22 April

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

40 PAGES

THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2010

JAMADA ALAWAL 8, 1431 AH

Qatar to pour millions in Cyprus property

European skies open but airline schedules scrambled

Saudis won’t behead Lebanese psychic PAGE 14

NO: 14706

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150 FILS

Robben strike gives Bayern slim advantage over Lyon

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MPs, workers propose amendments to privatization bill

By B Izzak KUWAIT: A number of MPs and the oil workers’ union have submitted key amendments to the privatization law which was passed in the first reading last week amid opposition from a large number of lawmakers. The main amendments submitted so far focus on three main issues: no privatization in the oil sector; the government must have a “golden share” in the privatized services and that additional protection must

Hayef demands probe over American school trip be provided for the national workforce.

Deputy head of the union Jassem AlNasser said yesterday that the union has also proposed amendments, mainly that the oil sector must be completely excluded from privatization. The oil sector has not been mentioned in the privatization bill because article 152 of the constitution, which is higher than any law, bans the pri-

vatization of production in the gas and oil sector. But that does not include oil and gas downstream sectors like refineries and other facilities.

The workers’ union and a number of MPs want the oil sector to be completely protected against privatization and that Kuwaiti workers in the vital sector must be protected. MP Saleh Ashour also submit-

ted similar amendments yesterday, and the Islamist Reform and Development Bloc last week submitted almost identical amendments. The Popular Action Bloc is also reported to be preparing to submit more rigid amendments to ensure that the privatization process does not backfire.

The National Assembly’s financial and economic affairs committee is set to study the

Iran to stage war games in Hormuz

Kuwait set to deport scores of foreigners

Tehran slams US ‘nuke threats’ TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader denounced yesterday US “nuclear threats” against the Islamic Republic, and its elite military force said it would stage war games in a waterway crucial for global oil supplies. The Revolutionary Guards’ exercises in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz this week take place at a time of rising tension between Iran and the West, which fears Tehran’s nuclear program is aimed at developing bombs.

Iran denies the charge.

Iran has also reacted angrily to what it sees as US President Barack Obama’s threat to attack it with nuclear arms. Obama made clear this

month that Iran and North Korea were excluded from new limits on the use of US atomic weapons - something Tehran interpreted as a threat from a long-standing adversary. “The international community should not let Obama get away with nuclear threats,” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday. “We will not allow America to renew its hellish dominance over Iran by using such threats,” he told a gathering of Iranian nurses, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported. Iran was a close US ally before its 1979 Islamic revolution.

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Pillay sees rights ‘advances’ in Gulf

By A Saleh and agencies

Former IOC president Samaranch dead at 89 events, seeking global BARCELONA: sponsors instead of Spain’s Juan Antonio national federations Samaranch, one of making their own local the longest-serving arrangements. presidents of the “Thanks to his International extraordinary vision Olympic Committee and talent, Samaranch who was credited was the architect of a with commercialising strong and unified the Games, died yesterday. He was 89. Samaranch Olympic Movement,” IOC President Jacques Samaranch, who headed the Olympic move- Rogge said in a statement. “I ment from 1980-2001, passed am personally deeply saddened away from a cardio-respiratory by the death of the man who arrest at the Quiron Hospital built up the Olympic Games of where he was admitted on the modern era, a man who Sunday suffering from acute inspired me, and whose knowlcoronary insufficiency, it said edge of sport was truly exceptional.” in a statement.

His term at the helm of the An honorary president for life of the IOC, he helped to IOC - only Pierre de revolutionise sponsorship and Coubertin, the “father” of the Continued on Page 14 broadcasting deals for major

WASHINGTON: The new design of the $100 bill is shown after it was unveiled at the Treasury Department yesterday. — AP

$100 bill goes hi-tech WASHINGTON: The folks who print America’s money have designed a high-tech makeover of the $100 bill. It’s part of an effort to stay ahead of counterfeiters as technology becomes more sophisticated and more dollars flow overseas, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says.

The makeover, unveiled yesterday, may leave people wondering if there is magic involved.

Benjamin Franklin is still on the $100 bill, also known as C-note, but he has been joined by a disappearing Liberty Bell in an inkwell and a bright blue security ribbon composed of thousands of tiny lenses that magnify objects in mysterious ways.

Move the bill and the objects move in a different direction.

The government hopes the new bills will make it harder for high-tech counterfeiters to replicate.

The new currency will not go into circulation until Feb 10 of next year, giving the government time to educate the public in the United States and around the world about all the changes. “We estimate that as many as two-thirds of all $100 notes circulate outside the United States,” said Bernanke, who stressed that the 6.5 billion in $100 bills now in circulation will remain legal tender.

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France to ban niqab from public spaces

DAMASCUS: Syrians smoke water-pipes outside a cafe after a law banning smoking in most public places went into effect yesterday. — AP

Syria bans public smoking DAMASCUS: A smoking ban that few are expected to abide by went into effect in Syria yesterday, a country where people light up even in hospitals. The ban targets most public places such as restaurants, cafes, schools, universities, hospitals, parks, movie theaters, museums and public transport. The law, which also forbids the sale of cigarettes to minors, was approved six months ago by President Bashar Assad, a British-trained eye doctor.

The Middle East’s favorite pastime - smoking water pipes - is also

amendments before submitting its final report to the Assembly, which is due to take the second and final round of voting on the law.

Meanwhile, Islamist MP Mohammad Hayef called on Education Minister Modhi Al-Humoud to launch an urgent probe into a mixed trip organized by an American school in Kuwait to Cairo yesterday. Hayef

said the mixed trip “defies Islamic values and true Kuwaiti traditions”, adding that this is part of a plot to Westernize the Muslim Kuwaiti society. The hardline lawmaker, who is against co-education at schools and universities, asked if the trip was sanctioned by the ministry, adding that “we will not remain silent on such things”.

Hayef warned the minister against failure to take the necessary action towards the organizers of the trip and also called on the prime minister to intervene in the matter.

prohibited in public under the new law except in well-ventilated and designated areas. Also outlawed are tobacco advertising and the sale and import of sweets and toys modeled after tobacco products. Offenders will face fines ranging between $45 and $870 and a possible three to 12 months in jail. “The ban is good, but I doubt I will stop smoking,” said businessman Bassam Shanna, 47.

The ban’s effects are already being felt in Damascus’ famous cafes.

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MARSEILLE, France: Two women, one wearing the niqab, walk side by side in the Belsunce district of downtown Marseille in this June 19, 2009 file photo. — AP

PARIS: The French government will ban Muslim women from wearing a full-face veil in public, despite a warning from experts that such a law could be unconstitutional, it announced yesterday. The spokesman for President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government said a bill would be presented to ministers in May and would seek to ban the niqab and the burqa from streets, shops and markets and not just from public buildings. “We’re legislating for the future.

Wearing a full veil is a sign of a community closing in on itself and of a rejection of our values,” Luc Chatel told reporters, on leaving a cabinet meeting chaired by Sarkozy.

“It’s a transgression, an aggression even, on the level of personal liberty,” said Abdellatif Lemsibak, a member of the National Federation of Muslims of France. “The Muslims have the right to an orthodox expression of their religion ... it shocks me.” Last month, the State Council - France’s top administrative authority - warned Continued on Page 14

KUWAIT: Kuwait will in the next ten days deport thousands of foreigners, mainly Egyptians, after the authorities discovered that they were registered with bogus companies. “These expatriates have no legal status and their stay here is illegal since their companies do not exist,” informed sources said. “The ministries of labor and interior are now coordinating their efforts to tackle the issue and deport the expatriates.”

Employees from both ministries who helped with the processing of the forged documents will be disciplined and legal action will be taken against the owners of the bogus companies, the unnamed sources said.

Thousands of foreigners, mainly unskilled laborers, are abused by visa traffickers who bring them for a fee into the country and let them loose without offering them work, food or shelter. The marginal “workers” do not have a legal status and take up menial jobs to survive while avoiding police checks that would end Continued on Page 14

KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah receives visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay at Bayan Palace yesterday. — KUNA

Ash cloud hits Gulf luxury food supply DUBAI: A Gulf Arab airline ditched a massive cargo of fresh fish and the desert region’s supermarkets are fretting over fruit and vegetable imports trapped in a backlog of flights created by Europe’s ash cloud. As European air space reopens to

flights that were closed by the cloud of volcanic ash which drif ted over from Iceland, retailers and consumers in Gulf Arab countries are literally taking stock as airlines scramble to shift a backlog of cargo and passengers that Continued on Page 14

NATIONAL

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40th Anniversary of Earth Day: A Day of Celebration

By US Ambassador to Kuwait, Deborah K. Jones he first Earth Day, organized in 1970 in the United States, launched the modern environmental movement.

Some 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to decry trends toward increased pollution and deterioration, and to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Rising environmental awareness during that period led the U.S. government to establish the Environmental Protection Agency in late 1970, and to enact groundbreaking legislation, the Clean Air Act of 1970 and Clean Water Act of 1972.

Under President Obama, the U.S. has done more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions than ever before, setting domestic policies that advance clean energy and climate security and vigorously engaging in climate change negotiations. Last December in Copenhagen, world leaders agreed on the Copenhagen Accord, which requires actions by all major economies to mitigate climate change; transparency to see that those actions are taken; and financing and technology support for the poorest and most vulnerable nations. The US will join a global effort to mobilize by financing to help countries adapt to climate change, including preventing deforestation in regions with tropical forests, such as in Central and South America, Central Africa and Southeast Asia.

Similarly, the US is dedicated to improving access to clean water. In 2005, our Congress passed the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act, which makes access to safe water and sanitation for developing countries a specific policy objective of our foreign assistance programs. As Secretary Clinton stated on World Water Day exactly one month ago, “It’s not every day you find an issue where effective diplomacy and development will allow you to save millions of lives, feed the hungry, empower women, advance our national security interests, protect the environment, and demonstrate to billions of people that the United States cares, cares about you and your welfare. Water is that issue.” To advance this goal, the United States will strengthen developing country capacity, engage diplomatically, invest in infrastructure, increase the role of science and technology, and leverage partnerships. This year the world is commemorating the International Year of Biodiversity. The United States is no stranger to the risk of biodiversity loss. In the 1960s, our national symbol — the American bald eagle — was on the brink of extinction. In 2007, it was taken off the endangered species list as a result of conservation efforts mandated by the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and efforts to restrict harmful pesticides. More than 27 % of the land area in the United States is afforded some form of federal protection, through a variety of programs, such as the National Park System, the National Wildlife Refuge System, the National Marine Sanctuaries Program, and the National Forest System. The Lacey Act, originally passed in 1900, stands as the oldest conservation law in the United States and is testimony to our suc-

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cess in conserving wildlife resources including illegally harvested plants and trees.

As US Ambassador to Kuwait, I am interested in promoting green initiatives here as well. Kuwait and the US share an interest in improving our environmental impact, and we face some of the same challenges. A main challenge will be to meet the world’s growing power needs while minimizing the impact on the planet. Organizations such as the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) are conducting research on alternative energy. KFAS’s recent forum on Perspectives on Energy and Climate Forum reflects Kuwait’s continued commitment to the environment and its ecosystem. And we are looking at ways to improve scientist to scientist cooperation on these issues.

On the commercial side, American companies have technology that can help Kuwait meet these goals. Respected American companies in Kuwait such as Tetratech and CH2MHill have shown their commitment to participating in environmental protection by supplying oil cleanup and water treatment technology. They are joined by a dozen other quality US environmental leaders, including Earthsoft, IMBTEC, E&PA, and IHS who have active representatives in the State of Kuwait. In addition, the American Business Council of Kuwait (ABCK) has formed an Environmental Focus Group that, at its upcoming May meeting, will focus on “Green Business is Good Business.”

As a generous provider of foreign humanitarian and development assistance, I applaud Kuwait for its continued efforts to improve the quality of life for those in need, particularly in the Arab and Muslim world. I hope Kuwait will partner with the United States and others in the international community to use such assistance to focus on the importance of access to safe drinking water, and on the broader goals of reducing pollution and building a more healthy and sustainable environment.

Each of us can make a personal commitment to do our part as individuals to help protect the environment. I urge you to join the more than one billion people in 190 countries who are taking action for Earth Day to create a global green economy. My own Embassy, in collaboration with the Kuwait Municipality and the Kuwait Voluntary Work Center, has organized a Beach Cleanup Day from 9:00 to 11:00 am on Saturday, April 24th, starting at Green Island on Gulf Road and going to the McDonald’s just after the Corniche Club on Gulf Road. I invite you to join us. We wish to thank the Kuwait Municipality for providing support and volunteers for the Cleanup, without which the event would not be possible.

Today, our planet needs international dedication and commitment to preserve and protect the earth’s resources — be they air, water, plant, or animal. We were reminded last week, with the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano that Mother Nature can play a disruptive as well as a positive role in the global economy and the movement of our daily lives.

We cannot afford to neglect our shared home, Planet Earth. So even as we take time to recognize our achievements, we should not lose sight of the challenges that remain, and continue to build upon the legacy of the modern environmental movement started forty years ago.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

KJA holds symposium

More preventive measures needed to curb drug abuse

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: A group of Kuwaiti experts have called on authorities to apply proper and practical preventive measures against drug addiction. They said that the ways to medically treat drug addicts should develop according to the changes in both society and drugs being used. “The most important stage is prevention,” stressed Dr Khalid Al-Saleh, a psychiaDr Homoud Al-Qashan a sociology teacher at the College of Social Sciences in Kuwait University and the Assistant Dean for Students Affairs said there are several reasons why young Kuwaitis become addicted to drugs.

“Of those addicted, 92 percent of them were influenced by their friends. Of those, 100 percent of them consumed their first dose free of charge as a new experience.

The most dangerous age is 16 years, and finally, every drug addict was a smoker when they started,” he said.

According to Al-Qashan there is a new addiction; the electronic addiction. “This happens when a whole family is sitting at home but all on the inter net, their Blackberries, or other electronic forms of communica-

MP queries about salary deductions KUWAIT: A lawmaker recently approached the Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Dr Mohammad Al-Sabah to discuss issues related to deductions made in technician’s salaries, officials said.

In queries made to the minister MP Dr Aseel Al-Awadhi asked about the veracity of the reports, reported Al-Watan. She demanded that a detailed statement on the decisions made be filed, including reasons that perpetrated such decision-making, the number of employees affected, and the amount of dues collected.

tion. Whenever a youngster is socially isolated there is a better chance for drug addiction,” he added.

“In 1999 the law on how to treat an addict changed. The addict is now considered a patient instead of a criminal,” Al-Qashan explained. He noted that this was a positive step and that after the legal change 300 families called the Ministry of Interior and several addicts were referred to the Psychiatric Hospital.

While Al-Qashan noted that the change in law a move in the right direction, it also caused a crisis because there are only 57 beds in the hospital. “So they sent the rest back home on the condition to comeback when they were called. That same year we noticed an increase in the amount of domestic violence caused by these addicts.”

The government invested KD 4 million to build a special hospital for drug addicts.

“We have the building but we don’t have the humans to work in it,” he said. “There is a demand to develop this new specialization. If KD 10 were spent today on prevention, it would save KD 12 on treat-

trist, during a symposium held at the Kuwait Journalist Association (KJA) on Tuesday. The symposium was titled ‘The Medical, Psychological, Security, and Legal Affect of Drug Addicts and Society.’

“The most important factor is the tolerance to the drug. An addict starts with one pill, three, five, and then more to get the same effect. The other factor is the withdrawal symptom. When the addict changes his lifestyle to ensure he can get more drugs,” he added.

KUWAIT: Dr Mohammed Buzubar, Dr Khalid Al-Saleh, Dr Ahmad Al-Samdan, Brig Saleh AlAnezi, Dr Homoud Al-Qashan during the seminar. — Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh ment. I call upon all related authorities to raise awareness of this issue so that the whole of society can benefit,” he urged.

Dr Mohammed Buzubar, a teacher of Criminal Law and the Undersecretary for Legal Affairs at the Ministr y of Defense thinks that the legislation on this issue has developed. “Kuwaiti society was simple in the past,” he said.

“After the oil boom the world

of dr ug addiction entered Kuwait. It isn’t limited to consuming and possessing drugs anymore. Now great amounts of money are made from this illegal business.”

In 1960 there were only two articles in criminal law regarding alcohol and drugs and they were limited to selling and consuming only, he explained. In 1980 the law developed 54 articles which also included laws against

importing, exporting, trading, planting, and several other issues he added. Another law was issued in 1987 about mind altering substances and in 1995 a series of strict punishments were issued, including the death sentence for drug dealers, he noted.

Al-Saleh mentioned several different reasons for addiction. “It may be genetic.

When a member of the family is addicted it may be easier to become addicted. Here, parents should speak clearly to their kids and make them aware of the fact that they are more likely to become addicts.”

“Also there is the physical cause,” he added. “When someone is suffering from a cer tain painful disease he could then become addicted to his medication because his body needs it.

There is also the social cause, or, when a person uses drugs to escape and forget their reality. And finally, there is the psychological cause, when a person uses drugs as a temporary solution to their problems of shyness, depression or others,” Al-Saleh concluded.

Participants pose in front of the Auhud Mount.

KJA team returns after umrah trip KUWAIT: A team from the Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA) that performed the annual umrah rites returned to the country recently after visiting Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia. The KJA’s Financial Manager Adnan Al-Rashid, the trip’s supervisor, acknowledged the coop-

eration displayed by journalists and their families in turning the trip into a great success.

Furthermore, honorary plaques were awarded to Dr Ahmad Al-Shaaby, on behalf of the Public Authority for Tourism and Monuments Affairs in Madinah. Ali Hassan

Murad, Public Relations Manager of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), Saied Tawfiqi, Interim Marketing Manager of the Kuwait Finance House, and Omar AlHouti, Marketing Manager of VIVA Telecommunications Company for their efforts in making a successful trip.

Importance of maintaining unity, identity underlined KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of State for Development Affairs and Minister of State for Housing Affairs, Sheikh Ahmad Fahad AlSabah asserted Tuesday on the importance of maintaining unity and preserving the identity of the Kuwaiti society along with unifying efforts for a brighter future for generations to come.

Sheikh Ahmad made his remarks during the opening of the 35th Islamic Book Fair, which is organized by the Social Reform Society and will last until the first day of next month.

The official added that Kuwait’s development plan placed emphasis, among other things, on human resources and its branches, including the care for their development.

“The Social Reform Society is considered one of the civil societies that we are proud of its achievements through its charity work and its advocacy side,” he said. President of Social Reform Society Humoud Al-Roumi said that the society is keen on working graciously based on honorable goals, noting that the book fair is considered among the most important activities organized by the society.

Al-Roumi added the book fair includes 140 pavilions and will feature a number of governmental and private sectors from Kuwait and other countries. — KUNA

Thursday, April 22, 2010

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NATIONAL Women’s Cultural Society hosts seminar

‘Liberalism does not oppose religion’

By Nisreen Zahreddine KUW AI T: Libera lism does not op p ose religion a nd libera l thoughts do not p la ce restrictions on a n individua l’s religious beliefs, sa id Ebtiha l Al-Kha tib, English Litera ture I nstructor a t Kuw a it University during a sem ina r orga nized by the W om en’s Cultura l Society.

KUWAIT: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, met with representatives of the civil community in the State of Kuwait yesterday. The meeting was held at UN House, in Mishref, earlier in the morning.—KUNA

in the news Public education projects KUWAIT: The Ministry of Education’s (MoE) state education sector has already begun work on the projects listed in the cabinet’s work program, according to a senior ministry official.

MoE Undersecretary for the State Education Sector Muna Al-Lughani said that working teams and committees had been formed to look into the projects and draw up the plans required, which must be completed within the time frame given. Al-Lughani was speaking during her participation in the inauguration of a Practical Studies exhibition at the Qais Bin Abu Al-Aas Boys’ Intermediate School in Hawally.

The exhibition is taking place in the school’s Practical Studies department.

The senior education ministry official further revealed that her department is currently focusing on two projects concerned with developing the teaching system and attracting students to science-oriented subjects.

Undersecretary’s powers reduced KUWAIT: Communications minister Dr. Mohammad Al-Busairi has issued a decision reducing the authority of Undersecretary Abdulmohsen Al-Muzaidi to take decisions regarding certain issues. Under the terms of the minister’s new edict, reported AlWatan, Al-Muzaidi is no longer allowed to take decisions on the formation of committees and working teams, in matters pertaining to department heads’ salaries or transfers or in the area of authorizing assistant undersecretaries to carry out the undersecretary’s role in his absence.

Al-Mislem found guilty KUWAIT: The Criminal Court on Tuesday fined MP Dr. Faisal Al-Mislem KD150 as a penalty after he was found guilty in the defamation case filed against him by former Ministry of Higher Education Undersecretary Dr. Rasha Al-Sabah. AlQabas reported that the court found AlMislem guilty of charges of defamation and

of damaging Al-Sabah’s reputation when he accused her of being responsible for various forms of media corruption in the country.

Violation of manpower quota KUWAIT: MP Naji Al-Abdulhadi has called for companies which violate regulations on employing quotas of Kuwaiti employees to be fined, saying that this would help to resolve the current situation whereby “citizens have become a minority living in their own country.” The MP asserted that imposing such penalties would ensure that the regulations, which were introduced to ensure that all companies must employ a certain number of Kuwaiti citizens, are followed, reported Al-Qabas. Al-Abdulhadi also emphasized the importance of the role played by the Cooperative Societies across Kuwait in citizens’ lives, proposing that the minimum age for membership of their management boards should be set at 30, with each board comprising ten members and serving for a four-year period.

Al-Khatib said that only the Lebanese model of development is compatible with the idea of establishment of a modern nation following the end of Imperialism. Nationalism, in her opinion, is based on geographical unity and not religious or tribal loyalty. But this does not mean that religion should be eschewed, she said.

She cited the example of the USA which is a secular state but was built and established on a religious ground. This is present in official holidays that are religious in origin. She stressed that the role of the state is not to control individuals’ lives and the endanger the relationship shared between the authority without guiding them morally or ethically. Only the civil society organizations can create social awareness.

Liberalism, she pointed out, has no certain stand, belief or a religion. Al-Khatib said that the problem lies with current religious discourse which has a different concept of ‘red lines’ that do not tolerate criticism or dissent, despite its opposition to ‘ijtihad’ in Islam.

She went on to say that what is witnessed these days is a politically-motivated take on issues as opposed to a religious, spiritual path.

This, she said, is unacceptable. Liberalism is not a doctrine that is opposed to religion.

Liberals do not abandon their religious practices, but there are some Muslims who do not practice their faith, she said.

She affirmed that Liberalism respects all religions but does not demand that it be practiced. She warned that some religiously

‘Imported gas different than gas sold to firms’ KUWAIT: The gas imported by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) is to supply the Ministry of Electricity is totally different than the gas used by petrochemical companies, including Equate, the KPC chief said on Tuesday.

“The gas imported by KPC and then pumped to the Ministry of Electricity is of the slim type and of high price. The petrochemical sector is supplied with another type of gas, which is ethylenerich. They are totally different types,” said KPC CEO Saad AlShuwayyeb. He made his comments to reporters during Kuwait’s Transparency Forum titled ‘Transparency in Oil Industries.’ Petrochemical companies are not being supplied with slim gas because it is being

Th e lec t u r e w a s en t it led ‘L ib er a lism in Mor a l P er sp ec t iv e bet w een Th eor y a n d P r a c t ic e.’

She rem a rk ed tha t the fa ct tha t I sla m ic m ores a re built on a p ersona l rela tionship sha red betw een the individua l a nd his God. Even though the Qura n ca n be rea d by everyone, considera ble restrictions exist on the level of its understa nding, she op ined.

imported for specific purposes, he explained, primarily for the generation of electricity.

KPC conducted a thorough study which emphasized that power generation requires large quantities of high-price oil products. This study, said AlShuwayyeb, concluded that importing slim gas would save money for KPC and public funds.

The KPC chief made his statements after local newspapers quoted ‘sources’ as saying that KPC was importing gas at much higher prices than the gas being supplied to petrochemical firms.

This means, claimed the sources, that KPC was losing. AlShuwayyeb said Kuwait’s best alternative was to import gas through pipelines.

inclined individuals believe in the idea that the ‘products’ of liberal West causes immorality without looking into the positive aspects of these products like education and scientific progress.

Stating that concepts of Liberalism differ from one society to another, they yield different results. She stressed the doctrine of liberalism in a Kuwaiti context may continue to generate concern about religion. She pointed out that the Arab Liberal Movement was not an organized one, and it did not come up with final results. It never made a strong impression on the Arab street even though there were establishers of such movements like Jamaleddine AlAfghani, Mohammad Abdou, Farah Antoun, Taha Hussein, and Kassem Amin.

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NATIONAL

Thursday, April 22, 2010

‘Towards a reading family’

Annual Islamic book fair opens in Mishref Grounds Kuwait Times Staff KUWAIT: The 35th Annual Islamic book fair was inaugurated at the Kuwait International Fair Grounds in Mishref on Tuesday. The Minister of Public Housing and Development, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah opened the fair, that was organized by Social Reform Society (SRS), a The ten-day event includes a number of activities, including devotional song festivals, in addition to lectures delivered by noted Islamic scientists and clerics. At least 140 different publishing houses, libraries, as well as government and nongovernment organizations are taking part in the book fair entitled ‘Towards a Reading Family.’

The Deputy Head of SRS Ahmad AbdulAziz Al-Falah said that the need to organize a separate book fair for Islamic books stems from the fact that regular book fairs include ‘destructive, as well as constructive’ books.

“Here, parents can come with their children and be assured that all books displayed in this book fair are safe, without promoting any suspicious or harmful ideologies,” said AlFalah.

He explained that publishing houses could take part in the book fair only after receiving the requisite approval. “Not anyone can come and sell whatever books he wants in this book fair, and this is the part that differentiates it,” he explained.

The deputy head of SRS said that the Islamic book fair

KUWAIT: Acting Prime Minister, Defense Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah yesterday presided over a ceremony promoting a number of senior defense ministry officials to higher positions.

Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak congratulated the officials, telling them that their promotion came as a demonstration of the ministry’s appreciation for their tremendous efforts over the past year, emphasizing that they had shown they deserved the extra responsibility of their new positions. — KUNA

Promoseven Kuwait wins VIVA creative agency budget ‘Valuable Partnership... Working on building a world class communication in the Kuwait market’: Promoseven KUWAIT: In a major advertising appointment in the Kuwaiti market, VIVA Telecom appointed Promoseven to handle the creative development and advertising services for the VIVA brand in Kuwait.

Notably, VIVA made an open invitation to a large number of major advertising agencies operating in Kuwait. They asked them to submit their proposals to provide creative services in order to select an agency that would be capable of reflecting VIVA’s marketing and communication objectives.

Promoseven Kuwait won the contract, which will go into effect on June 1.

“This significant partnership has created an amazing spirit in the agency and the team members expressed their eagerness and passion to

start working on this new challenge,” added an agency official.

VIVA is the third telecom company operating in Kuwait. They started their services in 2008 and have managed to achieve a remarkable and outstanding market share through its creative service packages, products and telecom solutions that have attracted clients of various backgrounds.

VIVA operates in a very competitive environment with a focus on creativity and developing the best ideas to enhance the quality of services provided to the market.

Promoseven is a leading advertising network in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, operating in 14 countries and 16 cities.

Promoseven is part of McCann-Erikson, the largest global communications network.

Kuwaiti Islamic NGO. Speaking to reporters, Sheikh Ahmad said that the book fair is being organized by one of the most respected and influential NGOs in Kuwaiti society. “They (SRS) play a very important and active role in charity and social development, and such exhibitions are vital for cultural advancement. We thank them and wish them all the best,” said Sheikh Ahmad.

KUWAIT: Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad opening the Islamic book fair yesterday.

— Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat attracts more visitors, and more publishing houses every year.

“When we were just starting, 15 or 20 publishers and libraries participated. Now we have around 140, and people are becoming more and more educated and specific about what

they search for in these fairs,” he noted.

Khaled Al-Mathkoor, Head of the Supreme Committee for the Implementation of Islamic Sharia said that such activities attract widespread attention, “Everything that is related to

Islam does not only attract the attention of Muslims, but also the attention of the whole world,” said Al-Mathkoor.

Al-Mathkoor explained that the Islamic book fair is witnessing developments on a number of fronts, especially in terms of

various technological advancements, that facilitate easier access to learning. “This is a great evidence on the importance that everyone, especially we in Kuwait, have been giving to deliver a better image of Islam,” he noted.

Drug-smuggling lorry driver in police net

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Hours after two drug dealers, an Indian and a Bangladeshi, were arrested with one kilogram of heroin and 320 grams of pure heroin respectively, an Egyptian expatriate who had been using his position as a truck driver to smuggle narcotic tablets into Kuwait from Iraq was apprehended at the Abdaly border crossing, with officers recovering 3,000 Keptagon (amphetamine) tablets from his vehicle.

An investigation was launched after Major General Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, the Director General of the General Department for Drugs Control (GDDC) received a tipoff from an informant about the lorry driver’s drug-smuggling activities. A covert surveillance operation by a team of GDDC officers resulted in the man being arrested on his return from a trip to Iraq. On being questioned, the lorry driver admitted that he had been using his position to smuggle drugs to Kuwait from Iraq for some time.

He has been taken into custody and is awaiting trial.

Chemical waste blaze Firefighters rushed to the scene after receiving a call about a chemical waste blaze that broke out in a detergent factory in Sabhan. The fire was quickly extinguished and no injuries were reported.

Stuck in the mud A Kuwaiti man had to call the local fire brigade for help after his car got stuck in the mud while towing a yacht along the

roadside near Gulf Road. With a little help from firefighters, the car was quickly extricated and he was able to continue on his way.

Café break-in Thieves broke into a café in Hawally while it was closed, stealing KD 600 from the cash box inside. CCTV footage from the café’s security camera showed four young men loitering outside the building before breaking in at around 6:00 am on Wednesday morning. A police investigation has been launched to catch the culprits.

Municipal official held A Kuwaiti member of the team responsible for removing structures illegally erected on state property has been arrested for drug dealing, with police discovering that he was using a Council of Ministers vehicle for distributing the narcotics.

Police launched a covert surveillance operation after receiving a tip-off about the man’s activities. A team of police officers set up an ambush near his home in Jahra when he was on his way to deliver drugs to one customer, with the dealer initially smashing his vehicle into a squad car in an attempt to escape. He was quickly surrounded and arrested before being taken for questioning, with a quantity of drugs being recovered from his possession.

A search of his vehicle uncovered a bottle of alcohol, with a police ID and registration check revealing the man’s position and the fact that the vehicle he was driving was owned by the Council of Ministers.

Abdullah Al Najran received the award on behalf of NBK.

Tareq Al Mudhaf received the award on behalf of NBK.

NBK awarded ‘Best Premium,’ ‘Best Ladies’ Banking Service DUBAI: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the leading bank in Kuwait and the highest rated in the Middle East, has been awarded today the “Best Premium Banking Service and Best Ladies Banking Service in the Middle East for 2010” by the renowned regional financial magazine, “Banker Middle East”. Abdullah Al Najran Al Tuwaijri, NBK’s Deputy Group General Manager, Consumer Banking Group and Tareq Al Mudhaf, NBK Dubai Branch Manager, have proudly received the awards on behalf of NBK. Al Najran said that winning the award on the domestic and regional level underscores NBK’s strong leadership position among Arab banks and demonstrates its remarkably strong hold in banking and finance as well as its strong financial competitive capabilities.

“NBK has yet to reveal new developments in strategy which will further reinforce its prominent position in the local and regional markets”, Al Tuwaijri added.

NBK is one of the largest and most profitable banks in the Middle East and has become a formidable challenger to some of the international financial giants through a sustained regional expansion program and also by being able to take full advantage of the improved economic environ-

ment, diversifying its revenue sources and continually upgrading its comprehensive range of products in response to the needs of its customers.

NBK has indeed become “the bank of choice” for a large number of individuals and businesses domestically, regionally and globally.

Al Thahabi, for example, is a premium package from NBK offering customers personalized and “best in class” products and services, managed by a personal banking officer. Thahabi customers also enjoy many banking-related discounts, fee waivers and value-added lifestyle benefits. To qualify for a Thahabi package a customer must meet the minimum deposit criteria of KD30,000 in any interest or non-interest bearing account, fixed deposits, or any Watani Investment Fund for a minimum of six consecutive months and/or a continuous monthly salary transfer of at least KD1,500 for a minimum of three consecutive months.

The NBK Laki package is designed specifically for professional working women in Kuwait, offering them the first Titanium MasterCard in Kuwait with unrivalled offers and exclusive privileges such as free valet parking, concierge services and instant discounts at numerous outlets around Kuwait.

NATIONAL

Thursday, April 22, 2010

5

Philippine passports surrendered

Filipinas in Kuwait reject dual citizenship allegations KUWAIT: More than 200 Filipino women living in Kuwait and married to Kuwaitis have been accused of holding dual Kuwaiti and Filipino citizenship. Meanwhile, the Kuwait Transparency Society (KTS) reportedly recently discovered that more than 250,000 Kuwaiti citizens, over 23 per-

cent of the Kuwaiti population, hold dual nationality, which is illegal, with the country’s lawmakers demanding that this practice be eradicated.

Kuwaitis who acquire dual citizenship have their own reasons for wishing to own more than one passport, with many citing firstly their children’s comfort and security and secondly an additional source of security if any turmoil besets Kuwait as motives.

Most of the Filipinos married to Kuwaitis who acquired Kuwaiti citizenship as a result reject the allegations against them, however.

“The claim was doubtful,” said one Filipina married to a Kuwaiti who spoke with this reporter on condition of anonymity. “Because if you are a Filipina married to a Kuwaiti before they can approve our citizenships, they’ll take away our Philippine passports.

The authorities here will surrender our passports to the Philippine Embassy. Only right after the surrender can they process our new passports, so how can we get another passport?” she asked.

The Philippine government allows

their Filipino citizenship,” she said.

“Our law in the Philippines doesn’t discriminate against anybody, if you can prove you are a Filipino you can reacquire Filipino citizenship without giving up another passport,” Oreta said.

Filipinos who married Kuwaitis and acquired their husbands’ citizenship hope to retain dual citizenship in Kuwait.

“It is in my blood, I cannot deny the fact that I love the Philippines, despite the poverty and uncertainties in my home country. I can never replace my home country with another one, said Fatum, another Filipina happily married to a Kuwaiti husband, with three children. “My immediate relatives are

By Ben Garcia

dual citizenship according to the country’s Republic Act 9225 of 2003. In the case of Filipinos based in several countries around the world, immediately after the approval of dual citizenship law in the Philippines, many reacquired Filipino citizenship. In the case of Filipinos married to Kuwaitis, however, Rea Oreta, the Philippine Vice Consul, noted that although many tried to re-acquire their citizenship, during the process, they would have to give up their application due to Kuwaiti law.

“Pertaining to Filipino law regarding dual citizenship, anybody who is Filipino by birth, even though they are married and have acquired their husband’s nationality, they can re-acquire

Three Kuwaiti participants in US Presidential Summit

KUWAIT: Iranian ambassador to Kuwait Ali Janati and the military attache at the Iranian Embassy in Kuwait hosted a reception on the occasion of Army Day. A number of dignitaries attended the event which was held in the embassy’s premises earlier this week. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: Three distinguished Kuwaiti entrepreneurs will be attending the US Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, which will take place on April 26 and 27 at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. In a press release yesterday, the US Embassy said that it would be sending three “distinguished” Kuwaiti entrepreneurs—Dr Saad Al Barrak, Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa and Manar Al-Hashash—to attend the summit.

The summit “will highlight the importance of entrepreneurship, job creation and community development,” it said.

In his June 2009 speech in Cairo, US President Barack Obama pledged to host a Summit on Entrepreneurship to broaden and deepen ties between business leaders, foundations, and entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world.

Promoting economic and social entrepreneurship globally is a vital element of the Obama Administration’s foreign economic and development policy—a policy that fosters economic growth, creates

jobs, promotes civil society and provides new economic opportunities for US business and investors.

President Obama and other high-ranking US government officials will participate in the summit along with entrepreneurs and stakeholders from around the world who are invested in advancing entrepreneurship in Muslim communities.

More than just a forum for discussion, we hope the summit will establish a platform for attendees and others to build partnerships that will create economic opportunity and change lives.

Approximately 250 delegates from more than 50 countries on five continents will come together along with senior US government officials and American business leaders at the summit.

Delegates were selected from nominations by US Embassies and from online applicants. Selections were made based on the innovativeness of nominees’ ideas, their ability to promote entrepreneurship and their commitment to community service as well as on gender and geographic and urban/rural diversity. —KUNA

KD 19m check forgery renews money laundering concerns KUWAIT: Kuwaiti authorities have thwarted an attempt to cash a 50 million euro (KD 19.28 million) check issued from an Irish bank, which was found to be forged.

The main suspect, who collected the check is a retired Kuwaiti Army

Lieutenant, who admitted when apprehended that he had offered to carry out the transaction on behalf of a First Lieutenant in the Ministry of Defense in exchange for payment. On being questioned, the MoD officer said that the check had been issued by an Iranian res-

MoC plans reshuffle KUWAIT: The Minister of Communications Dr Mohammad AlBusairi has issued several decrees to conduct a reshuffle the assistant undersecretaries posts, officials said. The move is aimed at improving performance while the ministry prepares to execute its share of projects as listed in the government’s development plan.

During the latest meeting held with the ministry’s undersecretaries, Al-Busairi informed attendants that a decision was made to appoint Assistant Undersecretary Rashid Al-Lameea from the Supportive Service Department to the Postal Services Department, and Qablan Al-Obaiyan from the Administrative Affairs Department to the Subscription Department.

Furthermore, some of the other decisions include bringing the administrative and financial departments under the purview of the Assistant Undersecretary for Planning, Dr Waleed Al-Najjar.

CBK sponsors Arab Media Convention KUWAIT: The Commercial Bank of Kuwait recently announced that they will sponsor the 7th Arab media convention to be held at the Sheraton Hotel in the period between April 25 and 27 under the patronage of HH the Prime Minister, Sheikh Nassir Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah. “[The bank’s] sponsorship comes as part of our commitment to supporting the media sector, stemming from our acknowledgment to the role of the media in supporting the private sector, including the banking sector, and encouraging investment there”, said the managing director of the advertising and public relations department at the CBK,

Amani Al-Wara’a Amani Al-Wara’a.

The banks look to provide a demonstration to its services and seeks to expand its customers through their participation on the convention, AlWara’a said.

ident of Ireland. The check was identified as a forgery by National Bank of Kuwait staff, who immediately informed the relevant authorities of their discovery, reported Al-Qabas.

The case has renewed concern over possible major money laundering activi-

ties taking place in the Gulf region, especially since it comes as the investigation continues into the recent money-laundering case uncovered by Bahraini authorities in which the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is rumored to be involved.

all living in the Philippines, so I want to go back to the Philippines like a Filipino, so I hope they’ll understand that. I just feel very uncomfortable when they treat me in the Philippines as a foreigner.”

According to Fatum, the problem many Filipino expatriates face is their inability to buy or own property in Manila while holding Kuwaiti passports.

“Our law in the Philippines says we cannot own properties in Manila unless we have Filipino business partners,” she added.

“This means I cannot own a property of my own in my former country. I just hope they’ll reconsider the issue of dual citizenship in Kuwait.”

NATIONAL

6

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Citizen held for residency trade

Police bust brothel in Jleeb: Nine held kuwait digest

A pioneering idea to raise our MPs’ game

I

recently listened to a recording of the National Assembly session held to discuss the privatization law, writes Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Awadhi in Al-Anba.

As I listened, I was increasingly aware, in this parliamentary session as in others held to discuss crucially important issues which should be closely monitored by all, that the standard of parliamentary dialogue and the language used by some MPs there have become shamefully debased, which I do not wish to witness in person. This means that it is more satisfactory to watch or listen to them at home on radio or TV without disturbance, even while attempting to suppress one’s irritation at the low standard of dialogue.

I listened to the MPs’ statements about privatization and their many criticisms of the government’s weak performance, accusing it of squandering public money, violating the law, using wasta in appointments without any regard for competency and using bribes, among other things. For all these reason, argued many MPs, they wished to see the privatization of government facilities. Some MPs rejected this, however, walking out in protest during the vote since they wished to see separate legislation to cover the education and health sectors, as well as laws to protect Kuwaiti citizens and prevent monopolies.

Ironically, however, the primary source in the country of all the failings the MPs accused the government of is the National Assembly itself, with the government’s weak performance mainly due to the numerous obstacles placed in its path by MPs through threats of grilling and other means. On the subject of bribery, corruption, wasta, being indifferent to competence,

and even interfering in government education policy and putting pressure on university professors to illegally amend students’ results and appoint unsuitable candidates to academic posts, this is the home territory of some MPs, who meddle in every area in pursuit of their own constituents’, sects’ or tribes’ interests at the cost of others. These characteristics of some MPs make one wonder at the reasoning governing the National Assembly, on which millions are spent, but from which productivity or accountability are not expected.

Is there not a need for a law that holds MPs accountable in the same way as the board members of the firms to be established to run state facilities once the privatization law is passed will be accountable for their actions? Such a law would make parliamentarians subject to annual accountability to their voters as those board chairman are held accountable at their Annual General Meetings to their companies’ shareholders.

Introducing such ground-breaking legislation would make Kuwait a global pioneer, the only nation courageous enough to privatize parliament, with an elected assembly in each area run by its residents monitoring the MP’s activities, whose members would be like a ‘board of directors’ for the area.

If you’re wondering about the reasoning behind these ideas, it’s because I see no possibility of reforming National Assembly’s performance other than privatization since our current constitution gives our legislative authority unlimited power, especially when coupled with a weak executive authority that cannot stand up to the former group, which controls the nation’s affairs and a total absence of any government

hand in running them. As for the members of the executive authority itself, they are no more than employees, relegated to secondary status

by MPs’ encroachment on their powers, which is a flagrant disregard for His Highness the Amir’s implementation of his supreme authority through his ministers. MPs’ interference in the executive authority is, therefore, entirely shameful, and contrary to Kuwait’s constitution.

The implementation of the privatization law and giving the Kuwaiti people the right to hold their MPs to account would improve our situation and end the confusion of not knowing who are the legislators and who are the executive, with all MPs claiming the powers of both.

The current absence of accountability is making us miss the vital signs on the road to the future and I don’t think that under the present system the ambitious development plan put forward by Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah will be able to be achieved or bring matters under control. I am afraid, if the current situation continues, that privatization may simply become a means to transfer public services to profiteers whose only motivation is getting rich and who have no interest in social responsibility, as mentioned in the constitution.

These considerations give us sufficient justification to seriously contemplate following a new way of choosing MPs and holding them accountable, through which privatization could become the road out of the crisis that Kuwait is currently living through.

Truly, Kuwait is a wondrous country whose parliament seems to live in a whole world of its own, different from any other parliament on earth...

May Allah help Kuwait.

KUWAIT: Sulaibikhat investigators arrested five Asian prosti- case regarding Asians who kidnap Asian women and force them tutes and four pimps in a brothel in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, reported onto prostitution. The lawbreakers were taken to the proper Al-Rai. The arrests were made following an investigation into a authorities and police are still searching for the kidnappers. seriously injured when a car he was working Suicide case Run over Police responded to an emergency call on in a garage fell on him. Rescue teams, A young man was killed after he was run made by a citizen regarding the found body police and paramedics responded to the over by two cars while trying to cross the of an Asian man who committed suicide in emergency and freed the man from under- road, reported Al-Rai. After the man was Ali Sabah Al-Salem, reported Al-Watan. An neath the car. He was admitted to a nearby pronounced dead by paramedics, criminal autopsy was performed on the body to fur- hospital in critical condition. investigators were summoned to the scene. ther verify the cause of death.

Police are searching for the drivers responBootleggers sible for the accident.

Man found dead Two Asian bootleggers escaped from A 45-year-old Filipino man was found police custody in Fintas, reported Al-Watan.

Fugitive nabbed dead in his apartment in Maidan Hawally, The two men were spotted by police standJahra police arrested a fugitive wanted reported Al-Watan. Police responded to the ing near a car parked on the side of the road. scene after receiving an emergency call When they realized that authorities were for a money related case worth KD 10 thoufrom the man’s neighbor. He informed them nearby they ran away in order to avoid being sand, reported Al-Rai. Police realized he that a foul odor was coming from the man’s apprehended. Police failed to catch the two was wanted after they pulled him over for apartment and that he had not been seen for suspects but found 40 plastic bags of home- driving suspiciously. He was referred to the days. made liquor in their vehicle. Police are still proper authorities. searching for the two suspects.

Drunk man Student injured Hawally police arrested an Egyptian for A student suffered bruises and broken Residency trade driving under the influence of alcohol in Jahra investigators arrested an unem- bones after he fell from the first floor of a Salmiya, reported Al-Watan. An inspection into his identification revealed that he was ployed citizen for illegal residency opera- high school in Thahar, reported Al-Rai. The tions, reported Al-Watan. It was discovered incident occurred during a fight between also wanted for a case of absence. that the citizen was responsible for allowing him and another classmate. He was taken to Work mishap 70 Asian expats to access the country ille- Adan Hospital while the other student was In Shuwaikh, a Syrian car mechanic was gally at a cost of KD 900 per person. referred to the proper authorities.

in the news Human dignity DOHA: Kuwait is keen on protecting human dignity, and the constitution reflects this in articles, said Director of the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry’s Follow-up Department Ambassador Khalid Maqamis yesterday.

Speaking on the sidelines of his participation in the First Forum for GCC National Institutions, which kicked off here last night under the slogan ‘The Role of National Institutions in Protecting Human Rights’, the ambassador noted that recently approved labor and rights of the handicapped laws. He said that laws on women and children’s rights would be issued soon, out of belief in the importance of this segment. Maqamis expressed his regret over the media’s exaggerated portrayal of some humanitarian issues in Kuwait, counter to the truth.

Moreover, he said that Kuwait would be presenting its case at the Periodic Review of the UN in Geneva in May, adding that the report to be presented would include all measures taken by the government to improve and boost human rights in the country.

PAAAFR officials KUWAIT: Eight senior officials with the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) will be sent into retirement on June first, reported Al-Watan. The decision to retire the officials, who each served more than 30 years, was made by the authority’s general director Jassem Al-Bader. He is expected to make a similar decision regarding 25 other officials at a later time.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Health Dr Helal Al-Sayer, decided to reduce the health insurance fee for farm workers from KD 50 to KD 5 in an act to support farmers.

An oriental sweet dish.

A view of the sweets buffet.

Drunk women KUWAIT: Hawally traffic police arrested three women under the influence of alcohol on Amman Street in Salmiya, reported Al-Watan.

A checkpoint on the street pulled the car over for not having a license plate. Soon after they were pulled over, they discovered that the three women were under the influence of alcohol. They were placed under arrest and taken to the nearest police station.

Kuwait mosques KUWAIT: The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs is committed to maintaining mosques as it has undertaken the duty of building mosques around the country in accordance with the country’s demographic structure.

The ministry’s undersecretary Dr Adel Al-Falah made these remarks during the inauguration of Al-Othman mosque in Khaldiya. He asserted that preserving the country’s mosques is a significant task as they form the main fabric of Islamic identity, reported Al-Watan.

Another view of the buffet.

Oriental sweets festival at Kuwait Towers

Meshary Al-Sanousi

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Towers, one of the most prominent facilities of the Touristic Enterprises Company(TEC) is hosting an ‘Oriental and Arab Sweets and Ice Cream Week’ festival. It will be served during lunch and dinner buffets between the 22nd and 28th of this month.

The Deputy Managing Director Assistant for Touristic Affairs at the TEC, Meshary Al-Sanousi, said that the Kuwait Towers’ chefs will prepare several kinds of sweets that are part of the famous oriental and Arabic cuisine. This offer will also be available for takeaway orders.

INTERNATIONAL

Thursday, April 22, 2010

7

Israel using Scud rumors to threaten Lebanon: PM Hariri denies Syria supplied Scuds to Hezbollah ROME: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri denied yesterday that Hezbollah had received long-range Scud missiles from Syria and said the allegations were concocted by Israel to threaten his country. “These accusations are reminiscent of the weapons of mass destruction allegations against Saddam Hussein: they were never found, they did not exist,” Hariri said in an interview with Italy’s La Stampa newspaper.

“Israel is trying to reproduce the same scenario for Lebanon. The rumors about Scud are only a pretext for threatening my country,” he said, calling the claims “false”. Israeli President Shimon Peres has publicly accused neighboring Syria of sending Hezbollah Scuds.

BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces patrol a Baghdad street yesterday, as the government stepped up security to guard against any potential reprisals for the killing of Al-Qaeda’s top two commanders in Iraq. — AFP

Iraq hopes finally to bury Baghdadi myth BAGHDAD: Iraq’s government will hope announcing the death of Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, the political leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, will finally bury the myth of a man whose killing or capture was previously bungled.

Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki on Monday told the nation that Baghdadi, head of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), the Al-Qaeda front in the country, was killed in a joint Iraqi-US operation in Salaheddin province, north of Baghdad.

The Sunday morning raid that purportedly ended Baghdadi’s life also killed Abu Ayub Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant who seized the reins of AlQaeda in Iraq (AQI) in 2006, upon the death of his betterknown Jordanian predecessor Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi in a US airstrike. Monday’s announcement, a public relations coup for Maliki, was swiftly followed by an unusually detailed US statement confirming the deaths-the first time American forces have overtly acknowledged the existence of Baghdadi-quoting General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in the country.

“The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to Al-Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency,” Odierno said.

‘Baghdadi’, however, has been killed off or captured at least three times before and skepticism about his involvement in Iraq’s insurgency, including much doubt from the US military, continues to cloud his persona. He was captured for the first time in early 2006 and held in US custody, according to Iraqi defense ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed AlAskari, but he managed to obscure his exact role and was released after seven months.

Among all the claims surrounding Baghdadi, this one seems solid as Maliki unfurled a picture of him in an orange USprison jumpsuit, holding a board on which was written his real name-Hamid Dawood Mohammed Khalil Al-Zawi. The US military used that same name in its Monday statement

about the joint operation that killed Baghdadi and Masri.

Askari also said that Baghdadi was a police brigadier general during the reign of now executed dictator Saddam Hussein. On March 9, 2007, Iraqi forces announced that Baghdadi had been captured.

One day later though, Brigadier General Qassim Attanow a major general and still a Baghdad military spokesmancited “conflicting information,” and refused to confirm that the detained militant was in fact Baghdadi. Nine months later, on December 4, Baghdadi warned in an Internet message of more attacks in the country, claiming a new brigade had been formed to fight every “apostate and traitor.” At this point, the US military described him as a “fictional” character and said ISI was merely an Internet-based organization. Osama bin Laden entered the fray on December 30, when he called on “all the Muslims of Iraq to join Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi,” in the insurgency. The story went cold until April 23 last year, when Iraqi police announced that they had arrested Baghdadi in the capital. “The criminal terrorist Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi is in the hands of justice,” Maliki’s office said in a statement five days later, a claim that was denied by Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in an Internet statement on May 11.

Atta told state television late on Tuesday that last year’s apparent capture was an elaborate ploy to confuse Baghdadi’s followers. “It was a camouflage operation,” Atta said. “We arrested a man close to the AlNida mosque in Baghdad who claimed to be Baghdadi, but we were convinced it was not him.”

According to Atta, AQI had asked several of its members to assume Baghdadi’s identity-of whom the detained man, Ahmed Khamis Al-Mujamahi, was oneto provide cover so that the real insurgent leader could continue his activities.

“Our intelligence services asked me to go on television and to assert strongly that he was Bagdhadi, so that Al-Qaeda

Court ‘to try Islamists for money laundering’ CAIRO: An Egyptian court will try four Muslim Brotherhood members and a Saudi on charges of money laundering to fund the banned movement, a judicial official said yesterday. The five would face the emergency security court after being charged with channeling money through a British-based Islamic charity to fund the movement’s Egyptian activities, said the official who requested anonymity. Three suspects had been detained before being released on bail pending trial, while the remaining two, including the Saudi man identified as Aaed Al-Qarni, were not in the country, the official said.

Essam Erian, a senior Brotherhood leader, said all the suspects except one were outside the country. “This is a message from the government that it insists on using the emergency law to settle its political disputes,” Erian said. The emergency law, in place since an Islamist militant assassinated president Anwar Sadat in 1981, allows for indefinite detention and the courts set up under the law deny the right of appeal. The money laundering charges were the latest blow against the Islamist group ahead of parliamentary elections later this year which the Brotherhood has said it will contest.

The group’s deputy leader Mahmud Ezzat and Erian were freed on bail on April 8 after more than a month in prison, but still face charges of organizing “terrorist cells” and plotting to overthrow the government. The Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition movement, calls for an Islamic state through peaceful means.

Egypt’s constitution bans parties based on religion, sect or class, but the Brotherhood controls a fifth of the seats in parliament after fielding independent candidates.— AFP

would think they had conned us, but our intelligence service continued to hunt the real one until Sunday.” Tuesday’s broadcast said that the real Baghdadi was born in 1947 and he left the country in 1985 only to return in 1991. His name first came to prominence during the two battles for the Sunni-rebel bastion of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, in 2004, it said.— AFP

Washington summoned the top Syrian diplomat on Monday to address what it called “provocative behavior” over the potential transfer of the missiles, which it said could be a threat to Lebanon and Israel.

Hezbollah, a Syrian- and Iranianbacked Shiite Islamist group, is on the US terrorism blacklist but is part of Lebanon’s unity government. The group fought a war with Israel in 2006 and has strong support in mainly Shiite south Lebanon. Syria denied earlier this month that it had furnished Hezbollah with Scuds, saying Israel might be using the accusation as a pretext for a military strike. Hariri, who has frequently clashed with Hezbollah in the past, said

the group had legitimately won elections in southern Lebanon and could only be disarmed via political dialogue. Hariri and his allies accused Syria of assassinating his father and former prime minister, Rafiq Al-Hariri, in 2005.

His disagreements with Syria’s ally, Hezbollah, threatened to plunge Lebanon into a new civil war. But he has since mended ties with Syria and formed a government that includes the group.

“We have turned the page with Syria.

Assad and I have decided to work together to improve our relations in respect of our mutual sovereignty. Of course, you cannot expect everything to change with one meeting, but we will manage it,” Hariri said. Hariri said a spe-

cial court set up in The Hague to investigate his father’s killing must be allowed to do its job.

A UN investigation into the assassination first implicated Syrian and Lebanese officials but later held back from giving details. The special court in The Hague has yet to indict anyone, while Syria and Hezbollah have denied any role. Hariri accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of working against the peace process in the Middle East. “The real problem is that Israel doesn’t want to give the Palestinians land or recognize the two state solution,” said Hariri, who visited Rome for a meeting with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday. — Reuters

11 killed in Somalia, headless bodies found Al Shabaab seize control of Gal’ad town MOGADISHU: The beheaded bodies of five builders have been found in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu and at least 11 people were killed in fighting in the central region, residents and moderate militia fighters said yesterday. Mogadishu residents said they suspected Al Shabaab militants executed the builders for helping to construct Somalia’s new parliament, an institution seen by the insurgents as home to stooges of the West.

No group has claimed responsibility for the killings. “We have seen five beheaded men,” one resident who gave his name only as Ali for fear of repercussions told Reuters. “Their

bodies were covered with a little soil, except for their legs.” Al Shabaab, which controls vast tracts of southern and central Somalia, has previously executed Somalis its accuses of spying for the foreign-backed government as it fights to impose a harsh version of sharia law on the nation.

Fighting erupted in the central Somali towns of Gal’ad and Masagawa when Al Shabaab rebels clashed with militiamen from the Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca, a moderate Sufi Muslim group which has signed a power-sharing pact with the government. “We have seized the town of Gal’ad,” said Al Shabaab’s spokesman, Sheikh Ali

Mohamud Rage. Ahlu Sunna confirmed the territorial loss and said it had killed 15 Al Shabaab militants and lost two of their own. Rights group Elman put the death toll at 11, with 23 injured.

On Monday, a New York-based rights group accused the rebels of brutally repressing Somalis in the large swathes of south and central Somalia that they control. Human Rights Watch said that while Al Shabaab had brought a degree of stability to areas they controlled, they routinely killed civilians and meted out punishments including amputation. Residents described a scene of carnage after the

fighting. “The streets are horrific, bodies in the streets and others bodies in bush ... and trees,” Muse Hoshow, a resident of Gal’ad said.

Western security agencies say Somalia’s appeal as a safe haven for hardliners, including foreign jihadists using it to plot attacks in the region and beyond, is growing. Somalia has lacked an effective central government since the ousting of a dictator 19 years ago, leaving the lawless nation awash in weapons and mired in violence. The West’s efforts to install a stable administration have been undermined most recently by the al Shabaab-led insurgency, which is considered Al-Qaeda’s

INTERNATIONAL

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

High-speed train riles Russians on wrong side of tracks SAINT PETERSBURG: Russia’s first high-speed train, the Sapsan, has made life easier for well-heeled commuters after its launch but sparked a hate campaign from ordinary people living along the route. To vent their rage at the train, which travels between Moscow and the former imperial capital of Saint Petersburg in just three hours and 45 minutes, residents have thrown stones and even fired shots in at least 14 attacks, according to Russian Railways (RZD). In January, a resident of Leontyevo, a village in the Tver region, threw a block of ice at a carriage, breaking a window.

The man responsible told police he decided to damage the train after he was knocked off his feet with a blast of air as it sped past at 250 kilometers per hour.

The new high-speed train-which runs along ordinary tracks-represents a particular danger because in Russia the tracks are not fenced off and are used by many rural residents

as footpaths. Four people have been knocked down by the Sapsan since its inception in December last year, a senior interior ministry official said last week in comments reported by Fontanka.ru, a Saint Petersburg news web site.

The train moves almost silently at high speed and people often take shortcuts across the railway rather than using inconveniently placed level crossings, said Alexander Brevnov, the deputy head of the interior ministry’s transport law enforcement department.

The transport minister (Igor) Levitin has called for Sapsan to be fully isolated from other railway tracks. “I fully agree with him,” Brevnov said.

The Sapsan-which means Peregrine Falcon in Russian-was launched with the aim of catapulting Russia’s vast railway network into the era of high speed rail travel.

The dashing white and red German-made trains are a marked

ST PETERSBURG: The high speed train named Sapsan moves along the tracks at a station in Saint-Petersburg. — AFP contrast to the green carriages that have traditionally carried travelers across Russia on lumbering sleeper

trains. “I have seen bunches of flowers left along the tracks in memory of two people killed due to Sapsan,” said

Tatyana Khrolenko, 70, who has a country cottage outside Saint Petersburg. The numbers of those

Generals push nuke issue into UK election campaign Former commanders demand review of Trident decision LONDON: Britain should look again at a decision to spend billions updat- a new submarine-based nuclear weapons system in 2007, but key spending its nuclear weapons, four former senior military commanders said ing decisions have been delayed until after a nuclear non-proliferation yesterday, supporting the party that may hold the balance of power after conference in New York next month, meaning they will fall to the next an election. Parliament approved the Labor government’s decision to buy British government. looked at again in the defense programs will be intense.

Labor and the main opposireview that all three parties Liberal Democrat leader Nick tion Conservatives have rewould hold after the election. Clegg said the former comaffirmed support for replacing “It may well be that money manders’ letter supported his the nuclear-armed submarine spent on new nuclear weapons party’s arguments. The Lib fleet, due to start going out of will be money that is not avail- Dems say alternatives to buyservice in the 2020s. But the able to support our frontline ing new submarines include smaller opposition Liberal troops, or for crucial counter- extending the life of the curDemocrats oppose the move, terrorism work; money not rent system or putting nuclear saying it could cost 100 billion available for buying heli- missiles on Astute convenpounds ($154 billion) that copters, armored vehicles, tionally armed submarines.

Britain cannot afford as it Writing in the journal of the frigates or even for paying for struggles with a huge deficit.

United Services more manpower,” they wrote. Royal With the Liberal Democrats Institute, a defense thinktank, IMPACT ON surging in the polls and a close Prime Minister Gordon Brown ARMS TALKS result expected from the May The signatories were said “all major projects and 6 vote, either Labor or the other than Edwin Bramall, a former chief capabilities Conservatives may depend on of the British armed forces, Trident” would be reviewed their support to form a viable and David Ramsbotham, Hugh post-election. Britain has cut government. The Trident misBeach and Patrick Cordingley, its nuclear arsenal by half sile system could become a all former senior commanders. since 1997 and now has fewer bargaining chip in negotiations They said Britain should con- than 160 warheads available. on forming a coalition govern“We would look at further sider the impact of replacing ment.

Trident on international disar- reductions as part of the interThe former commanders’ mament talks, noting the US- national discussions this sumintervention, in a letter to the Russian agreement to slash mer,” Brown said. Britain was Times, comes on the eve of their nuclear arsenals. With looking again at whether it the second of the party leadthe government’s budget could reduce its fleet of misers’ pre-election debates today deficit set to exceed 11 per- sile-carrying submarines from which will focus on foreign and cent of gross domestic product four to three “but our decisecurity issues, likely to this fiscal year and with 9,500 sions on our deterrent will be include Trident. The former commanders said it was “of LONDON: British Opposition Liberal Democrat British troops involved in a based on national security and deep concern” that the leader Nick Clegg addresses journalists at a press costly war in Afghanistan, multilateral discussions, not pressure for cuts in armament on cost”, he wrote. —Reuters Trident decision would not be conference in central London yesterday. —AFP

Bosnian police, veterans clash War veterans vent anger over cuts in benefits SARAJEVO: Police fired tear gas and water cannon yesterday in a clash with thousands of veterans of Bosnia’s 199295 war protesting at benefit cuts in the most violent protest in years in the troubled Balkan country. Doctors from Sarajevo’s Cinical Centre said 33 people were wounded, three seriously, in clashes that lasted several hours. Former soldiers and their families converged from across Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat federation to vent anger at a government decision to cut veterans’ benefits as an austerity measure under an International Monetary Fund stand-by loan deal.

The veterans hurled huge stone blocks and bottles at police guarding a government building that they tried to storm. They also set a police cabin on fire. A Reuters cameraman saw one man bleeding from the head. Ambulances collected the injured amid thick smoke from tear gas.

The windows of buildings lining the street were smashed after police fired stun grenades.

Hours after the protests began, veterans continued to withdraw, regroup and charge back towards the government office. Police in riot gear tightly cordoned the building, trying to avoid a direct clash with protesters.

When told that no government officials would meet them, the demonstrators turned violent and began

attacking police and the building. No one from government offices inside the building answered telephone calls.

“The government is dealing separately with each group of veterans, while raising its own fiefdoms and fortunes at the same time,” said Mujo Porobic, a disabled, decorated veteran.

“We who went to war barefooted and hungry are still penniless today but have a new burden-they are prevent-

ing us from sending our children to schools,” said Porobic, carrying a banner reading “Government = Elite of Bandits”.

The leader of the association of decorated war veterans, Dzevad Radzo, said they were not seeking special treatment. “We are ready to bear our part of the burden to ease the impact of the crisis but everybody else should do the same,” he said. Bosnia clinched a 1.2 billion euros

($1.61 billion) stand-by arrangement with the IMF last year to ease the impact of the global economic crisis and preserve fiscal stability.

Under the deal, the government of Bosnia’s two regions, the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb Republic, have to cut public spending, and especially the generous benefits granted to veterans as a preelection sweetener in 2006.

The Muslim-Croat federation parliament has passed

tougher criteria for payments to groups related to the 199295 war, which accounted for 40 percent of the region’s budget. The veterans are strongly opposed to the introduction of a property census as the main criterion for their payments, due to come into force in January 2011.

They want the same standard to apply to all budget beneficiaries, including state employees, which is not possible under the law. — Reuters

killed on the tracks in Russia are already extraordinarily high — 2,953 people died last year and 1,494 were injured, according to Russian Railways.

The launch of the Sapsan also led to cuts in local train services that criss-cross the route, making it harder for people living in the region to travel to work and dachas.

Earlier this month, two men were arrested after they shot at the train with an air rifle, while in January, a stone was thrown through a carriage window as the train passed through the Tver region. Blogger “aart” complained that he arrived at a station in the Moscow suburb of Skhodnya with his child, and found out that three local trains had been removed from the schedules.

“We had to wait an hour and a half in the cold,” he wrote. “Both of us fell ill. Next time if I see the Sapsan approaching, I will pick up a stone.”

Many locals are resentful of the sleek ultra-modern train, whose tickets

priced at up to 230 dollars for a first class seat are well out of the reach of most rural residents.

“The Sapsan is obviously a train for the elite,” complained Khrolenko.

“No one thinks of those who live between Moscow and Saint Petersburg and who also need to travel,” she said. “Of course throwing stones is barbarous, but it’s the only way for people to show their discontent.”

Anatoly Osnitsky, the director of a psychology and psychotherapy centre in Saint Petersburg, attributes the resentment to more than headaches over commuting.

The Sapsan is irritating to many because it transports a privileged class and reminds them of their relative poverty in a country which still has a huge gap between rich and poor, he said.

“For many inhabitants of the regions between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the Sapsan is a symbol of success,” he said. —AFP

US adoptive parents seek girls, non-blacks WASHINGTON: US parents looking to adopt a child prefer girls over boys, and non-black children over African-Americans, according to a new study carried out by a group of economists. The team from the California Institute of Technology, the London School of Economics and New York University studied five years worth of data from 2004-2009 culled from a website run by an adoption intermediary.

They were able to see which babies attracted most applications from adoptive parents, and how much the parents would need to pay to finalize the adoption. They found that a non-AfricanAmerican baby was seven times more likely to “attract the interest and attention of potential adoptive parents than an African-American baby,” said Leonardo Felli, an economics professor at LSE. But there was not a similar preference in favor of Caucasian babies over Hispanic babies, even though all the adoptive parents in the sample were Caucasian, Felli said. The research also uncovered an unexpectedly strong preference in favor of girls, which were a little over a third more likely to attract the attention of adoptive parents than a boy, he said. “With biological children, the literature shows that there’s a slight but significant preference for boys over girls,” said Leeat Yariv, an associate professor of economics at Caltech. “But in adoption, there’s a

very strong preference for girls over boys.”

The bias in favor of girls and non-black children was seen across all categories of adoptive parents, and the gender bias against boys was even slightly stronger among gay men and lesbian couples seeking to adopt a child. The study also found that interest in a child was highest just before birth, but dropped off dramatically immediately afterwards and was also low when the birth mother was still in the early stages of pregnancy.

Mariagiovanna Baccara, an assistant professor at NYU, said it suggested that “bureaucratic obstacles disrupting an adoption plan at the time of birth are extremely detrimental to the future prospects of the child.”

Felli said the adoption system in the United States remains doubly imbalanced. “On the one hand, a considerable number of potential adoptive parents are left unmatched. On the other hand, the number of children who are not adopted and end up in the foster-care system is disproportionately high.”

The researchers said their data showed that obstacles to adoption of US children by gay couples or foreigners stood to significantly increase the number of children who would end up in foster care after failing to find an adoptive family.

“And statistically,” Yaariv added, “long-term foster care leads to bad outcomes.” —AFP

Angry mob prevents Nigeria police arresting ex-governor Ibori wanted over money-laundering LAGOS: A violent mob has prevented police in Nigeria from arresting former Delta state governor James Ibori, a political powerbroker wanted in connection with money-laundering allegations, police said yesterday. Senior officers including a deputy inspector general and the Delta state police commissioner went to apprehend Ibori on Tuesday but were ambushed and attacked as they entered Oghara, his hometown in southern Nigeria’s oil heartland, police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu said.

“They went to his place and a mob attacked them and damaged some vehicles. The police retreated,” Ojukwu said. Local newspaper reports said the mob were armed and had exchanged fire with police but Ojukwu could not confirm this. “I am not aware of any gunfire but I know they were a violent mob ... They attempted to prevent police from having access to him to have him arrested,” he said. Ibori, one of Nigeria’s most influential and controversial politicians, is a member of the Elders’ Committee of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and was instrumental in the rise to power in 2007 of President Umaru Yar’Adua. Yar’Adua returned from three months in a Saudi clinic, where he was being treated for a heart condition, in February but remains too sick to govern. Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has said fighting corruption is one of his top priorities. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria’s anti-corruption

police, said last week it wanted to question Ibori over allegations that 44 billion naira ($290 million) was looted from Delta state government coffers while he was governor. Ojukwu said a court order for Ibori’s arrest had been served on the police at the start of the week and vowed to use “all legal means” to apprehend him. Ibori, who could not immediately reached to comment, has maintained that the charges against him are born out of political rivalry at the heart of the PDP. The EFCC charged Ibori in 2007 with looting more than $85 million during his eight-year tenure as governor of Delta, one of three main oilproducing states in the southern Niger Delta, but a court dismissed the charges in December. The EFCC has said it will appeal. Several of Ibori’s associates are also facing money laundering charges in the United Kingdom, where a court froze $35 million worth of his assets in August 2007 on suspicion they were the proceeds of corruption.

Ibori is one of several former state governors to have been charged by the EFCC in cases which were seen as a litmus test of Yar’Adua’s commitment to fighting corruption. But they made little progress under his administration. Nigeria’s 36 state governors have discretionary powers over millions of dollars of public funds and critics say they sometimes behaved like feudal monarchs, doling out cash as perks to political supporters and persecuting opponents. — Reuters

US, NATO rethink role of Cold War alliance

SARAJEVO: Bosnian war veterans run after a guard house was set on fire in front of the Bosnian Federation Government building during demonstration in Sarajevo yesterday. — AFP

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is heading to a meeting of NATO ministers in Estonia at a time when the 61-year-old organization is suffering from a kind of mid-life crisis. Almost 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the 28member North Atlantic Treaty Organization is in the midst of an intense self-examination, trying to rethink its basic purpose and reason for being.

NATO was founded to blunt the long-extinct threat of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe.

Now it finds itself divided on many fronts: doubts among some members about its combat mission in Afghanistan, unease with the continuing presence of US nuclear weapons in Europe, prickly relations with Moscow and misgivings about the wisdom of expanding NATO farther into Russia’s backyard.

Clinton and 27 of her NATO counterparts will gather today in the Tallinn, capital of the former Soviet state of Estonia, where they are expected to take stock of the alliance and the challenges it faces.

Among the most difficult issues on the agenda are NATO’s outlook for success in Afghanistan and the prospects for putting the Balkan nation of Bosnia on track toward NATO membership.

The foreign ministers also are expected to debate

the future of the US nuclear “umbrella” for Europe, which boils down to a question of whether to withdraw the remaining Cold War-era US nuclear weapons there. The Tallinn meeting, in fact, could split over the question of whether it is time to remove an estimated 200 US nuclear bombs that remain at six air bases in five NATO countries. The Obama administration has not taken a public position on the fate of this small but politically nettlesome nuclear arsenal. Administration officials say NATO should debate the matter and make a collective decision.

The United States is trying to persuade Russia to match any Western reductions of these short-range nuclear weapons with cuts of its own. Some in Europe, including the Germans, are less certain that such linkage is needed.

The meeting also is likely to review progress in rewriting what NATO calls its “strategic concept,” which would update its mission statement for the first time since 1999. That document predated the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the August 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia, which is eagerly pursuing NATO membership.— AP

INTERNATIONAL

Thursday, April 22, 2010

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Church pedophilia scandal grows in Latin America SAO PAULO: The detention of an 83-year-old priest in Brazil for allegedly abusing boys as young as 12 has added to the scandals hitting the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America, even as Chile’s bishops asked pardon Tuesday for past cases. The allegations against Monsignor Luiz Marques Barbosa and two other Brazilian priests - have made headlines throughout the world’s most populous Catholic nation and come amid accusations of sexual abuse by priests around the world.

The scandal erupted when Brazilian television network SBT last month broadcast a tape of Barbosa in bed with a 19-year-old that was widely distributed on the Internet. The station said the video was secretly filmed in January 2009 and sent anonymously to the network. It was not clear if the 19-year-old, identified as a former altar boy who had worked with Barbosa for four years, had previous sexual relations

with the priest. SBT reporters went to Barbosa’s house and confronted him. Asked if he ever abused boys, Barbosa said he could only answer such a question “in confession” and cut off the interview.

Brazil’s legislature launched a sex abuse investigation, which produced allegations that Barbosa molested boys. The elderly priest was detained late Sunday. Prosecutors will now decide whether to file child abuse charges.

Barbosa’s lawyer, Edson Maia, plans to seek his release from detention, citing the man’s advanced age and arguing he has a fixed address and does not pose a flight risk, the newspaper O Estado de S Paulo reported Tuesday.

Congressional investigators said more than 20 witnesses were called and some testified Barbosa and two other priests in the same northeastern archdiocese had abused boys as young as 12, plying them with money, clothes

and other gifts. Bishop Valerio Breda of the Penedo archdiocese in the northeastern state of Alagoas said recently that all three priests had been suspended and that the church was conducting its own investigation. Breda could not be reached Tuesday. The National Conference of Brazilian Bishops does not plan to comment on the case and all questions should be directed to the local diocese, spokesman Geraldo Martins said. Latin American priests have faced a cascade of accusations of abuse of minors. A priest in Chile was charged recently with eight cases of sexually abusing minors, including a girl he had fathered. Chile’s bishops’ conference issued a statement Tuesday apologizing for priestly sexual abuse and vowing a “total commitment” to prevent it in the future.

“There is no place in the priesthood for those who abuse minors and there are no pretexts whatever that can justify this crime,” said

Monsignor Alejandro Goic, president of the Episcopal Conference.

“To the people directly affected and to the communities in Chile that have found reason for scandal in some priest, we ask pardon and urge them to tell us of these events,” he said. On Tuesday, a Mexican citizen filed a civil lawsuit in US federal court in California against former priest Nicolas Aguilar Rivera and the Roman Catholic cardinals of Mexico City and Los Angeles, claiming they moved the priest between the two nations to hide abuse allegations. An advocacy group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the plaintiff alleges Aguilar Rivera molested him in the mid1990s when he was 12.

Two other lawsuits against Aguilar Rivera have been thrown out by California state judges who ruled a Mexican citizen could not sue another Mexican citizen in a US court, but the

advocacy group said the new suit employs a 1789 federal law that allows a foreigner to file a civil claim in the United States. The whereabouts of Aguilar Rivera in Mexico are unknown. In a report last week, The Associated Press detailed how its reporters around the globe had found 30 cases of priests accused of abuse who were transferred or moved abroad by the church and some escaped police investigations. Many had access to children in other countries, and some abused again. The probe spanned 21 nations across six continents.

Feeding the controversy, Pope Benedict XVI’s second-in-command outraged many last week in Chile when he said homosexuality and not celibacy was the primary reason for the abuse. “Many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relation between celibacy and pedophilia. But many others have demonstrated, I have been told recent-

ly, that there is a relation between homosexuality and pedophilia. That is true,” Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone told reporters April 12 at a news conference in Santiago. “That is the problem.” The comments by Bertone, the Vatican’s secretary of state, were condemned by gay advocacy groups, politicians and even the French government.

On Sunday, a teary-eyed Pope Benedict XVI met with abuse victims in Malta and said the church will do everything possible to protect children and bring abusive priests to justice, the Vatican said. The emotional moment carried no new admissions from the Vatican, which has strongly rejected accusations that efforts to cover up for abusive priests were directed by the church hierarchy for decades. But the pontiff told the men that the church would “implement effective measures” to protect children, the Vatican said, without offering details. — AP

Tehran could put US within missile range Gates calls for reform of US arms export rules

CARACAS: Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez (left) stands as Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez waves upon arrival to Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas. —AP

‘Socialist’ snacks nourish Chavez fans in Venezuela Queues of Venezuelans wait for subsidized ‘arepas’ CARACAS: In its own version of Cuba’s famous Coppelia ice-cream store, Venezuela is now running a popular “Socialist arepa” shop to nourish stomachs and souls with a subsidized version of the beloved national food. Just as long queues snake around Coppelia in Havana, so hundreds of Venezuelans wait patiently every day to buy an arepa-a form of cornmeal flatbread usually filled with cheese or meat-in Caracas for a third of the normal cost. The “Socialist Arepa Shop”, one of a chain springing up around the nation, is a classic, headline-grabbing initiative by President Hugo Chavez, a populist who says his self-styled revolution counterbalances US capitalism.

Red-shirted waiters with slogans like “Chavez is a winner” attend the diners, and even the toilets have a socialist star on the figures that indicate men’s and women’s sides. While digesting or waiting, customers can read quotes from left-wing Latin American thinkers on the wall. “They are feeding my stomach and my politics at the same time-and all for 7.5 bolivars,” said Consuelo Bustamente, a 64-year-old pensioner who said she was a socialist long before former soldier Chavez came to power 11 years ago.

The arepa initiative delights his supporters, known as “Chavistas”, but brings mockery from foes who say the Cuba ally is wrecking the country with an ill-conceived bid to tackle poverty with out-dated communist-style policies. “I wouldn’t be seen dead in there, with all those scurrilous Chavistas,” said a well-heeled housewife, buying an arepa for 25 bolivars in a middle-class neighborhood. “Chavez and his cronies can give away arepas, but meanwhile they’re destroying the economy, it’s a joke.”

INFLATION REACHES ‘AREPAS’ It is precisely, however, measures like the subsidized arepas that keep Chavez connected

with Venezuela’s poor majority and may keep him winning at the ballot-box. Though a recession, horrific crime levels, and recent electricity and water failures, have weighed on his popularity, Chavez still maintains a near-50 percent rating.

That, in part, is thanks to government subsidies, plus the provision of free schools and medical services in the poor shanty-towns of Caracas and elsewhere. Chavez’s populist manner-waving a baseball at rallies, swearing at opponents-makes his opponents cringe, but often goes down well among his supporters, who believe Venezuela’s elite excluded them for decades prior to his government. Nevertheless, Chavez knows he has a fight on his hands in a September parliamentary election where the opposition is sensing a chance to at least slash his majority. Both sides are then eyeing the 2012 presidential election.

But in the “Socialist Arepa Store,” not everyone is happy. William Quintero Palma shakes his head as he tucks into a ham-and-cheese arepa, saying the recent 50 percent rise in the original 5 bolivar price-a nod to Venezuela’s inflation rate, one of the world’s highest at 25 percent last yearwas wrong. “Soon they’ll be calling it the capitalist arepa-shop,” he said. “This place was supposed to be different. And look, they’ve run out of chicken and minced meat already today.”

The 27-year-old Venezuelan said he did not consider himself a socialist because so many of the government’s plethora of social missions had produced low-quality services. And he did not like Chavez’s bellicose rhetoric either. But will he still support him? “I think some people who have voted for him in the past are going to abstain,” he said. “But not me, I’m with the big man. There’s nobody else who has the interests of the poor as his priority, whatever his mistakes may be.” — Reuters

US women better educated but still paid less than men WASHINGTON: More US women than men have advanced degrees but women still earn substantially less than their male counterparts for the same work, data show. Nine percent of young adult American women hold either a master’s, doctoral or professional degree, such as in medicine or law, compared with six percent of men, and women make up nearly six in 10 holders of advanced degrees, data compiled by the Census Bureau show.

Women also outpaced men in terms of bachelor’s degrees, with 35 percent of women aged 25-29 and 27 percent of men obtaining the fouryear university degree. The Census Bureau issued the data on Equal Pay Day, which is the day to which women would have to work to make the same money as their male counterparts did in 2009. Many women’s movements call April 20th Unequal Pay Day, pointing out that in 2008, the most recent year for which annual salary comparisons are available, women made just 77 dollars for every 100 dollars their male counterparts made.

On a weekly wage comparison, women made around 80 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts in 2009, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR).

But for highly skilled women surgeons or physicians, the weekly wage gap separating her earnings from those of a male doctor was a whopping

36 percent, with the woman making just 64 cents to the dollar of what her male counterpart, the IWPR statistics show. “Educational attainment does little to equalize the pay gap between men and women,” IWPR’s Elisabeth Crum said.

“In fact, we found some anecdotal and statistical evidence to suggest that a woman who gets a college degree will earn the same as a man who finishes high school,” she said. The percentage of US men with bachelor’s degrees has held steady since 1999, while the rate for women has grown from 30 percent that year to 35 percent in 2009. In 1960, just three percent of Americans had studied beyond a bachelor’s degree, and more than three-quarters of those who obtained advanced degrees at the time were men.

In 1963, when the Equal Pay Act was signed, women made 59 cents on average for every dollar earned by men, the NCPE says on its website, citing Census Bureau figures of median wages of full-time, year-round workers. By 2000, women had overtaken men in terms of holding advanced degrees — 58 percent of women had one compared to 42 percent of men — but the wage gap had narrowed by only half a cent a year. Even men who work in jobs that are traditionally predominantly female tended to earn more than their women colleagues, data compiled by the IWPR show. —AFP

WASHINGTON: Iran could develop a ballistic missile capable of striking the United States by 2015, a senior US official told the lawmakers. Asked at a senate hearing about Tehran’s missile capability, James Miller, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, said current estimates indicate “that it could potentially be as soon as 2015.”

But he said that estimate assumed “foreign assistance” to enable Iran to improve its missile technology.

A report last year from the US Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center said Iran could build an intercontinental ballistic missile that could hit US soil by 2015-2018, if it received outside help. Analysts say Iran’s Safir space launch vehicle, which Tehran put into orbit in February 2009, has the potential to be converted into a long-range missile.

Washington closely follows Iran’s missile program and has cited threats from Tehran and North Korea as the main impetus for building up missile defenses for the United States and allies. The US administration also accuses Tehran of a clandestine effort to build nuclear weapons.

Miller confirmed previous estimates that it would take “well beyond a year” for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and “more likely in that plus threeyear time frame.” Last week, General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a senate hearing that Iran could make enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb in one year but would most likely not be able to field a usable weapon for three to five years.

He also cautioned often impatient lawmakers that a limited US military strike was not likely to be “decisive” in halting Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.

In another development, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called for revising “Byzantine” rules for US arms exports, saying the current system undermines allies while failing to prevent sensitive technology from falling into the wrong hands. Gates said in a speech that “the current arrangement fails at the critical task of preventing harmful exports while facilitating useful ones.” “Our security interests would be far better served by a more agile, transparent, predictable, and efficient regime,” he said at an event organized by Business Executives for National Security.

“In short, a system where higher walls are placed around fewer, more critical items,” he said. Gates proposed a single list outlining which items require licenses for export, a single licensing agency, a single enforcement authority and a single IT system. At the moment, “a Byzantine amalgam of authorities, roles, and missions scattered around different parts of the federal government” oversees export controls, creating confusion for both companies and government agencies, he said.

President Barack Obama in August ordered his deputies to review and reform the export control regime. Gates said after his speech that he hoped to see legislation revising the rules “before the end of the year.”

A report by the National Academy of Sciences in 2009 found that the export rules-written during the Cold War to prevent the transfer of technology to the Soviet Union-undermined national security and threatened economic growth. Gates said the system posed an obstacle to cooperating with US allies to counter threats from extremist networks or hostile states. —Agencies

WASHINGTON: (From left to right) Petty Officer Autumn Sandeen, Lt Dan Choi, Cpl Evelyn Thomas, Capt Jim Pietrangelo II, Cadet Mara Boyd and Petty Officer Larry Whitt, handcuffed themselves to the fence outside the White House during a protest for gay-rights in Washington. The group demands that President Obama keep his promise to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ (DADT) this year. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Scars repaired, 13-year-old to head back to Iraq EAST LANSING: The badly scarred 12year-old who arrived in the US from Iraq last spring with Army National Guard Maj David Howell has had quite a year in Michigan - dressing up as Batman for Halloween, playing video games, getting pitching tips from the Detroit Tigers’ Justin Verlander and being the ball boy for a high school soccer team. Mohammed, now 13, also has undergone five surgeries to regain the use of his left hand, rebuild his left ear and attach skin grafts that replaced his scarred scalp where hair no longer would grow after he was badly burned in a house fire as an infant.

He can wear a glove to play his newest American passion, baseball, and close his left eye. He no longer needs a cap to cover his scars. “He’s really happy that he needs a brush,” said Howell, 56, of Grand Ledge.

“His self-esteem is way higher than when he got here.” On Sunday, Howell will head back to Iraq with Mohammed, a shy, slender boy who approached Howell at an entry

control point in the Iraqi city of Ramadi in November 2008.

Mohammed asked Howell - a Michigan Army National Guard physician’s assistant who was serving his second deployment in Iraq - to save him and take him to America.

Howell spent a frantic six months getting identification and a visa for Mohammed and lining up plastic surgeon Dr Edward Lanigan at Michigan State University to perform free surgery and a Muslim host family in East Lansing. Howell won’t publicize Mohammed’s middle or last names because the boy’s family may still be in danger in Iraq.

His father was killed by insurgents three years ago for working as a translator for the US Marines.

The insurgents killed his uncle when he went to the morgue to identify and claim the body, and they warned Mohammed’s mother they would kill her and her children if she ever contacted US soldiers. His mother and 19-year-old brother, Yousif, will

MICHIGAN: Michigan Army National Guard Major David Howell (left) and Mohammed talk after playing catch in East Lansing.—AP

Ties binding China, Iran BEIJING: China is one of the powers negotiating possible new sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program, but figures released yesterday showed Iran remains a major supplier of oil to China. Here are key facts about ties between China and Iran.

through intermediaries. Chinese state company, Chinaoil, recently sold about 600,000 barrels of gasoline to Iran, despite proposals before the US Congress for unilateral sanctions on fuel suppliers to Iran that have frightened off other companies.

IRAN A BIG OIL SUPPLIER, BUT NOT THE BIGGEST Iran is a major supplier of crude oil to China, the world’s second-biggest consumer of oil after the United States. The US has urged China to tap other suppliers.

In 2009, Iran was the third-biggest foreign source of crude oil to China, supplying 23.1 million metric tons of crude, or 11.4 percent of China’s total crude imports. In the first two months of 2010, China’s imports of Iranian crude oil slipped by nearly 40 percent compared to the same time last year. But in March, those imports from Iran picked up again, growing 14.7 percent compared to March last year, making Iran the third-ranked foreign source of crude for China in the first quarter, behind Saudi Arabia and China’s top supplier so far this year, Angola.

CHINA A DIPLOMATIC PARTNER China has kept close bilateral ties with Iran, but also backed past UN Security Council resolutions criticizing Tehran’s stance on nuclear issues. Western powers criticized the disputed election of June 2009 that kept President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power and condemned subsequent violence and arrests directed at antigovernment protests. China did not openly criticise the Iranian government. In October last year, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told the visiting First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, that his government wanted to “maintain high-level contacts” with Tehran.

CHINA’S ENERGY, TRADE STAKES IN IRAN Trade between China and Iran has grown quickly, dominated by Iran’s energy exports. In 2005, bilateral trade was worth $10.1 billion. In 2009, it was worth $21.2 billion, though that was a fall of 23.6 percent from 2008, reflecting the financial crisis and the falling dollar value of oil.

The main Chinese exports to Iran include machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, textiles and consumer goods. China is an investor in Iranian oil and gas, and Chinese state-owned energy conglomerates have been exploring for new fields there, with an eye to expanding their stake.

China’s top energy group, CNPC, this year clinched a deal to develop phase 11 of Iran’s South Pars gas project and expand its operations in Iran. In the oil sector, CNPC is already in a deal to develop Iran’s North Azadegan field into a 120,000-barrel per day field at a cost of at least $2 billion. China’s Sinopec Group reached a $2 billion deal to develop Iran’s Yadavaran oil field in December 2007. Industry sources have said China has also been selling gasoline to Iran, which lacks refining capacity to meet domestic demand. Chinese customs statistics do not record any recent shipments, which may go

CHINA WORRIED BY NUCLEAR PLANS, BUT WANTS TALK, NOT SANCTIONS China’s support for Iran is not unreserved.

Beijing wants to cast itself as a determined supporter of nuclear non-proliferation and has voted for previous UN Security Council resolutions pressuring Iran. But Chinese diplomats often say sanctions are not the “fundamental solution” to the Iran nuclear dispute, and they want more focus on negotiations. Beijing has followed a pattern of approving UN decisions critical of Tehran, but resisting sanctions that could hurt its energy and economic ties with Iran. In July 2006, China backed UN Security Council Resolution 1696 that threatened sanctions on Iran, and in December of the same year it supported Resolution 1737, which imposed sanctions on Iranian nuclear imports and exports.

It supported two further resolutions, one in 2007 which broadened the sanctions to cover a ban on Iranian arms exports, and another in 2008 which criticized Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council as well as Germany are negotiating a proposed new resolution about Iran that could impose fresh sanctions.

Diplomats have told Reuters that China’s envoy at the UN headquarters had indicated displeasure at sanctions proposals affecting Iran’s energy sector. —Reuters

Kyrgyz leaders round up Bakiyev’s loyalists Ousted leader says still president MINSK: Kyrgyzstan’s new rulers stamped their authority yesterday on the southern stronghold of ousted leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who issued a defiant statement from exile saying he was still president. The interim government has struggled to restore order after an April 7 uprising against the president, which left at least 85 people dead and disrupted flights through a key US airbase supporting operations in Afghanistan.

Authorities said they had arrested a number of Bakiyev allies in the southern town of Jalalabad who last week seized a regional government building and deepened a stand-off with the capital Bishkek. Selfproclaimed Jalalabad governor Faizulla Rakhmanov was among those rounded up. The interim government said it was now in charge of the town.

Minutes earlier, Bakiyev made his first statement since taking refuge in the Belarusian capital Minsk and told reporters he still considered himself president: “I don’t recognize my resignation... only death can stop me,” Bakiyev said, reading from a written statement. “I will do everything to restore constitutional order to Kyrgyzstan. I call on international leaders not to recognize the authority of this illegitimate gang.” The leader of the interim government, Roza Otunbayeva, said the statement was the “bravado of a man agonizing over his own helplessness”.

ELECTIONS Russian agencies cited an unnamed foreign ministry official saying Moscow no longer considered

Bakiyev president. The United States and Russia have engaged with the interim government and offered assistance. There was no apparent repeat of the ethnic violence that hit the outskirts of Bishkek on Monday and Tuesday. Five people died in attacks on ethnic Russians and Meskhetian Turks by looters trying to exploit the post-revolt turbulence to seize land. “The situation is under the complete control of the interim government,” Otunbayeva told Moscow’s Ekho Moskvy radio. “The situation in Jalalabad is also normalizing.” The attacks had prompted the Kremlin to order the Russian defense ministry to protect Russians. It was unclear what steps might be taken, though Moscow sent some 150 paratroopers earlier in the crisis to protect personnel at its Kant airbase. After days spent hunkered down in the south, Bakiyev fled Kyrgyzstan last week for Kazakhstan from where the Kazakh ambassador to Bishkek delivered his hand-written resignation.

He found refuge this week in Belarus where he was welcomed “as the president of Kyrgyzstan” by President Alexander Lukashenko. The interim leaders accuse Bakiyev of corruption and nepotism and say he must answer for the deaths in the uprising when police and troops repeatedly opened fire on protesters, some armed. The government says it will pursue swift reforms and hold parliamentary and presidential elections within six months. Yesterday it said it had asked the United States for $10 million to help conduct the polls. — Reuters

South Korea probes alleged sex bribes SEOUL: South Korea’s top prosecutor yesterday launched a probe into allegations that dozens of prosecutors had been bribed with sex with prostitutes by a builder in return for business favors.

Prosecutor General Kim Joon-Gyu opened an investigation after a television program on Tuesday disclosed a detailed list of 57 allegedly-bribed prosecutors. The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office promised to create a fact-finding panel to look into the case and to take “strict measures” if necessary. The businessman in the southern port of Busan told MBC television that he had offered sex with prostitutes

and other bribes to around 100 prosecutors in Busan and its surroundings since 1984 to maintain “good relationships”. The builder, identified by his family name Jeong, 51, disclosed a list of 57 “bribed” prosecutors and their cellphone numbers, giving detailed written accounts of sex, drinks, cash and other favors being offered. “If the allegations are true, it would be a shameful and humiliating thing for prosecutors,” Kim was quoted as telling his deputies. “Fact-finding should come first, and strict measures should then follow in accordance with the outcomes of the investigation.” —AFP

be waiting for Mohammed when he and Howell reach the Baghdad airport Tuesday.

They’ll take him back to Ramadi for a celebration with his three brothers, two sisters and extended family.

“We’ve missed him a lot and we’re waiting to go pick him up at the airport,” Yousif said through a translator Tuesday in a phone call from Iraq. “We’re looking forward to seeing how his hair looks now, his ear, his nose, those things that were affecting his daily life.” The teen also has gained 26 pounds and grown 3.5 inches during his year in Michigan. He now wears glasses, improving the vision in his damaged left eye from 20/400 to 20/40. Howell set up a foundation and collected donations for Mohammed’s hospitalizations. At one point he couldn’t cover $18,000; a donor paid the bill.

“At every step of the way, someone came forward to help me,” Howell said.

Ziena Saeed, 33, and her husband, Dr Ritha Naji, took in Mohammed to live with them,

their 8- and 10-year-old sons and the daughter who was born after Mohammed arrived.

They speak the same Iraqi dialect he does, and Saeed, who wears a head scarf, frequently fixes Iraqi food. But he had to get used to eight-hour school days and “sitting at the table having breakfast together,” she said. Ice also was a novelty. “Our ice maker broke because he used it so much. That was a treat for him, because he didn’t have it in Iraq,” she said.

While Mohammed is looking forward to seeing his family again, “it’s going to be hard” to leave Howell’s family and his adopted family in East Lansing, he said.

They plan to keep in touch through phone calls, e-mails and the Internet, and Saeed hopes Mohammed can come back for a graduate degree. “Maybe for other kids, having the burns and having the other things would be really hard,” she said. “He overlooks all these things that are challenges for him. ... He’s a really optimistic kid.” — AP

N Korea demands ‘nuke state’ status N Koreans believe South’s warship sunk by torpedo SEOUL: North Korea demanded recognition yesterday as an official nuclear weapons state, and said it would build nuclear weapons as it deemed necessary. The comments, carried in a North Korea Foreign Washington has rejected a peace treaty as long as Pyongyang refuses to end its nuclear program. The statement said the North wanted to be on “an equal footing with other nuclear weapons states” despite quitting in 2003 the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty (NPT) which sets the parameters for being a nuclear weapons state. Regional powers have refused to acknowledge the North’s claim to be recognized as a nuclear weapons state. “(North Korea) will manufacture nukes as much as it deems necessary but will neither participate in nuclear arms race nor produce them more than it feels necessary,” said the Foreign Ministry memo, carried by the official KCNA news agency. US officials said that the North has about 50 kg (110 lb) of plutonium, which proliferation experts said would be enough for six to eight nuclear weapons. Experts say they do not believe the North has the ability to miniaturize an atomic weapon to place on a missile.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry comments come at a time of heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula after a deadly sinking of a South Korean navy ship that many in the South think was caused by a torpedo attack by the North. Pyongyang denies the claim. A news report also said this week that North Korea may be preparing for a third nuclear test in May or June, an act that could further isolate Pyongyang and complicate already troubled nuclear diplomacy. North Korea has boycotted nuclear disarmament talks with five regional powers including the United States for more than a year, putting conditions on its return that include an end to UN sanctions imposed after its nuclear test in May last year.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s leadership has been tested by a failed currency move late last year that exacerbated food shortages among a hungry public and sparked rare civil unrest. The North’s Foreign Ministry memorandum said it had tried to defuse a nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula that had been initiated by the United States. “All these efforts, however, proved futile.

The last and only option was to react to ‘nukes with nukes’. The extreme nuclear threat of the US persistently compelled the DPRK to have access to nukes.”

Meanwhile, North Korean soldiers believe a South Korean warship that sank last month was hit in a premeditated military operation approved by leader Kim Jong-Il, a South Korean activist said yesterday. Pyongyang has denied it was responsible for the mystery blast near their disputed sea border, which left 46 sailors dead and further stoked tensions between the neighbors.

The suggestion that the North may have been responsible came as South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak called the communist North the world’s “most belligerent” state. Choi Sung-Yong, a campaigner for the return of South Koreans abducted by Pyongyang said: “Despite Pyongyang’s denial, many North Korean soldiers believe a torpedo sank the ship.” — Agencies

Ministry memorandum, also repeated calls for a permanent peace treaty with the United States to replace a decades-old armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

HUICHON: This undated picture shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il (left) inspecting the Huichon power station under construction at Huichon, Chagang province. — AFP

Silent tribute as China mourns quake victims BEIJING: China observed a day of national mourning yesterday for victims of its killer quake, with newspaper front pages bathed in black and flags lowered to halfmast around the country. Top leaders and thousands of other people paid a silent tribute to the victims of the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck a remote area of northwestern China a week ago, leaving at least 2,064 people dead.

Another 175 people were still missing and more than 12,000 injured after the quake flattened thousands of mainly mudbrick and

wood homes in the Yushu region of Qinghai province, a rugged area populated by ethnic Tibetans. The whole of Qinghai held three minutes of silence at 10:00 am (0200 GMT), while state television showed Chinese President Hu Jintao and other top leaders in Beijing bowing their heads in silent tribute to the victims.

“Please be silent for our compatriots who died in the Qinghai Yushu quake,” said a somberlooking Hu, surrounded by eight other leaders. In Jiegu, the main town in the disaster zone, officials and rescuers stood silently among

the ruins as Chinese flags planted in the rubble fluttered in the wind, state television showed. And in the main square of Qinghai’s capital Xining, thousands of military personnel, officials, students and citizens mostly clad in black stood in rows, their heads bowed under a light snowfall as sirens and car horns blared.

Throughout the country, the government and its propaganda organs seized on the disaster in a Tibetan region with a restive history to stress national unity. “In solidarity with the people,” read a front-page headline in the

XINING: Chinese youths walk past flowers placed to commemorate those who died in the recent Yushu county earthquake in the city of Xining in northwest China’s Qinghai province yesterday. —AP

People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece.

Aid and relief personnel have poured into the disaster area on the Tibetan plateau at an altitude of around 4,000 meters, after delays that officials blamed on its remote location.

Wei Guijun, of the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planning agency, told reporters the government had already sent 550 million yuan ($80 million) in relief funds to the quake zone.

Rescuers were still sifting through rubble in Jiegu, but snow and hail have hindered relief efforts and slowed delivery of badly needed supplies, while altitude sickness also hit many of the workers. China’s state meteorological agency forecast intermittent rain and snow in the coming days with night temperatures dipping to near-freezing.

On state television, grim-faced anchors delivered emotional tributes to the victims as they devoted all coverage to the day of mourning. “Yushu, your suffering is our suffering. Your mourning is our mourning,” a woman anchor intoned. In central Beijing, authorities lowered the national flag to half-mast at Tiananmen Square, and flags were also to be lowered at Chinese embassies and consulates worldwide. All major state-run newspapers and their online versions carried blackened mastheads while the websites of some government departments were also stripped of color.—AFP

INTERNATIONAL

Thursday, April 22, 2010

11

Indian guru arrested over sex scandal BANGALORE: An Indian guru shown on television fondling two women in bed last month was arrested yesterday in northern India on charges including obscenity and hurting religious sentiments, police said.

The long-haired Paramhamsa Nityananda, who claims to have devotees in 33 countries, and an aide Nithya Bhaktananda were nabbed in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, senior police official DV Guruprasad said.

SHIMLA: Self-styled Godman Swami Nityananda is escorted by security officials after being arrested in Shimla, in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh yesterday.— AP

Taleban No 2 interrogations yield useful information: US WASHINGTON: Interrogations of the Afghan Taleban’s No 2 leader have started producing useful intelligence on the group and its operations against US forces across the Pakistani border, US officials said on Tuesday. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was captured in the Pakistani port city of Karachi in late January in a joint operation by the CIA and Pakistan’s InterServices Intelligence (ISI) spy agency. Direct US access to Baradar, who is in Pakistani custody, was minimal at first.

But US officials said the ISI has eased restrictions and American investigators have been participating regularly and directly in interrogation sessions for at least the past month. Some of the information given by Baradar, the Afghan Taleban’s longtime military commander, has been verified and has been useful to US commanders and intelligence officers and analysts in both Afghanistan and Washington, three US officials involved in the matter said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue and would not discuss the nature of the information or describe what interrogation methods were used. They said Pakistan was taking the lead.

“These things take time,” one US military official said of interrogating Baradar. “It takes time to get the information and it takes time to check out that information.” “He started sharing information that is useful,” another official said.

Baradar’s arrest was hailed by the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, as a potential game-changing development after eight years of war,

although some US officials initially played down the value of the information he gave Pakistani interrogators.

SIGNS OF TALEBAN DISCORD Since his arrest, US military officials have pointed to signs of discord within Taleban ranks that could weaken the insurgency. Baradar, who was close to the group’s reclusive chief, Mullah Omar, was the main day-to-day commander responsible for leading an increasingly bloody campaign against US and NATO troops, plotting suicide bombings and other major attacks.

But many questions about the capture and Pakistan’s motivations remain a mystery months later, such as what intelligence led agents to Baradar’s location and what prompted the ISI to act against long-time Taleban allies. A senior US military official in Kabul described the arrest as part of a power play by Pakistan to ensure it has a major role in any Afghan reconciliation process. “I think it’s a matter of controlling the dialogue,” the official said recently, on condition of anonymity. “It’s to ensure that they have a ... principal position in a negotiated settlement here, in resolving this conflict.

“I know for a fact that that is the position that the Pakistanis want. They want to ensure that they are not without a big voice in the outcome.” There have been conflicting reports that Baradar might have been talking to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and that may have led to his arrest. US and NATO advisers in Afghanistan have urged Karzai not to rush into deals with insurgents as part of a national reconciliation process that they envision may take at least three years.— Reuters

Lankan president, rival to clash as parliament opens Ruling party records landslide win at polls COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, who cemented his grip on power yesterday, is set to clash with his arch-rival former army chief Sarath Fonseka when the new parliament opens this week.

Results of parliamentary elections showed Rajapakse’s United People’s Freedom Alliance had secured 144 seats in the 225member assembly in the April 8 vote. The final tallies were delayed due to a poll re-run on Tuesday in two constituencies where violence disrupted initial voting. Rajapakse’s coalition was left just short of the two-thirds majority required for the government to rewrite the constitution, which at present prevents him from standing again when his second term ends in 2016.

Attention now turns to the opening of the new parliament on Thursday, which opposition leader Fonseka, who is under military arrest and standing trial at a court martial, is due to attend.

Fonseka is to be allowed to attend parliament before being returned to detention after each session, government officials said. Political observers believe Fonseka is likely to use his position in parliament to attack the president, who does not sit in the assembly, and air allegations of human rights abuses plaguing the government.

Rajapakse and Fonseka fell out after they defeated the country’s Tamil Tigers rebels last May, with Fonseka unsuccessfully trying to unseat Rajapakse in presidential elections in January.

Fonseka was arrested soon after, but while in detention he won a seat in parliament. His court martial, on charges of allegedly engaging in politics while in uniform and involvement in corrupt arms procurement, was adjourned on Tuesday for two weeks. Fonseka denies all the accusations, saying they are a politically motivated attempt to silence him.

“Parliament allows Fonseka a public forum to present his griev-

ances without any fetters,” said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, director of the Centre for Policy Alternative think-tank. “He can say whatever he wants. He can spill the beans.” Rajapakse’s elder brother Chamal is strongly tipped to be appointed speaker when parliament opens, and if he accepts the post it would be the first time that brothers have held the two key positions. The president’s son Namal, 24, enters parliament as the youngest lawmaker in Sri Lanka’s history, a record currently held by Rajapakse senior, who was also 24 when he went to parliament in 1970. The main opposition United National Party was trounced in this month’s parliamentary elections, winning just 60 seats, while the main Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance, came third with 14. Fonseka’s leftist Democratic National Alliance (DNA) party, which won seven seats in the assembly, says he will emerge as the main opposition leader. —AFP

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse (left) administers the oath of office to new Sri Lankan Prime Minister DM Jayaratne (right) in Colombo yesterday. —AFP

Nityananda has been charged with “molestation, indulging in acts that are not in conformity with what they profess to be in religious and spiritual order, obscenity, criminal intimidation and hurting religious sentiments,” Guruprasad said. The 32-year-old, usually dressed in saffron robes, has been in the eye of a storm since the footage showing him in bed with two women devotees became public.

Nityananda, who went missing afterwards, has maintained the

pictures were doctored.

The video clip triggered public anger that led to irate followers ransacking his ashram, 30 kilometers from India’s southern software capital of Bangalore. The upscale retreat dotted with an ornate temple and a residential complex is popular with Indian and Western devotees. A bail plea filed in anticipation by lawyers on his behalf was rejected by a court in southern Karnataka state of which Bangalore is the capital.

India has been rocked by a series of scandals involving selfstyled “godmen” who have been allegedly running vice rings and cheating people under the guise of legitimate religious practices.

Another “guru” was arrested in New Delhi in March on charges of running a prostitution racket involving airline cabin crew and college girls in northern India.

Many Indians and Westerners turn to the thousands of gurus found nationwide who claim to offer spiritual

guidance and help in reaching enlightenment. Popular gurus include Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, the so-called “hugging saint” of Kerala, and Sathya Sai Baba, a wild-haired south Indian godman who claims to be the reincarnation of a 19th century yogi, Sai Baba of Shirdi.

Both have massive followings and hundreds of spiritual centers and charitable foundations working in areas like health and education around the globe.—AFP

Thousands march in Indian capital over high food prices Protesters demand Congress-led govt to quit NEW DELHI: At least 100,000 Indians backed by the main opposition party yesterday denounced steep price rises, demanding the Congress-led government quit over food inflation during one of the biggest marches seen in years.

Vehicles crawled along roads in the centre of the capital as protesters, bussed in by the BJP from various states, carrying saffron flags and posters shouted anti-government slogans.

The BJP sees rising prices for grains, sugar and lentils denting Congress’s fortunes before eight state elections this year and in 2011, with government supporters in poorer, rural India feeling the pinch. “I have always voted for the Congress party but I am very disappointed at the way they have handled price rises. They have left us nowhere, I do not know how I will support my family,” said Mohan Singh, a farmer taking part in the protests.

Sugar is close to 30 rupees ($0.67) a kilogram. Some lentils cost as much as 100 rupees a kilogram in a country where the World Bank says more than 400 million people live on less than $1.25 a day. Many credit welfare schemes aimed at the poor for the Congress-led coalition’s 2009 election victory. A shift could hurt Congress’s ambitions to win an outright majority and push through painful economic reforms needed to catch up with peer China.

The government has focused so far on keeping fast economic growth on track rather than clamping down on inflation.

Officials have talked down the need for the central bank to tighten monetary policy aggressively. “Only the wrong economic policies of the government are to be blamed for this horrible mess the people are in.

Prices of sugar, pulses, every commodity you can think of,

have sky-rocketed,” BJP president Nitin Gadkari told the protesters. “The government will face the people’s wrath.” High food prices have unseated governments in the past. In 1998, Congress won three states amid voter discontent after onion prices soared.

The BJP said 200,000 protesters had gathered but a senior police officer put the crowd at half that number.

Police stopped the march before it reached parliament and briefly detained protest leaders, including Gadkari. The opposition has demanded a special vote in parliament to force Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government to resign over an unpopular hike in fuel prices that has helped push wholesale inflation to 9.9 percent, the highest since October 2008. The demand has not been accepted by parliament yet but any vote would be before April 29, when the government’s budget is due to be put up for approval.

BJP lawmakers walked out of parliament earlier yesterday shouting slogans against what they said was the government’s inefficiency in controlling prices. The rally is a test of strength for Gadkari, a relative political unknown picked to head the BJP last year, and a chance to gain the support of voters who abandoned the party over its perceived urban bias. Policymakers and government advisers have said inflation has peaked and would begin declining as a bountiful summer harvest and a good monsoon improve food supply prospects. —Reuters

Ash cloud delays troop deployment KABUL: More than 6,000 troops due to join coalition forces fighting Afghanistan’s insurgency have been delayed by the aviation shutdown in Europe caused by a volcanic ash cloud, NATO said yesterday. A total of 5,400 US troops and 1,100 coalition soldiers were due to arrive in Afghanistan from Europe this week, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. “The delays are not having any impact on operations,” said ISAF public affairs officer Sarah Hawke. “Most of those delays had been coming through Europe. Many (troops) also come through Kuwait and there are no problems there,” she said. Some supply deliveries-everything from ammunition to food-had also been delayed, she said, adding the hold-ups had had no obvious impact.

NATO and the United States have 126,000 troops in the country, with deployments being boosted almost daily to reach 150,000 in August. The extra troops are part of a counter-insurgency strategy aimed at intensifying efforts to overcome the Taleban, bring a speedy end to the warnow in its ninth year-and boost Afghanistan’s own security capacity. British media reported that a British soldier had been flown to the United States after being severely wounded while fighting in Afghanistan, as the aviation crisis halted casualty evacuations to Britain.

The Guardian newspaper also said around 200 British soldiers due to end their six-month deployment had been stranded in Helmand, one of the most violent regions of the war-torn country, due to the aviation crisis.

Lieutenant Colonel James Carr-Smith, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said “things are certainly moving” following the reopening of British air space and airports.

“It is having absolutely no effect on our operational effectiveness” or on casualties, which are an “absolute priority,” Carr-Smith said. “It will take some time before we have normal service between the UK and Afghanistan in terms of moving troops and supplies in and out,” he said.

Other victims of the Icelandic eruption included Afghanistan’s cricket team, held up in Dubai en route to the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies, local media said. Afghanistan is pooled with India and South Africa for the group stage of the tournament, a berth secured by beating Ireland and the United Arab Emirates in February.

The team would not make it to the West Indies in time for their warm-up matches ahead of the April 30 start of the tournament, the Afghanistan Times newspaper said.

Scheduled matches against Trinidad and Tobago had been cancelled but the team was holding training sessions while cooling their heels in Dubai, it said.—AFP

The demonstration underscored how inflation is stoking public anger against the government and revitalizing the Hindu-nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a year after it lost a general election to Congress.

NEW DELHI: Members of India’s opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shout slogans during a rally against price rise yesterday. —AP

in the news Pupils walk on fire AHMEDABAD: A private school in the western Indian state of Gujarat made pupils walk over burning coals and broken glass in a test designed to boost their confidence. Officials at the Riverdale school in the city of Surat yesterday described the challenges set at a summer camp as “important exercises that will make a child strong and determined”. “We asked the students to walk with naked feet on fire and on broken glass pieces as it teaches them to deal with their fear and find new ways to overcome it,” Kalpesh Patel, a school administrator said. Patel said 80 children aged nine to 14 walked on the hot coals, while 110 students walked over glass pieces. He said no one suffered any injuries.

Television footage of the event was picked up by Indian news channels. “The children were reluctant in the beginning but afterwards they exuded confidence,” Patel said, adding that the school had been running the activities for more than a decade.

Indian police attacked RAIPUR: Maoist rebels using looted weapons and explosives launched multiple attacks on Indian security forces in an area where 76 policemen were massacred earlier this month, police said yesterday. The communist insurgents fired on six security camps late on Tuesday in the central state of Chhattisgarh, but were repelled without loss of life or injuries.

“Maoists attacked camps of the security forces in Chintalnar, Chintagupha, Errabore, Bhejji, Polampalli and Kanker Lanka,” the police chief of the Maoist hotbed of Dantewada district, Amresh Mishra said by phone. The Maoist insurgency, which started as a peasant uprising in 1967, has been identified by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the number one threat to India’s domestic security. On April 6, Maoists ambushed a police patrol, killing 76 in the worst ever massacre of security forces by the insurgents.

Aid running out for refugees ISLAMABAD: Thousands of Pakistanis contin-

ue to flee Taleban-plagued northwest provinces every day, but money is running out to help the 1.3 million people displaced by fighting, aid agencies warned yesterday. Pakistan faced its biggest humanitarian crisis in decades last year when three million people fled a military onslaught to dislodge Taleban rebels from the northwest Swat valley, prompting an outpouring of international help. But as the year has passed, donor money has dried up, forcing aid groups to cut projects, despite the expansion of military operations in the northwest and the ongoing needs of families too frightened to return home.

“The crisis is far from over and hundreds of thousands of people are still in desperate need,” said Caitlin Brady, head of the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum, a group of dozens of local and global aid agencies. “Already many people are not getting the help they need, and we’re now faced with having to close more programs for lack of money,” said Brady, also acting country director for the International Rescue Committee.

‘Peace jirga’ delayed KABUL: A traditional “peace jirga” of Afghanistan’s tribal and community leaders has been delayed until late May because of clashes in the president’s travel schedule, an official said yesterday. The jirga, or meeting, aims to bring together leaders from across Afghanistan, representing the country’s complicated mix of ethnic, tribal, geographic and gender interests. The exact new date has not yet been set, said Masoom Stanikzai, adviser to the president on internal security. “The decision (of the jirga preparatory committee) is that it will be held in the last week of May,” he said. President Hamid Karzai’s travel schedule-which includes a planned May 10-13 visit to Washington-was one major factor, Stanikzai said. “It would put a lot of pressure on his schedule,” he said. He said members of parliament had also requested a delay because the original May 2-4 dates coincided with the period of candidate registration for the September parliamentary polls.

OPINION

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issues

UN message on Intl Mother Earth Day

By Ban Ki-moon

M

other Earth - our only home - is under pressure. We are making progressively unreasonable demands on her, and she is showing the strain. For all of human history we have depended on nature’s bounty for sustenance, well-being and development. Too often we have drawn on nature’s capital without putting back. We are now beginning to see the consequences of failing to safeguard our investment.

Climate change and the depleted ozone layer are among the starkest examples.

Biological diversity - the incredible variety of life on Earth that sustains us - is in rapid decline.

Freshwater and marine resources are increasingly polluted; soils and once-prolific fisheries are growing barren.

The impact of our neglectful stewardship is being felt most by the world’s most vulnerable people: those who live on the desert margins; indigenous communities; the rural poor; the inhabitants of the squalid slums of the world’s expanding megacities. If they are to break out of the poverty trap and prosper, they need - at the very min-

imum - fertile land, clean water and adequate sanitation.

Environmental sustainability - the wise management of Mother Earth’s bounty - is one of eight Millennium Development Goals adopted a decade ago by United Nations Member States. The deadline for achieving the goals is 2015.

This September, I will convene a summit in New York to review progress towards the MDGs and develop an agenda for action - a practical, results-oriented plan, with concrete steps and timelines. Protecting Mother Earth must be an integral component of our strategy.

Without a sustainable environmental base, we will have little hope of attaining our objectives for reducing poverty and hunger and improving health and human well-being. For these reasons and more, the General Assembly has proclaimed that each year on 22 April we will observe International Mother Earth Day. I call on all governments, businesses and citizens of the world to give our Mother Earth the respect and care she deserves.

NOTE: Ban Ki-moon is the UN Secretary General

Israel still needs US

By Barry Schweid

A

mature 62, Israel still looks nervously over its shoulder at the United States, however tough and independent a pose it strikes.

Now the United States is telling Israel while the world listens in: You must make concessions, because peace in the Middle East depends on it. Add to this the growing notion that American security in the area could be jeopardized by stubborn support of Israel while the rest of the world grows weary of the impasse. For a while, it seemed that President Barack Obama might decide to impose a blueprint of an agreement on its difficult ally, but that notion seems to be subsiding as he considers his next moves.

As a result, as they celebrated the anniversary of Israel’s founding in 1948 on Tuesday, Israelis and their supporters were feeling the pinch. “The growing alienation between us and the United States is not good for the state of Israel,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak told his nation this week on Israel Radio. Barak, the Labor Party leader who is in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet, said Israel must face up to the tough issues.

To some extent Netanyahu already has. Famously, he resisted suggestions from the Obama administration that Israel stop building homes for Jews in East Jerusalem. The Palestinians intend to use East Jerusalem as their capi-

tal. Netanyahu has offered to slow West Bank settlements, but he insists Jerusalem is not a settlement, it is Israel’s capital.

Be that as it may, Barak does not think the world will permit Israel to maintain rule over Palestinians “for decades more.” Palestinians aspire to a state of their own, he said, and “there is no other way, whether you like it or not, than to let them rule themselves.”

Netanyahu appears to be getting used to that idea. But he does not want to give virtually all of the West Bank and establish a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem, as then-prime minister Barak offered in 2000 under the guidance of President Bill Clinton.

This was not enough of a concession for Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian leader, who also pushed the idea of Israel permitting a limited influx of Palestinians who left the country at its establishment in 1948, as well as their descendants.

David Makovsky, longtime observer of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, does not think a so-called grand deal would work now, either.

“I don’t think we can just rewind the tape,” Makovsky said in an interview Tuesday.

“Almost all the refugees would not have a right to go to their pre-1948 homes,” he said. And Makovsky, who is with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said, “I don’t see Israeli or Palestinian leaders have prepared their public for necessary compromise on Jerusalem.” — AP

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.

Republican feud threatens party fortunes

By Liz Sidoti

T

he plight of Florida’s Charlie Crist - a Republican governor who apparently can’t win his own party’s US Senate primary - underscores the divisions dogging an otherwise emboldened national Republican Party. Crist’s hefty lead in the polls has plummeted to a double-digit deficit in the primary race against former Florida House speaker Marco Rubio, a darling of party conservatives. However, polls suggest Crist could win as an independent in a three-way race and he’s considering doing just that.

Races in all corners of the country raise the question of whether moderate candidates have a future in a party imposing ideological purity, and whether the Republicans can attract moderate voters. In Senate races in Florida, Arizona, Utah, Kentucky and New Hampshire, conservatives backed by activists in the Tea Party movement are challenging more centrist candidates largely preferred by the party establishment in Washington. The tea party movement is a loose-knit coalition of community groups largely made up of people with conservative and libertarian views who say government has grown too large, threatening individual liberties. The movement’s name is taken from the anti-tax Boston Tea Party protest in 1773.

Such bitter primaries are threaten-

ing the Republican Party’s fortunes even though, by nearly every other measure, the political winds are blowing against Democrats ahead of congressional and gubernatorial elections this November. The ramifications of the party’s family feud could extend to the presidential election in 2012. The Republican Party already is facing declining membership and a diminished geographic foothold as it has moved further to the right over the past few decades.

If the Republicans end up driving middle-of-the-road candidates from the party, how can it attract moderates and independents? Do those voters, already the most likely to be turned off by politics, simply stay home? Or do they turn out for independent candidates, making the two-party structure less relevant?

Neither result would be good for the Republicans. Still, party politics is hardly the only issue likely to sway votes in the fall. The economy is at the top of most voters’ lists.

And the Democrats face their own nasty Senate primary in Arkansas, where moderate Sen Blanche Lincoln is trying to fend off union-backed Lt Gov Bill Halter. And in North Carolina, a labor group angry at moderate House Democrats over their healthcare votes has formed a third party although they are struggling to get candidates on the ballot. But those largely are isolated cases. The Republican moderate-con-

servative feuds have been fierce for quite a while, long before the emergence of the tea party movement. Last spring, moderate Sen Arlen Specter bolted from the party as he faced a conservative challenge in Pennsylvania.

“I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party,” Specter said when he switched. Joe Sestak is opposing him for the Democratic nomination in the May 18 primary. No race epitomizes the Republican fracture more than the ugly Florida contest between Rubio, who has been embraced by conservatives and tea party activists, and Crist, a moderate considered for the party presidential ticket in 2008.

Crist has dropped from favored Republican with a hefty lead in polls to Republican outcast in a race that shows no signs of tightening. Polls suggest Crist could win as an independent in a three-way race. Rep Kendrick Meek is the likely Democratic nominee. Now Crist says he’s being “very, very thoughtful and deliberate” as he considers an independent run. National Republicans are pressuring him to quit rather than run as an independent. Rep. Eric Cantor, the second-ranking Republican in the House, said Tuesday: “Marco Rubio is just the type of leader our country needs.” “The Republican Party, like the Democratic Party, goes through phases where it re-

identifies itself and repositions itself somewhere on the conservative spectrum. Right now, this party is very conservative. And there’s good reasons for this party to be conservative,” said Sen George LeMieux, Crist’s former chief of staff. LeMieux was appointed

by Crist to fill the seat until a successor was chosen.

Arizona Sen John McCain, a fourterm senator with an independent streak who was the party’s presidential nominee just two years ago, is in a tough primary battle against former Rep J D Hayworth, a conservative talkradio host embraced by Tea Party activists. And one of the most conservative members of Congress, Sen Robert Bennett of Utah, is facing a serious challenge from his right. His vote for President George W Bush’s bank bailout drawing the wrath of conservatives. Republicans succeeded when they backed a moderate in Massachusetts earlier this year as Scott Brown captured Sen Edward M Kennedy’s Senate seat.

But last November the intraparty split cost the party a House seat in New York that it had held for decades. In New York’s 23rd congressional district, the nominee hand-picked by party leaders, Dede Scozzafava, dropped out of the race after a fierce challenge by conservative Doug Hoffman. Both remained on the ballot and split the Republican vote, which allowed

Democrat Bill Owens to narrowly win the upstate New York seat Republicans had held for decades. Democrats, too, have battle scars from past ideological party fights and years in the political wilderness, reflected by liberal George McGovern’s failed presidential bid in 1972.

The 2006 elections were a highwater mark for the Democrats’ recognition of big tent politics. The party recruited conservative and moderate Democrats who better fit their constituents’ viewpoints in conservativeleaning states. Still, Connecticut Sen Joe Lieberman was re-elected that year as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to liberal Ned Lamont. The race showed that the Democratic Party tug-of-war still can flare up, but it was largely an aberration.

Democrats seized control of the House and Senate, and in 2008, they added to their numbers for comfortable majorities. This year, despite attempts by some liberals to challenge moderate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in New York, Democratic Party leaders and the White House successfully cleared the field to ensure the vulnerable senator wouldn’t face a primary challenge.

After years of struggle, some Democrats have decided the cost of purity is just too high. Come November, Republicans may be paying that price. — AP

Obama backers show signs of disappointment

By Ed Stoddard and Peter Henderson

G

ay rights activists heckled President Barack Obama this week at a Democratic event that exposed signs of disenchantment threatening the party in November’s congressional elections. Five million first-time voters turned out in 2008, many drawn by Obama’s promise of hope and overwhelmingly voting for Democrats. Now disappointed, or at least apathetic, they may not go to the polls this year. Obama’s support has dropped below 50 percent from nearly 70 percent after 15 months in office, Gallup opinion polls show.

Gay rights supporters, anti-abortion activists, environmentalists and backers of immigration reform all have seen their agendas stalled, with watered-down healthcare the main accomplishment of Obama’s once-ambitious agenda. At Monday’s rally in Los Angeles, protesters shouted at Obama to repeal the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” military policy that allows gays to serve if they keep quiet about their sexual preference. Gays believe that makes them second-class citizens, and Obama has vowed to repeal the policy.

“Hey hold on a second. We are going to do that,” he said. “I don’t know why you’re hollering,” he added. Supporters shouted “Yes we can,” his slogan from the 2008 election, and “Be quiet,” but the discontent lingers. Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan insisted that opinion polls showed more than 80 percent of liberals approved of Obama. By comparison, Republicans right and center are locked in a “bloody civil war,” he said. Obama himself acknowledged during the day that “some folks are impatient and some folks just didn’t realize how long this was going to take, how

US President Barack Obama turns to wave as he boards Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday.

Obama was in Los Angeles to attend three fundraising events. – AP hard each battle was going to be. And so people get kind of worn down.”

Many on the left who want more are fighting the president and one another.

Others are abandoning politics. Both trends bode poorly for Democrats, who have controlled both houses of Congress in addition to the White House since Jan 2009. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs along with a third of the 100 seats in the Senate.

Many gay activists would not show up to heckle Obama. They have stopped paying attention altogether. “Obama was a vessel that everybody poured their hopes into. The gay community was no different,” said John Henning, director of the Los Angeles-based grass-roots group Love Honor Cherish, before the president’s California visit. “What is really happen-

ing in the gay community is we are going into a hibernation phase,” Henning added.

The sentiment is widespread. “Even in the best of conditions, the Democrats would have a slight retrenchment of voters,” said Stanford University professor Gary Segura, who is also a researcher at pollster Latino Decisions. “But we’re not in the best of conditions. We have a lot of disappointed Democrats and so I would expect more significant retrenchment, a lot of disappearing voters.”

Blacks, Latinos and young people made up the bulk of the new voters who secured comfortable congressional majorities for the Democrats in 2008.

Each could be a problem this year. Obama is the first black US president and more than 90 percent of black voters still approve of his record, Gallup says. But

African-American members of Congress say job creation is critical and unemployment is roughly twice the national average among black males over the age of 20.

San Francisco videographer Joe Razo, a 24-year-old black man, backs Obama but needs to be convinced that congressional races matter. “I kind of just do the presidential elections,” he said. For many Latinos, including nearly 11 million illegal immigrants, the lack of an immigration bill and heavy use of deportation are a double slap in the face. “A lot of people are not going to vote,” said Salvador Reza, operator of a day-laborer center in Arizona. “(Obama) would have to actually come through with ... a serious immigration reform effort, or people are going to abandon him,” he said.

Keeping Latinos happy should be a nobrainer for the Democrats, the party of choice for the fastest growing minority largely because of a pro-immigrant stance that contrasts with the anti-immigrant rhetoric of many Republicans. Obama campaigned on making immigration reform a priority, but the way forward for illegal immigrants and the employers who say they need them is no more clear than it was before Obama took office.

The “everyone’s in it together” feeling of the 2008 election has been replaced with “me first” on many fronts. Obama’s biggest accomplishment, the healthcare overhaul, opened old wounds. A fight over whether federal funds could be used to pay for abortion tied up the bill and split the party, which has been a strong supporter of abortion rights but now has a significant wing opposed to abortion.

Michigan anti-abortion rights congressman Bart Stupak, who voted for the healthcare bill after getting a pledge from Obama not to use federal funds for abortion, became the number one target for

abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Stupak has dropped out in the face of what was expected to be a bitter primary race against an opponent backed by NARAL and other abortion rights groups.

This could open the district for Republicans in November as Democratic success in such rural heartland areas has been based on the party fielding candidates with conservative views on issues such as abortion. Similar fights will be played out elsewhere. “Pro-life Democrats generally win in the more conservative states in the Midwest, if you think of Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio. A pro-choice candidate would have a more difficult time,” said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Other issues are causing rifts in the ranks - among them climate change legislation, now stuck in Congress. Former Vice President Al Gore’s environmental group is trying to push aside rival leftwing groups vying to be the next issue in line for congressional attention. “Tell our Senators: We got next!” Gore’s Repower America, urged on March 26.

Politicians are counting the races at risk. Four of the 10 Senate races where Democrats may lose, including Majority Leader Harry Reid’s re-election bid in Nevada, are in states that had above-average increases in turnout between 2006 and 2008, Professor Tom Schaller of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, calculated on political blog fivethirtyeight.com. Battles for governor that could be affected by the new 2008 voters include California, Texas, Florida, Nevada, Georgia and Illinois, he calculated, noting that new governors will oversee redrawing federal voting districts after the 2010 census. — Reuters

ANALYSIS

Thursday, April 22, 2010

13 focus

Wall Street, govt The West is hypocritical and targets in election Jews market their Holocaust I

By Steve Holland

By Dr Sami Alrabaa

U

ndoubtedly, the “Holocaust” which was inflicted on the Jews before World War II was a crime against humanity; it was an egregious genocide, like several other genocides inflicted on the Native Americans, African Americans, and the Armenians, for instance. But as far as the Jews are concerned the Holocaust is a “unique” crime, incomparable with any other crime. Day in and day out, the Jews across the globe insist that comparing the Holocaust with other crimes is politically incorrect and impermissible.

You can question the severity of any crime, but not the Holocaust, otherwise you are branded as anti-Semitic and one of those rightwing populists. This is reminiscent of the racial discrimination in the US until the 1960s. Racial discrimination was “politically correct” at least in America. Critics of racial discrimination were portrayed as “anti-American” and “communists”. Every chapter in the human history was dominated by a certain mindset, regardless how irrational and inhumane it was. What was politically correct proved later to be incorrect. Over more than three centuries, racial discrimination against African Americans was politically correct, at least in America.

After the II World War, the Jews have set out to single out their “Holocaust” as the WORST atrocity ever inflicted on a religious minority.

They have insisted that any description short of that is improper and anti-Semitic.

This implies a perverse discrimination against victims of other genocides. This mindset dominates the media and political life at least in the West and handled as politically correct per excellence. But, like other mindsets, sooner or later, this prevailing mindset will disappear and the Holocaust will be treated as not superior to other crimes against humanity. Many field studies, which have not been published for fear of provoking the Jewish lobby, prove without any shred of doubt that ordinary people view the Holocaust as a crime like any other crime.

In Germany and in the West at large, you are not allowed to compare any crime to the Holocaust. For the German establishment (media and politics across the board), controlled by an influential Jewish lobby, the Holocaust is a “UNIQUE” crime in the history of mankind. If someone slips and compares the Holocaust, even metaphorically, to any crime anywhere in the world, they are immediately urged to withdraw their comparison.

The Holocaust is more “sacred” than the Bible and the Holy Quran. Most recently, the Pope’s secretary compared the media campaign about child abuse in Catholic institutions to the hate campaign against Jews under the Nazis before the II World War. The Jewish lobby rushed to muzzle him and ordered him to apologize, which he did.

Discrimination Discrimination of any kind is politically incorrect. But it seems that Jews insist that discrimination against other victims of atrocities is “legitimate”. It also seems that Jewish blood is more precious than other bloods. By the way, denying the “Holocaust” is illegal and punishable in Germany and Austria. Think of the British David Irving who was jailed in Austria for simply saying that the 6 million Jews who were burned to death by the Nazis is exagger-

Arab-Israelis wave the Palestinian flag as they parade in front of pictures of disappeared Arab villages in Israel, in the northern Israeli town of Tira on Tuesday, calling for the return of the refugees that fled the region following the creation of the state of Israel. – AFP ated. Recently, a German court ruled that the British bishop, Richard Williamson had to pay a fine of 10 million for claiming that the Holocaust never took place.

Likewise, if the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad happens to visit Austria or Germany, he would be persecuted and jailed, although he never denied the Holocaust. He simply criticized the number of Jews killed by the Nazis; Ahmadinejad believes that the 6 million is an exaggerated figure.

However, when you talk in private to Germans, they tell you, this is absurd. Nobody dare to compare the Holocaust to other crimes and genocides in the history of mankind. If you criticize that then you are branded as “anti-Semitic”!

By the way, the political establishment in Germany avoids conducting surveys about sensitive issues like the Holocaust and Islamism, for example, constructing minarets. More often than not, the public thinks differently than the political establishment and main stream media preach. Jewish history is omnipresent in contemporary Germany. No day passes by without a Jewish story. All kinds of stories are told in newspapers, radios, and TVs, short, long, true, and fictitious stories are told.

How about crimes committed against the Native Americans and African Americans, just to name a few? For the Jewish lobby and mainstream media, you are comparing apples to oranges.

According to the British Encyclopedia, the Belgium King Leopold II (1835-1909) ordered the killing of 12 million Africans in Congo. This is real Holocaust. But this fact is as dead as Leopold himself.

African Americans, Congolese, and Native Americans never received any kind of compensation, but the Jews received huge sums of money.

Along their history until now, the Jews have always marketed themselves as victims in the Diaspora; in Spain, Europe, and the Middle East.

The Iranian nuclear program which Israel blasts, day in and day out, is a welcome opportunity to play the victim. But how about the Israeli nuclear arsenal? Neither the West nor the IAEA dare check out this arsenal. Further, Israel in not interested in peace. Peace with its Arab neighbors would mean an end to the “victim theory”.

I have been living in

Germany for the past 30 years working as a sociology and communication professor.

Hence, I know what I am talking about. I could fill up volumes about the hypocrisy and contradictions reproduced by the German media and German politics.

The German mainstream media and political establishment divide the world into democratic countries and dictatorships. Countries of the so called Third World which hold elections and have a parliament are branded as democratic, provided of course they are friendly to the West. It does not matter whether these countries introduce political and socio-economic reforms or not. Despotic regimes like the Saudi, Egyptian, Moroccan, and Jordanian with dismal human rights records are rarely criticized. They are branded as “moderate” and allegedly play a “geo-strategic role in the Middle East”.

The truth of the matter, the West benefits from the Saudi billions of petrodollars.

These huge sums of money are largely invested in the West. In addition, introducing real democracy in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, and Jordan would leave the West without stooge allies.

Democratic countries, like Iran, Bolivia, and Venezuela, for instance, which have introduced huge economic reforms and narrowed the gap between the rich and poor, are arbitrarily depicted by the Western media and political establishment as “dictatorships”. Also, the West accuses Third World countries of being corrupt. But how about the West? Isn’t it also corrupt and greedy? Siemens and Mercedes, for example, have spent and still spend billions of dollars in corrupt channels in countries of the Third World. They bribe officials in these countries to gain bids.

Siemens spent in the 1990s one and a half billions of dollars in corrupt transactions in Saudi Arabia alone. This was confirmed to me by a Siemens manager.

Most recently, Mercedes agreed to settle corruption charges in a US court by paying a fine of 200 million dollars. Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minster ordered British courts and legislation NOT to investigate corruption charges in an arms deal of $20 billion instigated by the Saudi Bandar bin Sultan. Blair argued at the time, “an investigation into the corruption charges” is not in British national interests and would

harm the deal and damage thousands of jobs in the British arms industry.

Human rights Having said that, you can see that the West freezes democracy and human rights principles when their interests are in jeopardy. They use these principles when they conveniently suit them. In the 1990s I used to teach at King Saud University and once in a while I was asked by the German Embassy to translate for German politicians visiting Saudi Arabia. In one of those visits by Juergen Moellemann, former chairman of the German Free Democratic Party (FDP), he received a gift check of $40 million from Prince Salman, the governor of Riyadh. What for is the money? Moellemann distributed part of the money among influential journalists in Germany so that they keep silent as far as Saudi Arabia is concerned. When the money, which Moellemann deposited in a secret account in Switzerland, was discovered he committed suicide in 2003.

Germany is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of Berlin wall and the unification of east and west Germany.

The German media brag: East Germany is now free.

However, when you talk to people from East Germany, they tell you: “yes we are free now, we can travel wherever we want, but we do not have the money to do so. 40 percent of East Germans are jobless. In contrast, it is big business in Germany which has benefited most from the unification. Whole state-owned industries and agricultural cooperatives were sold for peanuts.

Since the riots in Tehran after the latest presidential elections, the German correspondent of ARD TV, Peter Mezger has reported from Iran. He still reports from Tehran and concocts lies. He interviews “dissidents”, but he never interviews supporters of the Iranian government.

If I were the ambassador of Iran in Berlin, I would sue Mezger and his ilk for spreading lies. Certainly, the ambassador would not win the case, where the German constitution, at least in theory, guarantees freedom of speech. But the case would instigate a debate on fair reporting.

In view of the fact that fewer people buy and subscribe daily papers and increasingly turn to the Internet for information, and in order to save costs and keep managing editors’

salaries up, many of these German papers have withdrawn their correspondents from overseas. These journalists sit now in their cozy offices and concoct distorted reports about Iran, Venezuela, Bolivia, China, and Syria, for example. Insiders have confirmed this practice.

German TV stations, radio, and newspapers interview dissidents in Germany pretending that they were interviewed in their own home countries. People, who support their governments in the aforementioned countries and elsewhere, are sparsely interviewed. Their views seem not to be important for the German public.

I get sick when I see or read in German media that Mr/Ms so and so is described as an expert in Iranian and Afghan affairs, for instance.

When you check out their qualifications, you find out that they neither speak the language of these countries nor have studied their culture.

Besides, they have never been to Iran or Afghanistan.

They have read a couple of articles about these countries and hence have become “experts”.

The German media condemn violence when Germany is not involved. As the American marines attacked an American ship, kidnapped by Somali pirates and freed the crew last year, the German media rushed to condemn the attack. When recently the Dutch marines attacked a German vessel and freed its crew from Somali pirates, the German media jubilated and approved of the attack.

Interests How honest/dishonest is the West with regard to human rights? The West claims that human rights are universal and must be respected everywhere in the world. But does the West really support human rights activists equally across the world? The answer is a big NO. The West supports human rights activists selectively as long as they suit them and serve their political and economic interests. The West blasts dismal human rights records in countries that are not friendly to the West and turns a blind eye to lack of these rights in “friendly” states.

While the West awards the Sacharov prize to Chinese dissidents, it ignores human rights activists in the Arab world. Most recently, in his latest visit to Saudi Arabia, the German foreign minister,

Guido Westerwelle ignored addressing the dismal human rights record of the Al Saud.

Later as he was visiting China, he loudly urged the Chinese government in a press conference to respect human rights. As far as Westerwelle is concerned, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt play a “vital strategic economic and political role”.

China is an economic and political adversary.

Obviously, the Cold War is not completely dead. Western propaganda is still active towards those countries which do not submit to the will of Western establishments. Western media and political establishments operate according to the motto: If you are friendly to us, we let you do whatever you want. If you are not friendly to us, then you are our enemy, and we will do everything in our power to topple you. In general, Western Europe has always looked down at East European countries and has never recognized Turkey as part of the European continent. During the Cold War Turkey was a member of the NATO. After the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union, Western Europe rushed to admit East European countries in the European Union (EU) and in the NATO. Turkey’s wish to join the EU has so far been rejected, especially by Germany, Austria, and France. The EU argues Turkey is still backward and not European enough, although Turkey is not less developed than Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland. All these countries, including Turkey have the same level of development in all walks of life. Why is this so?

Turkey has never been a “friend” of Russia (the core left of the Soviet Union) and would never ally itself with Russia. But East European countries could become allies of Russia if they were left outside the EU and NATO. Therefore, the EU was strategically more than happy to admit East European countries before they ally themselves with Russia, the old and new adversary of the West. Turkey was left out. It is politically insignificant in this equation.

The German media and the Western media at large come up with headlines like, “Tibet in Flames” and demand independence for this integral part of China. They allege that the natives of Tibet are oppressed and not allowed to practice their culture, language, and religion. The truth of the matter is Tibet has been part of China for the past three centuries and its people are free to exercise their religion and culture. And Tibetans are not discriminated against as the Western media allege.

But how about Palestine and Kurdistan? For decades, the people of these countries have been fighting for independence. Until now, the West has ignored the basic rights of the Kurds for independence although they constitute an ethnic and cultural entity living in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. Yet, until recently, the Kurds in Turkey have been forbidden to use their own language and practice their own culture. In Syria, the Kurds are not recognized as an ethnic minority.

Viva Western rationale of democracy and human rights!

NOTE: Dr Sami Alrabaa is a 60-year-old retired sociology professor. Among other universities, he’s taught at Michigan State University, King Saud University and Kuwait University. He’s also published extensively in academia and print media. His latest book is “Veiled Atrocities” published by Prometheus Books, New York, 2010

t’s the Democrats versus Wall Street and Republicans against Big Government in the latest battle on the road to November’s congressional elections. Both sides have found easy targets as they try to solidify their support base and also appeal to independent voters who are likely to be the deciding factor in dozens of races for seats in the US House of Representatives and the Senate.

Democrats, reminding voters that the financial crash of 2008 started on Wall Street, are portraying big banks as out of control and in need of reining in.

“One of the main reasons our economy faltered was because some on Wall Street made irresponsible bets, with no accountability,” said President Barack Obama. Republicans, using healthcare reform as an example, charge that under Obama, government has grown too big and should be reined in. “On every front, they want to raise taxes, spend more, have politicians become more powerful, and citizens become less powerful,” said Newt Gingrich, a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2012.

Which side will be more successful? In the short run, the Democrats seem on track to win a financial regulatory overhaul because, as Republican pollster Whit Ayres said: “The fact is that most Americans want regulatory reform of some form.” But in the November vote, Republicans may have the edge. Driving the political debate in Washington, a poll by the Pew Research Center found Americans in an antiincumbent mood with less of an appetite for government solutions to America’s problems than when Obama took office in Jan 2009. “Rather than an activist government to deal with the nation’s top problems, the public now wants government reformed and growing numbers want its power curtailed,” Pew pollsters concluded.

Democratic strategist Doug Schoen, who worked in the Clinton White House, said Democrats who ignore the call for smaller government will do so

at their peril. “I think the argument about the banks is a credible argument, but only if Democrats suggest to voters who are feeling aggrieved at Washington that they understand their concerns,” Schoen said.

Republican strategist Vin Weber, a former congressman from Minnesota, said he believed Americans’ unhappiness with the healthcare overhaul led to a change in attitude after the public had accepted the government intervention to save the economy following the collapse on Wall Street in 2008. “You just saw those attitudes in the country driving to the point where antigovernment sentiment today is not only where it was prior to the crash, it’s really stronger than I’ve ever seen it,” he said.

Democrats say economic angst among Americans is driving much of the discontent with Washington and they acknowledge a hostile political environment for incumbents. “It’s always a tough race if you’re an incumbent in this kind of economic environment,” Obama said at a fund-raiser for endangered California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. But former President Bill Clinton spoke for many Democrats when he told ABC’s “This Week” that he does not believe Republicans will win enough seats to take control of either the House or the Senate.

Clinton took power in 1993 and suffered a voter revolt the following year when Republicans won control of the House. “I think that the dissent is just as intense, if not more intense. But I think the outcome of the election is likely to be far less dramatic than it was in ‘94,” Clinton said. Republicans have wrestled with how to convince voters to side with them when their proposals have been overshadowed by their opposition to Obama’s policies. That has left them open to a charge that they represent “the party of no”. “Voters ask two questions: What have you done for me lately and what are you going to do for me next?” said pollster John Zogby.

“Democrats at least have the potential to say, ‘This is what we did and this is what we’re going to do.’” — Reuters

Dual studies vilify sugar, salt in diet

By Maggie Fox

S

ugar and salt are damaging the health of Americans by raising blood pressure and cholesterol - and regulation may be the only way to help, researchers agree. Two reports published on Tuesday take aim at the much-loved ingredients and add to a growing body of scientific opinion that Americans won’t be able to eat more healthily without help from the food industry. Americans have been eating more and more sugar and salt in recent decades and most of it is not sprinkled on food. It is in the burgers, sodas and processed foods that are hastily gobbled by adults and children alike, the reports show.

Education efforts to help Americans cut down on salt have not worked and the US Food and Drug Administration should start regulating the industry to help remove it from food, a panel at the Institute of Medicine said. Regulators and the food industry agree that Americans cannot give up salt cold-turkey and will have to be gradually weaned off it. Sodium adds flavor and texture to food to make it palatable and can extend its shelf life.

In another study Dr Miriam Vos of Emory School of Medicine in Georgia and colleagues found that the more sugar people ate, the worse their cholesterol levels. “Just like eating a high-fat diet can increase your levels of triglycerides and high cholesterol, eating sugar can also affect those same lipids,” Vos said in a statement. Studies have shown Americans are eating and drinking far more sugar than in years past. The use of processed sugar products like high fructose corn syrup can be linked directly to diabetes rates.

The food and restaurant industry has been lobbying for self-regulation, arguing that Americans need to control their own eating habits. But the science shows it is difficult to eat a typical American diet without

consuming too much salt and sugar. The trend points in one direction: more regulation of food. While a move to limit sugar is not imminent, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut said they would push the FDA to crack down on salt, which clearly contributes to an epidemic of high blood pressure.

“What we’re all hoping is this is going to be federal policy so it becomes mandatory. I think slow and steady is the right way to go,” Dr Alice Lichtenstein of the American Heart Association said in a telephone interview. “If across the board reductions in sodium in our food supply become law, then I think a gradual, stepwise approach is probably best in the long run to ensure that it actually happens and there is acceptance from the people.” New York City, which has banned smoking and artificial trans-fats in restaurants, has pledged to coordinate a nationwide effort to reduce salt in restaurant and packaged foods by 25 percent over five years.

As for sugar, California state Senator Dean Florez introduced legislation in February to tax sodas and other sugar-sweetened drinks and use the proceeds to bankroll programs to fight childhood obesity.

California has also imposed menu-labeling rules and banned trans-fats in restaurants and on soda sales in public schools.

The American Beverage Association, whose members include Coca-Cola and Kraft Foods have strongly, and successfully, opposed efforts to tax soda. However the food industry has been more amenable to offering lower-salt foods and the FDA suggests it will work with manufacturers to make the transition painless. The Obama Administration and Congress have shown strong appetites for regulating the food and restaurant industry. New healthcare reform legislation requires large chain restaurants to give calorie counts on menus. — Reuters

NEWS

14 Ash cloud hits Gulf luxury food supply Continued from Page 1 could take days or weeks to clear.

“The situation is really bad,” said Gapesh Gerash, manager at Dubai-based Barakat Vegetables and Fruits, which imports 2,000 kg in air freight from Europe four times a week.

The ash cloud highlights the heavy dependence on food imports from abroad for the Gulf’s wealthy nationals and the foreign expatriates seeking a taste of home, from imported Dutch tomatoes to French cheeses and Belgian chocolates.

Gulf supermarkets do rely in large part on Africa and Asia, but those imports cannot entirely make up for emerging shortages in European food supplies, especially for consumers seeking Western goods.

“We import the majority of our food from Europe, and right now the only option is some charter flights, but they are charging double the normal rate,” Gerash said.

Gulf Arab airlines could lose $15 million a day over European cargo and passenger flight disruptions, said Abdul Wahab Teffaha, head of the Arab Air Carriers Organisation. “The economic value is going to be astronomical,” he said. A planeload of more than 100 tonnes of fish due to be exported to Europe on Dubai government-owned Emirates, the Gulf Arab region’s largest airline, had to be frozen by owners due to flight cancel-

lations, the carrier said. Emirates, which is losing $10 million a day due to ash disruptions, said on Tuesday that 2,000 tonnes of cargo had been disrupted.

Gulf states rely heavily on food imports from Asia, Europe, the United States and Africa, and have recently resorted to buying farmland in developing nations to ensure food security. “From a food and drink point of view, the fact that ... most of the Gulf region ... is so reliant on imports to meet domestic demand means it is more affected by the ash cloud in terms of stocking shelf space at grocery stores,” said Shonil Chande, food and drink analyst at Business Monitor International.

Spinneys, one of the biggest supermarket chains in the region, was running out of berries and said it saw a shortage in short shelf-life fresh foods from Europe and the United States. In Kuwait, customers at one large supermarket chain were unhappy, and sometimes even rude, about not getting their regular doses of European cheese and chocolates. “We get calls from dissatisfied customers. They complain and ask when it is coming,” said Firas Hamdan, chief commercial officer of The Sultan Center.

Restaurants were also feeling the pinch, with luxury chain hotel Fairmont saying it was running short on seafood brought in via Europe and had to impro-

vise. “From a food and beverage standpoint, we have been affected in terms of supplies coming in. We started using regional suppliers more,” a spokeswoman for Fairmont Dubai said. Dubai, the Gulf region’s trade and tourism hub, handled around 172,000 tonnes of cargo in February.

Michael Meagher, of Saudi Arabian Airlines cargo division, said cargo operations had been hit, with the carrier running a significant and growing backlog in Europe. Gulf hoteliers, however, have experienced a surge in occupancy from thousands of stranded passengers since the ash cloud appeared, especially in areas close to airport. “We have been having too many bookings. Our occupancy rate is around 90 percent when normally it is 60 percent this time of year,” a representative at Dubai’s Millennium hotel said.

The five-star Bustan Rotana said occupancy had shot to 100 percent from 60 percent in the past few days. “Flight delays were good news for us,” a hotel manager said. Dubai’s Al Nassma, the world’s first brand of chocolate made with camel milk, said its sales were up at least 10 percent as stranded passengers indulged in the delicacy. “There are more tourists here so we are selling more chocolates,” General Manager Martin Van Almsick said. — Reuters

their stay in the country. Last year, Kuwait said that it was deporting thousands of workers staying illegally in the country as part of a drive to do away with trafficking in people and reforming the labor market.

Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Mohammad Al-Afasi said the government was moving ahead with its labor market reforms and that it would not be deterred by vicious campaigns launched by people who were making huge profits by trafficking in visas and people. L ast June, Kuwaiti security issued a warrant against a man who had 25 commercial licenses for companies that allegedly employed dozens of marginal workers. The police discovered that he had 11 bogus companies registered under the name of his mother, who said that she was shocked to learn about the situation. A committee formed by the government to look into trafficking in visas said that some of the bogus companies were owned by Gulf citizens.

Regarding Kuwait’s readiness to ensure human rights with respect of human trafficking practiced against expat labor, Al-Afasi said that he would be honored to represent and defend Kuwait in this respect. He added that Kuwait is about to issue a law that prohibits human trafficking soon. He indicated that the law has been scheduled for discussion and approval at the National Assembly, which is expected to hold a special session.

Afasi affirmed that the law is ready and meets international regulations in the field of human rights. “Many unfair and unjustifiable accusations have been

directed against Kuwait - a country of institutions that operates with a high level of transparency in human rights,” the minister said, adding that the Kuwaiti constitution highlights human rights before the international declaration of human rights of 1968.

He said that Kuwait is being subjected to a negative campaign, and the ministry is ready to defend its stands through documented facts and legislation. “Kuwait Fund for Economic Development has offered more than 40 billion Kuwaiti dinars in aid to needy countries and wrote off some of these countries’ debts.

These actions should be respected by the international community.”

Afasi had earlier said that the new labor law became effective ever since its publication in the Kuwaiti gazette ‘Kuwait Al-Youm’. He added that all previous laws are considered null and void, so companies must comply with the new law. He denied the existence of any justification not to implement the law in the private sector, saying that there are some items that need executive decisions that will be issued soon, “but that does not mean the law is not active - to the contrary, it is active and must be adhered to.”

Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said that “huge advances” on the issue of human rights have been made in the Gulf region, and that her office would help this process through talks with Kuwaiti officials. Shortly after being received by Amiri Diwan Advisor Mohammad Abulhassan at the airport late Tuesday, Pillay said that she will also be addressing areas of concern over human rights with officials in Kuwait if there were any,

as well as meeting representatives of the Kuwaiti civil society. Pillay arrived from Qatar, part of a 10-day tour which started in Saudi Arabia and will also see her making stops in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

The UN official yesterday met HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Assembly Speaker Jassem AlKhorafi, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem and Al-Afasi. The Middle East issue is on the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), she said, describing Israel as an “occupying force over Palestine”.

Through her capacity as High Commissioner, Pillay said she was required to provide regular reports to the UNHRC on the effect of settlements and the Israeli blockade on Palestinian refugees. The UN High Commissioner’s office along with that of the Secretary General are required to prepare around 12 reports on whether the Palestinians receive adequate health and food supplies.

UNHRC has helped and fully supported the Justice Richard Goldstone factfinding mission on the Israeli assault on Gaza, and last month, Pillay had been directed to set up an expert panel to examine and assess how these investigations are being carried out by Israel and the Palestinian Authority. She expressed hope that one day the situation will be resolved before the Human Rights Council. “While the occupation continues, it (item 7 on the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories) will remain on the agenda,” she said.

Former IOC president Samaranch dead at 89 Continued from Page 1 modern Olympics and IOC chief from 1896 to 1925, has held the post longer was marked by a major ethics scandal which led to a tighening of the rules. The IOC faced federal and congressional investigations in the United States into revelations that its members were given paid vacations, shopping sprees and cash payments to sway support for Salt Lake City’s successful bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Under Samaranch’s watch, the IOC adopted ethics reforms that severely restricted interaction between committee members and cities bidding for the Olympics in response to the scandal.

His supporters believe he showed political skill in a difficult period - a US-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics followed by an eastern-bloc retaliation in 1984 at Los Angeles - to lead the Games into the era of professional sport and turn it into a huge money-spinner. His critics

argue that many of the original values of the movement were obscured in the search for commercial success, leading to high-profile bribery and drugs scandals.

Born on July 17, 1920, into a rich Catalan family which made its fortune from the textile industry, he served as Spain’s minister for sport and ambassador to the Soviet Union during the right-wing regime of General Francisco Franco. Samaranch remained active in Spanish sports administration after stepping down as the head of the IOC and was a key part of Madrid’s failed bids to hold the Olympics in 2012, which London eventually won, and 2016, which went to Rio de Janeiro.

“I know that I am very near the end of my time. I am 89 years old,” he said in October 2009 before asking the IOC members for the honour of hosting the 2016 Games in Spain during Madrid’s bid presentation in Copenhagen. A funeral mass for Samaranch will be celebrated at Barcelona’s cathedral today at 6 pm (1600

GMT) which will be attended by Spain’s King Juan Carlos and his wife Sofia. The king honoured him with the title of marquis in 1991 for his work in the Olympic movement, which culminated in the award of the highly successful 1992 summer Games to Barcelona, a city the event transformed.

Samaranch had been plagued by health problems in recent years and the hospital chief of internal medicine Rafael Esteban told a news conference late on Tuesday that “given his age, we can’t be optimistic”.

He fell ill and went to the hospital after watching Spain’s Rafeal Nadal secure a historic sixth straight Monte Carlo Masters title on Sunday on television, family members told Spanish media. Samaranch’s wife Maria Teresa Salisachs-Rowe, another scion of a Catalan textiles dynasty, predeceased him on Sept 16, 2000. He is survived by two children, Maria Teresa and Juan Antonio Jr, who in July 2001 was elected an IOC member. — Agencies

France to ban niqab from public spaces Continued from Page 1 Sarkozy against a full ban on the veil, suggesting instead an order that women uncover their faces for security checks or meetings with officials. “It appears to the State Council that a general and absolute ban on the full veil as such can have no incontestable judicial basis,” it said, suggesting a full ban could be declared unconstitutional and overturned in court.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon insisted the government would go ahead anyway, taking the risk that the eventual text would be struck down by the constitutional court, because of the importance of the issue. “If we are convinced that it’s a question of human dignity we can’t let ourselves be over-cautious about respecting laws that are no longer appropriate for today’s society,” he said. “We have to develop the jurisprudence of the constitutional court and of the European Court of Human Rights in order to confront a new question that no-one was asking 20 years ago.”

There is strong support in parliament for

such a ban and the government is determined to press on with a law, which it says would affect only around 2,000 Muslim French women who currently cover their faces. According to Chatel, Sarkozy told his cabinet the veil was an “assault on women’s dignity”. Most Muslim women, in France’s immigrant communities and around the world, do not wear a full veil, but the niqab, which covers the face apart from the eyes, is widely worn on the Arabian peninsula and in the Gulf states. The burqa, a shapeless fullbody cloak that covers the face with a fabric grille, is worn in some areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Muslim scholars differ in their interpretation of the Quran’s rules on what constitutes modest dress, and many argue veils are a cultural tradition rather than a religious obligation. In France, the garments are widely identified with fundamentalist strains of Islam and with the repression of women in some communities, and politicians accuse radical clerics of promoting their use. “We’re not going to let this phenomenon drift,” Chatel said. France’s neighbour Belgium is

Europe airspace reopens LONDON: Europe’s airspace reopened for business as Iceland’s volcano lost its fury yesterday, leaving passengers scrambling to get home and recriminations flying over the $1.7 billion cost of the crisis.

Three-quarters of flights scheduled in Europe were set to fly, said the body coordinating air traffic across the continent, a week after a volcanic eruption in Iceland caused the worst disruption to aviation since World War II. While experts in Iceland said the Eyjafjjoell volcano had lost most of its intensity, airline bosses were frantically adding up the cost of the crisis which their umbrella body said cost 400 million dollars a day at its peak.

All Europe’s main air hubs were up and running yesterday and the Europewide coordinating body Eurocontrol said it expected some 21,000 flights in European airspace, against a typical 28,000, with almost normal traffic today.

“It is anticipated that almost 100 percent of the air traffic will take place in Europe tomorrow, Thursday 22 April,” it said in a statement.

In Europe’s far north, Helsinki in Finland and airspace over the remote Scottish isles of Orkney and Shetland were temporarily reclosed due to still unsafe ash levels. But Iceland’s other Nordic neighbours Denmark, Norway and

Sweden lifted the last of their restrictions in a sign the worst of the threat had faded. Millions had their travel plans affected since governments closed their airspace on April 14 and IATA, the body representing the global airline industry, put the overall cost at $1.7 billion.

European governments “must take their responsibility” and help the carriers, said IATA chief Giovanni Bisignani.

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh had branded the ban unnecessary, with the disruption heaping more misery on an airline reeling from a recent strike.

Flights were finally cleared for landing at London’s Heathrow airport on Tuesday night, but BA flew around two dozen long-haul planes back to Britain even before the no-fly zone was lifted.

Some were initially turned away and forced to land at other airports but there were scenes of jubilation on other planes when pilots announced they had been cleared to land at Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport. British opposition leader David Cameron - who is challenging Labour incumbent Gordon Brown for the premiership next month - called for a public inquiry into the “muddle and confusion” in the government’s handling of the crisis. British Airways said they were hoping to operate all long-haul flights from Heathrow and Gatwick as normal

yesterday.

Germany’s Luf thansa, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, said it would fly at full capacity today by operating around 1,800 flights compared to the 700 it was able to run yesterday.

The country’s number two airline, Air Berlin, has said it was back to operating a practically normal schedule. All long-haul passenger services from Paris’ main international hub Charles de Gaulle were operating as scheduled, while Air France said it had flown 40,000 stranded people back home since Tuesday. “Our traffic has returned to normal,” a spokeswoman said.

But Frances Tuke, a spokeswoman for Britain’s travel organisation Abta, warned passengers against getting their hopes up.

“I know for example that some of our tour operators have decided to cancel their programs going out of the UK in order that they can try to reposition their aircraft and crew,” she said. “It’s a huge logistical operation.” Passengers trying to catch a flight at Heathrow were still in the dark about when their ordeal would end.

“It has been impossible to know when our flights would leave so we have been stuck waiting and wondering,” said Veronique David, a 42-year-old French nurse, huddled in a fleece blanket given to people who spent the night there. — AFP

Saudis won’t behead psychic

Kuwait set to deport scores of foreigners Continued from Page 1

Thursday, April 22, 2010

also preparing legislation, and could become the first European country to ban the full veil when a bill goes before parliament during a plenary session from today.

In France the idea of banning the veil has won support from across the political spectrum. Members of Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP party have been pushing him to enact tough legislation, but left-wing lawmakers were also among those who welcomed the decision to draft the law. An association set up to defend the rights of women in France’s immigrant ghettos - “Neither Whores Nor Submissives” - hailed Sarkozy’s decision as a “victory for women”.

“I ask lawmakers to have the courage to back a law to protect and free women. Let’s hear the voices of those who are fighting green fascism,” said chairwoman Sihem Habchi, referring to the traditional colour of Islam. Outside France, North African militants with ties to Al-Qaeda have threatened attacks on French interests if the law is passed and US President Barack Obama has made it clear he does not support Europe’s moves. — Agencies

BEIRUT: A Lebanese TV psychic, who was condemned to death for witchcraft by a Saudi court while visiting the country, will not be beheaded, his lawyer said yesterday.

May Al-Khansa told The Associated Press that the Saudi ambassador in Beirut informed the Lebanese justice minister that the execution of Ali Sibat would not take place. “He confirmed to me that there will be no execution,” AlKhansa said about her conversation with Ibrahim Najjar, Lebanon’s justice minister.

She refused to go into details but said “matters are going in the right direction”.

“We have faith in Saudi Arabia’s judicial system,” she added, noting that Sibat’s actions are not considered a crime in Lebanon.

Sibat is one of scores of people reported arrested every year in the kingdom on charges of practicing sorcery, witchcraft, black magic and fortunetelling, which are considered to be polytheism by the coun-

try’s ultraconservative judiciary. The father of five was arrested by the Saudi religious police while making a pilgrimage to the holy city of Makkah in May 2008 and sentenced to death last November on charges of practicing witchcraft.

Sibat, 49, made predictions on a satellite TV channel from his home in Beirut, where psychics, fortunetellers and astrologers operate freely. Many have regular TV and radio shows and some cafes even hire them to attract more customers.

On Dec 31, they jostle for air time to give their predictions for the new year.

According to his lawyer, he was the most popular psychic on his channel, especially among callers from the conservative Gulf.

After Makkah, Sibat went to Madinah to pray at the Mosque of the Prophet (PBUH). At his hotel, members of the religious police who enforce the kingdom’s strict Islamic lifestyle spotted him and grabbed him.

Earlier this week, a Saudi judicial official said the country’s highest appellate court had upheld the death sentence and asked the nation’s Supreme Judicial Council to set a date to carry out the execution. Saudi newspapers have reported that the Court of Cassation had first rejected the case and asked the lower tribunal to offer Sibat a chance to repent. It was not clear if he was given that chance.

There has been sporadic media attention to his case. The report of his imminent execution earlier this month brought a flare of calls in the Lebanese press for his release. Some Lebanese has also rallied near the Saudi embassy in Beirut to protest the execution sentence. New Yorkbased Human Rights Watch said last year Sibat’s death sentence should be overturned and called on the Saudi government to halt its “increasing use of charges of ‘witchcraft,’ crimes that are vaguely defined and arbitrarily used.” — AP

the government time to refine all the new security features. The government has prepared education resources in 25 languages to inform the public about the design changes and is giving people a chance to view the new bills on its website. “We wanted the changes to be very obvious, visible and easy to see,” Larry Felix, director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, said in an interview with AP. The new blue security ribbon will give a 3-D effect to the micro-images that the thousands of lenses will be magnifying. Tilt the note back and forth and you will see tiny bells on the ribbon change to 100s as they move. But that’s not all. Tilt the note back and forth and the images will move side to side. Tilt the note side to side and the images will move up and down. In addition, to the right of Franklin’s portrait, will be an

inkwell that will change color from copper to green when the note is tilted. The movement will also make a Liberty Bell appear and disappear inside the inkwell.

“As with previous US currency redesigns, this note incorporates the best technology available to ensure we’re staying ahead of counterfeiters,” Geithner said.

Franklin will remain on the front of the $100 bill and Independence Hall in Philadelphia will remain on the back of the currency although both have been modified in ways aimed at making it harder to produce counterfeit copies of the bills. “The new security features announced today come after more than a decade of research and development to protect our currency from counterfeiting,” said US Treasurer Rosie Rios, whose signature along with Geithner’s will appear on the new currency. — AP

$100 bill goes hi-tech Continued from Page 1 The $100 bill, the highest value denomination in general circulation, is the last bill to undergo an extensive redesign. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing began the process in 2003, adding splashes of color to spruce up first the $20 and then the $50, $10 and $5 bills. The $1 bill isn’t getting a makeover.

The changes are aimed at thwarting counterfeiters who are armed with ever-more sophisticated computers, scanners and color copiers. The $100 bill is the most frequent target of counterfeiters operating outside of the United States while the $20 bill is the favorite target of counterfeiters inside the country.

The redesigned $100 bill had originally been expected to go into circulation in late 2008 but its introduction was delayed to give

Iran to stage war games in Hormuz Continued from Page 1 Brigadier General Hossein Salami, also quoted by Fars, said three days of manoeuvres would start today and would show the Guards’ naval strength. “Maintaining security in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, as the world’s key economic and energy routes, is the main goal of the war games,” he said. “This war game is not a threat for any friendly countries.”

Naval, air and ground forces from the Guards would take part, Fars said. The Islamic Republic’s armed forces often hold drills in an apparent bid to show their readiness to deter any military action by Israel or the United States, its arch foes.

Nicole Stracke, a researcher at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, said that with the “current threat to Iran increasing” the Guards were showing their capability and strength. “The Revolutionary

Guard is sending a message that we are ready and able to counter the threat,” Stracke said in an email to Reuters. But she added the force regularly held such drills and they were unlikely to increase regional tension.

Washington is pushing for a fourth round of UN sanctions on Tehran over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear activities as demanded by the UN Security Council, including moves against members of the Guards. Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal, has described Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its existence. Although it says it wants a diplomatic solution, Washington has also not ruled out military action.

Iran, a predominantly Shiite state, has said it would respond to any attack by targeting US interests in the region and Israel, as well as closing the Strait of Hormuz. About 40 percent of the world’s

traded oil leaves the Gulf region through the strategic narrows. Salami made no reference to this in his comments, stressing Iran’s “efficient and constructive role” for Gulf security. “Peace and friendship, security, tranquillity and mutual trust are the messages of this war game for neighbouring countries in the... Gulf region,” the general added.

Sunni-led Arab countries in the Gulf are concerned about spreading Iranian influence in the region and also share Western fears about Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Cliff Kupchan, a director at Eurasia Group, said in a note yesterday that he still believed that Israel was unlikely to strike Iran, but “the risk will grow as prospects for successful sanctions diminish”. China and Russia, vetowielding Security Council members, are reluctant to back tough sanctions on Iran. — Reuters

Syria bans public smoking Continued from Page 1 The normally bustling indoor area of the Nowfara Cafe in the city’s downtown area was almost entirely empty yesterday.

“Fifty people would be sitting here if it weren’t for the ban” complained the manager, Shadi Rabbat. However, the cafe’s terrace was crowded with some 50 customers smoking water pipes. “We hope the government will reconsider the ban,” said another cafe owner who refused to give his name because he feared reprisals by the authorities.

Syria had in the past taken steps to try to restrict smoking, including a 1996 decree issued by Assad’s late father, President Hafez Assad, that banned smoking in government offices, hospitals and the airport. A 2004 law banned smoking in Internet cafes and another law in 2006 made buses, railway stations, movie theaters, parks and cultural centers smoke-

free, with violators facing a fine of about $10 and three months in jail. But the bans were often flouted and not strictly enforced.

This time, however, more sweeping measures were being taken, reflecting Syria’s desire to join other Arab countries struggling to control smoking with bans and anti-smoking campaigns. Fines are also steeper this time round - the fine for smoking in a cafe is $45 while it goes up to a staggering $870 in five-star hotels.

Health ministry officials will be frequently carrying out on site inspections to ensure the law was being observed in public places.

“It’s a chance for me to seriously try to quit smoking,” said Mohammed Al-Kash, a sociology professor at Damascus University. “I am fully committed to the ban.” Three million people - or 15 percent of Syria’s 23.5 million population - smoke.

As much as 23 percent of these are uni-

versity students, according to figures published in the state media. Syrians are thought to spend $565 million a year on smoking.

Other Arab countries are also struggling to create a more smoke free environment. In the tobacco-loving Arab world, people smoke in offices, universities, taxis, hair salons and even hospitals and smoking has long been a social imperative and a rite of passage for young men. Packs can cost as little as 50 cents in some Arab nations. Egypt, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and most recently Iraq have imposed restrictions on smoking in public, but the bans vary in scope and enforcement. The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, for example, has no laws banning smoking in government offices or public places, and government employees - including President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad - regularly smoke in their offices. — AP

SPORTS

Thursday, April 22, 2010

15

Olympics — Canada’s golden generation yet to hit jackpot TORONTO: Canadian athletes who won a record haul of Winter Olympic gold medals face a race against time to secure life-changing endorsement deals before they are forgotten. Less than two months after the Vancouver Games ended with the host nation on top of the medals table with 14 golds, Canada’s golden generation are still waiting to cash in on their success. One expert suggests Canada’s much hyped ‘Own the Podium’ campaign, designed to ensure its athletes had a good showing, may have dented their chances at landing lucrative deals.

“We had so many gold medal winners that it does somewhat diminish the opportunities,” Ken Wong, marketing professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario,

told Reuters in a telephone interview.

“But having said that, it’s safe to say that some of them probably never had huge opportunities to start with, even if they had been the only gold medal winner.”

According to Wong, personality, appearance and whether or not there is an intriguing story behind the medal winner all factor into whether athletes land major endorsement deals. Ashleigh McIvor, who won gold in the Olympic debut of women’s ski cross, has been busy with speaking engagements and corporate events and said a deal with a shampoo company or promoting sporting attire may not be far off.

“There are some things in the works,” McIvor told Reuters by telephone. “The whole idea for me in the short term is to

make it possible to continue racing through the next Olympics and it would help to not have to have a summer job.” Many expected Alexandre Bilodeau, the first Canadian to win gold on home soil when he won the freestyle skiing moguls, to be the likely candidate for a major contract. Bilodeau has since thrown out the ceremonial first pitch at the Toronto Blue Jays home opener-days after US President Barack Obama did the same thing for Washington’s Major League Baseball club-and had a park named in his honor.

But Bilodeau and many other gold-medal winners who shot to instant celebrity status in February from relative obscurity must battle for the spotlight with higher-profile professional athletes who tend to dominate

North America’s sporting world.

Wong suggested Bilodeau has about a year to capitalize on his Vancouver accomplishment and that while he could have the tools to be a great spokesman he may lack what it takes to find much in the way of commercial success.

One Canadian athlete who managed to turn Olympic stardom into a lasting career is retired speed skater Catriona Le May Doan, a two-times Olympic gold medalist with a 500-watt smile who now works in broadcasting and as a motivational speaker. Still, not all athletes are motivated to turn gold medals into lucrative contracts, a notion evident with Maelle Ricker, the first Canadian woman to win gold in Canada. While Ricker has appeared on cereal boxes and been busy

with speaking engagements, she is not focused on tying her image to a big endorsement deal.

“The importance of the story is the athletes sharing their sport and that side of it and not necessarily the financial side of it,” Ricker told Reuters by telephone. Kaillie Humphries, who captured gold in women’s Olympic bobsleigh along with brakewoman Heather Moyse, said apart from being asked to appear at several sporting events she has not been offered any lucrative endorsement deals.

“I think it is something a lot of people expect or think just happens when you get a gold medal ... and I did too, I would be the first to admit that,” Humphries told Reuters by telephone.

“I am still waiting and still hoping, but as it is right at this point it hasn’t.”

The window of opportunity for Olympic athletes hoping to achieve commercial success closes quickly, according to Wong, and they must be the aggressor in trying to make such deals happen as opposed to waiting for their phones to ring. “If they sit back and simply expect the world to throw money at them now that they have won gold it doesn’t work that way,” said Wong.

“There is always going to be another Stanley Cup winner or World Cup winner or something to kind of negate the value of their gold, but if you’ve got something beyond that, the gold can be a wonderful launching pad for a lifetime of success.” —Reuters

DENVER: Devin Setoguchi No. 16 of the San Jose Sharks stickhandles his way through the Colorado Avalanche defense in the third period of Game Four of the Western Conference Quarterfinals during the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.—AFP

Sharks square series with OT win DENVER: Joe Pavelski scored the overtime winner as the top-seeded San Jose Sharks beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Tuesday to tie their NHL playoff series at 2-2.

Pavelski gathered up a loose puck deep in Colorado’s zone and beat Craig Anderson with a shot into the right corner.

Dan Boyle gave the Sharks an early lead, knocking in a slap shot. The Avalanche countered with a second-period goal by Paul Stastny, his first of the series.

All four games have been decided by a goal, the last three going into overtime.

Game 5 is Thursday in San Jose. Evgeny Nabokov stopped 33 shots for the Sharks, and Anderson blocked 43 for Colorado.

Flyers 4, Devils 1 In Philadelphia, the hosts took a commanding 3-1 lead in their series against New Jersey. Jeff Carter scored two goals and Danny Briere had one to end their series scoring droughts, while unlikely postseason star Daniel Carcillo scored his second goal in two games for the Flyers.

Game 5 is Thursday in New Jersey. The Flyers have won 17 of 19 playoff series

when they hold a 3-1 lead.

Penguins 7, Senators 4 In Ottawa, Sidney Crosby had four points, including two of Pittsburgh’s five second-period goals, leading the Penguins to a 3-1 series lead over Ottawa.

Crosby assisted on Evgeni Malkin’s power-play goal in the first period. Crosby scored two of Pittsburgh’s three goals in a 2:25 span early in the second. Matt Cooke scored 12 seconds after Crosby’s first goal to make it 3-0, and the Penguins’ 22-yearold captain added his fourth goal of the

series at 6:12. Chris Kunitz had a goal and two assists and Maxime Talbot had a goal and an assist as the teams combined for eight goals in the second, one short of the NHL playoff record for goals in a period.

Jordan Staal scored in the third period.

Matt Cullen had a goal and two assists for Ottawa.

Red Wings 3, Coyotes 0

twice. Phoenix will be at home Friday, but has to return to Detroit for Game 6 on Sunday. Zetterberg’s first goal stood after a video review. Earlier, replays appeared to show Detroit’s Valtteri Filppula got a puck past the goal line before it bounced on it, lighting the lamp.

A video review upheld the on-ice decision to wave off the goal. Pavel Datsyuk also scored for Detroit.

In Detroit, the hosts levelled the series against Phoenix at 2-2. Jimmy Howard had a 29-save shutout, including a save without his helmet, and Henrik Zetterberg scored

In Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville took its first ever 2-1 lead in an opening-round

Predators 4, Blackhawks 1

Semenya casts doubt on long-term future PRETORIA: In-limbo world champion Caster Semenya says athletics is “nothing” to her and she is prepared to walk away from the sport. “For me, running is nothing. Honestly, it’s nothing,” Semenya said yesterday at a news conference in Pretoria. Speaking for the first time in person about the IAAF’s gender tests that have sidelined her since the world championships last August, the 19-year-old South African was defiant in saying she would decide her future on the track, no matter what the results are of the tests that are expected in June.

“When I came to athletics I am the one who decided to run,” Semenya said. “I’m the one who decides. “They (the IAAF) can make their own decisions. But don’t forget I am the one who must say so. I will decide if I walk out or if I stay there.”

When asked by The Associated Press if she had thought seriously about giving up, Semenya smiled and said no. “I don’t quit,” she said.

Semenya called the press conference to launch the Caster Semenya Sports Academy and appeared alongside coach Michael Seme. But in her first public appearance since she was prevented from taking part in a meet in Stellenbosch in March, Semenya cast doubt on her longterm future in athletics. “I cannot do it for a living,” Semenya said. “Athletics is athletics. When you do sport you are gambling. You run, you win, you lose. It doesn’t matter if you are competing or you

are not competing.” Semenya is studying at the University of Pretoria, and said she had other options.

“To me I don’t think sport is something that I can take for life. I still have my academy, my studies ... “ “You know I’m good in everything. I cannot say athletics is my first option.” Semenya’s comments hinted at her frustration at the lengthy IAAF process. She has not competed since her stunning debut at the world champs in Berlin, where she blew away the field in the 800-meter final. It led to the IAAF ordering gender tests for the runner, who was 18 at the time. The IAAF has said repeatedly that they will not make any public comment on Semenya until her medical process is complete.

Semenya began the news conference by thanking her advisers, coach, family and people of South Africa for their support. “They’ve been good to me,” she said.

She also said “the scandals, I can’t talk about now because we are concentrating on the academy and the website.” She then invited questions from reporters.

Semenya said her goal, through the academy, was to help talented athletes who came from “humble” backgrounds, like her.

“We are going to help the young talented athletes become world champions,” she said. Semenya said she turned to athletics only from her first sport, football, because she was good at it. “I can run fast,” she said. — AP

series, edging ahead of Chicago. David Legwand scored the go-ahead goal and had two assists for the Predators, who have never won more than two games in any of their first four playoff appearances. Game 4 is here Thursday.

Joel Ward and Shea Weber also scored for Nashville, and Martin Erat scored on a penalty shot late.

The Predators more than made up for the absence of top goal scorer Patric Hornqvist, scratched for a second straight game with an injury. Tomas Kopecky scored a power-play goal for Chicago.—AP

Rugby WCup packages selling at record levels

PRETORIA: South African athlete Caster Semenya, speaks to journalists, during her media conference to launch the Caster Semenya Sports Academy.—AP

LONDON: Rugby union continues to buck the gloomy economic climate with expensive tour packages for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand selling at record levels. After figures this month revealed the healthy state of the Six Nations championship, organizers of English travel packages for next year’s Sept. 9-Oct. 23 event have reported a 37 percent increase in sales compared with the same stage of the 2007 tournament in France. England Rugby Travel, the official travel company for England fans, have reported revenues in excess of 1.2 million pounds ($1.85 million) six weeks after packages went on sale.

The most popular package is a 19night quarter-finals to final option ranging from 4,000 pounds for a basic international flights and match tickets deal to 8,500 pounds full and “all inclusive” arrangement with accommodation, internal flights and various excursions. Justin Hopwood, head of sales and marketing for English rugby travel, said he was pleased but not entirely surprised by the figures.

“This was always going to be a special event as with the growth of the tournament this could be the last time New Zealand host it,” he said yesterday. “We find that the rugby World Cup is a very different from a soccer World Cup. It is less about the pure match attendance and more inclusive of the whole experience.

“With New Zealand being so far away people have decided to make it a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip, taking in all the great tourist opportunities on offer alongside the rugby.

“The price is something they have had to work towards. The interest has been high on many fans’ agenda for a long time, sales are probably two thirds towards topend packages. “They’ve seen this as a chance to combine it with a RWC and they know New Zealand will deliver a World Cup like no other. The whole country is immersed in the sport.”

Comparisons with 2007 could be misleading as so many fans opted for short visits, sometimes several of them, and the bestsellers then were three-day packages.

Nevertheless, the early figures for 2011 certainly indicate that the sport remains in a healthy place and continues to attract fans who can afford the time and the money. “People say that sports tourism is a growing market but it is not as general as that,” said Hopwood. “A lot of our target market are people not necessarily affected by the economic conditions.

Those kind of people want an experience for their money and prioritize that possibly over value for money. “They have been saving towards this for a long time and they want to make memories for a lifetime.”— Reuters

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

MLB Results/Standings Major League Baseball results on Tuesday: Colorado 10, Washington 4; Milwaukee 8, Pittsburgh 1; Toronto 4, Kansas City 3; Boston 7, Texas 6; Atlanta 4, Philadelphia 3 (10 innings); NY Mets 4, Chicago Cubs 0; Cincinnati 11, LA Dodgers 9; Houston 7, Florida 5; Chicago White Sox 4, Tampa Bay 1; Minnesota 5, Cleveland 1; Arizona 9, St Louis 7; San Diego 1, San Francisco 0; LA Angels 6, Detroit 5; NY Yankees 7, Oakland 3; Seattle 3, Baltimore 1.

ANAHEIM: Detroit Tigers second baseman Ryan Raburn (left) watches his throw to first base after forcing out Los Angeles Angels’ Howie Kendrick during a double play in the fourth inning of a baseball game. —AP

American League Eastern Division W L NY Yankees 10 3 Tampa Bay 10 4 Toronto 9 6 Boston 5 9 Baltimore 2 13 Central Division Minnesota 10 4 Detroit 7 7 Cleveland 6 7 Chicago White Sox 5 9 Kansas City 5 9 Western Division Oakland 9 6 LA Angels 8 7 Seattle 8 7 Texas 5 8 National League Eastern Division Philadelphia 8 5 Atlanta 8 5 Florida 8 6 Washington 7 7 NY Mets 6 8 Central Division St. Louis 9 5 Pittsburgh 7 6 Milwaukee 6 7 Cincinnati 6 8 Chicago Cubs 5 9 Houston 4 9 Western Division San Francisco 8 6 San Diego 8 6 Colorado 7 7 LA Dodgers 6 7 Arizona 6 8

PCT .769 .714 .600 .357 .133

GB 0.5 2 5.5 9

.714 .500 .462 .357 .357

3 3.5 5 5

.600 .533 .533 .385

1 1 3

.615 .615 .571 .500 .429

0.5 1.5 2.5

.643 .538 .462 .429 .357 .308

1.5 2.5 3 4 4.5

.571 .571 .500 .462 .429

1 1.5 2

Yankees extend streak, defeat A’s OAKLAND: Alex Rodriguez hit a three-run homer to lift the New York Yankees to a 7-3 win over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday, notching a fifth straight American League win. Yankees starter Javier Vazquez (1-2) finally showed the form that made him a 15-game winner last season. He entered the game with a 9.82 ERA, but allowed only three runs in 5-1/3 innings, striking out six. Nick Swisher hit a two-run single against his former team and Jorge Posada also singled home a run in New York’s three-run first inning against Gio Gonzalez (1-1). Plate umpire Ed Rapuano took a foul ball to

the chin. He was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, but the A’s said he was alert when he left the ballpark.

Twins 5, Indians 1 In Minneapolis, Kevin Slowey handcuffed Cleveland’s struggling offense for eight innings, steering Minnesota to victory. Slowey (2-1) gave up one run with nine strikeouts and no walks. Cleveland got just four innings from starter Justin Masterson (1-1) who gave up five runs, walked five, hit one batter and needed 96 pitches to get through those four innings.

White Sox 4, Rays 1 In Chicago, the hosts ended Tampa Bay’s seven-game winning streak. John Danks (2-0) pitched eight strong innings, allowing just one run with nine strikeouts. Paul Konerko hit a solo homer and drove in two runs for the White Sox, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Tampa Bay left-hander David Price (2-1) allowed three runs in five innings.

Hideki Matsui added a two-run double for the Angels, who won their fifth straight to climb over the .500 mark for the first time since opening day.

Los Angeles starter Scott Kazmir (11) was charged with two runs over 5 2-3 innings and struck out seven without issuing a walk. Tigers starter Rick Porcello (1-1) gave up six runs in 4 1-3 innings. He threw two wild pitches and hit a batter with a pitch.

Angels 6, Tigers 5 In Anaheim, Los Angeles overcame another poor bullpen performance to edge Detroit. Howie Kendrick drove in three runs and

Blue Jays 4, Royals 3 In Toronto, Vernon Wells homered and John Buck drove in the goahead run with an infield single as Toronto beat Tampa Bay. Wells went

3 for 4 with two doubles and scored twice, raising his average to .364.

Shawn Camp (1-0) pitched 1 2-3 innings of relief for the victory as Toronto won its ninth consecutive home series against the Royals.

Kansas City’s Kyle Davies (1-1) took the loss.

Red Sox 7, Rangers 6 In Boston, Darnell McDonald, called up from the minors earlier in the day, hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to tie the game and won it with an RBI single in the ninth to lift struggling Boston over Texas.

The Red Sox snapped a five-game

hitless ninth for the win.

Mariners 3, Orioles 1 In Seattle, Jason Vargas extended a stretch of strong starting pitching by Seattle in the victory over struggling Baltimore. Vargas (2-1) allowed just three hits in seven innings against the anaemic Orioles. Baltimore is 2-13 overall and had just two runs in two games here. Orioles starter David Hernandez (0-3) lost his ninth consecutive decision. He allowed seven hits in 6 1-3 innings and left after consecutive doubles by Seattle’s No. 8 and 9 hitters made it 3-1. The Mariners have won six of seven.—AP

Braves beat Phillies in NL action

Patrick to lead women’s charge at the Indy 500 DETROIT: Danica Patrick has been the undisputed queen of the Indianapolis 500 since she first arrived at the Brickyard but next month there will be a few more women vying for her crown. Once a curiosity on Gasoline Alley, there could be four women on the starting grid for this year’s 500 with American Sarah Fisher, Venezuela’s Milka Duno and young Swiss sensation Simona de Silvestro fighting for spots in the 33-car field.

If anything, the novelty this year may be the United States drivers, with as many women with full-time drives as American men (Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti) racing North America’s premier open wheel series. “It’s a sign of the times,” Patrick told Reuters on a conference call to promote her new video game Blur. “People are becoming more open to it and giving it more chances.

“We’re also seeing the other side of it, the marketing side as well.

“I didn’t know how long it would take but as time changes and culture embraces a genderless world it was inevitable it would happen but I didn’t know how long it was going to take.” While pioneering Janet Guthrie, Lyn St James and Fisher paved the way for women at the Brickyard, it has been Patrick’s results that have earned credibility.

Much of her reputation has been built at the Brickyard, where she rocketed onto the Indy car scene with a fourth place finish in her 500 debut in 2005 and then blasted home third last year.

But this season, Patrick, the only woman to reach Victory Lane in an Indy Car race with her 2008 win in Japan, has been getting more mileage out of her racy commercials and photo spreads than her results. In three of four races this year she has not finished better than 15th, her best result a seventh in St. Petersburg, Florida. She began her season flirting with a future career in stockcars but her results there were even less inspiring, finishing 35th and 36th in two Nationwide events, the feeder series for NASCAR. Patrick will be glad to see the early season road courses in her rear-view mirror and look ahead to the next four events on ovals where she has shined. “I’m not going to lie, I’m relieved right now,” she said. “I’ve had a rough start to the year, definitely not like last year where the first five out of six races were top fives. “Sometimes you hit right from the get go and sometimes you have a strong end to the year. Sometimes you have a great year all year and sometimes you have a bad year all year. “Sometimes it just goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t ... I’m just waiting for it to go my way a bit more often.” —Reuters

losing streak despite allowing the Rangers to steal a club record nine bases. Texas has dropped five straight. Kevin Youkilis opened the ninth with an infield hit off the body of Rangers pitcher Frank Francisco (23). He advanced on a passed ball and was sacrificed to third. Mike Lowell was intentionally walked and Adrian Beltre popped to first. Jason Varitek then walked on four pitches before McDonald lifted a fly ball just over the leap of a fielder. Nelson Cruz and Elvis Andrus each had three stolen bases as the Rangers opened a 6-1 lead after five innings. Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon (1-1) pitched a

ATLANTA: Jason Heyward hit a tying homer with two outs in the ninth inning and Nate McLouth hit another home run leading off the tenth to give the Atlanta Braves a 4-3 comeback win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Tuesday’s National League action.

Kyle Kendrick pitched eight scoreless innings for Philadelphia, but closer Ryan Madson blew a 3-0 lead in the ninth by giving up consecutive homers to Troy Glaus and Heyward.

McLouth’s homer into the right-field seats came off Jose Contreras (0-1).

Padres 1, Giants 0 In San Diego, the hosts beat San Francisco despite getting only one hit. Mat Latos (1-1) prevailed in a pitching duel with Jonathan Sanchez (1-1), both going seven innings and retiring their final 12 batters. Sanchez lost despite striking out ten and allowing only Chase Headley’s fourth-inning single.

San Diego pulled even with the Giants atop the NL West, the first time the Padres have been in first place since this time last year. They won their fifth straight game while the Giants lost their third straight..

Diamondbacks 9, Cardinals 7 In Phoenix, Arizona pitcher Dan Haren had a career-high four hits to help the Diamondbacks beat St. Louis and end a five-game losing streak.

Haren tied a franchise record for pitchers with his four hits, set twice

by Micah Owings. The last major league pitcher to get four hits in a game was the Chicago Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano on May 23, 2008. From the mound, Haren had a shaky start, giving up seven runs in six innings.

PHOENIX: Arizona Diamondbacks’ Justin Upton (right) gets hit by a pitch thrown by St. Louis Cardinals’ Mitchell Boggs as Cardinals catcher Bryan Anderson reaches out for the ball in the fifth inning. —AP

Mets 4, Cubs 0 In New York, Mike Pelfrey followed up his save Saturday with seven scoreless innings Tuesday, guiding New York past Chicago. The Mets went ahead with two runs in the second after Carlos Zambrano (12) had walked opposing pitcher Pelfrey with two outs. Pinch-hitter Fernando Tatis had a two-run homer in the eighth inning for New York.

Pelfrey (3-0), who didn’t allow a hit until a single in the fifth, extended his scoreless streak to 19 innings, matching a career high. Jose Reyes returned to the Mets starting lineup and had a two-run triple among his four hits. The punchless Cubs have

lost four in a row, scoring just six runs during the skid.

Rockies 10, Nationals 4 In Washington, Jorge De La Rosa had a three-run double in an eightrun third inning that set up Colorado’s win over Washington..

The game was played hours after the Rockies learned of the death of their team president Keli McGregor at age 48. The grief-stricken Rockies had their biggest inning of the year beginning it with five straight hits.

De La Rosa had his first three RBI game and was the winning pitcher despite allowing four runs in fiveplus innings.

Brewers 8, Pirates 1 In Pittsburgh, Dave Bush pitched seven shutout innings to steer Milwaukee past Pittsburgh. Bush (10) allowed three hits and four walks for the Brewers, who took a big early lead for the second consecutive game. Pirates starter Charlie Morton (0-3) allowed six runs. He has give up 20 runs and 23 hits in 10 1-3 innings this season. Pittsburgh had a threegame winning streak snapped.

Reds 11, Dodgers 9 In Cincinnati, the hosts recovered from blowing a six-run lead and beat Los Angeles to snap a run of five straight losses. Matt Kemp hit a three-run homer in the eighth to tie the game. Dodgers pitcher Ramon Troncoso walked two before Paul Janish singled with two out for the tiebreaking run. Reds pitcher Mike Lincoln (1-0) got the final out that ended the Dodgers’ comeback in the eighth. Cincinnati has a penchant for dramatic wins. All six of their victories have come off rallies in their final at-bat.

Astros 7, Marlins 5 In Houston, Jason Michaels hit a two-run homer in the eighth after Kaz Matsui’s sacrifice bunt scored the goahead run for Houston in the win over Florida. Houston’s Lance Berkman made his season debut, getting a double and driving in two runs as the Astros got their first home win this season after dropping their first six.

Hunter Pence doubled off Tim Wood (0-1) in the eighth inning before a single by Pedro Feliz. Matsui sacrificed Pence home to make it 5-4 before Michaels’ shot. —AP

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

17

Button leading season despite Red Bulls’ pace

BELGIUM: (Left to right) Second placed Spanish Joaquim Rodriguez of team Katusha, winner Australian World Champion Cadel Evans of BMC Racing Team and third placed Spanish Alberto Contador of team Astana celebrate on the podium after the seventy-fourth edition of the one day cycling race Walloon Arrow. —AFP

Evans wins Classic after final sprint BRUSSELS: World champion Cadel Evans won the Walloon Arrow cycling classic yesterday after beating Spaniards Joaquin Rodriguez and Alberto Contador in an uphill sprint to the finish.

With the victory for his new team BMC Racing Team, the 33-year old Evans proved he is ready and fit again to challenge during the summer’s Tour de France, especially after beating last year’s champion Contador in a man-toman sprint.

Victory was especially sweet as a world champion. “To race in the rainbow jersey is a great honor. To win in the rainbow jersey is even better,” he said.

At the end of the 198-kilometer (123mile) race to Huy, the main contenders were all packed together when they started the daunting one-mile (1.6-kilometer) Wall of Huy final climb. Contador first jumped out into the lead, but Evans

made the difference over the last 100 meters with a strong finishing kick.

Evans won in 4 hours, 39 minutes, 24 seconds. The Walloon Arrow is the main preparation race for Sunday’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege, one of the major one-day classics of the season. It covers much of the same terrain through the woods and hills of the Ardennes in southern Belgium.

After winning his first world championship title last year when many already thought he was on the way out, Evans now adds his first major one-day classic.

The Walloon Arrow race has always suited him, but he usually fell just short with several top-10 finishes. “I’ve finished every position but first. So finally to win it is fantastic,” he said.

And this one took planning. For the first time in his career, he carefully scouted the Wall of Huy, which has an average rise of 9.3 degrees, but has much steeper parts. “I looked at the

climb in a different perspective,” he said. “I took them just in the last 100 meters. That was the way to do it.”

Contador made his move halfway through the climb, yet he could not shake the Australian. Gritting his teeth, the double Tour winner went into the final stretch but had no answer when Evans swooped from behind him with his final push.

Evans finished second twice in the Tour de France and switched to the American BMC team this winter for a new challenge.

For Contador, third place was good enough after he clinched his third Vuelta de Castilla and Leon title on Sunday.

“I am happy, but I wanted to win,” he said. He is now a strong contender to win Sunday’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Lance Armstrong had included the race in his early season planning but dropped it from his schedule early this month. —AP

Mohammad Burabie’a

Burabie’a one win away from title Jet Ski world champion, Mohammad Burabie’a of Kuwait, continued his outstanding performance during his participation at the 2010 UAE Jet Ski Tournament while representing the “Safwat AlKuwait” (Kuwait Elite) team. He managed

to win the fifth round in the competition that feature international participation, to boost his chances in winning the championship for the third time in a row.

After the end of the race, Burabie’a remains on top of the overall standings

with 286 points, followed by “Pro Rider” competitor Mohammad Al-Baz from Kuwait with 247, who also finished second in the most recent race. The sixth and final round of the tournament will take place on May 11th.

SHANGHAI: Reigning world champion Jenson Button is surprised to be leading the Formula One championship after the opening swing through Asia, saying it’s strange considering his McLaren hasn’t matched the speed of the Red Bulls. Button won last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix for his second victory in four races this season, beating McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton in the first 1-2 finish by British drivers in an F1 GP since 1968.

Nico Rosberg’s third-place finish meant three Mercedes-powered cars filled the podium, something last achieved in the 1955 inaugural season. Button (60 points) and McLaren (109 points) lead the driver and constructor standings, which surprises Button when he considers the pure speed of the Red Bulls. “This is the fourth race where the Red Bulls have been quick,” said Button, who is 10 points clear of secondplace Rosberg in the drivers’ standings and 11 ahead of Hamilton and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. “We’re chasing them down although leading the championship, so it’s quite weird. But it’s a nice position to be in.”

Red Bull earned the pole in Shanghai to become the first team in three years to lead the grid in four successive races, but made the wrong call on an early pit stop for wet-weather tires, and struggled to make up ground thereafter. So, despite its strong qualifying performance so far and its envied pace, Red Bull finds itself in fourth place in the team rankings. It has been that kind of season. Since a largely processional season opener in Bahrain, every grand prix has been affected by rain, either in qualifying or the race, and luck has played a significant role in determining the winners.

That has made it difficult to discern exactly where the teams stand, and cases could be made for and against the title ambitions of each of the four contending teams.

McLaren would have been even further ahead in the standings - it has a 19-point cushion over second-place Ferrari and is 36 points clear of Red Bull - had it not been for qualifying performances that ranged from poor in Australia in the second stop of the season, to terrible in Malaysia and then merely mediocre in China. Should McLaren get its qualifying act together, it could emerge as the dominant force this season.

However the advantage it has gained from its F-duct aerodynamic device, which produces a straight-line speed advantage will be negated from the next race on, as most rivals will have their own version for the Spanish Grand Prix. Ferrari could well have won in China if not for Alonso getting a drive-through penalty for jumping the start, and the team making the wrong call on pit stops. That meant Alonso was in the pits five times, compared with just twice for race winner Button, yet the gap between them was only 12 seconds by the end.

Alonso will be the man most feared by competitors and Ferrari could well become the 2010 pacesetter. But the Italian team blew another engine in China, and the unreliability of its power plants could become a handicap later in the season, when grid-place penalties kick in if too many engines have been used. Mercedes is third in the team standings and Rosberg second in the drivers’ championship, despite being marginally off the pace of the other top teams.

Expect to see an upgraded Mercedes in Barcelona, and an improved Michael Schumacher as the seven-time world champion slowly adjusts to life back in F1 after a disappointing start to his comeback. One driver who has been anything but disappointing so far is Button, who has flourished with his new team and seems capable of defending his title. “This year, I’ve had four races and had two victories. And yes, it’s the best time of my life, so far,” Button said after his Shanghai victory.

Button took something of a gamble by leaving Brawn GP (now Mercedes) to join McLaren, where he is directly compared with Hamilton - a talented driver who had been integrated into the team since his teenage years and won the world drivers’ champion in 2008. Many expected Hamilton to have the measure of his new teammate, but Button has benefited from the new rule that bans refueling, thus making tire management a race-deciding factor.

Button’s smooth style is easy on tires, while the hard-charging Hamilton tends to use up his rubber more quickly. —AP

CHINA: McLaren-Mercedes driver Jenson Button of Britain waves on the podium in this file photo. —AFP

Boxer, wife deaths leave questions in Venezuela CARACAS: Former boxing champion Edwin Valero was addicted to cocaine and had grown increasingly violent before he was arrested in his wife’s murder and hanged himself in a Venezuelan jail, his mother-inlaw said Tuesday. The fighter’s wife, Jennifer Carolina Viera, had told her family that Valero “didn’t sleep, he didn’t eat, he used drugs every day and he was growing more violent all the time,” Mary Finol told reporters at her daughter’s funeral in El Vigia in western Venezuela.

Valero, who gained fame with a record of 27 straight knockouts and a huge tattoo of President Hugo Chavez on his chest, was arrested Sunday in the stabbing death of his 24-year-old wife.

Police said the boxer hanged himself in his cell early Monday.

Venezuelans have been asking what went wrong in Valero’s life and why authorities hadn’t stepped in after past incidents of domestic violence. Some 50 Venezuelan organizations, including women’s rights groups and others, criticized the handling of the case by the government, saying there has been a pattern of indifference to violence against women in Venezuela.

Authorities “didn’t do more than look away, and therefore they’re responsible by omission for this crime,” the groups said in a statement. The justice system “didn’t act with due diligence, wasn’t fair or efficient,” and didn’t provide protection for Valero’s wife, it added. Jorge Linares, a Venezuelan who is a former WBA super featherweight champion,

said the case has been “a hard blow for the sport, for those of us who appreciated him ... and for all Venezuelans.” “What’s important is that we learn a lesson,” Linares said. “We admired him as an athlete, but we never did anything to help him with his problems.

We could have started by making public his problems and not hiding anything.” Valero’s funeral was scheduled for Wednesday. Valero, a former WBA super featherweight and WBC lightweight champion, had a turbulent disposition and had been in trouble with the law before, both for violent outbursts and problems with alcohol and drugs. Since 2008, Venezuelan news reports had repeatedly linked Valero to domestic violence incidents, but the fighter and his supporters denied those reports.

Until recently, authorities had not commented publicly.

“We all looked away not to admit what was going on,” the boxer’s manager, Jose Castillo, told reporters Monday. He said authorities also “were very permissive with him and because of that we’re now in the middle of this tragedy.” As he gained fame in boxing, Valero appeared as a special guest at events hosted by Chavez and was lionized by some of the president’s supporters as a national hero, while some critics accused the fighter of avoiding punishment for past problems due to his links to the government.

In September, Valero denied he had been detained on domestic violence charges after

Venezuelan news reports said a neighbor called emergency services and told authorities the boxer had struck his mother and a sister. Five months earlier, in circumstances that were never clarified by authorities, the boxer’s wife was treated at a hospital for a gunshot wound to her left leg. Officials said at the time that Viera was thought to have been shot outside her house by an unknown attacker on a motorcycle.

Last month, Valero was charged with harassing his wife and threatening medical personnel who treated her at a hospital in the western city of Merida.

Police arrested him following an argument with a doctor and nurse at the hospital, where his wife was being treated for injuries that included a punctured lung and broken ribs. The Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that Valero was detained March 25 on suspicion of assaulting his wife, but his wife told a police officer her injuries were caused by a fall.

Valero’s lawyer, Milda Mora, said that after that incident, the boxer was held for nine days in a psychiatric hospital in Merida, where he underwent policesupervised rehabilitation. She said people close to the fighter posted bail April 7 and he was allowed to go free. “The court put him in rehab for six months and somehow he got out in a weekend,” said Valero’s promoter, Bob Arum, the founder of Top Rank. “I never talked to him during this period, I only talked to his manager. —AP

MONTERREY: World Boxing Council (WBC) World Champion of the Lightweight division Edwin Valero from Venezuela, celebrates in this file photo. —

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

How dad saved tot Manassero from tee-time bullies ROME: Italian Matteo Manassero, golf’s teenage hot prospect who became the youngest to play the US Masters, will bring the sport back to the forefront of his country’s consciousness when he makes his pro debut next month. Manassero’s bow at his national open will bring a wave of optimism to Italy’s burgeoning golf scene-and surely a red glow to the faces of some short-sighted members of local clubs who tried to keep him off their course as a tiny tot. “I started when I was three and on some courses they wouldn’t let me play because they said I was too little,”

Manassero, who turned 17 on Monday, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

“They wouldn’t accept that a child could play. So my parents had to argue at times with some people at golf courses so I could.” During a landmark week, Manassero sparked “Matteo-mania” at Augusta earlier this month when he became the youngest competitor at the season’s opening major and made the cut for the weekend before finishing with a four over total of 292. His father said nurturing a golfing prodigy was not always easy in Verona in the 1990s.

“There was one club in particular where I realized that a child’s presence wasn’t welcome and eventually we left,” Roberto Manassero said. “In the end we found another club. Now things have improved, but at the time it was really complicated to find somewhere open to children.” Matteo said he developed a passion for the sport by studying his father’s golf videos when he was a toddler. That early education paid off as he qualified for the Masters after becoming the youngest player to win the British amateur championship when aged 16 last year.

After the stir he created in Augusta, as a golfer and as a teenage heartthrob, Matteo will turn professional at the Italian Open in two weeks. While prospective girlfriends will be disappointed he does not intend to hook up with anyone until “I become a full-time golfer”, as a competitor he is already shaping up as one of the most exciting talents to emerge from Europe in many years. What amazed golf fans was the way in which he kept a cool head while competing alongside seasoned pros. “It’s something I mask well but the pressure is there,” he said. “You are nervous in such

an important tournament, otherwise it would mean you don’t care at all about what you’re doing. I probably hide it well.

“I don’t fear the expectations people may have of me,” he said, adding that his short-term aim is to gain his card for the European Tour. “If I manage to achieve my goals great, if I don’t I’ll be the first not to make a drama out of it and keep playing and training. In the long term I want to win some tournaments on the European Tour.

A major is a dream. If you manage to win on the European Tour, it’s possible things will go right for you during the week of a

major.”

While Matteo is rapidly having to adjust to life under the spotlight whenever he walks out of his parents’ house, behind closed doors he is determined to maintain a low-key life. “I have my friends at school and in my city Verona but I don’t go out much at night,” he said. “I prefer to go home and be tranquil. I’ve returned to normality, school and training. Nothing has changed in my family, nor with my dearest friends. I’m still my old self.” His father agreed, saying: “He hasn’t altered a jot.” — Reuters

Lakers see off Thunder LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles Lakers lost the lead three times in the fourth quarter before eding the Oklahoma City Thunder 95-92 to take a 20 lead in the NBA Western Conference playoff series.

Kobe Bryant scored 39 points, carrying the Lakers in the fourth quarter. He was 13 of 15 from the free throw line, but just 12 of 28 from the floor.

Los Angeles’ Pau Gasol had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Andrew Bynum had six points and 10 boards for the defending champions, who failed to sustain their strong start for the second straight game. Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 32 points and Russell Westbrook added 19, making all eight of his free throws.

Game 3 is Thursday in Oklahoma City. The Lakers are 39-1 all-time when winning first two games of a bestof-seven series.

Celtics 106, Heat 77 In Boston, the hosts didn’t miss Kevin Garnett at all, as Glen Davis filled in to lead them over Miami for a 2-0 series lead. With Garnett serving a one-game suspension, Davis started and had 23 points and eight rebounds, going aggressively to the basket to grab missed shots and draw fouls. The Heat led 29-25 but the Celtics used a 44-8 surge over the next 16 1/2 minutes to go ahead 69-37, capped by one of Ray Allen’s five 3-pointers in the third quarter. Allen led the Celtics with 25 points, while Dwyane Wade scored 29 for the Heat.

Game 3 is tomorrow in Miami.

LOS ANGELES: Lakers guard Derek Fisher (left) stumbles after colliding with Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant during the first half of Game Two in a first-round NBA basketball playoff series. —AP

Bomb-hit India fights to secure sporting events NEW DELHI: India sought to reassure foreign participants that it will provide foolproof security for the Commonwealth Games this year as the United States issued a new travel alert for New Delhi yesterday.

Threats to sporting events were underscored last week when bombs went off outside a packed cricket stadium in south India, stirring fears the country may not be able to secure multi-city events involving tens of thousands of players and spectators.

Highlighting the fears, the United States issued a travel alert yesterday, saying “there are increased indications that terrorists are planning attacks in New Delhi”. The advisory listed popular shopping districts, some of which have been attacked in the past.

But police have sought to calm the jitters, citing measures such as turning stadia in New Delhi into vitual fortresses, food tasters for

athletes and aerial vigils.

Delhi hosted a successful hockey World Cup this year.

“I cannot pre-empt threats, threats are there, but we are wide awake,” Y.S. Dadwal, chief of Delhi Police, told Reuters. “We will not allow anything to happen, security is top priority ... It will be a foolproof system in place.”

The October Commonwealth Games in New Delhi involving 54 nations will be by far the largest global sporting event ever in the countr y. The countr y hosts the cricket World Cup in 2011.

India is keen to put together a world-class show to go with its image of a fast-modernising, emerging economic giant.

But the r un-up to the Games has been mired in controversies and missed constr uction deadlines, sparking a sense of unprofes-

sionalism that is probably now also colouring views about the organisers’ ability to provide foolproof security.

For instance, a full-fledged setup dedicated to the security of the Games should have been in place by now. “One does not get the impression that this is so,” said B. R aman, for mer chief of India’s spy agency. The Hindu newspaper in a report said unsecured construction sites meant militants could sneak in bombs timed to go off even a year later.

In comparison, China’s spectacular hosting of the Olympics last year involved designing and building each stadium in consultation with security and emergency experts. It put in place a central security control room four years before the Games.

Indian police and experts say the Games face a threat because hitting high-profile events generate publicity for

militants. “They make attractive soft targets because of the large crowds, participation of foreign sports personalities and foreign media coverage of the events,” Raman said.

The Commonwealth Games will act as a pointer for next year’s cricket World Cup. While the Games may be a little easier to control because they are in one city, the World Cup spread over eight cities in India will pose a greater challenge in smaller cities where security can be crippled by an under-trained police force.

A top interior ministr y official said in February mili t a n t s m a y t a rg e t o t h e r parts of the country while the Commonwealth Games were on and that the real danger could be from a lone attacker rather than a coordinated attack like the one in Mumbai that killed 166 people. —Reuters

Hawks 96, Bucks 86 In Atlanta, Joe Johnson took control in the fourth quarter to finish off a 27point effort as Atlanta ran away from outmanned Milwaukee.

Josh Smith finished one assist shy of a triple-double for the Hawks, who will head to Milwaukee on Saturday with a 2-0 series lead. Its the first time they’ve won the first two in a best-of-seven series since 1970.

Al Horford scored 20 points for Atlanta, snatching down 10 rebounds and blocking three shots. John Salmons scored 21 points for the Bucks, and Ersan Ilyasova came off the bench for 13 points and 15 rebounds.

Suns 119, Trail Blazers 90 In Phoenix, the hosts rediscovered its highenergy style to beat Portland and square the series 1-1.

Jason Richardson scored 29 points and Grant Hill made 10-of-11 shots for 20 for the Suns. Unlike Game 1, Steve Nash pushed the Suns to their preferred tempo from the start and finished with 13 points and 16 assists.

Amare Stoudemire scored 18. None of the Suns’ star ters played in the fourth quarter.

Mar tell Webster led the Blazers with 16 points. Andre Miller was limited to 12. Nicolas Batum also scored 12 before leaving with a right shoulder strain at the end of the third quarter. The series shifts to Portland for Game 3 today. —AP

BELGIUM: Belgian tennis players Justine Henin (left), Kim Clijsters (center) and Yanina Wickmayer share a light moment during a press conference prior to the Fed Cup meeting Belgium vs Estonia. —AFP

Tsonga wins as Barcelona remembers Samaranch BARCELONA: Third seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made a comfortable winning career debut at the Barcelona Open yesterday as the event paused to pay tribute to former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch. Frenchman Tsonga began putting his clay season back together after losing in the third round last week in Monte Carlo, posting a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Czech Jan Hajek in the second round at the Real Club de Tenis. Meanwhile officials hastily arranged an on-court programme to pay tribute to Catalan Samaranch, a frequent VIP visitor to the city’s premier tennis event, who died on Wednesday at the age of 89 in a Barcelona hospital.

The tour nament obser ved a minute’s silence prior to the start of the afternoon second-round match between Spaniards Marcelo Granollers and David Ferrer. Ferrer then took the first step towards trying to finally win the title, after runner-up finishes to Rafael Nadal at the last two editions, with the eighth seed beating Granollers 7-5, 6-4 to reach the third round. Tsonga required just 65 minutes to lift his clay campaign with the start of the French Open little more than a month away.

The Frenchman saved both of the break points he faced against the 86th-ranked Hajek, who won a round on clay this month in Casablanca. “It was a good first round for me, to win in straight sets,” said Tsonga.

“I felt relaxed out there, had a high percentage of first serves and it’s a great way to

start the tournament.

“I know my next match against (Spanish 15th seed Nicolas) Almagro will be a lot more difficult. He’s going to have the crowd behind him, but I’m ready to take on the challenge.”

Austrian 11th seed Jurgen Melzer staged a comeback to get past Spaniard Oscar Hernandez 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 7-5.

Australian Lleyton Hewitt continued to have his problems with the surface, though, losing to Eduardo Schwank 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 to make an early exit in his first appearance at the tournament in eight years. In 2002 at the height of his tennis powers as world number one and three months away from winning Wimbledon, Hewitt got as far as the semifinals. But after squeezing through a tight first-round match on Tuesday over modest 123rd-ranked Turkish qualifier Marsel Ilhan, the 29-year-old Australian was unable to bounce back against the last Argentine remaining in contention.

Hewitt has been making a return from hip surgery in January-his second hip operation-and will now hope to lift his clay game in Rome next week. Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis put out Jeremy Chardy of France 6-3, 6-2, while Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker reached the third round after beating Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-6 (7/5), 6-3. Home favorite G u i l l e r m o G a rc i a - L o p e z r a l l i e d p a s t Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 1-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4. — AFP

General Secretary Thomas Moolayil

Faux pas Kuwait Times wishes to correct a caption error which appeared on Wednesday’s Sports Page 18 (April 21 2010). The captions were wrongly placed in the story ‘Indian Badminton Association Kuwait

inaugurated’ on different photos of Dr Manimara Chozhan and Thomas Moolayil. Following is the right version of the photographs. We regret for any inconvenience caused. —Sports Editor

President Dr. Manimara Chozhan

Thursday, April 22, 2010

19

SPORTS

Berlin on the brink of return to isolation BERLIN: During the Cold War, Berlin was divided from the rest of Europe by a huge fortified wall and the city could soon be returning to isolation as the continent’s only major capital without a top flight soccer team. Hertha Berlin remains the city’s only representative in the Bundesliga but are teetering on the brink of relegation, essentially needing a minor miracle to stay up.

Stranded at the foot of the table on 23

points Hertha probably need to win all three of their remaining three matches against top clubs Schalke 04, Bayer Leverkusen and league leaders Bayern Munich-to climb into a relegation playoff.

Freiburg currently occupy that spot on 28 points with Hanover 96 a point further back, but Hertha have not given up just yet.

“No one in the team is walking around with their heads down,” Hertha official Gerd Graus said yesterday.

“The atmosphere in the team is very good and everyone knows exactly what needs to be done,” the director of media added. “The fighting spirit is there and do not forget that we have been playing under pressure since the winter break. Captain Arne Friedrich has said what needs to be done: get maximum points. We are used to handling this pressure this season.”

Hertha’s first task is against second-placed Schalke 04 on Sunday, an opponent chasing

a first Bundesliga title for more than half a century.

“We have been written off about five times since the second round started but we are still here, still fighting. We have not been relegated yet and we will not talk about relegation until or if that happens.

We will go into the Schalke match fighting,” Graus added. “If you look at the map there are hardly any European capitals without first team football, that is correct.

But we have not been relegated yet.

Hertha are still here.” After picking up a mere six points from 17 games in the first part of the season, the Berliners looked destined to go down without a fight.

However, the arrival of coach Friedhelm Funkel and some key transfers in the winter break saw the side pick up 17 points in 14 games since then, boasting the league’s best defense in the process with just 12 goals conceded. “Look at our

defense, the best since December.

Relegation or no relegation, this is just hypothesis at the moment. We know what needs to be done and we will go out and try to do it,” Graus added. Bayern are two points clear at the top on 63 points and travel to a Borussia Moenchengladbach side are no longer in relegation danger, while Werder Bremen will be desperate to cling to third spot when they host Cologne. — Reuters

Mourinho nears pinnacle of Europe football again

BUENOS AIRES: Estudiantes de La Plata’s Clemente Rodriguez (left) fight for the ball with Peru’s Alianza Lima’s Walter Vilchez during a Copa Libertadores soccer match. — AP

Estudiantes surprise Alianza BUENOS AIRES: Estudiantes captain Juan Sebastian Veron grabbed a dramatic winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time to give the holders a 1-0 home win over Alianza Lima on Tuesday, putting them into the Libertadores Cup knockout phase.

Veron netted the rebound after Alianza goalkeeper George Forsyth saved his penalty to put the Argentine side top of Group Three with 13 points from their six matches.

Alianza had defender Walter Vilchez sent off three minutes into stoppage time

for a foul on winger Enzo Perez to give away the penalty. The Peruvian team, who had crushed Estudiantes 4-1 when the teams met in Peru in February, finished second with 12 points which they hope will be enough to see them through as one of the six best second-placed teams in the eight groups. Another Peruvian side, Juan Aurich are third with six points after losing 2-0 against bottom team Bolivar in La Paz. The Bolivian side, winning for the first time, finished with four points.

“I feel bitter because we deserved to

draw. Football is like that and it’s over,” goalkeeper Forsyth told reporters. The Estudiantes players were full of praise for Alianza. “It cost us a lot to win. We played against a great team who beat us well in Lima,” said midfielder Rodrigo Brana.

With Argentina coach Diego Maradona looking on, Estudiantes came up against a well organized and tactically astute Alianza team, whose winger Wilmer Aguirre was a handful on the counter-attack. Aguirre had scored a hat-trick in the teams’ first meeting. — Reuters

South Africa marks 50-day countdown to World Cup

SOUTH AFRICA: The Cape Town stadium that will host 2010 Soccer World Cup games seen through the old stadium’s pavilion in the city of Cape Town. Chief local organizer Danny Jordaan marked the 50-day countdown to the World Cup yesterday. —AP KIMBERLEY: Chief local organizer Danny Jordaan marked the 50-day countdown to the World Cup yesterday, saying the tournament was one of South Africa’s “most important defining moments.”

Jordaan said hosting football’s showcase tournament was one of a series of “significant moments that have shaped the country we live in today,” comparing it to Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990, and South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.

Jordaan was in Kimberley, in the country’s Northern Cape province, with South African President Jacob Zuma to mark the 50-day countdown to Africa’s first World Cup. A series of celebrations are planned at the Galeshewe Stadium yesterday, 50 days before the host nation kicks off the 2010 tournament against Mexico on June 11 at Soweto’s Soccer City Stadium.

Jordaan said the World Cup would see South Africa defy the skeptics who thought the country was incapable of hosting the tournament because of its high rate of violent crime and erratic transport system.

“The world has heard so many stories about us (since 1994), sometimes more negative than positive,” Jordaan said. “But this World Cup gives all South Africans the opportunity the show the world who we really are 16 years into our democracy.” Zuma has said the country was “more than ready” to host football’s biggest event.

Jordaan said the 10 World Cup stadiums were ready, and the needed infrastructure was in place. He also said tickets “were selling fast” despite worries over empty stadiums when organizers put 500,000 unsold tickets on sale on April 15. — AP

Fans would give up food, jobs for World Cup glory SINGAPORE: What would you sacrifice to see your country win soccer’s World Cup? Food for a week, according to a survey that also found fans willing to lose a limb for their team’s glory. Fifty-one percent of respondents to the tongue-in-cheek survey of 20,000 people, who live in North America but hail from countries with teams in the June 11-July 11 World Cup, said they would starve themselves for a week if that would bring victory to their national squad.

More than 40 percent offered to give up dating for a year, while seven percent said they would gladly give up their job to see their country win the title. A further four percent were willing to give away a body part. The survey was conducted by US-based

international calling firm VIP Communications Inc (www.JoinVIP.com) ahead of the South African extravaganza featuring 32 nations.

It found that a majority of English respondents — 93 percentwould give up food for a week to see England win, while some 70 percent of Italians would give up their job for an Italian victory.

Americans were most willing to sacrifice their homes, while South Koreans were most ready to sacrifice their love life. And the people least willing to make a sacrifice?

The survey found that only 3 percent of Slovakians would give up anything to improve their country’s chances of victory. — Reuters

MILAN: Jose Mourinho is nearing the pinnacle of European football again. The Special One outmaneuvered counterpart Pep Guardiola as Inter suffocated Barcelona in a 3-1 win in the opening leg of the Champions League semifinals on Tuesday.

Mourinho guided FC Porto to the European title in 2004, and he can sense he’s close to duplicating the feat with Inter.

“If Inter doesn’t win this year, it will win next year,” Mourinho said. “This squad is no longer too small for Europe.” Only two coaches have won the European Cup with two different clubs: Ernst Happel with Feyenoord in 1970 and Hamburg in 1983, and Ottmar Hitzfeld with Borussia Dortmund in 1997 and Bayern Munich in 2001. Current Bayern manager Louis van Gaal, a winner with Ajax in 1995, is also attempting the feat this time around, with the German club facing Lyon in the other semifinal.

Wary of Barcelona’s creative forwards and standout Lionel Messi, Mourinho designed an attacking game that involved three forwards Goran Pandev, Diego Milito and Samuel Eto’o and kept the pressure on from start to finish. “Inter is a different squad from when I was playing here,” said Barcelona forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who swapped places with Eto’o this season. “They’re more confident now and they attack more. We didn’t play like we normally do except for the last 20-25 minutes.”

After Pedro Rodriguez gave Barcelona the lead in the 19th minute, Inter hit back with goals from Wesley Sneijder, Maicon and Milito. “They play spectacular football and they’re all good technically, but we pressed a lot like the coach wanted, and it worked,” Pandev said. “Barca controlled the ball a lot but we were positioned well. We pressed and then began to counterattack and we had a lot of scoring chances.” The only negative note for Inter was the behavior of 19-year-old forward Mario Balotelli, who threw his jersey to the ground after being whistled at by fans and stormed angrily off the field while his teammates celebrated.

Inter extended its winning in streak in Europe to six games, stretching back to a 2-0 loss at Barcelona in the group stage in November. The same result in next Wednesday’s return game would eliminate Inter, although a 1-0 loss or a draw would be enough to advance. “You’ve got to always keep the pressure on Barcelona,” Inter executive Ernesto Paolillo said. “We can’t be too passive. We’ve got to think like it’s starting over at 0-0, and if we have that mentality then we can win.”

Reaching the final would put Inter president Massimo Moratti within reach of matching his father Angelo’s two European Cup victories with Inter in the 1960s. Since the younger Moratti took over Inter in 1995, he’s had to watch jealously as city rival AC Milan won three Champions League titles. Inter has won Serie A the last four years, and Moratti’s goal now is clearly the European title. “I’m proud of Mourinho and the players’ performance also filled me with pride,” Moratti said. “The fans were extraordinary, too, because they supported the team the entire time and it turned out to be worth it.” — AP

Matches on TV (local timings) Europa League Atletico v Liverpool - ...22:00 Al Jazeera Sport +4 Hamburg v Fulham - ....22:00 Al Jazeera Sport +5

ITALY: Inter Milan’s Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho celebrates their 3-1 victory over Barcelona during their UEFA Champions League first leg semifinal.—AFP

Pompey debt hits 120 million pounds LONDON: Debts at Premier League crisis club Portsmouth were revealed to be around 120 million pounds (185 million dollars) in total yesterday — some 40 million pounds more than previously estimated.

Portsmouth, bottom of the table and already relegated after being deducted nine points last month for entering administration, sent a 70-page document to all their known creditors yesterday detailing their debts which include the 38.2 million owed to former owners in unsecured loans.

The club have passed through four owners this season in a series of moves that have done precious little for Portsmouth’s off-the-field stability.

Hong Kong-based businessman Balram Chainrai, the club’s most recent owner, is owed 14 million pounds, while Portsmouth’s total unpaid bill to British tax authorities amounts to 17.1 million pounds.

Portsmouth, whose Fratton Park ground now holds some 20,000 fans, have also been hard hit by transfer fees a club of their size could not afford without the support of an indulgent benefactor.

They owe 9.76 million pounds to 26 agents, including 2.3 million pounds which is due to one agent for just one deal, reported to be the transfer of Lassana Diarra. Portsmouth are owed a total of 14

million pounds from Inter Milan, Liverpool and Tottenham for the respective sales of Sulley Muntari, Glen Johnson and Jermain Defoe.

But that money only reduces the club’s gross debt down to around 105 million pounds, substantially more than the figure of around 76 million pounds administrators had originally expected.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, speaking earlier yesterday, said the way his organisation distributes revenue to topflight clubs could not be blamed for Portsmouth’s plight . “I’m on record as saying in January that if a club, whilst in the Premier League, went into administration it would be down to bad management at the club. And it is,” Scudamore told BBC Radio.

“If you start the season knowing you’re going to get between 30 million pounds and 50 million pounds as a starter from the Premier League, through the year, it is entirely possible to get yourself organised so you don’t get into the difficulties that Portsmouth got into.”

Former manager Harry Redknapp, now at Tottenham Hotspur, has come under fire for the recruitment of several high-profile players even though it was under his guidance that Portsmouth won the FA Cup in 2008.—AFP

China to send hundreds of teenagers to Europe clubs BEIJING: China will send up to 500 teenagers to train at top European clubs over the next five years, according to the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The plan by China’s new football chief Wei Di is aimed at developing the country’s most talented players between the ages of 15 and 17, who are expected to spend two or three years at various European clubs in small groups of five or six.

“We are working on the details of the project. There will be 80-100 players dispatched to Europe each and every year from this year on,” CFA spokesman Dong Hua said by telephone.

Chinese media said Spain’s La Liga would be

the major destination as Wei believes there is a similarity in body size and strength between Chinese and Spanish footballers.

“We have been in good cooperation with many European FAs and clubs,” said Dong. “We want our young players with the best potential to train in the Spanish, English, German, Italian and Dutch leagues, which have the highest standards of youth development.” This will be the latest attempt by China to produce elite footballers through training overseas, following the first squad sent to Hungary in the 1950s and more recent groups who spent long periods in Brazil and Germany. — Reuters

www.kuwaittimes.net

MUNICH: Bayern’s Arjen Robben (center) controls a ball during the Champions League semifinal first leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Lyon. — AP

Robben wins it for Bayern, Ribery sees red MUNICH: Dutch winger Arjen Robben’s strike sealed Bayern Munich’s 1-0 victory over Lyon yesterday to give the German giants an advantage for the second-leg of the Champions League semi-final.

The first-half dismissal of Bayern’s Franck Ribery for a dangerous challenge was cancelled out by Lyon’s France defender Jeremy Toulalan also getting sent off just after the break for a second yellow card before Robben’s winning goal.

Since joining Bayern from Real Madrid in August 2009, Robben has now scored 20 goals in all competitions, but none so important as his 69th-minute strike which

bounced off the back of team-mate Thomas Mueller and into the net.

“It was tremendously important that we kept our composure, even with ten men,” said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm with Mark van Bommel suspended.

“We played well and held the ball well.

“It will be hard to comfort Franck after his red card, he is an excellent footballer who always wants to win. “It is bitter for us that he is suspended for the second-leg.”

All the pre-match hype was around Ribery, who was questioned by French police at the weekend after being involved in the under-age call-girl scandal which has

rocked the French football team.

Ribery kept a low profile going into the game, but both he and Toulalan will now miss the second-leg next week back in Lyon.

Having had his chances to score, Ribery was shown a straight red by referee Roberto Rosetti on 37 minutes for a dangerous foul on Lyon’s striker Lisandro Lopez as he body-checked the Argentinian while fighting for the ball.

Bayern’s fans were braying for blood after Rosetti flashed his red card, especially as Lopez was quickly on his feet after initially writhing in agony.

The game’s tempo dropped as Bayern Louis van Gaal reorganised his team into a more offensive formation as it stayed 0-0 at the break.

At the interval, Bayern’s defensive midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk came on for striker Ivica Olic, but Lyon were soon also reduced to ten men when France defender Toulalan seemed to let the occasion get to him.

Having carelessly left his trailing leg to trip Robben, he sent the Dutchman tumbling to the turf to earn himself a yellow card on 51 minutes.

Then just three minutes later, he kicked

away Bastian Schweinsteiger’s leg when challenging for a ball and Rosetti was reaching for his red card before Schweinsteiger landed on the pitch on 54 minutes.

Lyon coach Claude Puel immediately brought on Cameroon midfielder Jean Makoun for Miralem Pjanic to bring on fresh legs, while van Gaal brought in Germany striker Mario Gomez for midfielder Danijel Pranjic on 63 minutes.

Gomez, who has struggled for confidence since his transfer from Stuttgart more than 18 months ago, missed a clear header created by Robben, but the pres-

Hamburg hope to sink Fulham

EPL results/standings Hull 0 Aston Villa 2 (Agbonlahor 13, Milner 76-pen) English Premier League table after yesterday’s match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Chelsea Man Utd Arsenal Tottenham Man City Aston Villa Liverpool Everton Birmingham

35 35 35 34 34 35 35 35 35

24 24 22 19 17 16 17 14 12

5 4 5 7 11 13 8 12 11

6 7 8 8 6 6 10 9 12

86 78 78 62 69 50 57 57 35

32 27 39 34 42 35 33 48 43

77 76 71 64 62 61 59 54 47

Fulham 34 11 10 Stoke 34 10 13 Blackburn 35 11 10 Sunderland 35 10 11 Bolton 35 9 8 Wigan 35 9 8 W’hampton 35 8 10 West Ham 35 7 10 Hull 35 6 10 Burnley 35 7 6 Portsmouth 35 6 6 Note: Portsmouth deducted 9 administration

13 35 11 33 14 37 14 46 18 38 18 33 17 28 18 41 19 32 22 37 23 29 points for

37 43 37 43 53 43 53 41 63 35 66 35 51 34 60 31 72 28 74 27 62 15 entering

Villa move up EPL table as Hull suffer Aston Villa 2

Hull 0

LONDON: Aston Villa kept alive their slim hopes of Champions League qualification with an easy 2-0 Premier League win at relegation-threatened Hull City yesterday.

Gabriel Agbonlahor’s smart finish inside the box gave Villa the lead on 14 minutes but Kevin Kilbane missed a great chance to equalise for the hosts soon afterwards.

Hull striker Jan Venegoor of Hesselink was carried off on a stretcher in the second

half following a clash of heads and James Milner added a penalty for Villa 12 minutes from time. Villa moved above Liverpool into sixth on 61 points from 35 matches and trail Tottenham Hotspur, who occupy the fourth and final Champions League qualifying spot, by three having played one game more.

Hull, in 18th place with 28 points, are three points adrift of safety with just three games left.— Reuters

LONDON: Hull City’s English forward Craig Fagan (left) clashes heads with Aston Villa’s James Collins during their English Premier League football match. — AFP

French football star Benzema in prostitution scandal PARIS: Police will question French footballer Karim Benzema over prostitution involving a minor, an official said yesterday, making him the third star of France’s national team to be named in the scandal.

The judicial official, speaking on condition of anonymity under standard French practice, said a prostitute had told investigators

she had sex with Real Madrid striker Benzema, 22, in 2008 when she was 16.

In France a person under 18 is considered a minor. Sex with a prostitute under 18 carries a jail term of up to three years and a fine of 45,000 euros (60,000 dollars). The woman said she also had relations with Benzema’s France

team mate Franck Ribery in 2009, when she was 17 but told him she was over 18, the source said.

A judicial official on Monday named Ribery in the case but said the Bayern Munich winger claimed he did not know she was a minor. The source said Ribery, 27, told police he had relations with her and paid for her to visit him in

sure finally told for Bayern.

Robben launched his shot from well outside the penalty area on 69 minutes and the ball deflected off the back of Mueller to beat Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

Despite the French side’s efforts, Bayern stayed in control and will take a slender advantage to Lyon for the secondleg on April 27.

Puel insisted that the tie was far from over “though it’s a shame we didn’t manage to hang on to our numerical superiority to impose our game a little more and get a better grip on things. “But it’s all to play for in the return.”— AFP

Germany but denied paying her a direct sum for sex.

Sources close to the investigation said police had also questioned a third France international, Lyon winger Sidney Govou, 30.

The judicial official said the same woman told police Govou had sex with her in March, when she was 18, and that he was sur-

prised when she asked him to pay her several hundred euros afterwards. Govou’s lawyer Thierry Braillard insisted Sunday that Govou “is not linked either closely or remotely to any kind of prostitution network”.

None of the players has so far been charged in the case, which centres on a suspected prostitu-

tion network at a Paris night club frequented by certain French internationals. A judge must decide whether charges are brought.

“Possible criminal proceedings in a case like this one depend on the client’s knowledge or awareness that the relationship involves a minor,” an official said.—AFP

MUNICH: Hamburg SV coach Bruno Labbadia knows he could be out of a job if they fail to advance past England’s Fulham in their Europa League semi-final.

Getting a good result in the first leg today is crucial for the northern German side, who have slipped to seventh in the Bundesliga after a disastrous second part of the season saw them record only four wins in 14 games.

They are also unlikely to claim a place in the Europa League next season. Labbadia said his team had not played to their full potential in a shock 1-0 defeat to visitors Mainz at the weekend, but he could be the one paying the price if Hamburg fail to advance to the Europa League final on May 12 at their own stadium.

Labbadia will be able to call on striker Paolo Guerrero for the match against Fulham. The Peruvian is suspended from league duty for an attack on a fan.

“Unfortunately I had to watch from the stands on the weekend and could not help the team but I am available for the Europa League,” said the 26-year-old striker, who missed most of the season with a cruciate ligament injury. “I want to show that I am back in top form.

“Hamburg will be missing experienced midfielder Marcell Jansen, whose World Cup hopes are in doubt due to a long-term injury. Fulham have had to travel by train under the English Channel due to the flight disrup-

tions from the volcanic ash spreading from Iceland, and the semi-finals of a major European competition represents uncharted waters for the west London club.

A little more than two years after coach Roy Hodgson arrived with the club in dire danger of relegation, any sense of inferiority on the European stage was blown away by their stunning victory over Juventus and their elimination of German champions VfL Wolfsburg in the last two rounds.

“The most important thing is staying focused on the task in hand and just get on with it,” defender Aaron Hughes told www.fulhamfc.com. “We know what’s at stake and we’ve done really, really well to get here and we’re eager not to let it go. We want to take that extra step to the final.

“There are a lot of us that haven’t won something so prestigious.

Obviously Danny Murphy’s won a few trophies with Liverpool but the majority of us haven’t so for us it would be a big thing.”

Fans who endured their last two goalless Premier League games will be hoping for better things today but only a few hundred are expected to attend the game because of the travel difficulties.

Bobby Zamora, who has scored six goals in the competition this season, is Fulham’s key weapon and is seeking his 20th goal in all to support his late bid for an England World Cup call-up. — Reuters

Survey: Ford has industry’s highest customer satisfaction

22

Gulf Bank awarded ‘Best Product’, ‘Best Loyalty Program’

23

Global recovery patchy but quicker: IMF

25

Thursday, April 22, 2010

www.kuwaittimes.net

Airlines lost over $1.7bn by Tuesday: IATA Bisignani says recovery will take at least three years FRANKFURT/BERLIN: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that the crisis caused by a volcanic ash cloud above Europe cost airlines revenues of more than $1.7 billion by Tuesday.

“For an industry that lost $9.4 billion last year and was forecast to lose a further $2.8 billion in 2010, this crisis is devastating,” IATA Director General and Chief Executive Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement yesterday.

Speaking at a press briefing in Berlin, Bisignani said that he expects it will take the airline industry at least three years to recover from the volcano crisis.

Most of Europe’s airspace closed on Thursday after a huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano spread out, stranding millions of business passengers and holidaymakers and paralysing freight and businesses worldwide.

On the three days from April 17 to April 19, when the air traffic disruptions were the biggest, lost revenues reached $400 million per day, IATA said.

At its worst, the crisis affected 29 percent of global aviation and 1.2 million passengers a day. By yesterday morning, most of European airspace was open for business, but with so many planes having been grounded it could take days or weeks to clear the backlog.

While the shut-down led to lost revenues for airlines, it also lowered their operating costs for a short time, Bisignani said. Fuel costs dropped by $110 million a day, for instance.

Overall, Bisignani reiterated

that the hit by the volcano crisis was bigger than the impact of the Sept. 11 2001 attacks, which left airlines grounded for three days.

Bisignani urged governments to examine ways to compensate airlines for lost revenues. The US government provided $5 billion to compensate airlines after the Sept. 11 attacks, and the European Union also provided assistance to carriers.

Lufthansa Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber, speaking at the same Berlin press briefing as Bisignani, said he will not apply for compensation to offset the soaring burden.

“At the operating level, we estimate that Lufthansa’s loss will exceed 100 million euros ($134.4 million) and could go as high as 200 million euros if the disruptions to traffic remain substantial until next week,” LBBW analyst Per-Ola Hellgren said. But he said that the carrier should be able to recover some of the losses as early as next week as passengers who postponed their trips fill seats on Lufthansa aircraft.

Singapore Airlines, the world’s second-largest airline by market value said ash-related disruptions had cost it $29 million from cargo and passenger operations.

Shares of Lufthansa were up 1.1 percent at 12.755 euros by 0915 GMT, while the STOXX Europe 600 Travel & Leisure was up 1.5 percent.

British Airways was up 1.2 percent at 236.6 pence, and Air France-KLM was 0.9 percent higher. — Reuters

ALAFCO Q2 net profit up 58%

NICOSIA: Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias (right) reacts as Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani looks at a model of a 55,000 square-meter hotel, shopping office and residential complex that Cyprus and Qatar have agreed to jointly fund and build in the center of the island’s divided capital Nicosia yesterday.—AP

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Aviation Lease and Finance Co (ALAFCO) yesterday posted a 58.3 percent rise in net profit in the second quarter of its fiscal year.

Net income in the three months to March 31 rose to KD2.77 million ($9.62 million), from KD1.75 million in the same period the year earlier, according to Reuters calculations based on previous financial data.

The aircraft leasing company made a profit of KD5 million in the first half of its fiscal year, it said in a statement, up 57 percent from the corresponding period a year earlier.

It said earnings per share reached 6.8 fils in the first half of its fiscal year, compared with 4.3 fils in the corresponding period last fiscal year.

Chairman Ahmad Alzabin said in the statement that financing during the first half for the acquisition of new aircraft f ro m l o c a l a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l b a n k s amounted to $310 million.

“The ability to obtain financing to fund aircraft purchases in these times when liquidity is tight is a reflection of the confidence financiers have in ALAFCO’s operations and its growth plan,” Alzabin said.

The company leases Airbus and Boeing aircraft to airlines in Europe, A s i a , Afr i c a a n d t h e M i d d l e E a s t .

Alzabin said ALAFCO was on track to reach a fleet of 50 aircraft by the end of the year. —Reuters

Qatar to pour millions in Cyprus property NICOSIA: Qatar and Cyprus signed an agreement yesterday to build a multimillion dollar luxury hotel, office and residential complex in the commercial center of the island’s capital.

Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and Cypr us President Dimitris Christofias

signed the deal to establish a joint venture in which the two countries will hold an equal stake in the 55,000 square-meter (592,020 square foot) complex that will also include retail shopping and residential quarters.

Construction crews are expected to break ground for the first phase

of the complex — a 5-star hotel — by the end of the year, said Mohmmed Bin Ali Al Hedfa, Chief Executive Officer of Qatari Diar, Qatar’s real estate investment company.

The Qatari official put the hotel’s estimated cost at over $150 million (111.7 million euros) and it will be

completed within 30 months once construction begins. Officials did not disclose the overall cost of the complex. Al Hedfa said oil-rich Qatar opted to invest in Cyprus because the island was left relatively unscathed from the global economic crisis.

“We believe in the economy of

Cyprus,” he said. Cyprus Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis said the government will contribute the land on which the complex will be built. The land’s value will be calculated by an international real estate appraiser. The two countries also signed an agreement on forging closer air transport links. — AP

Ukraine, Russia do deal on gas price, Black Sea fleet

PARIS: International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani gestures during a press conference in Paris yesterday.— AP

Bahrain’s GIB raises $933m in bond sale MANAMA: Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank (GIB) has raised 3.5 billion Saudi riyals ($933 million) in a bond sale that it priced at 110 basis points over the Saudi interbank offered rate, it said yesterday.

Saudi-backed GIB said the five-year issue was placed with private investors. Calyon Saudi Fransi, Samba Capital, Riyad Capital and GIB’s unit GIB Financial Services were book runners and lead managers on the issue. GIB said it had initially planned to raise 3 billion Saudi riyals, but increased the amount after attracting an order book of 6.3 billion riyals.

In November, GIB raised 2 billion riyals via a three-year bond priced at 127.5 basis points over the Saudi Interbank Offer Rate (SIBOR).

It had postponed another issue in international markets, denominated in dollars, after Dubai World rattled global markets in November last year with an announcement that it would ask for a standstill on some of its debt just when GIB finalized the pricing of the bond.

As a result, Gulf Arab fixed-income markets remained largely shut for months, but are now slowly coming back to action with a series of issues led mainly by Saudi banks.

Banque Saudi Fransi raised $650 million in a bond sale in March. — Reuters

KHARKIV: Russia yesterday agreed to cut the price of its huge natural gas supplies to Ukraine in exchange for a 25year extension of the lease of its Black Sea fleet on Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

The announcement of the deal came after talks in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv between Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

“Our Ukrainian partners will receive a discount in the price of gas,” Medvedev told journalists. Referring to the complicated formula by which the pricing for gas to Ukraine is calculated, he said Russia would give Ukraine a $100 discount on gas if the price was higher than $330 thousand cubic metres (tcm), or 30 percent if the price was lower than that.

Yanukovich, who said the gas agreement was “unprecedented in the history of our relations”, said Ukraine would under take to impor t 30 billion cubic metres of gas in 2010, to rise to 40 billion in 2011.

The European Union has a stake in a new gas deal between Ukraine and Russia since it receives a fifth of its gas from Russia via Ukraine’s pipeline network.

Medvedev said the two sides had also agreed to extend for 25 years the lease of Russia’s Black Sea fleet which is based in Ukraine’s Crimean por t of Sevastopol and is due to pull out in 2017 under a 1997 agreement.

“This will give a greater, better guarantee for European security in the Black Sea basin,” said Medvedev. It was not immediately clear if the 25 period would run from 2017 or from this year.

The extension of the Russian fleet’s lease seemed certain to trigger criticism from the political opposition which has been insisting on a scheduled pull-out in 2017 as a matter of sovereignty.

The new Ukrainian leadership needs a lower price for its huge gas imports from Russia to nail down the detail of a 2010

draft budget and secure a $12 billion credit line from the Inter national Monetary Fund. Fresh credit from the fund is seen by the new Yanukovich administration as vital for helping the economy to recover from the global downtur n, which battered its main export industries, and to restore investor confidence.

Both leaders spoke in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv of turning a new page in relations between Ukraine and Russia af ter the deep chill when the proWestern Viktor Yushchenko was in power.

The present gas agreement between the two countries foresees the ex-Soviet republic paying an average of $334 per tcm for its gas from Russia which the Ukrainian government says would have a disastrous effect on the economy.

“If the presidents today agree on an average price of $240 for the year, then ... it will not be necessary to raise the price of gas in the communal sector and for the population,” Deputy Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergey Tigipko Tigipko told reporters in Kiev.

The current 10-year agreement was signed early in 2009 by the previous Ukrainian gover nment, which the Yanukovich administration has accused of leading the economy to ruin.

A pricing dispute between the two countries preceding the 2009 agreement left customers without gas for nearly three midwinter weeks.

A lower gas price will help Kiev balance its books and achieve budget targets that will unlock new credit from the IMF. Tigipko said on Tuesday he would put a draft government proposal to the IMF in Washington this week for a new $12 billion program over 2 1/2 years.

Ukraine had been on a $16.4 billion bailout program from the fund. But that was suspended late last year because the previous administration of Viktor Yushchenko reneged on promises of fiscal restraint. —Reuters

KHARKIV, Ukraine: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (left) and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych exchange folders with signed documents during their meeting in Kharkiv yesterday. — AFP

Ailing Saudi Saad group promises to pay banks RIYADH: Indebted Saudi conglomerate Saad Group yesterday promised to repay the billions of dollars it owes but did not specify when, and said that it had not reached any agreement with banks.

Reuters Loan Pricing Corp data shows two syndicated loans worth a total of about $5.5 billion are due in 2012. Bankers have said the total owed by Saad is higher, and expect writedowns to affect 120 banks.

Maan Al-Zayer, chief financial officer of Saad Group, did not say how much Saad owed, but he told reporters that lenders to another Saudi group, Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Bros Co (AHAB), would also be repaid. Algosaibi claims Saad owes it money, and puts its own total debts at $9.2 billion.

Both groups are seeking to restructure their debt

and face disputes inside and outside Saudi Arabia.

“Banks will be able to get their money back from both Algosaibi and Saad in due course,” Zayer said. He added that there has been no agreement with banks over debt restructuring.

An Algosaibi spokesman welcomed the announcement.

“As the Algosaibis have said, it is entirely appropriate for (Saad Group head) Maan Al Sanea or the Saad group (to) repay the creditors all monies owed from this matter. We look forward to seeing their proposals to solve this problem.”

Zayer said he favored using Saudi Arabia’s judicial system to settle the disputes, which have spilled over into other jurisdictions, including the Cayman Islands and the United States. — Reuters

22

BUSINESS

Thursday, April 22, 2010

No sign of more output from kingdom as oil trades over $80

Saudi pumps 8.05m bpd crude in April, output remains steady DUBAI: Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is pumping around 8.05 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in April, a senior Gulf OPEC delegate said yesterday, little changed from March.

Oil prices have moved above the $70-$80 range that OPEC’s biggest producer has pegged as fair for consumers and producers, but the kingdom and other core Gulf OPEC members have yet to respond with an increase in supply. “April production is 8.05 million bpd,” the delegate told Reuters.

In March, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-

Naimi said output was around 8.0-8.1 million bpd.

US crude traded around $84.45 a barrel yesterday, down a few dollars from a high above $87 hit earlier in April. Gulf Arab producers Saudi, Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar have held their line and pumped close to target despite higher prices. Saudi Arabia holds most of the spare capacity OPEC could use to boost output. That supply cushion stood at around 4.5 million bpd, the delegate said.

The Organization of the Petroleum

Exporting Countries has kept output targets steady for more than a year, but since mid-2009 rising oil prices have encouraged many members to informally raise supply.

For the core Gulf group, crude has rallied due to optimism that economic recovery would boost oil demand and tighten the market in the future, rather than because of any actual supply shortage.

High global oil inventories, which built up as demand contracted with the global economic downturn, remain an

issue of concern for producers.

“The oil price is not related at all to there being a shortage,” Qatar’s Oil Minister Abdullah Al-Attiyah said on Sunday. “Inventory is very comfortable.” OPEC, supplier of more than a third of the world’s crude, would consider boosting output if the price topped $100 a barrel, Kuwait’s Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah said earlier in April. OPEC delegates have said the group would need to see prices of at least $90 before considering any change in supply. — Reuters

A golden chance to win with Wataniya Red Draw campaign 6 BMW cars, 5 FIFA World Cup Tickets, 48 Blackberries and much more KUWAIT: Wataniya Telecom, one of the leaders in telecom innovation in the region, is launching a yearlong campaign to guarantee every customer a winning experience. The campaign is considered as a tribute to the 10th year anniversary, and is designed to give every customer a chance to win so long as he/she is a Wataniya subscriber.

The draw will take place at the 10th of each month starting from May 2010.

Fundamentally, the initiative focuses on the idea in which the more customers

use Wataniya’s services, the more their chances will increase to win prizes.

All Wataniya customers have plenty of chances to win prizes like 6 BMW cars, 6 Mini Cooper of which 3 are Convertible, 12 Yamaha Banshees, 5 FIFA World Cup Tickets including accommodations, 360 cell phones devices, 48 Blackberries and a lot more.

Every customer from prepaid to postpaid to WPro subscribers is qualified to take advantage from this unique opportunity and expect amazing won-

ders every month.

To consider eligible, customer should spend KD 5 minimum per month on Wataniya services and VAS. Additional points are given if he/she spent more than this amount. In addition, postpaid customers are awarded points when paying their bills within the due date.

“The Red Draw campaign is our way of thanking our loyal customer base by ensuring everyone an equal or more possibilities to win prizes. This will

undoubtedly attract other telecom subscribers to join in and avail of the exclusive offers too. Our aim behind this one year campaign is to make every customer feels special and unique!” expressed Abdol Aziz Al-Balool, PR Manager of Wataniya Telecom.

The draw requires no registration; all what is necessary from the customer end is to enjoy the benefits of being an active customer and engage in the many products and services Wataniya has to offer!

Survey: Ford has industry’s highest customer satisfaction with quality DUBAI: Ford Motor Company now has the highest customer satisfaction with vehicle quality among all major automakers, a new consumer research study shows.

Eighty-four percent of customers who purchased 2010 model-year Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars and trucks are satisfied with the quality of their vehicle, a 4 percentage point improvement since the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the first quarter Global Quality Research System (GQRS) study conducted for Ford

by RDA Group of Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

With the improvement, Ford’s customer satisfaction scores are now significantly higher than all other full-line automotive manufacturers, including Asian and European automakers, according to the study.

The study also showed Ford has the fewest number of vehicle defects or “things gone wrong” among all full-line manufacturers in the first three months of ownership. Owners of 2010 model Ford, Lincoln and Mercury own-

ers reported 1,107 TGWs per 1,000 vehicles-an 8 percent improvement compared to last year.

“To become the No. 1 automaker in terms of customer satisfaction with vehicle quality is amazing accomplishment and testament to the whole company’s commitment to quality,” said Bennie Fowler, Ford group vice president, Global Quality. “All the third parties studies are showing the same thing - Ford now has world-class quality.”

As Ford’s quality has

improved, it has reduced warranty repair rates on vehicles in their first three months of service by an average of more than 40 percent in every major business region around the world in the past three years.

“Ford has proven its commitment to quality by demonstrating steady improvements through consistency and discipline.” said Donald Pietrowski, president, RDA Group. “Those improvements are clearly reflected in rising customer satisfaction with its products.”

Ford captured eight segment leaders in customer satisfaction, TGW or both. Notably, Fusion Hybrid owners now report 93 percent satisfaction with the quality of their vehicle while 92 percent of Taurus owners are satisfied.

The following models led their respective segments in the survey: • Taurus - Satisfaction leader D/E car.

• Fusion Hybrid -Satisfaction leader C/D car • Milan Hybrid - TGW leader C/D car • Focus-Satisfaction leader C car • Mountaineer - TGW leader Medium Traditional Utility • Expedition - TGW and Satisfaction leader Large Utility • Navigator - TGW and Satisfaction Leader Large Premium Utility • Ranger - TGW and Satisfaction Leader Compact Pickup These dramatic gains in quality have also contributed to a 23 percent year-over-year improvement in the resale values of Ford

vehicles with one to five years on the road - outpacing the industry average by 4 percentage points.

“While we are proud of the progress we’ve made, we know how important it is to keep the momentum going,” said Fowler.

“We can never be satisfied.”

“This is another achievement for the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brand, proving that we are on the right path with our One Ford plan.

Customers in the Middle East will be pleased to learn that their decisions to own any of our vehicles, especially Taurus, is backed by real-time data from customers around the world who are satisfied with the quality of our products,” said Hussein Murad, Ford Middle East’s director of Sales.

The GQRS study is conducted on a quarterly basis with scores assessed from survey responses collected from owners of vehicles purchased within specific time frames. New vehicle owners are asked to report any defects or issues as well as rate their satisfaction with vehicle quality on a scale of 1 to 10 across an array of vehicle systems and features.

New members of Porsche AG supervisory board Dr Wolfgang Porsche remains chairman, Uwe Huck is his deputy DUBAI: In last week’s session (19 April 2010) the Supervisory Board of Dr Ing h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, resolved not only changes in membership on the Supervisory Board, but also an increase in the number of Board Members to 20 Members. However, there are no changes at the top of the Supervisory Board; Dr. Wolfgang Porsche was reelected unanimously as the Chairman and Uwe Huck as his Deputy.

Apart from Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, the shareholders are represented as before on the Supervisory Board by Prof Dr Ferdinand K Piech, Dr. Ferdinand Oliver Porsche, Hans-Peter Porsche, and Dr. Hans Michel Piech. New Members of the Board are Prof. Dr Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG and the Chairman of the Board of Management of Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Hans Dieter P?tsch, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG and Member of the Board of Management of Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Dr. Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, Christian Klingler, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, and Prof. Dr. Horst Neumann, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG. Ferdinand

Dr Wolfgang Porsche - Chairman of Supervisory Board of Dr Ing h.c. F. Porsche AG PiÎch, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Lehner, and Josef Ahorner are no longer on the Supervisory Board of Porsche AG. As in the past, the employees are represented on the Supervisory Board by Uwe Huck, Werner Weresch, Antonio Girone, Walter Uhl, Rolf Frech, Jurgen Kapfer, Hans Baur, and Hansjorg Schmierer. As a result of the enlargement of the Board, Gunther Magerer, the Deputy Chairman of the Works Council of Porsche AG, and Kai Bliesener, the Press Spokesman of the IG Metall

Baden-Wurttemberg metalworkers’ union, were appointed new Members of the Board representing the employees.

In the session the Supervisory Board also appointed Dr. Hans Michel Piech, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Hans Dieter Potsch representing the shareholders and Hans Baur, Werner Weresch, and Walter Uhl representing the employees as new Members of the Permanent Committee of the Supervisory Board joining Dr. Wolfgang Porsche and Uwe Huck in this function.

KUWAIT: Warba Insurance Co held the Special Marketing Skills Training for the marketing officers and employees of LIC department. The two-day intensive training was conducted by Ashok Kumar, Principal of Insurance Sales Training Institute, National Insurance Academy Campus, Pune, India.

It was attended by 40 people. The training program was a grand success as all the participants showed active participation in group discussions, keen interest in presenting their cases and well appreciated Ashok Kumar.

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2830000 .4380000 .385000 .2680000 .2810000 .2640000 .0045000 .0020000 .0779910 .7598420 .4020000 .0750000 .7448930 .0045000 .0500000

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 .2873000 .4402660 .3872940 .2700910 .2835820 .0520390 .0400400 .2667140 .0370090 .2088690 .0031010 .0064550 .0025310 .0034300 .0041940 .0782600 .7624540 .4063200 .0766520 .7466070 .0065140

US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals

TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2894000 .4433760 .2720040 .0771410

.2930000 .4460000 .3920000 .2770000 .2890000 .2720000 .0075000 .0035000 .0787750 .7674790 .4170000 .0790000 .7523790 .0072000 .0580000

291.130 194.640 271.300 269.020 287.000 ASIAN COUNTRIES

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

3.114 6.493 3.430 2.529 4.079 210.800 37.220 4.168 6.505 8.982 0.301 0.292 GCC COUNTRIES

.2894000 .4433760 .3900290 .2720040 .2855900 .0524070 .0403230 .2685970 .0372710 .2103490 .0031230 .0065010 .0025490 .0034540 .0042230 .0787590 .7673160 .4091980 .0771410 .7513680 .0065600

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

77.054 79.384 750.620 767.400 78.690 ARAB COUNTRIES

Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound Yemen Riyal Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

54.750 52.214 1.286 205.200 408.010 193.830 6.302 35.220 GOLD

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

222.000 114.000 59.000

Bahrain Exchange Company

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer Euro Sterling Pound

Canadian dollar Turkish lire Swiss Franc Australian dollar US Dollar Buying

288.800 388.720 445.330

COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash

SELL CASH 272.700 767.850 4.420 293.400 567.000 15.800 53.600 167.800 54.360 391.500

SELL DRAFT 271.200 767.850 4.167 291.900

211.700 52.254 390.000

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

37.910 6.800 0.035 0.293 0.258 3.200 409.870 0.195 92.340 47.100 4.260 209.300 2.183 50.100 750.040 3.510 6.720 79.860 77.090 211.710 41.600 2.736 448.500 41.300 273.900 6.400 9.310 217.900 78.790 289.100 1.380

37.760 6.500

406.140 0.194 92.340 4.090 207.600

272.400 9.120 78.690 288.700

1,235.340

Sterling Pound US Dollar

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. 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 446.000 288.700

288.850 3.445 6.510 2.540 4.170 6.545 78.695 77.195 767.500 52.210 449.200 0.000032300 4.100 1.550 410.100 5.750 392.800 297.400

Al Mulla Exchange Currency

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd 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

2.533 4.174 6.501 3.096 8.943 6.297 4.049

Currency 749.860 3.450 6.505 79.430 77.090 211.710 41.600 2.530 446.000

GOLD 10 Tola

Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees

288.650 293.712 447.412 391.052 269.424 707.498 764.022 78.568 79.264 76.942 407.324 52.275 6.513 3.435

US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal

*Rates are subject to change

Transfer rate 288.400 389.500 446.000 291.800 3.115 6.495 52.210 2.530 4.168 6.494 3.440 767.000 78.600 77.000

BUSINESS

Thursday, April 22, 2010

From left to right: Robin Amlot, Managing Editor of CPI Financial, Travin Misquith, Manager- Marketing at Gulf Bank and Nigel Rodrigues, Chief Executive Officer at Gulf Bank

23

From left to right: Robin Amlot, Managing Editor of CPI Financial, Emiranda Winter, Assistant General Manager-Marketing at Gulf Bank and Nigel Rodrigues, Chief Executive Officer at Gulf Bank

Gulf Bank awarded ‘Best Product’, ‘Best Loyalty Program’ KUWAIT: Gulf Bank of Kuwait has announced that it has been awarded the coveted Best New Product by the Banker Middle East for its innovative Al-Danah Account, as well as the Best Loyalty Program for its Gulf Rewards Program. These two awards come in recognition of the Bank’s commitment to delivering innovative services through a growing network of 51 branches across Kuwait and continued excellence to the Bank’s growing customer base across the country.

Banker Middle East recognition for Al-Danah Account Gulf Bank’s success was announced at the Banker Middle East Industry Awards 2010 ceremony held at the Emirates Tower Hotel, Dubai on the 20th of April, 2010. Winners were chosen by a judging panel of international industry experts from companies such as rating agencies as well as from some of the region’s leading financial centers.

The Banker Middle East Awards recognize businesses that have excelled in providing exceptional levels of customer service and innovation across a range of sectors, from basic banking products to high-end investment services.

Aly Shalaby, General Manager of Consumer Banking at Gulf Bank said: “Winning the Best New Product Award for Al-Danah and

the Best Loyalty Program Award for our Gulf Rewards Program is a testament to Gulf Bank’s status as a market leader. It shows the Bank’s effectiveness in delivering top products and high quality services to our growing number of customers.”

Shalaby added, “These awards reinforce our reputation as a market leader in product and service

innovation and we are rapidly building a reputation as Kuwait’s preferred local Bank.”

Gulf Bank re-launched its popular Al-Danah Millionaire Draw offering customers the chance to win the Middle East’s biggest single prize draw as well as many other opportunities to win cash prizes throughout the year. The Bank now 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.

Gulf Bank’s Rewards Program, the strongest and most extensive of its kind in Kuwait, provides customers with a broad range of great offers, great discounts and vouchers, now from over 120 merchants

at more than 260 outlets across Kuwait - more than ever before.

The Bank’s Rewards Program has been designed to provide customers with a range of rewards, depending on the kind of account they hold.

The Banker Middle East Awards were established to set the highest benchmarks for the industry. The award’s panel of judges nominates banks that have shown outstanding improvement and success over the past 12 months.

NBK MONETARY BRIEF

Kuwait witnesses slow credit activity in March

TMC announces remedy for vehicle stability control in Lexus GX 460 KUWAIT: As Toyota Motor Corp (TMC) announces its remedy for the problem concerning the Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) program in its Lexus GX 460 vehicles, Mubarak AlSayer, CEO MNSS said: “TMC & Al Sayer’s top priority is the customer’s safety & satisfaction, TMC & Al Sayer provides cars that are manufactured with high quality & safety standards”. He also added:” As a remedy, Toyota will update the (KDSS*) & VSC program to enhance the effectiveness of the VSC so that the risk of the vehicle skidding, even to the point that it is almost sideways, will be reduced”.

In circumstances in which advanced driving skills are required, such as when a driver of the

involved vehicle sharply turns the steering wheel at 90 degrees in high-speed conditions, or when the driver negotiates a curve at excessive speeds, the vehicle could skid sideways, due to the insufficient activation of the VSC. As a remedy, Toyota will update the VSC program to enhance the effectiveness of the VSC so that the risk of the vehicle skidding, even to the point that it is almost sideways, will be reduced.

MNSS will be calling customers to schedule an appointment in order to update the VSC program to enhance its effectiveness and all customers wanting to schedule an appointment or have any queries they can call Al Sayer call center directly at 1803803.

KUWAIT: March credit activity was slow, the consumer sector was the only one to show gains. It would seem that the economy has yet to see a concrete impact from the recently passed 5-year plan, which is not surprising at this early stage. On another level, the system is anticipating liq-

uidity/funds that should come from Zain’s multibillion dollar deal to sell its African assets to Bharti. The deal is expected to close in late April or early May. Money supply (M2) was flat in March, pushing year on year (y/y) growth down to 3.1%.

The month was marked by a KD 699 million drop in government accounts at the CBK. Also, the Central Bank of Kuwait’s (CBK) net foreign assets fell KD 552 million, indicating sizable transfers abroad.

Outstanding credit extended to residents fell 0.1% (m/m, -KD 17 million) in March, offsetting the small growth registered last month.

Nonetheless, credit was still up 1.1%, q/q annualized.

In March, personal facilities, excluding loans for the purchase of securities, bucked the general trend showing a KD 40 million increase. All other sectors were either down or flat.

Notably, loans to the “productive” sectors fell the most, with construction and industrial loans down KD 18 million and KD 22 million, respectively. Together, these sectors are showing some volatility and a trend has yet to emerge.

Private resident deposits fell KD 6 million in March, despite the distribution of KD 174 million in dividends by NBK and KFH that normally would have boosted deposits. Meanwhile, deposits from non-residents also fell KD 99 million. The system remains liquid and incoming funds linked to the Zain deal should add further liquidity.

This ample liquidity pushed interest rates lower. Average rates offered on KD private deposits fell between 11 and 13 bps for the different maturities in March, reaching 1.07%, 1.29%,

bank offer rates) fell between 6 and 10 bps for the 1 through 12-month placements, and inched closer to the LIBOR. The NBK report concluded: Since the start of March through mid-April, the Euro moved wildly in international markets because of the uncertainty surrounding Greece’s sovereign debt.

Behbehani Motors launches ‘Live Like a Star with Volkswagen’ campaign First 55 buyers of Touareg eligible KUWAIT: Behbehani Motors Company, the sole distributor of Volkswagen vehicles in Kuwait, has launched its ‘Live Like a Star with Volkswagen’ campaign, the first and distinctive offer of its kind in the country’s automotive sector.

Abdullah Ali, Volkswagen General Manager at Behbehani Motors, said that the campaign commemorates the 55th anniversary of Behbehani Motors’ partnership with Volkswagen and offers the trip of a lifetime for the first 55 buyers of Volkswagen Touareg including the infamous and exceptional Touareg Collector’s Edition which is easily recognizable by its sporty design exterior styling.

He added that this very exclusive offer from Behbehani Motors includes a round trip for two to Dubai on a private jet, a one night accommodation in one of Dubai’s premium five-star hotels, The Address, and a luxury limo airport pick up and transfer to the hotel.

Winners will also have the opportunity to shop at Dubai Mall, one of the

world’s largest, and to enjoy the world’s tallest tower, Burj Khalifa.

VW-Behbehani Motors has taken into account the need to offer its clients a distinguished trip that most people would rarely have the chance to take.

This is the first time such an offer has ever been made by an automotive company in Kuwait. It is a dream offer, that can only be made true by Volkswagen.

Behbehani Motors and Volkswagen Kuwait is always keen to create distinctive campaigns in the Kuwaiti market.

This is a direct result of its commitment to introduce the suitable incentives to

its stylish clients and to enhance its relationship with this intelligent segment, by offering competitive prices with high quality, special offers, and great after sales service.

Behbehani Motors is organizing this campaign in cooperation with Behbehani Travel Bureau and United Aviation.

It is worth noting that Behbehani Motors reached several important achievements in 2009, including ranking as the number one Volkswagen distributor in the Middle East, being awarded the ISO 9001:2008 award, and attaining the ‘Superbrand’ status.

1.55%, and 1.80%, for the 1, 3, 6, and 12-month maturities, respectively.

Total bank assets fell KD 228 million in March. Despite the drop in assets, banks’ liquid assets (including net interbank deposits) grew KD 29 million in March, raising its ratio to total assets 10 bps to 11.5%. As a result, average KIBOR (Kuwait inter-

Raysut Cement Q1 profit falls 12.8% DUBAI: Oman’s Raysut Cement reported a 12.8 percent drop in first quarter net profit yesterday, missing analysts’ forecasts, as increasing competition and a drop in demand hit sales volumes.

Net income for the sultanate’s largest cement producer by market value, fell to 6.8 million rials ($17.66 million) in the first three months to March 31, compared with 7.8 million rials in the first quarter of 2009, the company said in a statement.

Analysts polled by Reuters had on average estimated a net profit of 7.14 million riyals for the quarter.

Domestic cement sales plunged 35 percent while export sales dropped 25 percent from the comparable period a year ago. The company said it sees some improvement in the construction industry, starting in the second quarter, as the economy picks up.

Cement demand in Oman should rise by 6 to 8 percent in 2010, the firm’s chairman, Mohammed Muqaibal, said in the statement. —Reuters

The Kuwaiti Dinar witnessed increased volatility against the Euro as a result, with the rate shooting in either direction carried by sentiment over the Euro. By mid-April, the Euro was trading against the KD at almost the levels of early March. Otherwise, the KD was steady vis-a-vis the Dollar over the same period.

Batelco Q1 profit falls 7% on start-up costs MANAMA: Bahrain Telecommunications (Batelco) yesterday posted a 7.6 percent fall in first-quarter profit, below analysts’ forecasts, as start-up costs for new operations abroad burdened profits.

Batelco said net profit for the quarter ended March 31 was 24.3 million Bahraini dinars ($64.47 million), compared with 26.3 million in the yearearlier quarter. Two analysts polled by Reuters on average expected the company to post net profit of 25.55 million dinars for the first quarter.

Batelco seeks to expand in Asia and Africa as it

faces stagnant business in its small home market of just over 1 million due to increased competition.

The Bahraini unit of Saudi Telecom started its operations during the first quarter, making it the third mobile operator in the country after Batelco and Kuwait’s Zain.

Batelco, one of the smaller telecom operators in the region, has said it expects 2010 profits to be dampened by start-up costs for its new Indian unit S Tel that started operations late last year. —Reuters

UAE’s First Gulf Bank Q1 profit up 23% ABU DHABI: First Gulf Bank (FGB), the United Arab Emirates’s (UAE) second largest bank by market value, reported a 23-percent rise in first quarter profits yesterday, beating analysts’ expectations.

The bank said it had net profit of 920 million UAE dirhams ($250.5 million), up from 750 million dirhams in the year earlier period. Analysts polled by

Reuters had estimated an average first quarter profit of 802.2 million dirhams. “The results are strong ... the bank is still capitalizing on highest margins in the sector and the lowest costs in operations,” said Sofia al Boury, assistant vice president for research at Shuaa Capital.

The bank said revenues rose 26 percent to 1.7 billion

dirhams, from the same period in 2009. Its provision coverage ratio at the end of March was 158 percent, from 174 percent at the end of December. Chief Executive Andre Sayegh said in February he expected double digit growth in profit, credit and deposits in 2010. Shares in FGB ended marginally lower on Wednesday, down 0.3 percent. —Reuters

24

BUSINESS GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT

MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS

KSE stocks remain flat KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended yesterday’s session recording relatively flat performance with major indicators closing at very similar levels to Tuesday’s session.

The market during the previous sessions has witnessed a series of setbacks, which were due to negative news concerning some companies and low investor confidence. Market Indices Global General Index (GGI) shed 0.48 points (-0.23 percent) during yesterday’s session to reach 203.83 points.

In addition, the KSE Price Index decreased by a marginal 0.50 points yesterday and closed at 7,244.30 points. Market capitalization was down KD78.84mn today to reach KD33.65bn.

Market Breadth During the session, 129 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards gainers as 46 equities advanced versus 41 that retreated. A total of 124 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 26.15 percent to reach 208.29mn shares. Furthermore, value of shares traded dropped by 37 percent to stand at KD46.87mn. The Services Sector was both the volume and value leader, accounting for 36.14 percent of total traded volume and 44.04 percent of total value traded. Kuwait & Gulf Link Transport Company was the volume leader yesterday, with a total traded volume of 17.29mn. Zain was the value leader with a total value of KD5.49mn.

In terms of top gainers, Housing Finance Company took the top spot for the day, adding 7.35 percent and closed at KD0.146. On the other hand, KGL Logistics Company shed 8.77 percent and closed at KD0.260, making it the biggest decliner in the market.

Sector-wise Regarding Global’s sectoral indices, they ended the day on a mixed with for Global Food Index being the top decliner. The index ended the day down 3.17 percent backed by heavyweight Kuwait Foodstuff Company (Americana) ending the day with a drop of 4 percent to

close at KD1.440.

Furthermore, Livestock Transport & Trading Company also ended in the red by posting a 1.52 percent decline and closed at KD0.325. Global Insurance Index was the second biggest decliner for yesterday. The index shed 3.05 percent from its value backed by Gulf Insurance Company being the only decliner in the sector. The scrip ended the day down 3.70 percent and closed at KD0.390.

In terms of gainers, Global NonKuwaiti Index took the top spot with a 0.91 percent gain. Ithmaar Bank, the top gainer in the sector, ended the day up 6 percent to close at KD0.053. In addition, Egypt Kuwait Holding Company aided the sector by posting a 1.59 percent gain to close at KD0.640.

Regarding Global’s special indices, Global Islamic Index was the only gainer. The index ended the day up 0.81

percent backed by Kuwait Finance House ending the day with a gain of 1.92 percent. On the other side, Global High Yield Index was the top decliner, down 1.38 percent backed by losses witnessed in Kuwait Foodstuff Company (Americana).

Oil News The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $81.83 a barrel on Tuesday, compared with $80.89 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. Furthermore Kuwait has all the capabilities for becoming an international oil capital, according to CEO of Dana Gas Ahmad Al-Arbeed.

Market news Kuwait and Japan affirmed their commitment to conclude a bilateral investment agreement at the earliest possible time in order to further pro-

Thursday, April 22, 2010

mote economic ties between the two countries, the Kuwaiti Embassy in Tokyo said. An opening of a branch of Bank Muscat is due soon in the State of Kuwait and would boost trade exchange with Oman in many areas, the bank’s CEO Abdulrazaq Bin Ali Bin Eisa said. The CEO announced the plan to launch a new outlet for the bank’s services and products which would boost its medium and long term profit and revenue. National Mobile Telecommunications Company said first quarter net profit rose 5.88 percent to reach KD16.21mn, from KD15.31mn a year earlier. National Mobile Telecommunications Company’s total assets rose by 4.66 percent to KD907.62mn at the end of March, Wataniya said. Earnings per share for the period were 32.34 fils, up from 30.54 fills a year earlier.

Late rally helps Kuwait index, Saudi stalls drop DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s benchmark eased away from Tuesday’s four-week low as the Kingdom’s projected budget surplus bolstered sentiment, but Dubai fell for a fifth day running as worries over property sector earnings spurred more selling.

A late rally enabled Kuwait’s index to limit its losses to 0.01percent, slipping to its lowest finish since Feb. 11. Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) rose 1 percent to end a threeday losing streak as oil prices hit a five-day high, helping Saudi Arabia’s index add 0.2 percent.

Saudi Telecom Co rose 1 percent, clawing back some of Tuesday’s results-inspired decline, but Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) slipped 1 percent as the operator’s first-quarter profit missed forecasts.

“The Saudi index seems to be moving beyond quarterly results to reiterate faith in longterm growth story of Saudi Arabia, as indicated by expected surplus budget for this year,” said Mohammed Ishaq Ali, a fund manager at Al Rajhi

Capital.

“The recent retreat also marks a rebalancing of portfolios and participation of investors who were waiting for a correction to start taking fresh bets to make up for missing the rally.”

Saudi Arabia will book a $24 billion surplus this year based on an average oil price of $75, a state-owned bank said on Tuesday. The kingdom may end up spending 12 percent above the 540 billion riyals it budgeted for 2010.

Dubai’s index fell 0.8 percent to a month low of 1,731 points, while Abu Dhabi’s measure rose despite volumes falling to a 22-month low.

“Dubai needs to end this week above 1,750 points, if it doesn’t this will indicate a continuation of selling pressure, with the next support coming at 1,600 points,” said Marwan Shurrab, vice-president and chief trader at Gulfmena Alternative Investments.

Builder Arabtec fell 2 percent, while Emaar Properties and Deyaar lost 0.8 percent and 5 percent respectively.

“Investors are waiting for firstquarter results and expect real estate numbers to be bleak,” said Vyas Jayabhanu, head of investments, Al Dhafra Financial Broker.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi rose 3 percent after saying it may buy back some of its bonds.

HIGHLIGHTS SAUDI ARABIA The measure rose 0.2 percent to 6,730 points.

DUBAI The index fell 0.8 percent to 1,731 points.

KUWAIT The measure slipped 0.01 percent to 7,244 points.

QATAR The index rose 0.9 percent to 7,618 points.

ABU DHABI The measure climbed 0.5 percent to 2,820 points.

EGYPT The index rose 0.7 percent to 7,582 points.

OMAN The index fell 0.3 percent to 6,907 points.

BAHRAIN The index eased 0.04 percent to 1,540 points. —Reuters

Al-Khaleej hopes sugar premium to stay strong DUBAI: The white sugar premium is expected to remain strong till the end of third-quarter due to tight market supply, an executive from Dubai-based Al-Khaleej sugar, the world’s largest refinery said yesterday. “In my opinion I still foresee a shortage in whites till the end of the third quarter this year, that’s what’s going to keep the premiums strong,” Cyrus Raja, Al Khaleej corporate affairs general manager told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Strong demand from Pakistan is also causing premium to be affected, Raja added.

“We are seeing extraordinary demand from Pakistan these days, with huge orders taking place and I expect that India will also start to order large amounts,” he said.

Pakistan announced plans to purchase 75,000 tons of white sugar at $591 per ton, cost and freight, in a tender opened on Saturday.

Dubai-based Al Khaleej has a production capacity of 1.5 million tons of white sugar per year, and is operating at full capacity, said Raja.

“Other demand hubs this year are Sudan and Iraq and since the price of sugar has dropped a lot of coun-

tries are taking advantage of this situation and buying right now.”

ICE May raw sugar was up 0.28 cents or 1.7 percent at around 16.74 cents a lb yesterday. London August white sugar was up $2.4 or 0.5 percent at around $492.10 per ton at 1020 GMT. With this premium set to stay favorable, sugar producers are more likely to add new refining capacity, especially as the global economy emerges from the financial crisis that choked off access to credit and plunged much of the world into recession. —Reuters

BUSINESS

Thursday, April 22, 2010

25

European debt crisis a boon for emerging markets: IMF WASHINGTON: Europe’s debt crisis is sending investors flocking to the emerging markets of Brazil, China and India, the IMF said yesterday, as analysts asked if the crisis is changing the world economic order.

In a report on the state of the global economy, the International Monetary Fund said the debt crisis in Greece and other euro-zone nations had caused investors to look to emerging nations for profit. “The crisis has altered perceptions about risk and return in mature (markets) relative to emerging markets,” the IMF report said.

The global crisis has undoubtedly

laid bare the fragile state of government finances in swathes of once-safe Europe, prompting austere spending cuts and questions about the future of the euro itself.

The so-called PIIGS of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain, have seen their public debt soar, leaving jittery investors to worry about previously unthinkable government defaults.

Greece has been worst hit. As efforts by euro-zone members to create a safety net have spluttered, investors have demanded greater risk premiums to lend Greece fresh cash, deepening the debt crisis further.

According to the IMF the impact of that crisis in confidence is now being felt in the choices of everyone from the smallest individual investors to multi-billion-dollar funds.

“The favorable performance of emerging market assets relative to mature market assets has prompted growing interest by global investors in raising their asset allocations to emerging markets and other advanced economies.

“Retail investors and hedge funds are adding to their emerging market portfolios in the near term,” the report said.

“Capital is flowing to Asia (exclud-

ing Japan) and Latin America, attracted by strong growth prospects, appreciating currencies, and rising asset prices, and pushed by low interest rates in major advanced economies, as risk appetite continues to recover,” the IMF said.

Interest in emerging markets is long-standing. But as investors look to ever more exotic “frontier markets” for high returns, investments in countries like Brazil, China and India have become the mainstream.

According to the IMF the trend has been spurred by the sale of emerging market stocks in bundles called exchange-traded funds, or ETFs,

which spread risk over several countries and sectors.

The lure of emerging market investments is obvious according to the Vanguard Group, a US-based investment firm that runs emerging and developed market ETFs. The firm said one widely-used emerging market index shows returns on investment averaging 15 percent in the five years to 2009. Investments in a similar US index gave returns of under one percent.

And in contrast to sclerotic growth rates in Europe and North America, some Asian countries, like China, are forecast to see double-digit growth.

Although Vanguard cautions that high growth rates should not be equated with bumper investment returns, emerging market investments are being transformed from an exotic backstop for more traditional investments, to an investment like any other. “(With the) economic out-performance of emerging economies, some investors are reassessing the primary role of emerging markets in their global portfolio from one of diversifying their equity holdings to one of generating higher expected returns relative to developed markets.”

The shift is so great that in a report

on Tuesday, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s asked if there might now be a “changing of the guard,” and whether emerging market countries might “surpass their high income counterparts in creditworthiness?”

“Many of their indicators... for growth prospects, and for external debt-now appear weaker than those of middle income and low income G-20 member governments,” the report said.

S&P concluded there was no changing of the guard just yet, but that poising the question-unthinkable before the crisis-may be a sign of how much the world is changing. —AFP

Job scene dims US economic outlook

Global recovery patchy but quicker than expected: IMF

The logo of German car producer Volkswagen is pictured at the VW headquarter in Wolfsburg, Germany. —AP

Germany’s VW says Q1 profit up 94% BERLIN: Automaker Volkswagen AG said yesterday that its first-quarter profit nearly doubled on an uptick in sales that improved in key markets like Europe, China and North America.

The company, Europe’s biggest automaker by sales, said it earned 473 million euros ($637.9 million) in the JanuaryMarch period compared with 243 million euros a year earlier.

Volkswagen said its revenue rose more than 19 percent to 28.6 billion euros in the first quarter compared with nearly §24 billion the year before.

Volkswagen’s brands include Audi, Seat, Bentley and Skoda.

It is also a major shareholder in two of Europe’s largest truckmakers, Germany’s MAN SE and Sweden’s Scania AB. VW also acquired a 49.9 percent stake in Porsche last year, and plans to take over the legendary German sports carmaker. VW says it sees compelling strategic, industrial and financial logic in the Porsche tie-up. The figures included Volkswagen’s Luxury Audi AG unit, as well as Skoda.

In a brief statement, the automaker, based in Wolfsburg, said that looking forward through 2010 it expected revenue and operating profit to exceed last year’s results despite what it called a shift in

volume between the markets.

However, it warned that volatile exchange rate fluctuations would “remain a drag on profit.”

The company said it would continue focusing on “disciplined cost and investment management” in a bid to keep costs in line, while focusing on development of more ecologicallyminded automobiles.

At the Geneva Auto Show earlier this year, Volkswagen showed off nine new cars, including its Sharan minivan and Amarok pickup truck. It also said that it expects global deliveries this year to be higher than last year. In the first quarter, it delivered 1.7 million cars compared with 1.4 million in the first quarter of 2009, a gain of 24.4 percent. That demand was noted worldwide, particularly in China, western Europe and North and South America, all regions where it said this year’s figures were greater than last year’s.

Volkswagen has said it wants to sell more than 10 million vehicles annually by 2018 as it pursues current world No 1 carmaker Toyota.

The company’s multi-brand strength, technological expertise, financial position and global presence helped VW get through the economic downturn better than competitors, analysts have said. —AP

IMF: Stronger Chinese currency ‘essential’ WASHINGTON: China must let its currency appreciate for its own financial well-being, the IMF said yesterday as it forecast two more years of red-hot expansion for the world’s number-three economy.

The International Monetary Fund said the Chinese yuan was “substantially” undervalued, adding to mounting foreign pressure on Beijing to allow the currency to strengthen to help rebalance skewed world trade.

The IMF’s latest global report projected that gross domestic product in China, which is set to overhaul Japan this year to become Asia’s biggest economy, would rocket by 10 percent in 2010 and 9.9 percent in 2011. But a yuan adjustment would help China tackle “excess demand pressures,” the IMF said in an apparent reference to the threat of rising inflation, and give other emerging economies confidence to let their own currencies strengthen.

“This is essential for China given its large role in the global market,” the Washington-based Fund said. “Greater currency adjustment in Asia would facilitate adjustment in other emerging economies that may fear losing market share if their currencies were to appreciate alone.”

The yuan has been effectively pegged to about 6.8 to the dollar since mid-2008. Speculation has been growing that Beijing may soon alter its exchange rate policy, as a US-led clamor for change intensifies.

Critics, including a growing number in Asia as well as the United States and Europe, say an undervalued yuan gives Chinese manufacturers an unfair advantage by making their exports cheaper.

The issue is likely to be raised when G20 finance ministers meet in Washington this week. For its part, China has defended its exchange rate policy as necessary to help domestic exporters and protect jobs-an argument that has become harder to maintain as the country powers out of the world crisis. —AFP

WASHINGTON: The global economy will grow at a faster-than-expected rate of 4.2 percent this drive the global rebound, as established economic powers in Europe and Japan continue to lag. year, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday, heralding the prospect of a rapid if patchy “The recovery has been stronger than expected thus far, as confidence has picked up among conrecovery. The Washington-based fund said the emerging markets of Brazil, China and India will sumers and businesses as well as in financial markets,” the IMF said in a biannual report.

The IMF had predicted 3.9 percent increase in global output in its last estimates in January.

“Many emerging economies have resumed a high rate of growth,” the IMF said, noting that the recovery in Europe, Japan and-to a lesser degree-the United States, remained in doubt.

“The recovery under way in the major advanced economies will be relatively sluggish, both compared with recoveries following the major (but less deep) recessions of the mid-1970s, early 1980s, and early 1990s and compared with the recoveries forecast for many emerging economies.”

China was forecast to grow 10 percent this year, India 8.8 percent and Brazil 5.5 percent.

That compares with forecasts of sclerotic growth of around one percent in much of Western Europe and contraction in Spain. The Japanese economy is expected to grow 1.9 percent this year and the United States 3.1 percent-almost half a percent point more than previously expected.

“The United States is off to a somewhat later but better start than Europe or Japan,” the report said.

But the IMF warned that the US recovery remains constrained by high unemployment and slow bank lending to small and medium-sized companies.

It added that the United ATHENS: International Monetary Fund and EU officials leave the Greek Finance Ministry in Athens yesterday. Greece got down to work States and other advanced with the EU and IMF on a debt rescue which is looking increasingly likely, with borrowing costs shooting above 8.0 percent. —AFP nations face a delicate balancing act between reigning in deficits and maintaining high levels of government spending to stimulate the economy.

In Europe, the IMF said that ATHENS: Greece’s borrowing est rates it faces make it Germany’s. The high rates on paying such punishingly high balancing act had become precosts skyrocketed to new increasingly likely it will ask reflect market concern about interest rates. carious. record highs yesterday as the for the rescue package to be the country’s ability to pay back “The activation of the aid “Several euro area government began crucial talks activated. The government its debts. A default by a euro- plan is the easiest and most economies that were hit particuon the details of a rescue pack- needs to raise about 10 billion zone country would be a serious sensible way out of the crisis. larly hard or have run out of BANGKOK: The Bank of age for the debt-ridden country. euros in May, and has 8.5 bil- blow to the euro currency that As the May 19 redemption is macroeconomic policy room are Thailand left its main interest The talks, which are expect- lion euros worth of 10-year is shared by 16 European Union only four weeks away, action likely to lag behind their major rate steady at a record low of ed to last about two weeks, will bonds maturing on May 19. nations. Struggling to cope needs to be taken quickly,” peers.”

1.25 percent yesterday as focus on the terms and condi- “Recent developments con- with a debt pile of 300 billion UniCredit said, adding that it To give themselves more political unrest clouds the tions of the joint euro-zone-IMF firmed a widespread feeling: euros ($406 billion), Greece was likely that the interest rate breathing space the IMF said economic outlook, raising bailout plan agreed in Brussels investors want to make sure needs to borrow about 54 billion gap between German and doubts about the chances of a there was an urgent need for earlier this month, so the pack- that the aid plan for Greece is euros this year alone and has a Greek 10-year bonds would June rate rise. advanced economies to address age can be activated quickly if no bluff,” UniCredit said in a projected public debt of more narrow following the activaThailand, Southeast Asia’s debt levels, or another major note to investors. The interest than 120 percent of gross tion, “although we should not Greece requests the aid. second-biggest economy, shock could result in “a delay of Euro-zone countries have rate gap, or spread, between domestic product through 2011, expect a huge rally until the showed signs of robust the recovery of several years.” pledged 30 billion euros ($40.5 Greek 10-year bonds and before easing slightly the fol- structural problems are corgrowth in the first quarter but Since the beginning of the crisis billion) in loans for this year but German ones - considered a lowing year. On Tuesday, the rectly addressed.” Finance a six-week anti-government governments have pumped trilhave not spelled out any benchmark of stability — government shaved its May Minister George protest movement in the caplions of dollars into their longer-term commitments. The spiked to new record highs of borrowing requirement by rais- Papaconstantinou, who heads ital was a big factor affecting economies to replace collapsed IMF is expected to contribute a 5.18 percentage points yester- ing 1.95 billion euros ($2.62 bil- to the United States tomorrow the near-term outlook, the bank lending and slumping confurther €10 billion at least. day afternoon, before narrowing lion) in a 13-week treasury bill to hold talks with IMF chief central bank said. With Asia sumer spending, swelling debt While Athens has said it would slightly again. The spreads auction that was more than four Dominique Strauss-Kahn and leading a global recovery follevels. lowing the financial crisis, prefer to continue borrowing translate into prohibitively high times oversubscribed, the pub- US Treasury Secretary Tim “The main concern is that some regional central banks on the international market, interest rates of about 8 per- lic debt management agency Geithner, has ruled out the room for policy maneuvers in including those in India, the constantly increasing inter- cent, more than twice those of said. But the country cannot go possibility of debt restructurmany advanced economies has Malaysia and Singapore have ing.

On Tuesday, he stressed either been largely exhausted or already started to push monethat the existence of the reshas become much more limited, tary policy settings back cue package means Greece will leaving these fragile recoveries towards normal levels. not default. “If our country exposed to new shocks.”

Thailand had been expected activates the mechanism, the to follow suit in June.

Nowhere has that been more approval will be very rapid. So “My sense is that this is a evident than in Greece, which there is no way that Greece central bank which is chomphas been brought to the brink of will be left out on a limb in ing at the bit to raise rates but bankruptcy. But concerns linger May — either through borrowit is the politics that is keepover the level of debt in other ing on the markets or through ing it at bay,” said Tim leading economies. the support mechanism,” he Condon, head of Asia Still, the IMF warned against said. The government is also research at ING in Singapore. the rapid withdrawal of stimulus “Once they see the politiimplementing a harsh austerispending or the rapid tightening cal situation calming down, ty program that has cut civil of near-zero percent interest that is a green light for servants’ pay, frozen pensions rates that could damage the them,” he said. and hiked taxes in an attempt recovery.

Political tension has escato curb the country’s debt.

Since the start of the crisis lated following bloody clashes But the measures have met many governments have kept on April 10, which killed 25 with opposition from labor interest rates at historic lows in people. Protesters demanding unions, who have staged a the hope of unblocking elections have fortified their series of strikes.

State hospital gummed-up credit markets as rally site in an upmarket doctors began a 48-hour strike banks have been forced to write Bangkok shopping area after yesterday against wage cuts, down trillions of dollars on their the government warned they while members of a asset books. “Extraordinary polwould be evicted, raising fears Communist-backed trade icy intervention since the crisis of further bloodshed, hurting ATHENS: Greek unionists representing Communist workers block the entrance to union also protested, disrupthas all but eliminated the risk of tourism and denting consumer ferries yesterday preventing their departure from the port of Piraeus during their ing ferry services at Greece’s a second Great Depression,” the confidence. —Reuters main port of Piraeus. —AP fund said. —AFP 48-hour strike. —AFP

Greece begins talks on details of rescue

Thailand CB holds rates, politics key to tightening

26

BUSINESS

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Paulson reassures on Goldman role; earnings eclipsed NEW YORK/SINGAPORE: Paulson & Co, the hedge fund linked to civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs Group Inc, moved to head off investor concerns about its role in a deal that has scarred the reputation of the Wall Street bank and overshadowed blow-out quarterly earnings.

Goldman is accused of defrauding investors by failing to say that prominent hedge fund manager John Paulson bet against a Goldman subprime debt product that he helped design.

Goldman is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Britain’s market watchdog, which launched its own probe on Tuesday. Its shares are down 13 percent since the SEC laid its charges, and closed 2 percent lower on Tuesday despite thumping quarterly earnings expectations.

Goldman’s troubles also caused political reverberations.

A top Republican congressman questioned whether politics affected the timing of the government’s case, while in Britain,

the Liberal Democrat party’s leader said Goldman should be banned from UK government contracts until the case is settled.

Paulson, in a conference call on Monday and followed up with a letter to investors late on Tuesday, says neither he nor anyone else at the firm had received a so-called Wells notice indicating that charges might be filed against the fund, several investors who listened to the call said.

No one had yet notified the $32 billion fund of their intentions to pull money out, they said.

“We are interested in buying out people who want to get out of Paulson, but so far no one has stepped forward,” one of the investors, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, said late on Tuesday. A spokesman at Paulson & Co, which earned $15 billion by correctly betting in 2007 that the US housing market would collapse, declined to comment.

Experts said the case and the response showed Goldman’s

traditional strategy of keeping media and critics at bay behind a wall of silence was no longer valid.

“They can’t play that game said Michael anymore,” Robinson, a financial and crisis public relations consultant with Levick Strategic Communications. “The world has changed too much.”

Marc Faber, author of the Gloom, Boom and Doom report, described the lawsuit against Goldman Sachs as a hunt for scapegoats amid economic problems faced by the United States.

“The target now is Goldman Sachs. You distract the masses with a villain,” Faber said in Singapore. Goldman’s leading role on Wall Street, coupled with massive paychecks to staff and bumper profits, make it an obvious target.

Goldman said its first-quarter net income nearly doubled to $3.29 billion, bolstered by strength in fixed income trading and principal investments. The earnings of $5.59 a share easily topped analysts’ forecasts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The bank reported its

lowest-ever first-quarter compensation ratio, but still set aside $5.5 billion for compensation and benefits in the period.

The reduction in money set aside served to bolster earnings that could bring more public scrutiny to the 141-year old bank, last year described by Rolling Stone magazine as a “giant vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity”.

The bank’s co-general counsel, Greg Palm, rebutted the SEC charges during the bank’s earnings conference call. Palm said the firm was “very disappointed” that the SEC brought charges and said Goldman “would never mislead anyone.”

To lead their defense against the charges, Goldman has brought in Richard Klapper, a lawyer with an impressive record of courtroom victories for some of the biggest financial firms and a reputation as a fearsome litigator.

Goldman’s forecast-beating earnings came as Britain’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) said it started a formal investigation into Goldman Sachs International in relation

to the SEC allegations. The FSA said it would work closely with its US counterpart.

Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, the UK’s third-largest party, said the allegations against Goldman “are a reminder, if we needed one, of the recklessness and greed that disfigured the banking industry as a whole.”

Rival institutions in Asia were seizing the chance to try and elbow in front of Goldman on major upcoming deals, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Investment bankers have been lobbying executives at state-owned Agricultural Bank of China and pushing officials in Beijing to drop Goldman as an underwriter for the bank’s more than $20 billion IPO. Rivals are also asking officials at state-controlled Bank of Communications to ditch Goldman from its joint global coordinator role in the Chinese bank’s $6.1 billion rights issue, the sources said, though there was no evidence either bank was considering pushing Goldman aside. — Reuters

Fiat posts $34m Q1 loss

Chrysler reports $197m Q1 loss, cash balance grows DETROIT: Chrysler Group LLC lost a staggering $3.8 billion from the time it left bankruptcy protection June 10 through the end of last year, but the automaker says its fortunes improved dramatically in the first quarter. The

struggling company, now run by Italy’s Fiat Group SpA, cut its net loss to $197 million from January through March and said it posted an operating profit from selling cars and trucks, before interest and taxes.

AURORA: An unidentified buyer looks over a long row of unsold 2010 Chrysler PT Cruisers at a Chrysler-Jeep dealership in Aurora, Colorado. Chrysler Group LLC lost a staggering $3.8 billion from the time it left bankruptcy protection June 10 through the end of last year, but the automaker says its fortunes improved dramatically in the first quarter. —AP

Ireland’s EBS focusing on private equity talks DUBLIN: Ireland’s EBS Building Society is in talks with private equity groups led by Cardinal Asset Management interested in taking a stake in the lender, Chief Executive Fergus Murphy said yesterday.

EBS has examined the option of taking over assets remaining in fellow building society Irish Nationwide after both transfer loans to the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), Ireland’s “bad bank” scheme. A potential tie-up between the two

building societies was earlier expected to form the basis of a “third force” in Irish banking to compete with top banks Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland.

However, Irish Nationwide, which will only retain a fraction of its loan book after the sales to NAMA, said on Monday the talks with EBS were on hold.

“For us the focus has been private equity, that came around in the last period,” EBS’s Murphy told reporters on the side-

Germany sticks to 2010 growth forecast BERLIN: The German economy, Europe’s largest, will grow by 1.4 percent this year, Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said yesterday, leaving a previous forecast made in January unchanged.

Next year, the economy should perform slightly better, Bruederle said, with growth of 1.6 percent driven by exports, the backbone of the German economy. “The economic recovery is coming from abroad. The improvement in the global economy and world trade is supporting the German economy to a great extent,” Bruederle told reporters in Berlin. The economy was also expected to see stronger domestic demand next year, he said. He said the German labor market was “unbelievably robust”, and the fears of a sharp rise in unemployment due to

the financial crisis had failed to materialize. The government’s forecasts were slightly more optimistic than those of the International Monetary Fund which last month slashed its projection of output in Germany to 1.2 percent for 2010.

The country’s central bank, the Bundesbank, said earlier this week that output in the first quarter shrank as a result of a bitterly cold winter that stifled construction activity and kept shoppers at home.

The fourth quarter of 2009 had already marked a slowdown in the economy, with gross domestic product (GDP) stagnating after growth of 0.7 percent in the third quarter and 0.4 percent in the second. The German federal statistics office is due to publish a preliminary estimate of first-quarter GDP on May 12. —AFP

lines of a banking conference. The financial regulator told EBS last month to find 875 million euros of fresh capital by the end of 2010 and Murphy said that could come from the state or from private equity if those talks succeed. The private equity firms, which are led by Dublin-based Cardinal, could end up with a majority stake in the building society, Murphy said, adding that the Irish Nationwide deal also remained a possibility. —Reuters

Elan swings to Q1 operating profit DUBLIN: Irish drugmaker Elan said it remained on target to record full-year operating profits before other charges for the first time in several years, after recording first-quarter profits of $32.7 million yesterday.

That compared to a loss of $54.8 million for the same period last year as Elan, in which Johnson & Johnson has an 18 percent stake, reduced operating expenses by 23 percent and saw revenues grow by 27 percent. Elan which co-markets blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri with Biogen Idec Inc said first-quarter sales of its biggest revenue driver grew by 25 percent.

Analysts, however, were disappointed by the global Tysabri sales figures released by Biogen on Tuesday. Elan said revenues in its drug delivery division, which the company said on

Monday it would consider spinning off in a second attempt to focus its business after failing to sell it in 2008, grew by 26 percent.

Elan said that increase was principally due to the launch of multiple sclerosis drug Ampyra, an oral drug globally licensed to Acorda Therapeutics Inc of the United States, which received U.S. approval in January. The sale of Elan Drug Technologies (EDT), which analysts said could be worth close to $1 billion, was scuppered at the height of the global financial crisis two years ago.

“The recently announced exploration of a possible separation of EDT will allow us to accurately assess the opportunity and impact on shareholder value,” Elan chief executive Kelly Martin said in a statement. — Reuters

Moreover, Chrysler said it generated $1.5 billion in cash during the quarter, raising its reserves to $7.4 billion and reducing the likelihood that it will need more government aid.

And the company predicted its operations would break even or be slightly profitable this year.

Meanwhile, Italian automaker Fiat SpA, which controls USbased Chrysler LCC, reported a first-quarter loss of 25 million euros ($34 million) and forecast its auto business will be hurt this year by the elimination of cashfor-clunker programs in Europe.

The results released yesterday improved on last year’s firstquarter loss of 410 million euros as revenues rose, with the auto business taking residual benefits of the slowing cash-for-clunkers programs.

The Auburn Hills, Michigan, automaker said yesterday that it made an operating profit of $143 million in the first quarter, excluding taxes and interest.

“This positive operating result in the first quarter is a concrete indication to our customers, dealers and suppliers that the 2010 targets we have set for ourselves are achievable,” CEO Sergio Marchionne, who also heads Fiat, said in a statement. “We are also generating cash to finance the investments being made in our product portfolio and brand repositioning.” First-quarter revenue was $9.7 billion, up 3 percent from the fourth quarter, the company said. Revenue for the postbankruptcy period of last year was $17.7 billion. Chrysler said its operating loss for the last half of 2009 was $895 million.

The company also said the huge net loss for the second half of the year included a noncash charge of $2 billion as the company moved blue-collar retiree health care liabilities off its books to a trust fund run by the United Auto Workers union. Chrysler last reported earnings in August 2007, just after it became a private company when it was sold

by Daimler AG to private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. At that time, it reported a second-quarter profit of $549 million, although it said it would have lost money without a $946 million gain because it didn’t book scheduled depreciation and amortization that quarter.

Cerberus didn’t invest the cash needed to weather the worst auto sales decline in more than 25 years, and as a result, Chrysler came close to running out of money at the end of 2008.

The US government stepped in, authorizing $15.5 billion in aid and appointing Marchionne to run the company after it emerged from Chapter 11. Chrysler said it has not drawn $2.4 billion of US and Canadian government aid.

Fiat’s first quarter revenues were up 14.7 percent to 12.9 billion euros, compared with 11.2 billion euros a year earlier.

Fiat Group Automobiles posted a 22 percent increase year-onyear with revenues of §6.8 billion on deliveries of 532,400 cars and light vehicles, benefiting from the last gasps of incentive schemes in some European countries, which are being eliminated and phased out this year. —AP

NEW YORK: Goldman Sachs headquarters, top center, overlooks the World Trade Center construction site on Tuesday in New York. — AP

BOJ’s Nishimura sees bright signs on deflation SENDAI, Japan: There are positive signs Japan will eventually escape deflation, a deputy governor of the Bank of Japan said, but he stopped short of endorsing inflation targeting as sought by some ruling party officials.

Kiyohiko Nishimura also gave an upbeat take on the economy, reinforcing the view that the bank will upgrade its economic forecast in a key report due on April 30.

“Some beams of light are starting to break through a thick cloud of deflation,” Nishimura said in a speech to business leaders in Sendai in northeast Japan. More than a hundred ruling party lawmakers have called for the government to set an inflation target of 2 percent that the BOJ should work towards, and Finance Minister Naoto Kan said on Tuesday that the idea was worth looking at.

Nishimura stopped short of endorsing inflation targeting, although one analyst said the BOJ may try to align its view on prices more with that of the government. “I suspect the BOJ could change the way it publishes its views. As the finance minister is saying he wants 1 to 2 percent inflation, the BOJ may try to make its price view closer to Kan’s,” said Naomi Hasegawa, senior strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

Nishimura said it was the bank’s job to refine its policy framework based on its understanding of long-term price stability. The BOJ does not have a formal price target, and instead it states its board members’ understanding of long-term price stability, which currently ranges from an inflation rate of above zero to 2 percent, centering on a 1 percent rise.

Under inflation targeting, a central bank guides interest rates to achieve a predetermined rise in consumer prices over a certain period. A central bank without a target also tries to control prices but its desired level of inflation is less

explicit.

BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa has said that this is better than an inflation target because it means the bank is not easily swayed by shortterm price fluctuations.

Nishimura said the economy had been improving since last spring and this was expected to spill over to prices from now on. “There’s about a oneyear lag until changes in the economy affect the inflation rate,” he said.

The BOJ will issue its twice-yearly outlook report on the economy on April 30, which forms a basis for its monetary policy decisions. It may lift its consumer price forecast for the year to March 2012 to zero change or even a slight rise from a 0.2 percent drop forecast three months ago, sources have said.

But positive growth in the consumer price index alone may not be enough to satisfy the government. Kan reiterated on Tuesday his desire for a 1 to 2 percent rise in prices.

The Democratic Party-led government has influenced BOJ monetary policy before, and should Kan warm further to inflation targeting, that could lead to more monetary easing.

Analysts said the upbeat remarks from Nishimura and Shirakawa recently should not be taken as signs of a change in central bank policy.

“Further easing is unlikely this month or next, but the BOJ will continue to seek the next step on further easing given a policy accord with the government to beat deflation,” said Hirokata Kusaba, a senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute.

Nishimura, seen as a policy dove as he has mostly toed the bank’s official line on policy, said the BOJ will keep monetary policy very easy.

“The economy is likely to continue to pick up, and corporate profitability is expected to improve further ... Monetary easing is likely to be more effective from now on,” he said. — Reuters

TOKYO: Pedestrians wait to cross a street in front of a Tokyo securities office’s electronic stock board indicating Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 189.37 points, or 1.74 percent, to 11,090.05 in Tokyo yesterday. Asian stocks markets mostly shot higher yesterday as robust US earnings offered further evidence of recovery in the world’s biggest economy. —AP

TECHNOLOGY

Thursday, April 22, 2010

27

German IT body: IT’s still a man’s world FRANKFURT: Some 20,000 jobs in the German IT industry are vacant but the male dominated sector has traditionally attracted few women and the little appeal the industry does have may be declining, a study showed.

“Important infrastructure such as the health sector, traffic or energy need to be modernised with IT

and communication technology,” August-Wilhem Scheer, head of German technology and telecoms association Bitkom said yesterday.

“The demand for skilled workers to make that change happen is enormous,” he said and added that “we need to get young women interested in tech jobs early on.”

However, a study by Bitkom and

research firm Forsa showed that last year only 9 percent of the 40,500 trainees in the sector were women. By comparison, in 2001 the percentage of female trainees was 14 percent.

At universities, of the 126,000 studying computer sciences last year 15 percent were women.

While parents are increasingly

recommending their children to consider a career in the IT industry, some prejudice remains.

“One out of five parents believe computer scientists have a very high work load and little opportunity to advance their careers,” Bitkom said the study also found.

“Many preconceptions can be easily corrected,” Scheer said.

“The image of the lonely programmer who spends his nights in a basement and cannot find a partner is really dated,” he said.

The IT-industry offered plenty of career opportunities and innovative family-friendly work models, Scheer explained.

The IT association repeatedly holds so-called Girls’ Days to spark

interest in young women for a future in the IT industry.

Some companies have taken initiatives to attract more female staff.

Deutsche Telekom said last month it wants to support women’s careers and has introduced a quota system to ensure a third of its upper and middle management

positions will be held by women by 2015.

Software maker SAP set a rare example last week when it named its first female board member, making the software maker Germany’s second blue-chip company to appoint a woman to its top management after engineering group Siemens. — Reuters

Preventing internet overuse by children COLONGE: Parents who want to limit their child’s internet use should make sure that the computer is in an easily supervised place, advises a German physician specializing in addiction research.

“Take the PC out of the child’s immediate living area and put it in the hallway,” said Rainer Thomasius, director of the German Centre for Addiction Research in Childhood and Adolescence at the University Medical Centre HamburgEppendorf.

Speaking recently at the Didacta education trade fair in Cologne, Thomasius said that keeping the home computer at a central location was an effective way to prevent children from spending too much time online. The parents and child would also do well to agree on a weekly schedule of permissible times for going online, he added.

Citing what he said were international guidelines, Thomasius said that children under the age

of 12 should not surf the internet alone at all. For a child in this age group, the computer therefore belongs in the home’s common living area and not in the child’s bedroom.

A maximum of one hour of internet use a day is recommended for children between the ages of 11 and 13, and one and a half hours for those aged 14 and older.

When is a child’s internet use excessive? At what point can it be called an addiction? There are no diagnostic criteria to determine this, Thomasius noted, adding that general signs did exist, however. He said that parents should be concerned if their child had trouble controlling the beginning, duration and end of an internet session and kept increasing the amount of time online.

Other telltale signs are restlessness, sleeplessness or nervousness when not online, and continued use of the internet despite its clearly adverse effect on the child’s behaviour. — dpa

Just hot air? Check fans before buying a computer FRANKFURT: A loud fan on a computer can be a pain, but one that can sometimes be fixed by ensuring proper ventilation.

Patrick Weiss, a Samsung product manager, says the first step to cutting down on annoying noise is always to make sure the computer is standing so that air can properly circulate through the housing.

Notebook ventilation openings are particularly easy to block. Just leaving the notebook on a soft sofa can lead to obstruction.

“If the grille is blocked, there will initially be grinding sounds,” says Markus Schuetz, who works for PC manufacturer Dell.

Temperatures in the processor core can reach 105 degrees Celsius if the notebook sinks into the pillows. The ventilator will start making more sounds as it spins more and the casing will get hot because no more cooling air is circulating. In extreme conditions, the device will shut down.

Over an extended period, this kind of stress can reduce the life expectancy of the venti-

lation system, says Sven Schlicker, a ventilation development engineer in Germany.

Extreme heat, severe temperature changes or dusty or moist environments aren’t the only factors that can cause internal problems in a computer. Lint from wool sweaters or blankets can also block ventilation paths. That’s why it’s always better to use a notebook on a hard surface.

Aged ventilation systems responsible for the processor, graphics card or housing can also lead to system interruptions in older desktops. But Schlicker says anybody can easily replace the cooling system for a computer’s housing.

The cooling system for a processor or a graphics card is a little tougher. After all, there’s a lot of different processors out there and the ventilation system has to fit exactly onto the mainboard. It’s not work recommended for amateurs.

There’s no option for users to swap out components with a laptop, says Arnt Kugler of chip.de, a German computer portal. Since notebooks are

closed systems, swapping out any elements mean key components like the mainboard also need to be swapped. Anyone who pops one open themselves risks damaging the computer and voiding their guarantee. It’s always better to take these to the manufacturer.

The best thing to do is to look for a quiet computer when shopping. At the very least, potential buyers should expect a demonstration of the computer in the showroom.

“By placing your hand on the ventilation output, it’s possible to get a feel for volume and heat exchange,” says Weiss. Of course, it’s important to remember that the desktops are usually up and running all day, which is not the case with the notebooks on display.

Anyone who absolutely insists on a high performance computer will probably find themselves drawn to an Intel Core I7 processor. But that means living with noisy cooling, says Schuetz. High-end gaming laptops also aren’t exactly quiet.

“After all, a Porsche also makes loud engine noises.”

SEOUL: In this photo taken Saturday, April 17, 2010, South Korean students participate in a special session for Internet addiction prevention at their school in Seoul. South Korea is at the forefront of information technology, with one of the world’s highest rates of high-speed broadband connections. More than 90 percent of South Korean households have broadband Internet access, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. — AP

Providing snapshot of govt requests for its users’ personal information

Google discloses demands for censorship, user data SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc. has set up a new tool to show where it’s facing the most government pressure to censor material and turn over personal information about its users. The country-by-country breakdown released on Google’s Web site marks the first time that the Internet search leader has Google posted the numbers nearly a month after it began redirecting search requests to its China-based service.

Those requests are now handled in Hong Kong rather than mainland China so Google wouldn’t have to obey the country’s Internet censorship laws.

Google said details about the censorship demands it got while in mainland China still aren’t being shared because the information is classified as a state secret.

In other countries, Google is making more extensive disclosures about censorship demands or other government requests to edit its search results.

Google is also including demands to remove material from its other services, including the YouTube video site, although it is excluding removal

requests related to allegations of copyright infringement, a recurring problem for YouTube. Google is showing how often it honored those requests and spelling out which of its services were targeted. In the United States, for instance, it received 123 requests to remove material from its services during the last half of 2009 and complied with 80 percent of them. Reasons include violations of Google’s own policies regarding extreme violence, profanity and hate speech. More than 40 of those requests included a court order, Google said.

Google is providing a more limited snapshot of government requests for its users’ personal information. The numbers are confined primarily to demands made as part of criminal cases, leaving

provided such a detailed look at the censorship and data requests that it gets from regulators, courts and other government agencies. The figures, for the roughly 100 countries in which it operates, cover the final half of last year and will be updated every six months. out civil matters such as divorces. And Google isn’t revealing how often it cooperated with those data demands.

The disclosure comes as more regulators and consumers watchdogs around the world are complaining that the company doesn’t take people’s privacy seriously enough. Google maintains that its users’ privacy is one of the company’s highest priorities. The company also notes that, in one instance, it has gone to court to prevent the US Justice Department from getting broad lists of people’s search requests.

Brazil’s government peppered Google with the most requests during the six-month period covered. The company says that’s largely because it operates a social network called Orkut. That service has attracted millions of users in

Brazil and generates more taunting, derogatory language and other inflammatory material likely to trigger government requests and violate its own standards. Google received 3,663 requests for user data and 291 requests to remove material from Brazil. Nearly 200 of the removal requests involved Orkut.

Other countries logging at least 1,000 requests for user data were the United States (3,580), United Kingdom (1,166) and India (1,061).

After Brazil, the most requests to edit material came from Germany, at 188. The country has laws that restrict the online display of content connected to the Nazi regime. India was next with 142 requests mostly tied to Orkut, followed by the United States, where the demands focused on YouTube. — AP

computer and internet briefs

TOKYO: Stanford University biology professor Peter Vitousek (L) is congratulated by Japanese Emperor Akihito after being awarded the Japan Prize at a presentation ceremony in Tokyo yesterday. Vitousek received the biological field award for his analysis of nitrogen and other substance cycles in the global environment. — AFP

WASHINGTON: Google Maps now provides directions for bike riders as well as those who drive a car. So for those times when you need or want to ride your bike to work, run some errands, or get some exercise, click the drop-down list box before the Get Directions button and select Bicycling. Google Maps tries to find the most bike-friendly route for you.

WASHINGTON: Do you have old files hanging around on obsolete media, like floppy disks? Consider migrating those files as soon as possible to a newer storage device, such as a CD-RW disk, or even your hard drive. The reason is simple: The data life expectancy of data storage devices like floppy disks or tapes is limited - sometimes not more than one year. Many CD-RW disks, by contrast, have a life expectancy of twenty-five years or more.

WASHINGTON: In Windows, finding the types of files you have on your hard drive as well as how much space they are occupying can be next to impossible. Enter DiskSorter (http://www.disksorter.com). This freeware tool will classify files on an entire disk or simply in a single folder. Classifications can include music, images, and other common file types. Most importantly, you’ll be able to see at a glance where those files are located and how much space they’re consuming.

WASHINGTON: Google’s Chrome browser continues to gain popularity, thanks to the tool’s focus on speed and its novel approach to common issues that users face. Updates to Chrome to patch security issues or other problems are done automatically, so you never need to visit an “update” page or download a patch if you grant Google the permission to do this for you. Even if Chrome is not your main browser, it’s a worthy adjunct.

WASHINGTON: If you’re waiting for prices to come down before you upgrade to a solid state disk (SSD) drive, now may be a good time to look. New models are coming out in larger capacities, which is pushing the prices down for older models of 32, 64, 80, and 128 GB. Those who have adopted SSDs as their main boot drives report marked improvements in application launch times and system bootup speed. —dpa

HELSINKI: A Nokia E75 mobile phone is pictured in Helsinki yesterday.

Nokia will release fourth-quarter figures today. — AFP

28

HEALTH & SCIENCE

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Most hazardous volcanic ash particles remain high up GENEVA: Ash particles from Iceland’s still-erupting volcano remain high in the atmosphere and do not pose a health risk so far to people in Europe, the World Health Organisation said yesterday.

Toning down its guidance from Friday, when it said the ash cloud that has grounded flights could be “very dangerous” for those with asthma and respiratory problems, the WHO said there was no cause for public health alarm so far.

“There are no effects on health at the moment, except in the vicinity of the volcano in Iceland,” Carlos Dora of the public health and environment division told a news briefing.

Icelanders living near the volcano should stay indoors or wear face masks and goggles to protect themselves against coarse particles that can irritate the lungs and eyes, Dora said.

The most dangerous ash particles are the smallest ones which can be breathed in deep into the lungs, and which have moved further from the volcano in the plume billowing over Europe.

But those fine particles are still “very high up” and weather conditions could very well cause the ash cloud to disperse without causing health problems in Europe, Dora said.

The World Meteorological Organisation, based in Geneva, like the WHO is based in Geneva, said the ash particles were made up of small jagged pieces of rock, mineral and volcanic glass the size of sand, salt or silt.

Such fine particles are normally dispersed by thunderstorms which are not expected in the region in the coming days. A low pressure weather system is expected to develop

over Iceland later this week, potentially pushing the cloud towards the Arctic and prompting rain to “wash out” the ash, the WMO said in a statement.

A WMO expert said that the health risks of the cloud were currently negligible across Europe.

“If you sit in Geneva in a bar and somebody smokes next to you, you probably have 10 to the power of three times more fine particles entering your lungs,” Herbert Puempel, head of the WMO’s aeronautical meteorology division, told a briefing.

The WHO’s Dora said if the ash cloud persisted and descend to ground level, the health risks would be greatest for asthmatics and people with respiratory and heart conditions.

“All of those diseases are made worse by high concentrations of particles,” he told journalists. — Reuters

China may lift ban on HIV-positive visitors EYJAFJALLAJOKULL: Plume of ash, dust and steam is seen coming from a volcano erupting beneath Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull glacier, yesterday in Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland. — AP

‘Fitness changes building blocks of the brain’s structure’

Brain games don’t make you smarter LONDON: People playing computer games to train their brains might as well be playing Super Mario, new research suggests. In a six-week study, experts found people who played online games designed to improve their cognitive skills didn’t get any smarter. Researchers recruited participants from viewers of the BBC’s science show “Bang Goes the Theory.” More than 8,600 people aged 18 to 60 were asked to play online brain games Researchers said the people who did some of which were funded in part by the the brain training didn’t do any better on US National Institutes of Health, have the test after six weeks than people who been proven to boost brain power.

“Their conclusion would be like sayhad simply been on the Internet. On some sections of the test, the people who ing, ‘I cannot run a mile in under 4 minsurfed the Net scored higher than those utes and therefore it is impossible to do playing the games. The study was paid so,” Aldrich said in a statement. Posit for by the BBC and published online Science has published research in journals including the Proceedings of the Tuesday by the journal Nature.

“If you’re (playing these games) National Academy of Sciences showing because they’re fun, that’s absolutely their games improved memory in older fine,” said Adrian Owen, assistant direc- people. Computer games available tor of the Cognition and Brain Sciences online and marketed by companies like unit at Britain’s Medical Research Nintendo that supposedly enhance memCouncil, the study’s lead author. “But if ory, reasoning and other cognitive skills you’re expecting (these games) to are played by millions of people worldimprove your I.Q., our data suggests this wide, though few studies have examined isn’t the case,” he said during a press if the games work.

“There is precious little evidence to briefing. One maker of brain games said the BBC study did not apply to its prod- suggest the skills used in these games ucts. Steve Aldrich, CEO of Posit transfer to the real world,” said Art Science, said the company’s games, Kramer, a professor of psychology and

designed by the researchers to improve their memory, reasoning and other skills for at least 10 minutes a day, three times a week. They were compared to more than 2,700 people who didn’t play any brain games, but spent a similar amount of time surfing the Internet and answering general knowledge questions. All participants were given a sort of I.Q. test before and after the experiment. neuroscience at the University of Illinois. efits, including improved memory in He was not linked to the study and has no older people.

Other experts said brain games might ties to any companies that make brain be useful, but only if they weren’t fun. training games.

“If you set the level for these games Kramer had several reservations about the BBC study’s methodology and to a very high level where you don’t get said some brain games had small effects the answers very often and it really in improving people’s cognitive skills. annoys you, then it may be useful,” said “Learning is very specific,” he said. Philip Adey, an emeritus professor of “Unless the component you are trained psychology and neuroscience at King’s in actually exists in the real world, any College in London.

If people are enjoying the brain transfer will be pretty minimal.” Instead of playing brain games, Kramer said peo- games, Adey said they probably aren’t ple would be better off getting some being challenged and might as well be exercise. He said physical activity can playing a regular video game. He said spark new connections between neurons people should consider learning a new and produce new brain cells. “Fitness language or sport if they really wanted to changes the building blocks of the brain’s improve their brain power. “To stimustructure,” he said. Still, Kramer said late the intellect, you need a real chalsome brain training games worked better lenge,” Adey said, adding computer than others. He said some games made games were not an easy shortcut.

by Posit Science had shown modest ben- “Getting smart is hard work.” — AP

Southern snake hunts pressured to change OPP: Seventy-five Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes are menacing even locked inside a wooden cage, but the cringe factor is just part of the attraction at the Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo. For 50 years, hunters have been tromping through piney woods and grassy fields in south Alabama looking for these snakes, which live underground in holes. The ones they find are yanked out and put on display at the two-day festival.

Afterward, they’re killed.

This year, the writhing, 8pound snake in handler Scotty Short’s grip is part of the rodeo show. Dozens of people gather around with cameras as he holds up the rattler, using a metal hook to expose its long, curved fangs. Next year, the same reptile’s scaly hide might be for sale as a wallet or belt at a souvenir booth. Its severed, dried head or rattles might be trinkets at another display table. The rattlesnake rodeo has made this sleepy south Alabama town of 6,600 known all over the South — the 50th anniversary event drew about 25,000 people in March.

Similar snake roundups are held in more than two dozen communities from Texas to Pennsylvania. Supporters say it’s all in fun. The hunters get rid of a nuisance to many landowners; people pay to see their catch and learn about rattlers. And then there’s the fried

rattlesnake on white bread for $5, paper towel included. But environmentalists and reptile experts are pushing to end the roundups, particularly in the Southeast. There, they say, Eastern diamondback populations are declining to dangerously low levels, largely because of festivals like the annual hunt in Opp.

Longtime snake hunter Don Childre of Opp doesn’t see the harm. Childre said hunters have refined their methods to avoid harming other species that live in the burrows favored by snakes, and he hasn’t seen any decline in the number or size of snakes brought in each year. “We’ve hunted the same places for 50 years and still are

getting snakes out of them,” said Childre. “We could probably get 500 or 600 snakes if we wanted to.”

Rattlesnake roundups in two Georgia towns are the only others still held in the Deep South — down from about 50 in the 1960s — and the Center for Biological Diversity says it’s time for those hunts to end, too.

ALABAMA: Opp city councileman Scotty Short demonstrates some snake handling techniques during the 50th annual Rattlesnake Rodeo in Opp, Ala., Tuesday, March 8, 2010. Once there were about 50 snake roundups in the South, but only three are left — the one in Alabama and two in Georgia. — AP

Somehow, Opp just wouldn’t be the same without the rodeo.

Located about 20 miles north of the Florida line, Opp is an old railroad town. It held its first rattlesnake rodeo at the urging of a businessman who put on shows at a local restaurant with bears, bobcats and other animals. The rodeo grew, and a handful of men took on the responsibility of providing the snakes. For years, the hunters poured small amounts of harmful gasoline into gopher tortoise holes to flush out the snakes that also live in the burrows.

Today, hunters shove stiff plastic tubes into the holes and put the end to an ear to listen for rattling. If they hear a snake, they insert another tube with a treble hook tied to the end to snag.

“Sometimes you’d have to wait for 30 minutes for them to come out with the gas,” said Childre, the city planner in Opp when he’s not hunting. “This way you can pull ‘em right out.”

Childre said only a half-dozen or so men actually hunt snakes for the Opp event. Their combined take is usually limited to 100, far fewer than in the past.

Biologist Bruce Means has spent years studying Eastern diamondback snakes, and he’s researched the effects of Southern snake roundups by going through old news clippings and the events’ own promotional materials. — AP

BEIJING: China could lift a longstanding ban on HIV-positive foreigners entering the country as early as this month, state media reported yesterday.

Citing “insiders,” the China Daily newspaper said the State Council, or Cabinet, decided on Monday it would make changes to laws barring foreign HIV carriers.

Under current regulations, those suffering from infectious diseases such as leprosy or HIV/AIDS or from mental disorders are not allowed in, the report said.

The changes could be announced before the start of Shanghai’s World Expo on May 1, Hao Yang, deputy director of the health ministry’s disease prevention and control bureau, was quoted as saying. State Council officials were not immediately available for comment.

China introduced the ban in the late 1980s after reporting its first AIDS case in 1985, in a bid to limit the spread of the virus within its borders.

Authorities now estimate that up to 740,000 people in China live with HIV, while independent

experts say the true number could be far higher.

“The ban imposed in the 1980s due to a lack of knowledge is obsolete and discriminatory,” He Xiong, deputy director of the Beijing centre for disease prevention and control, was quoted as saying.

“As HIV/AIDS cases have been seen in all provinces in China, a travel ban on foreigners will not help local public health.”

Travelling restrictions against HIV carriers, which are maintained by some 66 countries, have long been criticised as contributing to the discrimination and stigmatisation of sufferers.

According to the Global Database of HIVrelated travel restrictions, China requires shortterm visitors to declare their HIV status on their visa application form, while stays of six months or more require compulsory tests.

However there have been some exceptions.

For major events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the government has temporarily lifted the ban on HIV carriers entering the country, the report said. — AFP

ARLINGTON: A student at Carlin Springs Elementary School receives an H1N1 flu vaccination January 7, 2010 in Arlington, Virginia. The first anniversary of the H1N1 influenza will be marked on April 24, 2010, a year after it was officially notified. — AFP

H1N1 still holds threat: Scientists PARIS: There may be many people who believe that as its first anniversary looms, this is a great moment to consign swine flu to the Book of Great Health Scares.

To them, virologists sound a word of caution. Yes, they admit, rather chastened, the novel virus did turn out to be less nasty than many predicted.

Possibly hundreds of millions have been infected by the bug, officially known as 2009 H1N1 influenza, since it was officially notified on April 24 last year.

But less than 18,000 have been killed by it, according to the UN’s official death toll.

That places it in roughly the same ballpark of lethality as a routine, or “seasonal,” flu virus.

H1N1 thus bears no comparison to fellow pandemic viruses that erupted in the last century. These strains scythed as many as 50 million lives in 1918-19 and one or two million each in 1957-8 and 1968-9.

Even so, say these and other experts, H1N1 still has devastating potential and the world must maintain its guard.

“In the past, more often than not, the first wave (of a flu pandemic) has been overshadowed by the second and third waves,” says John Oxford, a professor at Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry in London. Lone Simonsen, an epidemiologist at George Washington University, notes that in the 1968-9

pandemic, about 70 percent of the fatalities occurred in the outbreak’s second year.

The theoretical underpinning of this thinking is Darwinian tradeoff.

In its early phase, according to this hypothesis, a new virus finds it easy to survive because billions of people have no, or at best limited, immunity to it.

But this pool of easy pickings dwindles, which means the virus has a harder time finding a human host. To survive, it has to devise a new foothold.

That means genetic change: the virus changes shape through mutation or trades some of its transmissibility in exchange for greater lethality by picking up genes from nastier flu viruses.

As for mutation, very little variation has been seen in the present pandemic strain of H1N1, says virologist Albert Osterhaus of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam.

It is likelier to drift genetically, as “seasonal” strains do, rather than leap. That is good news for vaccine campaigners. People who were infected by H1N1 or primed with the anti-H1N1 vaccine are likely to get a lot of carry-over immunity for the 2010-11 flu season.

Of greater concern, says Osterhaus, is the risk of a gene mix, or reassortment, with other flu viruses. He points to countries where H1N1 co-circulates with

H3N2 strain and the notorious H5N1 strain of bird flu, which carries a case fatality rate of some 60 percent.

Osterhaus also voices worry over another genetic risk: the possibility that H1N1 widens a so far rare resistance to oseltamivir.

This drug, also called Tamiflu, is the frontline treatment for flu. It is not a cure, but if taken early enough can reduce viral numbers, thus reducing contagiousness and shortening the length and severity of illness.

Overall, the news today is reassuring.

But given the uncertainties, watchdogs will need to prepare an arsenal of options when the 20102011 flu season returns in the northern hemisphere’s autumn, says the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Epidemiologists will be keeping a close look at the southern hemisphere’s winter, from JuneSeptember, to see if there is any data that points to a change in target or lethality by the virus.

The 2010-2011 vaccine campaign will have to fine-tune recommendations for shielding groups most at risk and concentrate on “countering anti-vaccine messages and campaigns” that scared many people into refusing the jab, says the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). — AFP

HEALTH

Thursday, April 22, 2010

29

Sri Lanka war wounded face long fight to recovery

RAGAMA: A group of disabled Sri Lankan soldiers walk towards a bus stop outside a military-run rehabilitation hospital in Ragama. — AFP

RAGAMA: Sri Lanka’s leaders have hailed the end of the island’s long civil war as the start of a new era, but for soldiers injured in battle, the future is far from rosy.

In a hospital outside the capital Colombo, Manju Lakshman, 32, lies on a bed staring at the ceiling.

He was shot in the spine by Tamil Tiger rebels one year ago in the last weeks of fighting in the northeast of Sri Lanka as the military offensive reached its climax along the coastal Mullaittivu district.

His wounds have left him a paraplegic, unable to move his legs or the lower part of his body.

“Sometimes, the day never ends. It’s very frustrating to keep the mind occupied lying still,” he told AFP. Nearly 30,000 government troops were injured and 6,200 killed during the last three years of Sri Lanka’s decades-long war with the separatist Tamil Tigers.

Among of those injured, many lost limbs, eyes or their hearing, and more than 300 troops were left with severe paralysis.

Surrounded by paddy fields and jungle, the army rehabilitation hospital in Ragama cares for 172 soldiers trying to overcome their disabilities and to re-build their shattered lives.

Those fitted with artificial limbs spend their days in the swimming pool, playing board games or watching television between treatments.

The patients also have their own musical group that practises in the evenings.

Senior army officers drop in on inspection tours, while local charities, companies, schools and individuals also visit patients to donate food and medical equipment.

But time lags for the bed-ridden patients, who watch video clips on their mobile phones and rely on fellow patients to read out newspapers and magazines.

“We look forward to family visits,” said U. B. Abeysinghe, 28, who is paralysed from his waist downwards, after his vehicle hit a roadside mine in 2008.

“Families bring us news about home, a little food we like to eat and some small presents like clothes or toiletries,” said Abeysinghe as his visiting mother fed him a home-cooked rice and curry lunch.

With limited job prospects for rural youth, a military career in Sri Lanka offers adventure and a decent monthly salary.

Around 80,000 men and women joined the army during the past two years, according to military figures, boosted by major military victories.

“The military is an escape route from poverty. They look after us, our families, even if we are dead,” said soldier Ananda Tennakoon, 40, who lost his right leg to a landmine in the northern town of Vavuniya in 1991.

Family members of the dead or missing are immediately paid between 750 and 1,200 dollars through an insurance payout. Thereafter the soldier’s salary is paid to his next of kin for life.

Those injured get an insurance payout, plus a monthly salary, allowances and a pension. But it is still not enough to cover the prohibitive costs of specialised medical treatment.

“I’m told a specialised wheelchair costs about 10 million rupees (90,000 dollars) and no local organisation here makes such equipment,” said Lakshman.

Chandra Kumara, 26, is a quadriplegicparalysed in both arms and both legs-and dreams of one day having a brain-controlled device to give him back some degree of independence.

He believes his injuries were compounded by the rough handling of soldiers and delays to reach hospital after being shot in the spine during a firefight.

Sri Lanka’s army chief Jagath Jayasuriya said looking after severely disabled soldiers was one of the military’s top priorities.

“Their families are too poor to care for them. It is our responsibility to care for these war heroes throughout their life,” Jayasuriya told AFP. Sri Lanka raised its record 1.6 billion dollar defence budget for 2008 by 20 percent last October, to recruit more troops and pay for hardware, medical supplies and compensate those who were injured or died in combat.

Jayasuriya admits the extra cash is insufficient to pay for specialised medical treatment that hundreds of his men need. The army is now on a fund-raising drive to raise 10 million dollars for hospices for quadriplegics.

But the first of the four facilities, which will be ready in about two years, can only accommodate 25 patients, Jayasuriya said.

“I admit, that’s not good enough,” he said.

“We need much more money and effort to improve their quality of life. At least it is a start.”

Until he secures a place at the hospice, Captain Danushka Perera, 33, will spend his days at the Ragama hospital. “My family is too poor to look after me,” said Perera, a quadriplegic with bullet injuries in his neck and spine. “My parents live off my army salary. We don’t even live in a brick house. I have nowhere to go, so I stay here.” — AFP

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WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Embassy information EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria wishes to invite all Nigerians residing in Kuwait to come and register with the Embassy.

The registration is compulsory for all Nigerians residing /visiting Kuwait. Kindly bring the following documents along with you: * A photocopy of the Nigerian passport * One passport photograph * Copy of the civil identification card or visa For additional information please call: 25620278 or visit the Embassy at Block, 4, Malik Bin Anas Street, Avenue 44, House 31, Along Al-Aqsa Road, Rumaithiya. The Consular Section opens Sunday - Thursday from 9 am - 3 pm Your prompt response is highly solicited.

EMBASSY OF UKRAINE

Fun Day at Kuwait National English School uwait National English School (Hawally) held its Annual Fun Day on Saturday, April 17th this to year to raise funds for the relief efforts in Haiti! Despite the early morning rain, it proved to be a very exciting day with rides, games, and lots of entertainment for the whole family. The School Director Madame Chantal Al Gharabally would like to thank all the school staff members for their efforts on this day. She would also like to thank the many companies who joined us in this effort.

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The Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait informs that it has started updating the information about Ukrainian citizens, who live and work in Kuwait. In this connection, we are asking you to refer to the Embassy and update your file in consular register in order not to be excluded from it. For additional information please call: 25318507 ext.106 or visit the embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait (address: Hawalli, Jabriya, bl.10, str.6, house 5). The consular section of the Embassy open every day from 09:30 till 14:30 except Friday and Saturday.

EMBASSY OF INDIA

IKEA Kuwait celebrates Earth Day for second year The effects of global warming and climate change are already impacting the world, and institutions and individuals at all levels are raising awareness towards this cause,” added Adel Al-Shamali.

It is interesting to note that IKEA worldwide follows the 4 step approach towards its sustainability efforts.

1. Plan 2. Do 3. Check 4. Act Through Planning IKEA establishes Routines on how to approach and deal with the different aspects of the sustainability both with products and when working with suppliers.

IKEA Does actively cooperate and communicate with all the suppliers that are involved in our their production. IKEA then Check’s by doing audits to suppliers on their compliance with their Sustainability Requirements and then gives feedback to suppliers, and creates a dia-

Rev Sunny Thomas is seen with Rev Immaunel Gharib, President of NECK and Rt Rev Abraham Mar Paulos Episcopa, Bishop of Mumbai-Delhi dioceses of Marthoma Church. After serving St Thomas Marthoma Church - Kuwait for the last 3 years, Rev Sunny Thomas is transferred as the vicar of Marthoma Church, Chugathara, Kerala.

logue with them to help them promote a better sustainability profile.

And finally IKEA Acts by regularly improving its routines and methods of implementing sustainability in the value chain.

At the store, Day long activities have been planned. Thousands of visitors and shoppers to the store will be given a specially branded IKEA seedling which they can go back home and plant while children can take home balloons with climate awareness messages on them.

“At IKEA store we offer many environment friendly products such as solar lights, recycled bags and much more. Being environmentally conscious shouldn’t be an expensive daily process it can be saving money too. Through this event we want everyone to participate, get educated and give something back to the earth in their own little ways,” concluded Adel Al-Shamali.

Earth Day is ongoing from April 20 and will conclude on April 25th.

Anti-Alcoholism Movement conducts medical camp

KUWAIT: IKEA Kuwait one of the renowned Swedish home furnishing stores is set to celebrate Earth Day at its store today.

Gulf British Academy, British School of Kuwait, Super Kids, Ajyal Al-Tawheed have displayed the work of their students related to environment conservation at the exhibition area of the IKEA store. Different projects on conservation, forestation, are on display showcasing the vision of the tiny tots towards environment.

“At IKEA it is our long term objective to contribute to creating a better everyday life for the many people, by strengthening the overall positive impact on people and the environment. It is our long term direction at the IKEA group buildings to be supplied eventually with renewable energy,” said Adel Al-Shamali, IKEA Kuwait General Manager.

“We are extremely happy to host the Earth Day at the store for the second year in a row. Each year the event is getting bigger and better.

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, AlOthman 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 continue uninterrupted until May 10, 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.

Al-Thaalib Scholarship 2010

nti-Alcoholism Movement of Kuwait St Gregorios Indian Orthodox Maha Edavaka conducted medical camp and seminar in the leadership of Renowned Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeon Dr K.M Cherian. On this occasion Anti-Alcoholism Movement’s memento is presenting by Indian Ambassador Ajai Maihotra to Dr KM Cherian. Anti-Alcoholism Movement vice president Samuel C Kattor Kalickal, program conviner Koshy Mammen, H .B. Paulose Mar Milithios - Catholicos Designate & Assistant to Malankara Metropolitan, CSI Bishop (Rtd) Michael John, Vicar Fr. Jose Mathew, Assist. Vicar Fr. George C Vaghese, Malankara association Managing Committee members Mr. Kunayn Varghese & Mr. Shaji Abraham, Ldavaka secretary Jerry Koshey were also present on this occasion.

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Al-Thaalib Scholarship is a financial aid scheme for under privileged school students in Kuwait, sponsored by Islam Presentation Committee (IPC) & Ministry of Awqaf in association with Friday Forum and Pakistan Kuwait Welfare Association. Last year we were able to provide financial assistance to nearly 900 students of various Indian & Pakistani Schools in Kuwait for the academic year 2008-09. These scholarships were given to the needy students irrespective of their religion or nationality. We are pleased to inform that the process for Al-Thaalib Scholarship for the current academic year, 201011, has begun for all Indian, Philippine and Pakistani Schools in Kuwait.This year we shall endeavor to reach the scholarship to as many needy students as possible to help them continue with their education without any financial hindrance. In order to avail this scholarship, applicants are requested to collect the Application Form, from Al-Thaalib Office located in CAMS, Ahmed Al-Jaber Street, Darwaza, Near Warba Insurance Co, Int’l Islamic Charity Organization Building, 2nd Floor, Al-Sharq. The duly filled application form shall be submitted to Al-Thaalib office on or before April 30, 2010 along with all supporting documents specified in the Application Form. For more information, you may contact 55046318 or 22418934 ext 204/202.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

31

WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

Announcements Najlaa Al-Naqi Forum The Najlaa Al-Naqi Forum will hold a meeting with professor Sameeha Abu Dolo; the head of the Jordanian women’s development society, on Saturday April 24th at 8:00 PM. The event will also feature the inauguration of the charity expo for handicrafts made by widows and orphans, which will take place in Salwa, bloc 2, house 377.

Aware diwaniya The AWARE Center cordially invites those interested to its diwaniya on “Communication and time management,” by Linda Fouke. When asked to identify stress in their lives, adults list ‘time’ as one of the top three sources of stress.

Dr Linda is currently a school administrator and former founder of “Room4 Improvement,” a management consulting company, where Linda helped her clients get better organized, increase productivity and decrease their stress levels. If you are looking for tips to improve work performance and remain in control of a busy life, join Dr Linda as she shares ways to hone time management skills on Tuesday April 20 at 7 pm. For more information, please call 25335280/60 ext 105 or e-mail: Htaware.hassan@gmail.com or log onto: www.aware.com.kw” Unveiling fashions of the Middle East Reflections of Who We Are: AWARE & Kuwaiti Youth Volunteers Present: Thursday, April 22 Reflections of Who We Are “Unveiling the Fashions of the Middle East” A Middle-Eastern-Gulf Country Cultural Clothing Fashion Show & Charity Event (All proceeds will be donated to Animal Friends League) from 7-9 pm at PAAET College, Adaliya.

Radiating confidence and reflecting on their cultural roots, Kuwaiti youth join hands with AWARE to model the culturally rich backgrounds of fashion from the Middle-Eastern Gulf Countries. Fashion is a prevailing custom or style of dress selected primarily on one’s national identity & religious beliefs. Nationals of Middle Eastern Gulf countries enjoy a style uniquely their own while sharing an element of modesty in their traditional dress. We invite you to join for a lively, traditional clothing fashion show as our models present, for the first time, costumes from Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. For further details contact AWARE at 2-533-5280 or email: info@aware.com.kw NAFO Annual Day celebrations National Forum Kuwait (NAFO Kuwait) will celebrate its Sixth Anniversary on Friday, April 23, 2010, at Indian Community Senior School, Salmiya, from 6:00 pm onwards. Indian ambassador Ajai Malhotra will be the chief guest.

Several traditional colorful programs, such as Dasavatharam (choreographed by E K Haridas Kurup of Kalabhavan Kuwait), Layavinayasam (instrumental fusion music by NAFO members and children), Mohiniyattam, inauguration and visual presentation of NAFO title song (written

by Subbaraman and composed by T S Radhakrishnan), comedy skit, cinematic dance (choreographed and performed by NAFO children), puppet show by Madhu Warrier and group and solo and duet songs (by NAFO competition winners) will be some of the highlights of the program. NAFO cultural competition winners and judges will be honored with trophies, certificates and gifts.

“Nafoscholarsnet.com” a venture to bring together children of NAFO families studying in India and abroad under a professional network will be inaugurated by the Ambassador.

Auditorium door will be opened from 5:30 pm onwards. Since, NAFO Annual Day celebrations coincide with the festival season of Vishu, the function would begin with traditional Vishukkani and Vishukaineetam.

‘La Traviata’ at Movenpick Hotel and Resort Al Bida’a he planned open-air performance of ‘La Traviata’ at Movenpick Hotel & Resort Al Bida’a, scheduled for the evening of Thursday April 22nd will go ahead. A very small number of tickets are available for this performance. These can be purchased at the hotel Front Desk. As you are probably aware the Tuesday evening performance had to be cancelled because the opera com-

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pany were unable to leave the UK. However, an additional performance has been scheduled for the evening of Friday, April 23rd. All Tuesday evening ticket-holders are being given priority for this performance and are being contacted. If they are unable to attend a full refund will be given.

There are tickets available for sale for the Friday per-

formance. These can also be purchased at the hotel Front Desk. The price is KD 27.500, including welcome canapÈs from 6 pm. The opera will start at 7 pm and finish at approximately 9.30 pm.This open-air performance of Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’ is a unique event for Kuwait and I am delighted that it will take place here at the hotel.

I would like to thank everyone who has assisted in

NRI TDP celebrates Chandrababu birthday RI-TDP Kuwait office bearers & core members celebrated TDP Party President N. Chandrababu Naidu’s 60th birthday on Monday 20th at “Telegu Badi” hall, Tirupathi hotel in Farwaniya. Everyone wished Chandrababu good luck with good health for the years ahead. Later birthday cake was cut and distributed to all the participants. While addressing the gathering, Daruru Balaram Naidu said that Chandrababu’s dicipline and commitment

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which made him a student leader in college and phenomenal leader in politics as well.

Our state needs a strong & visionary chief minister to uplift the states glory in the country and in the world. It is all TDP members responsibility to work hard closely with people to bring TDP back to power in 2014. NRI TDP is continuing the membership enrollment likewise in Andhra Pradesh, later we will focus on social voluntary services with the help of state TDP intellectual leaders.

Other NRI TDP leaders addressed the event were M. Vengaiah Chowdary, Pothuru Parthasarathi Naidu, R. Subbaiah Naidu, Chandrasekhar Naidu, Eswaraiah, Malepati Babu, Nettem Srinu, A. Sudhakar, A. Ramachandra, Nanda, L. Nagaiah, P. Mallikharjun, P. Rajasekhar, D. Venkateswarlu, C.R. Naidu. Also, Kamma Seva Sangham president B. Ramesh Naidu and Gulfwide Nandmuri Fans President Darla Srinivasa Achari graced the event.

Happy Birthday

‘A Serene Poetry Evening’ AWARE announces ‘A Serene Poetry Evening’ with Fatima H. Alwan April 26 at 7 pm, Fatima , an enthusiastic, anglophone, Kuwaiti writer and poet, and the author of two books of poetry; “A Dreamer’s Pulsing Thoughts” and “Poesy Whisperer”, escorts you in a thrilling journey to venture into the refulgent realm of classical poetry and wallow in the beauty and luxury of classical poetic forms. Fatima shall also uncloak her own creative poetic form, which she calls “Sparrowet”. For further details contact AWARE by Tel: 2-5335280 or visit us online at www.aware.com.kw emails may be sent to info@aware.com.kw

getting us to the position of being able to stage the opera, particularly in the last few days. At times it seemed that it would not be possible to go ahead.

Thanks therefore to Stefan Sanchez and the European Opera Company team, Jumbo Travel, Al Waseet Travel, Qatar Airways, GMC, Aurora Vision, Al Watan and the team here at the hotel.

May the Lord bless you and protect you, may the Lord smile and be gracious to you, may the Lord show you His favor and give you peace...

Happy 6th birthday Collyne. We love you very much. Daddy, mommy & baby Carl.

BSK students visit Nepal for gold expedition he BSK Gold International Award final expedition to the Annapurna region in Nepal this year was an epic challenge which yet again was successfully achieved. Facing into the 105km world famous Jomoson trek was a group of 19 students and staff who arrived at Kathmandu International Airport full of enthusiasm and hunger for the adventure ahead. After spending a day in Thamel, Kathmandu, all were given some time to get over jet lag and do some final preparation for the trek and plan their personal goals for the expedition. On arrival in Pokhara students were instructed to relax

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that evening in order to prepare themselves mentally for the six challenging days ahead. Early next morning the small plane flew to Jomsom, high in the Himalayan Mountains so that the students could start their expedition. ‘The view from the plane was fascinating, the Annapurna mountain range looked stunning’ said Year 13 student Rafaat Azim. The first three days of the expedition were just a warm up for the killer day. It was mainly flat and downhill trekking. At the end of day three, the students had the chance to go to a hot spring where they relaxed.

This was before they faced the hardest day of their

lives. After setting off earlier than usual, the arduous day four began. An epic 2000 metre accent! ‘It was by far the hardest day of my life!’, said Arjun Handa, a Gold participant at BSK.. But after just a few hours of sleep they were woken at the crack of dawn for a short walk to a peak called Poon Hill II. Here everyone witnessed one of the best sunrises in the world, watching as the sun cascaded onto the Himalayan peaks. At the end of the six days of trekking the expedition participants went for a refreshing white water rafting trip for three days.

Everyone enjoyed splashing and pushing other raft

teams into the cold water. The evenings were very pleasant as they camped on very fine sand and watched the stars shine in the sky. On the last day, an exhausted yet triumphant group of young adults rowed the rafts to the finish line and tucked into a massive dinner back in Pokhara. Seeing all those happy faces, listening to the excitement all had faced and the pain everyone went through to achieve this level of the Award was certainly worth it! During dinner praise was given, highlighting how hard the young adults had pushed themselves throughout the expedition.

CHRISCCAA annual meeting Christian College Chengannur - Alumni Association, Kuwait Chapter (CHRISCCAA), executive committee, have decided to conduct its annual general body meeting on Saturday, April 24, at United Indian School, Jleeb, from 8 pm onwards. Presentation of Annual Report, Annual Accounts, selection of Office bearers and executive committee will be held during the meeting. All the association members are requested to attend the meeting. Contact any of the following office bearers for more details.

Mathew Alexander, President (99553036), George Mathew, vice president (94060522), Sunil Thomas, Gen.Secretary (66265702), Jacob Varghese, Treasurer (66223348).

Indian Lawyers Forum Kuwait Indian Lawyers Forum is convened for a family get together at the residence of Adv Sudheer Ramachandran on 30th April at 11 am at Abbassiya (next to BVP). To know the location, please call 99359680. All Indian lawyer members are cordially invited to attend the meeting.

Those who are interested may contact: 97203939/ 97260159 or by email: lawyersforum@gmail.com Kala Balakalamela Kerala Art Lovers Association-KALA will conduct Arts and Literature competitions for Indian school children on April 30 at Indian Community School, Khaitan. The items include classical dances, essay writing, elocutions, recitations, singing, classical music and skits.

The event is named “Balakalamela-2010”.

Prizes to winners will be given away the same evening. Free entry forms are available at all Indian schools, J.Saji, general secretary KALA, said. For assistance and details, the following numbers may be contacted: 97817100 / 99122984/ 24317875.

ISK Class of 1990 hosts Dr Ejaz Thakur resident of ISK Class of 1990 Joji John welcomed Dr. Ejaz Thakur from Mumbai to brief the gathering on his experiences with the latest in the field of laproscopy procedures.

Sanjay Nair who chaired the session was enlightened and overwhelmed by his retrospective and prospective studies. Nair concluded the session by thanking all for making this meet and the earlier ones a grand success. ISK 1990 has been meeting up on a regular basis since 2006 and is in touch with all the ex-students around the world exchanging very interesting and valuable information.

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Food competition

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n the occasion of MES Ladies Wing’s 5th Anniversary Celebration a food competition will be held on Friday 30th April, 2010 at Kuwait Medical Association Hall Jabriya from 3 to 6 pm. It is open to all residing in Kuwait. The first 15 entries will be accepted from each category. The three categories are Dessert, Snacks, Biriyani. Interested persons can contact on Tel: 99862430, 99135198, and 97299734 for registration. Valuable prizes will be awarded for the 1st 2nd 3rd prize winners from each category. The Judges interpretation and decision will be final. The judging panel headed by Dr Lakshmi Nair, from Kirali TV will select the winners.

TV PROGRAMS

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings

00:15 Streets Of Hollywood 00:40 Ths 01:30 25 Most Stylish 02:20 Sexiest 03:15 E! Investigates 05:05 Dr 90210 06:00 40 (more) Crimes Of Fashion 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 13:40 30 Best And Worst Beach Bodies 15:25 Behind The Scenes 15:50 Behind The Scenes 16:15 E! Investigates 17:10 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 Pretty Wild 21:45 Pretty Wild

00:00 House 01:00 Dawson’s Creek 02:00 Bones 03:00 Hotel Babylon 04:00 Dawson’s Creek 05:00 Burn Notice 06:00 CSI 07:00 House 08:00 Lie to Me 09:00 Law & Order 10:00 Bones 11:00 Hotel Babylon 12:00 CSI 13:00 Burn Notice 14:00 Bones 15:00 Dawson’s Creek 16:00 Lie to Me 17:00 Law & Order 18:00 Big Love 19:00 CSI 20:00 Without a Trace 21:00 Ghost Whisperer 22:00 Sons of Anarchy 23:00 Rescue Me

00:45 Animal Cops Phoenix 01:40 Untamed & Uncut 02:35 The Animals’ Guide to Survival 03:30 Animal Cops Houston 04:25 Miami Animal Police 05:20 Monkey Business 05:45 Animal Battlegrounds 06:10 E-Vets: The Interns 06:35 SSPCA: On the Wildside 07:00 Wildlife SOS 07:25 Pet Rescue 07:50 Crime Scene Wild 08:45 Austin Stevens: Most Dangerous...

09:40 Beverly Hills Groomer 10:05 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:30 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:55 Monkey Business 11:20 SSPCA: On the Wildside 11:50 Miami Animal Police 12:45 E-Vets: The Interns 13:10 Pet Rescue 13:40 Animal Cops Houston 14:35 Wildlife SOS 15:00 SSPCA: On the Wildside 15:30 Crime Scene Wild 16:25 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 16:50 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 17:20 Beverly Hills Groomer 17:45 Deep Into the Wild with Nick Baker 18:15 Killer Whales 19:10 Planet Earth 20:10 Animal Cops Phoenix 21:05 Untamed & Uncut

00:30 Ancient Rome: Rise And Fall Of An Empire 01:20 2 Point 4 Children 01:50 Jane Hall’s Big Bad Bus Ride 02:50 Casualty 03:40 Casualty 04:40 Ancient Rome: Rise And Fall Of An Empire 05:35 Bargain Hunt 06:20 Teletubbies 06:45 Me Too 07:05 Tweenies 07:25 Teletubbies 07:50 Me Too 08:10 Tweenies 08:30 Teletubbies 08:55 Me Too 09:15 Tweenies 09:40 Bargain Hunt 10:25 Ancient Rome: Rise And Fall Of An Empire 11:15 2 Point 4 Children 11:45 2 Point 4 Children 12:15 The Weakest Link 13:00 Eastenders 13:30 Doctors 14:00 Bargain Hunt 14:45 Cash In The Attic 15:15 2 Point 4 Children 15:45 2 Point 4 Children 16:15 The Weakest Link 17:00 Doctors 17:30 Eastenders 18:00 Casualty 19:00 Casualty 20:00 The Weakest Link

00:20 Come Dine With Me 00:45 Come Dine With Me 01:10 Trish’s Mediterranean Kitchen 01:35 Gino D’Acampo - An Italian In Mexico 02:00 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 02:45 The Clothes Show 03:30 New British Kitchen 03:55 The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook 04:20 Daily Cooks Challenge 04:50 Cash In The Attic USA 05:10 Hidden Potential 05:35 The Clothes Show 06:15 New British Kitchen 06:40 The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook 07:05 Daily Cooks Challenge 07:35 Cash In The Attic USA 08:00 Trish’s Mediterranean Kitchen 08:25 Bargain Hunt 09:10 Antiques Roadshow 10:00 Antiques Roadshow 10:55 Cash In The Attic USA 11:20 Hidden Potential 11:45 Trish’s Mediterranean Kitchen 12:10 Gino D’Acampo - An Italian In Mexico

Madagascar 2 on Super Movies 12:35 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 13:25 The Clothes Show 14:10 Bargain Hunt 14:55 Bargain Hunt 15:45 Antiques Roadshow 16:35 Cash In The Attic USA 16:55 Hidden Potential 17:20 Trish’s Mediterranean Kitchen 17:45 Gino D’Acampo - An Italian In Mexico

00:45 Sophie’s Choice-18 03:15 Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired-PG15 05:00 As Good As It Gets-PG15 07:15 Janis-PG 09:00 Ensemble C’est Tout-PG15 11:00 Heights-PG15 13:00 The Sun Also Rises-PG15 15:00 Wendy And Lucy-PG15 17:00 It Might Get Loud-PG15 19:00 L’ivresse Du Pouvoir-PG15 21:00 The War Within-18 23:00 Self Medicated-18

00:00 Border Security 00:30 Destroyed in Seconds 01:00 Miami Ink 02:00 Street Customs Berlin 02:55 Wheeler Dealers 03:20 Wheeler Dealers 03:50 Massive Engines 04:15 Massive Engines 04:45 Mythbusters 05:40 How It’s Made 06:05 Dirty Jobs 07:00 Massive Engines 07:30 Massive Engines 07:55 Top Trumps 08:20 Street Customs Berlin 09:15 Mythbusters 10:10 Ultimate Survival 11:05 Wheeler Dealers 11:35 Wheeler Dealers 12:00 Border Security 12:30 How it’s Made 12:55 How It’s Made 13:20 American Chopper 14:15 Miami Ink 15:10 Mythbusters 16:05 Dirty Jobs 17:00 LA Hard Hats 18:00 Border Security 18:30 Street Customs Berlin 19:30 Destroyed in Seconds 20:00 How It’s Made

00:30 Engineered 01:20 Space Pioneer 02:10 What’s That About?

03:00 Beyond Tomorrow 03:50 Ten Ways 04:45 How Does That Work?

05:10 Mean Green Machines 05:40 Weird Connections 06:10 Engineered 07:00 Junkyard Mega-Wars 08:00 Cosmic Collisions 09:00 What’s That About?

09:55 How Does That Work?

10:20 Stunt Junkies 10:50 Engineered 11:45 Mean Green Machines 12:10 Weird Connections 12:40 Cosmic Collisions 13:35 What’s That About?

14:30 Human Body: Ultimate Machine 15:25 How Does That Work?

15:55 Junkyard Mega-Wars 16:50 Brainiac 17:45 Eco-Tech 18:40 Science of the Movies 19:30 Brainiac 20:20 How It’s Made 20:45 How It’s Made 21:10 Mythbusters 22:00 Science of the Movies

00:00 My Friends Tigger And Pooh 00:20 Lazytown 00:45 Special Agent Oso 01:10 Imagination Movers 01:35 Jungle Junction 02:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 02:25 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 02:45 Handy Manny 03:10 Special Agent Oso 03:35 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 04:00 Fairly Odd Parents 04:25 Hannah Montana 04:45 I Got A Rocket 05:10 Wizards Of Waverly Place 05:35 Phineas & Ferb 06:00 Higglytown Heroes 06:10 My Friends Tigger And Pooh 06:35 Lazytown 07:00 Special Agent Oso 07:20 Imagination Movers 07:45 Jungle Junction 08:10 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 08:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 09:00 Handy Manny 09:25 Special Agent Oso 09:45 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 10:10 Fairly Odd Parents 10:35 Hannah Montana 11:00 I Got A Rocket 11:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place 11:45 Phineas & Ferb 12:10 Suite Life On Deck 12:35 Replacements 12:55 American Dragon 13:20 Kim Possible 13:40 I Got A Rocket 14:05 Fairly Odd Parents 14:30 Phineas & Ferb 14:55 Replacements 15:15 A Kind Of Magic 15:40 Wizards Of Waverly Place 16:00 Hannah Montana 16:25 Sonny With A Chance 16:45 Fairly Odd Parents 17:10 Phineas & Ferb 17:35 Suite Life On Deck 18:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 18:25 Hannah Montana 18:45 The Replacements 19:00 Jonas 19:25 Suite Life On Deck 19:50 Sonny With A Chance 20:15 Hannah Montana 20:35 Wizards Of Waverly Place 21:00 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 21:25 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody

06:00 American Dragon 06:25 Power Rangers Jungle Fury 06:50 Kid vs Kat 07:15 Phineas & Ferb 07:40 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 08:05 American Dragon 08:30 Pokemon DP: Battle Dimension 09:00 Phineas & Ferb 09:30 Zeke & Luther 10:00 Phil Of The Future 10:30 Suite Life On Deck 11:00 Kid vs Kat 11:30 Power Rangers Jungle Fury 12:00 Aaron Stone 12:25 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 12:50 Pokemon DP: Battle Dimension 13:20 NEXT X EUROPE 13:30 Phineas & Ferb 14:00 Zeke & Luther 14:30 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 15:00 American Dragon 15:30 Kid vs Kat 16:00 Phineas & Ferb 16:30 I’M IN THE BAND 17:00 Suite Life On Deck 17:30 Aaron Stone 18:00 Iron Man: Armoured Adventures 18:25 Kid vs Kat 18:50 NEXT X EUROPE 19:00 Zeke & Luther 19:30 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 20:00 American Dragon 20:30 I’M IN THE BAND 21:00 Phil Of The Future

00:00 Giada At Home 01:00 Food Network Challenge 01:00 Great British Menu 02:00 Daily Cooks Challenge 03:00 Barefoot Contessa 03:00 Iron Chef America 04:00 Barefoot Contessa 05:00 Great British Menu 05:00 Iron Chef America 06:00 Chopped 06:00 Food Network Challenge 07:00 Everyday Italian 07:00 Iron Chef America 08:00 Great British Menu 08:00 Iron Chef America 09:00 Chopped 09:00 Daily Cooks Challenge 10:00 30 Minute Meals 10:00 Food Network Challenge 11:00 30 Minute Meals 11:00 Food Network Challenge 12:00 Iron Chef America 12:40 Barefoot Contessa 13:00 Teleshopping 14:00 Teleshopping 14:20 Barefoot Contessa 15:00 Teleshopping 16:00 Great British Menu 17:00 Teleshopping 18:00 Daily Cooks Challenge 19:00 Teleshopping 20:00 Barefoot Contessa 21:00 Barefoot Contessa 21:00 Teleshopping 22:00 Tyler’s Ultimate 23:00 Food Network Challenge 23:00 Tyler’s Ultimate

00:30 Dead Tenants 01:20 FBI Files 02:10 Murder Shift 03:05 Serial Killers 04:00 Forensic Detectives 04:55 Real Emergency Calls 05:20 Dr G: Medical Examiner 06:10 Ghosthunters 06:35 Ghosthunters 07:00 Forensic Detectives 07:50 FBI Files 08:40 Royal Inquest 09:30 Mystery ER 10:20 Forensic Detectives 11:10 FBI Files 12:00 The Prosecutors 12:50 Guilty Or Innocent?

13:40 CSU 14:30 Forensic Detectives 15:20 FBI Files 16:10 Royal Inquest 17:00 Mystery ER 17:50 Forensic Detectives 18:40 FBI Files 19:30 The Prosecutors 20:20 Guilty Or Innocent?

21:10 CSU 22:00 On the Case with Paula Zahn 22:50 Crimes That Shook the World 23:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner

00:05 The Man Inside 01:45 Brenda Starr 03:20 Leather Jackets 04:50 The Hot Spot 07:00 Hammer Down 08:25 Nicholas Nickleby 10:35 Clifford 12:05 The Heavenly Kid 13:35 Ski Patrol 15:05 Mr. North 16:40 Mr. Wonderful 18:20 The Pride And The Passion 20:30 Interiors 22:00 Elmer Gantry

00:00 Dolphin Army 01:00 World’s Wildest Encounters 02:00 Evolutions 03:00 Ancient Creatures 04:00 Insect Wars 05:00 Dogtown

06:00 Evolutions 07:00 Ancient Creatures 08:00 Dolphin Army 09:00 World’s Wildest Encounters 10:00 Evolutions 11:00 Ancient Creatures 12:00 Dangerous Encounters 13:00 Gorilla Murders 14:00 Frogs: The Thin Green Line 15:00 Africa’s Lost Eden 16:00 Animals At The Edge 17:00 The Last Lioness 18:00 Frogs: The Thin Green Line 19:00 Africa’s Lost Eden 20:00 Animals At The Edge 21:00 The Last Lioness 22:00 Dangerous Encounters 23:00 Gorilla Murders

00:00 Community 00:30 Rita Rocks 01:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 03:00 Reno 911 03:30 Weeds 04:00 Sauturday Night Live 05:00 Community 05:30 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 06:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 07:00 Just Shoot me!

07:30 Malcolm in the Middle 08:00 Frasier 08:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 09:00 The Nanny 09:30 Drew Carey 10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:30 Just Shoot me!

11:00 Frasier 11:30 Eight Simple Rules 12:00 The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson 13:00 Rita Rocks 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 Significant Others 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

00:00 The Martha Stewart Show 01:00 10 Years Younger 01:30 Look A Like 02:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 03:00 The Monique Show 04:00 The Tonight show with Jay Leno 05:00 GMA (repeat) 07:00 GMA Health 07:30 What’s the Buzz 08:00 The Martha Stewart Show 09:00 Look A Like 09:30 10 Years Younger 10:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live!

11:00 The View 12:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 13:00 What’s Good For You 14:00 GMA Live 16:00 GMA Health 16:30 What’s the Buzz 17:00 The Tonight show with Jay Leno 18:00 Look A Like 18:30 10 Years younger 19:00 The View 20:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 21:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live!

22:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno 23:00 The Monique Show

00:00 Beyond A Reasonable Doubt-PG15 02:00 Exterminators-PG15 04:00 A Previous Engagement-PG15 06:00 Before The Rains-PG15 08:00 The Brothers Bloom-PG15 10:00 Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix-PG 12:15 Definitely Maybe-PG15 14:15 Bottle Shock-PG15 16:00 The Brothers Bloom-PG15 18:00 Speed Racer-PG 20:15 Watchmen-18 23:00 Step Brothers-PG15

01:00 Vantage Point-PG15 03:00 Boot Camp-18 05:00 Rock Monster-PG15 07:00 Devil’s Diary-PG15 09:00 Arn: The Knight Templar-PG15 11:15 Broken Arrow-18 13:15 Prisoner-PG 15:00 Arn: The Knight Templar-PG15 17:15 Die Hard-PG15 19:30 Final Encounter-PG15 21:10 Punisher: War Zone-18 23:00 Feast 2-18

00:00 Run Fatboy Run-PG15 02:00 How High-18 04:00 Christmas At The Riviera-PG 06:00 I Me Wed-PG15 08:00 Harold-PG15 10:00 Big Daddy-PG15

12:00 The Hammer-PG15 14:00 Touch And Go-PG 16:00 Run Fatboy Run-PG15 18:00 Dream For An Insomniac-PG15 20:00 National Lampoon’s: Electric Apricot-PG15 22:00 Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

00:00 Barbie As The Island Princess-FAM 02:00 Wall-E-FAM 04:00 Max Keeble’s Big Movie-PG 06:00 Scooby-Doo And The Loch Ness Monster-FAM 08:00 Barbie Fairytopia Mermaidia-FAM 10:00 Max Keeble’s Big Movie-PG 12:00 Elias And The Royal Yacht-FAM 14:00 Wall-E-FAM 16:00 Mucha Lucha! Return Of El Malefico-FAM 18:00 Tommy And The Cool Mule-PG 20:00 House Arrest-FAM 22:00 Elias And The Royal Yacht-FAM

00:00 Grey’s Anatomy 01:00 Private Practice 02:00 Breaking Bad 03:00 Survivor : Samoa 04:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 04:30 Coach 05:00 24 06:00 Emmerdale 06:30 Coronation Street 07:00 Criminal Minds 08:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 08:30 Coach 09:00 Survivor : Samoa 10:00 24 11:00 Criminal Minds 12:00 Emmerdale 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 13:30 Coach 14:00 Grey’s Anatomy 15:00 Private Practice 16:00 24 17:00 Lipstick Jungle 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Huey’s Cooking Adventure 19:00 Wallender 20:00 Dollhouse 21:00 Cold Case 22:00 Life on Mars 23:00 Breaking Bad

00:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 00:30 Premier League 02:30 Premier League Review Show 04:00 Barclays Premier League 06:00 Portugol 06:30 Brazil League Highlights 07:00 Barclays Premier League 09:00 Premier League Classics 09:30 Premier League Classics 10:00 Barclays Premier League 12:00 Barclays Premier League 14:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 14:30 Brazil League Highlights 15:00 Barclays Premier League Highlights 16:00 Live Snooker World Championship 20:00 Barclays Premier League Highlights 21:00 Live Snooker World Championship

01:00 Premier League World 01:30 Goals On Monday 03:00 Premier League Darts 07:00 Snooker World Championship 11:00 Barclays Premier League Highlights 12:00 Premier League World 12:30 AFL Highlights 13:30 European PGA Tour Golf 17:00 Barclays Premier League Highlights 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

10:30 British Triathlon Super Series 11:00 Bushido 12:00 WWE Vintage Collection 13:00 NCAA Basketball 15:00 LG Action Sport 16:00 FIM World Cup 16:30 British Triathlon Super Series 17:00 WWE Vintage Collection 18:00 V8 Supercars Series Highlights 19:00 V8 Supercars Series Highlights 20:00 WWE NXT 21:00 UFC - The Ultimate Fighter 22:00 UFC Unleashed 23:00 UFC Unleashed

01:00 Talk To Me-PG15 03:00 The Rocker-PG15 05:00 Mongol-PG15 07:00 Happy Go Lucky-PG15 09:00 Madagascar 2-PG 11:00 Meet Dave-PG 13:00 Sticks And Stones-PG 15:00 Son Of The Mask-PG 17:00 Madagascar 2-PG 19:00 Made Of Honor-PG15 21:00 Hannah Montana The Movie-PG 23:00 Mr. Woodcock-18

02:30 Point Blank 04:00 House Of Usher 05:20 Hearts Of The West 07:00 Please Don’t Eat The Daisies 08:50 Man Of La Mancha 11:00 How The West Was Won 13:30 Two Weeks In Another Town 15:15 Please Don’t Eat The Daisies 17:05 The Screening Room 17:35 Kidnapped 19:30 Where Eagles Dare 22:00 House Of Usher 23:20 Ryan’s Daughter

00:30 Rise & Fall of the Spartans 01:20 UFO Files 02:10 Conspiracy?

03:00 Nostradamus Effect 03:55 Lost Book Of Nostradamus 05:40 Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 06:30 Rise & Fall of the Spartans 07:20 UFO Files 08:10 Conspiracy?

09:00 Nostradamus Effect 09:55 Lost Book Of Nostradamus 11:40 Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 12:30 Rise & Fall of the Spartans 13:20 UFO Files 14:10 Conspiracy?

15:00 Nostradamus Effect 15:55 Lost Book Of Nostradamus 17:40 Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 18:30 Rise & Fall of the Spartans 19:20 UFO Files 20:10 Conspiracy?

21:00 Life After People 21:55 Evolve 22:50 Dinosaur Secrets 23:40 Prehistoric Mega Storms

00:00 Dr 90210 01:00 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane 01:30 Dallas Divas & Daughters 02:00 How Do I Look?

03:00 Split Ends 04:00 Dr 90210 05:00 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane 05:30 Area 06:00 How Do I Look?

07:00 Style Star

07:30 Style Her Famous 08:00 My Celebrity Home 09:00 Style Star 09:30 Dress My Nest 10:00 Peter Perfect 11:00 Whose Wedding Is it Anyway?

12:00 Ruby 13:00 Home Wars 14:00 Clean House Comes Clean 14:30 Dress My Nest 15:00 What I Hate About Me 16:00 Split Ends 17:00 Dallas Divas & Daughters 17:30 The Dish 18:00 Running in Heels 18:30 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane 19:00 Split Ends 20:00 Clean House 21:00 Dress My Nest 21:30 Style Her Famous 22:00 Clean House 23:00 Ruby

00:00 Globe Trekker 01:00 Angry Planet 01:30 The Thirsty Traveler 02:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 03:00 Planet Food 04:00 Rajasthan - A Colourful Legacy 05:00 Globe Trekker 06:00 Planet Food 07:00 The Thirsty Traveler 07:30 Angry Planet 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 Feast India 15:30 Entrada 16:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 17:00 Globe Trekker 18:00 Essential 18:30 Journey Into Wine- Australia 19:00 Chef Abroad 19:30 The Thirsty Traveler 20:00 Globe Trekker 21:00 How To Holiday Greener 21:30 Culture Shock 22:00 Distant Shores 22:30 Wild At Heart 23:00 Secrets of Bangkok

00:00 Vh1 Rocks 00:30 Smells Like The 90’s 01:00 Greatest Hits 02:00 Vh1 Music 05:00 Chill Out 07:00 Vh1 Hits 09:00 Vh1 Music 11:00 Aerobic 12:00 Top 10 Sting 13:00 Music For The Masses 14:00 Vh1 Pop Chart 15:00 Vh1 Music 17:00 Music For The Masses 18:00 Vh1 Music 19:00 Vh1 Viewer’s Jukebox 20:00 Final Countdown Best 80s Rock Anthems

01:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 01:30 NRL Premiership 03:30 European Tour Weekly 04:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 05:00 Premier League World 05:30 Goals Goals Goals 06:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 06:30 ICC Cricket World 07:00 Futbol Mundial 07:30 European Tour Weekly 08:00 Live PGA European Tour 11:00 Futbol Mundial 11:30 Guinness Premiership 13:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 14:00 NRL Premiership 16:00 ICC Cricket World 16:30 Rugby League Challenge Cup 18:30 European Tour Weekly 19:00 PGA European Tour 22:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 23:00 World Hockey 23:30 World Sport

00:00 V8 Supercars Series Highlights 01:00 V8 Supercars Series Highlights 02:00 WWE NXT 03:00 Bushido 04:00 NCAA Basketball 06:00 UFC Unleashed 07:00 WWE Smackdown 09:00 WWE Vintage Collection 10:00 FIM World Cup

Watchmen on Show Movies

Star Listings (UAE Timings) STAR Movies 20:50 Wyvern 22:20 Say Anything 00:00 The Initiation Of Sarah 01:30 The Women 03:20 Alvin And The Chipmunks 04:50 Wyvern 06:20 Say Anything 08:00 VIP Access 08:30 The Women 10:25 Blonde & Blonder 12:00 No Way Out 13:50 Renaissance Man 15:55 Lava Storm 17:30 Speed 19:25 Enchanted STAR World 20:00 EAST WEST 20:50 Charlie’s Angels 21:00 Cops S19 21:25 Cops S19 21:50 Who’s The Boss?

22:00 Grey’s Anatomy 23:00 [V] Tunes 00:00 [V] Tunes 01:00 [V] Tunes 02:00 Kyle XY 03:00 Scrubs 03:30 The King Of Queens 04:00 BOSTON LEGAL

05:00 06:00 06:50 07:00 08:00 08:50 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:50 11:00 11:50 12:00 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00

American Idol Grey’s Anatomy Charlie’s Angels American Idol EAST WEST Jackie Chan Adventures The King Of Queens The Bold And The Beautiful Kyle XY Charlie’s Angels Grey’s Anatomy Who’s The Boss?

[V] Tunes American Idol Scrubs The King Of Queens Boston Legal Samantha Who? Rules Of Engagement Desperate Housewives Private Practice Asia Uncut

Granada TV 20:00 Parkinson (Series 7) 21:00 New Homes From Hell ** 22:00 Emmerdale 22:30 Coronation Street 23:00 New Homes From Hell ** 00:00 Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 2) 01:00 The Jeremy Kyle Show

02:00 Action Thursday: The Vice (Series 2) (Double Bill) 04:00 The Inside Guide To (Series 3) 05:00 Emmerdale 05:30 Coronation Street 06:00 Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 2) 07:00 Action Thursday: The Vice (Series 2) (Double Bill) 09:00 The Jeremy Kyle Show 10:00 Revenge TV 11:00 Emmerdale 11:30 Coronation Street 12:00 Ballroom Bootcamp 13:00 Action Thursday: The Vice (Series 2) (Double Bill) 15:00 The Jeremy Kyle Show 16:00 Emmerdale 16:30 Coronation Street 17:00 Ballroom Bootcamp 18:00 Action Thursday: The Vice (Series 2) (Double Bill) Channel [V] 21:00 Keys To The VIP Double Bill 22:00 [V] Tunes 22:30 [V] Tunes 23:00 Backtracks 23:30 Double Shot 00:00 Loop 00:30 [V] Tunes 01:00 [V] Plug

01:30 02:00 03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:00

Loop Backtracks XO [V] Tunes [V] Plug The Playlist Keys To The VIP Double Bill [V] Tunes [V] Tunes Backtracks Double Shot Loop [V] Tunes [V] Plug Loop Backtracks XO [V] Tunes [V] Plug The Playlist Videoscope [V] Tunes [V] Tunes Backtracks Double Shot Loop [V] Tunes [V] Plug Loop Backtracks XO

19:30 [V] Tunes 20:00 [V] Plug 20:30 The Playlist Fox News 00:00 Happening Now 01:00 The Live Desk 03:00 Studio B with Shepard Smith Live 04:00 Your World with Neil Cavuto 05:00 Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck 06:00 Special Report with Bret Baier 07:00 The FOX Report with Shepard Smith 08:00 The O’Reilly Factor 09:00 Hannity 10:00 On the Record with Greta Van Susteren 11:00 The O’Reilly Factor 12:00 Hannity 13:00 On the Record with Greta Van Susteren 14:00 Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck 15:00 Fox Report 16:00 Special Report with Bret Baier 17:00 The O’Reilly Factor 18:00 FOX & Friends First Live 19:00 FOX & Friends Live 21:00 America’s Newsroom 22:00 America’s Newsroom 23:00 Happening Now National Geographic Channel 20:00 Planet Mechanics -Surf Power 21:00 Underwater Oasis

22:00 Jean-Michel Cousteau-Ocean Adventures -Sharks: At Risk 23:00 Theme Week -Shark Eden (aka Journey To Sha 00:00 Six Degrees Could Change The World 01:00 Diving The Labyrinth 02:00 Six Degrees Could Change The World 03:00 Shark Men -First Bite 04:00 Hunter Hunted -Shark Invasion 05:00 Shark Eden (aka Journey To Sha 06:00 Built For The Kill -Ocean S1-7 07:00 Diving The Labyrinth 08:00 Six Degrees Could Change The World 09:00 Naked Science -Glacier Meltdown 10:00 Underwater Oasis 11:00 Jean-Michel Cousteau-Ocean Adventures -Sharks: At Risk 12:00 Shark Eden (aka Journey To Sha 13:00 Mega Thursday -World’s Toughest Fixes : Leaky Cruise Ship 14:00 Diving The Labyrinth 15:00 Theme Week -Underwater Oasis 16:00 Shark Eden (aka Journey To Sha 17:00 Seconds From Disaster -Amsterdam Air Crash S2.5 - 2 18:00 Monkey Thieves -Street Life 18 18:30 Monkey Thieves -Home Hunters 19 19:00 Shark Men -Size Matters

Thursday, April 22, 2010

33 Flight Schedule Arrival Flights on Thursday 22/04/2010 Airlines Flt Route Time Royal Jordanian 802 Amman 00:05 Bangladesh 045 Dhaka/Bahrain 00:05 Wataniya Airways 188 Bahrain 00:30 Wataniya Airways 306 Cairo 00:50 Gulf Air 211 Bahrain 01:05 Turkish A/L 772 Istanbul 01:15 Jazeera 435 Mashad 01:30 Jazeera 513 Sharm El Sheikh 01:45 Ethiopian 620 Addis Ababa 01:45 DHL 370 Bahrain 02:15 Emirates 853 Dubai 02:25 Etihad 305 Abu Dhabi 02:55 Qatari 138 Doha 03:25 Kuwait 802 Cairo 04:45 Cargolux 794 Luxembourg 04:45 Jazeera 503 Luxor 05:15 Falcon 201 Dubai 05:25 Jazeera 637 Aleppo 05:45 Jazeera 527 Alexandria 06:05 Jazeera 529 Assiut 06:10 Kuwait 412 Manila/Bangkok 06:15 British 157 London 06:30 Kuwait 204 Lahore 07:10 Iran Air 605 Isfahan 07:45 Kuwait 302 Mumbai 07:50 Fly Dubai 053 Dubai 07:55 Kuwait 332 Trivandrum 07:55 Kuwait 676 Dubai 08:00 Kuwait 284 Dhaka 08:10 Kuwait 362 Colombo 08:20 Emirates 855 Dubai 08:25 Arabia 121 Sharjah 08:40 Qatari 132 Doha 09:00 Etihad 301 Abu Dhabi 09:25 Jazeera 425 Bahrain 10:25 Gulf Air 213 Bahrain 10:45 Wataniya Airways 182 Bahrain 10:45 Wataniya Airways 102 Dubai 11:05 Jazeera 165 Dubai 11:05 Jazeera 447 Doha 11:10 Jazeera 113 Abu Dhabi 11:20 Syrian Arab A/L 341 Damascus 12:05 Jazeera 171 Dubai 12:50 Egypt Air 610 Cairo 12:55 Jazeera 457 Damascus 13:10 Kuwait 672 Dubai 13:15 Kuwait 772 Riyadh 13:20 Wataniya Airways 432 Damascus 13:35 United A/L 982 Washington Dc Dulles 13:35 Royal Jordanian 800 Amman 13:35 Egypt Air 621 Assiut 13:40 Wataniya Airways 422 Amman 14:10 Jazeera 257 Beirut 14:10 Saudi Arabian A/L 500 Jeddah 14:30 Kuwait 552 Damascus 14:35 Nas Air 745 Jeddah 14:55 Qatari 134 Doha 15:05 Kuwait 546 Alexandria 15:30 Kuwait 678 Muscat/Abu Dhabi 15:35 Jazeera 173 Dubai 15:55 Kuwait 118 New York 16:15 Mihin Lanka 403 Colombo/Dubai 16:40 Etihad 303 Abu Dhabi 16:50 Emirates 857 Dubai 16:55 Wataniya Airways 402 Beirut 17:15 Gulf Air 215 Bahrain 17:15 Saudi Arabian A/L 510 Riyadh 17:20 Jazeera 493 Jeddah 17:25 Kuwait 562 Amman 17:30 Jazeera 525 Alexandria 17:35 Jazeera 239 Amman 17:35 Arabia 125 Sharjah 17:40 Iran Air 617 Ahwaz 17:40 Jazeera 343 Sanaa/Bahrain 17:55 Srilankan 227 Colombo/Dubai 18:00 Kuwait 104 London 18:35 Wataniya Airways 304 Cairo 18:35 Wataniya Airways 106 Dubai 18:45 Kuwait 542 Cairo 18:50 Kuwait 502 Beirut 18:50 Kuwait 786 Jeddah 18:55 Kuwait 618 Doha 18:55 Wataniya Airways 202 Jeddah 18:55 Jazeera 177 Dubai 19:05 Jazeera 459 Damascus 19:10 Kuwait 674 Dubai 19:20 Kuwait 614 Bahrain 19:20 Kuwait 774 Riyadh 19:25 Bahrain Air 344 Bahrain 19:25 Jazeera 433 Mashad 19:30 Rovos 093 Kandahar/Dubai 20:00 Fly Dubai 061 Dubai 20:05 Oman Air 647 Muscat 20:15 Middle East 402 Beirut 20:20 Jet A/W 572 Mumbai 20:30 Egypt Air 618 Alexandria 20:35 KLM 0445 Amsterdam 20:40 Wataniya Airways 404 Beirut 20:50 Jazeera 183 Dubai 21:00 DHL 372 Bahrain 21:00 Gulf Air 217 Bahrain 21:05 Emirates 859 Dubai 21:15 Qatari 136 Doha 21:35 United A/L 981 Bahrain 21:55 Indian 981 Chennai/Ahmedabad 22:05 Jazeera 429 Bahrain 22:15 Jazeera 117 Abu Dhabi 22:25 Jazeera 449 Doha 22:25 Lufthansa 636 Frankfurt 22:30 Egypt Air 612 Cairo 22:55 Bangladesh 043 Dhaka 23:00 Jazeera 185 Dubai 23:05 India Express 389 Kozhikode/Mangalore 23:10 Pakistan 205 Lahore 23:55 Wataniya Airways 108 Dubai 23:55

Departure Flights on Thursday 22/04/2010 Airlines Flt Route Time Shaheen Air 442 Lahore 00:10 Egypt Air 607 Luxor 00:15 India Express 394 Cochin/Kozhikode 00:25 KLM 0447 Amsterdam 00:30 Lufthansa 637 Frankfurt 00:50 Indian 576 Goa/Chennai 00:50 Pakistan 216 Karachi 01:10 Bangladesh 046 Dhaka 01:15 Jazeera 528 Assiut 01:25 Turkish A/L 773 Istanbul 02:15 Ethiopian 620 Bahrain/Addis Ababa 02:30 DHL 371 Bahrain 03:15 Emirates 854 Dubai 03:45 Etihad 306 Abu Dhabi 04:00 Qatari 139 Doha 05:00 Wataniya Airways 101 Dubai 06:50 Royal Jordanian 803 Amman 07:00 Jazeera 164 Dubai 07:00 Jazeera 112 Abu Dhabi 07:15 Jazeera 422 Bahrain 07:35 Jazeera 446 Doha 07:40 Gulf Air 212 Bahrain 07:45 Wataniya Airways 181 Bahrain 07:50 Rovos 094 Dubai/Kandahar 08:00 Jazeera 456 Damascus 08:05 Wataniya Airways 431 Damascus 08:10 British 156 London 08:25 Jazeera 256 Beirut 08:35 Kuwait 545 Alexandria 08:35 Fly Dubai 054 Dubai 08:40 Kuwait 677 Abu Dhabi/Muscat 08:45 Iran Air 606 Mashad 08:45 Jazeera 342 Bahrain/Sanaa 09:00 Kuwait 671 Dubai 09:00 Jazeera 170 Dubai 09:00 Wataniya Airways 421 Amman 09:10 Kuwait 551 Damascus 09:10 Arabia 122 Sharjah 09:20 Kuwait 101 London/New York 09:30 Emirates 856 Dubai 09:40 Kuwait 771 Riyadh 10:00 Qatari 133 Doha 10:00 Etihad 302 Abu Dhabi 10:10 Cargolux 794 Singapore 10:40 Jazeera 524 Alexandria 11:15 Gulf Air 214 Bahrain 11:35 Wataniya Airways 401 Beirut 11:35 Kuwait 165 Rome/Paris 11:45 Wataniya Airways 303 Cairo 11:50 Jazeera 172 Dubai 11:55 Kuwait 541 Cairo 12:00 Jazeera 492 Jeddah 12:15 Kuwait 561 Amman 12:25 Jazeera 238 Amman 12:30 Kuwait 501 Beirut 13:00 Syrian Arab A/L 342 Damascus 13:05 Kuwait 785 Jeddah 13:30 Wataniya Airways 201 Jeddah 13:45 Egypt Air 611 Cairo 13:55 Jazeera 458 Damascus 14:00 Jazeera 432 Mashad 14:05 Wataniya Airways 105 Dubai 14:30 Royal Jordanian 801 Amman 14:30 Egypt Air 622 Assiut 14:40 United A/L 982 Bahrain 14:50 Jazeera 176 Dubai 14:55 Wataniya Airways 403 Beirut 15:10 Kuwait 673 Dubai 15:10 Kuwait 617 Doha 15:35 Nas Air 746 Jeddah 15:45 Saudi Arabian A/L 505 Jeddah 16:00 Kuwait 773 Riyadh 16:05 Kuwait 613 Bahrain 16:20 Qatari 135 Doha 16:20 Jazeera 182 Dubai 16:50 Etihad 304 Abu Dhabi 17:35 Mihin Lanka 404 Dubai/Colombo 17:40 Wataniya Airways 305 Cairo 18:05 Emirates 858 Dubai 18:05 Gulf Air 216 Bahrain 18:05 Kuwait 543 Cairo 18:10 Arabia 126 Sharjah 18:20 Saudi Arabian A/L 511 Riyadh 18:35 Iran Air 616 Ahwaz 18:40 Jazeera 116 Abu Dhabi 18:40 Kuwait 285 Chittagong 18:45 Jazeera 448 Doha 18:55 Jazeera 184 Dubai 19:00 Jazeera 428 Bahrain 19:10 Srilankan 228 Dubai/Colombo 19:10 Wataniya Airways 407 Beirut 19:25 Wataniya Airways 107 Dubai 19:40 Wataniya Airways 321 Sharm El Sheikh 19:45 Kuwait 283 Dhaka 20:00 Jazeera 266 Beirut 20:05 Bahrain Air 345 Bahrain 20:10 Jazeera 512 Sharm El Sheikh 20:15 Kuwait 361 Colombo 20:20 Fly Dubai 062 Dubai 20:50 Kuwait 351 Cochin 21:05 Oman Air 648 Muscat 21:15 Middle East 403 Beirut 21:20 Jet A/W 571 Mumbai 21:30 Egypt Air 619 Alexandria 21:35 Wataniya Airways 187 Bahrain 21:35 KLM 0445 Bahrain/Amsterdam 21:40 Jazeera 240 Amman 21:50 Gulf Air 218 Bahrain 21:55 DHL 373 Bahrain 22:00 Kuwait 675 Dubai 22:10 Emirates 860 Dubai 22:25 Falcon 102 Bahrain 22:30 Qatari 137 Doha 22:35 Kuwait 301 Mumbai 22:45 Kuwait 205 Islamabad 22:55 Jazeera 480 Sabiha 23:05 Jazeera 526 Alexandria 23:20 Jazeera 502 Luxor 23:30 Jazeera 636 Aleppo 23:35 Kuwait 411 Bangkok/Manila 23:40 United A/L 981 Washington Dc Dulles 23:40 Kuwait 415 Kuala Lumpur/Jakarta 23:50 Egypt Air 613 Cairo 23:55

FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161

ACCOMMODATION A sharing room available for a decent bachelor (preferably Mangalorean) with another Mangalorean in Abbassiya near United Indian School. Contact: 97539726. (C 2169) Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya near Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan and Dar Al Saha polyclinic, for single family. Contact: 66533471. (C 2172) Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya for visiting family or two working ladies or couples in new CAC fully furnished two bedroom, two bathroom (attached) flat with Keralite family from 7th June 2010.

Contact: 66013882, 99494359. (C 2170) Sharing accommodation available for a small family in a 2 bedroom, hall & kitchen central A/C flat near Emirates hotel Abu Halifa with Keralite Christian family. Contact: 97612421.

(C 2147) 22-4-2010 Sharing accommodation available in Kuwait City from 1st of May 2010 with bachelors, looking for a decent Indian person. Interested please contact 22452889, 60015811, 99539718.

(C 2166) Sharing accommodation available for a south Indian bachelor in a furnished studio room close to Khaitan cinema bus stop with a Mangalorean Catholic bachelor (kitchen and bathroom attached), rent KD 25. Contact: 66036893. (C 2141) Room available in C-A/C flat with separate bathroom in Sharq near Mughal Mahal restaurant for working ladies from May 1st. Contact: 99567689, 55197093.

(C 2154) 21-4-2010 Accommodation available for family or working ladies opp. German clinic. Contact: 66455687. (C 2155) Room for rent for Filipinos in a 3-bedroom, 2bathrooom C-A/C flat in Khaitan, along Airport Road.

Contact: 66882746 or 24712170.

Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya Queen始s beauty parlor building, one room separate bathroom only Keralite decent bachelors. Call: 99153497. (C 2157) A sharing room available for a decent Mangalorean bachelor to share with another Mangalorean. Contact: 97539726. (C 2163) 20-4-2010 Accommodation available

now in Abbassiya near Bahrain Exchange for nonsmoking decent Keralites.

Also one room available for a couple or working ladies from middle of May, kitchen available.

Contact: 24334859, 99185377.

(C 2151)

check, price KD 2,350, negotiable.

Contact: 66015265. (C 2156)

Sharing accommodation available for one bachelor to share with Goan family in two bedroom flat in Abbassiya near Unique Store No.2 opposite Uduppi palace hotel from May 2010. Contact: 66110593, 24313908. (C 2152) 19-4-2010

Laptop Suzuki 1333 new (made Taiwan) 2.16 GHz C2D, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB, DVD writer, 13.3 wide crystal screen, wireless, webcam, MIc. Call: 97250299 97698074. (C 2159)

FOR SALE 1998 GMC Sierra - 3500 pick up 6.5L diesel engine, double heel in very good condition, full options. KD 2,250. Contact: 66714700.

(C 2150) 1996 Chev Silverado pick up 2W in very good condition, loaded with options.

KD 2,050.

Contact: 97485532. (C 2149) 22-4-2010 2005 white mini-van, manual, 7-seater GM-Wuling Chinese made, service by Mutawa Al-Kazi Co, 55,700 km, regd. March 2011. Call: 99913384. (C 2164) Nissan Pathfinder, 2003 model, metallic golden color, km 170,000 SE.3.5, very good condition. KD 2,400, serious buyers can contact: 97615287. (C 2168) 21-4-2010 Mitsubishi Jeep, Nativa model 2009, silver color, excellent condition, cash price KD 3,400, done 12,000 kms only.

Contact: 55107856. (C 2158) Toyota Corolla 1.8 Xli, golden color, 2005, excellent condition, very low mileage, well maintained, ready to

No: 14706

Ford Tracer, 1998 model, insurance till next March 2011, price KD 750, serious persons contact: 99554160.

(C 2153)

Laptop DELL Vostro 1400 new (made Ireland) 2.2 GHz C2D, 4 MB Cache, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB, DVD writer, wireless, Bluetooth, 14.1 wide crystal screen. Call: 22473767 - 97698074. (C 2160) Laptop DELL Vostro 1510 new (made Poland) 2.4 GHz C2D, 4 MB Cache, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB, DVD writer, wireless, Bluetooth, webcam, 15.4 wide screen. Call: 22473766 - 97250299. (C 2161) 20-4-2010 1998 GMC Sierra - 3500 pick up, 6.5L diesel engine double wheel, in very good condition, full option, KD 2,250. Contact: 66714700.

(C 2150) 1996 Chev Silverado pick up 2w in very good condition, loaded with options. KD 2,050. Contact: 97485532.

(C 2149) 19-4-2010

fied boys for a Keralite Muslim girl, 22 years, 157 cm, studying B.B.A at Sharjah American University settled and residing in UAE. Only highly well educated parties may respond with complete profile, to najeebmanjamala@yahoo.com

(C 2171) 22-4-2010 Wanted bride, Keralite Orthodox boy, 29 years, B.Com, DCA, working in MNC Kuwait, seeks alliance from Christian nurses working in Kuwait. Email: jimmymathew1980@hotmail.com

(C 2165) 21-4-2010 Proposals invited from parents of well educated qualified boys for a Keralite Orthodox girl, 25 years, 165cm, B.Tech (E&C), working in a reputed firm, interested parties may respond with complete profile to seemaanniejohn@hotmail.com (C 2148) 19-4-2010

SITUATION VACANT SITUATION WANTED

Wanted a decent housemaid for a family in Mangaf.

Call 66391085, 23715767 20-4-2010

MATRIMONIAL Proposals invited from parents of well educated quali-

Indian male, MBA (HR) with 4 years UAE experience in Admin-Payroll-HR, specialized in Oracle HRMS, MIS reports, six sigma implementation experience, seeks job.

Call: 94061559, mrds1230@yahoo.com (C 2162) 20-4-2010

SPECTRUM

34 CROSSWORD 966

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Calvin Aries (March 21-April 19) Communication with neighbors or friends of friends may lead you to a teaching career in some way. This could be lectures, part-time or full-time teaching, tutoring, career guidance, etc. Whatever the case, this new venture will keep you busy as well as satisfied intellectually and socially. There is some problem today with the swiftness of your work’s progress. You may decide to leave well enough alone for the rest of the day until you understand the situation better.

Practical, utilitarian ideas are the ones that make the most sense now— putting them to good use is a focus for you. There is a good feeling about the relationship you have with your loved ones and there are some wonderful opportunities for good communication.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You cannot put your

finger on the answer to a particular problem just now, but you will understand in time. You sense what is needed and you have plenty of patience for now. You have a positive attitude and can usually spread joy wherever you go. There is nothing that pleases you quite so much as being useful in work or a volunteer service where you can make a difference in the lives of others. You may find yourself involved in some form of volunteer service this afternoon. A friend has your same point of view and later today, you could enjoy several hours of conversation concerning world affairs.

You may feel that you are in harmony with your loved ones—the lines of communication are open. A show of appreciation is in order.

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. How long something has existed.

4. Divulge information or secrets.

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

11. Thigh of a hog (usually smoked).

12. (obstetrics) The number of live-born children a woman has delivered.

13. Resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects.

14. American prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942).

15. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

16. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

17. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

19. (of complexion) Blemished by imperfections of the skin.

21. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

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

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

29. Belonging to some prior time.

33. A medieval hood of mail suspended from a basinet to protect the head and neck.

36. A federal agency established to regulate the release of new foods and health-related products.

37. (informal) Of the highest quality.

38. An official language of the Republic of South Africa.

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

44. The month following March and preceding May. 49. Large brownish-green New Zealand parrot.

50. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

51. Type genus of the family Myacidae.

52. Someone who engages in arbitrage (who purchases securities in one market for immediate resale in another in the hope of profiting from the price differential).

53. Primitive chlorophyll-containing mainly aquatic eukaryotic organisms lacking true stems and roots and leaves.

54. An informal term for a father.

DOWN 1. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

2. Offering fun and gaiety.

3. Expel, as of gases and odors.

4. (computer science) The rate at which data is transferred (as by a modem).

5. A cord that is drawn through eyelets or around hooks in order to draw together two edges (as of a shoe or garment).

6. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.

7. A small cake leavened with yeast.

8. Group of people related by blood or marriage.

9. A measuring instrument for measuring and indicating a quantity or for testing conformity with a standard.

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

18. A public promotion of some product or service.

20. A waste pipe that carries away sewage or surface water.

22. Harsh or corrosive in tone.

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

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

26. Before noon.

28. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

30. The compass point that is one point east (clockwise) of due north.

31. Being ten more than one hundred forty.

32. The branch of engineering science that studies the uses of electricity and the equipment for power generation and distribution and the control of machines and communication.

34. A federation of North American labor unions that merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1955.

35. An esoteric or occult matter that is traditionally secret.

39. Someone who copies the words or behavior of another.

40. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.

42. Common Indian weaverbird.

43. Of or relating to or characteristic of the Republic of Chad or its people or language.

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

46. United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters.

47. An ugly evil-looking old woman.

48. A doctor's degree in dental medicine.

49. A brittle gray crystalline element that is a semiconducting metalloid (resembling silicon) used in transistors.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Practical, workable ideas are the ones that make the most sense now—putting them to good use is a focus for you. There is optimism, faith and a tendency to take chances. Today you will be able to tackle tasks that require real discipline or organization. You could find yourself in a very practical mood and working with, instead of against yourself. You may have some serious or contemplative moments that will help you deal with higher ups. There may be time to put your feet up and relax during the noon meal, but you might find a leisure walk will be more beneficial. This evening you could be feeling more like sharing some time with a loved one—or with close friends. Perhaps this evening is not a time to try and present yourself to the world.

Non Sequitur

Cancer (June 21-July 22) You are likely to find yourself tuning in to some amazing things if you allow your visionary side to really get going. This is not a great time for career or vocational decisions but your creative ideas will bring about motivation for others. Some of your ideas will be beneficial to your own needs in a round-about way. You seem to take the fluctuation of the day with an even flow and a bit of humor. Anyone around you for very long will find your company enjoyable. You are intuitively aware of any surrounding stress and can successfully maneuver around the pitfalls.

The need to adapt to the game of work, politics, performing and balance on a personal level is beginning to get your attention and you are doing well with the balancing act.

Leo (July 23-August 22) You can take action now to improve your finances. With the extra courage you have during this time, you can ask for a raise in pay. You can earn more or spend to improve your security. You will have to deal with accumulated bills. It’s a poor time to buy on credit unless you have planned ahead. You can increase your insight into past and future trends and appreciate the beauty and evolutionary purpose of life.

At times, you will be able to relax and grow through introspection and meditation. Association with hospitals, institutions or spiritual retreats can be beneficial. You teach others to be helpful, compassionate and generous towards those who suffer. You can receive sympathy, comfort and healing if you need it today.

Zits

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Organize your responsibilities and gain control of your objectives today. This may mean that you will need to keep a low profile so as not to be encouraged to move in a different direction. Keep that positive outlook of yours and be a good example to others.

There is something about your attitude that is catching. Even if you feel down—when you smile and look as if everything is working out the way you want it to, everything seems to fall right in line!

You have the green light to proceed with a special project now and will gain the stamp of approval from on-lookers. Happiness at home is from a good attitude. You look for ways to improve your surroundings. You enjoy gathering information and that is what you do tonight—share ideas and information!

Libra (September 23-October 22) At times, you can be uncertain over the simplest of decisions. The reason for this is often very simple. Knowing more facts relating to an issue will help you feel more confident.

Material things are foremost on your mind just now.

There is an emphasis on the real rather than the ideal. Be wise in managing your finances this afternoon. There is a feeling that anything is possible. Some particular thing that has been holding you back is completely within your control to change. There is optimism, faith and a tendency to take chances at the deepest emotional levels. A social affair with your co-worker friends can be enjoyed this evening. You will get to better know the people you work with and may come to find a common thread among many of them.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You show a very determined and practical frame of mind today. You rarely reach conclusions without a great deal of cautious deliberation. Today calls for cautious deliberation. You may have a fixed opinion about a sensitive matter based on some strong likes and dislikes. Give yourself time to think things through before responding to touchy situations so that you can take on a larger view from all angles. You are extremely hard working and ambitious on the professional level. A pioneering instinct may take hold this afternoon as you begin working with some new technology. On the home front, you need to be willing to clean out or get rid of anything that does not fit or serve you well. It may be your turn to cook tonight.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) There may be a great deal of financial panic with your monetary situation. You must be cautious in personal decisions about finances. A part-time job may be necessary and if anybody can pull it off; you can. Real progress can be realized soon, have confidence in your abilities and be patient. Review your debts and know what you owe so that you will know how to pace yourself with all that extra work. You may not have to push as hard as you think. If you have not been in an exercise program recently, you might enjoy attending some exercise class with a friend. You will encourage each other. Be sure to eat plenty of food that is high in B complex vitamins to build your strength. Find a creative outlet for your ideas.

Yesterday’s Solution

yester

Yesterday’s Solution

to

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Kuwait Qatar Abu Dhabi Dubai Raas Al Khayma Al-Shareqa Muscat Jordan Bahrain Riyadh Makkah - Jeddah Cairo Alexandria Beirut Damascus Allepo

00965 00974 009712 009714 009717 009716 00968 009626 00973 009661 009662 00202 00203 009611 0096311 0096321

Tunisia Rabat Washington New York Paris London Madrid Zurich Geneva Monaco Rome Bangkok Hong Kong Pakistan Taiwan Bonn

0021610 002127 001212 001718 00331 004471 00341 00411 004122 0033 00396 00662 00852 0092 00886 0049228

Word Sleuth Solution

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) This is an important day because it will open opportunities for you to make changes in the direction of your future. Be observant to the opportunities when they arise. Practical, effective ideas make the most sense now—putting them to good use is a focus for you.

There is optimism, good faith and a tendency to take chances at the deepest emotional levels. You have good communication between authority figures and today brings with it, opportunities to sign contracts and confirm agreements. Be wise in your relationship with friends and family. Your opinions are probably correct but others may not be ready for the complete truth at this time. Make it a point to lighten up and laugh at yourself as well as the quandaries of life.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Be careful of someone that expresses themselves through hidden messages. You can help them by rephrasing their message and asking if that is what they mean. You are not the only one that has trouble understanding this person and you can be very helpful here. Practical, effective ideas are the ones that make the most sense now—putting them to good use is a focus for you. You may find yourself analyzing your life situation and surroundings. Conversations of an inspiring kind may be in order with young people or others around you. Financial matters may come to your attention today and well they should; this is a very lucky and profitable day for you. Everything points to your taking the initiative in your life.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) Work with a team effort goes well today. Interaction with others is fun. The contribution you make to a group is very important. Selfconfidence and determination to get a job completed may open doors for you today. You will also get much more accomplished now than usual. A momentous decision must be made soon and your influence extends more broadly than you think. A young person in the family may be quite stubborn this afternoon. Set aside some time to hear their version of a story. Involve the both of you in some exercise such as, basketball, soccer, running, etc., before talking about solutions. This may help the two of you gain a different perspective. Your mission here is to help this person find his or her own answers.

INFORMATION

Thursday, April 22, 2010

35 FIRE BRIGADE Operation Room 112 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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36

SPECTRUM

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Pitt and Jolie are reportedly getting married he former ‘Baywatch’ actress owes $493,144 in personal income tax, according to the California Franchise Tax Board, and insists the situation is “driving her crazy”, though she is doing her best to resolve the matter. She said: “I take full responsibility and I’m working it all out as best I can. “I hate to owe anybody anything. It’s driving me crazy, but I’m doing everything I can to solve all that.”

She also claims the tax problem has been ongoing, but only recently noticed by the press due to her appearance on reality TV show ‘Dancing with the Stars’. The 42-year-old blonde star told ‘Access

T

T

thing ever to be a ring bearer.” Angelina, 34, has previously admitted she and 46-year-old Brad are expecting the children to eventually start questioning why they had never got married. She said: “Usually people fall in love and everything revolves around the ritual of marriage, children are an afterthought. We did everything backwards.

“But sooner or later it will be the kids who ask us to get married. You know, they see films and start asking questions. Such as, ‘Why are Shrek and his love Fiona married and you’re not?’ “

Pamela Anderson’s finance taxes her

he ‘Iron Man 2’ star - w ho w ed actor Ryan Reynolds 18 months ago - admits tying the knot changed her life but finds their union reassuring. She said: “I mean, you’re married and suddenly you have your ow n family. There’s a nice comfort in that.

That part of your life is certain, in a w ay.

You’ve got your home in that other person.”

The ‘Lost in Translation’ actress insists she prefers a quiet life at home and loves nothing more than cooking for her husband. She added to America’s In Style magazine: “He

T

Ronnie Wood taught

Scarlett Johansson finds comfort in marriage loves to eat. I like cooking alone - I find it very therapeutic. I put on some music, and make something like a turkey Bolognese or a nice frittata. The 25-year-old beauty’s relationship w ith Ryan, 33, has also been praised by her co-stars, w ith ‘Iron Man’ actor Robert Dow ney J r believing they are perfect for one another. He said: “I’m crazy about Ryan. I think they’re a great couple, a really natural fit for each other. They’ve really come into themselves since they’ve been fully together.”

he Rolling Stones guitarist gave playing tips to the legendary axeman - who played in seminal 80s band Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver and is widely regarded as the best guitarist of his generation - when he was a child, but now the tables have turned.

Speaking on his Absolute Classic Rock radio show, Ronnie said: “Slash, I remember him as a kid spying on me when I was playing guitar and I’d teach him little licks, and now I’m learning licks off him, it’s really good. “He’s a great guy to play with and he’s a great at interacting, a good weaver, you know, we can weave, like me and Womack do and me and Keith Richards do. Slash is such a great talent, and he plays in my solo band when I take it out and he’s on my new album as well.”

However, Ronnie hasn’t had as much luck teaching drummers to play the guitar, recalling one disastrous night when he tried to show

T

Cheryl Cole is set to be new face of Disney he ‘Fight for This Love’ singer - who is attempting to break the US following her split from soccer star husband Ashley Cole - is reportedly being courted by the family studio to show off her acting skills in a TV show or movie. A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Cheryl is the full package. She’s got it all - brains, and beauty. It’s unbelievable the amount of interest she stirred up in the Disney Studios following her recent trips to Los Angeles, where she was making a music video. “That ‘Parachute’ video with

T

Derek Hough, who is massive in the States because of ‘Dancing with the Stars’, really showed just how graceful and dynamic she can be. “From her experiences with Girls Aloud she can handle the high-energy routines, so the plan is to incorporate her in a show. “It’s early days but a one-off like the Jonas Brothers’ movie ‘Camp Rock’ would be the way to go.” News of a possible Disney deal for the 26-year-old star - who is already in talks to appear as a judge on Simon Cowell’s US version of ‘The X Factor’,

alongside her stint on the British version has already excited one of the studio’s current stars, 17-year-old Selena Gomez.

The ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ actress said: “Oh my goodness, I’d love to work with Cheryl Cole on a Disney show. I’ve just seen that video ‘Parachute’. She is beautiful. I’d love to.” If Cheryl signs a contract, she would be following in the footsteps of global sensations Miley Cyrus, and ‘High School Musical’ stars Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, who all got their big breaks through Disney.

Tara Reid calls off h er wedding he 34-year-old actress w as planning to w ed internet entrepreneur Michael Axtmann in May after a w hirlw ind engagement, but her plans to w alk dow n the aisle have now been axed. A statement issued on behalf of the ‘American Pie’ star read: “Tara Reid has confirmed that she w ill not be moving forw ard w ith her May 22 nuptials.” Earlier this w eek, Tara

T

changed the relationship status on her page on social netw orking site Facebook to single, sparking speculation the nuptials w ere off. How ever, just last month she w as gushing about her w edding to the German businessman, and claimed she w ould look like a “princess” on her special day. She said: “I’m going to look like a princess. I just picked out the designer - It’s Rani from

St Pucchi, and she’s like the most incredible w edding designer in the w orld, in my opinion. “I w ant my w edding to look like a w onderland. I w ant it to blow people aw ay and also to have a fun energy.” She also revealed she w as nervous about w alking up the aisle. She said: “Seeing myself and picturing Michael at the altar, I get butterflies in my stomach.”

Slash ‘ little licks’

he couple - who have been together since meeting on the set of ‘Mr and Mrs. Smith’ in 2005 - have finally given into the pleas of their older children, Maddox, eight, Pax, six, Zahara, five, and three-year-old Shiloh and agreed to tie the knot. A source close to the couple - who also have 22-month-old twins Knox and Vivienne - told America’s OK! magazine: “First it was Maddox, who has begged his parents to tie the knot for years. “Lately, Shiloh and Zahara have been chiming in, and Pax thinks it would just be the coolest

Hollywood’: “You know that’s been going on for a while, but it got picked up because when you’re in the press I guess they dig around and try to find some dirt. “I’m doing everything I can, obviously that’s really important to me.” Last week, Pamela admitted she was “embarrassed” by the situation, and took to twitter to clear up any issues. She said: “I’m not trying to avoid any tax obligation. Certain events occurred, outside of my control which caused this temporary but embarrassing situation. All of my tax obligations will be resolved in the very near future. Love Pamela.”

former Beatle Ringo Starr and The Who drummer Keith Moon how to play. The 62-year-old musician added: “I’ve got a funny story, back in 1974 when I had my studio in South West London, that Pete Townsend now owns, one night I had Ringo and Keith Moon down there and no drum kit, so they said, ‘What are we going to do?’ I said, ‘Well let’s all learn to play the guitar’, So I taught them the chord of E, so we played just that one chord, E, all night, it was really funny.” Ronnie Wood’s show on Absolute Classic Rock radio is broadcast in the UK on Fridays 6 pm and repeated on Absolute Radio on Saturdays at 10 pm. — Bangshowbiz

SPECTRUM

Thursday, April 22, 2010

37

Diners in the basement: Restaurant feeds worms or eco-restaurateur Dave Krick, it’s not just about where his food comes from, but also where it’s going. And in the case of his Red Feather Lounge and Bittercreek Ale House, some 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of it a day are feeding an extra 200,000 diners - Vermont red wiggler worms that live in the restaurants’ basement, working around the clock to turn kitchen waste into nutrientrich compost. That’s a lot of worms, but it’s a singular distinction.

The Green Restaurant Association knows of no other restaurant in the continental US doing onsite worm composting - known as vermiculture and only one other in the country, The Kona Brewing Company, which has pubs in Hawaii.

Even before Krick got into worms, his businesses focused on sustainability, serving grass-fed Idaho beef and local cheeses. The wine list is sorted by the miles each bottle travels to reach the table to encourage diners to select from local vineyards. Even the ketchup is made in-house. “One of our goals is to eliminate our garbage by 2012,” says Krick, who opened Bittercreek in 1995 and the Red Feather in 2002. So Krick started thinking about what happens to all the food that either doesn’t make it to the plate, or gets left behind.

He spent weeks cataloging the restaurants’ garbage, figuring out where they could reduce waste. “We wanted to do onsite composting because it takes very little energy,” he says. “But regular composting smells, because it’s basically the chemical process of heating things up. And in a restaurant setting we knew that wasn’t going to work.” Krick had heard of organic farms using worms to compost and the Web is awash with advice for doing it in home basements. But he couldn’t find any information about using worms in a restaurant setting.

He did find a 14-by-4-foot (4.2-by-1.2meter) metal bin that would fit in his building’s basement. It could handle about half of the 200 pounds (90 kilograms) of the compostable food waste generated daily by his restaurants. The bin has a built-in grid of metal screens. The worms stay above the screens, nestled among organic dirt and food waste. The compost drops through the screens and is scraped into buckets by a blade. It has worked so well he plans to get another bin and double his worms. Rhonda Sherman, a vermicomposting expert and faculty member at North Carolina State University, says vermicomposting is an emerging trend among businesses of all

F

Students Becca Wynn (right) and Maureen Mendoza (far left) test out the new Apple iPad as a study tool, in their AP English class at Monte Vista Christian in Watsonville, California. — MCT

Paper and pencils are old school when you have iPads t Monte Vista Christian School, history textbooks could soon be a relic of the past. Ditto for tomes on biology and English literature. And spiral-bound notebooks and pens - who needs them? They’re so old school when you have a 16GB iPad, and Monte Vista has 60 of the latest must-have technology from Apple for use in classrooms.

The iPads were introduced to advanced placement students who will participate in a pilot project. If all goes well, Headmaster Stephen Sharp anticipates replacing heavy and expensive textbooks with cheaper, interactive eversions. Sharp believes the school is among the first to adopt iPads, but it won’t be the last.

“There are many academic advantages,” he

A

said. “They provide new access to photos, videos, daily newspapers and resource material that enhance the curriculum.”

English teacher Marcus Schwager showed his students how with a click they could look up unfamiliar words in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” discovering the meaning as well as the pronunciation. Science teacher Cynthia Armstrong led her students through an interactive display of a cutaway view of the female body, demonstrating the zoom function for closer looks. “It has lots of bells and whistles you don’t have in a print textbook,” she said.

“I’m really new to it but I’m super-excited to use the iPad,” history teacher Greg Davis told his sophomore advanced placement students.

Do his students want to copy a graph he draws on the board? There’s an app for that. How about checking comprehension with a pop quiz? Students find out immediately whether they answered correctly, and an explanation is just a click away. If he’s lecturing, they can type their notes using the flat-screen keyboard, and if he’s talking too fast and a student misses something, well, there’s an app for that too.

SoundPaper gives students the ability to record the lecture for listening later at home.

Sitting at tables, iPads propped before them in black cloth cases, students tapped icons to bring up pages. “It’s a little easier

to use,” said sophomore Alyssa Villanueva, 15, comparing the iPad to a textbook. “You can really focus on where you’re studying.

For now, students will have to e-mail their notes to an account they can access at home since the iPads are for classroom use only. Students also will use their accounts to access e-textbooks at home.

The tablets retail for $499 each, but Apple provided a $50 school discount, he said. Electronic textbooks, which are increasingly available, cost about a third of print versions. Apple also has a program to train teachers to use the technology, Sharp said. “The kids are going to be able to educate us too,” he said. — MCT

kinds.

“More and more people are doing it, especially with this new green movement.

All sorts of businesses are jumping on the green bandwagon and doing vermicomposting onsite,” Sherman said. “It’s being used on a really large scale to handle animal manure, and on a mid-scale in places like hospitals, restaurants, universities and prisons. There’s just huge interest out there.”

But Colleen Oteri, spokeswoman for the Green Restaurant Association, says most restaurants simply don’t have the space to do it.

“Restaurants pay a lot of money for rent, and at the end of the day they want to just send it off and have the composter pick it up,” Oteri said. There’s also the potential “Ewww!” factor - worry that people would be unsettled to know about thousands of squirming eaters nearby. “I anticipated that,” said Tracy Solomon, sustainability coordinator for Kona Brewing Company, who keeps her worm bins on the lanai of the Kona Pub and Brewery, alongside dining tables. “Sometimes when I go feed the worms I get a lot of people staring at me wondering what I’m dumping in the bins.”

But Solomon says she’s found that reactions aren’t what she’d feared.

“People just think it sounds like an interesting step to take,” she said. “But kids love it. I do presentations for kids at schools, and we give starter bins of worms and castings to the schools for their own gardening.” For the past year, Krick has been filling the restaurants’ outdoor planters and supplementing his home garden with the compost. But this summer he hopes to sell it at a local organic nursery.

Still, though gardeners often call compost “black gold,” Krick is unlikely to get rich off the endeavor. Each bin costs about $12,000, and he opted to fill them with pricier organic soil to start so that his resulting compost would be completely organic.

Selling the compost likely will only defray some of the startup expenses. “For us, we know that we’re not ever going to recoup the investment. But to eliminate our garbage, we find those gains are intrinsic to our business, (it’s) a matter of priorities,” Krick said. As his worm herd increases, Krick also hopes to sell starter buckets for home vermicomposting - potentially creating a scenario where customers take home doggie bags from Bittercreek to feed to worms that were raised in the basement of the restaurant. — AP

Unpublished Twain family Author Toibin sees novel Lap dance teachers now sketch set for US auction surviving new technology out of work A M A

ark Twain, known for his curmudgeonly wit and storytelling, is shown as a family man and loving father in “A Family Sketch,” a never published tribute to a daughter who inspired two of his stories and died at 24 after contracting spinal meningitis. “She was a magazine of feelings, & they were of all kinds & of all shades of force,” he wrote of Olivia “Susy” Clemens shortly after her death in 1896. “In all things she was intense: in her this characteristic was not a mere glow, dispensing warmth, but a consuming fire,” he said of the daughter who was the inspiration for his “Joan of Arc” and “A Horse’s Tale.” The 64page, handwritten document is among a trove of 200 personal letters, manuscripts and photographs of Mark Twain - the pen name for Samuel Langhorne Clemens - going on sale June 17 at Sotheby’s New York.

The auction house will exhibit the material for five days, beginning yesterday, on the 100th anniversary of the author’s death at age 74. The Associated Press got a preview earlier this week. “‘A Family Sketch’ is certainly one of the gems of the Sotheby’s sale,” said David Hirst, general editor of the Mark Twain Papers & Projects at the University of California at Berkeley, which has the largest repository of Twain material.

“Any Mark Twain archive or collector would be willing to go hungry for two or three years just in order to be able to buy it.” Hirst called it a “very intimate family record, with all of the charm both of Clemens himself,” his family and household servants. It is estimated to sell for $120,000 to $180,000.

Twain was also a prolific letter-writer. “It’s fair to say he wrote more letters than anyone,” said Twain biographer Michael Shelden, noting that about 15,000 are known to exist. Among those at Sotheby’s is a letter to Twain’s future father-in-law, Jervis Langdon, in which the love-struck suitor, then working as a news-

This photo shows a bronze bust of Samuel L Clemens in old age. — AP

paperman, defends his character and offers a list of character references. “I am not hurrying my love - it is my love hurrying me...,” Twain wrote Langdon. “As to what I am going to be, henceforth, it is a thing which must be proven & established. I am upon the right path - I shall succeed, I hope. Men as lost as I, have found a Savior, & why not I?” The nine-page letter, written in 1868 and signed Sam L Clemens, is estimated to sell for $30,000 to $50,000. The total collection, which could bring $750,000 to $1.2 million, belonged to the late media executive James S Copley, whose library of other literary and historic manuscripts also will be sold June 17.

Hirst said the University of California, which controls the copyright on “A Family Sketch” and virtually everything else by Mark Twain that is still protected by copyright, will be bidding at the auction, but he declined to say on what.

The university is editing and publishing - for the first time - Twain’s uncensored autobiography in its entirety and exactly as he left it. The first of three volumes will be released by the UC Press in November, on the 175th anniversary of his birth. Hirst said “A Family Sketch” will not be included in the three-volume set because it is not part of what Twain designed as his autobiography. Instead, the university plans to publish the work - either from the original or copies it owns - in a series called “Jumping Frogs,” he said.

The Mark Twain House, the whimsical, Gothic house in Hartford, Conn., where the Twains lived for 17 years, is now a museum. While the curators at the house would love to own the original sketch, they frequently use a transcript to cull anecdotes about the family for its guided tours. “It talks a lot about the family’s life while they were in Hartford,” said curator Patti Philoton. “It really gives you that personal feeling, what it was like when they lived here, their family dynamics and their dynamics with their servants.” In 1893, Twain asked his butler, George Griffin, to accompany him on a trip to his publisher. The sight of a white man with a black man “was a new spectacle” to the array of assembled clerks, he wrote in the sketch.

“The glance embarrassed George, but not me, for the companionship was proper; in some ways he was my equal, in some others my superior ...” “A Family Sketch” also provides a glimpse into Twain’s childhood in a passage in which he describes shooting a bird as a prank.

“It toppled from its perch & came floating down limp & forlorn & fell at my feet, its song quenched and its inoffending life extinguished ... I had destroyed it wantonly, & I felt all that an assassin feels, of grief & remorse when his deed comes home to him & he wishes he could undo it ...” The last time a large collection of Twain material was offered at auction was in 2003, also at Sotheby’s. That collection, which contained more memorabilia and souvenirs, sold for $1.4 million.

The upcoming sale is focused primarily on manuscript material that shows Twain “as a father and devoted husband and how important his family was to him throughout his entire lifetime,” said Elizabeth Muller, Sotheby’s vice president of books and manuscripts. While there is a wealth of material on Mark Twain and fresh documents come up regularly, the Copley collection “will add to the picture” of a man who continues to inspire and entertain to this day, Shelden said. “He wanted to perpetuate his fame,” Shelden said. “He was very proud of himself and very proud of what he had written. He was full of himself ... and had reason to be.” — AP

ward-winning Irish writer Colm Toibin firmly believes the novel will remain fundamentally unchanged by the Internet or other high-tech innovations, a realm in which he admits he is nearly illiterate. Toibin, the author of such critically acclaimed novels as “Brooklyn,” “The Master” and “The Blackwater Lightship,” is set this week to appear on a panel to discuss “The Author in the Age of the Internet,” part of the London Review of Books’ 30th anniversary celebration events in New York.

Toibin is a technophobe. He writes with a fountain pen on paper and cannot figure out how to send e-mails by phone. An interview with Reuters Tuesday was delayed as Toibin fumbled with his cell phone, repeatedly failing to answer it.

“I actually miss most calls,” Toibin said apologetically over a landline from Princeton University where he teaches. “Like an awful lot of writers, I am barely literate in the things that seem to matter now.”

The recent launch of Apple’s iPad tablet computer and the pending release of similar devices have many in publishing experimenting with new forms of content for increasingly powerful mobile computing devices. Toibin is aware technology is encroaching on literature, but he remains unimpressed with new gadgets such as Amazon’s Kindle. On a train to Boston, he tried out a Kindle belonging to a fellow passenger, but he did not like it. “I thought it took longer to turn the page than it would take me and ... I just didn’t like that second of waiting,” he said.

At a dinner party, a fellow guest admitted to never reading his work but said she could rectify that immediately. “She took a Kindle out of her handbag and ordered one of my books in front of me,” he said. “She seemed immensely happy, and thought I should be too, that she now had the book. “But I wondered if she

would read it, and I didn’t think so,” he said.

‘Infinite choice’ Toibin, who has won several literary awards and been shortlisted for the coveted Man Booker Prize, is impressed by the way the Internet has made “an infinite choice” of books available. But he said he believed the way novelists work-in solitude and from the imagination-would remain essentially unchanged. “I am 55 and I’m not going to change ... and my readers are not going to change either,” he said. “The idea that technology will change how we function would be just absurd.”

But he finds after growing up gay in the rural Irish town of Enniscorthy when homosexuality was viewed as sinful and unnatural, that technology has changed gay life. “Now if you are gay, you go online at night and realize the whole world is gay,” he said. “Before the Internet, there was a lot of solitude. Now there is an awful lot of solidarity.”

The Internet has changed what he writes, he added, because his themes such as gay loneliness, solitude and tragedy have been replaced by gay solidarity and enjoyment. With gay life as one of his most common topics, “the Internet has fundamentally changed how I write about it.”

Toibin has a collection of short stories due for publication in the fall in Britain and next year in the United States. He also is working on a novel set in Ireland during the 1960s economic boom after the country dropped its protectionist policies. Toibin said there had been a lot of interest in Hollywood about making a movie from his latest novel, “Brooklyn,” set in an Irish enclave in the 1950s, and that he expected to sell it to a studio in the coming weeks. — Reuters

pair of Canadian high school teachers whose enthusiasm at a pep rally morphed into a mock lap dance that became an Internet sensation are now out of jobs.

Jackie Sneesby, chairwoman of the Winnipeg School Division, said teacher Chrystie Fitchner’s resignation was accepted Monday while the short-term contract for Adeil Ahmed expired and would not be renewed.

Stunned students pulled out their cell phones at Churchill High School in February and captured video of the fully clothed couple as they performed a sexually suggestive bump and grind that included a brief moment of simulated oral sex.

School Trustee Mike Babinsky said when the clip was posted to YouTube, there were two millions hits within the first couple of days. Initially they were suspended with pay, but were told in early March that their suspensions would be without pay. Sneesby said she wasn’t sure why the two young teachers did what they did. She added that even if the dance had not been caught on video, she’s convinced the pair still would have been in trouble. Babinsky said he suspects they just got carried away. “You see a lot on TV that’s probably even worse than what they did in that dance. So young people, I guess, believe this is OK, this type of conduct. But it’s not.

It’s not OK,” he said. — AP

Spring brings books to help green the kitchen ven as they celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day today, many people still do not know entirely what it means to “go green.” A stack of new food-oriented books tries to supply the answers to that, at least for the kitchen, - and to offer a road map for buying, cooking and eating in a more environmentally astute way. “The Conscious Kitchen” provides a concise primer on navigating the “avalanche of ‘green’ choices” in the food marketplace.

Author Alexandra Zissu packs the slim, easy-to-use volume with practical information. Although she offers a handful of recipes from eco-gurus such as Michael Pollan, Deborah Madison, Dan Barber and others, this is a guidebook, not a cookbook.

From convenience store to farmer’s market, the author guides readers how to make eco-friendly decisions and even supplies wallet-sized sliding scales of “best” to “worst” options for everything from fruit to meat to wine. Zissu covers appliances, pots and pans, deals with waste and vets storage containers for toxins with a straightforward, nonjudgmental tone that makes it all seem doable. Her “some is better than none” philosophy means the cook can take on suggestions that fit their lives without feeling guilty about the ones left behind. An indispensable book for anyone looking to eat and cook more sustainably.

Several good cookbooks can help put all that green knowledge to use. All cater to busy lives by offering simple recipes and tips for executing them sustainably: how to buy eco-friendly fish, understanding terms like “locavore” and “grass-fed,” reducing waste in cooking. Try to look beyond the inevitable contradictions, such as one recipe that advocates pouring a jar of store-bought (that is, processed), bar-

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becue sauce over your sustainable salmon.

“Easy Green Organic” joins attractive recipes with gorgeous photography and easily implemented advice. Author Anna Getty discusses reducing waste in the kitchen (minus her recommendation of the jarred barbecue sauce!) and pesticides in the earth, and offers small steps everyone can take, like buying local produce and filling the dishwasher completely before running it. Many recipes promise big flavor with minimal effort and waste. Double lemon chicken breasts use the fruit’s zest and juice, and reduce cooking time by pounding the meat thin. Cold sesame soba noodle salad turns off the oven and contrasts the rich, nutty flavors of sesame oil and tahini with the fresh crunch of cucumber.

With earthy tones and recipes organized by season, “Lucid Food” becomes a year-round-guide to cooking in rhythm with the earth. Author Louisa Shafia combines the requisite tips - buy local, eat less meat, reduce waste - with unusual recipes that take the stress out of incorporating conscious practices into your daily life.

For spring, eggs and new potatoes with green olive pesto contrasts the richness of farm-fresh eggs with the tang of olives and vinegar in a twist on potato salad. Orecchiette with morels and garlic ramps brings the farmer’s market or a foraging expedition to the table. Perhaps the best thing about “Lucid Food” is the way Shafia brings to life ignored and underrated ingredients that are both sustainable and delicious. For summer, she pairs lightly pickled mackerel with dill and horseradish cream, a delicious combination that tames and complements the strongly flavored fish. Grilled mussels are served over couscous with simmered tomatoes that showcase the best of the season.—AP

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SPECTRUM

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Cirque to put on show based on MJ F

Branca. And he visited their Montreal headquarters in 2004, Cirque CEO Daniel Lamarre said. “He said he was an acrobat himself,” Lamarre said in an interview.

“As an artist he had this amazing way of bringing some visual element to his performances.” Jackson even saw “Love,” the Cirque show based on the legacy and music of the Beatles, shortly after it began at the Mirage casino in Las Vegas in 2006, and wanted to do his own version, said Jack Wishna, the president of consulting firm CPAmerica Inc and a prospective business partner.

Ideas for Jackson’s own Cirque show ranged from basing it on his hit video “Thriller” to him performing dozens of his No 1 hits, Wishna said. “But he passed away and everything just went by the wayside,” he said. “It’s a little different now, but at least it’ll still get on. The music will still be there.” The touring show, which will begin in North America before branching

out around the world, will be a simulation of a Jackson concert, while the Las Vegas show will be more theatrical and more technologically advanced, Lamarre said. “The expectations of Michael Jackson fans around the world are going to be huge,” he said. “And we have to deliver.” There are no plans for other members of Jackson’s family to perform.

Before Jackson decided on a series of comeback concerts at the O2 arena in London, he was seen several years ago in Las Vegas and considered performing there. Branca said Jackson would have approved of a Cirque tribute. “I’m not convinced he would have gone to Las Vegas and performed like Celine Dion did,” he said in an interview. “But this is something Michael would be very excited about.” Unreleased Jackson recordings may become part of the shows’ musical numbers, and his biggest hits will likely be remixed and mashed up so fans will hear his music in

a new way, Branca said.

The other co-executor, John McClain, a Jackson friend and music producer, has discovered more than 60 songs that Jackson recorded but never released.

They form the backbone of a seven-year deal with Sony Music Entertainment worth up to $250 million.

A new album from the recordings is set for release in November. Jackson’s mother, Katherine, said in a statement, “Our family is thrilled that Cirque du Soleil will pay tribute to my son in such an important way.”

Jackson died after overdosing on propofol and other sedatives. He was about to start a series of comeback concerts he called “This Is It.” The concert movie based on rehearsal footage went on to gross $252 million worldwide. His personal physician, Dr Conrad Murray, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. He is expected to go to trial this summer. — AP

Michael Jackson

irst the Beatles and Elvis, now Michael Jackson.

The acrobatic troupe Cirque du Soleil announced Tuesday that it will put on a live touring show featuring the songs of the King of Pop starting late next year. That will be followed by a permanent production in Las Vegas in 2012 at a property owned by MGM Mirage Inc. The casino company did not say which venue will host the show. A nightclub in Las Vegas will also open with the show. Cirque and Jackson’s estate will each own 50 percent of the projects and share equally in the cost of putting them on. The estate will also receive royalties from the use of Jackson’s music and other assets.

Jackson, who died at age 50 last June after a drug overdose, was described as a “huge fan” of the French Canadian performance group. He saw their first tent show in Santa Monica, California, many years ago with longtime lawyer and now estate co-executor, John

Paul McCartney to reissue catalog aul McCartney said Tuesday he would reissue his extensive post-Beatles catalog through independent label Concord Music Group, dealing a blow to his former distributor, the struggling EMI Group. Los Angeles-based Concord previously released McCartney’s 2007 album “Memory Almost Full” as well as his 2009 CD/DVD hybrid “Good Evening New York City.”

Both those albums were distributed under the Hear Music brand, a partnership between

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coffee chain Starbucks Corp and Concord, a jazz and R&B specialist co-owned by veteran TV producer Norman Lear. EMI Group PLC handled his older material-as a solo artist and frontman of Wings-under an exclusive license. With that arrangement ended, McCartney has turned over his catalogue of about two dozen albums to Concord.

Concord said the first reissue, the charttopping 1973 Wings album “Band on the Run,” would come out in August with bonus

material. “Since the release of ‘Memory Almost Full’ in 2007 I’ve had a good working relationship with Concord and enjoyed our mutual love of music,” McCartney said in a statement. The announcement coincides with the 40th anniversary of the release of McCartney’s first solo album, “McCartney,” which featured the classic-rock staple “Maybe I’m Amazed.”

The deal does not affect EMI’s business relationship with the Beatles. The British

label reissued remastered versions of the Fab Four’s albums to great fanfare last September. By January, those reissues had sold 13 million copies. EMI, which is owned

by Terra Firma has until mid-June to raise enough cash to get the business back within the terms of its debt. A representative for EMI declined to comment. Concord said last week it would buy the roots label Rounder Records, home to bluegrass musician Alison Krauss. — Reuters

Green Day on Broadway insist they are still punk punk rock band “Green Day” may be debuting their new musical on mainstream Broadway this week, but the trio says they aren’t turning soft but following a natural progression from their 2004 album “American Idiot.” The band’s new musical, which carries the same name and songs from that blockbuster Grammy-winning album, opens on Broadway on Tuesday evening.

“This is not ‘Oklahoma’-it’s ‘American Idiot’,” singer Billie Joe Armstrong told Reuters in an interview. “It’s live and right in your face, flesh and blood.” Previews have drawn a younger audience than typical Broadway previews, but the show is still a far cry from the raucous crowd-surfing of their early concerts. The show follows the lives of three disaffected, post-9/11 youth and features sex, drugs and the ravages of war. It includes all the songs from “American Idiot,” some hits from their 20O9 album “21st Century Breakdown” such as the single “Know Your Enemy,” and a few new songs.

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American ‘idol’ stirs anger in Indonesia over tobacco ads singer Kelly Clarkson was in trouble yesterday with a 30million-strong Islamic organization after she accepted tobacco sponsorship for her upcoming concert in the Indonesian capital. Indonesia’s laissezfaire attitude to tobacco advertising has resulted in television, billboard and online promotions showing Clarkson under a prominent logo for a local cigarette brand.

The sponsorship has been condemned by the Indonesian National Commission on Child Protection, the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) and the US-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. It has also raised the ire of the country’s second biggest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, which recently issued a fatwa or religious decree declaring smoking and all related activity forbidden under Islam.

Muhammadiyah fatwa department chief Yanuar Ilyas said the group’s position on Clarkson’s sponsorship was “already clear”, according to The Jakarta Globe newspaper. Advertising linking the singer with smoking was a “clear phenomenon that the cigarette company is attempting to recruit younger people”. Former “American Idol” star Clarkson had not responded to AFP’s request for comment by late

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afternoon yesterday.

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids president Matthew L Myers said Clarkson would become a “spokesperson for the tobacco industry and helping them to market cigarettes to children” if she went ahead with the concert. “If she rejects tobacco industry sponsorship, she can send a powerful message to children in Indonesia and around the world that they, too, should reject the tobacco industry’s deadly products and marketing.”

SEATCA has written to the entertainer urging her to “rectify the situation”. “It is important that you and your music are not associated with cigarettes and ill health,” it said. National Commission for Child Protection chairman Seto Mulyadi said 81 percent of Indonesian teenagers attended concerts that were sponsored by cigarette companies.

“Indirectly, the event is persuading teenagers here to smoke. This will produce teenagers that are dependent to the cigarette industry.” He said he believed that Clarkson was ignorant of who was sponsoring her show. Another US singer, Alicia Keys, ordered cigarette logos be removed from advertising for her Indonesia tour two years ago after she realized she was being sponsored by a tobacco company. — AFP

The clash on Broadway?

Armstrong said the musical was simply the aftermath of “an ambitious record” and reflected the way it was written “as a play or rock opera or whatever you want to call it.” “It made us more ambitious musicians, and strange

opportunities and strange unpredictable things start to come your way,” he said. “You have to challenge your fans. Otherwise it would just be boring, and they have to expect it and expect the unexpected, especially with us.”

But what would punk’s innovators like the Ramones or The Clash think? “I think they would have loved it. The Clash on Broadway, hello?” bassist Mike Dirnt said while the whole band laughed. “They challenged themselves to the same degree ... who knows, but if I had to imagine, I would think they would love it.”

Dirnt added more seriously: “The greatest thing you do for your fans is to keep forging ahead and following where your music takes you.”

After the musical, that journey takes the band to the June 8 release of the video game “Green Day: Rock Band,” by MTV Games and Harmonix. “A lot of brick and mortar record stores are just gone, you can probably buy video games in more stories in American than you can records,” said Dirnt. “You can either embrace it or be afraid of it.” And the band is touring the United States after a European tour in mid-year, with Joan Jett and Courtney Love opening the concerts. “It’s going to be a woman-dominated show, so I will be bringing out my dress,” quipped Armstrong. — Reuters

Pearl Jam duo joins Conan O’Brien on stage es, Pearl Jam is also with Coco.

Conan O’Brien upped the musical ante of his “Prohibited From Being Funny On Television” tour Monday in Seattle, when a pair of Pearl Jammers showed up unexpectedly to rock the late-night host’s 47th birthday gig.

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder played a three-song mini-set.

Accompanying himself on mandolin, Vedder began with “Rise,” from his 2007 solo soundtrack to the film “Into The Wild.” Next, he picked up a Telecaster-styled ukulele for a version of John Lennon’s “Oh Yoko,” on which he led a sing-along of “Oh Conan.”

“There’s something that happens when you play very small instru-

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ments,” quipped the 5’8” Vedder. “It somehow creates the illusion that you’re tall; an illusion that’s completely shattered as soon as Conan O’Brien stands next to you.” For his finale, Vedder brought out Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready for a cover of the Who’s “Baba O’Riley” that was backed amusingly by O’Brien’s horn section.

Pearl Jam holds the distinction of being the very first musical guest last June on NBC’s short-lived “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.” O’Brien took to Twitter on Tuesday to share his glee: “Eddie Vedder’s set at my show in Seattle last night melted my eyeballs.

Seriously, I’m going to sue Eddie for boiling my ocular-jelly.” — Reuters

Authors Gary Calamar and Phil Gallo relive ‘Record Store Days’ icture a time when new technologies are threatening the livelihood of performing musicians. Music business titans are scrambling to adapt to the decentralization of distribution. Skeptics say it was all better back when music was an intimate transaction between artist and fan, instead of a fleeting bit of consumption.

The year is 1924. The new technology is the vinyl album, and the new retail concept - as seen by one particular forward-thinking San Francisco piano dealer - is the record store. “That was a time when people thought records were really bad for musicians,” said Gary Calamar, the co-author of “Record Store Days: From Vinyl to Digital and Back Again,” a new history of (and unashamedly geeky paean to) the culture of the record store. “People were just getting used to electricity, and many artists resented the presence of records. They thought nobody would buy sheet music anymore.”

The sentiment will feel uncannily modern to anyone who has downloaded a torrent file or seen a pink slip from a major label. In “Record Store Days,” Calamar and Phil Gallo document a unique retail culture, one in which so many American teenagers learned what “cool” looked and sounded like. The writers also detail the long history of the music marketplace to show how today’s Wild West business climate is far from unprecedented.

Calamar, a KCRW-FM host and music supervisor for television shows such as HBO’s “Six Feet Under” and “True Blood,” is versed in both the past and future of selling music.

A veteran of LA stores such as Rhino Records and Moby Disc in the 1970s and ‘80s, he also helped shepherd in an era in which a key TV placement meant as much or more to an

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artist’s bottom line than a record deal. But his allegiance to the idea of the physical store is palpable - a recent half-hour visit to Freakbeat Records in Sherman Oaks with him and Gallo quickly turned into an entire afternoon there.

“Record Store Days” isn’t a memoir, but it is charged with the sense that a record store is an unusual convergence of capitalism and counterculture, one that deeply shaped who Calamar and Gallo (a music journalist who has contributed to the Los Angeles Times and Variety) are today. “To this day, the first stop I make in any new town is to the weird local record store,” Calamar said. “It’s how I get my bearings. I wanted to document that as it was disappearing.”

That contemporary sense of doom, however, is largely a bookend to the plucky midcentury optimism of much of “Record Store Days.” The book makes an implicit case that the rise of the record store mirrors the advent of American pop culture. In the early 20th century, record stores were often isolated outposts of regional or ethnic music, or retail outlets using 78s as promotional items to sell new and moreprofitable home electronics. But with the rise of teen culture in the 1950s and rock music in the 1960s, record stores became the front line for youthful rebellion. Buying each Tuesday’s new releases under the glare of a long-haired, oftstoned store clerk was an initiation rite into adolescence - and the complexities of American identity.

“I’d go to stores as a kid and hear whole sides of New York Dolls albums and see album covers of these guys in lipstick and dresses,” Gallo said. “That was amazing to me. Then I’d hear a nine-minute funk song from Baltimore that would tell you so much about a particular place and time.”

Los Angeles stores, such as the leviathan Amoeba Music

in Hollywood, play a central role in the book, as the city is the home of the major-label infrastructure and many of the most influential record stores. The history of music commerce in LA tells a much larger story about life and culture in Southern California.

In the 1950s, South LA’s wittily named R&B outlet Dolphin’s of Hollywood, for instance, was subject to racially segregated zoning policies. But the store’s existence also demonstrated owner John Dolphin’s business acumen, where an in-house radio station, record label and close relationship with nearby factory workers (the store stayed open 24/7 to accommodate late shifts) foreshadowed the flexibility and community-mindedness that today’s stores - such as Origami Vinyl and Vacation - need to survive.

“For a lot of kids today, this is their first experience in an actual record store,” says Origami owner Neil Schield, whose thriving vinyl-only store on Sunset Boulevard just celebrated its one-year anniversary. “But then dudes in their 50s will say, ‘Whoa, this reminds me of the ‘70s.’ It’s a retro way of thinking, but stores don’t think like this anymore - we want to be fully integrated in the neighborhood.”

“Record Store Days” is also a story of corporate capitalism’s perks and perils, documenting the rise and fall of megachain retailers such as Tower and their major label partners, whose neglect of independent stores cut off a major artery of word-of-mouth fan support. On one level, Calamar sees his role as a music supervisor as something akin to that of the surly store clerk of his youth - a trusted intermediary between a morass of music and a curious fan. But as 2009’s biggest story in music proved, television and the Internet might not be enough to fill that gap. —MCT

Gary Calamar, the co-author of “Record Store Days: From Vinyl to Digital and Back Again,” a new history of (and unashamedly geeky paean to) the culture of the record store. Here, Calamar pays a visit to Freakbeat Records in Los Angeles, California. — MCT

SPECTRUM

Thursday, April 22, 2010

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Douglas’ son gets 5-year prison sentence judge sentenced Michael Douglas’ son to five years in prison Tuesday for dealing methamphetamine from a trendy Manhattan hotel, calling it his “last chance to make it.” US District Judge Richard M Berman announced the sentence after hearing 31-yearold Cameron Douglas ask for mercy as his Academy Awardwinning father and mother, Diandra, listened behind him in a packed courtroom. “I’d like to apologize to my family and my loved ones for putting them through this nightmare of my making,” Douglas said.

The Hollywood scion and admitted heroin addict also was ordered to forfeit $300,000. A pre-sentence report listed his net worth as $500,000. As they left federal court in Manhattan, Michael Douglas and his ex-wife had to fight through a writhing mass of photographers to reach a waiting Sports Utility Vehicle. Federal agents arrested Douglas last summer at the Hotel Gansevoort in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Prosecutors alleged that he was the middleman in a scheme to smuggle large amounts of meth from California to New York, sometimes using overnight mail.

Early in a sentencing hearing that stretched more than an hour, the judge described how Douglas had abused drugs since age 13 and noted that he had been sober in prison since last August, his longest drug-free stint since his teenage years. He noted that he had read at least 37 letters of support from family - including his film legend grandfather, Kirk, stepmother Catherine Zeta-Jones and National Basketball Association executive Pat

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Riley - friends and supporters who “believe he has finally bottomed out in terms of his addiction and may be ready to turn his life around.” But Berman also expressed doubt Douglas would turn his back on drugs after pleading guilty in January to conspiracy to distribute drugs.

“In my estimation, that will be a very difficult chore,” he said. “I think this case and this sentencing may well be his last chance to make it.”

The conspiracy charge carried a mandatory 10 years in prison, but the judge said the government had agreed that Douglas qualified for a lesser sentence. It had been revealed at a pretrial hearing that Douglas had tried to cooperate. The defense had requested that Douglas be sentenced to time served or, at most, 3 1/2 years in prison.

When given a chance to speak, Douglas said he was blind to the opportunities to overcome his addiction earlier in life.

“As a result, I squandered a lot of them,” he said. “If I should be so fortunate as to have another chance, I will never squander that opportunity.” He said he felt the full support of his family for the first time in his life and missed “so dearly being involved in my true passion in life ... which is being an entertainer, putting a smile on people’s faces.” Douglas in recent years had landed minor film roles, including one in 2003’s “It Runs in the Family,” starring his father and grandfather. Prior to the sentencing, his father cited in a handwritten letter Cameron’s childhood in a “bad marriage” and “the pressure of finding your own identity with a famous father.” — AP

Dancers perform the Cloud Gate 2’s new production entitled “Spring Riot” in Taipei, Taiwan, yesterday.

Choreographe rs Huang Yi, Ku Ming-shen, and Cheng Tsung-lung make up the three part performance that focuses on personal emotions and conflicts of life in a cramped city. — AP

Summer blockbusters present musical challenges hen John Debney came to score “Iron Man 2,” he faced a particular challenge: Being consistent with the first outing in the action franchise, while adding his own distinct voice. “It’s quite different from the first score, but it retains a lot of the same cool elements,” Debney says. “There’s a lot of guitar in it, but most of it is couched with the orchestra, so we never lose sight of that whole thing.”

“That whole thing” means the vast enterprise referred to as a tentpole or summer blockbuster. Composers tasked with scoring these movies not only have to contend with super-heated action, rapid-fire editing and overpowering sound mixes; they also have to cope with schedules that can be in flux right up to the end of postproduction-and convey a sense of bigness that belongs with budgets reaching $200 million and more.

Ramin Djawadi scored the first “Iron Man” with a strong dose of metal guitar, and director Jon Favreau wanted to keep some of that while exploring a new direction. He also wanted to maintain the continuity of the rock guitar aspect that characterized the hell-raising persona of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and his “metal man” alter ego, Iron Man. “As Iron Man has evolved from his scrappy beginnings, we want to establish him as being more comfortable with the mantle of a superhero,” the director says.

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8 minus Kate:

Gosselin axed from ‘Dancing’

Actor Michael Douglas and his former wife Diandra Luker leave New York Federal Court April 20, 2010 af ter their son, Cameron Douglas was sentenced to 5 years for possession of methamphetamines with the intent to distribute. — AFP eality TV mom Kate Gosselin has one fewer job to juggle. The author and reality TV star was eliminated Tuesday from “Dancing With the Stars,” leaving seven couples in the celebrity dance competition. Gosselin failed to ignite the ballroom, landing near the bottom of the judges’ leaderboard during five weeks of dancing. She and professional partner Tony Dovolani came into Tuesday’s results show with the week’s lowest score: 15 points out of 30 for a lackluster foxtrot. “I think Tony could have had more life out of a frock on a coat hanger,” judge Bruno Tonioli said Monday.

Judges’ scores are combined with viewer votes to determine which celebrity is eliminated each week.

Dovolani praised his partner as she dabbed her eyes with a tissue after learning their fate.

“I give her all the credit for showing up, as exhausted as she was, she still showed up every day,” he said. “You showed America that it doesn’t matter how much things go against you, you still come out here and give it your best.” Gosselin, a 35-year-old mother of twins and sextuplets, starred for several seasons with her ex-husband, Jon, in the hit TLC cable television reality show “Jon & Kate Plus 8.”

The show collapsed as the couple’s marriage fell apart.

She said through tears Tuesday that she was honored to have been on the hit ABC show. “I love everyone that I met,” she said, apologizing for being “a crybaby.” “It was a great experience,” she continued. “I had a wonderful teacher.” She said that despite her low scores, she gave her best in the ballroom. “I was scared to death most of the time to be out here,” she said.

Gosselin and her ex-husband are due in court in Pennsylvania on May 25 for a hearing on his motion for full custody. Earlier this month, his attorney accused the reality mom of neglecting the children to appear on “Dancing With the Stars,” a charge her attorney rejected as “patently false.” Kate Gosselin is the fourth contestant to be dismissed from “Dancing.” Soap star Aiden Turner, astronaut Buzz Aldrin and actress Shannen Doherty were eliminated on previous episodes. Returning to dance on Monday’s episode are singer Nicole Scherzinger, Olympic figure skater Evan Lysacek, actresses Pamela Anderson and Niecy Nash, reality star Jake Pavelka, sportscaster Erin Andrews and football star Chad Ochocinco. —AP

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Hard rockers meet Disney A blend of classic orchestral film scoring from Debney; rock stylings courtesy of guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine; AC/DC songs-and even a surprising touch of Walt Disney-contributed to that.

“What I like about Tom’s guitar is that he tunes it down, doubles up, sometimes double-records and triple-records the guitars, and the orchestrations are built around his guitar work,” Favreau adds. “It was interesting to see John

collaborate with Tom, people who come from two different sides of the music business.”

That collaboration extended from the music team to the sound department. “What Debney brings to the table is how to write music around that (the sound effects), so you’re not competing,” Favreau notes. “Understanding what range to use, what tones to use, and how to time it so you’re reinforcing the effects and you’re not muddying things up and the music can be played at a high level without competing with the sound effects-he’s pretty masterful at that.”

Debney is also masterful at incorporating the classic songs that will allow the studio to issue a compelling soundtrack when the movie

opens. While Sony Classical will put out Debney’s “Iron Man 2” score, the lion’s share of attention may go to the Columbia Records soundtrack that will consist entirely of AC/DC songs. “They’ve never done something like this, with all of their big songs together,” says Dave Jordan, music supervisor on all the Marvel Studios productions. “Jon is a huge AC/DC fan and they’re an expensive band to use. Here he could use any song in their catalog any way he wanted to. It’s a very unique situation.”

Negative reactions Blockbusters have the budgets to get such songs. But songs can present their own prob-

lems. “At one of our test screenings, we put a rock song over a big action sequence as an exercise and on the cards it got completely trashed,” notes Brian Tyler, composer of Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming “The Expendables.” “People really hated it and asked why were we trying to make this into a rock video. We replaced it with orchestral music and the numbers for the film shot up and the notes on the music were great.”

Unless the songs are already classics, Tyler says, the results can seriously date a film. “You can imagine what it would be like watching ‘North By Northwest’ and having the train go into the tunnel at the end and going into a contemporary song of that period. It just would have destroyed it.” Perhaps to avoid that, for “Iron Man” Favreau and Debney also used the music of Dick Sherman, the prolific songwriter who did a lot of the early Disney theme park material and even “Mary Poppins.”

“We brought him onboard and had him write a song for the Stark Expo, which in our movie lore has been going on since the ‘30s, much like the World’s Fair,” Jordan says. Debney interpolated Sherman’s song melody into the “Iron Man 2” score, making it play as the theme for Tony Stark’s father. The tune’s origins will likely be revealed in the new “Captain America” film, set in World War II. “We’re laying a lot of seeds for other films to explore musically as well as in other ways,” Jordan continues.

It’s easier to lay such seeds when the director has already done one outing on a franchise.

But dealing with directors has its own special challenges with blockbusters, whose helmers frequently have to marshall staffs of a thousand or more. Debney was fortunate to have plenty of face time with Favreau; but other key players can also play an important role. “Even if you’re working with the same director, producers may change, film executives may change,” Tyler says. —Reuters

Tribeca film festival shakes up distribution ith yesterday’s world premiere of D r e a m Wo r k s Animation’s “Shrek Forever After,” the Tribeca Film Festival is not only raising the curtain on its ninth edition, it’s looking to redefine how indie movies are distributed. The New York festival will open its doors to a wider online audience with a new offering, Tribeca Film Festival Virtual. The program will offer as many as 5,000 passholders (at $45 per pass) the chance to view eight features as well as shorts, panels and other streaming video online for a week.

Although the Sundance and South By Southwest film festivals have ventured into these waters, Tribeca Virtual’s effort will be the most extensive test to date on whether online video streaming can help or hurt a film’s quest to find commercial distribution. Simultaneously, a

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Director Robert Zemeckis and his wife Leslie Zemeckis attend the Vanity Fair party for the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. — AP

Festival co-founders Craig Hatkoff (left), Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro pose for photographers during the opening news conference for the Tribeca Film Festival Tuesday, April 20, 2010 in New York. — AP new distribution arm, Tribeca Film, will offer a dozen firstrun features, at $6-$8 per rental, via cable and satellite VOD. Both throw significant curveballs into the conventional acquisition scene. Tribeca Film

(with hefty marketing backing from American Express) has selected seven films from the current lineup, effectively taking them off the market before the festival begins. The Virtual program will be streaming eight features from the festival’s 50-

plus available titles to computers worldwide before distributors have a chance to snap them up. Festival programmers insist they went about their job without worrying whether individual titles would be available for either Tribeca Virtual or Tribeca Film. “We were all adamant about keeping the selection processes very church and state,” said Tribeca executive director Nancy Schafer.

“We never knew how many titles were going to coincide until we locked all 12 films on the VOD platform.”

Competitors who also deal in VOD distribution, including IFC chief Jonathan Sehring, don’t appear concerned about Tribeca entering the arena.

Because most of the festival’s initial batch of titles have been on the market for months and available to others, no one is arguing that Tribeca enjoys an unfair advantage. —Reuters

www.kuwaittimes.net

Love ‘em, hate ‘em:

Peeves of people with pets ngie Best-Boss has tried changing litter boxes, types of litter, brands of litter. Something has gone terribly wrong with Tiger. “I loathe my cat,” said the freelance writer in New Palestine, Indiana. “Actually, loathe might be too weak of a word. I hate it. The stupid, stupid cat pees. On clothes. Only on clean clothes. And beds. Regardless of what spray I buy, what medicine she

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startled awake by the routine hacking of hairballs. Some wish out loud their pets would just run away.

When Cherie Miller’s 16-year-old cat, Kitty, goes out, he wants in. When he is in, he wants out. He whines relentlessly and refuses to eat unless a human stirs the kibble around in his self-feeder. The family calls it “whooshing.” “When it scratches on the bedroom door at 3:21 am

‘To some extent, every adopter is expected to roll with the punches a little bit, to know that animals, like children, come with their personae and sometimes come with the sniffles and sometimes they might develop personality traits that we wouldn’t have put on top of our list.’ takes, she just really, really likes to pee.”

Dogs chewing through table legs. Cats diving for the family dinner. Biting cockatiels. At a time when many people are scrimping on themselves to indulge their animals, the love is lost for owners of infuriating pets. Still, many cannot bring themselves to dump their wayward animals in shelters. Instead, they pay skyhigh vet bills for intervention that does not work. They endure in-your-face barking rants in the middle of the night or are

to have its food whooshed, it’s enticing to imagine creative ways to ditch this cat.

I’m a pet lover, but come on,” said Miller, who lives in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, and was inspired to start a blog about pesky pets called pet-peeves.org.

So how does a human make peace with a problem pet? Venting helps, said an expert, though the griping may be more emotionally complicated for the humans involved. “We all know couples who look like they like to fight. They let

Cleo, a Chinese Shar-Pei dog is seen during the International Spring Dog Show in Havana. — AP

fights happen because, it seems, they’re getting something out of it. Some people have that relationship with their pets,” said psychologist Stephanie LaFarge, who specializes in the human-animal bond as senior director of counseling services at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“Some people like to think they love their animals so much they are willing to be victimized by them,” she said. “It’s proof of how much they love that animal and proof of what a good animal person they are and what a good person they are.

It’s part of their identity.” There is no national clearinghouse for where and how people acquire their pets, but about 63 percent of all US households have at least one, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. Ten to 20 percent of cats and dogs come from shelters and rescue organizations, sometimes arriving in well-meaning homes with heavy emotional baggage.

Others, like Jellybean, just drop into the lives of their humans and stay a good long while. Jellybean is the nippy childhood bird of Jennifer Guild, who lives in Richmond, Virginia. The bird materialized one day, and Guild’s parents took her in.

After she and her siblings moved away, Guild took on Jellybean, despite a bird allergy. “Jellybean has always been pretty mean. When you try to take her out of her cage, she tries to bite you,” Guild said. “My husband has always hated her.”

She tried her local SPCA with no luck, so Jellybean is confined to a back bedroom in virtual exclusion, at maximum volume.

“Try sleeping in on a Saturday morning with a bird screeching in the next room,” Guild said. About 5 percent of the dogs and cats placed in homes by the ASPCA’s adoption center in New York City last year were returned, said its senior vice president, Gail Buchwald. Allergies and housing problems are common reasons, but many people hold on to loathsome

pets out of shame or fear of being judged.

“You can never predict an animal’s behavior in a home 100 percent,” Buchwald said. “To some extent, every adopter is expected to roll with the punches a little bit, to know that animals, like children, come with their personae and sometimes come with the sniffles and sometimes they might develop personality traits that we wouldn’t have put on top of our list.” Elizabeth Castro, who lives outside Chicago, Illinois, finds her life with her cat Phil one huge compromise.

He regularly urps between her sheets and she tried to foist him off on her inlaws, only to have him returned. “I decided to pretend he was a different cat named Morty, the smarter twin brother who doesn’t have a hairball problem,” she said. “My 3-year-old daughter wants to play with him so bad, and he just hates her; runs away and hisses.” Taking a deep breath is a good place to start when other strategies fail, LaFarge said.

“It’s very hard, when the animal does something we don’t like, to say why is he doing this to me, when in fact that animal may be just being an animal and fulfilling his own needs,” she said. Joseph Lilly in Las Vegas, Nevada, knows exactly what LaFarge is talking about. He and his wife have made a mission of taking in rescue dogs considered “unrescuable.” They have four, including Bennie the border collie mix. He was found in a street nearly dead after he was hit by a car. “The day of the rescue, he clawed me so badly that I had a scar for a year,” Lilly said. “He became violently aggressive in the car.

He would let us pet him and then suddenly turn on us. I wanted to throw him off a bridge for nearly a year.” Now, through training, reinforcement and discipline, Bennie is “neurotic but a big love bug.”

“He’s still very hyperactive,” Lilly said.

“I still run him and train him regularly, but he’s just, well, he’s just a border collie.” — AP