell in a notorious women’s prison in Lebanon, Najwa never dreamed she would one day embroider a bag fit for a queen. And then she saw her handiwork in Vogue magazine. Today, she is an essential part of Sarah’s Bag, a Lebanese designer label that blends style with social activism. The brainchild and namesake of Lebanese entrepreneur Sarah Beydoun, Sarah’s Bag employs female convicts and underprivileged women from rural areas to create purses and accessories that have made their way into top fashion stores in London and Paris.

Her funky designs include colorful Andy Warhol-inspired prints of Egyptian diva Um Kalthum and Lebanese singer Sabah, a map of Beirut turned into a clutch and evening purses intricately stitched with Arabic proverbs. “To me, the story is inseparable from the purse,” designer Beydoun told AFP at her office in Beirut’s traditional but trendy Gemmayzeh neighborhood.

“These bags are a link between the most advantaged and the most disadvantaged segments of society. “In a way, they reflect Lebanon’s extremes.” Beydoun’s claim to fame began with a little white clutch that found its way into an issue of Vogue, which carried a photo of Jordan’s Queen Rania at the 2004 wedding of Spanish crown Prince Felipe.

The queen wore a lilac Chanel number and her purse, embroidered with Arabic calligraphy, was one of Beydoun’s early designs, fashioned in her parents’ garage and hand-stitched by Najwa, who learned to embroider while serving a oneyear sentence for embezzlement.

Beydoun credits a prison pass with changing her life. While writing her master’s thesis on women prostitutes, the 36-year-old mother of two spent time at a women’s rehabilitation centre as part of her research. In a bid to offer inmates a way out of a seemingly bleak future, Beydoun began patiently teaching them in prison how to bead and embroider what would eventually become the first collection of her fashion label.

And the bug started to spread: once freed, a select few went home and taught women in their villages to embroider and join Sarah’s expanding team. Today, around 100 marginalized women across Lebanon create the bags that are showcased in Paris and thrill Arab socialites and celebrities, selling for between 40 and 375 dollars (30 to 282 euros).

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‘Each woman has a story’ “This is a very good project that meets the needs of incarcerated women, both economically

Sarah Beydoun poses in her retail shop in Beirut on March 24, 2010.—AFP

A woman holds a handmade clutch bearing the flag of Lebanon. and in terms of helping them feel productive,” said Ghada Hakim, a social worker with the nongovernmental Dar Al-Amal which helped Beydoun gain entry to the Baabda prison. Najwa, who requested her real name be concealed to protect her family, said the project has given her a new chance at life.

“My family shunned me, the village shunned me and my ex-boyfriend, who landed me in prison, disappeared,” said the 36-year-old petite brunette. “Everyone makes mistakes but Sarah’s

Bag gave me the strength to start a new life and brought me respect,” said Najwa, who also embroidered a black clutch bearing the Arabic inscription, “Where is my heart” for iconic French actress Catherine Deneuve.

Since creating her brand 10 years ago, Beydoun has never taken out an ad, relying instead on word of mouth and the quality of her work. Today, her designs are featured alongside the creations of internationally recognized designers like Christian LaCroix, Christian

Clutches bearing the image of Egyptian diva Umm Kulthoum are displayed in the showroom for Sarah’s Bags.

Louboutin and her compatriot Elie Saab in magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar and Elle.

“Women of really prominent families would come in and make big orders and give them away as gifts,” Beydoun said. “They loved the designs, and they loved the idea that they were being socially responsible. They were our first ambassadors.” The purses made their way into the streets of New York and Paris, and orders for Sarah’s bags began to pour in from across the globe. “I’m struggling to keep up with demand,” Beydoun said. “But I have one condition.

“No matter how big Sarah’s Bag gets, every one of our items will still be made in Lebanon by women in need.” Her next project, to mark the 10-year anniversary of her brand, will be small and more than a little daring. “I want to select 10 women who will stitch their stories onto purses, tablecloths or whatever inspires them,” she said.

One convict will narrate on a large canvas how she conspired with her lover to murder her husband.

Another story involves a woman and her son, both serving time for murdering the boy’s father, whom the woman said had been raping both for years. Pulling out a sketch of a dark-eyed boy, Beydoun said the woman wanted to embroider her son’s face onto a purse. “She saw how Sarah’s Bag put Sabah and Um Kalthum’s faces on purses and it inspired her,” Beydoun said. “Each woman has a story. It’s time they found a way to tell them.”— AFP

A former inmate works on a handmade handbag for the label Sarah’s Bags.

A woman holds a handmade clutch bearing a map of Beirut for the label Sarah’s Bags.

A former inmate works on a handmade handbag.

Sarah Beydoun points to a bag in her retail shop.

Ride like the wind he Third Line presents a solo exhibition of new paintings

by Golnaz Fathi at Sultan Gallery, Kuwait. Fathi incorporates bold strokes and traditional calligraphy which resonates raw emotion and silenced expression in her series of new works. The paintings expo kicks off from April 6 - 22, 2010.

After several series executed primarily in black and white, with only occasional and cautious uses of red, Fathi’s current series, Ride Like the Wind, erupts with a broad spectrum of colour against a backdrop of thick, black strokes and illegible text. Splashes of green, blue, purple and red are loudly introduced, dripping down and spreading with veins across the canvas. Her once tight, almost obsessively repetitive lines are now replaced with grandeur sweeping forms, layered with an abandon and frenzy that is tempered by Fathi’s strong intuitive sense of arrangement.

In some works Fathi divides the canvas with a thin steady line, separating opposing fields which share a common yet disoriented background. Continuing her practice of utilizing expressive calligraphic forms to blur between the legible and illegible, the dra-

T

matic flow of colour and line creating a visual struggle.

The dominating colour stream brightly opposes the congregation of black lines, creating a sense of a one-sided struggle within the compositional space.

Enter the thickness and force of the rounded black script - counteracting the imbalance - as the colour trail retreats to the edges.

The power struggle shifts throughout the paintings; stronger and overbearing in one and losing ground in another. Yet amidst the turmoil there is a strength and vibrancy that cannot be contained resulting in a compromised balance.

Fathi’s work entails script that has been perfected on two levels: the painterly range of strokes and gestures, and the technical mastery with the script. She has then incorporated the element of colour which interweaves into an imposing relationship of aesthetic complement and divided energy.

The result is of the raw beauty apparent in these works; a silver lining amongst the chaos. For more information, artist bio, interview and/or hi-res images, please contact Sultan Gallery at sultangallery@sadeer.com or +965 24714325.

A customer looks at a bag in the showroom.

Australian ‘Ned Kelly’ painting sells for record ustralia’s most expensive painting, a Sidney Nolan “Ned Kelly” work, was given away yesterday only days after setting the nation’s art record. The painting, titled “First-Class Marksman,” of Australia’s iconic outlaw sold at auction last Thursday for A$5.4 million (US$4.96 million). Less than a week later the previously anonymous buyer, the Gleeson O’Keefe Foundation, stepped forward and donated the painting to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.

“They’ve bought this really signature Nolan work for us, which we are absolutely thrilled about and it was A$5.4 million and it looks fantastic on our wall,” said Clare Martin, the gallery’s media manager.

Dubbed the missing Nolan, art market experts say the painting reached a staggering price because it was the only work in the Ned Kelly series that remained in private hands. The other 26 are at the Australian National Gallery in Canberra. Sidney Nolan is considered Australia’s most internationally acclaimed artist. Nolan died in 1992.

“First Class Marksman” depicts Kelly wearing a square metal helmet over his head, which he used as armor to protect himself from police, and pointing a rifle into the Australian bush. “I think this sale certainly puts us on the world stage and indeed a record for Australian art,” Litsa Veldekis, chief executive officer of Menzies Auctions in Sydney, told Reuters.

The previous record for a Sidney Nolan piece, titled “Death of Constable Scanlon,” sold for A$1.3 million in 2000. The highest price for an Australian painting prior to Thursday’s auction was in 2007, when Brett

A

Whiteley’s “The Olgas for Ernest Giles,” sold for A$3.4 million. The Gleeson O’Keefe Foundation was set up by surrealist painter James Gleeson, who died in 2008, and his longtime partner Frank O’Keefe to acquire and give to the Art Gallery of New South Wales works of lasting importance. — Reuters

This handout photo shows a reproduction of Sidney Nolan’s ‘First Class Marksman’.—AFP