Kuwait Times
April 23, 2010
NO: 14707
FREE
INSIDE
Remembering yesterday: AUK holds Al-Kout Festival PAGES 4 & 5
Iran begins war games in Gulf, Strait of Hormuz PAGE 10
The Eilat resort in Israel
Mystery rockets hit Jordan Kuwait opens new oil gathering centre PAGE 16
Spurs square series Carter shines as Magic take 2-0 lead PAGE 64
AMMAN: Two military-grade rockets struck Jordan early yesterday, one slamming into an empty warehouse in Aqaba and the other splashing into the Red Sea near the Israeli border, a Jordanian security official said. “The preliminary investigation determined that the explosion in the (Red Sea) port of Aqaba yesterday mor ning was due to a Katyusha rocket,” the security official said, citing sources close to investigators. “A second Katyusha rocket was found in Jordanian ter ritorial waters” of the Red Sea, he added, speaking on condition of anonymity. Jordanian Information Minister Nabil Sharif confirmed there had been an explosion at a refrigeration warehouse on the outskirts of Aqaba “causing no casualties and minimal damage.” “Until this moment there is no evidence that the rockets were fired from Jordan. The investigation is still going on,” Sharif told AFP, adding that areas around Aqaba were being searched. The investigation would try to determine whether the target of the rocket attack was Aqaba, as in 2005, or the Israeli resort of Eilat less
Two missiles fall near Israel border; no casualties than 10 kilometers (six miles) away. In August 2005, three Katyusha rockets were fired in Aqaba, missing two US warships docked in the port. One of the projectiles hit a warehouse, killing a Jordanian soldier, while another landed across the border in Israel. That attack was claimed by a group linked to Al-Qaeda. Israeli media reported earlier yesterday that a Katyusha rocket splashed into the Red Sea off Eilat and that another had exploded on the outskirts of Aqaba. Channel 10 initially said the rockets were fired from Jordan but later said it was also possible they were
launched from Egypt’s Sinai peninsula. Egyptian security officials denied that any rockets had been fired from Sinai, a rugged territory that borders southern Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The Sinai was the site of a wave of attacks on tourists between 2004 and 2006 that killed more than 100 people, and last week hundreds of Israelis rushed home from there after an Israeli security alert. The travel warning concerned an alleged plot to kidnap Israeli tourists. An Israeli military spokeswoman said Thursday’s incident was under investigation.
“This morning explosions and flashes of light were reported near the city of Eilat,” she said. “The home front command and the Israeli police searched the city following the reports but no evidence indicating a security-related incident was found. “A few hours following the incident it was repor ted that the remains of a Katyusha rocket were discovered near the city of Aqaba, Jordan. The (Israeli military) is currently investigating the source of the launch,” she said. The spokeswoman declined to give the source of the reports. The Jordanian plant hit by the rocket contains rubber products and lies on the northern outskirts of Aqaba, which belongs to a special economic zone established by the Jordanian city’s authorities in 2001. Aqaba and Eilat are the neighboring Red Sea ports of Jordan and Israel, which signed a peace agreement in October 1994 after decades of strained ties and conflict. The two ports are nestled in the Gulf of Aqaba, a narrow stretch of water bordered on one side by the Sinai Peninsula and the other by Saudi Arabia. — AFP
Page 2
LOCAL
Friday, April 23, 2010
Doomsday rumors continue to circulate
Apocalypse, Armageddon, big crunch or 2012? By Ben Garcia KUWAIT:April 17, 2010, 7:45 am, Kuwait City. What was expected to be a beautiful Saturday morning turned into a dark night from a horror movie within a nanosecond. The sky turned into a ball of darkness which gradually swallowed the entire country, with complete darkness covering Kuwait for over 20 minutes. Many compared the darkness as being similar to 12 midnight. Me and many others, as it turned out later, wondered why it had happened and what was wrong. Following the darkness a strong rain poured down. People who had watched the late night news concluded that it was the Icelandic volcanic ash covering Kuwait’s atmosphere. Apocalyptic rumors The sturdy rumor got worst with people in Kuwait relating the daytime darkness to the prelude to the end of the world. Expats questioned in this article likened the morning darkening to doomsday or end of the world. Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis have always triggered end-of-theworld rumors. The earthquake on January 12, 2010 in Haiti in which 250,000 people died was one such case in point. These events have also sparked a resurgence in what religious scriptures say about the end of the world prophecy, which scholars claim was revealed in the holy books of the three Abrahamic religions, namely Christianity, Judaism and Islam. There have been countless predictions about the end of the world. Just before the eve of the year 2000, some predicted that the ‘Y2K bug’ would hit the world and cause its demise. The rumor never became a reality. There are other such cases. The most recent apocalyptic speculation suggests that the world will end through a planetary collision set to take place on Dec. 21, 2012. They (supporter of the end of the world) quoted what they believed was the most accurate astrological calculations, which they referred to the Mayan Calendar—the end of a 5,126-year era,
after which a new era will come. In fact Hollywood movies and films have also tapped into the rich seam of apocalyptic speculation. The latest of these was the recently released ‘2012’ and the 2006 Mel Gibson’s movie Apocalypto. What religious scholars say? Ahmed Yousuf Abaya, a Muslim preacher and Jet Espiritu, a Christian pastor (priest) both agreed that while the end of the world will come, the rumors of planetary collision, complete with specific dates, should be disregarded as these were merely Hollywood promotional tales. “They are not real. The end of the world is indeed coming just as the Bible says, but nobody knows when,” said Pastor Espiritu. Quoting Bible verses, Espiritu said the end of the world will come after the world has heard about the message of ‘the Christ’. “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”
He said that in the Bible, it is foretold that “nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places.” “These signs are coming true, but we can never say the exact date of [the Messiah’s] arrival,” explained Pastor Espiritu. “The signs are there to remind us that we are mortal men and we need salvation, that we are sinners and that we need to ask forgiveness and turn away from the work of evil.” The pastor suggested that people should live every day as if it were the last or final day of life. Imam Ahmed Yousuf Abaya echoed Pastor Espiritu’s sentiment, adding that the minor signs could be appearing right now, just as the Holy Quran predicted, but Muslims believe that nobody knows the real date of the end of the world. “We believe that the end of the world will happen. The major signs have yet to appear,” he explained. “The Holy Quran mentioned the sun turning red. That is one of the major signs. But as to when and how it will come, we
Muslims do not believe what the sorcerers are saying. We don’t believe this because we always base our understanding on what the Holy Quran would say to us.” The Mayans beliefs Apocalyptic tales have recurred throughout history and continue to the present day. Take the Mayan civilization, for one example, which can be traced to the highlands of Guatemala, Oaxaca and Mexico. Long before the revelations of the Mayan calendar, the Sumerians in Babylon (modern day Iraq) had their own theory about the end of the world, believing that it was about the coming of what Sumerians referred to as Nibiru - a planet which they predicted would collide with planet earth in 2012, very similarly to the Mayan prediction. The planet Nibiru is referred to in contemporary science as Planet X or the tenth planet. The website of the ‘Church of Critical Thinking’ reveals that the Mayan and Sumerian predictions are the same. Ironically, although the two civilizations lived on two separate continents, the Church of Critical Thinking site claims that their predictions could be accurate based on astronomical calculations. According to the site, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has located Nibiru, but is withholding information about the planet from the public “as part of a worldwide conspiracy.” Many scholars have dismissed the idea that the world is going to end in 2012. However, the claim of Sumerians and Mayans could be true. In a report from Reuters on January 24, 2002, a British space expert theorized that a massive asteroid could hit Earth on Feb 1, 2019, destroying life as we know it. Many believed that this asteroid could be the Nibiru or Planet X. The asteroid - the most threatening object ever detected in space - is 1.2 miles wide and apparently on a direct collision course with Earth, according to report. “Objects of this size only hit the Earth every one or two million years,” said Dr. Benny Peiser, an asteroid expert at Liverpool John Moore’s University in northern England as reported by Reuters.
LOCAL
Friday, April 23, 2010
Page 3
FRIDAY SPOTLIGHT
HalluciNations
Religious envoys in Kuwait’s embassies! Are you for real?!
Wrong stance on human rights
By Muna Al-Fuzai
M
P Mohammad Hayef has come up with a suggestion which I assume some conservative groups would be more than happy to support and maybe pressure the gover nment into accepting, if not actually threatening it with the use of grilling in case it does not respond to their request. Hayef wants the Kuwait government to appoint religious envoys to serve as attachés for religious affairs - a new position in all Kuwait embassies abroad. The main duty of the appointed person, whom I assume would be a man, would be to support the Muslim minority in these countries and also to give a better image and idea of Islam and Muslims... I don’t think our embassies are the best examples when it comes to carrying out their major duties unless they’re pushed hard by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the visitor is a VIP. In such cases everybody will be on high alert and ready to serve. Honestly speaking, I don’t recall any other major achievements that our embassies have attained, other than laying on the standard national day celebrations. I guess this is why you see some diplomats, attachés or counselors who stay in certain places longer than expected. I wonder if that is due to their marvelous services or whether they have other qualities which we the citizens don’t know about! If Hayef’s suggestion becomes a reality then the least any foreign country can observe and monitor will be the behavior of the newly appointed religious envoy to ensure that he follows the criteria as a religious representative, the first of which is the practice of absolute tolerance. If we are to appoint someone to represent our religion in the West then Western countries should be entitled to do the same by sending a priest or minister to our countr y to help the Christians who are considered a minority here too and whose rights could also be jeopardized. In the eyes of the law all Kuwaitis, whatever their faith, are alike. The matters differ only when it comes to appointing ministers. It has never happened that a Christian Kuwaiti was appointed to such a position. So, if we can’t practice tolerance or implement this positive image in our own country, why would we go and do this in foreign countries in which most Muslim communities are not suffering from any kind of abuse and certainly do not need our conservative thinking or manners in the way they accept living there. Another issue should be raised here too; if this suggestion comes as a form of support to the Muslim community in those countries, who said they need us the Kuwaitis - to establish a formal position for them, and above all how can we ensure that this man will follow a clear path when it comes to perform his duty? Will he be a diplomat holding diplomatic status in order to avoid trouble if he’s involved in any impropriety? How should Kuwait deal with this?! Personally, I see no need for such a job in any embassy and I think that the so-called moderation center, the venue already given this role and a budget to carry out this mission is sufficient to fill this position. In this case why do we need to involve the government in such action? In countries such as the United Kingdom, for instance, the rights of Muslims are respected so there is no danger of them being treated differently. Most western countries respect others’ beliefs as part of their practice of tolerance. We, on the other hand, hardly accept opposite views. We need to understand that we should treat the world in the same way we want them to treat us. If we act in this way, when calls such as Hayef’s are made we will be able to justify their requests since they will make good sense. muna@kuwaittimes.net
By Ahmad Saeid
T
oday I will start with an analogy. A young couple just had their first child, they loved it more than words could describe. The child was physically-challenged. Doctors explained their son’s condition. They were told that their son would grow up to be a normal person, if his parents subject him to painful and lengthy physiotherapy sessions. The father, being a rational man, thought that this would be the right way to go about it, regardless of the difficulty involved. The mother, on the other hand, was unable to believe that there is something wrong with her son. She loved her son so much; to her he was the perfect son she always dreamt of. She was in total denial and refused to put her son through therapy. A part of her did not want to feel ‘humiliated’ in front of her peers who have healthy sons. She preferred to simply ‘enjoy’ the fact that she
was blessed with a son. The longer the argument continued, and the older their son grew; the more difficult it would be to recover and become a normal person. The child in this story represents Kuwait’s human rights situation. The two parents represent two parties with two different approaches to the problem. Both love Kuwait, both want it to be better. The only difference is that one team wants the country to truly have a sparkling record in human rights, while the other team simply wants Kuwait to keep up a good ‘image’ concerning its human rights record. There are NGOs, activists, and government officials who are concerned about the issue. Many are doing a lot to fight corruption, and to improve the lives of many underprivileged people who live in Kuwait. At the same time, there are many people from all segments of society who think that convincing people that the human rights situation in Kuwait is alright, will be enough to set the record straight. These people prefer to fight against the whole world to prove that everything is ideal in Kuwait, rather than actually working towards turning the situation ideal in reality. These people are
misled, and blinded by their love for their homeland - to the extent that it is actually harming the country. You can’t better the circumstance simply by saying that it looks good. I can’t lay any more emphasis on this issue. This is probably the most popular misconception prevalent in this part of the world. The sooner we understand that, the better and easier it will be for everyone. Instead of going to Switzerland to ‘argue’ for Kuwaiti human rights record, why don’t we go there to learn how Kuwait can better its human rights record, and let facts argue for themselves. Stop grouping people into categories who have different levels of access to human rights. Stop discriminating against expats, bedoons, and other groups. Stop attempting to marginalize groups of Kuwaiti society by questioning their loyalty to their country. Stop violating human rights, and the country’s record will improve automatically. In that case, we will not need to send a delegation to redefine human rights according to established norms. Who knows, this might even turn out to be cheaper. saeid@kuwaittimes.net
KUWAIT DIGEST
Of Scope TV and Al-Juwaihel ‘R
egardless of my personal views about Scope TV and its Chairman Fajr Al-Saied, I admit that she has profound courage to talk about restrictions that are placed on the country’s bold media,’ wrote Suad AlMeajel reported Al-Qabas. Despite the fact that the channel has been the subject of a torrent of criticism, no one can deny the fact that everyone seeks to be invited to a show that is aired on the channel, especially during election campaigns. The most recent episode in which ‘controversial’ former election candidate Mohammad AlJuwaihel was invited as a guest proves the channel’s ability to score high ratings among audience. The show was watched by Al-Juwaihel’s supporters as
well as critics, the writer feels. ‘Personally, I don’t agree the manner in which Al-Juwaihel addressed the dual citizenship issue. However, I admit that he has adopted a bold approach in dealing with this matter which also led him to cross lines at times,’ he wrote. On the other hand, it was noticed that he had garnered a great number of supporters among citizens. They took part in phone calls and text messages to show their suppor t, the writer observes. Participants at the televised gathering explained that the main problem with dual citizenship issue lies with duplicity in loyalty. Like other countries which expand demographically through immigration, affinity and trade, Kuwait
has experienced great changes. Therefore, the main problem lies in the fact that foreigners who came to Kuwait and claim Kuwaiti citizenship refuse to integrate with mainstream culture, while continuing to practice previous traditions. ‘This is exactly the problem. Kuwait is an open country that allows a great deal of freedom. However, newly naturalized citizens refuse to merge with new societies and join hands with citizens to push the development process forward,’ he observed. Therefore, it’s not surprising to see that the TV show has garnered high ratings, and that AlJuwaihel has managed to win over many supporters who are concerned about patriotic issues.
LOCAL
Page 4
Friday, April 23, 2010
Remembering yesterday: AUK holds Al-Kout Festival Culturally enriching events such as Al-Kout remind people of their rich culture and help them connect with their roots better. A Bedouin woman prepares weave sadu at the AUK Al-Kout Festival
By Hussain Al-Qatari
S
A Bedouin woman prepares Arabic coffee during the AUK Al-Kout Festival.
pread across various parts of its campus, the AUK held yesterday and the day before its annual Al-Kout Festival as part of the Arabian Heritage program. Remembering the rich heritage of our Kuwait and the great achievements of forefathers, this event attracted hundreds of students and people from the public, whether Kuwaiti or expatriates. The festival takes its name from the word Kout, which is the name of old Kuwait, meaning ‘fortress built on the coast.’ To look into the culture of Kuwait before the discovery of oil, one would find that there were two dominating cultures: The culture of the seafaring people, and that of the desert people. These two cultures complimented each other: The people of the desert, or the bedouin, were in charge of grazing sheep and camels around the desert. The sea people were responsible for building dhows, diving for pearls and bringing goods from the sea ports of India, the center of trade in the region. These elements of Kuwaiti culture were present throughout the event, giving the audience an excellent preview of the culture and art of Kuwaiti heritage. The Bedouin culture was present in the recitals of bedouin poetry and woven Sadu art. A small tent was erected, near which a small camel was kept, and Arabic coffee in a dalla — a bedouin coffee kettle — was served with dates and rahash, a traditional Kuwaiti sweet made with sweetened sesame paste. The culture of coastal areas of Kuwait was also present in small
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad views one of the booths at the AUK Al-Kout Festival.
Two Bedouin women prepare henna in a tent set up during Al-Kout Festival artifacts of dhows and traditional clothing worn by sailors in old Kuwait. In the heart of the campus,
bands performed bahri songs, songs that were popular amongst the sailors on the ship.
Friday, April 23, 2010
LOCAL
Page 5
A not bygone era On the periphery of the festival’s celebration of Kuwait and its tradition, another exhibition displaying a more modern Kuwait — a 1950’s to 1970’s Kuwait — took place. A display of classic cars was set up, showing a collection of vintage cars with vintage Kuwaiti car plates. One booth was adorned with old cans of imported British food, made-in-Kuwait old soft drinks bottles, tin containers of chocolate and sweets, old radios and antique telephones. Vintage bottles of men’s aftershave, framed photographs of the United Kingdom’s Princess Diana and a classic tin container of Macintosh candy all marked the era of Kuwait’s earliest stages in modernity, when oil was first discovered and British exported goods were most common in Kuwait. Throughout this tour, students set up booths selling clothing items and accessories designed and made by them, cupcakes as sweets, sandwiches and snacks and well as cold water bottles. One booth offered cupcakes for free, adding a twist to the dessert by using dates, rahash and saffron to the ingredients. Many students thoroughly enjoyed the event. Hamad, a Kuwaiti student at the university brought along a number of his friends to attend the event. The 19-year-old says that it is important to hold such culturally enriching events at the university as it reminds people of their rich culture and helps them connect with their roots better. “An event that is wellorganized in this way is something that is really much needed; the atmosphere is merry and the subject matter is not only interesting, but is a necessary component of our identity as Kuwaitis,” he says.
A man builds miniature dhows at a booth in the AUK Al-Kout Festival
Mementos Sarah, a 20-year-old Lebanese, thinks that the event came at a perfect timing, when the weather is not very hot and just perfect for outdoor activities, “Everybody here is in high spirits and I just love it; they are very helpful, organizers and the people tending to the booths. They have even set up fans to cool the temperature by the outdoors stage; it’s excellent and very wellorganized,” she says. Akram, 27, an Egyptian expat who attended the event with his sister and their friends say that the event featured quite a lot of interesting items for purchase, things that he is so glad to have stumbled upon. “There was a booth that sold rare books about Kuwait and Kuwaiti culture and tradition. One book in specific talked about the urban legends and folklore tales in old Kuwait; I found that to be very interesting!” he says. Akrab’s sister, Heba, says that she found the purses with Sadu textile design to be very beautiful, and have satisfied her shopaholic urge to make any purchase. “I am so happy to have purchased this one; it looks great and would make an amazing gift,” she says. Bedour, 22, thinks that the event sends out an important message to people aside from the cultural aspect, “The way I see it is that an event like this really sends a message that urges people to be tolerant of each other. When you look at how everyone lived in peace and harmony, despite the fact that they had different backgrounds, you’d be really amazed. I really hope that this is the message most people leave this exhibition with,” she says.
T-Shirts on display for sale at the AUK Al-Kout Festival
Copper arts and crafts
A man building baskets with straw at the AUK Al-Kout Festival.
LOCAL
Page 6
Not quite uprooted
Expat worker rediscovers himself through folk art
Sreeraj, born into a lower caste family of traditional art performers, has been witnessing the art form dying slowly in the economic upsurge of developing India.
By Sunil Cherian
S
wathed in crimson red, the performer on stage, looking like a silk effigy, transforms himself into a deity. His persona had come down on him conceivably after tapping his traditional roots and the dance is fused with martial arts and rituals. He seems in a trance as he sways slowly before flaring-up in front of the spell-bound audience. The artist, Sreeraj Vazhayil, 33, a machine operator in Kufuma upholstery company in Subhan, is performing theyyam (a ritual art form in south Indian state Kerala) and arguably he is the only Indian in Kuwait trying to enliven this folk art form not to make it counted among the ‘forgotten art of the bygone era’. He performs as if it were his duty and he does it between his work schedules and his cultural identities. Theyyam, from the castesystem era of India, was performed under various trees and later in the Hindu temple premises by the lower castes in the days following the harvests. The poor and lower caste artists symbolizing epic characters and legendary figures usually took pride in becoming who they are not in real life. The performances, arranged by upper caste people were often part of ritual and many communities have made scores of facets of this art. Mixing devotion and fear, beauty and beast, this transcending art now has crossed over continents. Sreeraj, born into a lower caste family of traditional art performers, has been witnessing the art form dying slowly in the economic upsurge of developing India. Many art performers left the village in search of ‘more income assured professions’. Sreeraj, in tune with the Diaspora, was no different except that he rekindled his art in Kuwait. His first performance was last summer at American International School, Maidan Hawally when his native expat association celebrated its cultural fest. Many took notice. Some found it gruesome. Some, awesome. Many came to him, thanked him and said they saw such kind of dance for the first time. Many spectators video graphed the entire 20-minute show and the last man with a video said, ‘something to keep for my children.’ Performance Last week, Sreeraj was at Da’yya auditorium giving another life to the traditional art. This time, he said, many of his friends and their friends offered help: to bring the requirements from his hometown in north Kerala; to arrange costumes, ornaments and other bits and pieces and to help with the make-up. “Back home we used to make our own make-up,” he said. Charcoal for eyeliner, rice powder, turmeric and lime for mascara and tender coconut leaves for apparel over silk
Friday, April 23, 2010
KUWAIT: Sreeraj Vazhayil is seen performing ‘theyyam’ in Kuwait. attire. “That was a time,” he said, “Our bangles and anklets were made of wood and then we would paint them gold. My people back home are so happy that I perform here. So they send me everything I require for the performance except the coconut leaves, since we have plenty of palm trees around”. The 20-minute dance is a delight to watch. Accompanied by traditional percussion drum, Sreeraj steps like a swan, then like peacock followed by cuckoo and elephant style steps. Gradually the rhythm becomes swift and the steps turn to jigs and bounds, the ‘hysteric’ dancer shaking his red-draped body frantically. He is embodying Hindu lord Shiva, particularly his fuming and fiery demeanour over the evils of the world. “If I were symbolizing a woman figure I wouldn’t jump like this,” he said, suggesting the graceful postures in the dance. “I make myself available for a performance like this,” Sreeraj said. “Preparations start with a one month diet control, for the body and mind. Now this ritual dance has
Sreeraj Vazhayil
become a stage art and a showpiece. But I’m happy that at least the art is still living and
I feel at home. That feeling is an improvisation for an artist, to perform better”.
“So what would be the improvisation for the next performance?” I asked him. In
reponse he said, “Next time I want to have fire poles around my waist”.
LOCAL
Friday, April 23, 2010
Page 7
UN official urges establishment of human rights agency Manpower authority responsible for expat manpower recruitment KUWAIT: Visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay lauded yesterday the Kuwaiti government for dealing with human rights issues. The UN official made the remark during a meeting with Kuwaiti Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Mohammad Al-Afasi. The UN official spoke highly of those who participated in the compilation of a report on human rights in Kuwait, which included several favorable aspects in this respect, the ministry said in a statement. Pillay thanked Afasi for compiling recent laws on labor, human rights and the disabled which were passed by Parliament, as well as his great effort to rescind the kafeel (sponsor) system in the country. But, Pillay wished that Kuwait could establish a national human rights agency, showing much interest in knowing Kuwait’s economic and social services to the poor countries. She added that her visit to Kuwait would contribute to reviewing Kuwait’s human rights record in light of information and facts she had obtained during the meeting with the minister. For his part, Afasi said the recently enacted Labor Law would ensure the rights of all Kuwaiti and foreign workers, as well as women’s employment rights. The minister added that the law had put the responsibility of recruiting foreign workers in the hands of the manpower authority, rather than private firms. Concerning Kuwait’s aid to poor nations, he said Kuwait had provided a total of $40 billion to the poor and least developed nations. Afasi went on to say that his ministry had made remarkable moves to safeguard and protect the rights of housekeepers. Furthermore, Kuwait attaches much attention to children and people with special needs, he concluded.
But, Pillay wished that Kuwait could establish a national human rights agency, showing much interest in knowing Kuwait’s economic and social services to the poor countries. Pillay departed Kuwait yesterday after an official visit to the country as part of a Gulf tour aimed at discussing the issue of human rights in the region, and women’s rights in particular. Her meetings with officials in Kuwait, especially His Highness the Amir, illustrated that this ongoing progress is evident in Kuwait, she said after the meeting with His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah earlier on Wednesday. The UN official also met a number of leading officials namely, National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Al-Sabah and the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr. Mohammad Al-Afasi. Pillay expressed delight after meeting His Highness the Amir at Bayan Palace, who in turn had thanked the UN Human Rights Council for their continued efforts on the promotion and support of human rights globally. She said that she had felt the “willingness and urgency of the leadership in dealing with the matter,” especially over the issue of women’s rights, and that His Highness the Amir had offered Kuwait’s complete and utter support. One of her major aims before she had decided to tour the region, was to focus on the subject of women’s rights, and she noted that Kuwait had its clear imprints on the issue when compared to its regional peers, and was somewhat of a pacesetter in the region. Upon arrival on Tuesday night, Pillay had mentioned that “huge developments” had been made in the region as a whole, without
KUWAIT: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay meets Social Affairs Minister Mohammad Al-Afasi yesterday. —KUNA
pinpointing Kuwait. “I feel that there are great winds of change blowing through the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries... I’m not here to compare one country to the other,” she said.
Kuwait was one of the first countries in the Gulf region to give women their complete rights in parliamentary voting and office, and currently has four female MPs in the National Assembly. Kuwait also has a
female minister. The meeting with His Highness the Amir was followed by an immediate meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Al-Sabah, who
had just arrived in the country bound from France. Pillay, who was seen off at the airport by Amiri Diwan Advisor Mohammad AbulHassan and Kuwaiti diplomat at the country’s Mission in Geneva Sadeq Maafari, will head to Bahrain next, as part of her 10-day tour which started in Saudi Arabia and took her to Qatar followed by Kuwait. She will also visit the United Arab Emirates and Oman. — KUNA
LOCAL
Page 8
Friday, April 23, 2010
Popular Bloc still united, says Barrak More amendments to privatization law By BIzzak KUWAIT: Spokesman for the Popular Action Bloc MP Musallam Al-Barrak yesterday downplayed reports of a deep rift between members of the Bloc after they voiced contradictory views on the privatization law. Last week, only MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun voted in favor of the privatization bill at the first reading, with the other three members, Barrak, Khaled AlTahous and Ali Al-Deqbasi, voting against it. Barrak said, however, that while the bloc’s members held different viewpoints on the issue, this had not developed into a major rift
among them. He said that the bloc members have decided to jointly submit what he described as ‘key amendments’ to the privatization law next Sunday to demonstrate that the Bloc is still united and is working together. Barrak said the proposed amendments emphasize that the key sectors of health, education and all oil activities should not be privatized because they are the property of the people. Barrak said that based on the constitution, it is forbidden to privatize those sectors, even with a new law. The privatization law states that
the health and education sectors cannot be privatized without a new law and makes no mention of the oil sector because it is clearly stated in the constitution, which is more powerful than any law. Barrak also revealed that a new movement, to be known as the Constitutional Popular Movement, will be launched shortly, with the Popular Bloc being the political arm of the planned movement. In another development, Barrak said that the Popular Bloc will resist any attempt to weaken the Kuwaiti constitution, amid reports and statements that a plan is underway to amend a number of
articles in the 1962 constitution. In a related development, 11 civil society organizations and political groups yesterday issued a joint statement objecting to passing the privatization law with a thorough study of its implications on the Kuwaiti society. The signatories to the statement include the Kuwait Journalists’ Association, the Kuwait Trade Union Federation, the Kuwait Teachers’ Association, the Salafi Movement, the Kuwait Graduates Society and the Women’s Cultural and Social Society. The statement called for a
Mock exercise to evacuate navy base KUWAIT: The Civil Defense General Directorate held a mock exercise to evacuate Sabah Al-Ahmad navy base yesterday. The Kuwait Fire Services Directorate (KFSD), Ahmadi Security
Directorate, and the emergency team at Sabah AlAhmad navy base participated in the drill. In a stimulated event, a fire that broke out in a specialized training kitchen, in which two
workers were injured. Fire men from the Mangaf Fire Center, medical emergencies team, and the Ahmadi security rushed to the area and evacuated it in record time. The exercise
proved successful, and was completed in a record time, in four minutes. It was supervised by Director General of Civil Defense Maj Gen Yousuf Al-Roudhan and other high ranking officials.
Kuwaitis stranded in the UK will return soon - ambassador
Sergeant pleads guilty to taking illegal gratuities in Kuwait
LONDON/BRUSSELS: Twenty-two out of 190 Kuwaiti travelers are returning home after being stranded in London during the airports closure caused by the volcanic ash cloud which originated from Iceland, said an aviatios’ official here yesterday. Regional Director of Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) Waleed Bin Naji told KUNA that the first KAC flight had left Heathrow Airport after the resumption of airtraffic in the UK. More Kuwaitis would be leaving London by tomorrow, revealed Bin Naji, adding that more Kuwaitis had left via other airlines. He said that around 250 Kuwaitis had canceled their flights. The UK had reopened its air activities after closing airports for a week period. Statistics showcased that European aviation industry had lost around 200 million euro in a single day since the volcanic eruption occurred. Earlier yesterday Kuwait’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Khalid Al-Duwaisan assured that the return on Kuwaiti citizens to the homeland will be arranged as soon as possible. That came during his visit to the hotel where stranded Kuwaitis were staying in London, after days of airports’ shutdown due to the Icelandic volcanic clouds of ash.
PEORIA: Federal prosecutors in Peoria say an Army sergeant has pleaded guilty to accepting approximately $1.4 million in illegal gratuities from private contractors during his deployment to Kuwait in 2002 and 2003. Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer says 42-year-old Ray Scott Chase pleaded guilty Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge John A. Gorman in the Central District of Illinois to accepting illegal gratuities, structuring monetary transactions and making false statements. According to court documents, Chase was a sergeant first class during his deployment to Kuwait from January 2002 through December 2003. At sentencing, which is scheduled for Aug. 6, Chase faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Prosecutors say Chase has already agreed to forfeit assets traceable to the proceeds of his crimes.— AP
Al-Duwaisan said that all embassy workers were at the hotel around the clock, following up the affairs of the 214 Kuwaitis stranded in London. He added that arrangements are ongoing for the return of those citizens, as some of them had already departed last night. UK reopened airports after a week of major air traffic disruption, due to volcanic ash, which led to the shutdown of airports in Europe. The International Aviation Union estimated the European airlines losses to 200 million euros per day. Meanwhile, the Kuwait Embassy in Brussels has been following closely the situation of the Kuwaitis stranded in Belgium. Embassy sources said here today that there were two categories of Kuwaitis stranded in Belgium, one where tourists and secondly those who had come for medical treatment. Some of the stranded Kuwaitis will be departing tomorrow and all of the stranded Kuwaitis will depart Belgium by Monday, said the embassy sources. Meanwhile, air traffic operations at Brussels Airport have returned to near normal following the sixday chaos caused by the Icelandic volcano ash clouds which led to the closure of European airspace. — KUNA
complete revision of the legislation to close any loopholes and eliminate all shortcomings before passing it at the second and final reading. It added that the parliamentary financial and economic affairs committee was supposed to hear the opinions of civil society organizations, trade unions and other sides before approving the bill. The statement called for measure to be taken to ensure that the privatization process does not lead to any social injustice, which is a principle requirement of the Kuwaiti constitution.
CRIMES
Death sentence for killer KUWAIT: The Criminal Court has sentenced a Kuwaiti man to death for killing his neighbor over the neighbor having once helped the killer’s wife. The murderer planned his attack, waiting for several days before launching his deadly assault in which he stabbed his victim in the abdomen. One dead, five injured in accidents A 34-year-old Kuwaiti man was killed in a horrific car accident near Jahra Stables. A 35-year-old Egyptian man who was seriously injured in the same accident was rushed to Jahra Hospital. In a separate incident, a 22-year-old Egyptian was rushed to hospital after sustaining a spinal fracture when he was hit by a car in Farwaniya. Three Kuwaiti women were taken to Mubarak Hospital following a three-car pile-up on Gulf Road near Shaab Palace. Cabbie mugged, robbed Capital detectives are hunting for three expatriate muggers who assaulted the driver of the taxi they had hailed to take them to
Shuwaikh and vandalized his car before robbing him of the money he was carrying and fleeing the scene. The assailants broke the driver’s nose during their attack. Police have launched an investigation. Horrible haris Jahra police freed six tenants of a flat in a local building who were locked in a room of the apartment by the building’s haris (caretaker) after being unable to come up with the final KD 20 of their rent. The police arrested the excessively vigilant caretaker, who said that he had locked the men in the room over their inability to pay the final KD 20 of the rent. He has been taken into custody and is awaiting trial. Suicide attempt A 75-year-old Jordanian man was rushed to Mubarak Hospital after attempting to commit suicide by slashing his wrists. The man faces a charge of attempted suicide. Brothel bust Sulaibikhat police raided a brothel in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, arresting the two men who ran it, as well as four women.
Friday, April 23, 2010
LOCAL
Page 9
INTERNATIONAL
Page 10
Friday, April 23, 2010
Ahmadinejad in Zimbabwe to meet with Mugabe HARARE: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Zimbabwe yesterday for trade talks with President Robert Mugabe, as Mugabe’s partners in a fractious unity government slammed the visit as a scandal. Ahmadinejad, whose visit is expected to produce a raft of trade and cooperation agreements, is scheduled to open the country’s main trade fair in the second city of Bulawayo today. But the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the party that shares power with Mugabe’s ZANU-PF in a fragile unity government, said inviting Ahmadinejad to open the trade fair was “a colossal political scandal”. “Inviting the Iranian strongman to an
investment forum is like inviting a mosquito to cure malaria,” the party said in a statement. “Ahmadinejad’s visit is not only an insult to the people of Zimbabwe, but an affront to democracy and to the oppressed people of Iran.” Both Ahmadinejad and Mugabe are known for their controversial policies and antiWestern rhetoric. Ahmadinejad currently faces the threat of new United Nations sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme, while Mugabe is embattled over complaints that he has failed to honour the power-sharing agreement reached last year with the MDC in the wake of controversial elections. Both men have also clung to power through elections marred by violence and allegations
of fraud-Ahmadinejad after a bloody presidential election in 2009 and Mugabe after sharply criticised polls in 2002 and 2008. Ahmadinejad’s trip is part of an Africa tour also scheduled to include a visit to UN Security Council member Uganda, where he will discuss Iran’s nuclear programme, according to Iranian state television. The trip gains significance as world powers have stepped up pressure for a new round of UN sanctions against Iran. Uganda currently holds one of the rotating seats on the Security Council. Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said Tehran plans to open talks with all 15 Security Council members in an effort to break a deadlock on a nuclear fuel
supply deal that has put it at odds with Western powers. In Zimbabwe, the Iranian leader is also due to sign various trade agreements and launch a series of joint ventures between the two countries in the agriculture, manufacturing and mining sectors. The trade fair that he will open was a major calendar event in Zimbabwe, but has become more localised in recent years as the country has battled an economic crisis which saw inflation soar to multiples of billions. Zimbabwe enjoys good relations with Iran as well as several east Asian countries after Mugabe launched a “Look East” policy in response to isolation by the West following Harare’s controversial land reforms and the disputed 2002 elections. — AFP
War games heighten tension in the region
Iran begins war games in Gulf and Strait of Hormuz TEHRAN: Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard yesterday started large-scale w ar games in the Persian Gulf and the strategic Strait of Hormuz, state television reported. Iran has been holding military maneuvers in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz annually since 2006 to show off its military capabilities. The last four editions of the games
w ere held in the summer, but there has been no official explanation w hy they w ere brought forw ard this year. The w ar games have routinely heightened tension in the region, but they have more recently taken added significance as the standoff betw een the West and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program grow s deeper.
In this photo released by the semi-official Iranian Fars News Agency, an abandoned war ship, being used as a target, is burning during Revolutionary Guard’s maneuver in the Persian Gulf, Iran, yesterday. Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard started large-scale war games in the Persian Gulf and the strategic Strait of Hormuz, state television reported. — AP
Iraq airport reopens after Qaeda threat NAJAF: The airport serving Iraq’s holy Shiite city of Najaf and used by thousands of pilgrims reopened yesterday after Al-Qaeda threats led to its closure two weeks ago, a local official told AFP. “The head of Iraq’s civil aviation and the ministry of transport decided from today to reopen the airport to internal and international flights, after all security measures were taken to prevent Al-Qaeda attacking the Shiite shrines with aircraft,” provincial councillor Khaled al-Jashami said. A Gulf Air flight was scheduled yesterdayon Thursday, and a flight with the Jordanian airline Eagle Aviation was expected to arrive today, he added. The airport closed on April 7 “because of gaps in security,” a transport ministry spokesman said at the time,
with the Kuwaiti company Al Aqiq reportedly failing to meet its contractual obligations to provide security equipment. An American counter-terrorist official announced on April 14 that the Iraqi authorities has discovered an AlQaeda plan to hijack aircraft and fly them into Shiite mosques. Najaf airport, 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of the Iraqi capital, has been receiving around 800 passengers daily, mostly pilgrims from Bahrain and Iran, since it opened to civilian flights in July 2008. But numbers surge during major festivals such as Ashura, when Shiite pilgrims flock to Najaf’s Imam Ali shrine. The airport’s closure caused daily losses of 100,000 dollars, according to provincial authorities. — AFP
The West suspects the program conceals a nuclear arm production drive, a charge that Iran denies. Iran has in the past signaled that it would close the Strait of Hormuz if attacked by the West, something that makes holding war games there a particularly sensitive move. Some 40 percent of the world’s oil and energy supplies pass through the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. In Washington, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell played down the significance of the maneuvers, saying “they don’t seem out of the ordinary” from what Iran’s military has done in the past. Asked Wednesday — the day the maneuvers were announced in Tehran — what concerns he had about the Iranian war games, Morrell said: “I haven’t heard any particular concerns.” “They conduct exercises and tests and war games with some frequency,” he told a Defense Department news conference. “I think any sovereign state is obviously within its rights to drill and prepare and make such preparations for their own defenses.” The Iranian television report said naval, air and ground units from the Guard were participating in the three-day games codenamed “The Great Prophet.” It said the war games will witness the commissioning of what it described as an “ultraspeed” vessel called “Ya Mahdi” and a total of 313 speedboats with the capability of firing rockets and missiles also would participate. On Wednesday, Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi said “new weapons” would be test-fired in the war games, but did not give any details. Tehran, said Morrell on Wednesday, often makes exaggerated claims about its weapons testing. “What’s always been interesting is how much what they do comports with what they say,” he said. “It’s more often the case with testing of weaponry than it is with exercises and drills, but often they profess and claim to have capabilities which are not demonstrated in reality based upon our review of intelligence after the fact.” Tehran was angered by President Barack Obama’s announcement this month of a new US nuclear policy in which he pledged America would not use atomic weapons against nations that do not have them. Iran and North Korea were pointedly excluded from the nonuse pledge, and Iranian leaders took that as an implicit threat. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Wednesday that the US “nuclear threat” is a “Stigma in the U.S. political history,” saying Iranians will not allow the US to dominate the country. Iran’s archenemy, Israel, has not ruled out military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities. — AP
BAGHDAD: A corridor photographed in an Iraqi-run prison in Baghdad, yesterday. Iraqi officials say they are investigating claims that detainees, believed to be mostly Sunnis, were tortured at the prison in Baghdad. — AP
Iraq investigating claims of Sunni abuse in prison BAGHDAD: Iraqi officials are investigating claims that detainees, believed to be mostly Sunnis, were tortured at a makeshift prison in Baghdad, in a case that has outraged the country’s Sunni minority, Iraqi officials said yesterday. The deputy human rights minister, Kamil Amin, said that three army officers have been arrested in connection with the case. An Iraqi who said he was in the prison described being beaten, tortured with electric shock treatment and smothered with a plastic bag. The case, which was first reported Monday by the Los Angeles Times, has angered the country’s Sunni population who see it as another example of persecution by Iraq’s Shiite-led government. The charges come at a delicate time, as the country waits to see who will take the lead in forming the next government: a coalition with extensive Sunni support, or a Shiite-dominated bloc led by the current prime minister. At least 431 Iraqi men from the northern province of Ninevah were arrested last year and taken to a Ministry of Defense facility in
Baghdad, said Amin. The Human Rights Ministry became involved after hearing complaints from family members of detainees saying they were tortured. A former prisoner, Radhwan Shihab Ahmed Salih alAbadi, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday that he was arrested in December and taken to the prison in Baghdad where he was treated in a “barbaric way.” “They used to asphyxiate us with plastic bags until we were about to fall unconscious and then open the bag,” he said. “They were also using electric shocks during investigation.” AlAbadi said he was arrested along with his brother who was accused of being part of the insurgency and is still being held. His claims could not be immediately verified. An army officer who worked at the prison said it was an army barracks that was converted into a prison last fall to hold the prisoners from Ninevah province, and that it has since been closed. During a visit by an Associated Press reporter Thursday, the facility was empty. The officer did not want to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. —AP
INTERNATIONAL
Friday, April 23, 2010
Page 11
All options are going to be on the table
US warns Syria but defends engagement GAZA: Palestinian women hold up pictures of relatives imprisoned in Israel during a demonstration in Gaza City against an Israeli threat to expel Palestinians lacking proper identification from the occupied West Bank. —AFP
Israel to US: No building halt in east Jerusalem JERUSALEM: Aides to Israel’s prime minister said yesterday that he has officially rejected President Barack Obama’s demand to suspend all construction in contested east Jerusalem, a move that threatens to entrench a yearold deadlock in IsraeliPalestinian peacemaking. The aides said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered his government’s position to Obama over the weekend, ahead of the scheduled arrival later yesterday of the US president’s special Mideast envoy, George Mitchell. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the contact between the two leaders was private. Washington had put Mitchell’s shuttle diplomacy on hold for more than a month as it awaited a reply from Israel. Aides to Netanyahu provided no information on whether the Israeli leader had offered any other concessions to the Palestinians in an effort to restart the long-stalled talks. But with Israel eager to ease tensions with its closest and most important ally, it appeared likely the Jewish state tempered its rejection with other confidence building gestures toward the Palestinians. The status of east Jerusalem, home to shrines sacred to Muslims, Jews and Christians, is the most emotionally fraught issue dividing Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinians claim the city’s eastern sector as the capital of a future state, but Netanyahu has insisted repeatedly that Israel will retain control of the entire city as its capital. Israel and the Palestinians had been set to launch USmediated negotiations last month when Israel announced plans during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden to build 1,600 homes in a Jewish housing project in east Jerusalem. The announcement infuriated the Americans and the Palestinians put the negotiations on hold. US officials have been pushing Israel to call off the project, freeze further construction in
east Jerusalem and make other goodwill gestures to the Palestinians. Netanyahu has argued that his position on east Jerusalem mirrors the longstanding policy of past Israeli governments. “It is just impossible and unacceptable that people try to impress us that we should limit construction in Jerusalem,” Benny Begin, a senior Cabinet minister, told foreign reporters and diplomats yesterday. “Jews and Arabs can live throughout the city. This policy will be retained.” Nearly all of the Israeli construction in the city’s eastern sector has been in Jewish neighborhoods, where 180,000 Israelis live. An estimated 250,000 Palestinians live in traditionally Arab neighborhoods. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called the Netanyahu position “very unfortunate” and said he hoped the US “will be able to convince the Israeli government to give peace a chance by halting settlement construction in east Jerusalem and elsewhere.” Asked if anything short of an east Jerusalem construction freeze would bring the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, Erekat said it would depend on what Netanyahu told the Americans. The Israeli government has debated proposals to free some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, turn over more West Bank territory to the control of Palestinian security forces and possibly curb Jewish construction in the heart of Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. Netanyahu’s spokesman, Mark Regev, said Israel was exploring ways to restart talks, but refused to elaborate. A Palestinian official said Mitchell was expected to meet separately with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today. Mitchell’s efforts are focused on launching indirect peace talks, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement on Mitchell’s mission from the Americans. —AP
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama’s believes that Syria has supplied Hezbollah with the administration has warned that “all options” are on the ballistic missiles, which could dramatically increase the table if Syria supplied Scud missiles to Hezbollah but Lebanese Shiite militia’s ability to attack the Jewish defended its pursuit of dialogue with Damascus. Israel state. Jeffrey Feltman, the assistant secretary of state for the Middle East, said Wednesday the United States would have “really, really serious concern” if Syria had delivered such high-grade weapons to Hezbollah. “If these reports turn out to be true, we’re going to have to review the full range of tools that are available for us in order to make Syria reverse what would be an incendiary, provocative action,” Feltman said. “The United States has shown in the past that we are able to act,” he told a congressional hearing. “I expect that all options are going to be on the table looking at this.” But Feltman and other officials said they were still investigating the alleged Scud missile transfer. “We continue to study the matter,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley BEIT JALA: Israeli border policemen carry away foreign activists protesting said. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who heads the together with Palestinians against the extension of Israel’s controversial Senate Intelligence separation barrier in the Palestinian West Bank village of Beit Jala, south of Committee, told AFP Jerusalem, yesterday. —AFP Tuesday there was a “high likelihood” that Hezbollah had obtained Scuds. Israel launched punishing raids on Lebanon in 2006 in response to more than 4,000 attacks by Hezbollah with rockets that are less sophisticated than Scuds. The 34-day war killed BAGHDAD: A US military jury cleared a abused, Ahmed Hashim Abed, testified 1,200 Lebanese, mostly Navy SEAL yesterday of failing to prevent Wednesday on the opening day of the trial at civilians, and more than 160 the beating of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of the US military’s Camp Victory on Israelis, mainly soldiers. The masterminding a 2004 attack that killed four Baghdad’s western outskirts that he was Scud allegations come just as American security contractors. The beaten by US troops while hooded and tied the United States steps up contractors’ burned bodies were dragged to a chair. dialogue with Syria. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Kevin through the streets and two were hanged President Barack Obama from a bridge over the Euphrates river in the DeMartino, who was assigned to process in February appointed the former insurgent hotbed of Fallujah, in what and transport the prisoner and is not a first US ambassador to became a major turning point in the Iraq war. SEAL, testified he saw one SEAL punch the Damascus in five years, The trial of three SEALs, the Navy’s elite prisoner in the stomach and watched blood Robert Ford, although the special forces unit, has outraged many spurt from his mouth. Huertas and the third Senate has not yet confirmed Americans who see it as coddling terrorists. SEAL were in the narrow holding-room at him. Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas, 28, the time of the incident, he added. Feltman defended the But defense attorneys tried to cast doubt of Blue Island, Illinois, was found not guilty Obama administration’s by a six-man jury of charges of dereliction of on the beating claims, showing photographs approach, saying: “We’re not duty and attempting to influence the of Abed after the alleged beating in which he doing engagement because testimony of another service member. The had a visible cut inside his lip but no obvious it’s a pleasurable experience jury spent two hours deliberating the signs of bruising or injuries anywhere else. with the Syrians. We’re verdict. Huertas is the first of three SEALS In her closing arguments, Huertas’ civilian doing engagement because to face a court-martial for charges related to attorney Monica Lombardi pointed to it’s in the US national the abuse incident. All three SEALs could inconsistencies between DeMartino’s interest.” He said that many have received only a disciplinary reprimand, testimony and nearly every other Navy in the Arab world would not but insisted on a military trial to clear their witness. She also reminded the jury of the respond well to US envoys terrorism charges against Abed, who is in names and save their careers. coming in for brief visits The trial stems from an attack on four Iraqi custody and has not yet been tried, with negative messages. Blackwater security contractors who were saying he could not be trusted and may have With an ambassador, the driving through the city of Fallujah west of inflicted wounds on himself as a way of Baghdad in early 2004. The images of the recasting blame on American troops. United States “can go in at a But prosecutor Lt. Cmdr. Jason Grover bodies hanging from the bridge drove home very high level on a regular, to many the rising power of the insurgency said DeMartino said the SEALs were itching continual basis,” Feltman and helped spark a bloody US invasion of the to abuse Abed as payback for the killings of said. “It enhances our city to root out the insurgents later that the Blackwater guards — two of whom were ability to get our message year. The Iraqi prisoner who was allegedly former SEALs. —AP across.” —AFP
US military jury clears SEAL in Iraq abuse case
INTERNATIONAL
Page 12
Friday, April 23, 2010
Belgian government collapses after party quits BRUSSELS: Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme’s five-month-old government collapsed yesterday after the Flemish liberal party pulled out of his coalition. Leterme, 49, called an emergency meeting of his cabinet early yesterday afternoon to inform ministers that his second term in office was at an end, and left for the royal palace to tender his government’s resignation to King Albert. “Yves Leterme had no other choice than to inform us that he would go to the king immediately to
tender the government’s resignation,” Health Minister Laurette Onkelinx told reporters. Without the backing of the centreright Open VLD, the remaining four parties in government still have 76 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament but it would be hard to govern with such a slim majority. Open VLD said it had lost confidence in the government because of its failure to resolve a dispute between French- and Dutchspeaking parties over electoral boundaries around the capital, Brussels.
“We have not agreed on a negotiated solution and therefore Open VLD no longer has confidence in the government,” said Alexander De Croo, the party’s chairman. Economists have expressed concern that political paralysis would harm the prospects of reducing Belgium’s budget deficit, which the government has forecast will be 4.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2010. Belgian debt is expected to exceed 100 percent of GDP this year. The premium investors demanded for holding Belgian debt
increased yesterday. The spread between 10-year Belgian bonds and German bunds had widened to 49 basis points from 43 at Wednesday’s close, although this was in line with a widening trend for other euro zone sovereign bonds. Leterme became prime minister for a second time last November when Herman Van Rompuy left the post to become president of the European Union. Even at the start of his second term political and economic analysts had warned that it could prove as unstable as his first nine months in
power in 2008, when Belgium lurched from one crisis to another. Leterme’s nine-month struggle to form his first government fuelled concerns in the media at the time that Belgium could break apart and raised the risk premium investors demanded to hold government bonds. Belgium, home to European Union institutions and the NATO military alliance, can ill afford to let domestic problems drag on as in July it takes over the six-month EU presidency, an organisational role held by each member state in turn. —Reuters
Plume remains low, tremors haven’t increased
Recriminations fly after aerial lockdown ends LONDON: Europe declared the all-clear for its airspace yesterday as recriminations flew over compensation for stranded passengers and the 1.7 billion dollar cost to the airline industry.
Iceland’s Eyjafjjoell volcano, which paralysed the skies above Europe for nearly a week, continued erupting, prompting several small airports in Sweden and Norway to close to passengers.
SAINT DENIS DE LA REUNION: A passenger waits at Gillot airport in the French Indian ocean island of Saint Denis de la Reunion yesterday. Two thousand and five hundred passengers are stuck after Air France national company didn’t charter enough planes as traffic air returned to normal. —AFP
Ex-elite police members jailed over Srebrenica SARAJEVO: Bosnia’s war crimes court yesterday jailed two Serb ex-policemen for 31 years each on a charge of aiding in genocide and taking part in the killing of more than 7,000 Muslims in the town of Srebrenica in 1995. “Radomir Vukovic, 36, and Zoran Tomic, 38, were members of the 2nd Sekovici Special Police Detachment which intended to partly exterminate a group of Muslims and help remove forcibly 40,000 civilians from the eastern enclave,” Judge Senadin Bektasevic said. He said the two participated in the capture and execution of at least 1,000
Muslim men who tried to escape Srebrenica through the woods and were detained in a warehouse in the nearby village of Kravice. “Vukovic and Tomic were among the interior ministry members who rounded up and guarded the Kravice warehouse on July 13, 1995 and later opened a fire through the windows at the captives ... at the same time Vukovic was throwing hand grenades at them,” Bektasevic said. The panel of judges could not determine the exact number of men killed in the warehouse, he said, adding that up to 1,000 men were executed that day according to
witness testimony. Bektasevic said the bodies were buried in mass graves that were dug earlier but later moved elsewhere to hide the atrocity. The two men were also found guilty of guarding a convoy of Muslim women, children and elderly who were separated from their male family members and taken out of Srebrenica, he said. Bosnian Serb forces, commanded by now-fugitive General Ratko Mladic, killed about 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys after the UNprotected “safe area” zone fell into their hands near the end of Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.
But all the continent’s major air hubs were up and running again at close to full capacity with airlines struggling to clear a huge backlog of passengers. According to Eurocontrol, the body coordinating air traffic control across the continent, the volume of flights had returned to normal. “At the current time, almost all European airspace is available, with a few exceptions in parts of southern Finland, southern Norway, northern Scotland, and western Sweden,” Eurocontrol said in a statement. “Today Eurocontrol expects that traffic will be at normal levels of between 28,000 and 29,000 flights.” Activity at the main airport in Paris was “back to normal” while it was also business as usual at German airports, with only a handful of cancellations reported at Frankfurt airport, the country’s largest. Hundreds of thousands of travellers were left stranded across the globe by the shutdown which began last Thursday, having to shell out for hotels, food and alternative travel arrangements. The chief executive of Ireland’s low-cost carrier Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, initially said he would only refund the cost of tickets bought by stranded customers but the airline later agreed to pay for food and accommodation expenses incurred by travellers after an outcry. “Ryanair confirmed this morning that it will comply with EU261 regulations under which EU airlines are required to reimburse the reasonable receipted expenses (as set out in EU261) of disrupted passengers,” the airline said. —AFP
AUGSBURG: A picture shows the bishop of Augsburg Walter Mixa, in southern Germany, during a conference. Mixa, one of Germany’s top bishops, has tendered his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI after admitting hitting children. —AFP
Irish bishop resigns, apologises over abuse DUBLIN: An Irish bishop apologised to the victims of clerical child abuse yesterday after his resignation was formally accepted by the pope, and admitted he should have challenged a culture of secrecy. James Moriarty, bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, resigned in December along with five others after a damning report found Catholic authorities in the Dublin archdiocese concealed abuse of children by priests for three decades. Moriarty, who was auxiliary bishop of Dublin from 1991 to 2002, said although he was not directly criticised in November’s report by judge Yvonne Murphy, “renewal must begin with accepting responsibility for the past”. “Again I accept that from the time I became an auxiliary bishop, I should have challenged the prevailing culture. Once more I apologise to all survivors and their families,” he said in a statement. His resignation was formally accepted by Pope Benedict XVI yesterday, Moriarty said, the fourth resignation to be
approved over the scandal in Dublin, Ireland’s biggest archdiocese. The Murphy investigation found Church leaders there did not report abuse to police until the 1990s as part of a culture of secrecy and an over-riding wish to avoid damaging the reputation of the Catholic Church. One priest admitted to sexually abusing more than 100 children, while another confessed that he had abused children on a fortnightly basis over 25 years. The report came just months after another landmark study which horrified Ireland-a mainly Catholic country-by revealing widespread sexual, physical and emotional abuse of children in Catholic-run institutions dating back to the 1930s. Similar revelations across the world have rocked the Roman Catholic Church, and one of Germany’s top bishops, Bishop of Augsburg Walter Mixa, offered his resignation to the pope yesterday after admitting he beat children at a Catholic orphanage in the 1970s and 1980s. —AFP
INTERNATIONAL
Friday, April 23, 2010
Page 13
In Haiti, schools lure back students with a free daily meal PORT-AU-PRINCE: The meal doesn’t look like much, rice, a few vegetables and a little bit of meat, but for the Haitian school children who receive it for free, it is reason enough to come to class. By 10:30 am on a Wednesday, the smell of chicken stock wafts through the Rosalie Javoukey school, located in a neighborhood of Haiti’s devastated capital Port-au-Prince. In the shade of a three-story building scheduled for demolition, women bustle about, doling food onto metal and plastic plates on huge tables set up in between white Unicef tents. The playground has been eliminated “because it is covered in tents,” said Sister Marie-Bernardette, the school’s headmistress, and now it serves as a staging area for the daily free school meal.
The children, aged five to 12, wait their turn to retrieve their meal. They return to their desks, say grace and then begin eating, “in silence,” their headmistress reminds them. Schools across Haiti’s capital, devastated by a January 12 quake that killed at least 220,000 people, including some 1,350 teachers and 38,000 students, officially reopened on April 6. But 100 days after the devastating 7.0-magnitude quake, the country continues to struggle and many children are still missing from classrooms in the capital. Some have left for the countryside, others were killed in the quake, and some are being kept home by their parents. “It’s difficult to convince parents to send their children to school. They are scared that there will
US immigration debate pressures John McCain PHOENIX: Republican Sen. John McCain, who once championed a path to citizenship for the nation’s roughly 12 million undocumented immigrants, is now pushing for a crackdown on illegals amid the toughest re-election fight of his career. McCain’s hardline stance on immigration comes in the face of a conservative Republican primary challenger, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, and the possibility that the party’s 2008 presidential nominee could lose his Senate seat because many conservatives don’t consider him one of them. Engaged in a fierce contest with the anti-tax tea party-backed Hayworth, McCain has moved to the right on numerous issues, including gay rights and climate change, and disavowed his long-standing maverick label. The killing of an Arizona rancher last month stoked conservatives’ emphasis on fighting illegal immigration. The state Legislature on Monday sent Republican Gov. Jan Brewer one of the toughest immigration laws in the country; Brewer hasn’t said what she will do. The turn of events has moved immigration to the forefront for voters — and Hayworth has used the developments as a cudgel against McCain. On March 27, rancher Rob Krentz, 58, was found dead on his all-terrain vehicle after making a garbled call about encountering someone apparently needing help. Authorities say they believe Krentz was shot by an illegal border-crosser, possibly someone working for a smuggling cartel, although they haven’t made arrests in the case. Hayworth has assailed McCain’s work on a 2005 bill that included providing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, a provision Hayworth calls amnesty. McCain co-sponsored the bill with the late Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, and argued in 2007 when the effort failed that he wouldn’t give up because “the American people will not settle for the status quo — de facto amnesty and broken borders.” Facing pressure from conservatives in his own party, McCain began backing off his support of an immigration overhaul during his presidential primary campaign. Early in 2008, McCain privately told congressional Republicans that he had been hurt politically by his push for immigration reform and had learned that sealing the border should be a top priority. In the 73-year-old lawmaker’s bid for a fifth term, McCain has made clear that he understands the political reality. McCain this week was pitching a tough crackdown on illegal immigration, renewing a call to deploy 3,000 National Guard troops to the Arizona border, the busiest stretch for illegal border crossings. He also wants 3,000 additional Customs and Border Protection agents, new fences and increased aerial surveillance. The plan was released with fellow Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, but it was McCain who went on Fox News to sell it. The plan was similar to another proposal released a week earlier by Arizona ranchers who went to the state Capitol after Krentz’s death. Hayworth called the senators’ plan an “election-year gimmick.” McCain’s campaign spokesman, Brian Rogers, accused Hayworth of using the rancher’s death “to exploit a family’s tragedy to score cheap political points.” Hayworth also says McCain’s actions are too little, too late. “Had McCain supported my efforts in 2005 to secure the U.S. border, rather than stubbornly supporting amnesty, we would not be trying to apply quick fixes today,” he said. McCain argues that he’s been working for years on securing the border and says he’s worked directly with Mexican President Felipe Calderon on the issue. —AP
be another earthquake and the school will be destroyed,” said Alejandro Chicheri, a spokesman for the World Food Programme. Students at the school also attend classes in fear of what might happen. “I don’t feel at ease at school,” said Valencia Demostene, 12. “I know that we will still have natural disasters, like earthquakes...” Her voice trails off. At the moment, Rosalie Javoukey school has some 400 students, 200 fewer than before the earthquake. To encourage attendance, the World Food Program has launched a major food distribution program in schools in Haiti, a country where some 500,000 children do not get an education, roughly one quarter of all the country’s youth. Some 550,000 students already
receive a meal each day, but the figure is expected to rise to 800,000 in coming weeks. “We’re trying to get as many children as possible back to school, which will allow them to return to reality and to save their school year. And it also helps parents who are trying to find work so they can bring some money home,” said Chicheri. For the students in this underprivileged neighborhood, the meal is a blessing. “There are some parents who don’t have anything to give their children to eat. You can see it on the faces of the children, they are preoccupied because they are hungry,” said Mother Louis, a teacher at the school. The meals provide the children with some comfort in the short-term
at least, but many remain deeply scarred by the experience of the January quake. Mother Louis asks a class of students how many of them were trapped beneath the rubble of buildings that were strewn across Port-au-Prince by the quake. About half raise their hands. “I was under the rubble for two days. My father was the one who pulled me out,” said Francesca Jeune, a nine-year-old who dreams of becoming a doctor. She describes her experience with a giant grin on her face, but teachers say their students remain traumatized and they try to provide the children with therapy. “We play, we move around. Anything to try to get the earthquake off their minds,” Mother Louis says. — AFP
US Muslim goup ‘warns’ ‘South Park’ TV show Muslim group references slain filmmaker in ‘warning’ LOS ANGELES: A US Muslim group has issued a dire Internet “warning” to creators of the satirical animated TV show “South Park” over a depiction of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in a bear outfit. “We have to warn The website posted a graphic photo of slain Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, who was killed in 2004 by an Islamic militant over a movie he made that accused Islam of condoning violence against women. It also posted link to a news article with details of a mansion in Colorado that Parker and Stone apparently own, suggesting the Web posters know where to find the South Park creators. The episode in question aired last week on cable channel Comedy Central of the 200th episode of “South Park”, in which the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was depicted in a bear outfit. “South Park” has a history of aiming biting satire at politicians, celebrities and the media, and its episodes have often drawn criticism. The website of Revolution Muslim was down on Wednesday because of what a leader of the group called a traffic overload. Most Muslims consider any depiction of the founder of Islam as offensive. The head of Revolution Muslim, Younus Abdullah Muhammad, 30, defended the posting. “How is that a threat?,” he told Reuters. “Showing a case study right there of what happened to another individual who conducted himself in a very similar manner? It’s just evidence.” According to US law enforcement officials, the federal government rarely prosecutes threat cases. The First Amendment of the US Constitution gives broad protections to free speech, and what constitutes a threat is often subject to interpretation.— Reuters
Matt (Stone) and Trey (Parker) that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show,” said a posting on website RevolutionMuslim.com.
LOS ANGELES: In this Sept. 21, 2006 file photo, ‘South Park’ creators Matt Stone, left, and Trey Parker arrive at a party to celebrate the 10th season of the animated Comedy Central television series, in Los Angeles. A radical Muslim group has warned the creators of ‘South Park’ that they could face violent retribution for depicting the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in a bear suit during last week’s episode. — AP
Gunmen abduct 6 from hotels in north Mexico MEXICO CITY: Dozens of gunmen burst into a Holiday Inn and another hotel in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey Wednesday, searching from room-to-room and abducting at least six people, prosecutors said. Nuevo Leon state attorney general Alejandro Garza y Garza said that between 20 and 30 gunmen abducted four guests and a receptionist from the 17-story Holiday Inn in Mexico’s industrial hub, which has seen a surge in violence recently. The gunmen had with them a handcuffed man who led them to the fifth floor, Garza y Garza said. The assailants stormed room 517 where an Asian guest was staying, realized he wasn’t who they were looking for and left, he said. The group then
searched at least seven more rooms on the fifth floor, apparently looking for specific targets, before going across the street to the Hotel Mision where they abducted a receptionist, the attorney general said. Those abducted included three male guests who registered at the Holiday Inn as businessmen from Mexico City and a woman registered as from the border city of Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas. Garza y Garza said a private security guard who was outside the Holiday Inn has been reported missing but that it remains unclear if he was abducted by the gunmen. Organized crime was likely behind the attacks, the state attorney general said.-—AP
INTERNATIONAL
Page 14
Friday, April 23, 2010
Chinese tycoon gives his fortune to charity SHANGHAI: A Chinese tycoon announced yesterday he was donating his fortune to charity in a gesture that has cemented the real estate magnate and hotelier’s position as China’s top philanthropist. Yu Pengnian, 88, told a news conference he was donating 470 million dollars in cash and property assets to the Yu Pengnian Foundation, bringing the total he had
given to the Hong Kong-registered charity to 1.2 billion dollars. “This will be my last donation. I have nothing more to give away,” he said. “It will all be for charity, no part of it will be inherited by anyone, no part will be used to do business nor for investments,” he told reporters. The donation ensured Yu’s position as China’s top philanthropist, said Rupert
Hoogewerf, founder of the Shanghaibased Hurun Report, which tracks China’s wealthy. Yu has topped the Hurun Report’s Philanthropy List for five consecutive years. His foundation, which supports health and education charities and disaster relief, has funded over 150,000 cataract removal operations across China since it began in 2003. “China’s top wealth creators are
now making significant donations,” Hoogewerf said. “Whilst there still remains public scepticism of some of their motives behind many donations, it is now no longer possible to ignore Chinese philanthropy, which has landed on the world map.” Yu said he hoped his move would encourage other Chinese billionaires to do moreadding his fortune paled in comparison to some other magnates
in Hong Kong and on the Chinese mainland. “My fortune is just a drop in the bucket compared to them but I have a point of view that is very different from others, I will not leave my fortune to my children,” he said. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the world’s richest full-time philanthropist, said last year he would launch a campaign to encourage China’s wealthiest to take up the practice. — AFP
Three explosions shake Bangkok, tensions rise Red shirts rally at UN headquarters BANGKOK: Three explosions shook Bangkok’s business district yesterday, wounding at least two people, witnesses
said, raising tensions during a showdown between thousands of troops and anti-government protesters. It was not immediately clear what caused the explosions outside the headquarters of Charoen Pokphand Group, Thailand’s biggest agribusiness group, but witnesses said at least one foreigner was wounded along with a Thai woman. Hundreds of troops, many armed with M-16 assault rifles, have poured into the area since Monday to stop thousands of anti-government protesters from marching to the bustling district of banks, office towers and go-go bars. Not far from the explosions, tens of thousands of red-shirted supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra have fortified their redoubt in a Bangkok commercial district with home-made barricades, expecting the army to evict BANGKOK: Injured Thais attempt to flee the area after several small them any time. Neither side shows any explosions occurred near the site of anti-government protests sign of backing down after the yesterday, in Bangkok, Thailand. The cause of the blasts was not army’s chaotic attempt to evict immediately known. — AP protesters from another site on April 10 that led to the deaths of 25 people and wounded more than 800. The army again warned it would forcibly disperse the mostly rural and urban poor red shirts who have led nearly seven weeks of protests demanding elections. “This is a very unhealthy trend, very KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian lawmakers moved “Your days are numbered,” towards censuring opposition leader Anwar undemocratic and regressive in nature, it is a army spokesman Sansern Ibrahim yesterday, paving the way for his complete disregard for the rule of law and runs Kaewkamnerd said on suspension from parliament and raising tensions contrary to democratic principles,” Anwar told Thursday. “If you leave now, reporters in parliament’s lobby after the vote. ahead of a key weekend by-election. you won’t be prosecuted. But Anwar’s allegation, which the government and The House of Representatives passed a motion if you wait until the security to refer Anwar to the Rights and Privileges its advisers have denied, led to a rowdy debate in forces enter, you will be Committee over his allegations that the parliament before the oppposition staged a walkout. prosecuted. You could also be “He misled the House because ‘1Malaysia’ is government’s “1Malaysia” racial unity slogan was hit by stray bullets during copied from “One Israel”, the tagline of a 1999 not from ‘One Israel’. He knows Muslim Malays clashes between the security are sensitive on Israel so that’s why he chose it,” Israeli political alliance. forces and heavily armed The issue has stirred passions in Malaysia, a said Nazri Aziz, Minister in the Prime Minister’s terrorists.” mainly Muslim country in Southeast Asia that does Department. Anwar is on trial on what he inists is Red shirt leaders say a trumped-up charge of sodomy, a repeat of similar not recognise Israel diplomatically. another attempt to evict them The privileges committee, which will meet in charges made in 1998 when he was dismissed as would be futile. They say they the next session of parliament scheduled in June, deputy prime minister. He was initially convicted in will only leave Bangkok when would in turn recommend a penalty for Anwar. That that trial but the verdict was overturned. Prime Minister Abhisit Political tensions in Malaysia have been high could include a ban from parliament. The move Vejjajiva announces early towards a censure further raises tensions as the since the 2008 general elections in which the ruling elections. Some 20,000 red government of Prime Minister Najib Razak National Front alliance suffered record defeats, shirts have occupied a roughly contests Sunday’s by-lection, seen as an early losing five of Malaysia’s 13 states and its once iron3 square-km (1.9 mile) area of verdict of his economic reform pledges after a year clad two-thirds control in parliament. Najib’s central Bangkok, setting up a “1Malaysia” campaign, on billboards all over the in office. self-contained village in an The seat was won by a narrow margin by the country, is aimed at winning back ethnic Chinese upscale shopping and hotel opposition when last contested in 2008 and the race and Indian voters to the National Front coalition area. — Reuters that has ruled Malaysia for 52 years. —Reuters is considered too close to call.
Malaysia parliament votes to censure Anwar
PEMPANGA: Investigators walk the remains of an Antonov 12 aircraft that crashed about 22 miles (35 kilometers) south of Clark airport, Pampanga province, northern Philippines yesterday. The Russian-made cargo plane crashed and burst into flames in a rice field north of the Philippine capital late Wednesday as it attempted a landing. — AP
Three dead as Russian cargo plane crashes in Philippines MEXICO: Three foreigners were killed when a Russianmade cargo plane crashed into a rice field north of the Philippine capital, but three others survived, authorities said yesterday. The four-engine Antonov 12 aircraft was preparing to land at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport near the town of Mexico late Wednesday when an electrical problem caused a fire, crash investigator Jose Pedregosa said. “It then slammed into the rice field,” Pedregosa told AFP. “Three people aboard, a Russian and two Uzbekistan nationals were killed,” he said. Pedregosa said the plane’s fuselage was torn in half as it
burst into flames upon impact. However, three other crew members believed to be Russians survived and were pulled out from the smouldering heap by rescuers and villagers who rushed to the crash site, he said. The plane was leased to an international airfreight company and was transporting goods from the central city of Cebu when it crashed, Pedregosa said. It crashed about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the airport and about 90 kilometres from Manila. Pedregosa said investigators had already recovered the aircraft’s data recorder box, which would be turned over to civil aviation authorities in Manila as part of the probe into the incident. —AFP
Philippine Presidentnames manicurist to key post MANILA: Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has named her manicurist to the board of a major government agency, her spokesman said yesterday. The appointment of Anita Carpon to the board of a body responsible for lending tens of millions of dollars for the housing needs of government employees has drawn sharp criticism. Arroyo’s spokesman Gary Olivar defended Carpon’s new posting and confirmed her other job as the president’s stylist. “Having a relationship of trust with the president should not count against someone,” Olivar told AFP. Carpon is a government employee and was named to the agency’s board to represent low-paid workers the fund is serving, he added. “The president wants the poorer government employees represented in the board because they are the ones with the housing needs,” Olivar said. Local media reports say Carpon will receive a monthly salary of about 130,000 pesos (about 2,900 dollars), double that of the president herself. Olivar would not confirm the figure. The appointment was slammed by the camp of presidential candidate Benigno Aquino, who is leading in polls ahead of the May 10 election. Butch Abad, Aquino’s campaign manager, accused Arroyo of acting without regard for the public good. “She further deepened the culture of political patronage in this country by putting people who are loyal to her in positions which are delicate without any regard to the qualifications of these people,” Abad said. — AFP
INTERNATIONAL
Friday, April 23, 2010
Page 15
New Afghan elections chief sworn in KABUL: The new head of Afghanistan’s main electoral body was sworn in yesterday, a highprofile reform that the United Nations has endorsed as a move towards free and fair elections later this year. Fazel Ahmad Manavi becomes the new chairman of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), which was tainted by claims of bias in last year’s fraud-hit presidential vote. In a ceremony presided over by President Hamid Karzai, Manavi placed a hand on the Koran and swore an “oath of loyalty, honesty, independence and impartiality and abiding by the Constitution and all applicable laws in Afghanistan”. The presidential office said Abdul Khaliq Husaini was also sworn in as an IEC commissioner. The appointments follow the resignations earlier this month of the IEC’s top two officials under pressure from the
international community. Azizullah Ludin and Daoud Ali Najafi were chairman and chief electoral officer of the IEC, which was accused of meddling in the presidential vote and being stuffed with Karzai cronies. Karzai went on to win re-election in the vote. Reform at the top of the IEC was seen as vital to secure foreign funding for the parliamentary vote scheduled for September and to avoid the controversy that marred the presidential poll. Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations’ special representative in Kabul, welcomed Manavi’s appointment when it was announced by Karzai last week, describing him as “a very solid person who we can all feel comfortable with”. Manavi, an Islamic Sharia law professor, was a commissioner at the IEC before his appointment and has held a number of government posts since the hardline Taliban
regime was ousted in late 2001 in a US-led invasion. Karzai also endorsed the appointment of two foreign nationals to the Election Complaints Commission (ECC), after his attempt to ban non-Afghans from the watchdog was blocked by the upper house of parliament. The reforms opened the way for the international community, led by the UN, to give its backing to parliamentary elections scheduled to take place on September 18. Judge Johann Kriegler, a former chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa, and Safwat Sidqi, who used to sit on a similar body in Iraq, are among five new members of the ECC. The new Afghan members are a former judge, Sayed Murad Sharifi; a university teacher, Ahmad Zia Rafaat; and a former government official, Shah Sultan Akifi. The ECC last year threw out more than half
a million votes cast for Karzai because of voting irregularities. De Mistura has described Kriegler and Sidqi as respected figures “of international standing” and said they would take a proactive role in decision-making. Karzai recently levelled a series of outbursts against the international community, claiming that foreign powers orchestrated the widespread fraud in the elections that returned him to power. The United States notably called the comments “troubling” but all sides have since sought a show of unity, seen as vital with a series of major military and civilian efforts to bring an end to the nearly nine-year Taliban insurgency. The acting head of the IEC, deputy chief electoral officer Zekria Barakzai, told AFP in an interview last week that the parliamentary elections-the second since the fall of the Taleban — would not be totally free and fair. — AFP
New warnings for tourists
India sits up to specific US terror warning NEW DELHI: Police in New Delhi sa id yesterday they had increased security around markets and tourist hotspots in response to a US w arning of a specific threat of attacks in the Indian capital. Advice issued late Wednesday by the United Sta tes, w hich prom pted new w arnings from Britain, Canada and Australia
COLOMBO: Detained former Sri Lankan Army Chief General Sarath Fonseka waves to his wife Anoma as he arrives in parliament for the inauguration of the assembly in Colombo yesterday. Fonseka, who is being court martialled, called for the rule of law in an attack on President Mahinda Rajapakse after being taken from custody to attend the opening of parliament in which he won a seat at polls two weeks ago. — AFP
Lanka’s detained army chief attends parliament opening COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s detained former army chief briefly emerged from custody yesterday for the opening of parliament and accused the government of planning to silence his “fight for democracy.” Sarath Fonseka last year led troops to victory over Tamil Tiger rebels after decades of ethnic conflict on the island, but he later fell out with President Mahinda Rajapakse and unsuccessfully tried to unseat him in January elections. He was arrested shortly afterwards and is being tried at a court martial for allegedly engaging in politics while in uniform and making corrupt arms procurement dealscharges he says are politically motivated. Fonseka was allowed out of custody to attend parliament, in which he won a seat in parliamentary elections two weeks ago, making a muted performance in which he said he would campaign for democracy and the rule of law. Speaking to AFP afterwards by telephone, he threatened to escalate his criticism of Rajapakse from the floor of the house but predicted the government would soon force through his conviction to muzzle him. “Today I was restrained because of the ceremonial occasion, but I will make use of the parliament to fight for democracy and to protect the constitution,” he said. “They are determined to give a judgement and convict me. They want to
convict me and send me to jail because that is the only way to stop me from coming to parliament.” Rajapakse has been accused by political opponents and international human rights groups of suppressing dissent and critical media coverage, though Fonseka is also a divisive figure in the eyes of many. A fierce nationalist, he commanded troops during last year’s massive military offensive that was dogged by war crime allegations. Rajapakse’s ruling parliamentary coalition is just short of the two-thirds majority required for the government to rewrite the constitution, which at present prevents the president from standing again when his second term ends in 2016. Both the presidential and parliamentary elections tightened Rajapakse’s grip on power, but analysts say he faces serious challenges in uniting the Indian Ocean island, especially when it comes to its large Tamil minority. Chamal Rajapakse, the elder brother of the president, was on Thursday elected uncontested as parliamentary speaker. Other Rajapakse brothers occupy key positions in government. When campaigning for the parliamentary election, Rajapakse asked the electorate to grant him an unequivocal mandate that would put aside political divisions in the pursuit of economic growth after decades of bloodshed. —AFP
“Security in busy markets and outside popular tourist spots has been beefed up,” Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told AFP. “We assure that there is no cause for worry.” India is home to a wide range of separatists and insurgents, but Islamist terror groups, both homegrown and from across the border in Pakistan, are considered the most dangerous threat. A growing Maoist insurgency, so far concentrated in remote rural areas of northern and eastern India, also threatens to spread to urban areas, with the eastern city of Kolkata seen as particularly at risk. “There are increased indications that terrorists are planning attacks in New Delhi,” the US embassy in New Delhi said in a statement on its website, urging tourists to avoid half-a-dozen of the city’s shopping areas. The last major attack in New Delhi was a series of bomb blasts in busy, upmarket shopping areas in September 2008 that killed 22 people and wounded 100 more. India’s home ministry said they are aware of the advisories and had alerted the police. “We are always alert to any kind of threat,” Onkar Kedia, home ministry spokesman told AFP. The new travel warnings came as India prepares to host the Commonwealth Games in October, set to draw 8,000 foreign athletes and officials, and battles to salvage its image as a safe host. Last weekend, two low-intensity bombs went off at a cricket stadium in the southern city of Bangalore ahead of an Indian Premier League game, causing fresh jitters among sportsmen and women. Some Western tourists on the streets of the capital said they had not read the advice, while others who had seen it said it would not stop them travelling.
yesterday, w arned of possible militant strikes in busy areas visited by foreigners. The new alerts upda ted long-sta nding genera l a dvice for Western visitors to India tha t they should exercise caution and underlined security risks in the city as it gears up to host the Commonw ealth Games in October.
NEW DELHI: Foreigners walk through a market in New Delhi yesterday. The US, Britain and other Western nations have warned of militant attacks on foreigners in New Delhi, heightening security concerns in the Indian capital, with shopping areas and busy markets said to be prime targets. — AFP “I will be careful and avoid busy markets as they are always a prime target, but I don’t want to change our travel plans,” said Caroline Nicolasan, a 45-year-old New Zealander travelling with her husband and children. In the last major attack in India, a bomb ripped through a crowded restaurant popular with travellers in the western city of Pune in February, killing 16 people, including five foreigners. It was first major incident since the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 10 Islamist gunmen launched an assault on multiple targets in India’s financial capital, killing 166 people. As well as the Commonwealth Games, India will also co-host next year’s cricket World Cup. The run-up to the field hockey World Cup in February and March was
overshadowed by concern that some teams might pull out, with one British team source telling AFP that the team only decided to attend at the last minute. Ultimately, the tournament went ahead with a heavy police presence and passed off without incident, ending with an Australian victory in the final. In the new travel advisories, the Canadian government said that an attack could be carried out “in the following days or weeks in market areas” of Delhi frequented by foreigners, specifically in the Chandni Chowk area in Old Delhi. A statement from the British High Commission, London’s de facto embassy, said that “there are increased indications that terrorists are planning attacks in New Delhi”. — AFP
BUSINESS
Page 16
Friday, April 23, 2010
Bourse ends three-day losing streak KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) along with market indicators ended the last trading session of the week on a positive note, after several sessions of declines backed by the positive performance witnessed in several of the market’s largest sectors. In addition, on a weekly basis, Global General Index (GGI) ended the week down 0.62 percent. Global General Index (GGI) added 2.22 points (+ 1.09 percent) during yesterday’s session to reach 206.05 points. In addition, the KSE Price Index increased by 10.50 points yesterday and closed at 7,254.80 points. Market capitalization was up KD 366.57 million yesterday to reach KD 34.01 billion.
GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT During the session, 128 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards gainers as 49 equities advanced versus 39 that retreated. A total of 128 stocks remained unchanged during the trading session. Trading activities ended on a positive note as volume of shares traded on the exchange increased by 22.88 percent to reach 255.94 million shares. Furthermore, value of shares traded gained by 18.27 percent to stand at KD 55.44 million. The Investment Sector was the volume leader, accounting for 30.10 percent of
total traded volume. The Services Sector was the value leader, accounting for 31.69 percent of total market value. Kuwait Real Estate Company was the volume leader today, with a total traded volume of 31.72 million. Kuwait Finance House was the value leader with a total value of KD 6.17 million. In terms of top gainers, National Cleaning Company took the top spot for the day, adding 9.43 percent and closed at KD 0.290. On the other hand, United Industries Company shed 14.93 percent and closed at KD 0.114, making it the biggest decliner
in the market. Regarding Global’s sectoral indices, they ended the day on a mixed note except for Global Insurance Index being unchanged during the session. Global Services Index was the top gainer, up 2.05 percent backed by gains witnessed in the two heavyweight telecom companies in the sector. Zain ended the day up 3.13 percent to close at KD 1.320 and National Mobile Telecommunications Company ended with a 2.41 percent gain and closed at KD 1.700. Global Non-Kuwaiti Index was the second biggest gainer for
Facility to boost output
Kuwait opens new oil gathering centre KUWAIT: Kuwait yesterday opened a new gathering centre at its Sabriya oilfield as part of the state’s drive to boost its oil output to four million barrels per day by 2020. Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Sabah inaugurated the centre at
Kuwait’s third largest oilfield near the northern border with Iraq. The facility, built by South Korean SK Engineering and Construction Co. at a cost of $626.7 million, can handle 165,000 barrels of crude oil per day and 85 million cubic feet of gas.
KUWAIT: Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Sabah (center) and the chairman of Kuwait’s Oil Company (KOC) Sami Al-Rushaid present a souvenir to the president of the South Korean SK Engineering and Construction Co during the inauguration of a new gathering centre at the Sabriya oilfield yesterday. – Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat
Kuwait urges OPEC compliance KUWAIT: OPEC-member Kuwait is happy with oil prices but unhappy with the producer group’s compliance with output targets, its oil minister said yesterday. US crude traded around $83 a barrel, just a few dollars from an 18-month high over $87 hit earlier this month. Oil has stayed for four weeks traded above the $70-$80 range that top exporter Saudi has described as fair. The current price was “very fair”, Kuwait’s Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah AlSabah told reporters after inaugurating a new oilfield facility. There was no need for OPEC to hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the market, he added. But Kuwait was less content with the group’s level of compliance with agreed targets. “I am not happy, no,” he said when asked about compliance. OPEC has kept its supply targets unchanged since Dec 2008. As oil prices have risen to their 18-month
high from a low near $32 in Dec 2008, some OPEC members have informally boosted output. Compliance with the group’s targets fell to 50 percent in March, according to a Reuters survey. But Kuwait and core Gulf Arab producers Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have held the line and pumped close to target despite higher prices. Kuwait’s output capacity stood at 3 million barrels per day (bpd), Sheikh Ahmad said. It pumped at around 2.3 million bpd in March, according the Reuters’ survey. The state inaugurated a new oil gathering centre in Northern Kuwait (CHECK) at Sabriyah yesterday. The centre added 165,000 barrels per day to capacity when it started output last month. The centre also has capacity to process 85 million cubic feet per day (cfd) of natural gas. Sheikh Ahmad declined to comment on the size of Kuwait’s oil reserves. — Reuters
“The centre is one of the facilities contributing toward the 2020 strategy,” said Sami Al-Rasheed, the chairman of Kuwait Oil Co, the state-owned company responsible for production. Gathering centres perform the physical separation of crude, natural gas, water and other impurities before pumping clean oil for either export or to refineries and gas to power stations. SK president KwangChul Choi said the project was completed six months ahead of schedule and went online a month ago. It had been slated to be completed in September. The original centre, about 50 km from the border with Iraq, was damaged during the 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein’s forces. Sheikh Ahmad said the centre and a number of other projects are part of OPEC member Kuwait’s long-term strategy to raise production capacity to four million barrels per day. “At present, we are capable of producing three million bpd,” the minister told reporters after the opening ceremony, but declined to say if this was sustainable over long periods. Kuwait, OPEC’s fourth largest exporter, says it sits on 10 percent of global crude reserves. It has been pumping around 2.2 million bpd. — AFP
today. The index added 1.50 percent to its value backed by Ahli United Bank, the top gainer in the sector, ending the day with a gain of 4.90 percent and closed at KD 0.214. In terms of decliners, Global Food Index took the lead with a drop of 0.08 percent backed by Danah Al Safat Foodstuff Company. The scrip, which was the only decliner in the sector, ended the day down 1.08 percent to close at KD 0.184. Global Small Cap Index posted a 0.91 percent drop, making it the only decliner backed by Strategia Investment Company ending the day down 4.94 percent. On the other side, Global Large Cap Index was the biggest gainer, up 1.72 percent backed by heavyweight Zain.
Kuwait sees bigger reserves at Burgan KUWAIT: The world’s second-largest oilfield contains more oil than previously estimated, Kuwait’s state news agency reported a top official as saying yesterday. OPEC-member Kuwait is the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter, and sits on around 8 percent of global reserves. The Greater Burgan area is second only to Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar oilfield in size, according to US government data. “Oil reserves in the Burgan field are much greater than what had been circulated,” agency KUNA said, citing Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahd Al-Sabah, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs. Sheikh Ahmad gave no details on how much oil the field could hold. The area, which encompasses the Burgan, Magwa and Ahmadi fields, was previously estimated to hold around 70 billion barrels, or around 70 percent of Kuwait’s 101.5 billion barrels of reserves, according to US government data. Sheikh Ahmad said Kuwait would issue a new estimate for oil reserves in the near future. Al-Qabas daily quoted the minister as telling the same conference that “we will announce good news for the Kuwaiti people” about the oil reserves which have been disputed in the past few years. Kuwait has maintained that its crude reserves are around 100 billion barrels, without saying how much of it is proven. Industry newsletter Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW) said in Jan 2006 that Kuwait’s oil reserves stood at 48 billion barrels, based on internal records seen by the newsletter. The PIW report also claimed that Kuwait’s fully proven reserves amounted to only 24.2 billion barrels. At the time, Kuwaiti oil officials said the report was inaccurate and that it failed to take into account undeveloped reservoirs. — Agencies
Kuwait starts gas imports by vessel KUWAIT: Kuwait began importing natural gas by vessel at the beginning of April and will continue to for seven months, the CEO of national conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp said yesterday. “We are getting LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas). It already started from the beginning of April and will continue until the end of October,” Saad Al-Shuwayeb told reporters after attending the opening of a new gathering centre. Shuwayeb said all the imported gas will be used for power plants. He gave no details about the cost. He said Kuwait, which is rich in oil but poor in natural gas, will be importing an average of 14.2 million cubic meters per day. Power consumption in this state peaks in summer months when temperatures hit about
50 degrees Celsius. Shuwayeb said KPC signed contracts with three international firms to supply the gas. In March 2006, Kuwait announced the discovery of one trillion cubic metres of non-associated natural gas and immediately began work on the field. The state currently produces around four million cubic metres a year of free gas, but it is behind on its target and has been facing technical problems. Kuwait plans to raise annual output from free gas to 28.4 million cubic metres by 2015. Kuwait is also producing around one billion cubic feet per day of associated natural gas - alongside its oil output - which is used wholly to operate power and water desalination plants. The state’s plans to import gas by pipeline from neighbouring nations have failed. — Agencies
BUSINESS
Friday, April 23, 2010
Nakheel’s creditors to get 10% on bond DUBAI: Dubai property developer Nakheel’s plans to offer a hefty 10 percent return on an Islamic bond to its trade creditors, a source said, as Dubai tries to unblock stalled bill payments and kick-start its economy. In Dubai’s $9.5 billion rescue plan for Nakheel’s parent, state-owned Dubai World, unveiled last month, it proposed Nakheel’s suppliers and contractors be repaid 40 percent in cash and 60 percent in a tradable security. The source, who is familiar with the matter, said yesterday the 10 percent return is a starting point for negotiations with trade creditors of Nakheel, famous for its artificial islands built in the shapes of palm trees and a map of the world. The offer is a generous one -especially in light of Dubai World’s opening offer to bank lenders of just 1 percent on two new tranches of debt maturing in five and eight years - and is a sign of the trade creditors’ dominant position in debt talks. “It’s about the importance of the real estate sector to the economy,” the source said. “If Nakheel doesn’t succeed, what would happen to real estate in Dubai?” The government is placing a great deal of importance on trade creditors because if they do not receive cash, it will put pressure on construction and real estate markets, which will affect workers at the firms and hurt the overall economy, he said. “Trade creditors at Nakheel weren’t really paid for a very long time. And they’re local,” said another person familiar with the matter. “If you pay international banks, the money goes to London. If you pay the trade creditors, the money stays in the economy and maybe kick-starts it again.” Khuram Maqsood, managing director at Emirates Capital, said the company’s suppliers and contractors were vital to the continuation of Nakheel’s business, unlike bank lenders, which are trying to reclaim funds already committed. “They’re arguably in a weaker negotiating position with their vendors and therefore they’re prepared to be more generous with them in order to get to agreement,” he said. “The future liability of their business is very much a function of their vendors coming through with completing their services.” Dubai World bank lenders are unhappy with the 1 percent offered in the restructuring proposal and are expected to use Nakheel’s offer to trade creditors as leverage to negotiate for a better rate, sources familiar with the situation have said. “We don’t mind them (the trade creditors) getting a bit of a better deal, but we don’t like the gap (between trade creditors and the banks) to be too wide,” said one Gulf-based banker. The first source said the offer had been sent to the trade creditors with a goal of offering the Islamic bond, or sukuk, by July, or earlier, if negotiations between the developer and its creditors are successful. — Reuters
Emaar’s Q1 profit flies past forecasts DUBAI: Emaar Properties, builder of the world’s tallest skyscraper, said yesterday it would focus on expanding in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia in 2010, after its first-quarter profit more than tripled. The Dubai developer’s net profit soared, boosted by revenues from its hospitality and retail business, and easily beat analysts’ forecasts. Emaar, the Arab world’s largest listed developer, said net profit in the first quarter surged 221 percent from the same period last year, to 760 million dirhams ($206.9 million). The firm recorded no impairments for the quarter “On first glance, better than expected,” said analyst Chet Riley at Nomura.”One of the key things for these guys was developing the investment portfolio/reoccurring income streams, which it looks like they’re doing. “They had a strong fourth quarter and finish to the year last year, and maintained that momentum in Q1.” Revenue surged 87 percent to 2.89 billion dirhams in the first
quarter, Emaar said. Revenues were “underpinned by the robust performance of the company’s hospitality and shopping mall subsidiaries during a period when the company opened the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa,” it said in the statement. It said its joint venture Emaar MGF is on course with its 2.79 billion dirham ($759.6 million) initial public offering. Emaar MGF said earlier this month it will launch its IPO in 90 days. “India is one of our key markets in our global expansion strategy,” Mohamed Alabbar, the firm’s chairman said in the statement. Emaar has a land reserve of around 11,340 acres across 26 cities in India, 96 percent of which is paid for, he said, adding that the firm has total development plans for about 437 million square feet, of which nearly 335 million square feet is proposed as residential projects. The developer will hand over projects in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria this year, it said. — Reuters
Page 17
UAE proposes site near Saudi border for reactors DUBAI: The Emirates nuclear energy company announced yesterday that it has picked a site in the country’s far western region as its preferred location for the federation’s first atomic power plants. The ENEC hopes to build the Gulf Arab state’s first reactors at Braka, a sparsely populated site on the Arabian Gulf coast near the border with Saudi Arabia. The site is about 53 km southwest of the town of Ruwais. It was chosen from 10 possible locations across the country, a federation of seven semiautonomous sheikdoms that sits atop nearly 100 billion barrels of proved oil reserves. The OPEC member state ranks among the world’s biggest oil exporters. The sites were evaluated based on criteria that included seismic history, distance from population centers, security and access to evacuation routes. ENEC Chief Executive Mohamed Al-Hammadi said the evaluation process met or exceeded standards elsewhere. “The evaluation has provided an extensive amount of information which ENEC has used in its determination of where in the UAE we can locate nuclear power plants in the safest manner,” he said. Despite its immense oil wealth, the UAE must import natural gas to run many of its existing power plants, which struggle to consistently provide electricity to all customers, especially in the hot summer months. It says its energy needs are expected to almost double by 2020. The federal government in Abu Dhabi last year awarded a South Korean consortium the highly anticipated $20 billion contract to build four 1,400-megawatt reactors. Korea Electric Power Corp.’s bid beat out rivals from France, Japan and the United States, and marks the first time South Korea will export a nuclear power plant. In its push for nuclear technology, the UAE signed a deal with the US to import, rather than produce, fuel for its nuclear reactors. The Emirates committed not to enrich uranium or reprocess spent nuclear fuel into plutonium, which is used in nuclear bombs. Washington had promoted its plan to help the UAE develop peaceful nuclear power as a model of the kind of cooperation it would like to achieve with Iran, which the U.S. and its allies suspect is using a civilian program as a cover to develop an atomic weapons capability. The UAE sits just across the Arabian Gulf from Iran. Although the Arab state has long-standing commercial and cultural ties to Iran, it is also wary of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. ENEC has asked Emirati regulators to rule on its site preparation licensing request for the atomic power plant site by July 5 so work can move ahead. The country hopes to have its first reactor running by 2017. — AP
Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp said it has submitted license applications for the proposed location to local regulators, who must give the green light to any nuclear sites.
TEHRAN: A woman walks past Total’s stand at the Islamic Republic’s annual International Oil, Gas, Refining & Petrochemical Exhibition yesterday. – AFP
Iran oil ‘helped’ by sanctions TEHRAN: Iran’s oil industry has not been dented by sanctions, Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi said yesterday, dismissing a potential threat to the country’s vital gasoline imports as “a joke”. Mirkazemi’s comments, at an energy conference in Tehran, come as the United States pushes for a fourth round of United Nations sanctions to pressure Iran to curb a nuclear program the West fears is aimed at building a bomb. “Despite all limitations imposed on Iran’s oil and gas industry, we have been able to improve,” Mirkazemi told delegates. “Imposing sanctions has not isolated Iran but helped the country to improve its oil industry.” The latest draft US sanctions agreed by the United States, Britain, France and Germany include restrictions on new Iranian banks established abroad and on insurance of cargo shipments to and from Iran, the world’s fifth-largest crude exporter. Israel wants tougher measures to block Iran’s gasoline imports. Due to under-investment in refineries, Iran has to import some 40 percent of its gasoline needs. Asked about the threat of gasoline sanctions, Mirkazemi said:
Masoud Mirkazemi “It’s a joke.” Echoing Iran’s defiance in the face of sanctions, First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said the world needed Iranian energy too much to isolate it. “World countries are worried about the procurement of the energy they need and they have no alternative but to negotiate with Iran,” Rahimi told the conference. US and UN sanctions have hindered access to foreign investment and despite having the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves Iran has not become a major exporter. Mirkazemi said Iran needed to invest $200 billion in its oil and gas sector in the period 2010-15. “In the course of the fifth 5-year plan (2010-15) Iran will have to invest $200
billion in its oil sector of which $125 billion in the upstream sector,” he told the conference. Mirkazemi reiterated that Iran’s recoverable oil stood at 138 billion barrels and that its gas reserves were 29 trillion cu m. Traditionally a hawkish member of OPEC, favouring measures to increase the price of crude, Iran sees the level of around $85 - nearly triple the lows seen at the end of 2008 - as “unfair” compared to other energy sources, Mirkazemi said. Iran’s OPEC governor said the oil producers group was unlikely to increase output this year, as there is a reasonable balance between supply and demand. “It is unlikely that OPEC further increases its output this year,” Mohammad Ali Khatibi said. “It is expected that there will be an economic growth (globally) of 3.5 percent which means an increase of up to 1.5 million barrels in demand (per day).” The International Energy Agency, which advises industrialised economies, has said that oil prices at $85 could endanger the global economic recovery. Khatibi said any output increases would not happen until 2011 and that such a policy would depend on how the global economy is doing by then. — Reuters
BUSINESS
Page 18
Treasury Secretary says parts of US economy ‘very strong’
Geithner to put failing banks ‘out of existence’ WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner vowed yesterday to put failing banks that take too much risk “out of existence” in order to avoid bailing out firms deemed “too big to fail” at taxpayers’ expense. “Our view is that we need to make sure that you’re limiting how big they can get and how risky that they can get,” Geithner told ABC
News as the US Congress pursues negotiations on a sweeping financial reform bill. “But if, in the future, if they mess up and they take themselves to the edge of the cliff again, then we want to make sure we can put them out of existence, dismember them, break them up safely without the American taxpayer having to bail them out again.”
MIAMI: Cristine Perez, who was recently hired by Best Buy, works on customers order at the Geek Squad area of the Best Buy store on Wednesday. Perez who was unemployed for six months after the restaurant she worked in closed, was happy when she landed the job with Best Buy. – AFP
Obama to host Muslim biz leaders WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama will lay a key plank of his strategy to mend ties with the Islamic world next week when he hosts a summit to boost economic development in Muslim nations. In a step the White House hopes will help shift relations beyond decades of talk about terrorism and conflict, a senior official said Obama will bring entrepreneurs from 50 countries to Washington on Monday and Tuesday to spur economic ties. The president pledged to host the summit in a landmark speech in Cairo last June, when he also called for a “new beginning” to relations between the United States and the Islamic world. “One of the principal goals of that vision was to broaden our relationship, which has been dominated by a few different issues, a small set of issues, for at least the last decade, and going back further than that,” the official told AFP. “We don’t see this as a replacement for our work on things like Middle East peace or work on counterterrorism, our work on Iran. We see this as part of establishing a more multifaceted set of relationships. It is yet another pillar.” Around 250 entrepreneurs will attended the summit from countries across the Muslim world - where America’s image is tarnished by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal and the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Obama is expected to discuss ways of improving access to capital, funding for
technology innovation and exchange programs, as the United States tries to better its image in the eyes of the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims. The delegates will vary from 20-year-old entrepreneurs to established figures like Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, who won a Nobel prize for his work on small-scale lending. As part of Obama’s plan the United States is poised to award contracts through its multi-million-dollar Global Technology and Innovation Fund, designed to spur investments in the Muslim world. The government-backed Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which is running the competition, has received a deluge of applications, which officials say is itself a sign of improving ties. Each chunk of funding awarded by OPIC is expected to be worth between $25 and $150 million. Polls show Obama has won plaudits across the globe since taking office in January 2009. But nearly a year on from his Cairo speech, Muslims remain deeply suspicious of the United States. A recent BBC World Service poll of attitudes in 28 countries showed that Turks and Pakistanis still overwhelmingly believe the United States is a negative influence on the world. The failure to broker a Middle East peace and still-bloody wars in Muslim countries loom large. “This is a generational issue, this is something that is going to take time,” the official said. — AFP
Geithner described the US economy as “stronger” and showing normal signs of recovery. “Absolutely stronger. Again, encouraging signs of, really, across the economy, of things in the better,” Geithner said. “Parts of the economy are really very strong - technology. Manufacturing is getting better.” He cited General Motors Co’s payback of a $6.7 billion government loan and the fastest pace of auto industry job creation in a decade as encouraging signs, along with strengthening private investment and consumer spending. Expressing optimism that lawmakers would clinch a bipartisan deal with strong reforms to avert the next financial crisis, Geithner said he understands that “enormous resistance” remains from the financial community, but the government has an obligation to enact reform. “That’s why it’s been so hard to get this done, because people recognize this is very tough. It’s going to transform the role of our financial system in the economy and make it much more stable, give people much more protection,” he said. On Wednesday, a US Senate panel approved legislation to impose unprecedented rules on the vast market in complex financial instruments called derivatives, implicated in the 2008 financial crisis, in a big stride forward for election-year efforts to tighten regulations on big banks. The proposal sent to the full Senate, which is expected to be folded into the broader bill overhauling the rules for Wall Street, aims to improve transparency of derivatives trading and essentially would end big banks’ ability to trade them. Obama has vowed to veto any final overhaul that does not take a hard line on derivatives, and Geithner told ABC in excerpts aired Wednesday that the administration would keep working to ensure that the overall bill achieves that goal. The Treasury secretary said the legislation currently pending in Congress must address the size of banks, noting that while both Democratic and Republican lawmakers agree that taxpayers should never again foot the bill to bail out struggling financial institutions, a system should be in place to “fail them safely”. “We can put them... through a form of bankruptcy and not have the taxpayer exposed to any risk of loss,” he said. — Agencies
Friday, April 23, 2010
Jobless claims fall, food prices lift PPI WASHINGTON: The number of US workers filing new applications for jobless aid fell last week as the labor market gradually improves, while producer price data showed inflation remained muted, despite a surge in food prices last month. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 456,000 in the week ended April 17, the Labor Department said on Thursday. That compared to market expectations for 455,000. The data covered the survey period for the government’s closely monitored employment report for April, which will be released on May 7. “We expect claims will continue to improve over the coming weeks,” said Tom Porcelli, a senior US market economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York. In a second report, the department said the seasonally adjusted index for prices paid at the farm and factory gate increased 0.7 percent following a 0.6 percent drop in February. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected producer prices to rise 0.4 percent in March. US stock index futures held losses after the data, while Treasury debt prices were steady. The US dollar held gains versus the euro. The department said 70 percent of the increase in wholesale
prices in March was due to a 2.4 percent jump in consumer foods, the largest rise since January 1984. Gasoline prices increased 2.1 percent after a 7.4 percent fall in February. Still, inflation pressures remain benign. Stripping out volatile food and energy costs, core producer prices rose 0.1 percent last month, after February’s 0.1 percent gain. The core index had been forecast to rise 0.1 percent in March. “Overall looking at the details it adds further evidence that price pressures are contained. It suggests that while consumer demand has rebounded, the pricing power of firms still remains limited,” said Anna Piretti, a senior economist at BNP Paribas in New York. Government data last week showed consumer prices barely increased in March. A combination of benign inflation pressures and excess resource slack in the economy support the Federal Reserve’s commitment to low interest rates. The US central bank is due to hold a regular two-day meeting next week and will probably renew its pledge to hold lending rates low for an extended period. While initial claims are still above levels viewed by analysts as in line with job market stability, anecdotal evidence indicates employment is creeping up.—Reuters
GM has repaid all govt loans: CEO NEW YORK: General Motors said yesterday it had fully repaid billions of dollars in government loans five years early, prompting its CEO to proclaim the once-crippled automaking giant was making “great progress”. The White House seized on the fact that GM had reimbursed $8.4 billion to the US and Canadian governments so far ahead of schedule as proof President Barack Obama’s economic rescue plans were working. The announcement came a year after Obama faced the perilous political choice of either bailing out GM and Chrysler or letting them collapse with dire economic and social consequences. “GM’s ability to pay back our loans ahead of schedule is a sign that our plan is working and that we’re on the right track,” chief executive officer Ed Whitacre said to cheers from workers at a GM Assembly plant in Kansas. The new, post-bankruptcy GM made a final 5.8 billion dollar loan payment to the US and Canadian governments Tuesday. The payments however do not include much higher loans made to the company under its former guise, being slowly wound down through the bankruptcy process. The US government, which provided about $50 billion in emergency loans, holds a 60.8 percent stake in the new company and $2.1billion in preferred stock. The Canadian government and a retiree healthcare trust also hold significant stakes. The White House, accused by Republicans of a massive takeover of the economy when it decided to prop up GM, greeted the news as proof Obama’s policies were helping haul the US economy out of crisis. “What a difference a year makes. Just about a year ago, the American auto industry was on the brink of collapse,” said Lawrence Summers, director of Obama’s National Economic Council in a White House blog post. A Council report said Obama had made a “difficult and unpopular choice to support our economy, the American auto industry and American jobs.” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner hailed the loan repayments as a “positive sign” and said “countless jobs” had been saved. In Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also said his government had also made the right decisions. “Not only has GM repaid their loan in full, ahead of schedule, but new shifts have also been created at Canadian auto plants.” — AFP
BUSINESS
Friday, April 23, 2010
Greece sticks to guns as pressures close in ATHENS: Greece held the line on its huge budget cuts yesterday despite a new shock to its finances which drove up borrowing costs, just as protestors took to the streets in Athens and Thessaloniki. EU estimates put Greece’s 2009 public deficit at 13.6 percent of output, a leap from a 12.9-percent figure given by Athens, but the finance ministry said this worse baseline figure for cutbacks would not affect its fiscal target. “The announcement does not alter the target for reducing the deficit by at least 4.0 percent of output,” the ministry said in a statement. “The government has already adopted all the necessary measures - in excess of 6.0 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) - to ensure the achievement of this objective,” it said. But the latest shot from Brussels increases pressure on the beleaguered Greek government, as witnessed by a leap in the market interest rate on 10-year debt bonds to above 8.5 percent. Greece must raise about Ä10 billion ($13.4 billion) by the end of May to avert a partial default. There is a strong feeling on financial markets that Greece will soon ask for activation of an EU-IMF rescue package worth up to Ä45 billion in the first year, although in Berlin German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble said he did not expect Greece to ask for help until the middle of May. Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said on Wednesday that he expected the loan deal to be finalised by midMay. “By May 15, a common text will be drafted by Greece, the IMF and the EU which will serve as a point of reference in case the aid mechanism is activated,” Papaconstantinou told reporters. At Goldman Sachs investment bank, chief European economist Erik Nielsen said that Greece might decide voluntarily to renegotiate its debt in the next few months. The crisis has caused deep strains within the EU and eurozone. And on Wednesday the International Monetary Fund - which currently has experts in Athens joined by EU and the European Central Bank officials to discuss a possible debt rescue loan for Athens -warned that the Greek crisis could spread to other weak economies in the 16-nation eurozone. “In the near term, the main risk is that, if unchecked, market concerns about sovereign liquidity and solvency in Greece could turn into a full-blown sovereign debt crisis, leading to some contagion,” the IMF said. The austerity cuts have raised strong protests among unions. Several thousand people marched in Athens and Thessaloniki in separate protests called by Communist and civil servant labour organisations. — AFP
Chinese tycoon on trial for graft BEIJING: The former head of a top appliance chain who was once China’s richest person went on trial yesterday, nearly two years after being detained on charges of insider trading and bribery. The trial of Huang Guangyu, founder of the Hong Kong-listed GOME chain of home appliance and consumer electronics stores, opened in Beijing, a court official told AFP. Huang, believed to be in his early 40s, disappeared into police custody in late 2008 and was charged in Jan 2009 with “illegal business practices”, including insider trading and bribery, state press reports said earlier. Xinhua news agency said Huang is being charged with offering bribes of up to 4.56 million yuan ($667,600) to a number of officials. His court appearance is one of the highestprofile Chinese trials of a private entrepreneur yet, and one that will be watched closely in the business community. According to local reports, security was tight around the small court, with many police deployed. The Legal Evening News said that only one reporter was allowed to attend the trial, a journalist from
Huang Guangyu the official Xinhua agency. Huang, known as “The Price Butcher” for his chain’s low prices, was named China’s richest man with an estimated net worth of $6.3 billion by the annual Hurun Report rich list in 2008. According to state press reports, a string of top business and government leaders have been implicated in Huang’s case, including the sacked former mayor of the city of Shenzhen, Xu Zongheng. Two top police officials, including a former deputy minister of public security, were also detained on suspicion of bribery in connection with the case, reports have said. — AFP
Page 19
Restrictions slapped on shops, weddings
Pak turns off lights to end energy crisis ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government announced yesterday measures to cut state electricity consumption by half, as Pakistan battles a chronic energy shortage which is inflaming public anger and stifling industry. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and Water and Power Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf announced the measures - including turning off lights and air-conditioners in government offices - to reduce a daily shortfall of 4,500—5,000 megawatts (MW) and encourage energy conservation in the private sector. The main reason for the shortage is that past governments failed to anticipate growth in demand and delayed implementing power and dam projects that would have boosted output. “We inherited this problem,” Gilani told a news conference. “I assure you that the government will not leave a single stone unturned to sort it out.” Pakistan has the capacity to generate about 14,500 MW from current resources, a top energy official said. A lack of investment in existing plants, outdated grids and rampant electricity theft mean that some grid companies experience line losses of 30-40 percent, analysts say. Lengthy power outages, known as load-shedding, can last 6-8 hours a day in cities, while cuts can be much more frequent in rural areas. The cuts often trigger protests by stick-wielding men who block main roads, burn tyres and throw stones at police. “I appeal to the public to be patient,” Gilani said. “If they take to streets and damage shops and buildings, that is again a loss to the country.” The new measures include an extra day off for government workers and turning off half the lights in government offices. Shopping centres will be ordered to close at 8 pm while lighted billboards, neon signs and other decorative commercial lights will be switched off. A traders group opposed some cuts. Only top government employees will be allowed to use airconditioning in their offices, and only after 11 am. Six of 10 independent power plants are being tested or are about to be, Ashraf said, which will add 400600 MW to the national grid. Five rental power plants being installed will add another 605 MW. An extra 186 million cubic feet of natural gas will be provided to the power industry and 300 MW will be diverted from Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, to other areas, Ashraf said. Days off for businesses will be staggered throughout the week and agricultural water pumps will lose electricity during peak hours of demand - 7 pm to 11 pm. Other measures include restricting the use of wedding halls for Pakistanis’ extravagant and lengthy marriage ceremonies to only three hours of use. The recommendations come out of a three-day energy summit and will take effect over the next few days. The goal, Ashraf said, was to reduce the amount of scheduled load-shedding by onethird and eliminate unscheduled cuts. “Conservation is the best policy because we could save energy without spending money and it is the easiest way,” he said.— Reuters
SHANGHAI: A worker is silhouetted against the interior of the British pavilion at the World Expo 2010 site on April 14, 2010. – AFP
MNCs go for ‘guanxi’ at Expo SHANGHAI: Coca-Cola is flying in hip-hop stars, Barclays is bringing English football’s Premier League trophy and General Motors will offer a glimpse of the future as foreign firms woo China’s massive market at the Shanghai Expo. Multinationals are seizing on the sixmonth event beginning May 1 to build their brand presence in the market of 1.3 billion people, but also the business and government connections - or “guanxi” - crucial to making money in China. “At this Expo, because it’s going on in Shanghai and in China, everyone wants to showcase their latest and best here,” Jean Liu-Barnocki, GM’s Expo project manager, said. GM and Chinese partner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp have built a state-ofthe-art theatre that creates the sensation of soaring over Shanghai in the year 2030, with emissions and congestion eliminated by electric cars. Behind the scenes, corporations will be laying the groundwork for such future visions by entertaining high-powered visitors to their pavilions. “Every pavilion has a hospitality program or VIP experience as part of its overall design. Of course we wanted to make sure our friends and customers can be very well taken care of,” Liu-Barnocki said. Signing on as an Expo sponsor helps build brands and consumer contact that can translate into sales, but often the main goal is networking, said Pippa Collett, managing director of London-based Sponsorship Consultants. In China, building “guanxi” - often through lavish banquets and other wining and dining - is a considered a key part of doing business. And Collet, who has advised giants such as Shell and Unilever, said that Expo sponsorships from the likes of GM are often “an excuse for a group of individuals to be in the same room at the same time”. Britain has spent £25 million ($38 million) on its striking dandelion-like pavilion to promote
business encounters. It hopes the venue will generate more than 1,000 meetings between British and Chinese business leaders, said Katherine Dixon, Britain’s political and economic consul in Shanghai. “This is the stuff you don’t see... This is actually what the UK is focused on. So we haven’t done retail, we haven’t done catering,” Dixon said, emphasising that unlike others, Britain is not selling souvenirs or snacks. “Our focus is on targeting the right people to interact with over six months.” David Wright, vice chairman of Barclays Capital, which is a £500,000 sponsor of the pavilion, called it “a major opportunity” to push the bank’s brand deeper into China. Barclays, which sponsors the world’s most popular football league, will show off the premiership trophy in Shanghai after the English season ends on May 9, and plans more generally to promote British financial services in September. ANZ’s board will meet in one of the VIP rooms spread out over three levels in Australia’s pavilion and will host forums on natural resources and agriculture, said Nancy Wong, head of Asia-Pacific strategy for the bank. “That’s to bring together very high-calibre CEOs and government officials and economists to talk about regional trends and show how we can help bring all these people together,” she said. Coca-Cola has been at every world Expo since Belgium in 1905, and is making a “huge investment” in its pavilion, said Neeraj Garg, head of the beverage giant’s Expo project. It will host events including a concert by rapper K’naan, whose song “Wavin’ Flag” is CocaCola’s anthem for the June-July football World Cup in South Africa. It too has VIP lounges, where the company will host retail executives and bottling company bosses, Garg said. He added: “Expo in China is going to be the largest showcase event ever.” — AFP
BUSINESS
Page 20
Friday, April 23, 2010
Privacy chiefs keep watch over Facebook, social media BRUSSELS: Over the past six years, social networking has been the Internet’s stand-out phenomenon, linking up more than one billion people eager to exchange videos, pictures or lastminute birthday wishes. The sites, led by Facebook with more than 400 million users, rely in large part on people’s willingness to share a wealth of personal information with an everexpanding network of “friends”, either ones they actually know and see from time to time, or those they have met virtually through the Internet. Members’ eagerness to add contacts has given the sites a powerful global reach, attracting users from 7 to 70 years old, from skateboarders to investment bankers, and with them a deep and potentially rich vein of targeted advertising revenue. But at the same time it has concentrated vast amounts of data - telephone numbers and addresses, people’s simple likes and dislikes - on the servers of a small number of companies. In Facebook’s case, the social networking tsunami has spread in barely six years from the Harvard dormroom of founder Mark Zuckerberg, 25, to envelope almost half a billion peopleenough to be the world’s third most populous country. That in turn has raised profound privacy issues, with governments in Europe and North America and Asia concerned about the potential
for data theft, for people’s identities to be mined for income or children to be exploited via the Internet. Data protection authorities from a range of countries held a teleconference this week to discuss how they can work together to protect what they see as a steady erosion of privacy, and the European Union too is studying what role it can play. They may not be able to hold the social networking wave back, but policymakers are looking at what they can do to limit what they see as the “Big Brother”-like role of some sites. A showdown between privacy and Internet freedom is looming. “We cannot expect citizens to trust Europe if we are not serious in defending the right to privacy,” Viviane Reding, the European commissioner in charge of media and the information society, said in a speech in January, laying out her concerns. “Facebook, MySpace or Twitter have become extremely popular, particularly among young people,” she told the European Parliament. “However, children are not always able to assess all risks associated with exposing personal data.” The privacy debate has been around as long as the Internet, but the explosive growth of social networking, and deepening concern about the impact it may be having on social interaction, has
Rogue McAfee update hits PCs WASHINGTON: A routine anti-virus update from Web security firm McAfee confused a valid Windows file with a virus on Wednesday, disrupting computers around the world. Universities, hospitals and businesses across the United States were among those reporting problems after the update misidentified a valid Windows system file as malicious code and caused computers to continually reboot. The problem hit corporate users of Microsoft’s Windows XP Service Pack 3 operating system, according to McAfee, which released another update later in the day to fix the problem and urged customers to download it. The Internet Storm Center, an initiative of the SANS Technology Institute which monitors problems on the Web, said “the affected systems will enter a reboot loop and lose all network access.” The center said it received reports of “networks with thousands of down machines and organizations who had to shut down for business until this is fixed.” The McAfee software slip “pretty much took Intel down today,” said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley. Enderle told of being at the computer chip titan’s headquarters in Northern California for an afternoon of meetings when laptop computers began crashing around him. “Much of Intel was actually taken out,” Enderle told AFP. “I imagine most companies running Intel and McAfee were literally taken out.” It was not immediately possible to determine how many computers had been affected around the world by the faulty update, but the number was likely to run into the tens of thousands. McAfee for its part said “we are not aware of significant impact on consumers. We believe that this incident has impacted less than one half of one percent of our consumer base and enterprise accounts globally,” it said. Micro-blogging service Twitter was flooded with complaints by users about Santa Clara, California-based McAfee, one of the world’s leading providers of anti-virus software and computer security systems. “It is not often that a security vender takes out a large number of their clients,” Enderle said. “Customers don’t forget this stuff any time soon. This is going to hurt McAfee.” Among the US universities reporting problems was the University of Michigan. The website AnnArbor.com said 8,000 of the 25,000 computers in the university’s health system and medical school were hit. Syracuse, New York’s Upstate University Hospital saw 2,500 of its 6,000 computers affected, the website Syracuse.com quoted a hospital spokeswoman as saying. McAfee said “the faulty update was quickly removed from all McAfee download servers, preventing any further impact on customers” and that it was taking “measures to prevent this from reoccurring.” “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused our customers,” the company said in a statement. A McAfee online support forum was unavailable, meanwhile, displaying a page which read: “The McAfee Community is experiencing unusually large traffic which may cause slow page loads.” — AFP
intensified discussion in recent months. Incidents such as the Israeli soldier who announced details of an upcoming military raid via Facebook, and the murder conviction in Britain of a serial rapist who posed as a boy on the site, have fuelled the fears of both lawmakers and parents. In 2009 and again this year, Canadian authorities challenged Facebook’s default privacy settings and its use of personal information for targeted advertising. Norway filed complaints after a year-long study of the site’s terms and conditions. Facebook has added fuel to the debate, with the company deciding in Dec 2009 to substantially change its privacy settings, effectively making members’ profiles more openly accessible unless users altered the settings themselves. Zuckerberg explained the move in January, saying social behaviour was shifting as a result of the Internet and that privacy was not the same now as it was even six years ago. “People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people,” he told an audience at a technology conference. “That social norm is just something that has evolved. We view it as our role in the system to constantly be innovating and be updating what our system is to reflect
what the current social norms are,” he said. That may well be the case - and the trend for teenagers to share naked or near-naked pictures of one another online or via mobile phones may suggest mores are changing - but privacy campaigners believe the slope is getting too slippery. Thomas Nortvedt, the head of digitial issues at the Norwegian Consumer Council, a government body, sees Facebook’s alteration of its privacy settings as a turning point. “The privacy settings on Facebook have raised awareness on ... privacy as a whole, not only by the people but also by the governments and the regulating authorities,” he told Reuters. “They see that this is, if not a problem, then at least a challenge and something has to be done about it.” As Canada’s privacy commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, told data protection experts on Tuesday: “We want to send a strong message that you can’t go on using people’s personal information without their consent... Do your testing before, and make sure they comply with privacy legislation.” With government authorities raising their concerns ever more loudly, Facebook and other sites have amended some of their practices, or highlighted the range of measures they say they are already taking to protect members’ privacy and data. —Reuters
Facebook seeks to spread across Net SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook wants to pervade the Internet, turning every website into a de facto page at the world’s leading online social network. Facebook rolled out a series of features on Wednesday in what was pitched as an inevitable evolution to people taking online identities and friends with them wherever they roam on the Internet. “Until recently, most things (online) aren’t social or don’t use your real identity,” said Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. “This is really starting to change.” Zuckerberg outlined his vision of an “open graph” after making a rock star entrance to applause at the California firm’s annual “f8” developers conference in San Francisco. “Today, the Web exists as a series of unstructured links between pages,” said Zuckerberg, whose social network boasts more than 400 million users around the globe. “The open graph puts people at the center of the Web.” As an example he described how a Facebook user could go to Internet radio station Pandora or sports-focused ESPN online and automatically share musical tastes or game news with their pals in the world’s leading online community. “Pandora will be able to start playing music from bands you have liked all across the Web,” Zuckerberg said. “It can show you which friends like music similar to what you are listening to, then you can click and listen to their collections.” Facebook vice president of engineering Mike Schroepfer compared the broader opportunities to share experiences and interests to “the restaurant where the maitre d’ knows your name and that you like window tables. “It is an inherently better experience,” he told AFP. Freshly launched tools let developers install Facebook’s recently adopted “Like” icons
SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the opening keynote address at the f8 Developer Conference Wednesday. – AFP that let people signal interests with a single click and share them automatically with friends at participating websites. “People can have instantly social and personalized experiences everywhere they go,” Zuckerberg said. Movie website IMDb and technology colossus Microsoft, which owns a minor stake in Facebook, were among some 70 websites that have been testing the new software and have it in place. “You want to share stuff you care about with people you
care about,” Microsoft general manager of Future Social Experiences Labs told AFP at f8. “It’s really about people.” Microsoft used Facebook tools to let members of the social network share online documents. Facebook’s move has the potential to put the service at the heart of increasingly personalized online experiences, and wrest traffic from other Internet firms vying for people’s attention and advertising dollars. “It is a very
powerful anti-Google competitive move,” said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley. “It’s all about money and control; the two things consistent between Google, Facebook and Apple. They want to increasingly control their customers.” People will have to sign into Facebook to use the social network’s features at outside websites, with those hooks holding the potential for more attention and advertising. — AFP
Friday, April 23, 2010
BUSINESS
Page 21
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s economic stimulus funding has been criticized by some for being a temporary fix. Others, meanwhile, say the massive federal government program has helped generate activity in the local economy, preserving jobs and accomplishing needed development.
Jessica Distance, 25, and Eugene Laster, 34, are participants in Maryland’s subsidized employment program funded by the stimulus bill. Both were jobless before the program placed them in short-term positions with the state human resources department in Baltimore. They now help people to apply for public assistance — which they once needed.
Workers at Cardinal Glass in Northfield, Minnesota, load sheets of glass onto a line where coatings were applied for energy efficiency. Cardinal just received a $7.7 million tax credit under the stimulus plan to develop coatings for solar panels. — MCT photos
US stimulus spurs some of economy fter receiving about $4.9 million in stimulus funds, the Scranton-Lackawanna Human Development Agency hired 10 people and expects to add seven more in the next two years. The Scranton agency, however, will have to look for other sources of funding to keep those 17 people employed after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding ends on March 31, 2012. And that story is typical: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s economic stimulus funding has been criticized by some for being a temporary fix. Others, meanwhile, say the massive federal government program has helped generate activity in the local economy, preserving jobs and accomplishing needed development in Northeast Pennsylvania. Interviews with 13 area school districts, government agencies such as sewer authorities, and private companies showed that new job creation ranged from as little as one job to as many as 17. The majority of those interviewed reported that the stimulus funding also led to the preservation of jobs, from a handful to several dozen. And if the funding, which requires companies to buy American, didn’t lead to job preservation or growth, it at least helped cushion their bottom line while spurring spending and investment, employers said. “We’re seeing the stimulus money unfold, and only time will tell,” said Dana Harris, Keystone College economics professor. “We’re on the right track, but it’s going to be a long and slow recovery.” About 40 percent of the state’s nearly $27 billion in stimulus money has not been spent or committed. Even with the injection of stimulus dollars, local economists and others described the economy as soft, with persistent doubts about when the job market will fully recover. And the stimulus, which has resulted in massive amounts of paperwork for those who received funding, has added to the nation’s trillion dollar-plus deficit.
A
Unemployment lingers Nationally, unemployment has continued to climb in the past two years and now hovers at just below 10 percent. In the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton metro area, unemployment has ranged between 9.5 percent and 9.8 percent since December, despite Lackawanna and Luzerne counties receiving a combined $133 million in stimulus funding. Lackawanna received $39.2 million with the largest share, $19.8 million, going to education. Luzerne received $93.7 million with the largest share, $36.8 million, going to transportation infrastructure. But many continue to defend the program as a
Skeptics say program won’t fully revive job market successful stop-gap measure that prevented the economy from spiraling to further depths. “Without the stimulus, the unemployment situation would have been worse,” said Satyajit Ghosh, PhD, professor of finance and economics at the University of Scranton. The stimulus program spending has preserved or created 84,000 jobs throughout the state, according to state officials. The federal government provided about $17.4 million directly to organizations for projects in Lackawanna County, including about $2.1 million for public housing development spearheaded by the Lackawanna County Housing Authority and about $3.2 million for facility improvement work at Steamtown National Historic Site. Lackawanna’s $39.2 million in stimulus money funded initiatives for transportation infrastructure, energy and the environment, education, job training and relief and water and sewer infrastructure. Most of the funding, $19.8 million, went to education, with the Scranton School District receiving the largest share at $8.7 million. “The majority of the funding was used for Title I and special education,” Superintendent William King said. “In some instances, we were able to maintain positions we may have to had to scale back.” King said the school district preserved 21 positions as a result of stimulus funding, though it did not create new positions because it knew that the ARRA money would be temporary. Some school districts did use the ARRA money to create new positions. Old Forge School District used a portion of the $670,745 it received to fund an instructional aide position. The remaining funding was used to support the budget, as well as for supplies, including new technologies, and renovation of a Title I classroom. School district Business Manager Anthony Spadoni said Old Forge made purchases from local vendors and used local contractors for the renovation work. He said the plan is for the school district’s general fund to support the new instructional aide position after the ARRA funding expires. About $25,000 has gone to local contractors who worked on the school district’s room renovation project. One of those contractors, Scranton Electric Heating and Cooling Services Inc., is also working on
a Scranton Housing Authority project to rehabilitate Washington Plaza. That project is funded with $2.5 million and includes the installation of sidewalks, windows, new kitchens and bathrooms, among other facilities. As part of the project, Scranton Electric Heating has bought concrete and other material, as well as services, from local businesses, including G. Weinberger Co. in Old Forge and KBA Engineering in Jermyn. “More than likely, without the housing authority we would have had to lay off men,” said Harold Newell, company vice president. “We did bring men back to work.” Transportation infrastructure projects in Lackawanna County accounted for about $6.2 million of stimulus dollars sent to Northeast Pennsylvania and energy and environment projects, $6.6 million. The transportation infrastructure work includes $5.1 million to repave roads in Blakely, Dickson City, Dunmore, Moosic, Olyphant, Scott Twp., Scranton and Throop. Pennsy Supply Inc of Harrisburg is the project’s primary contractor. Subcontractors are Traffic Planning and Design Inc. of Pottstown; Penn Line Services Inc. of Scottdale; Donegal Construction Corp. of West Mifflin; Abbey Road Markings Inc. of Hazleton; Green Valley Landscaping of Wilkes-Barre; Wyoming Electric & Signal Inc. of Wyoming; All State Traffic Control Of Pa. Inc. of Larksville; and Beth’s Barricades of Gibsonia. KBA Engineering inspected the project. According to the state, the project created or retained 18 jobs. Green Valley Landscaping owner Jerry Natishan said the funding kept a few people working longer and also led to purchase of supplies, including 800 trees from growers throughout the country. “The stimulus didn’t create any more jobs, but it allowed us not to lay people off early,” said Mr. Natishan, who said the stimulus funding preserved a few jobs. Transportation infrastructure work in the area also included a $1.1 million project to resurface Green Ridge Street from Main Avenue to Blakely Street in Scranton and Dunmore. Popple Construction Inc., of Wilkes-Barre, is the primary contractor on the project. Subcontractors were H2 Engineering Services Inc. of Mechanisburg; Northeast Signal & Electric Co. Inc. of Factoryville; Interstate Road
Management Corporation of Hazleton; Rota-Mill, Inc of Oley; and Multiscape Inc of Pittston. The state says the project created or retained two jobs. In Lackawanna County, $5.8 million has been slated for water and sewer infrastructure projects, including $979,000 to the Lower Lackawanna Valley Sanitary Authority for a plant upgrade in Duryea, a combined overflow sewer project in Old Forge and a stormwater sanitary separation project in Avoca. About 30 people worked on the Avoca project, which is wrapping up, according to authority Executive Director Tom McDermott. Up to 60 people worked on the Old Forge sewer project, which is scheduled to wrap up June 1. The plant upgrade in Duryea is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of this year. Kriger Construction of Dickson City worked on the Old Forge sewer project. Pioneer Construction of Avoca worked on the Avoca sewer project. The largest recipient in Lackawanna County of stimulus funding for water infrastructure work was the Lackawanna River Basin Sewer Authority, which received about $5.1 million. The authority is using the funding for nutrient removal and capacity expansion in Throop to meet Chesapeake Bay Program mandates. “We probably have 35 to 40 people working on the project,” said Dominick Surace, authority executive director. As part of the project, the authority has acquired concrete from Pocono Transcrete in Yatesville and from Coon Industries in Scranton, crushed stone from Slusser Brothers in Pittston, precast concrete from Scranton Craftsmen Inc, lumber from Judge Lumber Co in Scranton and electrical conduit from Lee Electric Supply Co in Scranton. The authority also contracted with Midlantic Engineering of Pittston for concrete testing. With about two years of stimulus funding remaining, economists hope all this spending by sewer authorities, transportation agencies, school districts, as well as other government organizations, their contractors and local businesses, and individuals, will continue and perpetuate further economic growth, said John Sumansky, Misericordia University economist professor. “I thought the ARRA did extremely well,” said Sumansky. “We hope the economy grows at a faster rate to address the deficit.” — MCT
CAREERS
Page 22
Friday, April 23, 2010
First impression is the best impression Y
ou know how it is. Early on in life you learn its importance. As you learn about job-hunting, its value again gains prominence. And now, as you are about to start at a new job, it reaches a critical state. What is it? It is the impact of first impressions. In categorizing people, we all take shortcuts, and first impressions about people often turn into long-term perceptions and reputations-which are good for people who make positive first impressions (the halo effect), but bad for people who make negative first impressions. “I think the early days are when your boss and colleagues form the most lasting impressions about you,” observes Ann Marie Russell, a program coordinator with AmeriCorps. “This is when they make assessments about your ‘typical’ behavior-the ‘type’ of person you are. If you have any attendance/punctuality issues in the first few days or weeks, you’ve already lost a significant battle-their confidence in you. People will take you as seriously as you seem to take yourself-and your work,” says Russell, a psychology grad from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. And in the workplace, during those first few early days where you are meeting everyone-and everyone is meeting you-first impressions about you and your future potential can make a major impact on your future success with the organization. “You have to realize that first impressions are remembered,” says a general-business major, “and even if you talk to someone who isn’t related to your job . . . they may know someone who is. Watch what you say and do. Things can come back to haunt you.” Not to worry, though; in most situations, employers don’t expect you to knock their socks off or hit homeruns during those first few weeks. Most employers realize that there is a learning curve for most positions. So, there is often an unofficial grace period while you settle into your job. How can you improve your chances for making a great first impression when you’re starting a new job? Here are tips to help you make a great impression. Have a positive attitude Nothing works better-in all situations-than having and expressing a positive attitude. Let your enthusiasm for being part of the team and the organization show to everyone you interact with. And always leave nonwork problems at home. Show your team spirit You are now part of a work team, and teams work together to solve problems and get the job done. Show loyalty to your co-workers and focus more-initially at least-on sharing any recognition you get with the team. Always give credit to the team. Learn co-workers’ names quickly No one expects you to have everyone’s name down pat by the end of the first day or week, but if you are bad with names, now is the time to research some of the neat memory-aid tricks you can try to use. Certainly, as soon as possible, learn the names of every member of your team. And if you are in a situation in which you forget a person’s name, the best solution is simply to apologize and ask the person’s name again. Ask questions No one expects you to solve all the organization’s problems on your first days on the job-nor that you know everything-so, relax a bit, and always ask questions or ask for help when you need it. Remember that it’s better to ask
before you’ve completed the task the wrong way and wasted all that time. “Be open-minded,” suggests an English language and literature grad. “I think when you are just starting out, it is easy to feel somewhat competitive; you may feel that you have something to prove. In effect, that kind of thinking will probably land you in the unemployment line again. Be co-operative, LISTEN, ask questions-no one expects you to know everything-and communicate openly with colleagues and supervisors.”
Discover everything about your new employer In theory, you should have already done your homework during the interviewing process, but there is always more to learn now that you are on the inside. “Get an employee handbook” exhorts a MBA grad with an information-technology concentration. “Don’t act or think you know more about everything than your peers.” In
dedicated and flexible. Once you have established yourself, you can leave early, go out for lunch, shift your hours, or take work home with you. But in the beginning, be totally dedicated to being there all the time and picking up as much as you can possibly handle.” Establish a good attendance record Just as with working full days, it’s important to show up to work every day
Track accomplishments As we say repeatedly throughout Quintessential Careers, it’s up to you to track your accomplishments; no one else will do it for you. Tracking your accomplishments is great for any number of reasons-for your personal satisfaction, for raise and promotion meetings, and for future job-hunting. Show appreciation Nothing works like kindness and genuine appreciation. So, show your appreciation to everyone who helps you learn the ropes during your first days on the job-from your co-workers to receptionists to the human resources folks.
Be a self-starter; take initiative In most situations, in your first days on the job, you will be given small doses of work-to let you get your feet wet. As you finish assignments and are ready to
Find a mentor You don’t need to jump on this task your first day, but as you get introduced to senior staff, begin thinking about developing a mentoring relationship with a member of management above you-and outside your department-in the organization. Mentoring has numerous benefits, from a simple sounding board to someone who helps direct and advance your career within the organization.
Learn the rules of the game before you make your own
Get and stay organized If you’re one of those superorganized people, this tip will be easy for you. The rest of us, however, need to develop a system for keeping track of meetings, appointments, assignments, and projects. Get an organizer or planner and keep on top of all your work. You certainly don’t want to miss an early key deadline or meeting. And as you look ahead, set goals for yourself-and then strive to achieve them. “I set goals for myself,” notes a 2001 education grad. “I wanted to appear professional in my dress, posture, and speech. I wrote that goal on index cards and put them everywhere.”
Avoid office politics and gossip As with any social organization, the workplace is full of rumors and gossip. Your mission is to keep your nose clean of all of it-and be sure not to associate too often with the office gossips or risk having your image associated with them. “DO NOT get involved in any trash talking around the office,” says an English education grad. “Don’t-repeat-don’t solicit gossip.” Magennis agrees: “Stay out of the office politics for as long as possible,” he says. “It’s inevitable that you will be exposed to them sooner or later, and you will most likely participate in them as well as it’s human nature. But stay out of the game for the first few months.”
handle a bigger workload, take the initiative and ask for more assignments. Whatever you do, don’t just sit there waiting for your next project. Agrees Ali von Staudach, senior account executive for CNET Networks, “Be proactive. Don’t wait for an assignment. Stick up your hand and ask for something to do,” advises von Staudach, a communication studies grad. “Volunteer for things even though you don’t know how to do it or what needs to be done to accomplish it,” suggests Stephen Magennis, whose first job out of college was as a benefits analyst for Hewitt Associates, Orlando, FL. “There will be people (who need) help, and they will appreciate your efforts to start making an immediate impact. Many times, there may be some tasks that you can accomplish with a little guidance, which will probably free up time for someone who needs to work on more important items,” Magennis offers.
always has to have the limelight. If you have a legitimate contribution, make it, but if not, do more listening and absorbing those first days on the job.
Keep your boss informed Your boss is not a mind-reader, so keep him/her informed of how you are doing. Especially in those early days, meet with your boss to further establish a rapport and relationship. “Request meetings with your boss on a consistent basis to review performance. Express interest in moving ahead and ask what else you can be doing to get to that next step,” advises von Staudach. Be sure she/he knows you are a self-starter and hard-worker. Just don’t bring the boss every little problem; instead, for minor issues, ask for help from co-workers.
addition, gather all those reports and company literature and read up and become an expert on your organization. Work full days “Be on time, come in early, stay a little later,” suggests von Staudach. “Even though I have a 9 to 5 job, it has been expressed to my co-workers and me that our director expects us to be in at 8:30 and stay past 5 pm because it looks like we are go-getters and into our jobs.” There’s nothing that can affect your reputation faster than routinely coming into work late or leaving work early. Especially in these first days/weeks on the job, be sure you get to work early and leave no earlier than when the majority of your co-workers leave. An engineering grad adds, “Be
and establish a good attendance record. Yes, there will be emergencies, and yes, you may get sick, but as best you can, try to make it to work every day during those first weeks/months on the job. Listen more than talk “Listen, Listen, Listen . . . don’t act like a know-it-all right off the bat,” cautions one entry-level worker. “The idea is to communicate that you have some very marketable skills and you are here to learn and apply your skills to help the organization achieve success.” One of the hardest skills to learn for some of us-especially extraverts-is that, when we are new to the organization, it’s better to listen then talk. You don’t want to get the reputation as the office know-it-all-or worse, someone who
Meet and network with key people “Network,” advises von Staudach. “Join an organization outside of work. Take additional classes to stay ahead in your field. Take advantage of every opportunity to network with key people in your organization and professionattend staff meetings, professional organization conferences, trade showsevery opportunity to meet colleagues in your field. Just because you have a new job does not mean you suspend your network; constantly manage and grow your network of contacts because you never know when a problem or opportunity will arise. And networking with key people can also help you in finding one or more mentors. Similarly, a psychology grad cautions against getting too comfortable: “Keep setting goals, networking, and keeping your ears open. Most college grads will switch positions or companies many times before the age of 30.” — www.quintcareers.com
Friday, January 15, 2010
Page 23
BEAUTY
Page 24
Friday, April 23, 2010
DIY: ave you ever noticed some women add glam to their daily outfits by just adding a few pieces of jewelry or by accessorizing their outfits? Well, it’s true and easy to do it yourself. All you need to do is equip yourself with all the information about the season’s most happening accessories and you will be able to change your outfit instantly. Investing in pair of cuffs will be a very good investment. Look for a bold design that will stand out on a fairly simple outfit. Fitting cuffs look stunning on sleeveless dresses and tube tops. Another embellishment that you can add to your collection of accessories is a choker in various stones and gems. Semi precious stones make perfect neck pieces. You can use contrasting jewelry on strapless outfits. Avoid using neck pieces on floral or printed outfits; they look best on monochromatic fabrics. A colorful clutch will make an old outfit look as good as new. Yellow, teal and red will stand out. Team up your clutch with a pair of shoes and a matching belt. A clutch that is in contrast with the outfit will accentuate the outfit. Believe it or not but golden shoes and sandals will brighten up your outfit. You can team up a pair of gold sandals with bangles and chains in the same hues. Gold accessories will look good with white, blue and green and it will make a bold statement if teamed with black. Layering chains in your neck is a good way to accessorize. When doing this
H
you need to ensure that all the chains are of the same color and stones. Chains that are layered till the waist look beautiful. The Latinas and Indians started the trend with ear ring hoops and fashion gurus increased the size of the hoops and make them gigantic. You can wear over sized hoops with
any outfit. You can wear them with your hair tied up or left free. This is one accessory that is low maintenance. Suede booties are innocent and flirtatious. Wear them with a dress, jeans or a pair of shorts. They add to a boho look and are available in a variety of colors. — www.gracenglamour.com
BEAUTY
Friday, April 23, 2010
s e g n a h c l l Sma ost of us are drawn to dramatic change, if only for the entertainment factor. We love extreme makeovers, drastic diets, big moves. After the stasis of day-in, day-out, a big shake-up is so satisfying. Woo-hoo, life is really changing! The trouble, of course, is when we try to make over our lives from top to bottom and before the weekend is over, we’re right back to our old ways. We creatures of habit can’t handle too much change all at once. So what if we set ourselves up to succeed by implementing small changes? Instead of deciding to do a 10-day detox, how about just getting one more serving of vegetables a day? It might not
M
have the drama factor, but when you give yourself one little life alteration and then fully adapt to it before taking on something else, you set yourself up for lasting change. Pick one of these practically instant lifeimprovers to try this upcoming week. 10 teeny steps to change your life for the better Make your afternoon snack a fruit or veggie. Baby carrots and hummus or an apple and a wedge of cheese, this is a great way to get in a couple more servings of fruits and veggies a day. Do it for five minutes. Sometimes the sheer magnitude of a project keeps us from getting started. Take the most manageable bite possible, and spend five minutes going through a junk drawer, scribbling an idea for a novel, or looking for a new job.
Start walking. If you don’t live somewhere where you can start walking instead of driving, make your lunch break a time to pop out and walk. If there’s no interesting scenery, load up your iPod with great podcasts. Talk to someone face to face. In place of an email, text, or phone call, make face time with one person, either by walking to your coworker’s cubicle or meeting a friend for tea. Create a docking station. This is the landing strip for the mail, your keys, your wallet, your phone, your purse —- all the vitals that tend to go missing. And while we’re
at it... Sort the mail over the recycling bin. Ideally outside. Don’t even bring junk mail into the house if you can help it. Use the good plates. If you’re waiting for a special occasion to haul out the wedding china, consider this: today is a special occasion. Turn off the TV and power down your cell. For 30 minutes during dinner or, if you’re more ambitious, a couple hours before bedtime, shut out the constant buzz of the outside world. See what you’re spending on. Tax day has a way of making us wonder where all our money went. Sign up with an online money manager like mint.com to track all your spending and saving. Laugh every day. Watch Chris Rock’s stand-up, read knock-knock jokes if you have to, but laugh every day. Preferably with someone you love. —www.shine.yahoo.com
Page 25
HEALTH
Page 26
Friday, April 23, 2010
Now, that’s a perfect tea! Better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one. - Ancient Chinese proverb
I
s any other food or drink reported to have as many health benefits as green tea? The Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since ancient times, using it to treat everything from headaches to depression. In her book Green Tea: The Natural Secret for a Healthier Life, Nadine Taylor states that green tea has been used as a medicine in China for at least 4,000 years. Today, scientific research in both Asia and the west is providing hard evidence for the health benefits long associated with drinking green tea. For example, in 1994 the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published the results of an epidemiological study indicating that drinking green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by nearly sixty percent. University of Purdue researchers recently concluded that a compound in green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells. There is also research indicating that drinking green tea lowers total cholesterol levels, as well as improving the ratio of good (HDL) cholesterol to bad (LDL) cholesterol. To sum up, here are just a few medical conditions in which drinking green tea is reputed to be helpful: cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, high cholesterol levels, cardiovascular diseases, infections, and impaired immune functions. What makes Green Tea so special? The secret of green tea lies in the fact it is rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant: besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. It has also been effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots. The latter takes on added importance when you consider that thrombosis (the formation of abnormal blood clots) is the leading cause of heart attacks and stroke. Links are being made between the effects of drinking green tea and the “French Paradox.” For years, researchers were puzzled by the fact that, despite consuming a diet rich in fat, the French have a lower incidence of heart disease than
Americans. The answer was found to lie in red wine, which contains resveratrol, a polyphenol that limits the negative effects of smoking and a fatty diet. In a 1997 study, researchers from the University of Kansas determined that EGCG is twice as powerful as resveratrol, which may explain why the rate of heart disease among Japanese men is quite low, even though approximately 75 percent are smokers. Why don’t other Chinese teas have similar healthgiving properties? Green, oolong, and black teas all come from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. What sets green tea apart is the way it is processed. Green tea leaves are steamed, which prevents the EGCG compound from being oxidized. By contrast, black and oolong tea leaves are made from fermented leaves, which results in the EGCG being converted into other compounds that are not nearly as effective in preventing and fighting various diseases.
How much Green Tea should you drink?
T
here are as many answers to this question as there are researchers investigating the natural properties of green tea. For example, Herbs for Health magazine cites a Japanese report stating that men who drank ten cups of green tea per day stayed cancer-free for three years longer than men who drank less than three cups a day (there are approximately 240 - 320 mg of polyphenols in three cups of green tea). Meanwhile, a study by Cleveland’s Western Reserve University concluded that drinking four or more cups of green tea per day could help prevent rheumatoid arthritis, or reduce symptoms in individuals already suffering from the disease. And Japanese scientists at the Saitama Cancer Research Institute discovered that there were fewer recurrences of breast cancer, and the disease spread less quickly, in women with a history of drinking five cups or more of green tea daily. It gets more confusing. A University of California study on the cancer-preventative qualities of green tea concluded that you could probably attain the desired level of polyphenols by drinking merely two cups per day. On the other hand, a company selling a green tea capsule formula insists that ten cups per day are necessary
to reap the maximum benefits. How can you make sense of these conflicting claims? Given all the evidence, it is probably safe to plan on drinking four to five cups of green tea per day. If you’re a real devotee, by all means drink more; but whether or not you’ll derive added health benefits remains to be determined by further research. How to brew a cup of Green Tea Producing the perfect cup of green tea is a tricky process. If not handled properly, those same polyphenols that provide health benefits can ruin the flavor, making the tea taste “gassy.” It’s particularly important not to overbrew. While it’s best to follow the manufacturer’s instructions for each variety of green tea, here are some general instructions: Use one tea bag, or 2-4 grams of tea, per cup. Fill a kettle with cold water and bring to a boil. After unplugging the kettle, allow it to stand for up to 3 minutes. Pour the heated water over the tea bag or tea, and allow it to steep for up to 3 minutes. If using a tea bag, remove the bag. Allow the tea to cool for three more minutes.
Other benefits New evidence is emerging that green tea can even help dieters. In November, 1999, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published the results of a study at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Researchers found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given only caffeine or a placebo. Green tea can even help prevent tooth decay! Just as its bacteria-destroying abilities can help prevent food poisoning, it can also kill the bacteria that causes dental plaque. Meanwhile, skin preparations containing green tea - from deodorants to creams - are starting to appear on the market. Harmful effects? To date, the only negative side effect reported from drinking green tea is insomnia due to the fact that it contains caffeine. However, green tea contains less caffeine than coffee: there are approximately thirty to sixty mg. of caffeine in six - eight ounces of tea, compared to over one-hundred mg in eight ounces of coffee. www.chinesefood.about.com
HEALTH
Friday, April 23, 2010
Page 27
Sweat it out or pump it up? assat or Prius? Trader Joe’s or whole foods? And when it comes to getting the body you want: strength training or cardio? Back when you carpooled in Ma’s minivan, men went to the weight room and women hit Jazzercise. But recently, taking a cue from athletes, many fitness gurus insist that strength training is where it’s at. Some even suggest ditching cardio altogether. To resolve the strength vs cardio conundrum, we culled research and chatted up experts to find out how each would fare in a head-to-head matchup (don’t worry, nobody’s going to bite anyone’s ear off). Whether you want to get buff, torch calories, or run your fastest mile ever, we’ve decoded which discipline you should devote your sweat to-and created a workout that’s perfectly proportioned to give you all the benefits. Now, let’s get ready to rumble!
P
Cardiovascular workout vs strength training
Winner: Strength To add years to your life Cardio’s edge: There are more health perks in cardio’s corner than Kabbalah bracelets in Hollywood. “Nothing compares with cardio for optimizing longevity,” says Mike Meyers, Ph D, an American College of Sports Medicinecertified trainer and director of the Human Performance Research Laboratory at West Texas A&M University. “It reduces the risk of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, and even certain types of cancer.” The ticker-strengthening benefits are especially sweet: A stronger heart pumps more blood with each beat, circulating oxygen more efficiently throughout your body; aerobic activity prevents inflammation around your thumper; and lacing up your sneaks can increase the “good” cholesterol in your blood by up to eight percent in just 8 weeks, according to a 2007 study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine. Strength’s edge: A 2006 study by the National Institutes of Health found that lifting weights just twice a week can prevent you from gaining intra-abdominal fat-the kind that wraps around organs and constricts blood vessels.
To lose fat-and keep it off Cardio’s edge: Calorie for calorie, cardio has a slight advantage. You’ll burn 8 to 10 calories a minute hoisting weights, compared with 10 to 12 calories a minute running or cycling, says Wayne Westcott, Ph D, director of research at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts. Strength’s edge: Lifting weights gives you a metabolic spike for an hour after a workout because your body is trying hard to help your muscles recover. That means you’ll fry an additional 25 percent of the calories you just scorched during your strength session, Westcott says. “So if you burned 200 calories lifting weights, it’s really closer to 250 overall.” And if you lift heavier weights or rest no more than 30 seconds between sets, you can annihilate even more. And there’s more good news when it comes to iron’s fat-socking power. “For every 3 pounds of muscle you build, you’ll burn an extra 120 calories a day-just vegging-because muscle takes more energy to sustain,” Westcott says. Over the course of a year, that’s about 10 pounds of fat-without even changing your diet. Yes, please.
Winner: Cardio
Winner: Strength To squash stress Cardio’s edge: The headclearing effects of, say, swimming or playing tennis show up faster than it takes to get a brow wax. Just 15 minutes of aerobic activity two to three times a week can reduce anxiety significantly, according to a 2005 study in the European Journal of Sports Science. Go at it 3 to 5 days a week and you can cut fatigue by nearly 50 percent. “Cardio elevates serotonin levels in the brain, a key neurotransmitter involved in improving symptoms of depression,” says Madhukar Trivedi, MD, director of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Mood Disorders Research Program and Clinic. Strength’s edge: A big question mark. Scientists note promising results on the moodaltering effects of pumping iron. But more research is needed to nail
Strength’s edge: In a 2006 study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers found that a balance-training programthink single-leg squats and anything on a wobble boardreduced the risk of ankle sprains in athletes. “Functional strength training teaches your brain to allow muscle contractions that are quick enough to prevent or minimize injuries,” says lead study author Tim McGuine, Ph D, senior athletic trainer and research coordinator at the University of WisconsinMadison. Your best bet: Choose moves that work your core, improve your balance, and force you to bend at multiple joints-so lunges, rows, squats, and presses are all fair game.
the intensity and duration necessary to match cardio’s benefits. So, for now, we know the winner. Winner: Cardio To love standing buff in front of the mirror Cardio’s edge: Sports psychologists have been studying the effect of aerobic activity on self-confidence for decades. And they keep coming to the same conclusion: Runners, cyclists, swimmers, and other athletes have high confidence levels because of the sense of accomplishment they feel each time they cross the finish line-
even when they bring up the rear. Strength’s edge: Think you look hot immediately after a workout? It’s not your imagination. Blood has rushed to your muscles, making them swell and appear more toned. Beyond vanity, you feel confident because you just pressed some major poundage. In 2006, researchers at McMaster University in Ontario tested subjects’ body image-how they felt about others checking them out, and how satisfied they were with their own appearance before and after 12 weeks of strength training. The women made significant improvements, and they were particularly influenced by the physical results
of increasing the amount lifted. So try this: Keep a log of how many sets and reps you complete and how much weight you’re hoisting for each move. Every four weeks, go back and review your first workout. Feel the rush of pride, then strut your stuff. Winner: Strength To stay off the sideline Cardio’s edge: The repetitive nature of cardio puts serious pressure on your joints, ligaments, muscles, tendons-and the cartilage in between. If you’ve got a weak link, you’re screaming to be benched. That is, unless you hit the weight room.
To reach the finish line faster Cardio’s edge: If you want to smoke your frenemy at your next 5-K, put in the miles. “The best way to train for an endurance event is by practicing it,” Meyers says. “Swimmers, for example, need to learn how to breathe properly, and cyclists need to hone cadence.” Strength’s edge: For a speed boost, strength training is essential-especially for your core and legs. “Plyometrics will improve your stride power, or the force you pedal with,” says Diane Vives, CSCS, owner of Vives Training Systems in Austin, Texas. For explosive power, she recommends the standing triple jump: Swing your arms back, then forward as you leap, landing on your right foot. Quickly hop forward onto your left foot, then hop back and land on both feet. Continue for four to six reps. Do three sets, resting 60 to 90 seconds in between. Winner: Draw www.womenshealthmag.com
PETS
Page 28
Friday, April 23, 2010
A way for racehorses to retire in comfort
W
rapped in a windbreaker, horse trainer Kate DeMasi stood on the rail at Philadelphia Park on a recent morning, bracing against a raw drizzle and watching an exercise rider work his mount on the muddy track. DeMasi, a major trainer at the Bensalem track, was taking stock of her latest prospect, a six-year-old stallion named Slate. A few yards away in DeMasi’s busy barn, Rumrunnin Purgy, a 3-yearold, playfully nipped at the grooms walking horses past his stall. After three races and one fifth-place finish, a tendon injury had abruptly ended Purgy’s career. Now the dark brown colt was taking up expensive space in the racing barn and needed to move on. In the past, that often meant being sent to a livestock auction and, eventually, the slaughterhouse. “Kill buyers” used to drive their vans right onto the track grounds. Not anymore. “It’s a comfort,” DeMasi said, “when you’ve got a horse with an injury, or who is not talented, to not worry about where they go down the line.” That’s because, in 2008, Philadelphia Park launched something unusual for a horse track: a zero-tolerance policy on slaughter-auction sales, and a horseretirement program known as Turning for Home. “We needed to respond to a PR nightmare,” said Mike Ballezzi, president of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which represents owners and trainers at Philadelphia Park. “We needed to find a humane outlet for these horses.” Other tracks donate money for rescuing retired thoroughbreds, but none has a comprehensive, carrotand-stick approach to dealing with unwanted horses. Instead of simply banning sales of horses to slaughter auctions, Philadelphia Park has a full-service adoption program, supported by trainers, jockeys, the horsemen’s association, and the track management. Turning for Home began with $100,000 in seed money, split between the horsemen and the park. Under the program, trainers must kick in $10 per horse per race; jockeys, $5 if they win or finish second. Those mandatory contributions were easier to make, Ballezzi said, because times were good at the track.
Three-year-old horse named Rumrunnin Purgy is shown in his stall at Philadelphia Park. —MCT The Parx casino, right next door, is a glittering reminder of a big reason why: legalized slot machines at Pennsylvania tracks have tripled purses and have been a boon to the industry. The horsemen’s association acts as the retirement program’s administrator, equine socialservices agency - and cop. Trainers caught sending horses to auction get their licenses pulled and are banned from racing at Philadelphia Park, Ballezzi said. So far, 350 horses have been placed in the program, the vast majority finding new homes and new jobs as show or polo horses or as pasture pets. Many are sent across the Delaware to South Jersey Thoroughbred Rescue and Adoption in Medford, which works with Turning for Home. Not every retired racehorse can be saved about 6 to 8 percent of the horses had to be euthanized because of the extent of their injuries. Administrator Barbara Luna estimates that at least 80 percent of the track’s retiring horses go through the program, but says it’s hard to know an exact number because horses are so frequently moved from track to track.
“This is the first constructive thing thoroughbred racing has done to address slaughter,” said Christine Berry, founder of the Equine Protection Network, a Berks Countybased group that lobbies for state and national horsecruelty laws. Other track operators are eyeing Turning for Home as a possible model. Penn National, owner of seven tracks in six states, is “in discussions about starting a similar program,” said Karen Bailey, a company spokeswoman. Little cliff’s legacy Philadelphia Park’s noslaughter rule is in part the legacy of a horse named Little Cliff. In 2005, as a 2year-old, he sold for $350,000. Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito touted him as a Kentucky Derby prospect; Little Cliff earned $200,000 in his racing career, which ended in March 2008 with his last run at Philadelphia Park. Eleven days later, members of a horse-rescue group found him in the socalled “kill pen” at the New Holland livestock auction in Lancaster County, Pa. They identified him from the
tattoo that is under every registered thoroughbred’s lip. Zito and his wife put up money to help save Little Cliff. Back when they’d sold him, the couple placed a sticker on his papers imploring future owners to call them if the horse needed a home. The incident brought a heap of unwanted attention to Philadelphia Park. “That probably pushed us over the edge and wouldn’t happen today,” said Luna. “You can’t just give away your horses to any Tom, Dick or Harry with a trailer.” Debate has raged over horse slaughter in the nation for decades. Animal-welfare activists see it as cruelty; many in the horse-breeding and agriculture industries say slaughter is a necessary means of disposing of unwanted horses. Never popular on US menus, horse meat has long been consumed, even considered a delicacy, in countries such as France and Japan - thus creating a demand for what slaughterhouses can supply. In 1990 alone, 315,192 horses were slaughtered in the United States. By 2007, when the nation’s last slaughter plant closed amid
legal challenges, that number was down to 58,443, according to the US Department of Agriculture. But as recently as 2008, more than 100,000 horses were shipped to Mexico and Canada for slaughter, the USDA says. Anti-slaughter activists want Congress to ban shipping horse meat for human consumption. But some in the racing industry say that without slaughter, more horses will inevitably wind up abandoned or subject to starvation and neglect. “Regulated slaughter should be considered,” DeMasi said, adding that while she would never sell a horse at a livestock auction, there are only so many homes for unwanted horses. “Obviously, we need more responsible ownership,” said Alex Brown, a Chester County exercise rider who runs the Web site Fans of Barbaro, the cyber hub of the anti-slaughter movement. “And we’re only going to get that if we stop slaughter.” A home in burlco Rumrunnin Purgy’s next destination is Burlington County, where Erin Hurley,
operator of South Jersey Thoroughbred Rescue and Adoption, tends to about 20 Philadelphia Park retirees at a time. Those no longer fit to ride live out their days as pasture ornaments. Others in better shape, such as Purgy, will get some R&R before Hurley evaluates them and begins retraining them for the show ring, or for pleasure riding. “They have such athleticism and ability, they can go on to any discipline,” said Hurley, who places horses with the stipulation that they come back to her if it doesn’t work out. Her Web site, where you can see Purgy’s picture, reads like the promo page of a cyber dating service, full of happy stories of horse lovers finding their perfect equine match in the ranks of retired thoroughbreds. DeMasi, for one, is pleased Purgy has a chance for comfortable retirement. He could have raced again at a cheap track somewhere, DeMasi said, but she recommended retiring him before he suffered a more debilitating injury. Purgy “has a compassionate owner,” she said. “He just told me, ‘Find him a good home.’” —MCT
RELATIONSHIPS
Friday, April 23, 2010
Page 29
Soul-mates find each other over the Web The 50-plus crowd is among the fastest-growing group of Web daters
J
erry Reiser married his high school sweetheart. But that ended after 14 years. A softball umpire introduced him to his second wife. That, too, ended in divorce. Then two years ago, Reiser - now 58 - decided he wanted another long-term relationship - but found singles dances weren’t cutting it. He turned to online dating. Reiser quickly received more than 70 matches. He dated a handful of women from the online roster, but only one stood out - Debbie Kuzma. More than a year and a half after the two met, they were married. “We’re on the same page mentally, physically,” Jerry Reiser said. “Everything is perfect.” The Reisers, who live in Clinton, Michigan, southwest of Ann Arbor, are among a growing number of older people who are looking for or have found love on the Web. Online dating companies like eHarmony.com, Match.com and lavalife.com have seen significant growth in the number of users age 50 and up in recent years. Joe Tracy, publisher of Online Dating Magazine, says that “the 50plus segment in the online dating world is the fastest growing.”
Old & online Experts say the growth is multifaceted: Older people are using the Internet more; they have a harder time finding companions in social settings like bars, or at work; they are being pushed to the Web by adult children, and they are looking for a different way to find compatible matches. “They are not necessarily looking for just casual dates or the next big romance,” said LavalifePRIME Vice President Lally Rementilla. “They’re looking more for companionship.” For example, eHarmony saw a 20 percent growth in users ages 60 and up during the first quarter of 2009, compared with the same period in 2008. “If you’re 45, 55, 60, it’s probably been a really long time since you’ve been dating,” said Dr Gian Gonzaga, senior research scientist for eHarmony Labs. “So all of the traditional routes to finding potential partners have been cut off.” In the case of Milford residents Cheryl and Larry Bond, the Internet paid off. The couple married in January, roughly two years after they
met online. It was a meeting that almost didn’t happen. Cheryl Bond, 54, a divorcee with adult children, hadn’t dated in six years when she decided to take her search online. Not able to find men at work or at social events, she signed up for eHarmony. But Bond found the lengthy questionnaire laborious; she toiled over the decision, worrying what coworkers would think and scared of the people she would meet. “I think there’s sort of a
fear of the unknown,” Bond said. “You hear the horror stories of people who meet online and end up, you know, in a gutter somewhere.” But after an e-mail nudge from eHarmony, she finished the survey and was promptly matched with Larry, a 53-yearold Sterling Heights resident who also was divorced. They exchanged likes and dislikes. Match made online Larry: Can’t stand someone always running late.
Cheryl: Doesn’t like people who are mean to others. Larry hates mushrooms; Cheryl loves them. They met for coffee at a Starbuck’s. Larry was there when Cheryl walked in. “You’re early,” he said. The pair clicked immediately, and eventually married on a quiet beach in Hawaii. It wasn’t seamless: Some accommodations had to be made to blend their two families. They waited to get married until Larry’s son
graduated from high school and Cheryl’s adult daughter had her wedding. But even on the Web, not all matches end in long-term relationships or a wedding ceremony. Jerry Reiser dated women he met online who he discovered he wasn’t compatible with. Larry Bond, who tried Internet dating a few years ago, said he also dated a woman he met for several years, but the two split. “Some of it was just chemistry wasn’t there,” Bond said.
In this April 18, 2009 family photograph, Jerry Reiser, 58 (left) and his wife Debbie Reiser, 54, both of the Village of Clinton, pose for a wedding portrait at their home in Clinton, Michigan. — MCT
“There are very few people you click with.” Not all older people online are looking for a life mate. Some are just looking for the proverbial good time. Meet Carole Sipila. You could just call her silversassy or silverfox, the handles she’s used while looking for men on sites like mingle2.com and PlentyOfFish.com. Sipila, in her late 60s, is from Clinton Township, Michigan; she golfs and kayaks, goes dancing every week, is twice divorced “Both husbands were drinkers,” she’ll tell you - and isn’t looking for a guy who wants to follow her around. “If they don’t have hobbies or interests, they want to spend all their time with you,” she said. “And I don’t want to spend all my time with them.” What does Sipila look for? Smart, attractive nonsmokers who golf and drive motorcycles. “I’m pretty fussy,” she said. “I’ve got to weed them out.” But her four children - all in their 30s and 40s - want her to be careful while perusing the Web, especially because she’s regularly being hit on by younger men. Match.com and AARP have stringent recommendations for staying safe online, including getting as many details about a match before meeting in person; being wary of anyone soliciting financial advice or money, and requesting recent pictures. Debbie Reiser tried staying anonymous by not putting a photo on her eHarmony profile. “Whenever somebody didn’t have a picture on there, I just deleted them,” Jerry Reiser said. But, reading his future wife’s profile, he decided to meet her. “There was something about her.” They started getting to know each other. She’s a nurse; he works for Ferndale’s Department of Public Works. Both have been divorced and love going to church. They met for the first time at the Gibraltar Trade Center in Taylor, Michigan, each with one kid in tow - her 12-year-old daughter, his 17-year-old son. On the second date, she came over to his house for a homecooked dinner of hamburgers and fries. “Things just started going from there,” Jerry Reiser said. If it hadn’t been for the Web, “I would have never met Debbie.” — MCT
FOOD
Page 30
Friday, April 23, 2010 f you’re looking for low-cost ways to add fiber and protein to your diet, burghul may be your answer. Burghul is a derivative of wheat, but undergoes minimal processing so it still retains its nutritional value and is considered to be a form of whole wheat. It’s a staple in the healthy Mediterranean diet. You may have had a taste of this healthy whole grain if you ordered a Tabbouleh salad. Burghul is ready to eat after boiling it for eight to ten minutes. It’s excellent as a cereal and can be added to salads, soups, served as a pilaf, and used to make veggie burgers. It can be found at most grocery stores and natural food markets either pre-packaged or in bins. Discover what this delicious whole grain can do for your body.
I
Everyday cooking
Mushroom burghul soup
The health benefits of burghul
Ingredients: • one small onion, diced • one large carrot, peeled and diced • two packages of mushrooms, roughly chopped • 2 boxes of lowsodium chicken or vegetable stock (about 8 cups), or you can use one box of stock and 4 cups of water if you want to cut down on the cost a bit • 1 cup of burghul • 1 tsp. dried rosemary • 1 tsp. dried thyme • a handful of fresh chopped parsley
-Weight loss A half cup of cooked burghul has under eighty calories and is unusually filling due to its fiber content. The fiber helps to give you a sensation of fullness, so you’re likely to consume fewer calories overall. To maximize weight loss, substitute burghul where you would normally use white rice. Burghul has a lower glycemic index than white rice which helps to stabilize insulin levels and, theoretically, helps with weight control. A burghul pilaf is easy-to-prepare and is a tasty alternative to traditional rice pilaf. Burghul has less calories and more fiber than even brown rice. -Fiber Are you getting enough fiber in your diet? Burghul is a good source of insoluble fiber which helps to maintain colon health and may reduce the risk of colon cancer. Why not substitute cooked burghul with a little cinnamon and honey for your regular bowl of cereal? It can be a tasty and healthy change with its mild, slightly nutty flavor. -Protein If you’re trying to reduce your intake of animal protein, burghul gives you an additional vegetarian protein source without all the fat. One cup of cooked burghul supplies you with six grams of protein. Worried about heart disease? You may be able to cut your risk of heart disease by substituting burghul for a portion of the red meat you eat each day. Burghul is a good source of the B vitamins and folate as well as the minerals iron, magnesium, and phosphorus. What’s not to love about this healthy grain?
Method: ver medium heat, add a few drizzles of olive oil to a big soup pot, and saute the carrots and onions for about three minutes, stirring once or twice. Be sure to season with salt and pepper Add the mushrooms to the pan with a
O
little more oil if the pan seems dry. Don’t season with salt and pepper until the mushrooms have had a chance to cook down for a couple of minutes. The salt draws out the liquid, and the mushrooms bubble in their own juices a little bit more than you want them to. So just hold off on the salt and pepper for a couple of minutes.
Next, add everything else except the parsley - the stock, burghul, and dried herbs. Season again, bring to a boil, and turn down to a low simmer for about 45 minutes. The burghul will puff up as it absorbs more and more liquid. The leftover soup is thicker than it was at dinner for this very reason. Stir in some fresh parsley.
FOOD
Friday, April 23, 2010
Page 31
Grilled lamb with spring burghul salad Ingredients: • 6-8 lamb fillets, trimmed of silverskin • 2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped • 2 tablespoons olive tapenade • 2 cloves garlic, minced • 3 tablespoons lemon juice • salt and ground black pepper • 2 cups burghul wheat • 4 cups boiling water • 6 stalks asparagus, thinly sliced • 1/2 cup lemon juice • cup mixed herbs, eg mint, parsley coriander, finely chopped • 4-6 handfuls watercress tips, baby spinach leaves or rocket • 1 cup pine nuts, roasted and chopped • Optional: 4 quarters pickled lime or finely sliced lemon Method: Mix the lamb with mint, tapenade, garlic and lemon juice and leave to marinate for at least 15 minutes on the bench or up to 4 hours in the fridge. While the meat marinates, prepare the salad. Place burghul in a mixing bowl and pour over boiling water to cover. Leave 20 minutes then drain off excess liquid. Pour boiling water over sliced asparagus, stand for 2 minutes, drain, then add to drained burghul along with all other ingredients. Toss to combine. To cook the lamb, heat a pan or barbecue plate with a little olive oil. Season the meat and cook over high heat for 5 minutes each side or until done to your liking. Rest for 5 minutes before slicing at an angle. Toss meat through salad and serve.
Tabbouleh Ingredients: • 1/2 cup fine bulgur • 3 tablespoons olive oil • 1 cup boiling-hot water • 2 cups finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (from 3 bunches) • 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mint • 2 medium tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch pieces • 1/2 seedless cucumber•, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch pieces • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice • 3/4 teaspoon salt • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper Method: Stir together bulgur and 1 tablespoon oil in a heatproof bowl. Pour boiling water over, then cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand 15 minutes. Drain in a sieve, pressing on bulgur to remove any excess liquid. Transfer bulgur to a bowl and toss with remaining ingredients, including 2 tablespoons oil, until combined well.
Light burghul salad
Ingredients: • 30 g pine nuts • 50 g spring onions (3-4) • 50 g dried cranberries • 2 tbsp butter • 500 ml vegetable or chicken stock • 200 g bulgur • 1 untreated, organic lemon • sea salt, if necessary
Method: oast the pine nuts in a skillet over medium heat without additional fat and constantly stir until they gain a nice golden brown color, but be careful not to burn them. Once done, remove from skillet. Finely slice the spring onions and coarsely chop the dried cranberries. Melt butter in a large saucepan and saute the spring onions over medium heat until quite soft. Pour over the stock of your choice (vegetable or chicken) and bring to a boil,
T
Greek burghul salad
then add the bulgur and let boil for a couple of minutes (stiring every now and then) before adding the cranberries. Remove from heat and let stand until the bulgur is soft (10 to 15 minutes). Drain excessive stock if necessary. Grate the zest of one lemon into the saucepan, add the toasted pine nuts and use a fork to loosen the bulgur until everything is evenly combined. Season to taste with additional sea salt (if necessary at all). Enjoy warm or cold.
Ingredients: • 4 1/2 cups water • 3 cups uncooked medium bulgur • 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons), divided • 2 teaspoons salt, divided • 2 1/2 cups chopped skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast • 2 1/2 cups chopped peeled cucumber
• 2 cups halved grape tomatoes • 1 cup chopped fresh parsley • 1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil • 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion • 1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese • 1/4 cup extravirgin olive oil • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper • 10 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
ombine water, bulgur, 1/2 cup juice, and 1 teaspoon salt in a large saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Uncover and cool to room temperature. Combine remaining 1/4 cup juice, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; toss to combine. Add cooled bulgur mixture; toss well to combine. Cover and chill.
C
THEY ARE THE 99! 99 Mystical Noor Stones carry all that is left of the wisdom and knowledge of the lost civilization of Baghdad. But the Noor Stones lie scattered across the globe - now little more than a legend. One man has made it his life’s mission to seek out what was lost. His name is Dr. Ramzi Razem and he has searched fruitlessly for the Noor Stones all his life. Now, his luck is about to change - the first of the stones have been rediscovered and with them a special type of human who can unlock the gem’s mystical power. Ramzi brings these gem - bearers together to form a new force for good in the world. A force known as ... the 99!
THE STORY SO FAR : Jami the Assembler asks Fattah, Hadya, and Baeth to help him bring a dangerous object to his new laboratory: F.R.A.N.K.I.E., a giant robot that once nearly destroyed the 99 Steps Foundation. But after the transfer, F.R.A.N.K.I.E. reappears as a hundred tiny robots -- which proceed to scatter all over The 99’s new headquarters!
The 99 ® and all related characters ® and © 2010, Teshkeel Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
www.the99.org
TRAVEL
Page 34
Friday, April 23, 2010
Top 10 beaches of the world From deserted white sand lapped by turquoise water to waves crashing against rugged shores, here are the top 10 dream destinations for every beach bum Tayrona National Park, Colombia
I
Las Islas Cies, Galicia, Spain
M
ention Spanish beaches and most people instinctively think of the Mediterranean. Yet the wilder, stunning Atlantic coastline of Galicia, just north of Portugal, has far more dramatic praias - with far fewer people on them. One of the jewels of this coast is on Las Islas Cies, a 40minute boat trip from the pretty town of Baiona. Once a pirates’ haunt, Cies is now an uninhabited and pristine national park, open to the public only in summer. Galegos come here to spend long, lazy summer days on the
Praia das Rodas, a perfect crescent of soft, pale sand backed by small dunes sheltering a calm lagoon of crystalclear sea. Locals call this their “Caribbean beach”, and the water is turquoise enough, the sand white enough to believe the comparison... until you dip your toe in the water. Then it feels more like Skegness. You can sleep in an idyllic campsite, shaded by tall pine trees, with a view over the ocean. And, this being Spain, there’s even a proper restaurant serving great seafood.
’ve never been as instantly impressed by a beach as I was the moment I set eyes on Tayrona. After a 40-minute hike through the forest, I was expecting to see a classic Caribbean beach, all white sand and calm turquoise water, perhaps a few cabanas for the tourists. Instead I was greeted with a wild sea crashing on to rocks the size of houses that are dotted along the untamed and semi-deserted beach. In a country with a “healthier” tourist industry Tayrona would undoubtedly be a major resort, but as it’s in Colombia the virgin rainforest cascades down the mountainside right on to the sand. And there was no one on it save a small community of backpackers who sleep in openair hammocks. I gather it’s become more popular in the
Porto da Barra, Salvador, Brazil
S
ydney has Bondi, LA has Venice, Rio has Copacabana and Ipanema - town beaches that are both world famous and a microcosm of their city itself. I lived in Salvador, Brazil’s oldest city, for several years and Porto da Barra was where I would come for an early morning swim or a cold beer in the late afternoon. The location is stunning, at the entrance of the magnificent Bahia de Todos os Santos, with a small, white colonial fort at one end and a whitewashed church sitting up on a hill at the other. There’s always something going on here:
small fishing boats unloading their catch, young lads diving into the sea off the old stone harbor walls, older boys eyeing up girls, beach volleyball, football and tennis. As the beach is in a bay the water is calm and also (given that it is right in the heart of Brazil’s third-largest city) incredibly clean and clear, so it’s perfect for swimming. And in a country with over 7,000 km of eastfacing coastline, the Porto is one of the few facing west, so you can watch some fabulous sunsets. Where to stay: Pousada Estrela do Mar
ten years since I was there, but thanks to its national park status the developers have been kept at bay.
Where to stay: Under the stars in a hammock strung between two palm trees.
Anywhere on Palawan, the Philippines
A
lthough Alex Garland’s backpacker odyssey The Beach is set in Thailand, he took much of the inspiration for the location from the Philippines. The reason? As anyone who has been to Thailand in the last decade will tell you, the chances of founding your very own deserted island paradise in a country that has become synonymous with the backpacker superhighway are close to nil. The Philippines, on the other hand has over 7,000 islands, a fraction of the tourists and so many deserted beaches that it’s easy to hire a fishing boat, sail off into the sun and create your very own “Beach”. The western island group of Palawan, which even Filipinos
describe as their country’s last frontier, is inconceivably exotic and tropical. It’s an archipelago of jagged limestone islands with underground rivers, rocky coves, virgin rainforest and, of course, sugar-white sandy beaches. Honda Bay, which has several islets including Cannon Island, Bat Island and Starfish Island, is one of the most popular but the fun in Palawan is in discovering your own deserted stretch of sand. Where to stay: For isolation and some of the best wreck-diving in the world, Sangat Island Reserve. For luxury, El Nido resorts.
TRAVEL
Friday, April 23, 2010
Page 35
Shell Beach, Isle of Purbeck, Dorset
T
Nungwi, Zanzibar, Tanzania
T
he beaches of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania are the only ones I’ve ever walked on where the powder-white sand is so fine it literally squeaks between your toes. The island of Zanzibar is the jewel of the east-African coast, with its spice trade, labyrinthine old Stone Town and, of course, around 30 beaches, nearly all of which are to die for. One of the best is Nungwi, near the northern tip of the island.
This probably isn¥t the most beautiful beach in the UK, but it¥s my favorite. There’s something about getting on the old chain ferry at the brash millionaires’ playground of Sandbanks and jumping off, just three minutes later, directly on to the sand of a completely unspoilt beach (thank you the National Trust). Although the Isle is actually a peninsula, there is a real feeling you have left the mainland. For me Purbeck marks the point when the scenery gets really wild and interesting heading south or west out of London. There is a huge expanse of sand backed by miles of dunes. In summer I
can happily spend the whole day here watching the boats - everything from small yachts to mega ferries heading to France sailing in and out of Poole harbour. Near the entrance to the chain ferry the Shell Bay Bar and Restaurant has a lovely view of the harbor. Where to stay: Purbeck District Council has a list of accommodation and agencies.
The coastline has a shallow slope so the sapphire water, white sand and coral buildups forming a calm sea which stretches for miles and is home to thousands of marine animals. Dotted with tiny fishing villages that have barely changed in centuries, the Zanzibar coastline has a dreamy timeless air. Where to stay: The Zanzibar tourist board has further information on accommodation.
Sinclair’s Bay, Caithness
J
ust eight miles south of John O’Groats in Scotland but - when the sun comes out - the white sand and sparkling blue sea of Sinclair’s Bay look more like the Caribbean than Caithness. Framed by a 16th-century castle at each end
and with a spectacular array of wildlife including plovers, dunlins, porpoises and occasionally orca both on and off shore, Sinclair¥s Bay has the lot. Where to stay: Ackergill Tower, a 15th-century castle next to the beach.
Arambol, Goa, India
F
or some it is the holy grail of hippy hedonism, for others it represents the worst excesses of modern travel. Arambol, the state’s northernmost beach has its share of ageing hippies and seasonal expats, but the spectacular, sweeping stretch of sand is so beautiful it wins over even the most jaded and cynical of travelers. It is so
vast that it¥s easy to find your own private corner of sand. Around the rocky headland there is another beach where you can walk for miles without coming across a soul, or hang out at the freshwater lake backed by a small jungle. Old-timers will tell you the original hippies would sometimes get a nasty surprise here from the odd wild tiger.
Aroa, Aitutaki, One Foot Island, Cook Islands
I
It takes forever to get to this coral atoll necklaced by an azure lagoon, but the snorkeling, fishing and scuba-diving make this hidden paradise one of the best beaches in the south Pacific.
Whitehaven, Whitsunday Islands, Queensland, Australia
T
here are dozens of candidates for the mantle of Australia¥s best beach, but for picture-postcard, sheer drop-dead gorgeousness Whitehaven is pretty special. Imagine super-fine, white silica sand surrounded by warm, clear, azure waters sandwiched between tropical forest with various islands dotted around in the distance. Just make sure you come for longer than a day (the preferred option) as once the day cruisers have left you can walk
around here or curl up under the shade of the forest and feel like you have this uninhabited piece of paradise all to yourself. It¥s quite a trek getting to Whitehaven, the surf isn¥t up to much and for half the year you have to wear a stinger suit to swim in the sea - but these are small prices to pay for such beauty. Where to stay: The only way to stay near the beach is to camp: a permit is needed from Airlie Beach town on the mainland.
More information can be found from Cook Islands tourist bureau. — www.guardian.co.uk
BOOKS
Page 36
Friday, April 23, 2010
By Alice Medrich t is hard, today, to imagine a time when the word bittersweet was rarely spoken, when 70 percent of the chocolate purchased by Americans was milk chocolate. Today’s world of chocolate is a much larger universe, where not only is the quality better and variety wider, but the very composition of the chocolate has changed. To do justice to these new chocolates, which contain more pure chocolate and less sugar, we need a fresh approach to chocolate desserts-a new kind of recipe-and someone to crack the code for substituting one chocolate for another in both new and classic recipes. Alice Medrich, the “First Lady of Chocolate,” delivers. With nearly 150 recipes-
I
By Sophie D. Coe, Michael D. Coe his delightful and best-selling tale of one of the world’s favorite foods draws upon botany, archaeology, and culinary history to present a complete and accurate history of chocolate. The story begins some 3,000 years ago in the jungles of Mexico and Central America with the chocolate tree, Theobroma Cacao, and the complex processes necessary to transform its bitter seeds into what is now known as chocolate. This was centuries before chocolate was consumed in generally unsweetened liquid form and used as currency by the Maya,
True History of Chocolate
T
each delicious and foolproof, no matter your level of expertise-BitterSweet answers every chocolate question, teaches every technique, confides every secret, satisfies every craving. You’ll marvel that recipes as basic as brownies and chocolate cake, mint chocolate chip ice cream and chocolate mousse, can still surprise and excite you, and that soufflÈs, chocolate panna cotta, even pasta sauces can be so dramatically flavorful. For the last thirty years, Alice Medrich has been learning, teaching, and sharing what she loves and understands about chocolate. BitterSweet is the culmination of her life in chocolate thus far: revolutionary recipes, profound knowledge, and charming tales of a chocolate life.
By Roald Dahl hat happens when the five luckiest children in the entire world walk through the doors of Willy Wonka’s famous, mysterious chocolate factory? What happens when, one by one, the children disobey Mr. Wonka’s orders? In Dahl’s most popular story, the nasty are punished and the good are deliciously, sumptuously rewarded.
W
and the Aztecs after them. The Spanish conquest of Central America introduced chocolate to Europe, where it first became the drink of kings and aristocrats and then was popularized in coffeehouses. Industrialization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries made chocolate a food for the masses, and now, in our own time, it has become once again a luxury item. The second edition draws on recent research and genetic analysis to update the information on the origins of the chocolate tree and early use by the Maya and others, and there is a new section on the medical and nutritional benefits of chocolate.
Candyfreak
Bitter Sweet
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Indulge with a rich book about chocolate
By Steve Almond self-professed candyfreak, Steve Almond set out in search of a much-loved candy from his childhood and found himself on a tour of the small candy companies that are persevering in a marketplace where big corporations dominate. From the Twin Bing to the Idaho Spud, the Valomilk to the Abba-Zaba, and discontinued bars such as the Caravelle, Marathon, and Choco-Lite, Almond uncovers a trove of singular candy bars made by unsung heroes
A
working in old-fashioned factories to produce something they love. And in true candyfreak fashion, Almond lusciously describes the rich tastes that he has loved since childhood and continues to crave today. Steve Almond has written a comic but ultimately bittersweet story of how he grew up on candy-and how, for better and worse, the candy industry has grown up, too. Candyfreak is the delicious story of one man’s lifelong obsession with candy and his quest to discover its origins in America.
BOOKS
Friday, April 23, 2010
Page 37
Jacques Torres’ A Year in Chocolate By Jacques Torres, Kris Kruid et your New Year’s resolution be “Eat more chocolate.” With Jacques Torres’ A Year in Chocolate as your guide, you won’t have any difficulty sticking with it from January right on through December. From the elegant Poached Pears with Chocolate Fondue to serve on New Year’s Day and a festive Buche de Noel filled with chocolate cream and ornamented with meringue mushrooms,
L
to homemade Easter eggs and autumnal Pumpkin Seed Brittle, the worldrenowned pastry chef and chocolatier presents us with a calendar’s worth of treats sure to make every celebration more luscious. All the holiday classics are featured here: Valentine’s Day bonbons, a molded chocolate Easter Bunny, ice cream sundaes for the Fourth of July, and Chocolate Caramel Corn for Halloween. But for Torres’ chocolatedrenched imagination, tradition is also a
An essay by Stefan Beck verybody remembers his first time. Nobody talks about William S. Burroughs’s. Naked Lunch, which celebrated its fiftieth birthday this past November (dated from its 1959 publication in Paris by Maurice Girodias’s infamous Olympia Press) without indulging in a dreamily solipsistic nostalgia trip. Lewis Jones, in the London Spectator: “When I first read Naked Lunch, as a teenager sleeping rough in a Greek olive grove . . . “; Barry Miles, the author of a hilariously credulous Burroughs biography (El Hombre Invisible) and coeditor of this commemorative volume, on a Columbia University panel: “I was living in this hippie commune apartment in London. . . . The book completely knocked me out, the epitome of stoned humor and bohemian subversion.” I’ll join in the fun. I first encountered Naked Lunch in eighth grade, in the backseat of my parents’ car — a clear-cut case of child abuse by neglect. I’d purchased it on a family outing to Waldenbooks, a store which, it’s interesting to note, mostly traffics in kitten calendars and “Cathy” bookmarks. “Please,” I thought, “don’t let Mom ask to see this.” You could read any page at random — as Burroughs essentially intended, once insisting in a letter, underscored, and in all caps, that it wasn’t a novel — and get sick to your stomach. “Junk sick,” as Burroughs would say, in another context. Why is “Where were you when . . . ,” a question for assassinations and catastrophes, so often asked with respect to this book? Maybe because reading Naked Lunch is an act of violence to one’s psyche. Jack Kerouac, who suggested the book’s title (based on a misreading of the phrase “naked lust”) and typed up the manuscript, claimed it gave him nightmares. Good for him, or at least for his unconscious mind. There is something gratingly adolescent about those who insist on the essential humor of a work replete with violent interspecies pornography (“The Mugwump pushes a slender blond youth to a couch and strips him expertly”); fetishistic descriptions of putrefaction and disease (“[h]e’s got a prolapsed a**hole and when he wants to get screwed he’ll pass you his a** on three feet of in-tes-tine”); and general nastiness (“Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his a**hole to talk?”). The book is very occasionally funny, in a Mickey Spillane meets the Marquis de Sade kind of way, but its savage imagery, non-linearity, repetition, and plotlessness make it something worse than nightmarish — they make it boring, even embarrassing. There are frequent authorial intrusions along the lines of “Note: Catnip smells like marijuana when it burns. Frequently passed on the incautious or uninstructed.” The reader begins to feel like a babysitter whose young charge is describing an R-
The Masterpiece Has No Clothes
E
springboard; among the book’s many fanciful creations are ChocolateCovered Matzohs for the Passover seder and a Chocolate Tamale to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Adapting all his recipes for the home cook, Torres showcases his favorite chocolate creations-from traditional French pastry to classic American treats. With 150 ecstasy-inducing photos of the finished dishes, A Year in Chocolate will be the chocolate cookbook of the season.
rated movie he was accidentally allowed to see. In Burroughs’s case, the movie is about opiate addiction, which he deliberately cultivated over a lifetime, perhaps for something to write about. Burroughs the man was as awful as he was beloved. He enjoyed a very comfortable upbringing in St. Louis — his grandfather invented the adding machine — and received an allowance for much of his life, but petulantly insisted “we were not rich.” He had a son he didn’t take care of,
biography. Burroughs is often said to have exerted a major influence on popular culture. This seems limited to the fact that his work is alluded to in a Joy Division song (“Interzone,” named for a setting in Naked Lunch); that he has a brief role in Gus Van Sant’s Drugstore Cowboy (1989); that he has an even briefer cameo in a U2 video; and that the rock group Steely Dan is named after a dildo featured in Naked Lunch. It is unthinkable that Burroughs’s
whose mother, Joan Vollmer, he’d shot dead in a drunken game of “William Tell.” Adding insult to murder, he spent much of his writing life glorifying the incident, imagining that a so-called Ugly Spirit had invaded him and forced his hand. He even attempted a kitschy sweat lodge “exorcism” late in life, described in nauseatingly approving detail in the Miles
writing had a significant influence on anyone above high-school age. Naked Lunch is ostensibly about addiction and “control”; Burroughs and his myrmidons have even argued that the pornographic leitmotif of hanging represents a Swiftian satire of capital punishment — nice try. Really, it is about shock for shock’s sake, as is apparent to the precocious young people
to whom it tends to appeal, and as is doubly apparent in the fact that it is remembered by readers as a sensation rather than in terms of its contents. Nobody will quote Naked Lunch, not even its scabrous Dr. Benway, as literature — if at all, it will be as an inside joke. Naked Lunch is one of those regrettable works that must be defended on the grounds that it does well what it set out to do, with no consideration given to whether what it set out to do is worth doing. It is very like a nightmare — so? Its vocabulary is pathetically limited, with “insect,” “erectile,” and “atrophied” appearing as adjectives over and over again, whether or not they make any sense; its stunted imagination reaches reflexively to drug culture and medical or anthropological gross-out lore. Its satire is all telegraphic, all punchline: just because you have a loudmouth Southern sheriff or a big-city detective, doesn’t mean you’ve said anything useful or interesting about racism or due-process violations. Burroughs is one of those figures whose intelligence is overestimated because, slight though it is, it contrasts sharply with his outrageous public persona. Even on the subject of narcotics, the one thing he should be expected to understand, he’s hopelessly muddled. His “Letter from a Master Addict to Dangerous Drugs,” printed in The British Journal of Addiction, Vol. 53, No. 2, and appended to this and to other editions of Naked Lunch, seems oblivious to the fact that a sample pool of one person is not medically valuable. And he writes in “Deposition: Testimony Concerning a Sickness” that “[t]he junk virus is public health problem number one of the world today” (emphasis his), only to pretend three decades later, in “Afterthoughts on a Deposition,” that he was referring to “anti-drug hysteria . . . a deadly threat to personal freedoms.” This is a shameless distortion of his unambiguous previous message. It reveals what has been evident to many readers all along: Burroughs was always ready with highminded defenses of his work, which could only elicit one aesthetic response: revulsion. Still, Naked Lunch serves a very valuable and reliable purpose. Get to it early enough, somewhere between the Hardy Boys and Holden Caulfield, and the fatigue and tedium will inoculate you against all sorts of intellectual malfeasance. You’ll never swallow the line that obscenity is a hallmark of genius, or that the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom (usually it leads to the palace of excess, except when it leads to the hovel of incomprehensibility). Dismiss Burroughs as a pull-my-finger bore and you’re ready to dismiss Matthew Barney, Damien Hirst, the Chapman Brothers, Jonathan Littell, and a host of others too dull to mention. “I am not an entertainer,” Burroughs wrote in 1959. You can sure as hell say that again. — bn.com
CHILDREN
Page 38
Sudoku for Kids
Friday, April 23, 2010
Solution
Friday, April 23, 2010
CHILDREN
The Little Acorn I
t was a little acorn that hung on the bough of a tree. It had a tender green cup and a beautifully carved saucer to hold it. The mother oak fed it with sweet sap every day, the birds sang good-night songs above it, and the wind rocked it gently to and fro. The oak leaves made a soft green shade above it, so the sun might not shine too warmly on its green cover, and it was as happy as an acorn could be. There were many other acorns on the tree, and the mother tree, through her wind voices, whispered loving words to all her babies. The summer days were so bright and pleasant that the acorn never thought of anything but sunshine and an occasional shower to wash the dust off the leaves. But summer ends, and the autumn days came. The green cup of the acorn turned to a brown cup, and it was well that it grew stiffer and harder, for the cold winds began to blow. The leaves turned from green to golden brown, and some of them were whisked away by the rough wind. The little acorn began to grow uneasy. “Isn’t it always summer?” it asked. “Oh, no,” whispered the mother oak, “the cold days come and the leaves must go and the acorns too. I must soon lose my babies.” “Oh, I could never leave this kind bough,” said the frightened acorn. “I should be lost and forgotten if I were to fall.” So it tried to cling all the closer to its bough; but at last it was alone there. The leaves were blown away, and some of them had made a blanket for the brown acorns lying on the ground. One night the tree whispered a message to the lonely acorn. “This tree is your home only for a time. This is not your true life. Your brown shell is only the cover for a living plant, which can never be set free until the hard shell drops away, and that can
never happen until you are buried in the ground and wait for the spring to call you. So, let go, little acorn, and fall to the ground, and some day you will wake to a new and glorious life.” The acorn listened and believed, for was not the tree its mother? It bade her goodbye, and, loosing its hold, dropped to the ground. Then, indeed, it seemed as if the acorn were lost. That night a high wind blew and covered it deep under a heap of oak leaves. The next day a cold wind washed the leaves closer together, and trickling streams from the hillside swept some earth over them. The acorn was buried. “But I shall wake again,” it said, and so it fell asleep. It was very cold, but the frost fairies wove a soft, white snow blanket to cover it, and so it was kept warm. If you had walked through the woods that winter, you would have said that the acorn was gone. But spring came and called to all the sleeping things underground to waken and come forth. The acorn heard and tried to move, but the brown shell held it fast. Some raindrops trickled through the ground to moisten the shell, and one day the pushing life within set it free. The brown shell was of no more use and was lost in the ground, but the young plant lived. It heard voices of birds calling it upward. It must grow. “A new and glorious life,” the mother oak had said. “I must arise,” the acorn thought, and up the living plant came, up into the world of sunshine and beauty. It looked around. There was the same green moss in the woods; it could hear the same singing brook. “Now I know that I shall live and grow,” it said. “Yes,” rustled the mother oak, “you are now an oak tree. This is your real life.” And the little oak tree was glad, and stretched higher and higher toward the sun. www.apples4theteacher.com
Page 39
OPINION
Page 40
Friday, April 23, 2010
The Caucasus Emirate
By Scott Stewart and Ben West
O
n April 9, a woman armed with a pistol and with explosives strapped to her body approached a group of police officers in the northern Caucasus village of Ekazhevo, in the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia. The police officers were preparing to launch an operation to kill or capture militants in the area. The woman shot and wounded one of the officers, at which point other officers drew their weapons and shot the woman. As she fell to the ground, the suicide vest she was wearing detonated. The woman was killed and the man she wounded, the head of the of the Russian Interior Ministry’s local office, was rushed to the hospital where he died from his wounds. Such incidents are regular occurrences in Russia’s southernmost republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia. These five republics are home to fundamentalist separatist insurgencies that carry out regular attacks against security forces and government officials through the use of suicide bombers, vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), armed assaults and targeted assassinations. However, we have noted a change in the operational tempo of militants in the region. So far in 2010, militants have carried out 23 attacks in the Caucasus, killing at least 34 people - a notable increase over the eight attacks that killed 17 people in the region during the same period last year. These militants have also returned to attacking the far enemy in Moscow and not just the near enemy in the Caucasus.
History of Activity Over the past year, in addition to the weekly attacks we expect to see in the region (such as the one described above), a group calling itself the Caucasus Emirate has claimed five significant attacks against larger targets and, notably, ventured outside of the northern Caucasus region. The first of these attacks was a suicide VBIED bombing that seriously wounded Ingushetia’s president, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, and killed several members of his protective detail in June 2009 as Yekurov was traveling along a predictable route in a motorcade from his residence to his office. Then in August of that year, CE militants claimed responsibility for an explosion at the Siberian SayanoShushenskaya hydroelectric dam that flooded the engine room, disabled turbines, wrecked equipment and killed 74 people (the structure of the dam was not affected). In November 2009, the group claimed responsibility for assassinating an Orthodox priest in Moscow and for detonating a bomb that targeted a highspeed train called the Nevsky Express that runs between Moscow and St. Petersburg and killing 30 people. Its most recent attack outside of the Caucasus occurred on March 29, 2010, when two female suicide bombers detonated IEDs in Moscow’s underground rail system during morning rush hour, killing 40 people. The group’s claim of responsibility for the hydroelectric dam was, by all accounts, a phony one. At the time, Stratfor was not convinced at all that the high level of damage we saw in images of the site could be brought about by a very large IED, much less a single anti-tank mine, which is what the Caucasus Emirate claimed it used in the attack. Stratfor sources in Russia later confirmed that the explosion was caused by age, neglect and failing systems and not a militant attack, confirming our original assessment. While the Caucasus Emirate had emerged on our radar as early as
Slain Chechen leader Shamil Basayev is seen in this undated file photo. – AP summer 2009, we were dubious of its capabilities given this apparent false claim. However, while the claim of responsibility for the dam attack was bogus, Stratfor sources in Russia tell us that the group was indeed responsible for the other attacks described above. So, although we were initially skeptical about the Caucasus Emirate, the fact that the group has claimed several attacks that our Russian sources tell us it indeed carried out indicates that it is time to seriously examine the group and its leadership. Russian security forces, with the assistance of pro-Moscow regional leaders such as Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and Ingush President Yunus-bek Yevkurov, are constantly putting pressure on militant networks in the region. Raids on militant hideouts occur weekly, and after major attacks (such as the assassination attempt against Yevkurov or the Moscow metro bombings), security forces typically respond with fierce raids on militant positions that result in the arrests or deaths of militant leaders, among others. Chechen militant leaders such as Shamil Basayev (who claimed responsibility for the attack that killed proRussian Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov and the Beslan school siege, both in 2004) was killed by Russian forces in 2006. Before Basayev, Ibn Al-Khattab (who was widely suspected of being responsible for the 1999 apartment bombings in Russia) was killed by the Russian Federal Security Service in a 2002. The deaths of Basayev, Khattab and many others like them have fractured the militant movement in the Caucasus, but may also have prompted its remnants to join up under the Caucasus Emirate umbrella. It is impressive that in the face of heavy Russian pressure, the Caucasus Emirate not only has continued operations but also has increased its operational tempo, all the while capitalizing on the attacks with public announcements claiming responsibility and criticizing the Russian counterterrorism response. Between March 29 and April 9, the group coordinated three different attacks involving five suicide operatives (three of which were female) in Moscow, Dagestan and Ingushetia. This is a substantial feat indicating that the Caucasus Emirate can manage several different teams of attackers and influence when they strike their targets.
Doku Umarov: A Charismatic (and Resilient) Leader The Caucasus Emirate was created and is led by Doku Umarov, a seasoned veteran of both the first and second Chechen wars in which he was in charge of his own battalion. By 2006, Umarov had become the self-proclaimed president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, an unrecognized secessionist government of Chechnya. He has been declared dead at least six times by fellow militants as well as Chechen and Russian authorities, most recently in June 2009. Yet he continues to appear in videos claiming attacks against Russian targets, including a video dated March 29, 2010, in which he claimed responsibility for the Moscow metro attacks. In October 2007, Umarov expanded his following by declaring the formation of the Caucasus Emirate as the successor to the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and appointing himself emir, or leader. In his statement marking the formation of the Caucasus Emirate, Umarov rejected the laws and borders of the Russian state and called for the Caucasus region to recognize the new emirate as the rightful power and adopt shariah. The new emirate expanded far beyond his original mandate of Chechnya into Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia and other predominantly Muslim areas farther to the north. He called for the creation of an Islamic power that would not acknowledge the current boundaries of nation-states. Umarov also clearly indicated that the formation of this emirate could not be done peacefully. He called for the “Islamic” entity to be created by forcefully driving out Russian troops. The policy of physically removing one political entity in order to establish an Islamic emirate makes the Caucasus Emirate a jihadist group. Later, in April 2009, Umarov released another statement in which he justified attacks against Russian civilians (civilians in the Caucasus were largely deemed offlimits by virtually all organized militant groups) and called for more attacks in Russian territory outside of the Caucasus. We saw this policy start to take shape with the November 2009 assassination of Daniil Sysoev, the Orthodox priest murdered at his home in Moscow for allegedly “defaming Islam,” and continue with the train bombing later that month and the Moscow metro bombing in March 2010. Umarov has made it clear that he is the
leader of the Caucasus Emirate and, given the effectiveness of its attacks on Russian soil outside of the Caucasus, Russian authorities are rightfully concerned about the group. Clearly, however, there is more there than just Umarov. A Confederacy of Militant Groups The Caucasus Emirate appears to be an umbrella group for many regional militant groups spawned during the second Chechen war (1999-2009). Myriad groups formed under militant commanders, waged attacks (sometimes coordinated with others, sometimes not) against Russian troops and saw their leaders die and get replaced time and again. Some groups disappeared altogether, some opted for political reconciliation and gave up their militant tactics and some produced leaders like the Kadyrovs who formed the current Chechen government. All in all, the larger and more organized Islamist groups seen in the first and second Chechen wars are now broken and weak, their remnants possibly consolidated within Umarov’s Caucasus Emirate. For example, the militant group Riyadus Salihin, founded by Basayev, seems to have been folded into the Caucasus Emirate. Umarov himself issued a statement confirming the union in April 2009. When Basayev was killed in 2006, he was serving as vice president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria under Umarov. Significantly, Riyadus Salihin brought Basayev together with Pavel Kosolapov, an ethnic Russian soldier who switched sides during the second Chechen war and converted to Islam. Kosolapov is suspected of being an expert bombmaker and is thought to have made the explosive device used in the November 2009 Moscow-St Petersburg train attack (which was similar to an Aug 2007 attack in the same location that used the same amount and type of explosive material) as well as devices employed in the March 2010 Moscow metro attack. The advantage of having an operative such as Kosolapov working for the Caucasus Emirate cannot be understated. Not only does he apparently have excellent bombmaking tradecraft, but he also served in the Russian military, which means he has deep insight into how the forces working against the Caucasus Emirate operate. The fact that Kosolapov is an ethnic Russian also means that the Caucasus Emirate has an operator who is able to more aptly navigate centers such as
Moscow or St. Petersburg, unlike some of his Caucasian colleagues. While Kosolapov is being sought by virtually every law enforcement agency in Russia, altering his appearance may help him evade the dragnet. In addition to inheriting Kosolapov and Riyadus Salihin, the Caucasus Emirate also appears to have acquired the Dagestani militant group, Shariat Jamaat, one of the oldest Islamist militant groups fighting in Dagestan. In 2007, a spokesman for the group told a Radio Free Europe interviewer that its fighters had pledged allegiance to Doku Umarov and the Caucasus Emirate. Violent attacks have continued apace, with the last attack in Dagestan conducted as recently as March 31, a complex operation that used a followon suicide attacker to ensure the death of authorities responding to an initial blast. In all, nine police officers were killed in the attack, including a senior police commander, which occurred just two days after the Moscow metro attacks. The March 31 attack was only the second instance of a suicide VBIED being used in Dagestan, the first occurring in Jan 2010. This tactic of using a secondary IED to attack first responders is fairly common in many parts of the world, but it is not normally seen in Dagestan. The timing of the attack so close to the Moscow metro bombing and the emergence of VBIEDs in Dagestan opens the possibility that the proliferation of this tactic may be linked to the expansion of the Caucasus Emirate.
In the Crosshairs The Caucasus Emirate appears to have managed to centralize (or at least take credit for) the efforts of previously disparate militant groups throughout the Caucasus. Russia announced that it would start withdrawing troops from Chechnya in April 2009, but some 20,000 Russian troops remain in the region, and the start of withdrawal has likely led to a resurgence in local militant activity. Ultimately, Moscow will have to live with the threat, but it will work hard to ensure that militant groups stay as fragmented and weak as possible. While the Caucasus Emirate seems to demonstrate a relatively high level of organization, as well as an ability to strike at Russia’s heartland, Stratfor sources say Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was outraged by the Moscow attacks. This suggests that people will be held accountable for the lapse in security in Moscow and that retribution will be sought in the Caucasus. Umarov’s founding statement for the Caucasus Emirate, in which he called for the region to recognize the emirate as the rightful regional power and adopt Shariah, marked a shift from the motives of many previous militant leaders and groups, which were more nationalistic than jihadist. This trend of regional militants becoming more jihadist in their outlook increases the likelihood that they will forge substantial links with transnational jihadists such as Al-Qaeda - indeed, our Russian sources report that there are connections between the group and highprofile jihadists like Ilyas Kashmiri. However, this alignment with transnational jihadists comes with a price. It could serve to distance the Caucasus Emirate from the general population, which practices a more moderate form of Islam. This could help Moscow isolate and neutralize members of the Caucasus Emirate. Indeed, key individuals in the group such as Umarov and Kosolapov are operating in a very hostile environment and can name many of their predecessors who met their ends fighting the Russians. Both of these men have survived so far, but having prodded Moscow so provocatively, they are likely living on borrowed time. — Stratfor
Friday, April 23, 2010
OPINION
Page 41
Kyrgyzstan and the Russian resurgence By Lauren Goodrich
Eurasian hegemon. To do this, the United States began poaching among the states between Russia and its geographic barriers, taking them out of the Russian sphere in a process that ultimately would see Russian influence contained inside the borders of Russia proper. To this end, Washington sought to expand its influence in the countries surrounding Russia. This began with the expansion of the US military club, NATO, into the Baltic states in 2004. This literally put the West on Russia’s doorstep (at their nearest point, the Baltics are less than 100 miles from St Petersburg) on one of Russia’s weakest points on the North European Plain. Washington next encouraged pro-American and pro-Western democratic movements in the former Soviet republics. These were the so-called “color revolutions,” which began in Georgia in 2003 and moved on to Ukraine in 2004 and Kyrgyzstan in 2005. This amputated Russia’s three mountain anchors. The Orange Revolution in Ukraine proved a breaking point in US-Russian relations, however. At that point, Moscow recognized that the United States was seeking to cripple Russia permanently. After Ukraine turned orange, Russia began to organize a response.
T
his month saw another key success in Russia’s resurgence in former Soviet territory when pro-Russian forces took control of Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz revolution was quick and intense. Within 24 hours, protests that had been simmering for months spun into countrywide riots as the president fled and a replacement government took control. The manner in which every piece necessary to exchange one government for another fell into place in such a short period discredits arguments that this was a spontaneous uprising of the people in response to unsatisfactory economic conditions. Instead, this revolution appears prearranged. A Prearranged Revolution Opposition forces in Kyrgyzstan have long held protests, especially since the Tulip Revolution in 2005 that brought recently ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to power. But various opposition groupings never were capable of pulling off such a full revolution - until Russia became involved. In the weeks before the revolution, select Kyrgyz opposition members visited Moscow to meet with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Stratfor sources in Kyrgyzstan reported the pervasive, noticeable presence of Russia’s Federal Security Service on the ground during the crisis, and Moscow readied 150 elite Russian paratroopers the day after the revolution to fly into Russian bases in Kyrgyzstan. As the dust began to settle, Russia endorsed the stillcoalescing government. There are quite a few reasons why Russia would target a country nearly 600 miles from its borders (and nearly 1,900 miles from capital to capital), though Kyrgyzstan itself is not much of a prize. The country has no economy or strategic resources to speak of and is highly dependent on all its neighbors for foodstuffs and energy. But it does have a valuable geographic location. Central Asia largely comprises a massive steppe of more than a million square miles, making the region easy to invade. The one major geographic feature other than the steppe are the Tien Shan mountains, a range that divides Central Asia from South Asia and China. Nestled within these mountains is the Fergana Valley, home to most of Central Asia’s population due to its arable land and the protection afforded by the mountains. The Fergana Valley is the core of Central Asia. To prevent this core from consolidating into the power center of the region, the Soviets sliced up the Fergana Valley between three countries. Uzbekistan holds the valley floor, Tajikistan the entrance to the valley and Kyrgyzstan the highlands surrounding the valley. Kyrgyzstan lacks the economically valuable parts of the valley, but it does benefit from encircling it. Control of Kyrgyzstan equals control of the valley, and hence of Central Asia’s core. Moreover, the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek is only 120 miles from Kazakhstan’s largest city (and historic and economic capital), Almaty. The Kyrgyz location in the Tien Shan also gives Kyrgyzstan the ability to monitor Chinese moves in the region. And its highlands also overlook China’s Tarim Basin, part of the contentious Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Given its strategic location, control of Kyrgyzstan offers the ability to pressure Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China. Kyrgyzstan is thus a critical piece in Russia’s overall plan to resurge into its former Soviet sphere. The Russian Resurgence Russia’s resurgence is a function of its extreme geographic vulnerability. Russia lacks definable geographic barriers between it and other regional powers. The Russian core is the swath of land from Moscow down into the breadbasket of the Volga region. In medieval days, this area was known as
Local Muslims pray during Friday prayers at a mosque in Kara-Suu in southern Kyrgyzstan, 700 km from Bishkek on April 16, 2010. – AFP Muscovy. It has no rivers, oceans or mountains demarcating its borders. Its only real domestic defenses are its inhospitable weather and dense forests. This led to a history of endless invasions, including depredations by everyone from Mongol hordes to Teutonic knights to the Nazis. To counter this inherent indefensibility, Russia historically has adopted the principle of expansion. Russia thus has continually sought to expand far enough to anchor its power in a definable geographic barrier - like a mountain chain - or to expand far enough to create a buffer between itself and other regional powers. This objective of expansion has been the key to Russia’s national security and its ability to survive. Each Russian leader has understood this. Ivan the Terrible expanded southwest into the Ukrainian marshlands, Catherine the Great into the Central Asian steppe and the Tien Shan and the Soviet Union into much of Eastern and Central Europe. Russia’s expansion has been in four strategic directions. The first is to the north and northeast to hold the protection offered by the Ural Mountains. This strategy is more of a “just-in-case” expansion. Thus, in the event Moscow should ever fall, Russia can take refuge in the Urals and prepare for a future resurgence. Stalin used this strategy in World War II when he relocated many of Russia’s industrial towns to Ural territory to protect them from the Nazi invasion. The second is to the west toward the Carpathians and across the North European Plain. Holding the land up to the Carpathians - traditionally including Ukraine, Moldova and parts of Romania - creates an anchor in Europe with which to protect Russia from the southwest. Meanwhile, the North European Plain
is the one of the most indefensible routes into Russia, offering Russia no buffer. Russia’s objective has been to penetrate as deep into the plain as possible, making the sheer distance needed to travel across it toward Russia a challenge for potential invaders. The third direction is south to the Caucasus. This involves holding both the Greater and Lesser Caucasus mountain ranges, creating a tough geographic barrier between Russia and regional powers Turkey and Iran. It also means controlling Russia’s Muslim regions (like Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan), as well as Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The fourth is to the east and southeast into Siberia and Central Asia. The Tien Shan mountains are the only geographic barrier between the Russian core and Asia; the Central Asian steppe is, as its name implies, flat until it hits Kyrgyzstan’s mountains. With the exception of the North European Plain, Russia’s expansion strategy focuses on the importance of mountains - the Carpathians, the Caucasus and Tien Shan - as geographic barriers. Holding the land up to these definable barriers is part of Russia’s greater strategy, without which Russia is vulnerable and weak. The Russia of the Soviet era attained these goals. It held the lands up to these mountain barriers and controlled the North European Plain all the way to the West German border. But its hold on these anchors faltered with the fall of the Soviet Union. This collapse began when Moscow lost control over the fourteen other states of the Soviet Union. The Soviet disintegration did not guarantee, of course, that Russia would not re-emerge in another form. The West - and the United States in particular - thus saw the end of the Cold War as an opportunity to ensure that Russia would never re-emerge as the great
The Window of Opportunity Russia received a golden opportunity to push back on US influence in the former Soviet republics and redefine the region thanks to the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the crisis with Iran. Its focus on the Islamic world has left Washington with a limited ability to continue picking away at the former Soviet space or to counter any Russian responses to Western influence. Moscow knows Washington won’t stay fixated on the Islamic world for much longer, which is why Russia has accelerated its efforts to reverse Western influence in the former Soviet sphere and guarantee Russian national security. In the past few years, Russia has worked to roll back Western influence in the former Soviet sphere country by country. Moscow has scored a number of major successes in 2010. In January, Moscow signed a customs union agreement to economically reintegrate Russia with Kazakhstan and Belarus. Also in January, a pro-Russian government was elected in Ukraine. And now, a pro-Russian government has taken power in Kyrgyzstan. The last of these countries is an important milestone for Moscow, given that Russia does not even border Kyrgyzstan. This indicates Moscow must be secure in its control of territory from the Russian core across the Central Asian Steppe. As it seeks to roll back Western influence, Russia has tested a handful of tools in each of the former Soviet republics. These have included political pressure, social instability, economic weight, energy connections, security services and direct military intervention. Thus far, the pressure brought on by its energy connections - as seen in Ukraine and Lithuania - has proved most useful. Russia has used the cutoffs of supplies to hurt the countries and garner a reaction from Europe against these states. The use of direct military intervention as seen in Georgia - also has proved successful, with Russia now holding a third of that country’s land. Political pressure in Belarus and Kazakhstan has pushed the countries into signing the aforementioned customs union. And now with Kyrgyzstan, Russia has proved willing to take a page from the US playbook and spark a revolution along the lines of the pro-Western color revolutions. Russian strategy has been tailor-made for each country, taking into account their differences to put them into Moscow’s pocket - or at least make them more pragmatic toward Russia. Thus far, Russia has nearly returned to its mountain anchors on each side, though it has yet to sew up the North European Plain. And this leaves a much stronger Russia for the United States to contend with when Washington does return its gaze to Eurasia. — Stratfor
Page 42
FEATURES
Friday, April 23, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
SPOTLIGHT
Page 43
Hard Work: An interview with Shout Out Louds
n 2003, Swedish popsters Shout Out Louds grabbed the ears of many with their debut Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, which featured terribly infectious songs like “The Comeback” and “Very Loud”. 2007’s Our Ill Wills was-like many a sophomore effort-more polarizing, partly because it didn’t have quite the same melodic gloss. Fortunately, before making album number three the band agreed to take some time off to recharge while each member went their separate ways. Lead singer Adam Olenius had some ideas floating around while in Stockholm, but journeyed to Melbourne, Australia to flesh them out more. The result is Work, a joyful return to the spirit of Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, which Olenius says was fun to do but that took a lot of, well, you know.... “There was more preparation than the other ones because of working with Phil (producer Phil Ek) and being prepared before going over to Seattle,” Olenius says while walking around Stockholm’s streets in late February. “I think we spent more time in the studio this time, overall maybe a little bit more.” With flight tickets booked for the United States, where they worked with Ek in his studio, Olenius says the band was excited to get away from Stockholm. Once arriving though, the band figuratively hit the ground stumbling, taking a few days to find their sound while adjusting to the new environs. “It was a really nice beautiful old barn or stable in Woodinville which I guess is 45 minutes outside of Seattle,” he says. “I think everyone in the band liked to be isolated in that way because we used to have friends in the studio all of the time bringing in beer and wine and wanting to hang out and take you out all of the time. It was nice to be away from that.”
I
What wasn’t quite as pleasing was adjusting to the demanding regimen Ek placed on the band, as he pushed them hard to get the absolute best out of them musically. “It was hard because Phil can be such a pain in the ass, he’s very picky,” Olenius says. “‘You can do that again buddy, do that again!’ I remember singing for him was really a hassle but I liked it because I learned a lot from it. “He broke us down a few times and we thought we were going to give up. We even got some help from the piano player from the Soundtrack of Our Lives (Martin Hederos), he’s a really good jazz pianist. He was like, ‘Shit!’ after working with Phil. Phil is a really sweet guy but he wanted it to be good like a trained musician. I was thinking to myself, ‘Oh, I suck.’ It was hard, it was daunting.” Perhaps the big difference between Work and Our Ill Wills lies in the sound, which is far more stripped-down and guitar-driven and has a criminally catchy melodic feel. “We didn’t fill every gap with sounds or anything we could find,” Olenius says. “It’s more of an old-sounding record. We focused more on our own instruments and we didn’t really add much, just concentrated on the melodies. We had a break for six months and everybody was really excited to get back to play, so that excitement we got on tape somehow. It’s really difficult to make that simple kind of music, to have those empty spaces and use them in a good way.” And that intangible element is clearly audible throughout the record, whether you’re listening to the tight, shimmering “Four By Four” in the album’s homestretch or the opener “1999” which Olenius describes as picking up where “Hard Rain”the closing number from Our Ill Wills-left off. “I was in Stockholm and recording in another studio, just visiting and checking out their gear,
wanting to see what they had in their studio before booking their studio,” he says of “1999”. “I found this really beautiful piano, it’s 125 years old or something like that. I just started playing on it and wrote the song that day. It’s a quite simple song as well but I love that sort of storytelling and very simple sound.” And no, it’s not a cover of the Prince hit. “I was never really afraid of that (confusion),” Olenius adds. “I really love Prince, I like titles with numbers and it’s about the year 1999 when something really great happened to me, so it was fun to use that. The last song ‘Too Late Too Slow’ is
television nobody is talking to you which is weird. They just push you out on stage and you feel like a sheep.” Aside from the television performances, Shout Out Louds will spend much of 2010 on the road, starting with a European tour before heading to North America for a tour kicking off May 2 in Washington, D.C. “In the beginning I remember our tour manager said we would play a Swedish hour we didn’t play over an hour but maybe 50 or 55 minutes and we were exhausted,” he says. “Now we’re going to do a much longer show. I think it’s going to be fun to have three
Aside from the television performances, Shout Out Louds will spend much of 2010 on the road, starting with a European tour before heading to North America for a tour kicking off May 2 in Washington, D.C. actually more inspired by Prince.” Meanwhile the group also took a bit of the piss out of band performances on television talk shows with their video for “Fall Hard,” an idea that came from bassist Ted Malmros’ brother. “I think it was to create this David Lynch world you’re in when you’re doing a TV performance,” Olenius says. “Sometimes you prepare a whole day but you’re only up there for three-and-a-half minutes. It’s not so bad in English speaking countries but when you’re in Germany or France and doing
albums to choose from for a live performance.” But surely with the Vancouver Winter Olympics going on, they must be paying some attention to how Sweden is doing. “Ted and Carl (von Arbin)... there’s big Swedish newspaper here where they have a site where you can start your own (hockey) team, they talk about it every day,” Olenius says. “They were up last night between two and four in the morning watching the (Sweden) hockey game. I like hockey but I don’t have time for that.” — MCT
Page 44
Friday, April 23, 2010 CROSSWORD 967
Word Sleuth Solution
Yesterday’s Solution
ACROSS 1. The residue that remains when something is burned. 4. Not divisible by two. 7. German organist and contrapuntist (1685-1750). 11. A digital display that uses liquid crystal cells that change reflectivity in an applied electric field. 12. The federal agency that insures residential mortgages. 13. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey). 14. United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters. 15. Extremely pleasing. 16. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples. 17. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens. 20. A Mid-Atlantic state. 21. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism. 23. A software system that facilitates the creation and maintenance and use of an electronic database. 28. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill. 29. Harsh or corrosive in tone. 30. A sock with a separation for the big toe. 33. A gray tetravalent metallic element that resembles zirconium chemically and is found in zirconium minerals. 34. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth. 40. Tastelessness by virtue of being cheap and vulgar. 41. A narrow zigzag ribbon used as trimming. 43. United States tennis player who was the first Black to win United States and English singles championships (1943-1993). 46. A unit of length (in United States and Britain) equal to one twelfth of a foot. 47. A roll of photographic film holding a series of frames to be projected by a movie projector. 48. An official prosecutor for a judicial district. 49. A reason for wanting something done.
DOWN 1. Primitive chlorophyll-containing mainly aquatic eukaryotic organisms lacking true stems and roots and leaves. 2. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike. 3. A lipoprotein that transports cholesterol in the blood. 4. Viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal often considered inedible by humans. 5. An Indian tree of the family Combretaceae that is a source of timber and gum. 6. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad. 7. A small cake leavened with yeast. 8. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey). 9. Of or relating to or characteristic of the Republic of Chad or its people or language. 10. Exhibiting or restored to vigorous good health. 18. A river of southwestern Africa that rises in central Angola and flows east and then north (forming part of the border between Angola and Congo) and continuing northwest through Congo to empty into the Congo River on the border between Congo and Republic of the Congo. 19. Large brownish-green New Zealand parrot. 22. A mature blood cell that contains hemoglobin to carry oxygen to the bodily tissues. 24. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group. 25. An awkward stupid person. 26. The branch of computer science that deal with writing computer programs that can solve problems creatively. 27. A bachelor's degree in religion. 31. Lower in esteem. 32. The act of swimming. 35. 1/1000 gram. 36. Type genus of the family Arcidae. 37. The template for protein synthesis. 38. Related to or located at the back. 39. A dull persistent (usually moderately intense) pain. 42. An alliance made up of states that had been Soviet Socialist Republics in the Soviet Union prior to its dissolution in Dec 1991. 44. Angular distance above the horizon (especially of a celestial object). 45. A public promotion of some product or service.
Yesterday’s Solution
Page 45
Friday, April 23, 2010
COUNTRY CODES
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY A r i e s ( M a rc h 2 1 - A p r i l 1 9 ) "Although obstacles and difficulties frighten ordinary people," wrote French painter Theodore Gericault, "they are the necessary food of genius. They cause it to mature, and raise it up . . . All that obstructs the path of genius inspires a state of feverish agitation, upsetting and overturning those obstacles, and producing masterpieces." I'd like to make this idea one of your guiding principles, Aries. In order for it to serve you well, however, you'll have to believe that there is a sense in which you do have some genius within you. It's not necessarily something that will make you rich, famous, popular, or powerful. For example, you may have a genius at washing dogs or giving thoughtful gifts or doing yoga when you're sad. Whatever your unique brilliance consists of, the challenges just ahead will be highly useful in helping it grow.
Taurus (April 20-May 20) Yes, I know that the bull is your totem animal. But I'm hoping you're willing to expand your repertoire, because it's a ripe time for you to take on some of the attitudes of the king of beasts. Consider this. The naturalist and shaman Virginia Carper notes that lions have strong personalities but cooperate well. They're powerful as individuals but engage in constructive group dynamics. In many cultures, they have been symbols of nobility, dignity, and spiritual prowess. To adopt the lion as a protective guardian spirit builds one's ability to know and hunt down exactly what one wants. Would you like more courage? Visualize your lion self. Gemini (May 21-June 20) In 2011, I may do a tour of North America, performing my show "Sacred Uproar." But for the foreseeable future I need to shut up and listen. I've got to make myself available to learn fresh truths I don't even realize I need to know. So, yeah, next year I might be ready to express the extroverted side of my personality in a celebration of self-expression. But for now I have a sacred duty to forget everything I supposedly believe in and gratefully shuck my self-importance. By the way, Gemini, everything I just described would be a good approach for you to consider taking in the next three weeks. Cancer (June 21-July 22) Is it true what they say -- that you can never have too many friends? If you don't think so, it's a good time to reevaluate your position. And if you do agree, then you should go out and get busy. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you're likely to be extra lucky in attracting new connections and deepening existing alliances in the coming weeks. The friendships you strike up are likely to be unusually stimulating and especially productive. To take maximum advantage of the favorable cosmic rhythms, do whatever you can to spruce up your inner beauty. L e o ( J u l y 2 3 - Au g u s t 2 2 ) I have compiled a set of four affirmations that I think will keep you on the right track in the coming weeks. Try saying them at least twice a day. 1. "I am cultivating Relaxed Alertness, because that will make me receptive to high-quality clues about how to proceed." 2. "I am expressing Casual Perfectionism, because that way I will thoroughly enjoy being excellent, and not stress about it." 3. "I am full of Diligent Indifference, working hard out of love for the work and not being attached to the outcome." 4. "I am practicing Serene Debauchery, because if I'm not manically obsessed with looking for opportunities to cut loose, those opportunities will present themselves to me with grace and frequency." Virgo (August 23-September 22) The Great Wall of China is the largest human construction in the world, stretching for almost 3,900 miles. But contrary to legend, it is not visible from the moon. According to most astronauts, the Wall isn't even visible from low Earth orbit. Keep this in mind as you carry out your assignment in the coming week, Virgo. First, imagine that your biggest obstacle is the size of the Great Wall of China. Second, imagine yourself soaring so high above it, so thoroughly beyond it, that it disappears. If performed regularly, I think this exercise will give you a new power to deal with your own personal Great Wall of China.
Libra (September 23-October 2 2 ) In the early 1990s, actors Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder were engaged to be married. In honor of their love, Depp got a tattoo that read "Winona Forever." After the relationship fell apart, though, he had it altered to "Wino Forever." If you're faced with a comparable need to change a tattoo or shift your emphasis or transform a message anytime soon, Libra, I suggest putting a more positive and upbeat spin on it -- something akin to "Winner Forever."
Scorpio (October 23-November 21) In the Bering Strait, Russia and America are 2.5 miles apart. The International Date Line runs through the gap, meaning that it's always a day later on the Russian side than it is on the American. I suggest you identify a metaphorically similar place in your own life, Scorpio: a zone where two wildly different influences almost touch. According to my reading of the omens, it's an excellent time for you to foster more interaction and harmony between them. Sagittarius (November 22December 21) I have a group of colleagues who half-jokingly, half-sincerely refer to themselves as the Shamanic Hackers of Karmic Justice. The joking part of it is that the title is so over-the-top ostentatious that it keeps them from taking themselves too seriously. The sincere part is that they really do engage in shamanic work designed to help free their clients from complications generated by old mistakes. Since you're entering the season of adjustment and atonement, I asked them to do some corrective intervention in your behalf. They agreed, with one provision: that you aid and abet their work by doing what you can to liberate yourself from the consequences of wrong turns you made in the past.
Capricorn (December 22January 19) The Weekly World News reported that a blues singer sued his psychiatrist for turning him into a more cheerful person. Gloomy Gus Johnson claimed he was so thoroughly cured of his depression that he could no longer perform his dismal tales with mournful sincerity. His popularity declined as he lost fans who had become attached to his despondent persona. I suspect you may soon be arriving at a similar crossroads, Capricorn. Through the intervention of uplifting influences and outbreaks of benevolence, you will find it harder to cultivate a cynical attitude. Are you prepared to accept the consequences that may come from being deprived of some of your reasons to moan and groan?
Aquarius (January 20February 18) Educational specialist Dr. Howard Gardner believes I.Q. tests evaluate only a fraction of human intelligence. He describes eight different kinds of astuteness. They include the traditional measures -- being good at math and language -- as well as six others: being smart about music, the body, other people, one's own inner state, nature, and spatiality. I bring this to your attention, Aquarius, because you're entering a phase when you could dramatically enhance your intelligence about your own inner state. Take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to know yourself much, much better. P i s c e s ( Fe b r u a r y 1 9 M a r c h 2 0 ) South Carolina now requires subversive people to register with the state if they have the stated intention of overthrowing the government of the United States. I have no such goal, so I remain free to operate unlicensed in South Carolina. I am, however, participating in a movement to overthrow reality -- or rather, the sour and crippled mass hallucination that is mistakenly called "reality." This crusade requires no guns or political agitation, but is instead waged by the forces of the liberated imagination using words, music, and images to counteract those who paralyze and deaden the imagination. I invite you to join us. You're entering a phase when you may feel an almost ecstatic longing to free yourself from the delusions that constitute the fake "reality."
Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antiga Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Cyprus (Northern) Czech Republic Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England (UK) Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guyana Haiti Holland (Netherlands) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Ibiza (Spain) Iceland India Indian Ocean Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait
0093 00355 00213 00376 00244 001264 001268 0054 00374 0061 0043 001242 00973 00880 001246 00375 0032 00501 00229 001441 00975 00591 00387 00267 0055 00673 00359 00226 00257 00855 00237 001 00238 001345 00236 00235 0056 0086 0057 00269 00242 00682 00506 00385 0053 00357 0090392 00420 0045 00246 00253 001767 001809 00593 0020 00503 0044 00240 00291 00372 00251 00500 00298 00679 00358 0033 00594 00689 00241 00220 00995 0049 00233 00350 0030 00299 001473 00590 001671 00502 00224 00592 00509 0031 00504 00852 0036 0034 00354 0091 00873 0062 0098 00964 00353 0039 00225 001876 0081 00962 007 00254 00686 00965
Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Liberia Libya Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Majorca Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nepal Netherlands (Holland) Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Nigar Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Ireland (UK) North Korea Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts Saint Lucia Saint Pierre Saint Vincent Samoa US Samoa West San Marino Sao Tone Saudi Arabia Scotland (UK) Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Toga Tonga Tokelau Trinidad Tunisia Turkey Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay
00996 00856 00371 00961 00231 00218 00370 00352 00853 00389 00261 0034 00265 0060 00960 00223 00356 00692 00596 00222 00230 00269 0052 00691 00373 00377 00976 001664 00212 00258 0095 00264 00977 0031 00599 00687 0064 00505 00227 00234 00683 00672 0044 00850 0047 00968 0092 00680 00507 00675 00595 0051 0063 0048 00351 001787 00974 0040 007 00250 00290 001869 001758 00508 001784 00684 00685 00378 00239 00966 0044 00221 00284 00232 0065 00421 00386 00677 00252 0027 0082 0034 0094 00249 00597 00268 0046 0041 00963 00886 00255 0066 00228 00676 00690 001868 00216 0090 00688 00256 00380 00976 0044 00598
WHAT'S ON
Page 46
Friday, April 23, 2010
ESF talent excels in Cinderella
T
he English School Fahaheel recently excelled in their rendition of “Cinderella”-the classic fairy tale embodying a mythelement of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. The songs were beautifully sung and the cast was very effective in their dialogue delivery and acting talent. The Year 2 production was put on with the assistance of staff and parents. A big thank you goes to them for a colorful and magical end of year production!
Bunts Get-Together 2010
I
n commemoration of nine successive years, Buntara Sangha Kuwait proudly announces “Bunts Get-Together 2010’ for all its members and their families at Indian Community School Auditorium, Khaitan today from 2 pm to 9 pm. As a Chief Guest, Nagaraj Shetty (Ex minister & Chairman Karnataka State Coastal Development Authority) will be presiding this special occasion. Several cultural programs are planned by members and kids for entertainment. All members are requested to co-operate, assist and support the event in making it a grand success.
Turkish Embassy School announcement
T Birthday greetings Many, many happy returns of the day to dearest Mahi. May God shower your life with success, happiness and prosperity. Wishes come from your loving wife Kavi and your cute and lovable sons Manas and Arya.
he Turkish Embassy School will be celebrating the “National Sovereignty and Children’s Day” in Classical Restaurant, Block 4, Street 32 (behind Sultan Center) in Ahmadi today from 2:30-5:30 pm. All are cordially invited to attend the celebration. Falling today, “National Sovereignty and Children’s Day” in Turkey is a unique celebration. The founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, dedicated April 23 to the children of the country to emphasize that they were the future of the new nation. On April 23, 1920, during the
War of Independence, the Grand National Assembly met in Ankara and created the foundations of a new, independent, secular, and modern republic from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. Following the defeat of the allied invasion forces on September 9, 1922, and the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne on July 23, 1923, Ataturk started his task of establishing the institutions of the new state. He dedicated the day of sovereignty to the children and entrusted the youth with the protection of sovereignty and independence. Turkish children celebrate this
“Sovereignty and Children’s Day” as a national holiday. Schools participate in week-long ceremonies. Among the activities, the children send their representatives to replace state officials and high ranking bureaucrats in their offices. The president, prime minister, cabinet members, and provincial governors all turn over their position to children’s representatives. These children, in turn, sign executive orders relating to educational and environmental policies. On this day, the children also replace the parliamentarians in the Grand
Announcement NAFO Annual Day celebrations National Forum Kuwait (NAFO Kuwait) will celebrate its Sixth Anniversary today, 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. CHRISCCAA annual meeting Christian College Chengannur Alumni Association, Kuwait Chapter (CHRISCCAA), executive committee, have decided to conduct its annual general body meeting
tomorrow, 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 April 30 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 AssociationKALA 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.
National Assembly and hold a special session to discuss matters concerning children’s issue. Over the last two decades, a large number of states have been sending groups of children to Turkey to participate in these festivities. During their stay in Turkey, the foreign children are housed in Turkish homes. The children learn about each other’s countries and cultures and also participate in a special session of the Grand National Assembly. At this international assembly, children pledge their commitment to international peace and brotherhood.
Ahmadi Music Group presents ‘The Gondoliers’
T
he Ahmadi Music Group, directed by Richard Bushman, are busy with rehearsals for their forthcoming production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s, The Gondoliers. With a full orchestra, international vocal soloists and a cast of friends you may well recognize from around Kuwait treading the boards, this is a mustsee evening of entertainment. Set in Venice with long-lost princes and mistaken identity, stripey-shirted gondoliers and full-skirted peasant girls we promise a feast of musical theatre. Tickets and information from the box office on 6618 4192 or email boxoffice@ahmadimusicgroup.com . There will be a special preview for students on Tuesday May 18, a black tie gala performance on Wednesday May 19, and performances on Thursday May 20, and Friday May 21. All performances are at 7pm at the Boy Scout Association Theatre, Beirut Street, Hawalli
Friday, April 23, 2010
Page 47
Page 48
Friday, April 23, 2010
FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161
FLIGHT SCHEDULE
IN CASE YOU ARE NOT TRAVELLING, YOUR PROPER CANCELLATION OF BOOKINGS WILL HELP OTHER PASSENGERS TO USE SEATS. Airlines Wataniya Airways Tunis Air Wataniya Airways Kuwait Wataniya Airways Gulf Air Turkish A/L Pakistan Wataniya Airways Jazeeera Jazeera DHL Emirates Etihad Jazeera Qatari Air France Ethiopian Jazeeera Jazeeera British Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait Fly Dubai Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Emirates Arabia Qatari Etihad Jazeera Iran Air Wataniya Airways Gulf Air Middle East Wataniya Airways Jazeera Jazeera Jazeera Yemania Jazeera Egypt Air Jazeera Kuwait Jazeera United A/L Royal Jordanian Wataniya Airways Fly Dubai Jazeera Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Jazeera Qatari Kuwait Jazeera Bahrain Air Mihin Lanka Jazeera Etihad Emirates Wataniya Airways Gulf Air Jazeera Saudi Arabian A/L Jazeera
Arrival Flights on Friday 23/04/2010 Flt Route 188 Bahrain 327 Dubai/Tunis 308 Cairo 544 Cairo 408 Beirut 211 Bahrain 772 Istanbul 215 Karachi 322 Sharm El Sheikh 513 Sharm El Sheikh 267 Beirut 370 Bahrain 853 Dubai 305 Abu Dhabi 241 Amman 138 Doha 6770 Paris 622 Addis Ababa/Bahrain 503 Luxor 527 Alexandria 157 London 416 Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur 481 Sabiha 206 Islamabad 529 Assiut 302 Mumbai 053 Dubai 676 Dubai 286 Chittagong 352 Cochin 284 Dhaka 362 Colombo 855 Dubai 121 Sharjah 132 Doha 301 Abu Dhabi 425 Bahrain 619 Lar 182 Bahrain 213 Bahrain 404 Beirut 102 Dubai 165 Dubai 447 Doha 113 Abu Dhabi 825 Sanaa 171 Dubai 610 Cairo 457 Damascus 672 Dubai 525 Alexandria 982 Washington Dc Dulles 800 Amman 432 Damascus 057 Dubai 257 Beirut 422 Amman 552 Damascus 744 Dammam 693 Shiraz 134 Doha 546 Alexandria 173 Dubai 344 Bahrain 403 Colombo/Dubai 427 Bahrain 303 Abu Dhabi 857 Dubai 402 Beirut 215 Bahrain 217 Isfahan 510 Riyadh 239 Amman
Time 00:30 00:35 00:50 00:50 01:05 01:05 01:15 01:15 01:20 01:45 01:45 02:15 02:25 02:55 02:55 03:25 03:25 03:30 05:15 06:05 06:30 06:35 06:40 07:15 07:30 07:50 07:55 08:00 08:05 08:05 08:10 08:20 08:25 08:40 09:00 09:25 10:25 10:40 10:45 10:45 10:50 11:05 11:05 11:10 11:20 12:00 12:50 12:55 13:10 13:15 13:20 13:35 13:35 13:35 13:50 14:10 14:10 14:35 14:40 14:45 15:05 15:30 15:55 16:40 16:40 16:45 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:15 17:20 17:20 17:35
Jazeera Arabia Jazeera Srilankan Wataniya Airways Kuwait Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Indian Kuwait Fly Dubai Oman Air Middle East Jet A/W Rovos Saudi Arabian A/L Wataniya Airways Jazeera DHL Gulf Air Qatari United A/L Emirates Jazeera Lufthansa Egypt Air Shaheen Air Jazeera KLM Wataniya Airways Jazeera Airlines Jazeera Bangladesh India Express Lufthansa Indian Pak1sta Tunis Air Turkish A/L Pakistan DHL Emirates Etihad Ethiopian Qatari Air France Wataniya Airways Jazeera Jazeera Jazeera Jazeera Jazeera Gulf Air Wataniya Airways Jazeera Wataniya Airways British Kuwait Jazeera Fly Dubai Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait
367 125 497 227 304 166 106 502 542 618 786 177 614 674 774 102 575 562 061 647 402 572 081 506 404 459 372 217 136 981 859 429 636 612 441 185 0447 108 263
Deirezzor Sharjah Riyadh Colombo/Dubai Cairo Paris/Rome Dubai Beirut Cairo Doha Jeddah Dubai Bahrain Dubai Riyadh New York/London Chennai/Goa Amman Dubai Muscat Beirut Mumbai Baghdad Jeddah Beirut Damascus Bahrain Bahrain Doha Bahrain Dubai Bahrain Frankfurt Cairo Lahore/Karachi Dubai Amsterdam/Bahrain Dubai Beirut
Departure Flight on Friday 23/04/2010 Flt Route 528 Assiut 044 Dhaka 390 Mangalore/Kozhikode 637 Frankfurt 982 Ahmedabad/ Chennai 206 Lahore 328 Tunis 773 Istanbul 216 Karachi 371 Bahrain 854 Dubai 306 Abu Dhabi 622 Addis Ababa 139 Doha 6770 Dubai/Hong Kong 101 Dubai 164 Dubai 524 Alexandria 112 Abu Dhabi 422 Bahrain 446 Doha 212 Bahrain 181 Bahrain 456 Damascus 431 Damascus 156 London 545 Alexandria 256 Beirut 054 Dubai 177 Frankfurt/Geneva 170 Dubai 671 Dubai 551 Damascus
17:40 17:40 17:55 18:00 18:35 18:40 18:45 18:50 18:50 18:55 18:55 19:05 19:20 19:20 19:25 19:25 19:30 19:40 20:05 20:15 20:20 20:30 20:30 20:35 20:50 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:35 21:55 22:00 22:15 22:30 22:55 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:55 23:55 Time 00:05 00:15 00:25 00:50 01:05 01:10 01:25 02:15 02:30 03:15 03:45 04:00 04:15 05:00 05:15 06:50 07:00 07:00 07:15 07:35 07:40 07:45 07:50 08:05 08:10 08:25 08:35 08:35 08:40 08:55 09:00 09:00 09:10
Wataniya Airways Arabia Emirates Qatari Kuwait Etihad Wataniya Airways Gulf Air Iran Air Middle East Wataniya Airways Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait Jazeera Jazeera Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait Yemenia Kuwait Jazeera Egypt Air Jazeera Wataniya Airways Royal Jordanian Fly Dubai Kuwait United A/L Jazeera Jazeera Kuwait Wataniya Airways Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait Qatari Kuwait Rovos Bahrain Air Etihad Mihin Lanka Gulf Air Wataniya Airways Emirates Jazeera Arabia Saudi Arabian A/L Jazeera Jazeera Srilankan Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Fly Dubai Kuwait Kuwait Oman Air Middle East Jet A/W Wataniya Airways Gulf Air Saudi Arabian A/L DHL Kuwait Qatari Kuwait Kuwait Emirates Jazeera Jazeera Jazeera United A/L Kuwait Egypt Air
Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)
421 122 856 133 117 302 401 214 618 405 303 743 172 541 692 366 103 238 501 825 785 426 611 216 105 801 058 561 982 176 496 673 403 617 458 773 135 613 082 345 304 404 216 305 858 262 126 511 184 428 228 107 283 361 062 331 343 648 403 571 187 218 507 373 675 137 203 301 860 526 502 636 981 411 613
Amman Sharjah Dubai Doha New York Abu Dhabi Beirut Bahrain Lar Beirut Cairo Dammam Dubai Cairo Shiraz Deirezzor London Amman Beirut Doha/Sanaa Jeddah Bahrain Cairo Isfahan Dubai Amman Dubai Amman Bahrain Dubai Riyadh Dubai Beirut Doha Damascus Riyadh Doha Bahrain Baghdad Bahrain Abu Dhabi Dubai/Colombo Bahrain Cairo Dubai Beirut Sharjah Riyadh Dubai Bahrain Dubai/Colombo Dubai Dhaka Colombo Dubai Trivandrum Chennai Muscat Beirut Mumbai Bahrain Bahrain Jeddah Bahrain Dubai Doha Lahore Mumbai Dubai Alexandria Luxor Aleppo Washington Dc Dulles Bangkok/Manila Cairo
09:10 09:20 09:40 10:00 10:00 10:10 11:35 11:35 1l:40 11:50 11:50 11:55 11:55 12:00 12:00 12:20 12:30 12:30 13:00 13:00 13:30 13:55 13:55 14:05 14:30 14:30 14:35 14:35 14:50 14:55 15:00 15:10 15:10 15:35 15:50 16:05 16:20 16:20 17:00 17:25 17:35 17:40 18:05 18:05 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:35 19:00 19:10 19:10 19:40 20:00 20:20 20:50 21:00 21:00 21:15 21:20 21:30 21:35 21:55 21:55 22:00 22:10 22:35 22:40 22:45 23:10 23:20 23:30 23:35 23:40 23:40 23:55
CLASSIFIEDS
Friday, April 23, 2010
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)
97485532. (C 2149) 22-4-2010
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
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)
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
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:
Page 49
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 check, price KD 2,350, negotiable. Contact: 66015265. (C 2156) Ford Tracer, 1998 model, insurance till next March 2011, price KD 750, serious persons contact: 99554160. (C 2153) 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) 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)
MATRIMONIAL Proposals invited from parents of well educated qualified 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
LOST I, Nayanam P.R., Pallikkattil House, note the public the loss of my mark lists and certificate of Bachelor of Commerce Degree examination 2004 September with Registration No.242077 of University of Calicut. I intend to apply for the duplicate mark list/certificate. (C 2167) 21-4-2010
PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists: Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 5622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 5752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 5321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 5739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 5757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 5732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 5732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT): Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz
4555050 Ext 510 5644660 5646478 5311996 5731988 2620166 5651426
General Practitioners: Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi Dr. Yousef Al-Omar Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem Dr. Kathem Maarafi Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae
4555050 Ext 123 4719312 3926920 5730465 5655528 4577781 5333501
Urologists: Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 2641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 2639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 2616660
Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 5313120 Plastic Surgeons: Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari Dr. Abdel Quttainah
2547272 2617700 5625030/60
Family Doctor: Dr Divya Damodar
3729596/3729581
Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan
2635047 2613623/0
Gynaecologists & Obstetricians: Dr Adrian Harbe Dr. Verginia s.Marin Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly Dr. Salem soso
3729596/3729581 572-6666 ext 8321 2655539 5343406 5739272 2618787
General Surgeons: Dr. Abidallah Behbahani 5717111 Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer 2610044 Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher 5327148
Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra Dr. Mobarak Aldoub Dr Nasser Behbehani
5728004 5355515 4726446 5654300/3
Paediatricians: Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed Dr. Zahra Qabazard Dr. Sohail Qamar Dr. Snaa Maaroof Dr. Pradip Gujare Dr. Zacharias Mathew
5340300 5710444 2621099 5713514 3713100 4334282
(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada) 5655535
2639939 2666300
Endocrinologist: Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman 5339330 Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 5658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 5329924 Physiotherapists & VD: Dr. Deyaa Shehab Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees
5722291 2666288
Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi 5330060 Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah 5722290
Dentists: Dr Anil Thomas Dr. Shamah Al-Matar Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan Dr. Bader Al-Ansari
3729596/3729581 2641071/2 2562226 2561444 2619557 2525888 5653755 5620111
Internists, Chest & Heart: Dr. Adnan Ebil Dr. Mousa Khadada
Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman 2636464 Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly 5322030 Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali 2633135
Neurologists: Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri 5633324 Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan 5345875
Internist, Chest & Heart: DR.Mohammes Akkad 4555050 Ext 210 Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Tel: 5339667 Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Consultant Cardiologist Tel: 2611555-2622555
Page 50
Friday, April 23, 2010
TV Listings Orbit /Showtime Channels
00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00
00:45 01:40 02:35 03:30 04:25 05:20 05:45 Baker 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:45 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:20 11:50 12:45 13:10 13:40 14:35 15:00 15:30 16:25 16:50 17:20 17:45 Baker 18:15 18:40 19:10 Bear 20:10 21:05
Big Love Dawson’s Creek Bones Hotel Babylon Dawson’s Creek Sons of Anarchy CSI Big Love Without a Trace Ghost Whisperer Bones Hotel Babylon CSI Sons of Anarchy Bones Dawson’s Creek Without a Trace Ghost Whisperer Big Love Inside the Actors Studio The Pacific Survivor The Closer Rescue Me
Animal Cops Phoenix Untamed & Uncut Killer Whales Animal Cops Houston Miami Animal Police Monkey Business Deep Into the Wild with Nick E-Vets: The Interns SSPCA: On the Wildside Wildlife SOS Pet Rescue Planet Earth Austin Stevens Adventures Beverly Hills Groomer The Planet’s Funniest Animals The Planet’s Funniest Animals Monkey Business SSPCA: On the Wildside Miami Animal Police E-Vets: The Interns Pet Rescue Animal Cops Houston Wildlife SOS SSPCA: On the Wildside Planet Earth The Planet’s Funniest Animals The Planet’s Funniest Animals Beverly Hills Groomer Deep Into the Wild with Nick Amazon Abyss Amazon Abyss Face to Face with the Polar Animal Cops Phoenix Untamed & Uncut
00:15 The Fast Show 00:45 Ancient Rome: Rise And Fall Of An Empire 01:35 2 Point 4 Children 02:05 2 Point 4 Children 02:35 Hyperdrive 03:05 Carrie And Barry 03:40 The Keith Barret Show 04:10 The League Of Gentlemen 04:45 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 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 20:45 21:15 22:50 23:35
Eastenders Blackadder Ii Blackadder Ii Coast The Weakest Link Doctors Perfect Day Robin Hood New Tricks
00:05 00:30 00:55 01:20 01:45 02:10 03:00 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:10 05:35 05:55 06:45 07:10 07:35 08:00 08:25 09:10 10:00 10:55 11:20 11:45 12:10 12:35 13:25 14:15 15:00 15:45 16:35 16:55 17:15 17:40 18:05 18:55 19:45 20:15 20:40 21:10 21:35 22:00
The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Sweet Baby James Sweet Baby James The Home Show The Home Show New British Kitchen The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook Daily Cooks Challenge Cash In The Attic USA Hidden Potential The Home Show New British Kitchen The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook Daily Cooks Challenge Sweet Baby James Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic USA Hidden Potential Sweet Baby James Sweet Baby James The Home Show The Home Show Bargain Hunt Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic USA Hidden Potential Sweet Baby James Sweet Baby James The Home Show Antiques Roadshow Daily Cooks Challenge Come Dine With Me MasterChef Goes Large The Naked Chef The Naked Chef Living In The Sun
01:00 03:15 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 22:45
Rosemary’s Baby-PG15 The War Within-18 L’ivresse Du Pouvoir-PG15 The Sun Also Rises-PG15 Wendy And Lucy-PG15 It Might Get Loud-PG15 Stolen Summer-PG Save The Last Dance-PG Pearl Diver-PG Pavilion Of Women-18 The Dying Gaul-PG15 La Graine Et Le Mulet-PG15
00:00 00:30 01:00 02:00 02:55 03:50 04:15 04:45 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:30 07:55 08:20 09:15 10:10 11:05 12:00 12:30 12:55 13:20 14:15 15:10 16:05 17:00 18:00
Border Security Destroyed in Seconds Miami Ink Street Customs Berlin Heartland Thunder Massive Engines Massive Engines Mythbusters How It’s Made Dirty Jobs Massive Engines Massive Engines Top Trumps Street Customs Berlin Mythbusters Ultimate Survival Heartland Thunder Border Security How It’s Made How It’s Made American Chopper Miami Ink Mythbusters Dirty Jobs World’s Toughest Jobs Border Security
00:30 Human Body: Ultimate Machine 01:20 Science of the Movies 02:10 I, Videogame
03:00 Beyond Tomorrow 03:50 NASA’s Greatest Missions 04:45 How Does That Work? 05:10 Mean Green Machines 05:40 Weird Connections 06:10 Human Body: Ultimate Machine 07:00 Junkyard Mega-Wars 08:00 Cosmic Collisions 09:00 Science of the Movies 09:55 How Does That Work? 10:20 Stunt Junkies 10:50 Human Body: Ultimate Machine 11:45 Mean Green Machines 12:10 Weird Connections 12:40 Cosmic Collisions 13:35 Science of the Movies 14:30 Ecopolis 15:25 How Does That Work? 15:55 Junkyard Mega-Wars 16:50 Brainiac 17:45 Eco-Tech 18:40 The Gadget Show 19:05 The Gadget Show 19:30 Space Pioneer 20:20 How It’s Made
00:00 00:20 00:45 01:10 01:35 02:00 02:25 02:45 03:10 03:35 04:00 04:25 04:45 05:10 05:35 06:00 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:20 07:45 08:10 08:35 09:00 09:25 09:45 10:10 10:35 11:00 11:25 11:45 12:10 12:35 12:55 13:20 13:40 14:05 14:30 14:55 15:15 15:40 16:00 16:25 16:45 17:10 17:35 17:40 17:45 17:50 19:05 19:10 19:15 19:20 20:35 21:00 21:45
My Friends Tigger And Pooh Lazytown Special Agent Oso Imagination Movers Jungle Junction Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny Special Agent Oso Brandy & Mr Whiskers Fairly Odd Parents Hannah Montana I Got A Rocket Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas & Ferb Higglytown Heroes My Friends Tigger And Pooh Lazytown Special Agent Oso Imagination Movers Jungle Junction Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny Special Agent Oso Brandy & Mr Whiskers Fairly Odd Parents Hannah Montana I Got A Rocket Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas & Ferb Suite Life On Deck Replacements American Dragon Kim Possible I Got A Rocket Fairly Odd Parents Phineas & Ferb Replacements A Kind Of Magic Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Sonny With A Chance Fairly Odd Parents Phineas & Ferb Cars Toons Cars Toons Cars Toons Aladdin & The King Of Thieves Cars Toons Cars Toons Cars Toons High School Musical 2 Wizards Of Waverly Place The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody The Replacements
00:15 Streets Of Hollywood 00:40 Ths 01:30 Extreme Hollywood 02:20 Sexiest 03:15 Ths 05:05 Dr 90210 06:00 20 Best And Worst Celebrity Plastic... 07:45 Extreme Hollywood 08:35 E! News 09:00 The Daily 10 09:25 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 09:50 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 10:15 Ths 11:05 Ths 12:00 E! News 12:25 The Daily 10 12:50 Bank Of Hollywood
13:40 E! Investigates 15:25 Behind The Scenes 15:50 Behind The Scenes 16:15 E!es 17:10 Leave It To Lamas 17:35 Leave It To Lamas 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 E!es 21:20 Kendra 22:10 E! News 22:35 The Daily 10 23:00 Dr 90210
00:00 01:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 05:00 06:00 06:00 07:00 07:00 08:00 08:00 09:00 09:00 10:00 10:00 11:00 11:00 12:00 12:40 13:00 14:00 14:20 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 21:00 22:00
Giada At Home Food Network Challenge Great British Menu Daily Cooks Challenge Barefoot Contessa Iron Chef America Barefoot Contessa Great British Menu Iron Chef America Chopped Food Network Challenge Everyday Italian Iron Chef America Great British Menu Iron Chef America Chopped Daily Cooks Challenge 30 Minute Meals Food Network Challenge 30 Minute Meals Food Network Challenge Iron Chef America Barefoot Contessa Teleshopping Teleshopping Barefoot Contessa Teleshopping Great British Menu Teleshopping Daily Cooks Challenge Teleshopping Barefoot Contessa Barefoot Contessa Teleshopping Tyler’s Ultimate
01:00 M-1 Challenge Germany vs Russia Legion 02:00 MLB: Texas Rangers at Boston Red Sox 05:00 The Golf Channel - TBA 06:30 Golf Central International 07:00 The Golf Channel - TBA 08:00 PGA Tour: Zurich Classic of New Orleans Rd. 1 New Orleans, LA 11:00 MLB: Texas Rangers at Boston Red Sox 14:00 Golf Central International 14:30 World Sport 2010 15:00 Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping `s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands 16:00 Inside the PGA Tour 16:30 European Tour Ballantine’s Championship Rd. 2 Jeju Island, South Korea 19:30 MLB: Texas Rangers at Boston Red Sox 22:00 PGA Tour: Zurich Classic of New Orleans Rd. 2 New Orleans, LA
00:30 01:20 02:10 03:05 04:00 04:55 05:20 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:30 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:50 13:40 14:30 15:20 16:10
Dead Tenants FBI Files On the Case with Paula Zahn Crimes That Shook the World Forensic Detectives Real Emergency Calls Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghosthunters Ghosthunters Forensic Detectives FBI Files CSU Mystery ER Forensic Detectives FBI Files Diagnosis: Unknown Solved Mystery ER Forensic Detectives FBI Files CSU
Transporter 3 on Show Movies 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:30 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40
Mystery ER Forensic Detectives FBI Files Diagnosis: Unknown Solved Mystery ER Undercover Fugitive Strike Force Dr G: Medical Examiner
00:25 02:35 04:40 06:10 08:05 10:00 11:20 12:55 14:25 15:55 17:45 19:20 22:00 23:35
Under Fire The Moderns The Little Death Something Wild Lost Angels The Trip The Escape Home Is Where The Hart Is My American Cousin Marie: A True Story The Burning Bed Hawaii Soda Cracker Elmer Gantry
00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00
Valley Of The Wolves World’s Deadliest Animals Monster Fish Dangerous Encounters Dolphin Army World’s Deadliest Animals Monster Fish Dangerous Encounters Valley Of The Wolves World’s Deadliest Animals Monster Fish Dangerous Encounters Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy Dangerous Encounters Lion Army World’s Deadliest Animals Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy Dangerous Encounters Lion Army World’s Deadliest Animals Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy Dangerous Encounters Superfish Wild Russia
00:00 Modern Family 00:30 New adventures of old Christine 01:00 The Daily Show with Jon
Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 03:00 Family Guy 03:30 Hung 04:00 Sauturday Night Live 05:00 Modern Family 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 New adventures of old Christine 13:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 14:00 The Nanny 14:30 Three sisters 15:00 Modern Family 15:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Family Biz 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 The Bernie Mac Show 18:30 Dharma & Greg 19:00 How I met your mother 19:30 Two and a half men 20:00 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Cougar Town 22:30 American Dad 23:00 Sauturday Night Live
00:00 01:00 01:30 02:00 03:00 04:00 Leno 05:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 16:30
What’s Good For You 10 Years Younger Look A Like The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Monique Show The Tonight show with Jay GMA (repeat) GMA Health What’s the Buzz The Martha Stewart Show Look A Like 10 Years Younger Jimmy Kimmel Live! The View The Ellen DeGeneres Show What’s Good For You GMA Live GMA Health What’s the Buzz
Page 51
Friday, April 23, 2010 17:00 Leno 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 Leno 23:00
The Tonight show with Jay Look A Like 10 Years Younger The View The Ellen DeGeneres Show Jimmy Kimmel Live! The Tonight Show with Jay
00:45 Transporter 3-18 02:30 The Secret Lives Of Second Wives-PG15 04:00 Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix-PG 06:15 Bottle Shock-PG15 08:00 The Incredible Hulk-PG 10:00 The Old Curiousity Shop-PG 11:45 Speed Racer-PG 14:00 Beverly Hills Chihuahua-PG 16:00 The Incredible Hulk-PG 18:00 The Pink Panther 2-PG15 20:00 Angels And Demons-PG15 22:15 Sweeney Todd-18
00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 PG15 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00
18:00 18:45 19:00 20:04 20:45 23:00 23:45
Urban Hit Playlist Trace Video Mix New Playlist Club 10 Playlist
00:00 01:00 01:30 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 21:00
Globe Trekker Angry Planet The Thirsty Traveler How To Holiday Greener Culture Shock Distant Shores Wild At Heart Secrets of Bangkok Globe Trekker Planet Food The Thirsty Traveler Angry Planet Globe Trekker Essential Dream Destinations Distant Shores Travel Today Chef Abroad Entrada Planet Food Globe Trekker Chef Abroad The Thirsty Traveler Feast India Entrada Top Travel Culture Shock Globe Trekker Travel Today Journey Into Wine-South Africa Chef Abroad The Thirsty Traveler Globe Trekker Special Rajasthan - A Colourful Legacy
The Monique Show
00:00 Little Einsteins 00:50 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 01:40 Jo Jo’s Circus 02:30 Jo Jo’s Circus 03:20 Higglytown Heroes 04:10 Higglytown Heroes 05:00 Happy Monster Band 05:10 My Friends Tigger And Pooh 06:00 Handy Manny 06:50 Happy Monster Band 07:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 07:50 Special Agent OSO 08:40 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 09:20 Imagination Movers 10:10 Handy Manny 11:00 Special Agent OSO 11:20 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 11:50 Handy Manny 12:10 Handy Manny 12:40 Handy Manny 12:40 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 13:30 Imagination Movers 14:20 Lazytown 15:10 Handy Manny 16:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 16:40 Special Agent OSO 17:30 Imagination Movers 18:20 My Friends Tigger And Pooh 19:10 Lazytown 20:00 Little Einsteins 20:50 Handy Manny 21:10 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 22:00 Imagination Movers 22:40 Little Einsteins 23:20 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
01:00 03:00 05:00 PG15 07:15 09:00 10:50 13:05 15:35 17:20 19:15 21:10 23:00
12:00 The Jungle Book III: Mowgli’s Adventure-FAM 14:00 Tommy And The Cool MulePG 16:00 Alexander The Great-FAM 18:00 Zeus And Roxanne-PG 20:00 Velveteen Rabbit-FAM 22:00 The Jungle Book III: Mowgli’s Adventure-FAM
00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 04:30 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00
Wallender Dollhouse Breaking Bad Lipstick Jungle Every Body Loves Raymond Coach Life on Mars Emmerdale Huey’s Cooking Adventure Cold Case Every Body Loves Raymond Coach Lipstick Jungle Life on Mars Cold Case Emmerdale Huey’s Cooking Adventure Every Body Loves Raymond Coach Wallender Dollhouse Life on Mars Lipstick Jungle Better off Ted Billable Hours Demons Demons Flash Forwards The Unusuals Breaking Bad
01:00 Premier League World 01:30 Premier League Classics 02:00 Goals Goals Goals 02:30 World Hockey 03:00 Premier League Classics 03:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights 04:00 Barclays Premier League 06:30 Premier League Classics 07:00 Premier League World 07:30 Brazil League Highlights 08:00 Barclays Premier League 11:00 Premier League Classics 11:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights 12:00 Premier League World 14:30 Premier League 16:30 Barclays Premier League Highlights 17:30 Brazil League Highlights 18:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 18:30 Barclays Premier League 20:30 Goals Goals Goals 21:00 Premier League World
Stag Night-18 Punisher: War Zone-18 Arn: The Knight TemplarPrisoner-PG Along Came A Spider-PG15 Die Hard-PG15 Black Hawk Down-18 Along Came A Spider-PG15 Connected-PG15 Enough-PG15 Tailor Of Panama-18 The Tattooist-18
Kingpin-PG15 Dream For An Insomniac-PG15 Big Daddy-PG15 The Hammer-PG15 Touch And Go-PG Life Or Something Like ItMy Bollywood Bride-PG15 Child Star-PG15 Kingpin-PG15 This Is Not A Test-PG15 The Elder Son-18 College-18
00:00 Barbie Fairytopia Mermaidia 02:00 Tommy And The Cool Mule 04:00 House Arrest-FAM 06:00 Mucha Lucha! Return Of El Malefico-FAM 08:00 Little Hercules In 3-D-PG15 10:00 House Arrest-FAM
01:00 01:30 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 10:00 10:30 14:30 16:30 17:00 19:30 21:30 22:00
Mobil 1 The Grid European PGA Tour Golf AFL Highlights Futbol Mundial European Tour Weekly Live AFL Toyota Premiership ICC Cricket World Live Super 14 Live Super 14 Premier League World AFL Toyota Premiership Super 14 Premier League Preview Show Live Super League
00:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 01:00 ICC Cricket World 01:30 Premier League World 02:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 02:30 Premier League Darts 06:30 World Sport 07:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 07:30 European Tour Weekly 08:00 Live PGA European Tour 11:00 World Sport 11:30 ICC Cricket World 12:00 Live Snooker World Championship 16:00 Futbol Mundial 16:30 Live Snooker World Championship 20:30 Premier League World 21:00 Live Snooker World Championship
VH100:00 Vh1 Rocks 00:30 So 80’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 Sould Legends 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 Rock 20:00 Vh1 Viewer’s Jukebox Rock 21:00 Top 10 Sould Legends 22:00 Vh1 Pop Chart 23:00 Boogie Night
Rocknrolla on SuperMovies
00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 13:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 22:00 23:00
WWE NXT UFC - The Ultimate Fighter WWE Vintage Collection Bushido NCAA Basketball UFC Unleashed WWE NXT British Triathlon Super Series Brain Cell UAE National Race Day FIM World Cup Bushido WWE NXT NCAA Basketball V8 Supercars Series Highlights V8 Supercars Series Highlights UFC - The Ultimate Fighter UFC All Access V8 Supercars Extra WWE NXT WWE Smackdown WWE Bottomline UFC - The Ultimate Fighter
01:00 What Happens In Vegas-PG15 03:00 Largo Winch-PG15 05:00 Son Of The Mask-PG 07:00 Sticks And Stones-PG 09:00 Bring It On 5: Fight To The Finish-PG15 11:00 Made Of Honor-PG15 13:00 Sydney White And The 7 Dorks-PG15 15:00 Happy Feet-PG 17:00 Bring It On 5: Fight To The Finish-PG15 19:00 Marley And Me-PG15 21:00 High School Musical 3: Senior Year-PG 23:00 Rocknrolla-18
01:45 Some Came Running 04:00 The Passage 05:40 Across The Wide Missouri 07:00 The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn 08:45 Kidnapped 10:35 Where Eagles Dare 13:05 Hearts Of The West 14:45 The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn 16:30 Eight On The Lam 18:20 The Yellow Rolls-Royce 20:20 Singin’ In The Rain 22:00 Wild Rovers
00:30 01:20 02:10 03:00 03:55 04:50 05:40 06:30 07:20 08:10 09:00 09:55 10:50 11:40 12:30 13:20 14:10 15:00 15:55 16:50 17:40 18:30 19:20 20:10 21:00 21:55
The Universe 3 Human Weapon Ice Road Truckers 3 Life After People Evolve Dinosaur Secrets Prehistoric Mega Storms The Universe 3 Human Weapon Ice Road Truckers 3 Life After People Evolve Dinosaur Secrets Prehistoric Mega Storms The Universe 3 Human Weapon Ice Road Truckers 3 Life After People Evolve Dinosaur Secrets Prehistoric Mega Storms The Universe 3 Human Weapon Ice Road Truckers 3 Ax Men 2 Tunnellers
00:00 01:00 01:30 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 05:30 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 16:00 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00
Dr 90210 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane Dallas Divas & Daughters How Do I Look? Split Ends Dr 90210 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane Area How Do I Look? Style Star Style Her Famous My Celebrity Home Style Star Dress My Nest Peter Perfect Whose Wedding Is it Anyway? Ruby Clean House Clean House Comes Clean Dress My Nest How Do I Look? Split Ends Dallas Divas & Daughters Style Her Famous Running in Heels Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane Split Ends Clean House Dress My Nest
01:04 02:00 02:45 08:04 08:45 13:04 13:50 16:04 16:45
Hit US Urban Hit Playlist French Only Playlist Urban Hit Playlist Africa Playlist
00:05 Cow & Chicken 00:30 Cramp Twins 00:55 George Of The Jungle 01:20 Adrenalini Brothers 01:45 Eliot Kid 02:10 Ed, Edd N Eddy 02:35 Class Of 3000 03:00 The Powerpuff Girls 03:15 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 03:40 The Secret Saturdays 04:05 Codename: Kids Next Door 04:30 Ben 10 04:55 Best Ed 05:20 Samurai Jack 05:45 Cramp Twins 06:10 Eliot Kid 06:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 07:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 07:25 Chowder 07:50 Best Ed 08:15 Chop Socky Chooks 08:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 09:05 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 09:30 Knd 60 10:30 Squirrel Boy 10:55 Robotboy 11:20 Camp Lazlo 11:45 The Powerpuff Girls 12:10 Class Of 3000 12:35 Ed, Edd N Eddy 13:00 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 13:25 Codename: Kids Next Door 13:50 Ben 10 14:15 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 14:40 Squirrel Boy 15:05 Eliot Kid 15:35 Casper’s Scare School 16:00 Skunk Fu! 16:25 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes 16:50 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 17:15 The Secret Saturdays
SPECTRUM
Page 52
ccording to the troubled actress, she was at a pal’s party when the DJ - who Lindsay dated on and off for 18 months - committed the disgusting act. She tweeted: “Fun @coachella but tonight @ my friends bday party, @samantharonson spit in my face and left w/ @mileycyrus’s ex. (sic)” Before hooking up with Liam Hemsworth, Miley was in a relationship with model Justin Gaston for nine months and her boyfriend before that was Nick Jonas. Samantha the sister of music producer Mark
A
Ronson - seemingly hit back at Lindsay’s allegation on her own twitter page. In a posting made an hour after Lindsay’s, she wrote: “Guess what didn’t happen tonight.” Meanwhile, Lindsay’s mother Dina has denied her daughter owes $600,000 in credit card debts. It was reported earlier this week the ‘Mean Girls’ star has racked up the huge bill, but Dina insists Lindsay’s financial matters are all in order. She told RadarOnline.com: “She is not going into credit card debt. Absolutely not. And her business
managers... I actually am in contact with them every day. And you know Lindsay will spend money but she has people that run what she does. Lindsay doesn’t really pay her bills. Someone else does, so they wouldn’t let her do that.“And in the interim, you know, a bill may be a little late or not, you know, but that’s pretty normal. That happens to me, that happens to everyone. Lindsay isn’t in charge of her finances, other people are and we are keeping a close eye on the people who are managing her.”
Christina Aguilera feels more ‘sexual’ after becoming a mom
he ‘Dirrty’ singer - who has two-year-old son Max with her husband Jordan Bratman - says her selfconfidence has soared since she got pregnant and she feels far sexier than ever before. She said: “I’m more confident and comfortable in my own skin. I think I’m even a more sexual Christina.” Christina and Jordan are determined to make nudity a normal part of the youngster’s life and regularly strip off for ‘Naked Sundays’. The 29-year-old beauty is proud to be a “very sexual person” and was adamant she wouldn’t lose any of sensuality
T
after having a baby. She said: “I think it’s important that he sees mommy not be ashamed of her sexuality. I mean, he’s two. We’re art collectors, there are a lot of female nudes around the house. Max will be growing up in a house where it’s just the norm... It’s only weird when you shame it.” While the blonde pop beauty would love to extend her brood one day, she insists her LP ‘Bionic’, due for release in June, is like her new baby. She explained: “I would love that one day, but not right now. “Eventually, I would like to give Max a brother or a sister,
Friday, April 23, 2010
but right now ‘Bionic’ is the baby.” The ‘Keeps Gettin’ Better’ singer also refuted criticism she is copying Lady Gaga with her new sound. She said in an interview on the Bert Show on Atlanta radio station Q100: “It just comes with the territory. That, in particular, is not even worth wasting the breath to comment on. I’ve been around for over a decade and I think my work speaks for myself. “If I were younger, I would have engaged, been a little upset. There’s a bigger picture out there. I’ve got my son, my family, my work.”
he Hole singer - whose husband Kurt Cobain took his own life in 1994 -was feeling so unhappy she found herself thinking about jumping out of a window. She told NME magazine: “I think a lot of people idealize suicide. I understand it. I had an episode two weeks ago when I was tempted to jump out of a window. “I’m not saying why but the reason behind it is self-loathing. You know, wouldn’t it be better if I wasn’t there? “I’ve always been pretty self-destructive. I need protection from myself.” Courtney - who recently lost custody of her 17-yearold daughter Frances Bean - admits she pushes herself too hard in her performances and worries it will eventually drive her insane. She added: “I go to a place in performance which is like a crucifixion. It’s insanely hard and I’m going to end up some f***ing nutjob from giving too much to audiences who don’t know what they’re getting.”
T
SPECTRUM
Friday, April 23, 2010
ntonio Banderas plans to threaten his 13-year-old daughter’s first boyfriend with a shotgun. The Spanish actor - who has teenage daughter Stella with his wife of 15 years Melanie Griffith - is apparently dubious now the youngster has discovered boys for the first time. Melanie joked: “Stella, well, we don’t know where her future lies, and we don’t put any pressure on her to decide. But she’s doing very well at school and has lots of friends and is just discovering boys. And Antonio’s waiting at the door for them with a shotgun!” Melanie - who also has son Alexander, 24, and 20-yearold daughter Dakota with ex-husband Don Johnson - takes delight in watching her children grow and is full of praise
A
he ‘Blind Side’ actress has been keeping out of the public eye following allegations husband Jesse James cheated on her with several women, but pals claim she is now ready to start legal proceedings to divorce the ‘Monster Garage’ host. A source told website PopEater: “She needed time away to sort everything out by herself. Now, she is ready to stop hiding and start fighting back. “It’s over between Sandra and Jesse. For a while, it looked like she was going to forgive him but not now. But way too much has happened and after spending time alone, Sandra has realized that she deserves better. It’s not going to be easy but she’s an amazingly strong lady. Don’t worry, she will survive.” It was recently claimed that Sandra - who was pictured without her wedding ring earlier this week - has been keeping a diary to help her deal with her feelings over her marriage problems. A source said: “Sandy has suffered one of the most public and heart-wrenching betrayals imaginable, and she’s experiencing everything from complete shock to grief to incredible anger and humiliation. “She just cannot believe she fell for a man who turned out like this. The diary is allowing her to vent all her emotions.”
T
he ‘Chloe’ actress who is married to director Bart Freundlich - insists her 12-year-old son Caleb and eight-year-old daughter Liv Helen thinks it is “great” they are only concerned with her parenting and haven’t even expressed any desire to read her ‘Freckleface Strawberry’ children’s book series. Julianne said: “My book is never requested at home. They’re very disinterested in what I do for a living. “Children are interested in you being their parent, and that’s really what they want. It’s a great thing.” However, though the children are not interested in the 49year-old star’s career,
T
Page 53
for how they conduct themselves. She told Britain’s Hello! magazine: “Alexander is a musician, very goodlooking and deep, a wonderful person with a really intense inner life. Dakota is wild and beautiful, clever. It’s great to see how she’s developing both in this profession and as a woman.” Dakota is following in the footsteps of her mother and trying to succeed as an actress but the ‘Working Girl’ star has warned her not to become too dependent on Hollywood making her happy. She added: “She’s much stronger and smarter than me. “I’ve told her that her private life and personal growth don’t depend on Hollywood. She should enjoy her work, but it’s not the most important thing there is.”
Julianne Moore’s kids don’t want to read her books Julianne is teaching them to take an interest and care about other people. She added to People magazine: “They go to a Quaker school, and one of the things in the Quaker community is about community service and what you can do to help others. “We’ve been given a lot in our lives, and so we talk about that. What do you do to help out? Simple things like cleaning up a park, but just the idea that it’s your responsibility as a member of a community to help out other people.”
Mariah Carey to marry Nick Cannon for a third time
he couple - who originally tied the knot in 2008 - plan to renew their vows again on April 30, their two-year wedding anniversary, with the singer already demanding more expensive jewelry from her spouse to mark the occasion. Nick said: “We get married every year! That’s our thing. So it’s going to be our third wedding this year. That’s what we’ll be
T
doing on the actual anniversary... We’ll do something... a party or event, just to celebrate. This is the third ring I have to buy. It’ll be something different - something good.” According to leaked details of her 2010 tour rider, the ‘Hero’ singer is just as demanding backstage as she is with her husband. The rider specifies that Mariah’s dressing room space has
“no busy patterns” although “black, dark grey, cream and dark pink” are all fine, and she should also be provided with a “lamp or clip light”, so harsh lighting can be turned off. The 41-year-old star is also very particular about the temperature of the room, 75 degrees Fahrenheit, while she likes to be surrounded by two dozen white roses and vanilla aromatherapy candles in order to
unwind after a show. Mariah recently admitted she loves being known as a diva - but doesn’t think she is demanding enough. She said: “You know what? I guess I am a diva in many ways! When it comes to certain things, yes, I can be difficult and a little bit rigid about what I want. Am I demanding? I don’t think I’m demanding enough.” — Bangshowbiz
Page 54
riving through Beirut’s maze of alleys can demand a certain death-defying flair. So it comes as no coincidence that the hero of the Arab world’s first webdrama is a delivery boy-and his noisy, trusty moped. The online series follows happy-go-lucky Lebanese delivery boy Sleiman as he zooms through the streets on his “Shankaboot,” a name invented for his scooter and title of the drama, delivering food, medicine, a gas cylinder or an oversized floral lampshade which he balances on his head. “What we aim for is to keep the series close to ordinary, daily life, to the way people are on the streets,” said Katia Saleh, producer of the first Arabic-language online sitcom. Funded by the BBC World Service Trust in cooperation with Saleh’s production house Batoota Films, Shankaboot pays tribute to aspects of Beirut overlooked on local television: quirky city residents, underage drivers, class, drugs and prostitution rings. While films, music and television must first pass muster with Lebanon’s general security, using the Internet as a medium has given Shankaboot unprecedented freedom. As the online use of Arabic grows at record speed and more and more young Arabs gain access to the Internet, Shankaboot makes a change from the diet of Latin American and Turkish soap operas so popular in the region. The script is witty and crude at the same time, echoing the everyday vernacular of the Lebanese rather than the polished Arabic of dubbed soaps. “What’s popular in the Arab world is Mexican and Turkish drama, and I think Shankaboot has appealed so widely to so many people first because it is well-made and second because it speaks to them,” Saleh told AFP on the set in the eastern village of Taalabaya where the crew was shooting season two.
SPECTRUM
D
aintings once belonging to Ambroise Vollard, one of the 20th century’s most important art dealers depicted by Picasso and Renoir, go under the hammer this summer some 70 years after they were deposited in a bank vault. Ending a lengthy legal dispute, the works will be auctioned by Sotheby’s, with the highlight, a landscape by Andre Derain valued at 9-14 million pounds ($14-22 million), being sold in London on June 22 and the remaining 140 items in Paris. The treasure trove was stored in a Parisian bank in 1939 shortly after Vollard’s death and was part of a collection of drawings and paintings first offered for sale in 1981 by Societe Generale in order to recoup 40 years of unpaid storage fees. But the sale was cancelled when the heirs of Vollard and Erich Slomovic, the young gallery assistant who worked for Vollard and deposited the works at the bank, challenged it in court claiming the proceeds of the auction should go to them. Slomovic, a Croatian Jew, had amassed his own collection of works by leading lights of French art and managed to get hundreds of them out of France to Yugoslavia during the war, according to specialist art journals. But he was eventually detained by the Nazis and is presumed to have died at or on his way to a concentration camp. Many of the works Slomovic took to Yugoslavia ended up in the National Museum of Belgrade, and accounts differ as to whether they were donated or seized. The dispute over ownership of the treasure trove hidden in the Parisian bank was exacerbated by the fact that both Slomovic and Vollard died at around the same time-Vollard was killed in a car accident in 1939 and had no direct heirs.
P
Lebanese actors Hassan Akil (left) and Samira Kawwas take a break during filming of the online series ‘Shankabout’, in the Bekaa Valley village of Taalabaya. — AFP “It speaks their language.” While the Beirut cityscape is dotted with landmarks easily recognizable to anyone who has visited, director Amin Dora instead chose to focus on the city “as Beirutis know it.” “In season one, what I aimed for was to reflect the reality of life in Beirut,” Dora said. “We avoided everything artificial. We want to show Beirut as it is.” The quest for authenticity also prompted Dora to cast first-time actors in
Legal challenges resolved Sotheby’s gave few details of the nature of the legal tussle, but said in a statement: “Those challenges now finally resolved, the works will now be sold by agreement among the legal beneficiaries of the Vollard Estate.” The Derain picture was painted in 1905 in the south of France when the artist spent the summer working together with Matisse. He was among a group of artists dubbed “les fauves” (wild beasts) for the bold colors they used. “We are very excited to be offering the wonderful landscape by Derain in London in June,” said Helena Newman, vice chairman of Sotheby’s impressionist and modern art department. “Its strong, fauve colors and powerful composition, combined with its extraordinary provenance, will be extremely appealing to today’s international buyers.” The auctioneer will be hoping that the combination of the painting’s appeal, its long disappearance and the dramatic story behind its survival will drive prices higher in the sale room. Art prices, particularly for rare works, have recovered strongly from the sharp falls during the worst of the financial crisis, and records are tumbling once again. Among the other lots on offer in Paris will be a Cezanne portrait of the author Emile Zola (estimated at 500-800,000 euros), a Picasso etching and a monotype by Edgar Degas. Vollard helped to build the reputations of artists including Van Gogh, Gauguin, Maillol, Van Dongen and Matisse by staging one-man shows dedicated to them. His status as one of the great art dealers of the last century was underlined by the exhibition “Cezanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde” held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2006. — Reuters
most of the key roles. “I think what really helped the authenticity come through was the acting, which is a direct reflection of the reality of the people of Beirut,” Dora said. Starring as Sleiman is first-time actor Hassan Akil, 17, who like his peers was attracted to the project’s script and medium. “I don’t watch Lebanese television at all. I think it’s totally fake,” Akil told AFP on set. “I don’t think I would have
Friday, April 23, 2010
continued to play Sleiman if the script was fake ... But this is something else, and I’m proud to be contributing to it.” And even before its official launch in May, Shankaboot has already become a hit in the online world with more than 7,000 views and 5,000 Facebook fans, or “Shankaddicts.” “I’m very surprised - and happy-with the series’ success among Lebanese expatriates and foreigners,” said Dora. “After the Arab world, most of our hits come from the United States. “A major concern for us was download time, because we didn’t want the viewer to give up on the downloading process,” he said of the five-minute episodes. The first season is made up of 11 episodes during which viewers meet the lovable Sleiman, the beautiful runaway Ruwaida and the enigmatic Chady, whose story is not unveiled until season two. Sleiman and Ruwaida’s lives become intertwined when, chatting on his phone as he speeds down the street, he knocks her over down as she emerges from a bus. As the complex plot unravels, the series looks at issues of abuse, drugs, and poverty, dotted with generous doses of comic relief. Season two takes Sleiman, Chady and Ruwaida to the eastern Bekaa Valley-Lebanon’s Wild West-and introduces characters from rural life, far removed from cosmopolitan Beirut. Actor Nasri Sayegh, who plays the dark, sinister Chady, said what drew him to the project was its loyalty to the reality of life in Lebanon. “Lebanon’s ‘nakha,’ its unique flavour, comes out on the screen ... In season one it was Beirut and in season two it is the Bekaa. You can see it, smell it, taste it,” said Sayegh, 31. “Sleiman is the main character,” the actor added. “But the real hero is the city”-from Beirut to the Bekaa and wherever else the noisy little Shankaboot takes the series. — AFP
People take their souvenir pictures in front of Tokyo’s Kabukiza, the iconic home of Japan’s traditional kabuki drama, in Tokyo on April 21, 2010. — AFP
he curtain is coming down on Tokyo’s Kabukiza, the iconic home of Japan’s traditional kabuki drama, which is set to be demolished next month to make way for a skyscraper. Women dressed in their finest kimonos and crowds of tourists have flocked to the venue, a landmark that evokes ancient Japanese castles and temples, to catch the final shows before its date with the wrecking ball. Nestled amid the glass and steel of the upscale Ginza shopping district, the four-story playhouse, with its curved roofs and red paper lanterns, is a reminder of a quieter past beloved by many in the bustling metropolis. For more than half a century it has been the premiere venue in Tokyo to see kabuki, the stylized classical dance-drama whose all-male actors perform in extravagant costumes and mask-like facial makeup. The theatre’s owner, movie and entertainment company Shochiku, plans to take down the building sometime in May and build a 49story office tower on the site by 2013 at a cost of 43 billion yen (467 million dollars). The company, which says the old structure fails to meet earthquake-safety
T
standards, has said it will rebuild the theatre, using some original facade ornaments, on the bottom floors of the new building. In contrast to the half-century old structure, the new version will boast elevators and the latest energy saving technology. In the meantime the show must go on and daily plays will continue to be staged at several other venues in the city, including the nearby Shimbashi Embu theatre, and elsewhere in Japan. Still, for many the Kabukiza demolition will mark the end of an era. “When the Kabukiza closes, I will close my shop,” said Kazushi Nishii, 80, who sells roasted chestnuts outside the theatre. “My girlfriend called the Kabukiza will be gone. I don’t want to see a new one.” Kikuko Murakami, 79, a nearby kiosk owner, said: “I am very sad, and it’s difficult to buy tickets this month ... There are a lot of people visiting.” Crowds have been queuing outside the theatre, which is listed as a cultural property and has been decorated with blue and red drop curtains with the farewell message “Kabukiza. Sayonara performance.” —AFP
SPECTRUM
Friday, April 23, 2010
Jordin Sparks (left) and Natalie Grant perform.
op-selling Christian rock act Casting Crowns has won artist of the year at the 41st annual Dove Awards. The band had its five-year run as group of the year snapped earlier Wednesday evening by NEEDTOBREATHE, but came away with the Doves’ biggest award thanks to their popularity with fans, who voted in the category. Fans also voted for new artist of the year winner Sidewalk
King Tut exhibition opening in NYC
T
E
Michael W Smith (left) talks with Brandon Heath (second from left) Francesca Battistelli (second from right) and Natalie Grant (right) after the Dove Awards. — AP photos
Prophets. Casting Crowns’ “Until The Whole World Hears” debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, the highest Nielsen SoundScan entry for any Christian music album. Producer and songwriter Jason Ingram was the night’s big winner with four awards including being part of the songwriting team that won song of the year for the “By Your Side.” The ceremony will air Sunday on GMC. — AP
gypt’s antiquities chief, speaking Wednesday at a preview of a King Tut exhibition, renewed his attacks on museums he claims have refused to return artifacts that rightfully belong in Egypt. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said he had a wish list of objects he wants returned. He singled out several museums, including the Saint Louis Art Museum, which he said has a 3,200-year-old mummy mask that was stolen before it was acquired by the museum. “We’re going to fight to get these unique artifacts back,” he said at the New York preview of “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” an exhibition that has traveled to five other US cities and London. Last week, he said he turned over to Homeland Security “all the evidence that I have to prove that this mask was stolen, and we have to bring it back.” On Wednesday, Saint Louis Art Museum spokeswoman Jennifer Stoffel said the institution “had correspondence with Hawass in 2006 and 2007 and has not heard anything on the matter since.” At the time, she said the museum shared information with Hawass on the mask’s provenance and said “we would do the right thing ... if there was something that refuted the legitimacy of the provenance.” The St. Louis museum has said it bought the mask from an art dealer in the United States in 1998 after checking with authorities and the international Art Loss Register to see if it had been stolen. It said it also approved the purchase with the Egyptian Museum. Over the centuries, thousands of Egyptian antiquities have been taken out of Egypt - some stolen, some removed by famed archaeologists. Many are now
Page 55
housed in the world’s greatest museums. New York is the final stop for the Tut exhibition, which opens Friday. It is being shown at the Discovery Times Square Exposition - a venue Hawass on Wednesday called “too commercial.” He said he wished it was the Metropolitan
Mark Hall (center) and the group Casting Crowns accept the artist of the year award at the Dove Awards on Wednesday, April 21, 2010, in Nashville, Tenn. The Dove Awards are given for accomplishment in gospel music.
the exhibition” but was unable to house it because “of the financial concerns that accompanied it,” which included charging a separate fee for the exhibition along with its regular museum admission, she said. The admission to the Tut exhibition is $27.50 for adults, with a portion going to
A ‘Nested Fetus Coffin,’ is displayed as part of the ‘Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs’ exhibit in New York, Wednesday, April 21, 2010. — AP Museum of Art. King Tut “deserves to be at the Met, and not in this hall,” Hawass said. A blockbuster exhibition on the boyking was first shown at the Met in 1979. “We’re delighted that the Tut material is back in New York,” said Met spokeswoman Elyse Topalian. “The Met had discussions about the possibility of being a venue for
fund antiquity conservation efforts in Egypt. Topalian also said that the Met would not have had any curatorial oversight over the exhibition. The current Tut exhibit features about 130 objects - more than twice the number in the 1979 show including more than 50 of Tut’s burial
objects. It includes a golden diadem inlaid with colored glass and semiprecious stones that was found still on the head of the mummy when Howard Carter discovered Tut’s tomb in 1922. The crown was not part of the 1979 exhibition. King Tut’s chariot also is a new addition; it will be the first time that it will travel outside Egypt. Its arrival at the exhibition has been delayed by the volcanic ash that suspended flights from Europe. It will be installed within the month. The current show provides new information about the life and death of Tutankhamun and his ancestors based on recent discoveries made through DNA and CT scans. For example, the tests revealed that Tut fractured a leg shortly before he died, and the accident likely occurred on the chariot, said exhibition curator David P Silverman. “It’s a traveling chariot he used in military campaigns and hunting,” he said. “One of the wheels was replaced in ancient times, probably after an accident.” Hawass also announced that a set of four foundation deposits - similar to time capsules - and a limestone fragment with a text indicating a tomb was hidden nearby were recently discovered in the Valley of the Kings. He said this discovery gave him hope he would soon find the tombs of Ankhesamun, Tut’s wife, and that of Nefertiti, his stepmother. The Valley of the Kings was used from about 1550 BC to 1070 and contains 80 tombs. Hawass also has made a request for the return of the Rosetta Stone, housed in the British Museum in London, and an ancient bust of Nefertiti, wife of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, at Berlin’s Egyptian Museum. He said the pieces would be displayed in the new Grand Museum in Cairo, slated to open in 2012. — AP
Page 56
edaling placidly, black-suited businessmen and women in dresses and high heels wheel shiny red bikes between growling green buses, serenaded by shrill police whistles and coughing diesel trucks, the morning sunlight filtering through yellow smog. Happy Earth Day, Mexico City. With its scofflaw drivers, gridlocked traffic and cobblestoned downtown, Mexico City isn’t the most bicycle-friendly place. But residents are being asked to take the risk for Madre Tierra as part of a larger campaign that leaders hope will clean up this 700-year-old metropolis. “It’s now that we need to act, and we are urging other urban leaders around the world to do the same - to improve quality of life for their citizens and the health of our planet,” Mexico City’s environmental secretary, Martha Delgado, said Wednesday during a phone interview while visiting Washington to share Mexico City’s successes with government leaders and counterparts. This spring the city launched Ecobici, installing 1,100 bikes at 85 stations throughout the center of the city. In its first three months, 4,000 people have paid $24 for user cards they swipe at a rack to release a bicycle for a half-hour. City officials hope to register 24,000 people in the first year. With 50,000 trips taken to date through Mexico City’s harrowing streets, city officials are delighted with the results: zero accidents, zero thefts. Introduced in Europe in the 1960s, bike sharing has evolved from a few, informal programs when do-gooders put free bikes out on city streets to high tech systems now used in dozens of cities from Shanghai, China, to Santiago, Chile. One of the largest is in Paris, where three reported fatalities early on and more than 7,500 thefts led to some serious concerns. But Paris pressed on, opening more bike stations and educating drivers; now studies show the 115,000 bike trips a day have significantly eased traffic. Ecobici is part of Mexico City’s 15-year Plan Verde, a $1 billion-per-year program supported by Mexico’s federal government, the World Bank and the United Nations. The plan includes a new, energy efficient bus system, once-a-week no-drive days for all cars, and subway system improvements. Every Sunday, 16 miles of downtown streets are closed to car traffic, allowing cyclists and pedestrians to safely cruise their city. Parks are staying open later and rooftop gardens being installed. “This is exactly what we need big cities in emerging economies to be doing,” said Mauricio Cardenes, director of Latin America issues at the Brookings Institution. Here’s how the Ecobici system work: Users can check out a bike for 30 minutes at a time. They return it to any of the bike stations, and 10 minutes have to pass before they check out another one. If a bike is kept out longer than a half hour, small fees start to accrue. The bikes have adjustable seats, and they come with lights that go on automatically when ridden and have small racks to hold purses or groceries. Luis Rodriguez, a downtown office worker, wiped sweat from his forehead as he snapped his Ecobici onto a rack this week. “The government is doing a good job with this,” he said. “It saves me money, gets me to work more quickly and it’s healthy for me.” A 15minute bike commute can burn 11 pounds of fat a year, reducing the risk of heart disease as much as 20 percent, according to SmartBike, which builds Ecobicis for about $700 each in
SPECTRUM
Friday, April 23, 2010
P
South Korean environmental activists have their faces painted as characters from James Cameron’s movie ‘Avatar’ as they perform during a rally to mark the 40th anniversary of Earth Day in downtown Seoul, South Korea, yesterday. — AP Oslo, Norway. In addition, it says, commuting cyclists are less exposed to air pollution than commuting motorists, and just one person switching from driving to cycling to work for a 6-mile trip each way saves 1.3 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year. That said, Rodriguez, 35, and every Ecobici user interviewed, said they are gravely concerned about drivers who don’t follow rules that allow cyclists to have their own lane. They told of near misses with buses, aggressive drivers leaning on their horns, cars on sidewalks, cars going the wrong way on one-way streets,
virtual mayhem at traffic circles. “Nobody respects the bicyclist,” said Gustavo Gonzalez, slipping an Ecobici from a downtown rack. “But I like it. It’s a very good program. I wish they’d extend it further.” City leaders do plan to add designated bike lanes, and thousands more bikes as well. They say they have no choice. The capital and its suburbs face grave ecological challenges. With more than 20 million people and 6 million cars, the metropolis sprawls across a valley surrounded by 16,000-foot peaks that trap contaminants for days. The lakes it was built
Environmentalists wear colorful headdresses as they march to mark Earth Day yesterday. — AP
on have been mostly sucked dry. Pumps run around the clock to control wastewater, but when heavy rains come, nothing stops sewage from washing through the poorer neighborhoods. The city is sinking, too, in some places, as much as a foot a year. Yet Plan Verde is paying off There were 333 days in 1990 that had ozone levels high enough for health warnings. Last year there were 180 days above normal - still too many, but a marked improvement. Traffic accidents are down 30 percent in areas served by a 4-year-old system that has bus-only lanes on two busy routes, and an estimated 6 percent of people who drove in 2005 are now riding public transport. With skies changed from mostly brown to mostly blue, the white peaks of the Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatlcan volcanos can be seen again on many days, rising more than 30 miles from the city’s outskirts. City leaders hope those tangible changes will show other communities that environmental problems can be tackled at the local level. “We hope that Mexico City will inspire other cities around the world to embrace environmentally sustainable programs,” Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said during meetings at Harvard University in November. Mexico’s officials will have an opportunity to show off their results this fall when they host the next major United Nations climate conference. Metrobike manager Paul DeMaio, who consults from Washington with cities on setting up bike-sharing programs, said Mexico City sets a fine example using Ecobici as one small part of its cleanup plan. “It’s not going to cure the smog,” he said. “It’s not going to be the silver bullet for making Mexico City into the greenest city in the world, but it’s part of the toolbox of measures that local governments can take to reach for those goals.” — AP
SPECTRUM
en months after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Canadian actress Lisa Ray says she is cancer free, has enjoyed being bald, and is ready to embrace her second home, India, with new vigor. The actress and model, frequently named as one of the most beautiful people in the world by Indian and Canadian media, says she is feeling “reborn” after a stem cell transplant in January to treat multiple myeloma. “This has hijacked my life for long enough and now I am going to take matters into my own hands,” Ray, 38, told Reuters. “It’s really been a kind of rebirth,” she said of her radical stem cell transplant treatment. “It’s like being reborn from the inside out. It’s a big cleaning from the middle of your marrow and spreading out.” Multiple myeloma is a cancer of white blood cells that attacks and destroys bone and which more commonly afflicts people in their mid-60s. There is currently no known cure and treatment is focused on containment. But Ray, born in Canada to an Indian father and Polish mother, chose to fight back, and chronicle her battle in a painfully honest yet humorous blog that has won her even more admirers. The glossy-haired star of Bollywood movies “Water” and “Kasoor,” showed off her new short-hair look this week in Los Angeles. Her most recent movie, “Cooking with
T
Stella,” opened the Indian Film Festival in the US city as a benefit for the Los Angelesbased Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research. “My hair is coming back and it is looking awesome right now. I am just loving it. It is the sleekest and most well-put together I have ever looked,” she laughed. Ray recalled that she had cut off her long dark locks for her role in 2007 Oscarnominated movie “Water.” But having her hair fall out while undergoing cancer treatment was a different matter. “What was traumatic about losing my hair this time was I didn’t have a choice. But I have enjoyed being bald,” she added, relishing the absence of shampoos, conditioners and hair dryers in her life. Re-connecting with India Ray got her first modeling job after being spotted in India at the age of 16 while on a family vacation. And India was the first place she headed for after her stem cell transplant. “It was the best thing I could have done,” she said. “I am planning to divide my time between Bombay and Canada now. I felt really re-embraced and re-connected with a world and people in that world that I had missed, and it feels right to start really re-engaging and spending a lot more time there.” “There has been some tension in my
Page 57
life, living and belonging on two continents. But now I have come to peace with it. I haven’t come to some big transcendental conclusion about this, but on a personal level it feels like I really need to absorb both places.” Ray said she wanted to resume her acting and modeling career. But what excites her most is the offer of a publishing contract in India. Details are still under wraps. “Writing is a renewed passion that I have re-discovered. It is a beautiful way of processing what I have been going through,” she said of her blog. “You can take the pain and understand it through the filter of art..It’s been so valuable and I am definitely going to pursue it. I have a feeling that writing will become increasingly important in my life.” Ray also plans to continue efforts to raise awareness for multiple myeloma. Some 20 percent of proceeds from ticket sales to the “Cooking with Stella” screening at the Indian film festival in Los Angeles will go towards the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research which works on designing new drug therapies for the condition. “Obviously, it is in my benefit. But we also we have to understand that cancer, not just multiple myeloma, is reaching epidemic proportions and we need to take action,” she said. — Reuters
Models wear creations by Mexican label “Julia y Renata” at the Dfashion show in Mexico City, Wednesday, April 21, 2010.
Models wear creations by Mexican designer Alejandra Quesada. — AP photos
Lisa Ray
Friday, April 23, 2010
SPORTS
Page 58
Friday, April 23, 2010
Ribery’s week goes from bad to worse
Roma’s rise leaves fans in dreamland
Red card is latest of Ribery’s troubles
MILAN: AS Roma fans are pinching themselves after their stunning rise to the top of Serie A and a home victory over fourth-placed Sampdoria on Sunday (1845 GMT) will bring their title dreams one step closer to reality. Roma, whose coach Luciano Spalletti quit after two games of the campaign when huge debts prevented any major buys, are now title favourites with four games left having gone 24 unbeaten in the league. Sampdoria, vying for Serie A’s fourth and final Champions League spot, would appear to be their toughest remaining test and boast mercurial former Roma forward Antonio Cassano in their ranks. Roma are chasing their first league and cup double after reaching the Italian Cup final on Wednesday but coach Claudio Ranieri knows Samp will be a major test. He had little sympathy for title rivals Inter Milan, who could be distracted by the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona. “I don’t know if it will affect the championship, that’s their problem. I only look at my team,” he told reporters. Roma, whose victory over derby rivals Lazio last Sunday sent the city berserk with fights and parties, will also confront Inter in the May 5 Cup final for the fifth time in six years. Inter, who stunned Barca 3-1 in a thrilling home leg on Tuesday and visit the Nou Camp on Wednesday, host third-bottom Atalanta on tomorrow (1600). Jose Mourinho’s men had a ninepoint lead in February but a series of draws and defeats have jeopardised their hopes of a fifth successive scudetto. Right back Maicon should be fit despite losing a tooth in the Barca game while forward Goran Pandev is a slight doubt. Bottom side Livorno host Catania knowing they will be relegated if they fail to win.— Reuters
MUNICH: This week can only get better for Franck Ribery. Questioned by French police as a witness in a prostitution investigation, the Bayern Munich playmaker added to his woes by being sent off against Olympique Lyon on Wednesday. Ribery suffered a rush of blood to the head when he stamped on the ankle of Lyon striker Lisandro Lopez in the 37th minute of their Champions League semi-final first leg. Italian referee Roberto Rosetti brandished a straight red card as Ribery trudged forlonly off. Bayern overcame the dismissal to win 1-0 as Lyon were alos reduced to 10 men early in the second half. Frenchman Ribery, who has yet to decide whether he will stay at Bayern or join another major European club at the end of the season, will miss the return leg in France and could potentially miss the final should Bayern qualify if UEFA hand out a twomatch suspension. The 27-year-old walked past reporters without saying a word after the game. Ribery, whose participation in the match was initially in doubt due to injury, was one of several France internationals, including Lyon’s Sidney Govou, who were quizzed in relation to the prostitution ring and Bayern have kept him out of the media spotlight all week. Bayern coach Louis van Gaal said Ribery had been unlucky to be sent off. “I thought, watching from the bench, that he stood too long on the opponent’s leg. I do not think it was a red card because it was the inner foot and not a foul with full force,” he said. “I think it was more provocation but I think the referee showed the red card because he saw that he stood long on that foot.” Van Gaal, who has had a rocky relationship with the player, said he hoped he would only receive a one-match ban. “If you see it closely it was not a red card. It is more a yellow so I hope that for Bayern and himself he will be banned for only one game,” he said. — Reuters
MUNICH: Bayern’s Franck Ribery (center) receives a red card by referee Roberto Rosetti during the Champions League semifinal first leg soccer match in Munich, southern Germany. — AP
N’Zogbia held over driving test scam LONDON: Wigan Athletic’s French midfielder Charles N’Zogbia has been arrested over suspicion that he arranged for someone else to take part of his driving test for him, police said yesterday. N’Zogbia, who scored a lastminute winner for Wigan in their 3-2 victory over Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday, was held by officers on Wednesday at a test centre in Greater Manchester, northern England.
Wigan manager Roberto Martinez said the player had been “badly advised”. Newspapers said staff from the centre had become suspicious about a man who turned up to take the theory part of the driving test some weeks ago. They reported that 23-year-old N’Zogbia was arrested as he was about to get into a car with an examiner for the practical test. “At about 8.30 am on Wednesday,
police working alongside the Driving Standards Agency arrested a 23-yearold man at Sale driving test centre on suspicion of fraud by false representation,” Greater Manchester Police said in a statement. The player has been released on police bail until June 3. “The way I see the whole situation is that Charles has been badly advised, and he’s made a naive mistake,” Martinez told a
reporters. “We’re going to look into every single detail before I give my full side of the story but what is important is Charles has reacted in a very mature way. “We’ll collaborate with the police and with Charles to make sure we get out of this situation in a positive way.” The offence of fraud by false representation carries a maximum jail term of 10 years.— Reuters
SPORTS
Friday, April 23, 2010
Page 59
KUWAIT: The semifinal football match between the Fire Service Directorate and Information Ministry, within the ministries and government bodies league was held in Al-Nasr sports club. The fire department won the match with a score of 2 - 1. The final match will be between the Fire Directorate and the National Guard.
Man Utd host in-form Spurs LONDON: Manchester United protects a nine-year unbeaten streak tomorrow against a Tottenham team aiming to influence the outcome of the Premier League title race still further. United has been relatively untroubled by Spurs since 2001, twice scoring five goals and twice scoring four, but the north London club is arguably the league’s form team after beating leader Chelsea and third-place Arsenal last week. Tottenham is chasing a first ever appearance in the Champions League and a third straight win over a title contender could let Chelsea stretch its lead to four points when it hosts Stoke on Sunday - albeit without suspended captain John Terry. Spurs might normally be expected to ease off after beating their two biggest rivals within four days, but they need victory to make sure they stay ahead of Manchester City in the contest for fourth place. “We have to keep concentrating until the end of the season because it’s not finished,” Tottenham defender Younes Kaboul said. “We’ve done well, but we’ve got to put that behind us and keep going. “City losing at the weekend was good for us, and if we keep playing like we have done over the last two games, there is no reason why we shouldn’t finish in fourth place.” City’s 1-0 loss to United coupled with Tottenham’s 2-1 win over Chelsea trimmed the Blues’ lead to a single point and lifted Spurs above City. Few fans expected Tottenham to take many points
from Arsenal or Chelsea after Spurs lost a grueling FA Cup semifinal 2-0 to Portsmouth at Wembley the previous weekend. And despite those wins, few will be expecting much at Old Trafford. Tottenham’s last win over United was in May 2001, when United had already won a third straight Premier League title. Spurs can count just two other Premier League wins against the Red Devils and has not won at Old Trafford since 1989. Tottenham could have captain Ledley King back after the defender was rested
EPL Preview against Chelsea because of his chronic knee injury, while Kaboul may continue in the unfamiliar role of right back because of injuries to other players. Arsenal is six points behind Chelsea and effectively out of contention for the title but could do Tottenham a huge favor if it beats City tomorrow. Tottenham is just two points ahead of City and both clubs have four games left. Russia playmaker Andrey Arshavin could be back for the Gunners following a calf injury that has kept him out for the past three weeks, with his team aiming for a strong finish to lift morale ahead of what it hopes will be a more solid title challenge next season. “This season has been tough, tight and sometimes it was even difficult for me and my team but in general it was not bad,” Arshavin said. “Hopefully we will win the last three games. “We have got a lot of goals at the end of the games, we
managed to do some comebacks and we have to use that spirit next season. We can fight again next season.” Chelsea can end United’s three-year stint as champions if it wins its three remaining games, but Chelsea will be without Terry against Stoke after the England international was sent off at White Hart Lane. “Of course there is pressure in our minds because we need to win our games if Man U win theirs,” Chelsea midfielder Deco said. “If you said on the first day of the Premier League in August we would be one point clear with three games to go, two at home and one game away, we would all say ‘OK, I’ll sign.’ It could be better if we won or Man U lost, OK, but it didn’t happen.” Branislav Ivanovic may step into central defense alongside Alex. Also Sunday, Liverpool is at Burnley, Fulham is at Everton and Birmingham is at Aston Villa. Tomorrow’s other games are: Bolton vs Portsmouth, Hull vs Sunderland, West Ham vs Wigan and Wolverhampton vs Blackburn. Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion have already secured the two automatic promotion spots from the second-tier League Championship, leaving the teams below them to fight it out for the four playoff berths. Nottingham Forest and Cardiff have already secured spots and fifth-place Leicester can take another if it wins at Preston tomorrow. Sixth-place Swansea is at Sheffield United, while seventh-place Blackpool is at Peterborough.— AP
Utd still most ‘valuable club’ Soccer club values off, Utd still tops: Forbes CHICAGO: The average worth of the world’s 20 most valuable soccer clubs fell 8.5 percent over the last year, and the number of teams valued at more than $1 billion shrank by one, according to a Forbes report released on Wednesday. The top clubs saw their average value decline to $632 million for the 2008-2009 season from $691 million, said Forbes magazine. Team values are based on past team sale prices and current stadium revenue. Fifteen teams on the list saw their values decline, with one other remaining unchanged. However, the strengthening U.S. dollar over the past year skewed the numbers as the average value in euros rose 2.7 percent to 451 million from 439 million, Forbes said. Leading the way again for the sixth consecutive year was Britain’s Manchester United, owned by the Glazer family which also owns the National Football League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Forbes said. United is worth $1.8 billion, down 2 percent from the previous year. The magazine also estimated that Manchester United, whose fans want the Glazers to sell after loading the team with debt, was the most profitable soccer team last year with $150 million in operating income. In comparison, the most valuable Major League Baseball team is the New York Yankees, worth an estimated $1.6 billion,
while the most valuable NFL team is the Dallas Cowboys, valued at $1.65 billion last September, according to Forbes. Rounding out soccer’s top five are Spain’s Real Madrid (worth $1.32 billion, down 2 percent), Britain’s Arsenal ($1.18 billion, down 2 percent), Spain’s Barcelona ($1 billion, up 4 percent) and Germany’s Bayern Munich ($990 million, down 11 percent), according to Forbes. Arsenal has been the subject of speculation as large shareholders Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov have each raised their stakes to just below the 30 percent threshold that would require a mandatory takeover offer. The ranks of teams worth $1 billion or more shrank by one as Bayern Munich and Liverpool both dropped off the list, while Barcelona joined it, according to the magazine. Teams rated No 6, 7 and 9 (Liverpool, AC Milan and Chelsea) each saw their values fall 19 percent, Forbes said. Liverpool is being sold by American businessmen Thomas Hicks and George Gillett. The biggest loser on the list was Newcastle United at No 20, which saw its value fall 30 percent to $198 million, Forbes said. The biggest winner was Inter Milan at No. 10, with its value up 12 percent to $413 million. The complete rankings can be found on the magazine’s website at www.forbes.com/soccer. — Reuters
Portsmouth denied Europa spot LONDON: Portsmouth will not play in next season’s Europa League after English football authorities said yesterday that they will not support the relegated Premier League club’s belated application for a UEFA license. Portsmouth qualified to play in Europe by reaching this month’s FA Cup final because opponent Chelsea has already secured a Champions League berth. But Portsmouth has not applied for the necessary license and may not have secured one anyway because its debt of more than 100 million pounds ($154 million) is likely to have breached UEFA’s financial regulations. “The FA and Premier League have confirmed to the administrators of Portsmouth Football Club that they shall not consider any late application for granting of a UEFA Club License for the 2010-11 season,” the FA and Premier League said in a joint statement. The south-coast club did not make an initial application and would have had to prove to UEFA by May 31 that it was a solvent business. England’s extra Europa League spot will instead go to the seventh-placed Premier League team - currently Liverpool. The firm running Portsmouth and trying to keep it in business announced the size of
its debt Wednesday, with the total including 1 million pounds ($1.54 million) owed to Premier League rival Tottenham over the aborted January transfer of Asmir Begovic. But Tottenham said yesterday that the administrators were wrong to say the amount was a sell-on fee, claiming instead that it was a deposit it had paid to secure the goalkeeper’s signing. British media widely reported that Portsmouth had agreed to sell Begovic to Tottenham and would be liable to make the payment if it subsequently sold him to another club. But Tottenham contends that it agreed to a combined transfer fee for Begovic and defender Younes Kaboul, paying Pompey 1 million pounds as a deposit on the goalkeeper on the understanding that it would be repaid if he moved elsewhere. Kaboul joined Spurs but Begovic instead moved to Stoke for 3.25 million pounds ($5 million) on Feb 1. “Portsmouth pressed for an immediate payment in order to alleviate their cashflow situation,” Tottenham said in a statement. “We were assured that the transfer of Begovic would be completed before the end of the transfer window. “Our intention had been to assist a fellow club in financial difficulties.” — AP
SPORTS
Page 60
Friday, April 23, 2010
Don’t expect England to win WCup: Barnes LONDON: Former England football star John Barnes insists it is unrealistic to expect England to win the 2010 World Cup. The ex-Liverpool left winger said Spain and Brazil are the undisputed favorites to lift the trophy in South Africa this July - and England have no divine right to be considered likely champions. Barnes, who played in England’s run to the 1990 World Cup semi-finals - their best performance since their 1966 triumph - also urged fans not to heap pressure on the team’s youngsters, and reckons David Beckham’s absence could actually boost England’s chances. “It isn’t a foregone conclusion. We have no divine right to win it or to get to the final and there are teams who have been better than us,” Barnes said. “Spain and Brazil are the two favorites, and rightly so. “However, England are playing with a lot of confidence, stability and consistency which means they will get through the group stages will get through to the latter
stages. “But if we play Brazil in the semi-finals, are we going to beat them? “We can, if we play to our highest level and our big players perform all the time. “So it’s unrealistic for us to expect to win it, although we can win it and we can do very well, but we have to respect the other teams.” Every two years when the major international tournaments come around, England loves to whip itself up into a football frenzy, before outrage, heartbreak and misery take over when they get knocked out. Barnes, who won 79 caps between 1983 and 1995, knows plenty about the pressure that comes with an England shirt. “The expectation from the public and the press is unrealistic because we would be the number one team in the FIFA rankings if we were expected to win the World Cup,” the 46year-old said. Barnes identified Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney and Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard as England’s key
men, but said singling out stars disempowered the rest of the team. “If Kaka doesn’t play for Brazil, or Fernando Torres for Spain, they still expect to win,” the former Watford midfielder said. “Suppose Rooney is injured - are we then going to say we’ve got no chance?” He also urged fans to not to lambast England’s rookie players if they don’t produce heroics. “Rooney and Gerrard are experienced professionals who can handle it, whereas with a player like Theo Walcott, you don’t want to put pressure on the younger players. Just allow them to perform.” Global football icon Beckham is out with an achilles injury, but Barnes said the veteran’s absence could work in England’s favor. “In a funny way, it could actually help whoever plays on the right wing,” he said. “It can free them to perform without the pressure of knowing ‘David’s going to be coming on for me if I don’t perform well’.” Jamaican-born Barnes is reprising his rap
from dance band New Order’s 1990 World Cup song “World In Motion”, in a promotion for Mars confectionery. There will be no England theme tune for this tournament, and manager Fabio Capello has also banned alcohol and the “WAGs” - wives and girlfriends - circus from the World Cup camp. “It’s no surprise that there’s no official England song this time because Fabio Capello wants to focus on the game and that’s fine, times change,” Barnes said. Much is expected of Argentina’s Lionel Messi in South Africa, but Barnes isn’t expecting the Barcelona forward to repeat Diego Maradona’s winning turn for the South American nation in 1986. “Those days are gone for one player to single-handedly inspire a team,” he said. “He’s the best and most exciting player in the world but I don’t think he’s going to be the top player in the World Cup or Argentina are going to win it. “It’s going to be a real team effort for any team to win it.” — AFP
Niger ‘armed forces’ gun for more African glory
HERZOGENAURACH: South Africa’s coach Carlos Alberto Parreira (4th right) Herbert Hainer, CEO of the German sport goods company Adidas (3rd right) pose together with members of South Africa’s national soccer team in front of a giant World Cup soccer ball. — AP
SuperSport hope to polish South African club image JOHANNESBURG: SuperSport United must defy the odds this weekend to beat Nigerian visitors Heartland and boost the image of South Africa in the African Champions League. Orlando Pirates are the only team from the country hosting the 2010 World Cup in June and July to win the premier pan-African club competition and they made a shock first round exit this year. A loss to international minnows Gaborone United of Botswana embarrassed the Buccaneers and a country that has slipped spectacularly after the triumphs of Pirates in 1995 and the national team at the African Nations Cup a year later. SuperSport lack goalkeeper Emile Baron, defenders Morgan Gould and David Kannemeyer and striker Glen Salmon through injury and centreback Bongani Khumalo is attending a pre-World Cup training camp in Germany. United had to switch the floodlit first leg of the final round qualifier tomorrow from
their unavailable Super Stadium home in the Pretoria township of Atteridgeville to Rand Stadium in a southern Johannesburg suburb. Early exits from the domestic League Cup and FA Cup competitions did not help morale, nor constant media reports linking three league title-coach Gavin Hunt to big-spending Pretoria neighbors Mamelodi Sundowns. Hunt, also rated a contender for the national post which Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira vacates after the World Cup, longs for African success after an unexpected second round loss to Kampala City Council of Uganda last year. However, SuperSport did not impress in previous rounds this year as they were held 2-2 at home by Mbabane Swallows of Swaziland and barely survived against Ferroviario Maputo after a 2-0 loss in Mozambique. Heartland, sole Nigerian challengers after the surprise early elimination of Bayelsa United, suffered the heartbreak of losing the final last year to TP
Mazembe on the away-goal rule in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Expected to be much stronger than Tiko United of Cameroon this month after a 2-2 away draw, they snatched an equalizer four minutes from full-time via Emmanuel Omodiagbe to squeeze through thanks to the same rule. Hyper-ambitious Mazembe continue their defense away to regular African campaigners Djoliba, a Malian club that has never progressed beyond the third round, scored only twice in four 2010 outings but conceded just one goal. Mazembe, bankrolled by the political leader of the copper-rich southern Katanga province where the club are based, have invested 10 million dollars to try and retain the trophy. The ‘Crows’ should prove too strong for Djoliba in a home-and-away tie, but the likely mid-year transfer of captain, playmaker and consistent scorer Mputu Mabi to a European club must weaken their challenge. — AFP
JOHANNESBURG: Niger football is on a roll and armed forces club AS FAN want to continue the trend in the African Confederation Cup this weekend. The surprise package of the second-tier pan-African competition host Daring Club Motema Pembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo tomorrow in the first leg of a third-round qualifier. Success in the homeand-away tie would propel AS FAN into a play-off with an African Champions League third-round loser, with a place in the group phase of the Confederation Cup awaiting the victors. Niger, a vast, uranium-rich central African country, has made no impact in football until this year, when an alllocal national team stunned Nigeria to qualify for the 2011 African Nations Championship. Although lacking even one footballer known abroad, Niger have also impressed at club level this season with former winners Club Africain of Tunisia needing the away-goal rule to oust Niger’s Sahel from the African Champions League. AS FAN fared even better, eliminating Issia Wazi of Ivory Coast 3-2 on aggregate in the first round before claiming the notable scalp of 2006 Confederation Cup winners Etoile Sahel of Tunisia. Over-confident Etoile brushed off a 1-0 first leg loss in Niamey, but could win only 2-1 in the Mediterranean resort of Sousse and AS FAN achieved their greatest international success via the away goals rule. Hinsa Issoufou, Moctar Chaibou, Ali Malik and Abdoulaye Mohamed are unknown beyond the borders of Niger, but Motema Pembe will surely treat with respect the
scorers of the goals that have lifted AS FAN to the last-16 stage. Kinshasabased Pembe have experienced international glory once, winning the now defunct African Cup Winners’ Cup in 1994 with a 3-0 second-leg triumph over Kenya Breweries in Nairobi. After an ultimately comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory over Anges Fatima of the Central African Republic, Pembe battled to overcome FC 105 of Gabon with a second-leg goal from Tshilembi Tshilembi in Libreville proving decisive. Vita Club of DR Congo against Enyimba of Nigeria pairs past African champions, with the former conquering the continent in 1973 and the latter achieving back-to-back victories during this decade. Both found the going tough in the previous round with a last-minute Alfred Mfongang goal squeezing Vita past Panthere Nde of Cameroon while Enyimba had to recover from a twogoal defeat by African rookies Academica Soyo in Angola. Title holders Stade Malien of Mali visit FUS Rabat of Morocco after a second-round fright from Sewe San Pedro of Ivory Coast, who built a 2-0 firstleg lead only to lose the tie on penalties in Bamako. Club Sportif Sfaxien of Tunisia, the only team to successfully defend the Confederation Cup, travel to Petrojet of Egypt for an intriguing North African showdown. Warri Wolves of Nigeria host CAPS United of Zimbabwe, Al-Amal of Sudan play CR Belouizdad of Algeria, Cotonsport Garoua of Cameroon meet Primeiro Agosto of Angola and Simba of Tanzania face Harras Al-Hodoud of Egypt in other fixtures. — AFP
Friday, April 23, 2010
SPORTS
Page 61
Halladay’s shutout down Braves ATLANTA: Roy Halladay threw his first National League shutout - getting a couple of big assists from his defense - as the Philadelphia Phillies blanked the Atlanta Braves 2-0 on Wednesday. Halladay (4-0), acquired in the offseason from Toronto, has lived up to the hype in his first four NL starts. He has worked 33 innings, allowing only three earned runs for an 0.82 ERA. Raul Ibanez and Jayson Werth both hit RBI doubles against Braves starter Tim Hudson (1-1), but the win owed as much to a pair of brilliant defensive plays. Center fielder Shane Victorino stole away a likely homer from Troy Glaus with a leaping catch in the second, and second baseman Chase Utley made a diving stop on a shot up the middle to start an inningending double play with the bases loaded in the seventh. Halladay pitched his 16th career shutout. Last season, he led the majors with a career-high four. Padres 5, Giants 2 In San Diego, the hosts won their sixth straight, downing San Francisco. Jon Garland (1-2) held the slumping Giants to one run in seven strong innings. Nick Hundley hit a two-run homer and Adrian Gonzalez added a solo homer for San Diego, which has won 10 of 12 against the Giants at Petco Park. San Francisco’s Todd Wellemeyer (0-3) had another rough start as he allowed two runs over four innings. Cardinals 9, Diamondbacks 4 In Phoenix, Colby Rasmus homered twice, including a tiebreaking shot in the ninth, as St. Louis got a testy win over Arizona. The benches emptied in the second inning when Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, after being hit by a pitch, tried to take out Arizona second baseman Kelly Johnson when running on a double-play ball. No punches were thrown. It was 4-4 when Rasmus opened the ninth with a home run off Chad Qualls (01). The Cardinals wound up scoring five times in the inning, capped by Skip Schumaker’s three-run homer. Jason Motte (11) got the victory for the Cardinals, who have won all five of their series this season. Nationals 6, Rockies 4 In Washington, the home team beat Colorado, staying undefeated when the starting pitcher goes at least five innings. John Lannan lasted long enough to mean the Nationals are 8-0 when their starter goes at least five, 0-7 when he doesn’t. Nationals reliever Tyler Clippard (3-0) struck out three in two scoreless innings. The game was tied entering the eighth, when Rockies reliever Rafael Betancourt (0-1) allowed a leadoff single. After an intentional walk, Nieves lined a double. Ivan Rodriguez padded the lead with a sacrifice fly before an announced crowd of 11,191, the lowest in three seasons at Nationals Park. Brewers 8, Pirates 0 In Pittsburgh, Yovani Gallardo struck out 10 in five shutout innings to steer Milwaukee over Pittsburgh. Nine of the first 11 Pittsburgh batters that Gallardo (1-2) retired came by strikeout. The Brewers’ Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks and Jody Gerut hit home runs and Alcides Escobar tripled in consecutive innings for Milwaukee, which has won three straight. Pirates starter Zach Duke (2-1) allowed each of the Milwaukee homers. Dodgers 14, Reds 6 In Cincinnati, Rafael Furcal drove in four runs with a single, double and triple to highlight another big performance by the majors’ best-hitting lineup, as Los Angeles thumped Cincinnati. Hiroki Kuroda (2-0) gave up a pair of homers and had an overturned call go against him, but got the win. The Reds have lost six of seven, with their rotation still lacking a victory. Top starter Aaron Harang (0-3) had another rough time, giving up 10 hits in only 5 2-3 innings. The Dodgers got hits from top to bottom, piling up 18 overall and scoring in all but one inning while reaching a season high in runs. Astros 5, Marlins 4 In Houston, Geoff Blum’s first career pinch-hit triple drove in two runs in the seventh inning to propel Houston over Florida. Blum’s hit off Burke Badenhop (0-2) was chased almost to the wall in center field, and gave the Astros their fourth straight win. Humberto Quintero had two hits including a homer for the Astros, while Wilton Lopez (1-0) got the win. The Marlins suffered their first series defeat of the season. Cubs 9, Mets 3 In New York, Chicago snapped a run of four straight defeats by beating New York. Carlos Silva (2-0) added six crisp innings to his surprising comeback, using his heavy sinker to cede only one run. Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer for the Cubs. A record-low Citi Field crowd watched as the Mets’ late rally petered out against Chicago’s floundering bullpen. Odalis Perez (0-2) took the loss. — AP
CALIFORNIA: New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter hops over Oakland Athletics’ Kurt Suzuki after making the out during the ninth inning of a baseball game on Wednesday, April 21, 2010. — AP
Hughes steers Yankees past A’s OAKLAND: New York Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes was on track for a no-hitter until the eight inning, but had to be satisfied with a 3-1 win over the Oakland Athletics in the American League on Wednesday. Hughes (20) struck out a career-high 10 in the Yankees’ sixth straight win. He was in complete control until Eric Chavez opened the eighth with a one-hopper that went back to the mound. The Yankees pitcher had little time to react and the ball struck his left hip. Hughes couldn’t find the ball in front of the mound as Chavez hustled for a single. This was the second near-miss for the defending World Series champions in a couple of weeks. CC Sabathia held Tampa Bay hitless for 7 2-3 innings. Twins 6, Indians 0 In Minneapolish, Francisco Liriano struck out six in eight scoreless innings to guide Minnesota over Cleveland. Liriano (2-1) walked just two in a return to the form that made him an All-Star in 2006. Michael Cuddyer had a homer, a two-run triple in the eighth and three RBIs for the Twins. Indians starter David Huff (1-2) walked six and allowed four runs in six innings. Rays 12, White Sox 0 In Chicago, Tampa Bay rookie Wade Davis outpitched a very imperfect Mark Buehrle as the Rays smashed Chicago. Davis (1-1) struck out six in six scoreless innings. After giving up a bunt single to start the game and walking three of the next five batters, he settled down, didn’t walk anybody else and the only other hit
he allowed was a single in the sixth. Tampa Bay’s Sean Rodriguez homered and drove in four runs. Buehrle (2-2) was facing the Rays for the first time since his perfect game against them last season. He allowed six runs in 4 2-3 innings as the White Sox lost for the fifth time in six games to fall into last place in the AL Central. Tigers 4, Angels 3 In Anaheim, California, Miguel Cabrera hit a tying homer leading off the ninth inning and Ramon Santiago drove in the winner as Detroit edged Los Angeles. Angels reliever Brian Fuentes (0-1), just off the disabled list after missing 14 games with a back strain, went to a full count against Cabrera before the Tigers’ cleanup hitter homered to left-center. It was his fourth home run of the season and team-high 18th RBI. Fuentes then walked Carlos Guillen and struck out Dan Kelly. Guillen stole second before a walk to Gerald Laird. Guillen was picked off on the basepath for the second out, but Santiago got a single to left field to score Laird. Detroit’s Phil Coke (2-0) got the win with a scoreless eighth inning. Royals 4, Blue Jays 3, 10 innings In Toronto, Alex Gordon picked a good time for his first homer of the season, going long with two outs in the tenth to give Kansas City victory over Toronto. Gordon drove a pitch from Scott Downs (0-1) to centerfield. It was just the second hit of the season for Gordon, who missed the first 10 games with a
broken thumb. Jose Guillen hit a three-run homer for Kansas City and Alex Gonzalez had a two-run shot for Toronto, before the Blue Jays scored a run in the eighth to tie the game. Robinson Tejeda (1-1) worked one inning for the win as the Royals avoided a series sweep. Red Sox 8, Rangers 7, 12 innings In Boston, Kevin Youkilis hit an RBI double with two outs in the 12th as Boston sneaked a victory that extended Texas’ losing skid to six games. Youkilis’ shot rebounded off the base of the left-center field wall. It was Boston’s second straight last at-bat win. JD Drew hit a grand slam for the Red Sox, and Darnell McDonald homered in his second straight game. Texas’ Josh Hamilton hit a three-run homer in the seventh that made it 7-7. Neither team did much in the extra innings until Marco Scutaro singled with one out in the 12th. After an intentional walk, Youkilis delivered against Dustin Nippert (02). Mariners 4, Orioles 1 In Seattle, Felix Hernandez pitched the eighth complete-game of his career to steer Seattle past Baltimore. Hernandez (2-0) wasn’t at his sharpest, but didn’t issue a walk and limited Baltimore to a lone unearned run. Jack Wilson provided a decisive three-run double as the Mariners completed the threegame sweep of the Orioles, who dropped to 214 and continued the worst start for the franchise since 1988. Kevin Millwood (0-3) threw a complete-game for Baltimore. — AP
SPORTS
Page 62
Friday, April 23, 2010
IPL future at stake as plot thickens Too big to fail? Indian Premier League in a spin NEW DELHI: With its cocktail of celebrities and cheerleaders, the Indian Premier League’s dizzy rise to become cricket’s richest tournament is under threat, illustrating how politics and business don’t mix. A scandal over a government junior minister accused of influencing a bid for a team has sparked a tax investigation into the estimated $4.1 billion sport franchise, also signaling the inherent risks in the Asian giant’s corporate juggernaut. It is a scandal that touches much of India, including some of Bollywood’s top stars who became team owners, senior politicians as well as some of India’s richest executives who have all wanted a piece of the pie since the tournament kicked off in 2008. “Like much of corporate India, the attitude behind IPL was with globalization, liberalization, we can take on the world,” said Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, a well-known commentator in India. “But the IPL has not been transparent. It has become big business, but a rather murky big business ... and shown the very cosy ties between very rich businessmen and politicians.” Lalit Modi, a 46-year-old businessmen known for his flashy suits and love of the high flying celebrity circuit, formed IPL in 2008, a short form of cricket that won millions of dollars in advertising and upset much of the traditional cricket world. It was a by-product of an emerging India, when local companies like Tata bought brands like Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.3 billion to reflect the self-confidence of Indian business as it enjoyed one of the world’s fasted economic growth rates. Such was IPL’s success that some team franchises were sold for more
MUMBAI: Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi smokes a cigarette inside his car on his way to meet Mukesh Ambani, a top industrialist and owner of the IPL team Mumbai Indians yesterday. — AP than the value of English Premier League football teams. The tax probe has so far revealed nothing but huge newspaper headlines, and Modi says he has nothing to hide as taxmen visit offices around the country with cameras and lights in tail. But whatever the results of the investigation, few in Indian believe that tournament will be the same freewheeling business extravaganza, and Modi is now under pressure to resign. AT THE CUTTING EDGE The IPL was at the cutting edge of
cricket from day one when its use of cheerleaders sparked initial outcry as conservative India questioned whether it was ready for dancers with bulging breasts and gyrating bellies parading in packed stadia. Modi himself called it all “cricketainment”with Bollywood stars watching matches in seats costing as much as $1,000 a game in a country where half the population earns less that $2 a day. “IPL can be seen as a metaphor for the new Indian middle class which thrives on excess,” wrote commentator Ronojoy Sen in the
Times of India. Modi showed that “Can Do” attitude on which Indian business people pride themselves-the ability to deal with the country’s notorious red tape, corruption and poor infrastructure. When security concerns and a general election threatened the second year of the tournament, Modi simply transferred the whole event to South Africa in a few weeks. “Forget Modi’s brashness for a moment. There is an underlying admiration for Modi in India-the fact that he could get through the red tape
Cross-border newlyweds Malik, Mirza in Pakistan KARACHI: Newlywed and hailed as cross-border peace ambassadors, Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik arrived in Pakistan yesterday to a frenzied reception. Camera bulbs flashed and fans thronged to get a glimpse of the lovebirds as they landed at Karachi airport, their first visit here after their April 12 wedding that bridged the two nations’ bitter sporting and political divide. The pair are in Pakistan for a week of celebrations-after a tough engagement and media frenzy that saw Muslim elders called in to arrange a divorce for Malik from a wife he long-denied ever having. Hundreds of fans gathered outside Jinnah International Airport, carrying placards reading: “Welcome to Pakistan’s daughter-in-law”. “I am very happy for both of them and I hope their marriage helps build relations between the two countries,” said well-wisher Faqir Khan, a waiter. Mirza, in sunglasses, red trousers and a green tunic, grasped the hand of her new husband, who was wearing blue jeans and a green t-shirt.
The couple were welcomed by provincial sports minister Mohammad Ali Shah and other local government officials, but did not speak to reporters. “I am both disappointed and happy,” said laborer and sports fan Ijaz Ahmad. “I’m disappointed because I could not see a glimpse of them, but I wish them a happy future and I am very happy that they both got married.” Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence and broke off all official contact following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which India blamed on Pakistan-based militants. The stand-off extended to the sporting world, with a freeze on nontournament matches between their respective national cricket teams. Malik and Mirza’s sporting marriage is unprecedented in the perennial rivalry between the South Asian nations, and some right-wing Hindu groups in India had denounced the union, accusing Mirza of betraying her country. Twentyeight-year-old Malik married Mirza, 23, in the Indian city of Hyderabad on April 12 after divorcing another Indian woman, Ayesha Siddiqui, who said she
wed the former Pakistan cricket captain in 2002. Siddiqui’s claim, which Malik initially denied, created a huge stir before Muslim elders in Hyderabad negotiated a divorce settlement allowing the sporting pair to tie the knot, family members said. Malik, a former Pakistan captain, is serving a one-year ban for breaches of discipline, while Mirza is recovering from a wrist injury. Family members said the couple will later yesterday travel to Islamabad to arrange Mirza’s visa. The Indian tennis star will apply for a visa to Sialkot, Malik’s hometown, where a reception is planned for April 25. Another reception will be held in the eastern city Lahore two days later, family sources said. Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is also expected to hold a reception in the couple’s honor later this month. Pakistan’s minister for population and welfare Ferdous Ashiq Awan, who also attended the wedding reception in India, said the marriage has spurred diplomacy between the two nations, allowing her to meet her Indian counterpart. — AFP
and get things done,” said V Ravichandar, managing director of Feedback consulting in Bangalore, which advises multinationals on doing business in India. “That kind of thing goes down well in the Indian street.” But any admiration may not save the IPL. After Modi tweeted questioning the role of Junior Foreign Minister Shashi Tharoor in a team’s $333 million bid, the minister was forced to resign. India’s tax department suddenly announced a probe into Modi and the IPL-in what many saw in India as a blatant use by the the government of tax authorities to win political points. Political ramifications widen Suddenly key Congress party coalition ally and farm minister Sharad Pawar was on a collision course with his own government after he infuriated Congress by initially supporting Modi. Pawar is president elect of the International Cricket Council and former head of the Indian cricket board-just one of many many politicians in India who also run cricket boards. The tension came just as the government was seeking to secure its allies support for a possible vote in parliament over high food prices. The government would fall if it loses the vote. Few think the government will fall. But the fact that a tweet from a businessman sparked worries about the government’s coalition strength a fews days later showed the nexus between business and politics in India-and the fragility of both. “The IPL was about getting things done despite everything,” said Ravichandar. “It is a spirit of Indian enterprise with all the risks that it entails that holds a mirror to ourselves.” — Reuters
Kuwaitis compete in Shooting WCup BEIJING: Kuwaitis are to start competing in the shooting competitions in the World Cup in China today in the trap shooting, as the event nears its end on Sunday. President of the Arab Shooting Federation and Deputy Chairman of the Kuwaiti Shooting Club Duaij Al-Otaibi said he is hopeful of good results as our athletes compete among 643 shooters from 57 countries. Kuwait delegation administrative official Hamad Al-Ruwaisan meanwhile said the trap shooters competing are Khalid Jasem Al-Mudhaf, Nasser Bader Al-Meqled, and Abdelrahman Nasser AlFaihan. Al-Ruwaisan added the men’s team would compete in five rounds over two days, two rounds the first day and three rounds the second, in addition to a final round. The women’s team is meanwhile made up of sisters Shahad and Sara Abdelrahman Al-Hawwal who are competing in the qualifiers and finals.—KUNA
Engineer Duaij Al-Otaibi
SPORTS
Friday, April 23, 2010
NFL-College football draft goes prime-time NEW YORK: This week’s National Football League Draft is not only going prime-time this year but will resemble a TV mini-series with seven rounds of choices for the top US college players spread over three days. What used to be a Saturday and Sunday day-time exercise for only the most rabid fans will start on Thursday night and has been restructured to milk the broadening interest in how the 32 NFL teams bolster their rosters. The first round will be staged at New York’s famed Radio City Music Hall from 7:30 pm local time (2330 GMT) with teams arranged in the reverse order of their 2009 finish. Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford is widely tipped to be the first name called and as top pick may have the dubious honor of going to the St Louis Rams, who had a woeful 1-15 record. Defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh of Nebraska and Gerald McCoy of Oklahoma are also among the most highly regarded players in a draft class heavy on offensive and defensive linemen. After the Rams, the next selections come from the Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins and Kansas City Chiefs. Draft wheeling and dealing can throw up surprise choices, however, with trades of slot positions eliciting both groans and cheers from fans decked out in their team colors, who fill seats not taken by the throng of national media. “I’m very nervous,” Bradford told reporters on Wednesday, insisting that he did not know whether he would be taken by the Rams. “It’s going to be one of those moments that changes my life forever. “Not knowing where I’m going to be is extremely nerveracking. “Gerald (McCoy, his Oklahoma team mate) was talking today about how he’s going to probably cry when (his name is called),” he added. “I don’t know if that’s going to happen with me, but I know I’m going to be extremely excited and I’m probably not going to be able to stop smiling for about a week.” Top draft choices command long-terms deals worth more than $40 million guaranteed but the price-tag plummets as the first round proceeds. In a change from previous years when the first three rounds were held on Saturday and the rest finished on Sunday, rounds two and three will be held Friday evening. Rounds four through seven will be completed tomorrow. Former San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions coach Steve Mariucci thinks the new format will affect the draft. “It’s going to be different,” Mariucci, now a broadcaster for NFL Network, told Reuters on the eve of the draft. “Now you’ve got Thursday night to think about the second round. You’ve got Friday night to think about where you are going in the fourth round. “I’m anticipating more trades, more maneuvers.” — Reuters
Page 63
Satan’s goal gives Boston 3-2 win BOSTON: Miroslav Satan scored in second overtime to give the Boston Bruins a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday and a 3-1 lead in their NHL Eastern Conference playoff series. The Bruins got the power play in the second extra period when Buffalo’s Drew Stafford was caught on the ice as a sixth skater. Satan got a pass from Michael Ryder in front of the net and put it past Sabres goalie Ryan Miller. Tuukka Rask made 35 saves for Boston and also assisted on Satan’s goal. Ryan Miller stopped 36 shots for the Sabres. Game 5 is today in Buffalo. Tim Kennedy and Steve Montador scored for Buffalo, which opened a 2-0 lead after two periods. David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron responded in the third period for Boston to send the game into overtime. Both goalies made stunning saves to keep their teams in the game. Rask reached out to knock away
Bruins, Capitals take strong series leads a puck that even towering defenseman Zdeno Chara couldn’t reach, preserving the tie with 11 minutes left in regulation. Miller stopped Blake Wheeler on a shorthanded breakaway, then got a glove on a sneaky backhander from Satan early in the first overtime. Capitals 6, Canadiens 3 In Montreal, Washington pulled away late to beat Montreal and take a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference series. Alex Ovechkin broke a tie with 8:51 left with his second goal of the game and Alex Ovechkin opened the scoring in the first period with Washington’s first power-play goal of the series. Michael Cammalleri and Brian Gionta scored to put the Canadiens
ahead, before Mike Knuble tied it 2-2 with just 6.3 seconds left in the second period. Ovechkin added his second of the game and fourth in three games in the third to put Washington up 3-2. Jason Chimera made it 4-2 less than a minute later. The Capitals got empty-net goals from Knuble with 2:27 left and Nicklas Backstrom with 10 seconds remaining, with Dominic Moore netting for Montreal in between. Semyon Varlamov made 36 saves to win his third in a row for Washington. Carey Price stopped 32 shots in his first start of the series for Montreal. Game 5 is today in Washington. Canucks 6, Kings 4 In Los Angeles, Vancouver scored four
times in a wild third period to beat Los Angeles and even the series 2-2. Henrik Sedin, Mikael Samuelsson, Sami Salo and Ryan Kesler all scored in the final 12:31 for the Canucks, who rallied from three onegoal deficits and avoided falling to a 3-1 series deficit. Salo put Vancouver ahead with 7:44 left, but Wayne Simmonds soon answered for Los Angeles. Sedin then got loose on a rush, and the NHL scoring champion put his first goal of the series past Kings goalie Jonathan Quick. Roberto Luongo made 22 saves, and Daniel Sedin had three assists to help the Canucks win despite yielding two more power-play goals to the Kings. Christian Ehrhoff and Pavol Demitra also scored for Vancouver. Drew Doughty, Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar added goals for Los Angeles. Game 5 is today in Vancouver.— AP
Australian Fraser leads at Ballantine’s Championship
JEJU ISLAND: Marcus Fraser of Australia lines up his putt during the first round of the Ballantine’s Championship golf tournament at Pinx Golf Club on Jeju Island yesterday. — AP SEOUL: Australian Marcus Fraser was the clubhouse leader after fog wrecked the opening round of the $2.9 million Ballantine’s Championship yesterday, leaving more than a third of field yet to hit a shot. Six hours and 10 minutes of play were lost in total when fog descended on the European and Asian Tour cosanctioned event on Jeju Island, shrouding the Pinx Golf Club and severely restricting visibility. Fraser prospered despite the conditions to shoot a superb seven-birdie 65 and top the leaderboard by a shot from Britain’s Mark Foster, who carded six-
Fog wrecks first round under-par 66. “It was just one of those days where I felt like I did a lot of things right,” said the unheralded Australian. “It’s nice when the round turns out that way and would be even nicer if you can play like that all the time.” Three-times major winner Ernie Els was also one of 36 players who finished their rounds and the South African managed a 68 for a share of sixth alongside Korean-American world number 10 Anthony Kim and several others.
“I stayed patient and I’m happy with how I played, I just didn’t score very well,” said Kim, who finished third at the US Masters earlier this month. “It’s going to be a long day tomorrow for the guys in front of us and we’re just going to hang in there and wait until we can go play some golf. “The greens were very slow today. My last tournament was the Masters, so the greens were very fast there and here it’s slow. So it’s a little bit of an
adjustment.” PGA Championship winner Yang Yongeun, fresh from his victory at last week’s China Open and playing on his home island, managed just one hole, shooting a birdie. In addition to the players who failed to start, another large part of the field had not completed their rounds when play was suspended for poor light. It will commence at 7am local time (2200 GMT) today to try and clear the backlog. “Tomorrow, if there’s no wind like now, you can really attack the golf course, so all depends on the weather,” said world number seven Els. — Reuters
Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks
Thunder’s Brooks named NBA coach of the year
FLORIDA: Orlando Magic guard Vince Carter (15) gets off a shot over Charlotte Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace (3) during the first half of Game 2 in a first-round NBA basketball playoff series in Orlando. — AP
Spurs square series Carter shines as Magic take 2-0 lead ORLANDO: The Dwight Howard-Vince Carter tandem again wasn’t perfect but good enough to give the Orlando Magic a 92-77 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday, and a 2-0 lead in their NBA playoff series. Carter finished with 19 points and Howard scored 15. The Magic’s star duo was less than stellar but took over when it counted most. They combined for 21 second-half points to help Orlando build a 20-point lead and hold on late. Stephen Jackson showed no effects from his hyperextended left knee to score 27 points, and Gerald Wallace had 15 points for the Bobcats. But their 21 turnovers are a big reason why they’re heading home still searching for the franchise’s first playoff win. Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is Saturday in Charlotte. The Bobcats went more than eight minutes to start the game with only three points, and had just one field goal with six turnovers during that stretch. The goods news was that the Magic was almost as bad early. The first half was a turnover-fest for both teams, and nobody could consistently hit a shot. Things were so out of sorts that the normally sharpshooting JJ Redick even badly missed the free throw from Charlotte coach Larry Brown’s technical foul in the second quarter. The Magic put together the closest thing to a run, and they gradually eked out a 41-30 lead at
half time. With Charlotte’s 14 first-half turnovers, though, they could’ve been up more. Orlando’s star pairing belatedly got going. Howard had nine points in the first five-plus minutes of the third before picking up his fourth foul, again relegating him to the bench. Then, Carter took the reigns. Orlando’s biggest offseason acquisition, Carter sliced his way through the lane for several layups late in the third quarter. He anchored a run that put the Magic ahead 75-55 after three quarters. After Charlotte trimmed the lead to eight with 3:16, Carter followed with a jumper. Then Jackson missed a layup, and Jameer Nelson raced down court to convert a three-point play that sealed Orlando’s win. Spurs 102, Mavericks 88 In Dallas, Richard Jefferson scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half to help San Antonio beat Dallas and tie their firstround series at a game apiece. Jefferson responded to criticism by coach Gregg Popovich after Game 1. He was 7 of 9 by halftime, several coming during a 12-1 surge that broke the game open for good. Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki went from hardly missing in Game 1 to hardly making baskets. He missed six of his first seven shots, and even missed a free throw after having made 88 in a row. He finished with 24 points, down from 36 in the series
opener. The Mavericks played their best only after they seemed to have buried themselves - down 16-5 early, they got within one by the end of the quarter; down 80-60 late in the third quarter they scored 12 straight points; down 13 again early in the fourth, they clawed within five. However, they never led and have now given away home-court advantage. Game 3 is in San Antonio on Friday, and the fans can’t wait. They’re especially looking forward to seeing Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who fanned the flames of the rivalry in recent days by repeatedly saying, “I hate the Spurs.” San Antonio built leads with intelligent play. They held onto the ball, forced their way to the rim, then took advantage of the space that opened up for longer-range jumpers. In the game-breaking second quarter, their inside-out attack produced 34 points on 68 percent shooting. Tim Duncan led San Antonio for a second straight game, with 25 points and 17 rebounds. Manu Ginobili had 23 points, including a 3-pointer with 1:48 left that sealed it. Tony Parker, still coming off the bench, had 16 points and eight assists. Jason Terry was a non-factor most of Game 1 for Dallas, but he hit his first two shots and kept looking for his shot all night. He finished with 27 points. Caron Butler scored 17. — AP
OKLAHOMA CITY: Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks was recognized Wednesday as the NBA’s coach of the year after engineering the league’s best turnaround. The Thunder won 27 more games this season than they did a year ago, winning 50 and losing 32 and earning the No 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs with the NBA’s youngest roster. The improvement came without a significant free agent signing. Instead, the team is primarily the same group of players as last season plus rookies James Harden, Serge Ibaka and Eric Maynor. Brooks and the Thunder now face another daunting turnaround: an 0-2 deficit in their best-ofseven series against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. Game 3 is Thursday night in Oklahoma City. “This is the first-time playoff experience for a lot of us, including myself, and you’re playing against one of the best coaches of all sports, one of the best players ever and a team that has 1,000 (games of) playoff experience to ours,” Brooks said. “But you learn from playing against the best players and the best teams, and we’re going to keep fighting and figuring out ways to beat them.” Back when the Thunder were 3-29 last season, the notion of the playoffs coming to Oklahoma City any time soon was unimaginable. But it was that same miserable stretch that made general manager Sam Presti confident that Brooks was the right man to lead his team into the future. While
Oklahoma City struggled to the worst start in the NBA, Presti was impressed by the way Brooks stayed the course and never tried to force immediate changes in hopes of making the Thunder better. Brooks received 71 of 123 first-place votes and 480 points to finish ahead of Milwaukee’s Scott Skiles (26 first-place votes, 313 points) and Portland’s Nate McMillan (9, 107. “He’s someone that I think is incredibly consistent as a person. He is unaffected through adversities and also through successes, and I think that’s an important quality we want to have as we move forward,” Presti said. While the Thunder didn’t immediately start winning after Brooks took over for the fired P.J. Carlesimo, there were signs of progress. His decision to move Kevin Durant from shooting guard to small forward increased his production, and the addition of Thabo Sefolosha and Nenad Krstic plus defensive-minded assistant Ron Adams started to pay dividends, too. “We were improved once he took over as the coach. We still lost some games that were tough but we were learning and we were getting better each day in practice,” said Durant, who developed into the NBA’s youngest scoring champion this season. “I knew if we continued to do that and not come in and just say, ‘Our season’s done. Ain’t no need to practice. Ain’t no need to work hard.’ We still came in and worked every day, and he made sure he brought it every day as a coach.” — AP