26 April

pt IO n rI bS c SU THE LEADING INDEPENDENT DAILY IN THE ARABIAN GULF

40 PAGES

MONDAY, APRIL 26, 2010

Civil marriage not civil war, say secular Lebanese marchers

JAMADA ALAWAL 12, 1431 AH

Gandhi’s personal life laid bare in new book

Rescuers fan out after 10 killed in US tornadoes

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NO: 14710

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Chelsea thrash Stoke 7-0 to regain top spot

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Immigration Dept set to be renamed

By B Izzak KUWAIT: The National Assembly’s interior and defense committee yesterday approved a proposal to change the name of the Immigration Department to Residency Department, head of the panel MP Askar Al-Enezi said. The change had been sought for some time amid attempts by members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to thwart moves by international human rights bodies to press for more

KUWAIT: Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Kuwait said that new year celebrations by his community on Friday disrupted by hardliners did not include hard liquor, drinks, dances, a graffiti on a car or the election of a beauty queen. “We have held festivals and celebrations for 26 years, and we have never had any violations,” said K S C Dissanayake. “The celebrations by the community on Friday were going on smoothly, peacefully and within the confines of the law.

Regretfully, people outside were fed the wrong information,” he added.

The daylong celebrations came to an abrupt end Friday afternoon when a group of Kuwaitis invaded the field of Jahra Stadium to demand that the Sri L ankans leave the premises for breaking Islamic rules. The hardliners said that men and women were mixing at the celebrations and that they were drinking and playing music even though it was a Friday.

Negotiations between the angry protestors who threat-

ened to escalate the situation and the organizers lasted more than 30 minutes, but failed to end the deadlock, prompting the ambassador to urge the thousands of Sri Lankans to leave the stadium.

The police said that the organizers had all the required papers to hold the celebrations.

“There are around 110,000 Sri Lankans in Kuwait, with 15,000 living in Jahra. We thought that we could share the celebrations,” Dissanayake told the local press. “We had the valid authorizations to hold our festivities which were peaceful and did not record any violations.” All participants were duly searched before being allowed to enter the stadium, organizers said. “Our community has been in Kuwait for more than 50 years, and everybody says that we are a peaceful people who do not cause problems. The community was simply engaged in celebrating the new year and enjoying Sri Lankan food,” the ambassador said. — Agencies

HORMUZ, Iran: An Iranian Saeqeh missile is launched during war games yesterday in southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz. — AFP

Iran tests missiles as war games end Tehran makes little headway in diplomatic offensive TEHRAN: Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards yesterday fired five shore-to-sea and sea-to-sea missiles, ending four days of war games in the strategic Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf, state media reported. “Iran-made Nasr (Victory), Saeqeh (Lightning) and Noor (Light) missiles were tested. They have different ranges,” Defence Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi told the ISNA news agency without elaborating on what those were.

“The Saeqeh is a cruise missile with appropriate payload,” he added. Earlier, state television reported that the five naval missiles successfully hit a single target simultaneously.

Vahidi, also a commander in the Guards, said that several drones of the sort that have sparked the concern of US commanders in neighbouring Afghanistan were also used in the exercise, dubbed “Prophet V”. “A number of locally manufactured drones were tested,” Vahidi said.

“They were able to send intelligence about enemy movements to our ground command posts,” he said. “We also tested laser smart weapons. They hit their targets with 100 percent accuracy,” he said.

He did not give further details.

Since Thursday, the Guards have been conducting manoeuvres in the Gulf and in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow water-

way through which 40 percent of the world’s sea-borne oil supplies pass. Iran boasts it also has missiles that can hit targets in arch-foe Israel as well as US interests in the region, although Western defence analysts have questioned some of its claims about its successes with its ballistic program.

Thursday marked the 31st anniversary of the formation of the Guards by a decree from Iran’s late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini soon after the 1979 revolution. The corps is one of Iran’s most powerful institutions and falls under the direct command of Continued on Page 14

Kuwait: Oil over $100 ‘damaging’

In this frame grab from an animated film made by Hamas, an image of Noam Schalit sits next to a portrait of his son, captured soldier Gilad Schalit. — AP

Hamas broadcasts cartoon on captured Israeli soldier GAZA CITY: Hamas released an animated film yesterday bearing a grisly message for Israel: If it doesn’t meet the Islamic militant group’s demands, an Israeli soldier it has held for nearly four years could return home in a coffin.

The short but sophisticated cartoon - which depicts Sgt. Gilad Schalit’s aging father wandering empty streets with a picture of his son and ends with the words “There is still hope” - is the latest product of Hamas’ growing media empire. TV and radio stations controlled by the group continuously broadcast Hamasproduced songs and music videos threatening the Jewish

state and rallying the group’s militant Islamic base.

But the latest cartoon which was widely broadcast on Israeli TV - was remarkable for the personal and calloused nature of the appeal on an issue that has profound emotional resonance for many Israelis: The fate of Schalit, who was captured by Gaza militants in June 2006. The website of Hamas’ armed wing, which posted the video, said it was intended to pressure Israelis to accept demands for a prisoner swap and warns the Israeli government it could regret not making a deal quickly.

Schalit’s father, who has

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‘Liberal’ Saudi top cop sacked

rights for expatriate workers whose number exceeds 13 million out of a total population of 37.5 million.

The Gulf states have always challenged that foreign guest workers are not immigrants but simply expatriates whose stay is limited, unlike foreign workers in Western countries who can claim right to nationality and other basic rights. The proposal must be approved by the National Assembly and then signed by the Amir to become effective.

Continued on Page 14

Lankan ambassador defends celebrations

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become a recognizable face in Israel, is the main character of the three-minute, 20-second short, in Hebrew with English and Arabic subtitles. Noam Schalit is normally cleanshaven, but he appears in the film’s later scenes with a cane and scraggly gray beard, suggesting he has grown old while awaiting his son’s release. The elder Schalit passes billboards on which Israeli leaders vow to free his son or get information on his fate. He reads a newspaper ad offering $50 million for information on his son’s whereabouts, then tosses it in the trash.

C ontinued on Page 14

KUWAIT: OPEC would pump more oil to prevent a rally in oil prices above $100 from hurting the global economic recovery, Kuwait’s oil minister said yesterday. Oil is well below the $100 a barrel mark, settling at just over $85 a barrel on Friday. For a month, oil has traded over the $70 to $80 level that many in OPEC have pegged as fair. But there was room for more upside before the producer group would respond, Sheikh Ahmad AlAbdullah Al-Sabah told Reuters in an interview at a media event. “If it’s sustained above $100 that would damage the economic recovery,” he said. When asked if OPEC would boost supply to prevent that, he replied “I would say so.” The producer group was

ready to boost output if demand warranted, Sheikh Ahmad said.

OPEC has kept oil supply targets unchanged since late 2008, although higher oil prices have encouraged some members to boost output informally. Lack of compliance among OPEC members with their output targets was leading to oversupply, Sheikh Ahmad said. “The fundamentals still aren’t right, the way we expected,” he said. Still, the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter had seen a sudden jump in demand from Asia that was absorbing some of the surplus, he said.

“I was surprised a little bit, to see a sudden surge,” he said.

Continued on Page 14

2 die in UAE hot air balloon crash DUBAI: A hot air balloon carrying 14 people crashed early yesterday in the desert south of Dubai, killing at least two.

Aviation authorities said the accident happened at 6:45 a.m. local time near Suwaihan and Nahel, a pair of villages surrounded by farms and date plantations about 72 km south of Dubai. The nationalities of those killed are Indian and French, according to the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority. At least two other people were injured in the crash, including a Tanzanian ground crew member who is in serious condition, according to authorities and the balloon tour operator.

The balloon was operated by Balloon Adventures Emirates, said the sightseeing company’s director, Peter Kollar. He said passengers were taken to a hospital in Al Ain, a nearby oasis city on the border with Oman.

Continued on Page 14

RIYADH: The head of Saudi Arabia’s religious police yesterday replaced a senior officer who outraged hardliners with calls to ease rules for prayer in mosques and to allow men and women to mix freely. Sheikh Ahmed Al-Ghamdi was replaced as general manager of the Makkah branch of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in an announcement from the organisation’s president, Sheikh Abdulaziz AlHumain. Despite rumours that the sacking was imminent, Humain gave no reason for the move, which included several other new

Ahmed Al-Ghamdi appointments of senior officials of the religious police, popularly known as the muttawa.

Continued on Page 14

Ministry exposes 130 bogus firms Hike in traffic fines eyed

By A Saleh and agencies KUWAIT: The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor’s new automated system has scored its first major achievement, uncovering illegal operations connected to the illicit residency visa trade and exposing the existence of 130 bogus companies. The clandestine operations were discovered while ministry staff were inputting companies’ data, quickly finding that a number of workers registered on the ministry database was different to the number registered according to the Ministry of Interior’s computerized records.

Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr Mohammad Al-

Afasi said that the system’s ability to uncover the 130 sham firms set up solely to illegally import expatriate workers to the country at a profit to the ‘company’ owners proved its great worth, reported the local press. The ministry is currently forming a number of investigative committees to look into these fraudulent companies’ activities in order to pursue legal action, he continued, emphasizing that the ministry will take all the necessary steps to combat the illegal trade in residency visas.

Also yesterday, the Cabinet issued instructions to all government agencies to apply strong restrictions on hiring Continued on Page 14

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Visit to strengthen bilateral ties

Amir sets out on historic three-nation Europe tour KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah left Kuwait yesterday accompanied by a delegation of senior officials to begin an official tour that will take him to Germany, Italy and the Vatican. HH the Amir was seen off at Kuwait International Airport by a number of high-ranking officials, headed by HH the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Parliamentary Speaker Jassem Al-

BERLIN: His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and the accompanying delegation arrived here yesterday on the first stop of his European tour. HH Sheikh Sabah, who was accompanied by Deputy Chief of the National Guard Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, was received at Berlin International Airport by Kuwaiti Ambassador to Germany Musa’ad Al-Haroun, General Consul of Kuwait to Frankfurt Yusif Al-Abdulsamad, in addition to other Kuwaiti, Arab, and German officials.—KUNA

Rafale...or Eurofighter?

KUWAIT: As debate over the Ministry of Defense’s possible purchase of the French Rafale fighter jets continues, threatening to develop into a grilling motion against the defense minister, reports have emerged that the MoD intends to dispatch a high-ranking military delegation to the UK in May for test-flights of the new ‘Eurofighter’ jets jointly manufactured by the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.

A ministry insider told local daily Al-Rai that the delegation, including a number of senior Kuwaiti Air Force pilots, would test the new jets exhaustively and scrutinize them and the cutting

edge technology they incorporate closely before reporting back to military commanders in Kuwait and the Supreme Defense Council.

The MoD insider said that the Supreme Defense Council would wait until it received the delegates’ impressions of the Eurofighter jets before deciding whether those or the Rafale jets would better serve Kuwait’s military needs.

Experts have suggested that the Rafale jets enable their pilots to engage with eight other warplanes simultaneously, although they called for close scrutiny of the Eurofighter planes to give a detailed comparison.

The delegation accompanying HH the Amir on the official tour includes Deputy Chief of the National Guard Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Sabah, and Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of State for Development Affairs and Minister of State for Housing Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.

The delegation also includes Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shimali, Minister of Commerce and Industry Ahmad Rashid Al-Haroun, Amiri Diwan Undersecretary Ibrahim Mohammad AlShatti and other senior officials.

HH the Amir’s visit to Italy is viewed as being tremendously important and is expected to be of great significance in serving the development of bilateral relations between the two nations in the political and economic fields, the Kuwaiti Ambassador in Rome said yesterday.

Sheikh Jaber Duaj AlSabah added that KuwaitiItalian relations have witnessed considerable and continuing development since the official establishment of diplomatic relations in 1964.

The two states also demonstrate consensus regarding political issues in the inter-

Khorafi, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, and the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, as well as several other senior sheikhs. Also bidding farewell to the Amir upon his departure were Acting Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah and other senior state officials.

KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi (left) and Army Chief of Staff Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khalid Al-Sabah see off His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah at the Kuwait International Airport yesterday.— Photos by KUNA national and regional arenas, he added.

Kuwait seeks to improve its economic and commercial ties with Italy to bring these more in line with the two countries’ unique and strong political relations, the ambassador explained, adding that this goal has been sought consistently through senior Kuwaiti officials’ and parliamentary delegations’ visits to Italy, most specifically a visit

by His Highness the Prime

Minister a few months ago.

Kuwait, which currently presides over the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), will communicate the GCC’s views on regional issues, including the Iranian nuclear file, the situation in Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan, Ambassador Sheikh Jaber noted.

The ambassador further explained that economic issues will head the agenda, directly after the political

aspects, which is in harmony with HH the Amir’s wish to transform Kuwait into an international financial center.

The visit program includes a number of high-level meetings with economic and trade figures and senior officials, as well as the signing of a number of agreements in the tourism and environmental fields.

Italy is keenly awaiting the visit, given its great esteem for HH the Amir in particular

as a statesman of the highest caliber, and the state looks forward to further economic cooperation with Kuwait, the ambassador added.

The diplomat further noted the distinguished role played by Italy in supporting the peace efforts in the Middle East, and the Arab peace initiative in the European Union (EU), especially regarding the issue of the establishment of a viable Palestinian state. —KUNA

NATIONAL

Monday, April 26, 2010

Seventh Media Forum begins

Social, patriotic responsibilities of Arab media highlighted

By Kuwait Times Staff KUWAIT: The seventh Arab Media Forum (AMF) began yesterday at the Sheraton hotel in Kuwait City, with His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah inaugurating the event at the opening ceremony. Media representatives from a large number of Arab countries are

attending the seventh AMF, with this year’s event being held under the theme, ‘Media, Technology, and Communication.’ In his opening speech, the Kuwaiti Minister of Oil and of Information Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah AlSabah said that the media’s role does not end at supplying information, saying, “The role of Media exceeds this in also having social and patriotic responsibilities.”

KUWAIT: HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah receiving a memento from the chairman of AMF Mathi Al-Khamis.

KUWAIT: Part of the attending representatives of Arab media outlets.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah said that the ministry had ensured that the discussions held at the forum would include subjects like the relationship between the media and international politics, and the limitations of freedom imposed on the media.

“I hope the forum will come up with recommendations that will fulfill the initial purpose of holding it,” the minister added.

The three-day event includes a number of workshops covering various aspects of media issues, as well as a media exhibition for Kuwaiti and Arab media outlets.

AMF chairman Mathi AlKhamis said that the advent of new communication technology has opened the door to a whole new world for the Arab media.

“We found ourselves, whether willingly or not, forced to take part in this new world, and we need to learn how to influence it,” he stated.

KUWAIT: Minister of Information, Minister of Oil Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah speaking at the opening ceremony.

kuwait digest

local spotlight

Is this the real Kuwait?

By Muna Al-fuzai

A

re we a civilized country? Are we supposed to be governed by laws and civil order or should we forget all this, and obey the rules of Kuwait’s Mullahs?

Should we act according to their whims and fancies?

Should their rules be accepted and implemented on every one including our expatriate guests?

A shameful act was carried out at the hands of some conservative groups in Kuwait. The worst part is how the Ministry of Interior reacted and supported the breaking of the law. Are we a constitutional country? Do expats here have any rights?

This article is not about a celebration that was held last Friday by the Sri Lankan embassy but about how some conservatives ended the festival by their own hands and under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior. The event was shut down even though it was approved by the same ministry!

Al-Khamis also said that with the increase in media freedoms offered by the new communication technology comes an increased responsibility for media representatives.

“The responsibility of the media is immense and dangerous,” warned Al-Khamis. “Our message should be to avoid anything that could harm our Arab and Muslim nations, because this newly-found freedom could become a burden if we don’t learn how to utilize it properly.”

The opening ceremony also included the presentation of awards to a number of public figures and institutions for their active part in presenting innovative approaches to advance Arab media in general. Among those honored were the Bahraini King Hamad Bin Issa Al-Khalifa, Kuwaiti poet Abdulaziz Al-Babtain, former Zain CEO Saad Al-Barrak, and the UAE daily Al-Etihad.

It may be old news that laws are not respected and realized in this country, but how can conservative groups extend their influence to Kuwaitis and expats?

A licensed function was held in a wellknown sports club by the Sri Lankan embassy.

Suddenly, an individual decided that he did not want to see this event take place. Why? He used his influence to have the Ministry Of Interior escort him to the location of the function and, under the protection of the law, had it shut down.

What do these actions tell you? It describes a country where laws are only words in books.

Wasta and power is what leads here!

The kids at the festival were holding both Kuwaiti and Sri Lankan flags in their hands!

They are certainly better than a man who does not even bother to stand up for his own national anthem!

On behalf of all the honest and true Kuwaitis, I feel that a word of sorry is not enough. I am ashamed of what happened and what has become of my Kuwait. muna@kuwaittimes.net

A left out sector

I

n his column with Al-Watan yesterday, Nabeel Al-Fadhl wrote on how job owners usually offer bonuses for job positions and employees in order to encourage efficiency. In Kuwait, he pointed out, despite the fact that most sectors are filled with unproductive manpower, MPs and labor unions still demand additional allowances to be paid to citizens from the government.

‘While allowances continue to be allocated to employees in almost all fields, one field remains left out of the equation, journalism,’ he wrote.

‘Since the beginning of journalism in Kuwait, the prices of newspapers have at 100 fils per paper for more than 50 years.’ The same time period has featured price increases in almost all other fields, including; the price of oil, bread, movie tickets and travel tickets, he pointed out.

‘The situation is ironic,’ he continued. ‘Even though a paper is sold for less than its printing cost, it has always been essential for people’s everyday lives. It’s also ironic that while newspapers publish other people’s complaints regarding injustice for failing to pay allowances, they have failed to make similar complaints, despite the fact that they’ve been left out of any support processes for over 50 years.’

He pointed out that teachers’ associations have long called for having their profession recognized as hard labor so that teachers can benefit from the advantages of such a classification. Journalists have never complained about the trivial price of newspapers, despite the fact that their profession is actually considered hard labor, he said.

Increasing the cost of a newspaper to 200 fils would not hurt the budget of citizens while at the same time would support the salaries of journalists, he added. ‘Since Kuwaiti journalism is the leading form of freedom of speech in the country, newspapers should be more eligible for financial support than any other sector,’ he wrote.

KUWAIT: Senior officials visit an exhibition organized by the College of Nursing yesterday. — Photos by KUNA

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Minister hails cooperation

Kuwait, Serbia discuss military cooperation

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Military expertise and a specialist military hospital are two of the main subjects on which Serbia would like to reach agreement with Kuwait, revealed the visiting Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac yesterday. Talking exclusively with the Kuwait Times following a meeting with several high-ranking Kuwaiti government officials, Sutanovac said, “We virtually signed minute’s agreements, but in a few months’ time, the Kuwaiti defense minister will visit Serbia to sign the formal cooperation agreement we recently discussed.”

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Equestrian Center in Sabhan in which fire broke out yesterday.

—Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

Fire breaks out at Equestrian Center

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A fire broke out at the Kuwait Equestrian Center (KEC) in Sabhan yesterday.

The Mishref and Mubarak AlKabeer Hazardous Materials Centers reached the scene and put out the fire. It gutted nearly 2,000 square meters and was used to construct stables.

Workers evacuated horses with firemen’s help. Heat insulators embedded into the ceiling caused thick smoke and fire to billow out. One of the horses suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to the veterinary center. Investigations are underway.

Drug deaths A 30-year-old prisoner was found dead in his cell in the Central Prison, with his death apparently caused by an overdose. Meanwhile, the body of an unidentified man, who also apparently died from a drug overdose, was found in the bathroom of a local mosque. Both bodies were removed for autopsy and investigations are underway into the two cases.

Suicide case The body of a 33-year-old Nepalese woman was found hanging in an apparent suicide in her home. The body was removed for autopsy.

Car accidents An 18-year-old Saudi man had to be rushed to Jahra Hospital to have his right leg amputated after suffering severe injuries when he was hit by a car near Jahra telephone exchange. The young man also suffered a severe fracture to his left leg in the accident.

In another incident, three Kuwaiti women were injured in a car accident on Istiqlal Road yesterday. One 21-year-old woman was taken to Amiri Hospital after

sustaining a bruised shoulder and neck pain the accident, while two others, a 21-year-old and a 23year-old were taken to Mubarak Hospital suffering from a fractured knee bone and back pain respectively.

In a separate accident, two Kuwaiti teenagers, aged 14 and 13, were injured in a car accident in Naeem area. Both were rushed to Jahra Hospital.

Meanwhile, a 35-year-old Indian man suffered an eye injury while a three-year-old Kuwaiti child suffered a bruised thigh and a three-month-old Kuwaiti baby sustained bruising to the body in a car accident on Miqiuaa Road.

They were all taken to Farwaniya Hospital.

In another case, a 52-year-old Bangladeshi woman was taken to Sabah Hospital after suffering fractures to bones in her right foot and left hand when she was hit by a car on Jahra Road near Sulaibikhat.

In a separate incident, a 31year-old Kuwaiti woman sustained heavy bruising to the right side of her body, while a 43-yearold Sri Lankan woman complained of neck and back pain following a collision in South Surra. Both were taken to Mubarak Hospital.

Meanwhile, two men, a 35year-old Kuwaiti and a 65-year-old Saudi, were taken to Jahra Hospital after suffering various injuries in a collision at a traffic junction in the area.

The defense agreement will include cooperation on military academy and establishing specialist military hospitals. “We have the most famous military academy in the Balkans,” the minister enthused. “In fact our oldest military academy is 160 years old. We can help train and educate Kuwaiti military officers when we have these agreements. It’s an excellent opportunity for the Kuwaiti army.”

Sutanovac lauded the two nations’ excellent cooperation in the military and defense system since the early 1990’s when Serbia supplied Kuwait with some of the military tanks needed to liberate the country against aggressors.

“They [the Kuwaiti military] need excellent and high-quality military equipment,” the minister told the Kuwait Times. “We are committed to supplying them with the quality and at a cheaper price. We have the knowledge and knowhow to offer these to the Kuwaiti army.”

The Serbian defense minister also proposed the holding of joint military exercises between the two countries once the agreement is signed.

“From our side we propose annual military exercises, but it depends on what the final agreement will look like as discussions on the matter are not yet conclusive,” he said.

He voiced pride in the Serbian engineering and construction companies which he said help to construct the symbol of Kuwait, the

Dragan Sutanovac Kuwait Towers. “Maybe many of you wouldn’t know that there are Serbian companies here in Kuwait which started many years ago. In fact the symbol of Kuwait [Kuwait Towers] was created by a Serbian engineering and construction company and we are proud of that,” he said. “We had our lunch there today [yesterday afternoon] with Kuwaiti officials and they were grateful to us that we helped them construct a landmark which would become a famous symbol of Kuwait.”

The Serbian defense minister also stressed the need to boost levels of trade and

economic relations between the two countries.

“There are numerous possibilities for strengthening our bilateral ties. I heard from the officials here that they are sending delegations from Kuwait [to Serbia] to look at some possibilities there,” he said. “We want them to engage in infrastructure projects like improving our roads and highways.”

Sutanovac also revealed that the Serbian President will pay a state visit to Kuwait at the end of this year, while visits by a Serbian parliamentary delegation and the country’s ministers of trade and of foreign affairs are also set to pay visits to Kuwait earlier in the year.

“A visit [to Serbia] by a delegation of highranking Kuwaiti officials has already taken place, headed by the Kuwaiti Prime Minister, so it’s our turn to pay our respects and thank them for their kindness,” he said. Sutanovac also voiced gratitude to Kuwait for the warm reception accorded to him and his accompanying delegation.

The Serbian Defense Minister met yesterday morning with the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad AlSabah at Bayan Palace, where he also met with the Acting Prime Minister, First Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah.

The Serbian delegation was accompanied

by Zlatan Maltaric, the Chargé d’Affaires at the Serbian Embassy in Kuwait.

Kuwait opens Hemophilia Society

By Abdullah Al-Qattan KUWAIT: This past Saturday on World Hemophilia Day, Kuwait Hemophilia the Society celebrated their official opening. The efforts of the society for the past three years helped the society accommodate the 150 patients who suffer from this hereditary disease. The society, in coordination with the Program for National Hemophilia, secures all the special care patients require from birth until the very late stages of their lives.

Dr Rana Al-Abdulrazzak, the director of Donor and Medical Affairs at the Kuwait Central Blood Bank, said the event was to celebrate the foundation of the Kuwait Hemophilia Society. She added that the goal of the society is to ease the pain of those who suffer from Hemophilia and cannot find proper care.

Al-Abdulrazzak thanked the doctors, volunteers, patients and their families for their support throughout the years and for making this day possible.

The Executive Director of the World Hemophilia Federation (WHF), Claudia Black, thanked all the city officials, volunteers, doctors and all of those who contributed to make the establishment of the society a possibility. Ahmed Haffar, the Regional Director of the Hemophilia World Federation, congratulated the Kuwaiti society for establishing their own branch and thanked all of those who made it a reality.

Later that day, the Kuwait Hemophilia Management Protocol was signed by the Ministry of Health Undersecretary Dr Ibrahim Al-Abdulhadi. The protocol is based on a similar strategy developed by the World

Federation for Hemophilia and adapted to suit the resources available in Kuwait, explained the Director of the Blood Diseases Unit at Sabah Hospital, Dr Shaikha AlMuhareb.

Dr Al-Muhareb, a Consultant Hematologist, said that the WHF’s guidelines were generic and that she will work alongside Dr Faisal Al-Sayegh, a consultant hematologist and associate professor at Kuwait University, to localize the protocol based on available resources.

The two doctors are among the founding members of Kuwait’s Hemophilia Society.

“The Kuwait Hemophilia Society gathered to meet hematologists in Kuwait’s hospitals and urge them to draft a national guideline for the management of hemophilia,” she explained. The guideline was achieved once the

protocol draft was prepared and a consensus attained by hematology specialists and consultants practicing in Kuwait, she said.

Also, a multi-disciplinary team of specialists were formed beforehand to help bleeding hemophiliacs deal with medical complications and provide them with rehabilitation and psychological support.

Dr Al-Muhareb underlined the importance of both home care and preventative measures. She said a connection should be made between the two in order to limit the harm that can be done to a hemophiliac.

Dr Faisal Al-Sayegh added, “some patients have or develop immune tolerance to the blood-clotting factor that is administered to replace the one they don’t naturally have in their blood. Such patients need to be identified and given special treatment.”

Counterfeit toy shipment busted KUWAIT: Customs officials at Shuwaikh Port recently foiled an attempt to import a shipment of counterfeit toys into the country.

The officials submitted a number of the toys to the intellectual property department for inspection after becoming suspicious of the shipment, reported Al-Watan, with department staff confirming that they were counterfeit. The shipment was then confiscated.

Customs department deputy director Amin Al-Mudaris said that the operation was another demonstration of Kuwait’s commitment to adhering to the international treaties on protecting intellectual property rights which it is a signatory to.

Resignation threat KUWAIT: A number of employees of the Savings and Credit Bank (SCB) have reportedly submitted a petition threatening to resign en masse in protest over the non-payment of performance-related bonuses they insist they are entitled to.

One senior bank official, speaking to Al-Watan on condition of anonymity, suggested that the petition signatories should approach the bank management and explain their grievances in order to resolve the matter.

McDonald’s celebrates Earth Day by planting trees KUWAIT: McDonald’s Kuwait celebrated Earth Day yesterday at Rawda Park.

McDonald’s employees and children of all ages, including those of special needs, planted trees in the park with their families, in hopes of restoring the greenery that is missing in the park’s landscape. The event was supported by the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) as well as the Benevolent Youth Volunteers Group.

Commenting on the activity, George Khawam, Marketing Director of McDonald’s Kuwait, said: “We are constantly looking to do our part for the environment in Kuwait.”

“This activity not only teaches children to appreciate their environment, but it also encourages active and balanced lifestyles among kids in our community,” Khawam concluded.

McDonald’s Ambassador of Goodwill, Ronald McDonald, joined in the effort and showed the children that their small contribution today will have a huge impact on the beauty of our park tomorrow, and that learning to protect the environment is an essential part of everybody’s duty in our community.

McDonald’s Kuwait has a long history in sponsoring active, balanced lifestyle activities for the children and families. Operating since 1994 in Kuwait, McDonald’s today has 60 restaurants geographically located to service customers in many areas, committed to the wellbeing of the society with an active social responsibility agenda, while maintaining high-quality products served in a safe and friendly atmosphere.

nAtionAl

Monday, April 26, 2010

5 Economic development strategy

Pay rises to be restricted to eligible govt workers KUWAIT: With the cabinet reportedly expected to approve civil service pay rises on the basis of the Civil Service Commission’s (CSC) recommendations presented last week, one minister has warned that the rises will be more selective than had been predicted. “The cabinet gives serious consideration to enforcing salary increases for those groups of workers which It’s also been revealed that the economic development strategy implemented as part of the government’s development plan is expected to create 350,000 job opportunities for young Kuwaitis in the next 12 years.

The strategy has also introduced a comprehensive program of policies to address housing-related concerns, including reducing citizens’

KUWAIT: Ahmed Al-Qenaye, CEO of Eureka (left), Rashid Al-Tabtabae Undersecretary of Ministry of Commerce and Industry (middle), Ahmed Muneer Marketing Manager of Eureka (right) cutting the ribbon to open the new branch of Eureka. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Eureka electronics opens new branch in Farwaniya

By Rawan Khal i d KUWAIT: The Eureka electronics company opened its fourth branch in Farwaniya on Thursday. Rashid Al-Tabtabae, Undersecretary of Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the CEO of Eureka Ahmed Al-Qenaye, and Ahmed Muneer, Marketing Manager of Eureka inaugurated the event.

Rashid Al-Tabtabae, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry spoke exclusively to the Kuwait Times, “I am very happy to be present here for this ceremony, to open the new Eureka electronics company. I am very happy because such businesses are unique. This is because it has gathered all people’s needs. For most of the brands and most of the agencies are here especially in electronics, computers, accessories, family needs, especially equipment. So it is a good chance for people to come here, buy furniture for their homes, and see the available price range,” he said.

“They told me that prices are competitive without compromising on quality and the variety of all household requirements. The opening of the fourth branch here in Kuwait means that the company has achieved success in its business, and that they will continue to promote this unique idea in Kuwait,” Al-Tabtabae said.

He added, “Our aim, especially in the Ministry

of Commerce and Industry is to keep the competition alive. We believe in achieving competition that yields good prices, good quality and give an opportunity for anybody to market. This is because we are trying not to monopolize our market. As you know, our market is an open one.

Everybody can obtain a commercial license to conduct business, or withdraw from the market.

We are organizers and implement the law. This will help so that we keep competition alive at its highest level. I mean, the complete competition.”

“As you know, before two months, the capital market law was issued and we are very proud about that. Secondly, a proposal has been submitted on amending laws that govern commercial companies with the Parliament. We have begun negotiations with the financial and economic committee. There is another proposal to vote for merchandising in Sales and Services. In addition to this there are other proposals submitted related to organizing the insurance sector here in Kuwait,” Al-Tabtabae concluded.

Ahmed Al-Qenaye, CEO of Eureka said, “From the day of opening, for the next twenty days, we have big offers in store for all the customers on all electronic items, and this discount is available only in the Farwaniya branch.

Moreover, inside Eureka, there are more than 7,000 exhibits present from different brands.”

Travel ban on Kuwaitis unconstitutional KUWAIT: A prominent local lawyer has applauded the parliamentary legal and legislative committee’s decision to amend some of the civil and commercial trade law regulations, particularly its condemnation of travel bans being imposed on Kuwaiti debtors owing less than KD 5,000, which it asserted is illegal.

Attorney Aziz Al-Sayed further praised the inclusion of a new article into the law making travel bans invalid one year after they are issued if the creditor fails to appeal against the enforcement of the court order within that period.

In a press statement, Al-Sayed said that imposing travel bans on citizens who find themselves in this situation is unconstitutional in that such bans limit their freedom of movement, reported Al-Watan.

these agencies are to be issued with “smart” ID cards containing comprehensive personal information about their bearers, including their names, civil ID details, nationality, etc.

Since bedoons have no citizenship, however, the section for recording their nationality would be left blank, meaning that their

cards would be incomplete and might not be accepted, reported Al-Qabas.

This could lead to a situation where bedoon agency representatives would be left without the necessary “smart” cards and unable to register work they have carried out, which would be rendered illegal as a result.

parliamentary environmental committee has issued a statement on the controversial issue of pollution levels in Um Al-Hayman following an investigation it carried out into the problem.

In its statement, the committee blamed the Environment Public Authority (EPA) and the Public Authority for Industry (PAI) for the increase in pollution in

the area, stating that they had failed to control factory emission levels, as well as allowing the factories to continue their polluting practices without imposing any penalties in this regard.

The committee recommended that either those factories which continue to emit unacceptable levels of pollution should be shut down immediately and relocated or

the residents should be moved to housing free of such pollution risks elsewhere.

On another subject, the parliamentary women’s affairs committee has submitted a number of proposals concerning women’s social and civil rights in various areas, including a call for the introduction of regulations to enforce sexual equality in appointments to administrative positions.

in the news Classroom shortage KUWAIT: The Education Ministry faces a serious challenge that lies ahead of next year’s academic year. Recent statistics collected indicate that a number of students have exceeded the available capacity in schools. A letter on the matter was referred to the Ministry’s Undersecretary Tamadher Al-Sadairawi by the Head of the Design and Constructions Department She Yusra Al-Qahtani. explained that the department is unable to prepare enough classes to accommodate the increasing number of students before the start of the next school year, and that contractors failed to abide by the deadline, Al-Watan. reported Furthermore, Al-Qahtani made sure that all obstacles over this delay be removed, and blamed this deficit on the assistant undersecretary who is responsible for supervising the department.

Film screening KUWAIT: The Kuwait Dive Team hosted a screening of the film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ to commemorate World Earth Day, reported Al-Qabas. The documentary sheds light on the global warming phenomenon and the group hosted the film in an attempt to spread awareness about this problem.

“The team’s celebration of Earth Day is part of our commitment to support environmental activities and programs around the world. We hope to spread awareness regarding environmental problems threatening our planet,” said head of the team Talal Al-Sarhan. The academy award winning movie, starring former US Vice President Al-Gore, provides several facts on global warming, includes information about climate change and damage to the marine environment.

MSAL system brings problems for bedoons KUWAIT: Bedoon (stateless) employees of recruitment agencies providing staff for the public sector face the threat of being laid off following the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor’s (MSAL) recent introduction of a computerized staff registration system.

Under the new system, all the representatives working for

accommodation costs and bringing their waiting period for housing down to a five-year maximum.

The economic development strategy will also introduce measures to increase transparency and eradicate corruption, as well as increasing work performance levels and the quality of education, reported Al-Watan.

On a separate issue, the

it deems eligible and sees as being related to [implementing] the development plan,” said the State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Roudhan AlRoudhan. He cautioned, however, that any public sector workers seen as imposing an additional burden on the state budget would be excluded from the pay rises.

These problems have reportedly led a number of the agencies working in this field to reconsider their employment of bedoon representatives and to consider dismissing them from their posts in order to appoint expatriates with citizenship of a nation in their pace in order to avoid potential legal difficulties.

KUWAIT: The second meeting for the GCC ministries of Interior Undersecretaries started yesterday.

Kuwait’s delegation is led by General Ahmad Abdullateef Al-Rujaib with Lt General Essam Ali AlOmer and Brigadier Essam Salem Al-Nahham, and others, participating. — KUNA

Audit Bureau attends NA committee meeting KUWAIT: The head of the Audit Bureau attended a meeting with the National Assembly’s legislative committee yesterday, reported AlQabas. At the meeting, they discussed proposals made by

MPs regarding the monitoring of confidential accounts and expenses.

Prior to the meeting, the committee’s reporter, MP Dr Waleed Al-Tabtabae said that the Audit Bureau is required to

approve the proposals regarding such monitoring in order to encourage transparency. He added that the monitoring teams can prepare their reports in confidentiality before sending them to the bureau.

When asked whether the Cabinet would approve such a proposal or not, Al-Tabtabae said that the government should not have anything to be afraid of if their procedures were correct.

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Murder attempt in Mangaf

Egyptian, Jordanian die in car accidents KUWAIT: An Egyptian man was killed, and two more people seriously injured, during a car crash on the Fahaheel Highway, reported Al-Watan. Paramedics responded to the emergency and brought the injured men to Mubarak Hospital. In another incident, a 51-year-old Jordanian woman was killed in a car accident on Arabian Gulf Road while a 20-year-old citizen sustained multiple fractures, reported Al-Qabas. The injured man was taken to Mubarak Hospital.

Kuwaiti scientific bodies praised GENEVA: Former chairman of the International Federation of Inventors’ Associations (IFIA) Dr Farah Moussa praised yesterday the paramount role of the Kuwaiti scientific establishments, noting high-aspiring creators of these bodies succeeded in making noticeable contributions.

Dr Moussa, speaking on the occasion of his honoring by the 38th International Exhibition of Inventions, said Kuwait Scientific Club had been launched with high aspirations, praising the managers of the club for making strides over the years, with various activities at the local, Arab and international levels.

He underscored necessity that the club, along with Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), continue to support Kuwaiti innovators who have shown particular interest in aviation, chemistry, physics, space and environment.

The international scientific figure affirmed that the Kuwaiti club and foundation could play a greater role in encouraging the youth to invest in their free time and innovate tools and gadgets that are of great use for the society.

Dr Moussa is renowned as a pioneer in the struggle to protect intellectual rights and creation of the international award for the best inventions. He had founded an award for the women inventors and served as the head of the IFIA for 15 years. He is author of many books, researches and articles, related to intellectual rights and scientific research. The delegation of the Kuwaiti club and foundation presented the manage-

ment of the Geneva exhibition with a memorial shield in appreciation for the fruitful cooperation. The director of the bureau for sponsoring Kuwaiti inventors and the head of the scientific commission of the exhibition for inventions in the Middle East, Khaled Al-Hassan Al-Dere’, granted the award to the head of the jurors of the fair, David Al-Farouki.

Kuwait was awarded three gold medals for inventions. Engineer Abdulaziz Al-Ereir won the award for his gas leakage treatment invention, Fahad Al-Huwaishil won his for inventing a device to disconnect electricity generators when they fail. Saud Al-Mutairi won an award for his natural energy-generating contraption.

Speaking on sidelines of the international event, Technical Examiner of South Korean Invention Promotion Association Young Choi underscored in remarks to KUNA necessity of cooperation between his country and Kuwait in the scientific and inventions sectors.

The two sides can cooperate in particular in the fields of oil industry, energy, environmental problems, water rationing and various computer domains, he said.

For his part, Al-Dere’ said the Kuwaiti scientific establishments “welcome the establishment of such cooperation” with Seoul. He indicated that Kuwait had taken part in innovations’ fair in this Asian state.

The South Korean delegation of innovators is presenting 13 inventions related to herbal treatment, housing and energy.

The Saudis had their share of the awards

too. Al-Taif University won four gold and two bronze medals. Dr. Abdel Atheem Farouk Jad of the university said that this rose the number of the awards won by the university for bio-technology innovations to five. Two of the awards were granted for making anti-biotic substances, extracted from herbs that grow in the Saudi resort region of Al-Taif. The Saudis earned the bronze medals for making a technology that can detect expired meat.

The Iranians promoted a small carriage that can be fitted to the handicapped wheelchair to facilitate shopping and a device that measures distances so that a jogger can determine the physical required energy.

The Romanians displayed highly-sensitive detectors to pin point cancerous tumors. The Russians contributed with a device to cleanse clothes of communicable bacteria and the Britons delivered an invention designed to treat injured muscles of the athlete. The Koreans gave an artificial knee that can be easily fitted.

Meanwhile, the international exhibition granted an award for the Spanish woman inventor, Celia Sanchez Ramos, for innovating a device for registering characteristics of the cornea as a new method for stamping.

In remarks to KUNA, Ramos said her device records the characteristics of the tissues of the cornea that differ in form in each person.

A group of Kuwaiti inventors has taken part in the 38th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, alongside over 470 inventors from 40 countries. — KUNA

in the news Sports festival KUWAIT: The Athletes Club of the Kuwait Sea Sports Club (KSSC) recently announced that the summer festival to be held here will feature various activities and competitions to be held during various sporting activities like football, basketball, volley ball, table tennis, and bowling. The Head of the Committee, Faisal Al-Qaseer indicated that men’s competitions will include tournaments for football, free-throw basketball and soccer penalty kicks.

Similar competitions will also be held for female competitors.

The event will also feature cultural and social activities, AlQaseer added.

GENEVA: Syrian Inventors’ Society, participating in the 38th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, honored Kuwait Science Club with a memorial shield, as a means to boost bilateral relations between the two countries. Kuwait had invited Syrian inventors to participate in the inventions exhibition in the Middle East to present their unique contributions.— KUNA

Dubai airport expo hailed DUBAI: The 10th Airport Expo Dubai-inaugurated here yesterday by Head of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Dubai Airports board’s Chairperson Sheikh Ahmad bin Said AlMaktoum-was hailed by Director General of the Middle East and Northern Africa Department at Kuwait’s Kirby Building System Corporate Wael Al-Qadah.

Al-Qadah said that he is happy for taking

part in such exposition which is attended by more than 223 specialized firms and service providers from 34 countries.

He also said that this is the first participation of his corporate in this exposition as some of the corporate’s officials attended it before only as visitors. This exposition is a good opportunity for firms to meet together and introduce their services to each others, he added. — KUNA

Medication prices highest in region KUWAIT: The price of medication in Kuwait is considered the highest among other Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries, if not in all of the Arab world, reported Al-Qabas.

According to pharmacists and other specialists in the field,

prices for medication have jumped by 42 percent in the past three years.

Furthermore, a simple tour of the pharmacies around the country reveals that the majority of them do not commit to the regulations regarding the sale of

medication. Several physicians confessed to making deals with medicine manufacturing companies in order to limit the amount of a product in a prescription.

Additionally, several pharmacists confessed to selling medication without a prescription.

Medical errors KUWAIT: MP Salem AlNamlan has submitted a number of parliamentary questions to health minister Dr. Hilal AlSayer concerning reports of medical errors in local hospitals, particularly the Adan Hospital, which have reportedly resulted in temporary or permanent disability in some cases. Al-Namlan requested details of these cases, the number of incidences involving medical errors at all Kuwait’s state hospitals and the nature of the errors, as well as the measures taken over them, with particular regard to Adan Hospital, reported Al-Watan.

The MP also proposed that all the polyclinics in the Ahmadi and Mubarak Al-Kabeer governorates should be furnished with the necessary equipment to upgrade them to medical centers capable of providing comprehensive medical services to users.

Swimsuits ban KUWAIT: According to a security source, there are no regulations that specifically ban wearing bikinis at beaches and pools in Kuwait, reported Al-Watan.

He added that there are, however, laws banning bikinis in public places, such as malls or other areas not allocated for swimming. On that note, shops cannot be banned from selling these outfits, he added, and security officers cannot take legal action against those who wear bikinis at beaches.

Attempted murder A 43-year-old Asian woman was found bleeding from a stab wound on her neck in Mangaf, reported Al-Watan. Police and paramedics responded to the emergency and admitted her to the intensive care unit of Adan Hospital in very critical condition. The apartment building’s Bangladeshi janitor as well as an Indian man were held for questioning.

Suicide case A Sri Lankan maid committed suicide inside her sponsor’s home in Abu Hlaifa by hanging herself from the ceiling of her room, reported Al-Qabas. Police responded to the scene and an investigation into the suicide was opened.

Fugitive found Police arrested a citizen in his 20’s, after he was found in possession of 20 imported liquor bottles, reported AlQabas. The discovery was made after the man’s car was searched at a checkpoint

on Kabad Road. The authorities decided to search the man’s vehicle when an investigation into his ID revealed that he was wanted for a previous criminal case.

Asian saved An Egyptian man saved an Asian man who attempted to kill himself by throwing himself into the sea, reported Al-Rai. The Egyptian jumped into the water after the Asian man and saved his life by performing CPR. Police and paramedics responded to the emergency and brought the man to Mubarak Hospital. A case of attempted suicide was opened against him.

Thief held Hawally police arrested a Lebanese man for stealing power cables, steel and lumber from a construction site in Hawally, reported Al-Annahar. Police caught the man after he was found running away from a construction building in possession of power cables. When ques-

tioned, he confessed to the crimes and explained that he would have sold the stolen items in the Amghara scrap yard.

He was taken to the proper authorities.

Body found A 43-year-old Kuwaiti man was found dead inside the restroom of a mosque in Salmiya, reported Al-Anba. A preliminary investigation by criminal investigators revealed that the man most likely died as a result of a drug overdose.

Stable fire A large fire occurred at a stable in the hunting and equestrian club which affected an area of 2,000 square meters, reported Al-Watan. The fire started when a spark from a welding operation ignited lumber stored nearby. Firefighters from the Mishref and Mubarak Al-Kabeer fire brigades extinguished the flames after all the people and animals were evacuated from the scene. Only material damage was recorded in the fire.

Mathkour hails Saudi efforts on facilitating Hajj RIYADH: Saudi government exerts praiseworthy efforts on Hajj and the services offered for the pilgrims of Allah’s Inviolable House of Worship, head of the Kuwaiti Hajj Mission and director of Hajj Affairs Committee Dr Khaled Al-Mathkour said here yesterday. Dr Mathkour also hailed on the sidelines of his meeting with the Undersecretary of the Saudi Hajj Ministry Hatem Kadi as part of his official visit to Saudi Arabia the efforts made by the officials in the Saudi ministry of Hajj who do their best to ensure that the Hajj season becomes a success.

He also pointed out that this meeting touched on the arrangements and preparations made for the coming Hajj season of 1431 Hejri along with taking into account some remarks on the latest Hajj season in order to avert them in the future.

Further, Dr. Mathkour conveyed the assertion of the Saudi side that every Kuwaiti pilgrim should carry a special permit and that no one will be allowed into Makkah except with this permit. There should be some educational programs for the pilgrims, he said, noting that pilgrims coming from the State of Kuwait should be registered in Hajj convoys licensed by the Kuwaiti Hajj Affairs Committee.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mathkour made clear that the Saudi Hajj Ministry is poised to take any measure in order to prevent unlicensed Hajj convoy and that it will prohibit as of the next Hajj season the entry of vehicles carrying less than 25 passengers to the Holy Ceremonies zone.

He also declared that fisrt phase of railway line will be operated by the next Hajj season and will include Kuwaiti Hajj convoy. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The Commercial Bank of Kuwait recently provided support for the activities held as part of the environmental day which took place at the G.W. Marriott Hotel and organized by the environmental committee of the basic education faculty of the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, under the patronage of the Capital Governor, Sheikh Ali Al-Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. The bank’s personal banking services department manager, Adel Al-Dhulaiei, expressed excitement for supporting the event that explains the probable ways to protect the environment for the future generations. The bank’s support comes as part of their role in community service in all fields.

Embassy co-organizes Kuwait economic week in Cairo CAIRO: The Kuwaiti Embassy in Egypt is planning to hold a Kuwaiti Economic Week from April 27 to 29, under the auspices of Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif.

Media Consultant of the Organizing Committee Hadi Sallam said this is the sixth Kuwaiti week in Egypt. The event is an opportunity for elite businessmen and investors as well as officials to meet and discuss potential for further cooperation.

He said Egypt boasts immense potential for still stronger economic role in the Arab region and is keen on further cooperation with Kuwait.

Kuwaiti investment in Egypt over the past five years went up by over 12 billion Egyptian pounds, and the sums are channeled into over 500 projects in different sectors.

Executive Director of the event Marwah Khairi meanwhile said the event is co-organized with the Egyptian Embassy in Kuwait, the Kuwaiti Embassy in Egypt, and is the biggest Arab economic gathering in Egypt.

She added the security, stability and the continued economic growth in Kuwait in different sectors enable it to assume a leading role on the Gulf and Arab investment scenes.— KUNA

VIVA Kuwait honors employees KUWAIT: CEO Najeeb Al-Awadhi recently hosted a luncheon for employees from VIVA Kuwait’s Ministry Complex and Souk Sharq branches to celebrate their hard work in achieving the highest target sales in the first quarter of 2010. The honored attendees

received special ‘Thank You’ certificates.

Al-Awadhi delivered a speech in which he said: “Your commitment and loyalty to VIVA Kuwait and its values are admirable, and I am truly impressed that you achieved the goal we have set out.” “The award cer-

emony was in keeping with the VIVA Kuwait Giving campaign that was launched earlier in the year.” VIVA Kuwait believes that happy and appreciated employees are better able to serve VIVA’s customer base and the community.

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Monday, April 26, 2010

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Latest bloodshed will not alter US plans to withdraw troops

Al-Qaeda in Iraq confirms deaths of top commanders BAGHDAD: Al-Qaeda has confirmed the deaths of its top two Iraq commanders in a joint US-Iraqi military raid, a US monitoring group said, days after a wave of apparent revenge attacks killed 58 Iraqis. Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayub Al-Masri, who had direct links with Osama bin Laden, were reported by Iraqi and US officials to have been killed in a shootout on April 18 near Tikrit in central Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki in announcing the deaths last Monday said a major threat to the nation’s security had been removed while US Vice President Joe Biden said the killings were “potentially devastating blows to Al-Qaeda in Iraq.”

SILWAN: Palestinian youths hurl stones at Israeli police in the Arab east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan yesterday. Palestinian protesters hurled stones at Israeli police as dozens of ultra-nationalist Jews carried Israeli flags through Silwan to assert the sovereignty of Jerusalem, according to the organisers of the march. — AFP

Egypt: Change should not threaten nation CAIRO: Egypt’s president cautioned that street protests and calls for change could endanger the country’s future, in his first public speech since recovering from surgery in Germany.

President Hosni Mubarak’s speech dominated the press Sunday, which showed photos of the 81-year-old president presiding over a military parade in the canal city of Ismailia.

“Such exchanges and liveliness should never turn into confrontations, fighting or conflict. We must all be careful that the desired competition doesn’t ...throw the future of the nation and its people to the wind,” he said in his televised speech Saturday.

Ruling party lawmakers caused an uproar when they called on the police to open fire on demonstrators. Mubarak underwent gallbladder surgery and removed a growth in the small intestine in Germany last month. He returned to Egypt late March, and has been recuperating in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik since. Much of the current political agitation in Egypt erupted in the wake of Mubarak’s sudden illness and three week absence. He has yet to return to Cairo.

Parliamentary elections are scheduled for this fall, while presidential elections are due in late 2011. Mubarak, who has

ruled the country for nearly three decades, hinted that no major changes are expected soon and he took credit for allowing the current calls for reform. “The active social interplay in Egypt today is a result of what I initiated five years ago. It is proof of Egyptians’ vitality, and a witness to the unprecedented space for freedom of expression, opinion and media,” he said. “I say honestly and sincerely I welcome all this social commotion and interaction, so long as they abide by the constitution and law,” he added.

Opposition groups calling for change say constitutional reforms introduced by Mubarak over the past few years to ostensibly allow competitive presidential elections actually limit those eligible to run to the president’s son and a few members of the ruling party. Egypt’s political scene has been roiled by rising dissatisfaction over economic woes and numerous labor strikes, and now political demands for change have found a new impetus when former UN nuclear chief and Egyptian diplomat Mohammed ElBaradei returned to Egypt this year.

Pro-reform groups rallied around ElBaradei urging him to run for president. He, in turn, has made constitutional reforms to open up the political system

France to help Jordan reform court system AMMAN: France is to send legal experts to Jordan to help the kingdom overhaul its court system, French Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said yesterday after talks with King Abdullah II. Yesterday’s talks in Amman focused on ways to enhance legal cooperation between France and Jordan, whose court system is largely based on French law, a palace statement said.

Alliot-Marie told reporters after the meeting that the two countries “will work together to strengthen the Jordanian court system.” She added that France will soon dispatch legal experts to the kingdom as part of the initiative.

“Jordan and France will examine each other’s ... civil, commercial and criminal laws and see how to bring certain laws closer in order to meet common concerns and requirements,” the French minister said.

The palace statement quoted the king as telling Alliot-Marie at the meeting that Jordan and France, who signed a protocol on joint legal cooperation last year, “have the potential to further improve bilateral legal and legislative ties.”

Alliot-Marie arrived in Amman on Saturday and addressed the Institute of Judiciary. She also held talks with Prime Minister Samir Rifai. — AFP

Larijani says US cannot bully Iran TEHRAN: The United States must understand that it cannot bully Iran and should respect the rights of the Islamic republic, parliament speaker Ali Larijani said in the eastern city of Tabas yesterday. “They (US administration) should respect Iran’s rights and understand that you cannot bully Iran,” Larijani said in a speech marking the 30th anniversary of the failed US mission to release American embassy staff taken hostage in the wake of the Islamic revolution of 1979.

Fifty-three employees of the then US embassy in Tehran were held hostage for 444 days by Islamist Iranian students soon after the Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed shah.

In April 1980, then US President Jimmy Carter sent a rescue mission to free the hostages but the military effort ended in failure, with eight American servicemen killed.

Diplomatic ties between the US and Iran have been suspended ever since.

Larijani, whose speech was broadcast live on state television, also criticised diplomatic overtures by US President Barack Obama, saying they were followed by “harsh and sometimes threatening behaviour.”

The senior lawmaker boasted that Western countries were now “humbled in front of Iran’s military might” and did not dare to “attack” the Islamic republic.

“Instead of understanding the region, they want to deceive. You must understand that we are now living in a post-US era,” Larijani said, as the crowd shouted “Death to America!”

In recent months, Washington has stepped up global efforts to impose a fourth round of UN sanctions on Iran for pursuing its nuclear programme, which Tehran insists is peaceful but which Western powers believe masks a drive to manufacture an atomic weapon.

The United States has not ruled out military action to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions. — AFP

the centerpiece of his campaign.

Mubarak, however, warned that change can’t be made through “uncalculated steps” or through “slogans ... and posturing.” He also said that the upcoming elections would “free,” prompting opposition papers to speculate he may be running for next year’s presidential elections. — AP

The SITE Intelligence Group service said that the Islamic State of Iraq, the branch of Al-Qaeda in the country, had in a statement posted late Saturday on jihadist Internet forums confirmed the deaths of the two men.

The ISI shariah minister, Abu alWalid Abd al-Wahhab al-Mashadani, said the two leaders were attending a meeting when “enemy forces” engaged them in battle and launched an airstrike on their location, SITE said.

“We are proud to announce to you... that the Islamic Ummah once again lost two leaders... two heroes who were determined to follow the path of jihad, despite the severe adversity and the intensity of their burdens, as well as the aggressiveness of their enemies,” he said.

The joint operation that targeted the main Al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq took place 10 kilometres (six miles) from Tikrit, the home city of executed dictator Saddam Hussein.

Mashadani praised Baghdadi and Masri and announced that other Islamist groups in Iraq had joined the ISI. “Discussions had already begun with them before and after the initiative of Sheikh Abu Omar (al-

BAGHDAD: Iraqi women mourn during the funeral of a relative in Baghdad yesterday, following a bombing attack on a pool hall in a southern district of the Iraqi capital the previous day. At least three people were killed and 19 were wounded on April 24 when three bombs exploded in and around the pool hall in Al-Amel, a mostly Shiite district of Baghdad, according to interior ministry officials. — AFP

Baghdadi),” he said.

“If Allah fated that the two sheikhs be killed at this particular time, know that they left a unique generation behind, one that was raised before their eyes,” Mashadani added.

Baghdadi had been reported killed off or captured at least three times before and Al-Qaeda has previously issued denials, insisting he was still alive and free. This is the first time the group has acknowledged his death.

Maliki said that forensic tests had confirmed their identities of Baghdadi and Masri and insisted that Al-Qaeda was on the run.

On Friday, a wave of attacks across Iraq including five car bombs, three as prayers finished at Shiite mosques in Baghdad, killed 58 people.

A statement from Maliki’s office said the bombs were a direct response from insurgents angered by the killing of the two commanders. “The aim of (Friday’s) attacks is to overshadow the big success achieved by the security services in killing the devil terrorist leaders and an attempt to prove their existence after that strike,” said Maliki’s statement. — AFP

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Belarus leader raps Russia, may snub security summit MINSK: Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko yesterday berated ally Russia for not paying for its military bases deployed in his country and warned that he could snub the summit of a Moscow-dominated security pact next month.

Lukashenko, who has sought to improve ties with the West, bitterly hit out at Russia’s gas-for-base deal with Ukraine.

“I want to congratulate my Ukrainian colleagues on this victo-

ry-they have saved a few billion dollars by signing this deal,” Lukashenko told reporters.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, bargaining with Moscow for cheaper gas, agreed last week to extend the lease of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the Crimea by 25 years beyond 2017, a move the opposition sees as Ukraine selling its sovereignty.

“If someone has forgotten it, Russia has two military bases on

Belarussian land,” Lukashenko said.

“And Russia pays us zero roubles, zero kopecks and zero dollars for these bases.”

“Besides Belarus, Russia has no one on its western flank.”

He said one of the bases was part of Russia’s national ballistic missile early warning system, while the other provided communications with Russian submarines in the Atlantic.

Russian officials say Moscow

does not pay Minsk for the bases because Belarus gets Russian oil and gas at low prices, while Belarus says the lack of payment is due to a close military and political partnership between the two.

Those ties have soured amid trade wars, Belarus’s anger over what it sees as high prices for Russian energy and Moscow’s irritation with Minsk’s refusal to recognise Georgia’s breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as

independent states.

Adding further to tensions, Lukashenko has criticised Moscow’s prompt support of Kyrgyzstan’s opposition, which came to power after a bloody revolt this month.

Ousted Kyrgyz leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev was sheltered in Belarus.

Lukashenko threatened he would not attend an informal summit of the Moscow-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organisation (ODKB) set for May 8 in Moscow,

unless the issue of Kyrgyzstan’s “coup d’etat” was included in the agenda of the meeting.

Both Belarus and Kyrgyzstan make part of the post-Soviet security pact, along with Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

“What sort of organisation is this one, if there is bloodshed in one of our member states and an anti-constitutional coup d’etat takes place, and this body keeps silent?”

Lukashenko said.

“At this stage, there is no agenda (for the summit). If nothing is changed, I have nothing to do there.”

ODKB countries control a key land route from Europe to Afghanistan, and the group is often billed as a regional counterweight to NATO. In June last year Lukashenko snubbed an ODKB summit in Moscow over a milk export row with Russia. —Reuters

Party with strongest ‘mandate’ should be allowed to govern

British polls point to hung parliament LONDON: With polls suggesting a hung parliament after Britain’s May 6 election, the leader of likely kingmakers the Liberal Democrats warned yesterday he would not prop up a weakened Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Nick

Clegg’s centrist party, which has surged from third to second place in opinion polls after he performed strongly in TV debates, is unlikely to win enough votes to form a government after the closely-fought battle.

It could, though, hold the balance of power in a hung parliament where no party wins an overall majority, not seen since 1974 — and team up with Labour or the Conservatives to govern.

The Liberal Democrats have never said which party they would team up with in the event of a hung parliament although Clegg has said the party with the strongest “mandate” should be allowed to try to govern.

But in a strong message to Brown yesterday, Clegg warned Labour that he would not support them if they dropped to third in the general election.

“It is just preposterous the idea that if a party comes third in the number of votes, it still has somehow the right to carry on squatting in Number Ten (Downing Street),” he told the BBC. “I think a party which has come third-and so millions of GOMERSAL: David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives, Britain’s opposition party, gestures after signing a people have decided to abanboard in support, during a rally to save the local school Birkenshaw Middle School from closure in Gomersal, don them-has lost the election West Yorkshire, England, yesterday. Britain will hold a general election on May 6. —AP spectacularly (and) cannot then lay claim to providing the prime minister of this country.”

Clegg also told the Sunday Times that Labour was “increasingly irrelevant”.

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI told founded by the Rev. Fortunato Di Noto. ministry. A priest should “take care of his He spoke as opinion polls priests yesterday they must protect their Earlier this year, Di Noto lamented that flock with immense tenderness and defend suggested the centre-right flock from harm and regain trust as he hailed some of these cases were handled “with it from harm, and the faithful must place Conservatives led by David absolute trust” in their clergy, the pope efforts to battle pedophilia but did not men- imprudence” by the Church.

Cameron had extended their “On this occasion, I want to above all said. Benedict’s encouragement of efforts tion the sex abuse scandals buffeting his lead, though not by enough to papacy. Benedict noted yesterday was thank and encourage all those who dedicate to prevent abuse of children comes after win an outright majority, Italy’s national day to remember children themselves to prevention and education” weeks of stepped-up accusations he and which would mean a hung parwho are victims of violence and offered against violence, Benedict said. He singled other top churchmen helped perpetuate sysliament. praised for a group, led by an Italian priest, out “parents, teachers and so many priests, tematic cover-ups of abusive priests worldOne of them, a YouGov that pioneered efforts in the predominantly nuns” and other church workers who work wide in the past decades. Clergy abuse vicsurvey in the Sunday Times, Roman Catholic nation to combat “violence, with young people in parishes, schools and tims have been demanding he acknowledge put Tories on 35 percent, a his role in fostering what they call a culture exploitation and indifference” toward chil- groups. rise of two points, with the Yesterday was the day the Vatican dedi- of secrecy, including frequent shuffling of dren.

Liberal Democrats down one The pope didn’t mention the word cates annually to efforts to encourage young pedophile priests from parish to parish or on 28 percent and Labour pedophilia, but the association he cited, men to enter the priesthood, and Benedict even country to country after complaints of down three on 27 percent. known as Meter, has denounced cases of urged clergy to follow the example of Jesus sexual abuse were not quickly reported to Cameron, meanwhile, said pedophile priests in Italy. The group was “the God Shepherd” in carrying out their police and prosecutors. —AP he would not support the Liberal Democrats’ top demand-reforming the voting system-sending a signal that the two parties would find it very hard to work together, although he did not rule that out.

“I want us to keep the current system that enables you ABUJA: An obscure Nigerian Despite the acting presidenconfirmed having no connec- absence two months ago. to throw a government out of youth group said yesterday it “We believe (Jonathan) can t’s request to stop its campaign, tion to Jonathan, said it office. That is my view,” he will carry on campaigning to believed the acting president deliver. There are no fuel the group plans to put up polititold the Observer newspaper. elect Acting President has already proven to be a good queues and light and electricity cal posters in Kano, Bauchi and “We think this is an important Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 leader since assuming execu- are normal,” Dogara Bassa, the other major northern Nigerian issue.” national polls despite his tive powers in Yar’Adua’s group’s secretary, told Reuters. cities. —Reuters Business Secretary Peter request that it stop.

Mandelson, seen as Brown’s The race to be leader of de facto deputy, warned supAfrica’s most populous nation porters of centre-left Labour is wide open since ailing who were thinking of switchPresident Umaru Yar’Adua is ing support to the centrist unlikely to seek re-election.

Liberal Democrats that doing Elections are due by April next so could let in Cameron. year.

“You might start flirting The Northern Youth with Nick Clegg, but that way Movement for Positive Change you will end up marrying began posting political posters, David Cameron,” he told the saying “Goodluck is the Positive Hope for Nigeria”, Sunday Mirror. throughout the capital Abuja on Disillusioned Labour votFriday. ers in Britain sometimes Jonathan, who has not ruled switch to the Liberal out running in 2011, denied any Democrats in protest as both connection to the youth group’s are seen as progressive parcampaign and urged them to ties. stop.

This happened most “The acting president has recently in the 2005 general not authorised any group to election, when the Liberal produce or paste campaign Democrats saw a surge of posters for him,” said support due to their opposispokesman Ima Niboro yestertion to the Iraq war, which the day.

Labour government under “He warns those behind the Tony Blair led Britain into. circulation of these posters to Brown said Saturday he desist from the act because it is was “upping the tempo” in capable of causing distracthe election campaign with tions.”

VIENNA: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin lays a wreath to the Memorial of less than two weeks to go The youth group, which Soviet soldiers in Vienna yesterday. —AFP until polling day. —AFP

Pope hails anti pedophilia group

Obscure Nigerian youth group campaigns to elect Jonathan

VIENNA: Supporters of Austrian President Heinz Fischer (unseen) applaud in a polling station moments after the first partial results of the Austrian presidential election were published in Vienna yesterday. Austrian President Heinz Fischer won re-election as expected, receiving 78.6 percent of votes, based on partial results published by the ARGE polling institute when polls closed. —AFP

Austrian president to win second term VIENNA: Austria’s president was expected to easily win a second term in elections yesterday, warding off a challenge from a far-right politician who has criticized the country’s anti-Nazi law.

Polls predict a clear win for incumbent Heinz Fischer, a Social Democrat, with Barbara Rosenkranz from the anti-foreigner and antiEuropean Union Freedom Party coming in a distant second. Rudolf Gehring of the tiny Austrian Christian Party is expected to bring up the rear in the running for the largely ceremonial post. Local media reported that turnout was sluggish during the first half of the warm and sunny day, with fewer people casting ballots than during the last elections on April 25, 2004. Around 6.4 million Austrians aged 16 and older are eligible to vote.

Fischer, 71, is known for his caution and diplomacy. He served as science minister and held various leadership positions in his party and in parliament before winning the presidency six years ago.

Rosenkranz, in contrast, has caused controversy for suggesting that Austria’s law banning the glorification of the Nazis is not in line with the country’s constitution and hinders freedom of expression.

While she recently formally declared support for the law after pressure from the publisher of the country’s most widely read newspaper, her candidacy remains controversial. She also came under fire recently for a vague response to a question about Nazi gas chambers, but has since clearly acknowledged their existence.

“It’s such a scandal for the country,” Holocaust survivor Rudolf Gelbard said on a recent afternoon as he watched students and scouts spread sheets of paper bearing the names of wartime Austria’s Nazi victims on the square outside the

presidential palace in what was billed as “a history lesson” for Rosenkranz.

The 51-year-old mother of 10, whose husband was part of a far-right political party that was banned for being too radical, said her comments on the country’s anti-Nazi law were misinterpreted by her critics and the media. “Of course I condemn the monstrous atrocities _ I’ve never done anything else,” Rosenkranz told The Associated Press in reference to the mass killings of Jews and others by the Nazis.

“I consider myself very values-oriented and closely linked to my homeland,” she said when asked to describe herself.

Analysts say Rosenkranz’s candidacy was initially meant as a test run for local elections in the Austrian capital this fall but backfired amid negative publicity. Even Freedom Party chief HeinzChristian Strache — who wants to become the mayor of Vienna — distanced himself from her after predicting early on that she could net as much as 35 percent of the vote.

A recent opinion poll published by the magazine Profil gave Fischer 82 percent, followed by 13 percent for Rosenkranz and 5 percent for Gehring. Some analysts say Rosenkranz could snag up to 20 percent amid low voter turnout and a larger than normal number of invalid ballots due in large part to the absence of a People’s Party candidate. While the opposition Greens endorsed Fischer, the People’s Party - which runs a coalition government with the Social Democrats — did not. Some party officials even went so far as to suggest casting blank ballots.

“This is a huge opportunity for us,” Strache said in a statement urging supporters to go to the polls. “Every single vote counts.” —AP

French Muslims feel stigmatised in veil row NANTES: Muslims in the French city where a woman was fined for driving in an Islamic veil complained of being stigmatised by the affair yesterday as the political repercussions rumbled on.

With the government planning to ban the full Islamic veil in public, the fining of the French woman took a political turn when a minister threatened to punish her Muslim husband for offences including polygamy.

“The Muslims of Nantes... are worried by this systematic stigmatisation which goes against the values of the Republic,” the collective of Nantes mosques said in a statement.

The association “considers that the stopping of a driver is a judicial procedure and is angry at how such an event has been turned into being all about Islam.”

The woman has challenged the fine as a breach of her human rights.

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government said last week it would push ahead with a ban on wearing a fullface veil in public, despite a warning from state legal experts that such a law could

be unconstitutional.

In this context, the Nantes incident gained political momentum and dominated the news this weekend.

France’s interior minister, Brice Hortefeux, alleged the woman’s husband may belong to a radical group and may be a polygamist with four wives and 12 children and guilty of welfare fraud.

Hortefeux wrote to Immigration Minister Eric Besson asking him to look into the allegations and said the man could be stripped of his French nationality if they proved true.

Hortefeux’s move was praised by members of the right-wing governing UMP party and criticised by opposition figures such as Communist Party leader Marie-George Buffet, who called it a “bad-taste political operation”.

The deputy mayor of Nantes, Socialist lawmaker Jean-Marc Ayrault, said the state authorities had known about the polygamy allegations for some time. “Why are they pretending just now to have discovered the situation?” he said.

The state prosecutor in

Nantes, Xavier Ronsin, told AFP yesterday that so far no charge had been lodged against the husband but an investigation could be launched if there were grounds to suspect fraud.

Hortefeux wrote that the husband was born in Algeria and acquired French nationality by marrying the woman in 1999.

Polygamy, being married to more than one person at the same time, is a jailable offence in France, but only civil marriages conducted by a state official count-not religious marriage ceremonies.

It was not clear on Sunday whether the veiled woman’s husband was joined to his other alleged wives by civil marriage or by religious rites such as Muslim weddings.

As to whether the man could be stripped of his French nationality, a source close to the investigation said that French law allowed this only in the case of serious crimes against the state such as terrorism, not for polygamy. Naturalised citizens can however have their nationality revoked if they are found to have obtained it fraudulently. —AFP

InternAtIOnAL

Monday, April 26, 2010

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Cubans hold municipal elections; belie criticism HAVANA: Cuba held elections to fill municipal assemblies across the island yesterday in a vote the communist government says belies criticism in Washington and Europe that Fidel Castro’s half-century old revolution is not democratic.

Almost all of Cuba’s 8.4 million eligible voters were expected to turn out for the vote — which will choose 15,000 people to fill seats in 169 municipal assemblies. Those elected won’t be dealing with big geopolitical issues such as how to thaw frozen relations with the United

States, or what measures must be taken to revitalize a near-dormant economy. Instead, they will be the first point of contact most Cubans have with their government, the person to see if electricity service is spotty or if the neighbors are making too much noise. The municipal assemblies also have some role in electing those who will fill more important bodies including the regional assemblies and the national parliament, which in turn decides who will serve on the Council of State, Cuba’s supreme governing

body.

As president, Raul Castro is head of the Council of State. His brother Fidel, who stepped down permanently in 2008 after an undisclosed illness, remains leader of the Communist Party.

Cuba’s leaders have charged that the international news media ignore the local voting as part of a global campaign to discredit the revolution.

They say their system is, in fact, the most democratic in the world because it requires participation on a block-by-block level and is not influ-

enced by money.

Critics say the elections are window-dressing since all real power is concentrated in the hands of the Castros and an aging cadre of revolutionaries who have been with them since they overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Raul Castro cast his ballot in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood. It was not clear whether Fidel would also venture out to a polling station. In 2007, the last time elections were held, a ballot box was brought to the ailing revolutionary so that he could vote.

Fidel, 83, has looked strong and alert in recent video released by the government, but he has not been seen in public in nearly four years.

Candidates in yesterday’s vote are nominated by a show of hands at gatherings organized by the local government. Committees for the Defense of the Revolution — or CDRs — neighborhood watch groups charged with keeping close tabs on their areas and with reporting seditious activity, help get people out to the gatherings.

While candidates do not need to

be members of the Communist Party, the vast majority are in good standing with local authorities. The nomination process is done by a show of hands, but a committee must approve each candidate in order for their names to get on the ballot.

Campaigning is outlawed in Cuba, so voters learn about the candidates based either on word of mouth in the community or through a resume and photograph pasted onto the walls of voting centers.

As in other countries, each voter places a check mark by the name of

the candidate they want, and the balloting is secret. While participation is not mandatory, it is strongly encouraged. Cubans 16 years of age or older can vote, and even younger schoolchildren play a role. Each ballot box is “guarded” by two children dressed in their school uniforms. In 2007, the last time municipal elections were held, turnout topped 95 percent. Results were expected today. A run-off to decide elections in which no candidate received at least 50 percent of the vote will be held on May 2. — AP

Law toughens restrictions on hiring illegal immigrants for day labor

Arizona rally planned to protest immigration law PHOENIX: Opponents who fear that Arizona’s tough new immigration law will lead to police harassment of legal immigrants and US citizens who look Hispanic are set to demonstrate against the measure at the state Capitol yesterday after-

ATLANTA: Priscilla Sterling, center, poses with her daughter Johnna, left, 12 and son Emmett, right, 5, as they arrive for the ‘Never Too Late for Justice’ panel discussion, Saturday, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Sterling, a 40-year-old mother of five, hadn’t even been born in 1955 when her cousin was killed while visiting family in Mississippi, his body pulled from a river three days later. Still, her family feels the ripple of his slaying often struggling to feel safe in their hometown of Jackson, Miss. — AP

Mexican state security chief wounded in ambush MORELIA: Gunmen ambushed the motorcade of the top state security official in the Mexican state of Michoacan early Saturday in the latest round of drug-related violence that left 13 people dead around the country.

The assailants opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles and detonated fragmentation grenades in the attack, killing four people and wounding 11 others, including the Michoacan state security secretary, Minerva Bautista.

“A trailer blocked the path of the vans in which Minerva Bautista and her security team were traveling, and in an instant, an armed group opened fire on all the secretary’s people, without a care for civilian passersby,” state prosecutor Jesus Montejano Ramirez told AFP. Two bodyguards and two civilians were killed in the onslaught. Bautista was hit with a grenade fragment and taken to a local hospital where she was in stable condition, the state government said.

Meanwhile, army troops clashed with suspected drug gangs in towns on the outskirts of the northern city of Monterrey, leaving six people dead and a soldier injured, the Mexican defense ministry said.

Gunmen attacked an army patrol in the municipality of Juarez, which adjoins Monterrey, and blocked the main avenues with two police cars to keep reinforcements from arriving, it said.

The defense ministry said five “presumed criminals” were killed in the shoot-out.

A short time earlier in the outlying Monterrey district of San Nicolas, soldiers killed a man fleeing a checkpoint in a car, the defense ministry said.

Monterrey has been the scene of a bloody turf war between the Gulf drug cartel and its former allies, Los Zetas.

Since 2006, more than 22,700 people have been killed in Mexico’s spiraling drug violence despite the deployment of some 50,000 troops to provide security in cities ravaged by killings.

In the western resort city of Acapulco, the dismembered bodies of three men were found Saturday stuffed in black plastic garbage backs and left in a house with a message to a rival drug gang, the Guerrero state security office said.

Drug violence has spiked in recent weeks in Acapulco as competing factions fight for control of the organization headed by Arturo Beltran Leyva, a cartel leader killed in December. — AFP

The law also toughens restrictions on hiring illegal immigrants for day labor and knowingly transporting them. Civil rights advocates have vowed to challenge the law in court, saying it would undoubtedly lead to racial profiling despite Brewer’s assurances.

Supporters have dismissed those concerns, saying the law prohibits the use of race or nationality as the sole basis for an immigration check. Brewer has ordered state officials to develop a training course for officers to learn what constitutes reasonable suspicion someone is in the US illegally.

Hundreds gathered outside the state Capitol in Phoenix on Friday shouting that the bill would lead to civil rights abuses.

After she signed the bill, Brewer said critics were “overreacting.”

A handful of protesters lingered at the Capitol Saturday morning.

Others gathered in Tucson outside the campaign headquarters of US Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat who opposes the measure and has called on businesses and groups looking for convention and meeting locations to boycott Arizona.

Laws in Arizona and most states don’t require police to ask about the immigration status of those they encounter, and many police departments prohibit officers from inquiring out of fear immigrants won’t cooperate in other investigations.

The new law makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally. Immigrants unable to produce documents showing they are allowed to be in the US could be arrested, jailed for up to six months and fined $2,500. It also allows lawsuits against government agencies that hinder enforcement of immigration laws.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s office said in a statement Saturday that “the Mexican government condemns the approval of the law” and “the criminalization of migration, far from contributing to collaboration and cooperation between Mexico and the state of Arizona, represents an obstacle to solving the shared problems of the border region.” Arizona has an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants and is the state with the most illegal border crossings, with the harsh, remote desert serving as the gateway for thousands of Mexicans and Central Americans.— AP

Honduran prez makes US visit

BAHIA PINA: Panamanian soldiers stand guard in Bahia Pina, Panama on April 23. A forgotten US submarine base from World War II recovered its strategic significance after being reopened by the Panamanian government to fight drug trafficking in high seas. — AFP

Obama to lead memorial for US mining dead WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama led mourners yesterday at a memorial service for the 29 men killed this month in the worst US mining disaster in decades, saying they died in pursuit of the American dream.

Obama was joined by Vice President Joe Biden at the ceremony in West Virginia, where the deadly blast ripped through a mine run by Massey Energy, the country’s fourth largest coal producer, on April 5.

“All the hard work. All the hardship. All the time spent underground,” Obama will say, according to excerpts from his eulogy released in advance by the White House.

“It was all for their families. For a car in the driveway.

For a roof overhead. For a chance to give their kids opportunities they never knew; and enjoy retirement with their wives. “It was all in the hopes of something better.”

Obama has blamed the operators of the Upper Big Branch mine for the disaster, vowing to step up safety industry-wide and ordering inspections of all US mines

with “troubling” safety records.

The deadliest in 40 years was caused by “a failure, first and foremost, of management, but also a failure of oversight,” he said.

Obama has said the government has a duty to ensure safety standards were maintained, warning companies cannot use legal loopholes “to shirk their responsibilities.”

“We cannot bring back the 29 men we lost. They are with the Lord now,” Obama will say in the eulogy.

“Our task, here on Earth, is to save lives from being lost in another such tragedy. To do what must be done, individually and collectively, to assure safe conditions underground. To treat our miners the way they treat each other - like family.” Massey Energy has been hit in connection with dozens of safety violations over the years, including 57 in March alone, and paid out 4.2 million dollars in criminal and civil fines last year.

In the weeks before the blast at the mine inspectors had found problems with the air ventilation system, reports have said. — AFP

TEGUCIGALPA: Honduran President Porfirio Lobo departed Saturday on a tour of the United States as his government lobbies for international recognition and Honduras’ readmission to the Organization of American States.

Lobo, who took office January 27 after a protracted political crisis caused by a coup, was to make stops in New Orleans and Miami with an agenda that included visits to universities, a meeting with a World Bank official and with Colombia’s defense minister.

Honduras’ Foreign Minister Mario Canahuati, meanwhile, said Honduras hoped to be automatically reinstated in the OAS when it holds its next general assembly in Lima June 6 to 8.

Honduras was expelled from the regional organization in July 2009 following a June 28, 2009 coup that ousted then president Manuel Zelaya. Lobo was elected president in November 2009, amid a political impasse between the de facto government that followed the coup and Zelaya, who had taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy to press for his return to office.— AFP

noon. The rally comes two days after Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill that requires police to question people about their immigration status — including asking for identification — if they suspect someone is in the country illegally.

PHOENIX: A large group gathers for a rally against Arizona Senate bill SB1070 Saturday, at the Capitol in Phoenix a day after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the bill into law. The sweeping measure would make it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally, and would require local law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are in the country illegally. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

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Monday, April 26, 2010

New Zealand war memorial services marred by military crash WELLINGTON: Commemorations honouring New Zealand and Australia’s war dead were marred yesterday when a military helicopter heading to memorial services in Wellington crashed, killing three people.

The Defence Force said the helicopter was part of a formation heading to Wellington to take part in a flypast for ANZAC Day, the most significant day of remembrance for Australia and New Zealand, when it crashed in rugged hill country just before dawn.

Across the two countries, tens of thousands turned out for annual dawn services marking the anniversary of the ill-fated landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Gallipoli in Turkey in World War I. “I have received news that three members of the Royal New Zealand Airforce have lost their lives in a helicopter crash and that a fourth is seri-

ously injured,” New Zealand Prime Minister John Key told the service in Gallipoli.

“Their helicopter went down as it was travelling to take part in the commemorations for their fellow servicemen and women,” he told the thousands gathered to remember the bloody campaign.

“This tragedy is a stark reminder that our personnel still face great risks today as they serve their country.”

More than 10,000 New Zealand and Australian servicemen died in the failed eight-month campaign in Gallipoli, and ANZAC Day has become a symbol of their bravery and of a defining period in the two countries’ culture and shared development.

Commemorations in Australia were also marred by an accident, as two elderly ex-servicemen were left in a critical condition when a World War II-

era military truck smashed into marchers at a parade in Melbourne.

“Something happened inside the truck which caused it to cannon into the back of the marchers and hit six people,” police Inspector Greg Doueal told Australian news agency AAP. The truck’s driver, a man who had been sitting in the rear of the vehicle and six marchers were taken to hospital for treatment, with two listed as critical, police said.

In Wellington, where an estimated 3,000 attended the ANZAC ceremony, army chief Major General Rhys Jones said the day was not a celebration.

“ANZAC Day is a time to remember and reflect on the sorrow, loss and sacrifice that is the obligation of nationhood, the cost of liberty and the price of freedom,” he said.

Australians marked ANZAC day at home, in cities around the world, and on

the WWI battlefield of VillersBretonneux in France.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said ANZAC Day had shaped the nation’s memory. “It shapes deeply how we see the world, 100 years later it shapes still what we do in the world,” he told thousands at a Canberra service.

Australian Trooper Mark Donaldson, who recently received the Victoria Cross for his efforts in Afghanistan, said the ANZAC tradition remained strong despite the loss of veterans from WWI and WWII. “I think it is growing and growing in strength,” he told reporters in Sydney.

“I don’t think it has lost meaning at all.

“We need to continue that tradition and it needs to be the young people that understand the spirit of the ANZAC and for us to be able to continue on and remember those guys that have been before us.” — AFP

Torpedo likely sank warship: S Korea N Korea marks military anniversary SEOUL: An explosion from a torpedo likely sank a South Korean warship that went down near the tense border with North Korea last month, the South’s defense minister said yesterday amid growing speculation Pyongyang may be behind the blast. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said the most like“Basically, I think the bubble jet effect caused by a heavy torpedo is the most likely” cause for the blast, Kim told reporters.

Kim, however, did not speculate on who may have fired it and said an investigation was ongoing and it’s still too early to determine the cause.

Seoul has not directly blamed North Korea for the blast, and Pyongyang has denied its involvement, but suspicion remains given the country’s history of provocation and attacks on the South. Local media have increasingly been speculating the disaster was due to a North Korean attack. The Cheonan was on a routine patrol on March 26 when the unexplained explosion split it in two in one of South Korea’s worst naval disasters.

Forty bodies have been recovered so far, but six crew members are still unaccounted for and are presumed dead. The site of the sinking is near where the rival Koreas fought three times since 1999, most recently a November clash that left one North Korean soldier dead and three others wounded. The two Koreas are still technically at war because their 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Kim told lawmakers shortly after the blast that a North Korean torpedo or mine was among the suspected culprits.

He said earlier this month that a torpedo attack was more likely.

Also Sunday, investigators said a preliminary investigation of the front part of the 1,200-ton ship — retrieved the day before — pointed to an external explosion.

“In conclusion, after the initial visual inspection of the severed surface and the inside and

ly cause of the disaster was a torpedo exploding near the ship, with the force of the underwater blast ripping the vessel apart. Investigators who examined salvaged wreckage separately announced yesterday that a close-range, external explosion likely sank it.

SEOUL: South Korean mourners wipe their tears in front of portraits of the deceased sailors from the sunken South Korean naval ship Cheonan during a memorial service at Seoul City Hall Plaza in South Korea, yesterday.

Defense Minister Kim Tae-young says that a torpedo attack likely has torn apart and sank a South Korean warship that went down near the tense border with North Korea last month. — AP

outside of the hull, we assume the case is underwater explosion,” chief investigator Yoon Duk-yong told reporters. “And looking at the form of the deformation, it is highly likely that a non-contact explosion was the case rather than a contact explosion.” But he said it’s still too early to determine what caused the explosion.

Earlier yesterday, Prime Minister Chung Un-chan said South Korea will take “stern” action against whoever was behind the explosion as the country started a five-day funeral for the 46 dead and missing sailors. Makeshift alters were set up in Seoul and other major cities to allow citizens to pay their respect to the sailors.

“We will remember all of you in the name of the Republic of Korea to let you keep alive in our hearts,” said Chung, clad in a black suit and tie. The 46 sailors will be promoted by one rank and awarded posthumous medals, he said.

In Pyongyang, the North marked the 78th anniversary of the foundation of the country’s military Sunday with a vow to “mercilessly” punish any hostile moves by “the imperialist enemies,” a term it uses when referring to the US. Pyongyang routinely accuses the US of plotting to invade the North, despite the repeated denials by Washington. “If the imperialist enemies intrude into” the North’s territory, “its army will beat them back at a stroke by mercilessly showering bombs and shells on them,” the North’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in an editorial carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. It didn’t mention the ship sinking. —- AP

PM vows to retake Bangkok protest site BANGKOK: Thailand’s embattled premier vowed to clear Bangkok’s commercial heart of anti-government Red Shirt protesters as he appeared on national television yesterday in a show of unity with his army chief.

But Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva did not say when security forces planned to regain control of the Red Shirts’ vast protest

site, which has been fortified with barricades made from truck tyres and sharpened bamboo poles.

The Reds, who are demanding elections to replace the government, have occupied the Ratchaprasong intersection for three weeks and fear a crackdown is looming after Abhisit rejected their offer of a compromise.

“There will be a retaking of

Ratchaprasong but the process, the measures, how and when it will be done we cannot disclose because it depends on several things,” said Abhisit.

“The main point now is not whether or not to disperse but how to solve the whole problem,” added the premier, who has been holed up in a military barracks since street rallies erupted in mid-

BANGKOK: Thai pro-government supporters wave national flags and placards during a demonstration to counter anti-government “Red Shirt” protests at Victory monument in Bangkok yesterday. — AFP

March. The pre-recorded televised appearance by the premier and army chief General Anupong Paojinda was seen as an attempt to quash speculation of a rift between the two men on how to deal with the crippling political crisis. Anupong said the militarywhich mounted a 2006 coup that forced then-premier Thaksin Shinawatra out of power-would follow government orders.

“We are an army for the nation, for the monarchy and for the people. We will do our job without taking sides,” he said.

The highly influential army chief said Friday, however, that the use of force was no solution to the crisis, which has twice descended into deadly street violence this month, leaving 26 dead and hundreds injured.

When troops tried to sweep Reds out of Bangkok’s historic area on April 10 they suffered a humiliating retreat and there is growing talk of “watermelon” soldiers-green outside but red inside-who support the protesters. Anupong played down talk of a split within the army, which has been sending out mixed signals on how it prefers to handle the demonstrators, who are defying a state of emergency and a ban on rallies in the capital.

He admitted, however, that some serving troops apparently fought alongside the Red Shirts in the April 10 clashes.

Hopes for an agreement to end the long-running protests were dashed Saturday when Abhisit ruled out the Red Shirts’ offer to disperse if parliament was dissolved in 30 days for elections in three months’ time.

In response the Reds-mostly rural and urban poor who support ex-premier Thaksin-said they would prepare for a military offensive to clear their camp, which has forced hotels and malls to close.

“If Abhisit fails to crack down on us he will have to leave office, and if he succeeds in pushing us out using force, Reds rallies will break out in every region of the country,” vowed leader Nattawut Saikuar.

There have been mounting incidents of open defiance against security forces in recent days. On Sunday some 1,000 Reds used a truck to block a main road into Bangkok and halt 500 police being drafted in aboard trucks.

In northeast Udon Thani province, another 150 police were prevented from travelling to the capital by a group of 1,000 protesters who blocked their way late Saturday. —AFP

WESTERN CANAKKALE: Australians attend a ceremony commemorating Anzac Day, at Anzac Cove, in western Canakkale yesterday. Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, and is commemorated by both countries on April 25 every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. — AFP

Malaysia govt predicts big by-election victory HULU SELANGOR: Malaysia’s government predicted it would score a big win in a tense byelection yesterday during which 10 people were arrested in scuffles between rival groups.

The vote in a marginal opposition-held seat is seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Najib Razak’s economic reforms and one which the government that has ruled this Southeast Asian country for 52 years must win after a string of electoral losses.

Vehicles crawled along roads to the rural enclave of Hulu Selangor in opposition-controlled Selangor state in central Malaysia as the government bussed in flag-waving supporters.

By 3 p.m. (0700GMT), turnout was 63.74 percent.

“The National Front (government’s) key performance indicator for this seat is (a majority of) 6,000,” Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told a press conference.

Watched by about 1,000 police, a pro-governemnt crowd faced off against supporters of Anwar Ibrahim’s opposition alliance at polling stations in the marginal parliamentary constituency that fell vacant after an opposition lawmaker died.

Analysts said anything less than a substantial majority may raise questions about Najib’s leadership.

State police chief Khalid Abu Bakar told Reuters 10 people had been arrested after minor scuffles.

For Anwar, who is on trial for sodomy, a defeat would add to a string of setbacks that have seen a series of party defections.

“My family is divided over the elections,” said Yusoff Hashim, a 33-year-old graphic designer, after he voted. “My father says we have to be loyal to the government because they helped us. I don’t think it’s true.”

Some voters also said they were unhappy

with politicians’ failure to address their biggest worries-taxes and incomes — in a campaign that mostly focused on opposition candidate and former law minister Zaid Ibrahim’s alcohol drinking.

Alcohol is forbidden for Malays, who are Muslims and make up half of the 28 million people.

Although the election will not affect that balance of power, the government is keen to retake the seat in Selangor state that abuts the capital Kuala Lumpur and is Malaysia’s richest.

Najib has hit the campaign trail and handed out cash to Malay estate settlers, with promises of more to come, in an election that he dubbed a referendum on his first year in office as well as his New Economic Model that involves rolling back race-based affirmative action policies favouring Malays.

“Najib needs to win very big so that he builds up the momentum to take back the Selangor state from the opposition, if and when there is a general election,” said Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia expert with Singapore Management University. She said Najib needed a majority of 3,000 for a convincing win.

The premier’s first year in office has been marked by strained public finances and delays in fuel subsidy reforms and a goods and services tax due to fears of a voter backlash.

The National Front has lost seven out of nine by-elections after its worst performance in national polls in 2008. Mounting political tensions have dented investment. Outflows hit $61 billion in 2008 and 2009, official data showed.

Winning the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat is crucial for the opposition, which needs to show it remains a serious contender to wrest power in the next elections. Anwar needs to boost his standing after the recent defections of four MPs. —Reuters

Japanese islanders stage mass rally against US base YOMITAN: Nearly 100,000 protesters attended a rally on Okinawa yesterday to demonstrate against a US air base in a row that is dominating Japan’s national politics and souring its ties with Washington.

Okinawa governor Hirokazu Nakaima, the speaker of the Okinawa assembly and most of the mayors of the Okinawa prefecture’s 41 towns joined the huge protest near Kadena Air Base, the Asia-Pacific region’s largest US military facility.

Under a blazing sun at an athletics ground on the subtropical island, protesters applauded and whistled as speakers addressed them from a podium.

Demonstrators held yellow banners with messages protesting against the US military presence, including: “No Base!” and “US bases leave Okinawa!”

The row centres on US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which under a 2006 pact with Washington was to be moved from the crowded city of Ginowan to the quieter coastal Henoko area of Okinawa.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, whose party won September’s general election by a landslide, has said he will review the 2006 deal and move Futenma off Okinawa island. But a search for alternative locations has provoked more local protests.

“We want Prime Minister Hatoyama to keep to his pledge, especially on the (relocation) of the Futenma air base,” Nakaima said to loud applause at Sunday’s rally.

“Okinawa has suffered the overwhelmingly heavy burden of US bases since the end of the war” in 1945, he said. “Today, there are few traces of the war in Okinawa. But US bases still

remain in front of us. This is so unfair.” Many of the islanders resent the heavy US military presence on Okinawa, a legacy of Japan’s defeat in World War II, and complain of noise, pollution and friction with US soldiers.

The issue of relocating US bases threatens Hatoyama’s political future, with the prime minister caught between Washington and his left-leaning political allies in the dispute.

“Prime Minister Hatoyama has raised strong hopes among Okinawans,” said Zenshin Takamine, the Okinawa assembly’s speaker, demanding that Hatoyama to keep his promise.

“Okinawans cannot bear the burden of US bases anymore,” he said. “With the governor’s participation in this rally, Okinawa’s voice is united. We say ‘no’ to Futenma base!”

Hatoyama has set himself a deadline of late May to resolve the issue but, since he came to power in September, the United

States has not dropped its insistence that Tokyo to stick to the original relocation plan.

On Friday, under questioning from a conservative lawmaker, Hatoyama staked his job on finding a solution by the time his deadline expires.

The premier’s right hand man, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, told Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) that he “sincerely” accepted opinions of Okinawa residents.

“We sincerely accept (opinions at) the gathering,” Hirano told the national network. “By hearing voices of the island residents, we will work hard to draft a good plan of the government.”

Ahead of crucial upper house elections due in July, Hatoyama has seen his approval ratings dive as criticism of his dithering on the issue has grown. The United States established the Futenma base in 1945 after it occupied Okinawa following some of World War II’s bloodiest battles.— AFP

OKINAWA: About 9,000 protesters, discontent with a US Marine Corps air field, pack an athletic field in the town of Yomitanson on the southern island of Okinawa yesterday. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

Monday, April 26, 2010

11

80 Afghan schoolgirls sick in week; poison feared KABUL: More than 80 schoolgirls have fallen ill in three cases of mass sickness over the past week in northern Afghanistan, raising fears that militants who oppose education for girls are using poison to scare them away from school, authorities said yesterday. The latest case occurred yesterday when 13 girls became sick at school, Kunduz provincial spokesman Mahbobullah Sayedi said. Another 47 complained of dizziness and nausea on Saturday, and 23 got sick last Wednesday. All complained of a strange smell in class before they fell ill. None of the illnesses have been serious, and medical officials were still investigating the exact cause. The Health Ministry in Kunduz said

blood samples were inconclusive and were being sent to Kabul for further testing.

Sayedi blamed the sickness on “enemies” who oppose education for girls.

Presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said any attempt to keep girls out of school is a “terrorist act.” The Taleban and other conservative extremist groups in Afghanistan who oppose female education have been known to target schoolgirls. Girls were not allowed to attend school when the Taleban controlled most of Afghanistan until they were ousted in the 2001 US-led invasion.

Last year, dozens of schoolgirls were hospitalized in Kapisa province, just northeast of Kabul, after collapsing with headaches and

nausea. An unusual smell filled the schoolyard before the students fell ill. The Taleban was blamed, but research into similar mass sickenings elsewhere has suggested that some might be the result of group hysteria.

Anesa, a 9-year-old girl who was among those hospitalized Sunday, said she noticed a strange odor and then saw two of her teachers fall unconscious.

“I came out from the main hall, and I saw lots of other girls scattered everywhere.

They were not feeling good,” Anesa, who gave only her first name, told The Associated Press from the hospital. “Then suddenly I felt that I was losing my balance and falling.” Meanwhile, the Taleban said

they shot down a helicopter early yesterday in western Farah province. Spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed the attack in a call to The Associated Press but did not provide further details. NATO said a helicopter belonging to a civilian contractor was forced to make an emergency landing in Farah, but said the landing was due to reported mechanical problems. There were no initial reports of injuries, NATO said. Also Sunday, a suicide bomber attacked private security guards while they were at a bazaar in southeastern Afghanistan, killing four Afghans and wounding 12, the government said.

Two of the dead and five of the wounded

worked for the US Protection and Investigations security firm, an Interior Ministry statement said. The other victims were civilians.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, witnesses said hundreds of people blocked a main road in Logar province, west of Kabul, and burned several trucks to protest what they said were civilian deaths in NATO operations.

They gathered hours after NATO said coalition troops killed several insurgents and captured a Taleban sub-commander.

“The people are very angry, they are saying these people killed are innocent civilians,” provincial spokesman Din Mohammad

Darwesh told The Associated Press.

Civilian deaths caused by US and other international forces are highly sensitive in Afghanistan. Public outrage over such deaths prompted the top commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal last year to tighten the rules on the use of airstrikes and other weaponry if civilians are at risk. Last week, hundreds of residents in Logar protested another NATO operation, saying they were not convinced the victims were actually Taleban fighters.

Logar is a strategic province because it controls southern land routes into Kabul, allowing weapons, explosives and fighters to move into the capital. —AP

Afghan suicide attack kills 4 Two other rebels killed in separate clash with security forces KANDAHAR: A suicide bomb attack in southern Afghanistan yesterday killed four people, shattering a period of calm in a region near the hub of military operations against Taleban insurgents. The suicide bomber-on foot and wear-

MUMBAI: Indian firefighters are silhouetted as flames from a factory fire are seen at an industrial estate in south Mumbai yesterday. Eighteen fire engines and ten water tankers were rushed to control a fire that broke out at a leather factory, with no reported casualties thus far. —AFP

Phone tapping row likely to hit India parliament NEW DELHI: A row over charges government agencies secretly tapped telephones of senior politicians is likely to paralyse India’s parliament today, possibly spelling fresh delay for the budget and other key bills.

The tension comes just as the government is 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.

The controversy is the latest blow for a coalition that was expected to capitalise on its re-election to promote policies to boost investment and ailing infrastructure as well as reform welfare and subsidies.

Instead, a slew of crises has distracted it, upstaging even routine parliamentary business like passing the budget and discussion on crucial reforms legislation.

The phone tapping charge has united the opposition, which said it will demand a statement from the government today.

“In the garb of tracking terror, the government is tracking politicians and even their cabinet ministers,” said Rajiv Pratap Rudy, spokesman of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

A magazine report said last week that senior politicians, including two from the government, had their mobile conversations listened into, sparking allegations intelligence agencies were being used to spy upon political rivals.

The government has still to officially react to the allegation, but officials in the prime minister’s office said the matter was being looked into.

The government already faced heavy protests over its handling of a worsening Maoist insurgency, while rising food prices and fuel price hikes

had prompted the opposition demand for a special parliamentary vote.

A probe into India’s popular multi-billion dollar cricket league has ensnared senior politicians and billionaire businessmen in a growing scandal also hurting an already weakened Congress-led government.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee cancelled a trip to Washington for an International Monetary fund meeting last week in order to firefight and muster support for the special vote.

Some Indian TV stations said yesterday that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh might skip a South Asian leaders’ summit in Bhutan this week in view of political developments at home. His office denied this.

The special parliamentary vote will make Congress nervous, given that two of its allies pulled out of the coalition last month to protest a controversial women’s bill. This has dangerously thinned its parliamentary support.

But most experts expect the government to win. Bond and stock markets are unaffected, with traders anticipating the government will survive.

However, the vote, plus the cricket and phone rows, have reduced the chances of the government getting key bills passed.

It is trying to pass the budget and reform legislation with a thinner majority. Among other legislation, the government is eyeing passage of a bill allowing foreign universities to set up campuses on Indian soil and another to cut its stake in the State Bank of India.

It has already put on ice until it reaches a political consensus a bill to open its $150 billion civilian nuclear sector. —Reuters

S Lanka to end emergency laws COLOMBO: Sri Lanka may scrap the state of emergency laws that gave sweeping powers to police and troops during the island’s long ethnic conflict with Tamil rebels, a newly appointed minister said yesterday.

The government has faced international criticism over nationwide laws that were first imposed in 1983 to combat the Tamil Tiger separatists, who were finally defeated a year ago.

Parliament has continued to extend the state of emergency each month as the government argues that rebel remnants have tried to make a comeback. “We are actively considering it (relaxing the state of emergency). There is no timeline yet,” foreign minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris told reporters yesterday.

“Circumstances have changed. We want to do

it not because of external pressures, but because it’s the right thing to do now.”

The laws allow the arrest and detention of suspects for long periods without trial. They also allow police and troops to carry out searches without a warrant from a magistrate.

Opposition parties and international human rights groups have accused the government of using the laws to suppress legitimate dissent and freedom of expression.

Peiris, who was appointed on Friday after recent parliamentary elections, said he wanted to address concerns from the international community about Sri Lanka’s human rights record.

Sri Lanka has often rejected calls to probe alleged war crimes in the final stages of the fighting against the Tigers. —AFP

Two security guards and two civilians were killed in the attack, the interior ministry said in a statement.

It said 12 other people were injured.

“The bomber exploded near them,” Rasoulyar told AFP, adding that the attack happened in a highway bazaar in the Shahjoy district, which has long been troubled by violent Taleban activity.

Taleban-linked gunmen have been waging an insurgency against the Kabul government since their regime was toppled in 2001, when the United States led a coalition of international troops into the country.

The violence is concentrated in the southern provinces of Kandahar-which the 1996-2001 Taleban regime made its capitaland Helmand. Zabul, which neighbours Kandahar to the east, has seen a lot of spillover activity from the insurgents.

In recent months insurgent violence has been concentrated in Kandahar and Helmand provinces-where poppy production that funds the fighters is also highest-as US-led forces have poured in to bring the fight to the Taliban.

The rebels, however, have expanded into new areas such as Kunduz province in the north, which in recent months has seen an escalation in violence. Two police officers and eight Taliban were killed in a clash in Kunduz’s volatile Imam Saheb district late Saturday, a police official said.

Two other rebels were killed in a separate clash with security forces elsewhere in the province the same day, Mahboobullah Sayed, a regional police official told AFP. While the Taleban rely on crude bombs, often buried or detonated by remote control, the use of targeted suicide bomb attacks and assassinations is rising as the US-led international forces turn their focus to Kandahar.

Kandahar, capital of the province of the same name, is one of Afghanistan’s most violent regions and regarded by Taliban insurgents as their base.

More than 126,000 US and NATO troops are in Afghanistan to fight the insurgency and keep the government of President Hamid Karzai in power. So far this year, 168 foreign troops have died in the Afghan war, according to an AFP tally based on the icasualties.org website which monitors deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq. Among the dead are 103 Americans.

A total of 520 foreign troops died during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2009, according to the website.

The number of foreign troops in the country is set to peak at 150,000 by August, with most of the new deployments headed to Kandahar to intensify pressure on Taliban cells, which have large parts of the city of one million people under their control.

NATO was the target of a demonstration by Afghan tribesmen in Logar province Sunday, which turned violent as they set fire to more than a dozen fuel tankers during a protest over the alleged killing of civilians in a military raid, officials said.

Colonel Ghulam Mustafa, provincial police chief for Logar, a troubled province to the south of Kabul, said three men believed to be insurgents were killed overnight during a raid by US and Afghan troops.

The troops captured several armed men and seized ammunition, Mustafa said, leading them to believe the people in the compound were insurgents.

ISAF said a “Taleban subcommander” and several insurgents were killed.

Hundreds of tribesmen poured on to the streets of Puli Alam, capital of Logar, shouting anti-US slogans and insisting the dead and those who were detained in the raid were all ordinary villagers. — AFP

ing an explosives-packed vest-targeted a group of security guards as they stood in a bazaar, said the spokesman for the Zabul provincial government, Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar.

KABUL: Afghan police and firefighters try to extinguish burning trucks carrying supplies to coalition forces after hundreds of people blocked a main road and set them on fire to protest what they said were civilian deaths in NATO operations in Logar province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday. — AP

Pakistan wants India to hand over Mumbai suspects ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has asked India to hand over the alleged sole surviving gunman from the deadly Mumbai attacks, so he can be tried by Islamabad, an official said yesterday.

It’s unclear whether India will grant the request. The two rivals do not have an extradition treaty, and the suspect, Pakistani Ajmal Kasab, is already on trial in India following the three-day siege that killed 166 people. Pakistan included the request while handing over information on the attack to an Indian High Commission official. It also requested that India hand over Fahim Ansari, an Indian national accused of having a role in the November 2008 attack, which severely strained the

rivals’ already difficult relations.

A Pakistani government official, who confirmed the exchange, said Pakistan wants access to the men to aid in its own trial of seven suspects in the attack. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. Pakistan and India have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. India has blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group for the attacks, while Pakistan has admitted the strike was partly planned on its soil.

Lashkar is a banned group, and Pakistan claims to have cracked down on a charity believed to be acting as a front for the mili-

tant organization.

Pakistan has not, however, taken any significant action against the group’s founder, Hafiz Saeed, whom India wants handed over. Islamabad says it needs more evidence to prosecute Saeed.

Also yesterday, Pakistani troops clashed with militants in the Orakzai tribal region in the northwest. Nine suspected insurgents died, said two intelligence officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

Pakistan’s army has been waging an offensive in Orakzai aimed at eliminating Taleban militants fleeing another army operation in the South Waziristan tribal area. —AP

India’s Catholic bishops consider new abuse rules NEW DELHI: Roman Catholic archbishops in India are likely to set final guidelines to be followed in cases of sexual abuse complaints against priests, church officials said yesterday.

The new policy is expected to recommend cases be forwarded to lay authorities for action. That would be in line with policy recently spelled out by the Vatican, an official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

The Vatican posted on its website April 12 what it claimed was a long-standing policy telling bishops to report abuse to police, where civil laws require it. Such a policy had never been explicitly stated, however, and the guideline was not an official instruction from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The two-day meeting in Bangalore of more than 40 archbishops from across India was related to internal administration and the recent accusations of sex abuse would be discussed, said Babu Joseph Karakombil, a spokesman for the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India.

“The bishops will take it up and consider issuing policy guidelines on protecting children against abuses and how to protect their rights,” he told The Associated Press. The meeting comes amid revelations about a Roman Catholic priest from India, the Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, who was charged with sexually

assaulting a teenage parishioner in Minnesota.

Critics of the Catholic Church highlighted Jeyapaul’s case as an example of what they said is a practice of protecting childmolesting priests from the law.

Jeyapaul, who now handles school paperwork in a diocese office in southern India, has said he would willingly leave India and try to clear his name if the United States tried to extradite him.

In a separate case, a church official confirmed earlier this month that another priest convicted of fondling a 12-year-old altar girl in New York more than a decade ago had returned home to India where he still served as a priest. The Rev. Francis X. Nelson, then a visiting priest at a church in Brooklyn, was sentenced to four months in prison in 2003 after the girl testified Nelson showed up at her grandmother’s

apartment uninvited and groped her. In a telephone call with The Associated Press, Nelson denied he was the same priest who had served in New York and hung up.

However, his bishop, the Most Rev. Peter Remigius, confirmed that Nelson had returned to India after serving his jail term and continued to work as a priest in the bishop’s office in his home diocese of Kottar in southern India. — AP

BHAMIAL: Punjab Police personnel display arms and ammunition recovered from militants at Bhamial sector of Gurdaspur district, India, yesterday. Two militants, who had infiltrated from across the India-Pakistan border, were killed in an encounter with the police in Gurdaspur district, in which two policemen also lost their lives, according to a news agency. —AP

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Ash cloud, Greek debt underline EU problems

By Timothy Heritage

G

reece’s debt mountain and a volcanic eruption in Iceland have compounded the European Union’s problems in establishing itself as an important player on the world stage. Both crises highlighted the cumbersome process of securing agreement among 27 countries which have a domestic audience to please and often opt for a kneejerk defence of national interests. Governments were accused of closing air space too fast in response to the volcanic ash cloud that grounded thousands of flights in Europe, while the EU has been criticised for acting too slowly.

The EU, and particularly the 16 states that use the euro, faced heavy criticism for taking weeks to agree on an aid package for Greece, then appearing to differ over what had been decided and failing to calm financial markets. Critics say the two crises highlight the same problems - political divisions, complex decision-making, a focus on national not European issues and a lack of strong leadership, all of which leave the EU looking flat-footed and weak. “We ... seem to have been in a position of almost licking our finger and sticking it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing,” Philip Bradbourn, a British Conservative in the European Parliament, said of Europe’s handling of the ash cloud. Giovanni Bisignani, director-general of the International Air Transport Association, complained that it took five days just to organise a conference call of EU transport ministers even though several hundred thousand passengers were stranded. “This is a European embarrassment and it’s a European mess,” he said.

Similarly scathing criticism has been aimed at the euro zone countries for agreeing on an aid package for Greece only on April 9 after two earlier attempts - a leaders’ statement on Feb 11 and an initial deal on March 25 - proved ineffectual.

Even now there are questions about how the EU and International Monetary Fund aid would be triggered if Greece required it. The premium that investors demand to hold Greek debt has soared, despite the euro zone’s efforts.

After each attempt to secure an agreement, cracks have quickly appeared in EU unity, with countries offering differing versions of what has been agreed or trying to delay implementation because of domestic political pressures.

“There are different interpretations and obviously it’s a danger if trust starts to disappear between politicians,” said Hans Martens, chief executive of the European Policy Centre, a think tank in Brussels.

He said leaders were focusing on national problems rather than pan-European issues after the global economic crisis. “At the moment, the political tide is going towards nationalism, which is affecting mainstream parties,” he said. The support of Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, is vital for any financial assistance for Greece. But the German government is

reluctant to provide money before an election in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on May 9 because it fears public opposition to a bailout could damage the ruling parties’ chances of success in the vote.

Defeat in the election could deprive Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition of conservatives and pro-business Free Democrats of its majority in the upper house of parliament.

Other leaders across the bloc of 500 million people also face pressing domestic problems or elections that are distracting their attention from dealing with European matters.

Coalition disputes threaten the stability of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government. French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s approval ratings have dropped and his UMP party won just one of 22 mainland regions in elections in March.

Britain faces a parliamentary election on May 6 and Belgium’s government collapsed on Thursday when one of the five coalition parties pulled out of the coalition.

Many analysts question the quality of leadership across the EU and are concerned there is a lack of political vision.

“There’s an utter lack of real leadership anywhere,” Martens said. “We need now to look at whether Europe is really a world player. I’m afraid my conclusion is that even a united Europe is starting to be a little bit more irrelevant to others.”

Divisions came to the fore last year when the EU struggled to agree who should be the bloc’s president and foreign affairs chief and to complete ratification of its Lisbon treaty, intended to make decisionmaking smoother in the union.

Diego Lopez Garrido, Spain’s secretary of state for European affairs, has witnessed the relationship between the EU institutions at close quarters in recent months because his country holds the EU presidency, a mainly organisational role.

He says coordination with EU President Herman Van Rompuy, whose post was created under the treaty, is smooth. He defends the EU’s actions over the ash cloud as “dynamic” and highlights a culture of closer economic cooperation developing in the EU. But during a meeting with reporters in Brussels this month he also pointed to the fundamental problems the EU faces trying to secure quick agreements among all 27 countries, despite implementation of the Lisbon treaty on Dec. 1.

“The European Union is not the United States. We are 27 states, not one state,” he said.

The difficulty reaching agreement among so many countries and the lack of a common vision have caused many analysts to doubt the euro zone or the EU will carry out far-reaching reforms to emerge stronger from its problems.

“I am not sure we have the quality of leaders to face this challenge,” said Andre Sapir, Professor of Economics at Universite Libre de Bruxelles.— Reuters

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

Why won’t women prevent breast cancer?

By Maggie Fox

T

he results are in and clear - taking a pill a day for five years can slash the risk of breast cancer.

But high-risk women are still reluctant to do it. The cancer specialists who have been comparing the drugs raloxifene and tamoxifen rushed out updated findings to a meeting on Monday, showing that tamoxifen lowers the risk of breast cancer in high-risk women by 50 percent, compared with 38 percent for raloxifene.

Overall, both drugs saved lives, they told the American Association for Cancer Research meeting.

“I think we need to reassess why we are not using these drugs more broadly and why we are not prepared to reduce the risk of breast cancer by more than 50 percent in women who are high risk,” said Dr Gabriel Hortobagyi of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. “These drugs are inexpensive with side-effects that are modest.” Five years of either pill costs around $8,500, compared with $50,000 to more than $200,000 for chemotherapy to treat breast cancer, said Hortobagyi.

But it is the side-effects that have scared women away from the drugs.

Tamoxifen raises the risk of blood clots, of uterine cancer and of cataracts. “The way this came out some 15 years ago is that tamoxifen increased background risk for endometrial cancer about threefold and that scared the hell out of just about anybody,” said Hortobagyi. But he said the absolute risks are very low - a tripling of an extremely rare cancer like uterine cancer still gives a woman a risk of less than 1 percent - compared with a risk of 4 percent for breast cancer in a given five-year period for the women taking part in the trial.

“People don’t understand how small

the risks are,” said Dr Judy Garber of Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

For women with a high risk of breast cancer who have not yet reached menopause, the risks from tamoxifen are “minuscule,” she said. Now that the trial shows raloxifene has even fewer risks, and almost the same efficacy, Garber said she would recommend it to older women.

“Tamoxifen in pre-menopausal women is really a no-brainer,” said Dr Scott Lippman, also of M D Anderson.

The group to win over, the cancer experts agreed, are the primary care physicians and obstetrician/gynecologists. They will be the ones counseling women on their breast cancer risk. “In the same way they are discussing a pap smear or a mammogram, they need to be discussing these options with their patients,” Hortobagyi told a news conference at the meeting.

Breast cancer is the No. 2 killer of women in the United States after lung cancer, with 40,000 deaths a year.

Globally, it kills more than 460,000 people a year. “The number of people dying of breast cancer is unacceptable,” Lippman said. About two-thirds of breast cancer cases are called estrogen receptor positive, meaning they are fueled by estrogen. Both tamoxifen and raloxifene are selective estrogen receptor modulators, or SERMs, and interfere with estrogen. Both tamoxifen, sold by AstraZeneca under the brand name Nolvadex, and raloxifene, sold by Eli Lilly and Co under the brand name Evista, were originally designed to treat cancer. Research found tamoxifen could reduce the risk that a woman who had cancer in one breast would have it come back in the other. Then tests showed tamoxifen could prevent cancer for women at high risk because they had mothers or sisters with the disease,

they had a history of suspicious looking breast lumps or they had a precancerous condition called ductal carcinoma in situ.

“The risks were zip in comparison to the benefits to me,” said Martha Smith of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who took

both drugs and who has not developed breast cancer, a disease that killed her mother and sister. — Reuters

An Arab diplomat for the weekend

By Josh Hilbrand

W

ith the twin goals of student development and promoting knowledge and understanding vis-a-vis the Arab world, the Model Arab League (MAL) draws around 2,000 American students to 14 annual conferences nationwide. Megan Geissler, the MAL Programme Coordinator who engineers these conferences, says the effort is worth it: “We’re giving future ambassadors and business executives the experience of being in the shoes of someone they might not ever understand otherwise.”

The MAL is based on the League of Arab States, the oldest regional organisation in existence, predating the United Nations by six months. Each student spends several months researching the Arab world, focusing on one of the 22 Arab League member countries. Their task is to take on the role of diplomat working with other “diplomats” in the conference to address major concerns facing the Arab world today.

The largest MAL conference in the United States, the National University MAL, was held this March at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, bringing together over 300 students from 26 colleges and universities. Participants at the conference considered it one of the most competitive – and realistic – MAL aggregations, with attendees tackling a host of burning issues ranging from the American occupation in Iraq to human rights, personal freedoms, unemployment and, of course, the ever-critical question of Palestine.

“One of the most interesting aspects of the MAL is to see the students in character as diplomats. American students from the suburbs use language like ‘my Arab brethren’ and Jewish Americans represent Palestine, while students from Texas, Michigan and South Carolina form a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) voting bloc. Students tend to get very passionate and involved in the debates,” said Chelsey Boggs, a MAL alumnae and staff member with the National Council on US-Arab Relations (NCUSAR), the non-profit organisation in Washington, DC that organises the MAL conferences.

It is with this passion that the students involved in the MAL formulate and propose new ideas and solutions to chronic prob-

lems in the Arab world. Although the students strive to remain true to the policies and ideologies of the governments they represent, the MAL has a certain amount of latitude to propose solutions not often discussed in real-world politics.

Dr Hussein Hassouna, the Arab League Ambassador to the United States and a huge proponent of the MAL, reads the resolutions ultimately passed by the students at the National University MAL each year. Hassouna’s speech at this year’s opening ceremonies sparked a round of chuckles after he joked that if the students were to run the real Arab League, its challenges might be solved much sooner.

This year’s committees had bold solutions for the problems they were assigned to tackle. A common trend was for students representing Arab Gulf nations to offer funding for everything from improving healthcare for the world’s refugees to educating girls to bringing the Olympics or World Cup to the Arab world.

However, not all committees were able to work together to propose forward-looking solutions. The Council on Palestinian Affairs was one such committee whose delegates could not seem to find common ground. An article in the NUMAL Daily News, the publication created by students in the MAL Press Corps, went as far as to satirically call for a new committee to “address the humanitarian crisis that is the Palestinian Affairs committee itself”.

“A lot of the debates and resolutions this year were really good, and a few were struggling to define the problem. But I suppose that is exactly how the real Arab League works,” said the acting Secretary General, Petra Alsoofy from Grand Valley State University in Michigan, about the challenges shared by both Arab diplomats and their student counterparts. Alsoofy had the unique honor and challenge of portraying Amr Moussa, the popular current Secretary General of the League of Arab States.

Students like Alsoofy demonstrate that interest in the Middle East and the Arab world is increasing among American students. As this interest grows, NCUSAR expects MAL programs to expand as well.

NOTE: Josh Hilbrand is Program Assistant for the National Council on US-Arab Relations — CGNews

Thailand in urgent need of resolution to avoid bloodbath

By Didier Lauras

T

hailand must find a political consensus acceptable to all its warring factions to avoid a repeat of the bloodshed that has so often traumatised the “Land of Smiles”, analysts say. The need to avoid further violence has become paramount in the wake of grenade attacks in Bangkok Thursday that left one dead and after April 10 clashes that killed 25 in scenes of anarchy in the capital’s historic district. Since the anti-government “Red Shirts” began their street rallies in midMarch, the mood between protesters and the security forces has flip-flopped with terrifying speed from jokes and handshakes to fear and hostility.

“In terms of the carnival atmosphere turning into violence, this comes from very deep in Thai society,” said Michael Montesano, a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

“This is the whole Thai society that we are seeing here. There is a lot of violence under the surface.” Since the establishment of a constitutional monar-

Thai soldiers scan the buildings and bridges as they patrol a street in Bangkok yesterday. – AP chy in 1932, the country has experienced regular bouts of political crisis including 18 actual or attempted coups.

Thailand has all too often seen deadly conflict between soldiers and protesters, notably in 1992 when King Bhumibol Adulyadej intervened to end the hostilities. This time there has been no word from the 82-year-

old king, a figure of unity who has been hospitalised since September, despite calls from some of the Red Shirt leaders for the revered monarch to step in. “Given the country’s cultural affinity for obedience to monarchy, Thailand’s palace can facilitate moves toward consensus,” said Paul Chambers, a Thailand expert at Germany’s Heidelberg

University. “Absent such intervention, polarisation and violence may well continue.”

Thailand’s crisis stems from a chasm at the heart of its society that has been widening for decades. The elites in the vibrant capital Bangkok - the businesspeople, bureaucrats in government and the palace, and the powerful military - have all

prospered in an economic boom that began in the 1960s. In Thailand’s rural north and northeast, meanwhile, the masses of impoverished farming folk have grown increasingly disgruntled over being denied the fruit of this growth, and excluded from the corridors of power. That sense of resentment has now spread to the working poor in urban areas.

The emergence a decade ago of Thaksin Shinawatra, the populist prime minister who was triumphantly re-elected and then overthrown by a military coup in 2006, has further exacerbated these divisions. By pursuing policies that benefited the rural masses in real ways, with micro-loans and national healthcare, he awakened their political consciousness. Despite allegations of nepotism, corruption, and gross human rights violations, the self-made billionaire became the first superstar of Thai politics.

Thaksin, now living abroad to avoid a jail sentence for corruption, remains at the heart of the conflict. “The hatred of Thaksin is much more dangerous to Thailand than Thaksin

itself,” Montesano said.

“Because the government believes Thaksin is behind all this, there is no compromise.”

The current prime minister, British-born, Oxford-educated Abhisit Vejjajiva, has refused protesters’ demands to hold immediate elections. His failure to connect with the rural masses means he has a tough battle ahead against the pro-Thaksin forces that have won every election for a decade.

The bigger fear is that the struggle over Thailand’s future will be fought on the streets.

“When citizens take matters into their own hands, the outcome is never very good,” said Jacques Ivanoff from the Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia.

“Thailand is a society of consensus but it is also a society of violence. The consensus is crumbling. At the slightest spark, it can ignite.” Many worry that the players will resort to violence before negotiations. “There is a feeling in Thailand that if there is enough bloodshed, people will sit down and talk. That’s clearly in some people’s minds,” Montesano said. — AFP

analysis

Monday, april 26, 2010

13

Papandreou ends wavering, makes dramatic appeal

By Dina Kyriakidou

T

he Greek prime minister chose a tiny, remote Aegean island far from Athens to tell the world on St George’s day, his name day, that Greece could no longer cope with its economic problems alone. The way he asked for a helping hand was as telling as the actual message, by referencing ancient mythology. “We are on a difficult path, a new Odyssey for Greece and for the Greek nation. But we know the way to Ithaca and we have charted the waters in our quest,” George Papandreou said in televised message, standing before the sparkling waters of a picturesque port on the island of Kastellorizo.

Trapped between punishing borrowing rates and a restive public, Papandreou for months had tried and failed to convince markets to give Greece time to cope with its finances. Now it is a race against the clock to save his country from bankruptcy.

After the plea Papandreou lit a candle at the church of St George, which opened after 40 years of disuse on Friday. “It was a bit staged and dramatic,” said Theodore Couloumbis, deputy head of the ELIAMEP political think-tank. “The message was that our sovereignty is threatened.” The choice of place, although perplexing to foreign analysts, showed Papandreou was catering to his local audience. EU officials appeared initially unaware of Greece’s request and European politicians said the process would take weeks. Germany has been the most reluctant EU ally, fearing domestic backlash ahead of a May 9 regional elec-

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou speaks to media during his visit to the island of Kastelorizo, southeastern Greece on April 23, 2010. – AFP tion. “It’s going to be a problem for the German government but not only the German government,” said Gerd Langguth, political scientist at University of Bonn. “Nowhere is it going to be popular for other countries to lend money to Greece. At the end of the day Germany will go along but with clenched teeth.”

The son of socialist maverick Andreas Papandreou, George won October elections pledging to tax the rich and help the poor.

He soon discovered his conservative predecessors had plunged the country in a more dire fiscal mess than previously

feared. At first, he appeared stunned by the severity of the crisis. It took months to present a convincing package of measures to cut the deficit, allowing markets to pounce on the euro zone’s weakest link.

Greek borrowing costs have soared since his October deficit revelation and Greece’s debt is now seen as the Europe’s riskiest - outstripping even Ukraine in the cost to insure it against default. Papandreou worked hard to convince European partners to set up a support mechanism, even resorting to veiled threats he would turn to the

IMF instead. But that bluff backfired. He admitted recently European conservatives had insisted the IMF participate in the mechanism. In the meantime, a public already resistant to tough austerity measures was viewing the IMF as disastrous for Greece.

“He should not have allowed the mechanism to be demonised,” said Costas Panagopoulos, head of Alco pollsters. “Its creation was a success for Papandreou but it has not been explained sufficiently to the people.” The 3-year deal, still being negotiated with the

IMF, will give Greece Ä40-45 billion of EU and IMF money in the first year and more later.

Those close to him say Papandreou, keenly aware of his historic role, was reluctant to be the prime minister who brought Greece under foreign supervision. That delay may have cost him not only in markets, but also among his people. “He made the decision when he finally realised the choice was between aid or bankruptcy,” said an official close to the government. “He should have made it a lot sooner.”

On Thursday, the EU

revised Greek deficit and debt figures, showing fiscal consolidation would be even harder, and Moody’s became the third rating agency to downgrade Greece. With a Ä8.5 billion of debt expiring on May 19, that became a looming deadline for possible default. At the port of Kastellorizo, a sign reads: “Europe starts here.” The island, a stone’s throw from the Turkish coast and hours from the nearest Greek island of Rhodes, relies for everything on a fragile transport lifeline. “It was a surprise that he came,” Maritsa Mayafi, 50, an island restaurateur, told Reuters by phone. “We have many problems here but with the economy in such a state, I doubt he can helps us.”

Papandreou is facing a Herculean task to bring Greece out of its deepest economic crisis in decades while keeping a public prone to street protests at bay. He enjoys solid public support but his government is declining in polls. More than half of Greek asked, said the thought the IMF would hurt the country, a poll showed Friday.

“No matter how far he goes, the prime minister will not escape people’s wrath,” said Left Coalition party leader Alexis Tsipras, demanding a referendum on the aid package.

Unions have staged strikes and analysts fear social unrest come autumn if they see no concrete measures. Most blame corrupt politicians and businessmen for Greece’s woes and demand the culprits are brought to justice. “If Papandreou had punished and jailed those who stole our money, he wouldn’t need loans from anyone,” Mayafi said. —Reuters

EU hopes to deepen coordination after Greek deal

By Timothy Heritage

G

reece’s request for aid from the European Union and IMF on Friday is an unprecedented step for the EU which many economists hope will herald the start of closer economic and political cooperation in Europe. But just securing agreement on the aid has revealed cracks in EU unity and although reform of the euro zone now seems inevitable, there is no guarantee member states will agree on the far-reaching changes that many economists say are needed.

“The crisis is going to prove a turning point because what is happening is an acceleration of trends that were already there (towards stronger cooperation),” said Andre Sapir, professor of economics at Universite Libre de Bruxelles. But he added: “We have a serious problem of leadership in the European Union. The problems are

very big but we don’t have the leaders to deal with them.”

Preventing a Greek default is an important test for the 16 countries that use the euro as they try to maintain confidence in the single currency and prevent similar problems spreading to other members of the group. The crisis has forced the 27-country EU to consider ways to deepen political and economic coordination and take actions that seemed unlikely just weeks ago, such as asking the International Monetary Fund for help and rescuing a member of the euro zone.

The EU’s commitment to carrying out reforms will soon be tested as the European Commission sets out its plans to avoid any repeat of the Greek debt crisis. The EU executive will unveil proposals on May 12 to give more teeth to repeatedly breached rules on budget discipline, increase economic surveillance across the bloc

and create what it calls a permanent crisis-resolution mechanism. “The latest developments in the European economic area, not least around Greece, have shown a pressing ... need to reinforce policy coordination in the euro area and in the European Union as well,” European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told a news conference on April 14.

The backing of France and Germany, the EU’s traditional “motor”, will be vital for such moves, as it is for any important initiative in the Union. Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed on the need for closer economic cooperation at talks on Feb. 4 but have different visions of the euro zone and it is far from certain their views will be reconciled.

An agreement between Germany and France on March 25, in which

Sarkozy dropped his opposition to an IMF role, paved the way for the euro zone aid package on Greece.

But the choice of words in a statement outlining the agreement highlighted their lingering differences over the important issue of economic governance - central economic planning which is resisted by Germany. The French text referred to “economic government” and the German text referred to “steering”. “Is there now going to be a big breakthrough on economic governance? If you ask in Paris they will say ‘Yes, this is the time now’. If you ask in Berlin, they will say ‘No way’,” said Hans Martens, head of the European Policy Centre think tank.

“This is the stumbling block.

Economic governance is not just a question of putting together resources for a financial rescue. It’s about managing fiscal policy together. I don’t think it will happen, especially not without a

treaty change and how would a treaty change be voted through now?”

Investors fear any significant changes in the way the euro zone operates could require treaty changes for which no one has any appetite after the long struggle to secure each EU state’s approval of the Lisbon treaty reforming EU institutions. They also remain unconvinced about the euro zone’s ability to sort out its own problems, especially as it has had to turn to the IMF for help. Given the problems the EU and euro zone have had until now securing the agreement of all member states to handle crises, hopes of quick progress now on reinforcing the euro zone are limited. “There’s a limit to the things we can do,” said Daniel Gros of the Centre for European Policy Studies think tank, underlining the need to move fast. “We do not have two years to wait. We have to decide now.” — Reuters

China ponders yuan shift to ditch dollar peg W

By Kevin Yao

hen Singapore surprised the market by revaluing its dollar this month to pre-empt inflation, analysts had to rack their brains to find out how much the currency’s value had actually gone up. Such an obscure system may be just what China needs.

Steering the exchange rate, not interest rates, is the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s key policy tool. The MAS has managed its currency within a secret trade-weighted band to keep the economy on an even keel and shield the island from speculative attacks since the early 1980s.

By contrast, the yuan looks like an easy target for the market as the Chinese authorities come under mounting pressure to abandon a 21-month-old peg to the dollar. A shift is widely expected as early as this quarter. Intriguingly, chatter in the market is that Beijing might have an eye on Singapore’s track record as it decides what to do next. China might still opt for a small one-off yuan revaluation to showcase its international responsibility and help soothe tensions with the United States, but many analysts believe Beijing needs to take some major steps to make the yuan flexible.

“You don’t want to sent a message to the market that there is only one-way risk in your currency,” said Tim Condon, head of Asia research at ING in Singapore. “If you look at the Singapore dollar, it can go up or down against any currency,” he said. Reverting to a crawling peg to the dollar - the regime China followed between July 2005 and July 2008 - might expose the yuan to expectations of further appreciation, fanning hot money inflows and fuelling

This file photo taken on March 20, 2010 shows stacks of 100-yuan notes at a bank in Suining in southwest China’s Sichuan province. – AFP economic overheating.

China recorded a $7.24 billion trade deficit in March, the first shortfall since April 2004, but its foreign exchange reserves rose by $47.9 billion in the first quarter to $2.447 trillion, suggestive of persistent upward pressure on the yuan.

When China revalued the yuan by 2.1 percent in July 2005 and scrapped a decade-long dollar peg, it said it would henceforth manage the yuan with reference to a basket of currencies.

But the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) never really followed through on its intention.

Instead, it kept the yuan on a tight leash against the dollar, limiting its rise or fall to 0.5 percent from a daily mid-point.

Analysts believe the dollar’s slide helped force the PBOC to actually implement a crawling peg, under which the yuan gained a further 19 percent against the US currency until its rise came to a halt in mid-2008 due to the global economic crisis. Chinese authorities may have learned from the experience that a crawling peg only increased complacency about currency risk among domestic firms and fuelled hot money

inflows, analysts say.

“Engineering more two-way volatility would help prevent a similar speculative build-up and also give the appearance of a more market-determined exchange rate framework,” analysts at Deutsche Bank said in a research note.

Fan Gang, a former central bank adviser, said recently that China should switch to a basket peg, but the Deutsche analysts believe a reference basket - a combination of a crawling dollar peg and a basket peg - would make the yuan more flexible. “If China were truly allow such a

framework, it would be able to create more two-way movement in the dollar/yuan spot rate, and still maintain only a modest appreciation trend and relatively low volatility in its currency,” they said.

A more flexible exchange rate could help the PBOC improve monetary policy to cope with capital flows and external shocks. Last week, President Hu Jintao shrugged off foreign calls for a stronger yuan but said China was still committed to currency reforms.

Tellingly, the PBOC has been inviting overseas experts to tap

their knowledge about Singapore’s currency regime, while several top government think-tanks have been studying plans for possible currency reforms. Analysts say the dollar’s rebound provides a good opportunity for China to switch to a basket regime as a continued peg to the dollar translates into yuan rises on a tradeweighted basis.

“The dollar/yuan is still pretty much under control, so guiding the basket should be relatively easy,” said Emmanuel Ng, a currency strategist at OCBC Bank in Singapore. “A shift may actually take some pressure off the yuan, given that the yuan’s nominal effective exchange rate has actually been appreciating.”

Ben Simpfendorfer, China economist at Royal Bank of Scotland in Hong Kong, agreed that a basket-based regime may ease upward pressure on the yuan, but he still forecasts a 5 percent rise in the currency in the next 12 months, including a 3 percent up-front revaluation.

Offshore NDFs on Wednesday were implying a 3.3 percent yuan rise over the next year.

Under Singapore’s “BBC” regime-band, basket and crawling peg-the central bank manges the Singapore’s nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) by adjusting the centre, slope or width of the band in line with economic performance.

Analysts estimated last week’s move was equivalent to a revaluation of 1.2 percent to 1.4 percent. Still, they warn that a basket peg would not necessarily relieve the PBOC from the need to intervene to limit yuan gains.

“Even under Singapore’s rigorous framework, ad hoc ‘smoothing’ intervention to suppress currency volatility is fairly common,” the analysts at Deutsche Bank said. — Reuters

focus

British Muslim who could make history

By Madeleine Bunting

D

loudhailers, rums, chanting slogans. It is a very old-fashioned kind of politics that can be heard on the high street in Kings Heath, Birmingham, in central England. But Salma Yaqoob, the prospective parliament candidate at the centre of the hubbub, represents a quiet revolution. “Bankers bailed out, people sold out,” she shouts into the loudhailer outside the banks. The passing cars sound their horns in support. She is the most prominent Muslim woman in British public life to wear a headscarf, a powerful symbol of a faith she has accommodated with her passionate leftwing politics. She is standing as a candidate for the tiny and fractured Respect party.

In some streets around the new constituency of Hall Green, her poster is on every window; since her narrow defeat in 2005, she has built up support through her work as a local councillor, as well as building a national profile through her appearances on the BBC’s TV Question Time politics show. She might just topple Labour in an area which in 1997 it counted as one of its safest. Boundary changes have brought much of the old Sparkbrook and Small Heath constituency (Labour majority: 19,526) into the new Hall Green.

Yaqoob is one of a small group who have a good chance of making history as the first British Muslim women MPs. Her result is looking close, while across Birmingham, Shabana Mahmood is fighting for the Ladywood seat. In Bolton in north west England, Yasmin Qureshi inherits a big Labour majority in Bolton South, and Rushanara Ali could well take the London seat of Bethnal Green back for Labour. Since 2005 there have been four Muslim MPs, all men, but 2010 looks likely to be the breakthrough year for Muslim women’s political representation.

Yaqoob’s headscarf at Westminster might prompt a few headlines - both here and abroad - but few will fully grasp the small revolution these women are spearheading in these communities, and how they are introducing to British electoral politics a constituency of Muslim women, many of whom don’t speak English and who were in previous elections confined to the backroom, the private family areas of the house, whenever canvassers or candidates came to the doorstep.

Back on the high street in Kings Heath, the noisy protesters crowding around the diminutive figure of Yaqoob are furious. Gurt Singh has been running a steel and timber yard all his life, but he has had to put his staff of 10 on to a three-day week to avoid redundancies. “I reckon I have only a few months left. I can’t get credit from the bank.”

Essa Altaf is equally outraged.

A property developer, he has had to lay off eight men. “I don’t want to lay off any more, I have morals. I know redundancy affects a whole family and then the whole community. Why do I have morals, and the banks don’t?”

By now I am surrounded by men who all run small businesses in the building industry, all telling a bitter story of the recession. The boom in this area of Birmingham has always been fragile and the recession hit quickly and hard.

Jobs are the biggest subject on the doorstep, says Yaqoob.

She knows well that the issues here, even at national elections, are local: jobs, schools, antisocial behaviour, police, housing. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars rarely come up, she says - the surge in anti-war sentiment which helped her in 2005 is unlikely to feature this time round.

Constituents’ economic security is far more pressing.

What will help Yaqoob is that her Labour opponent, Roger Godsiff, who has held the seat since 1992, has been badly damaged by the MPs expenses scandal. His secondhome claims were among the highest in England, and despite charging GBP163,885 to the taxpayer in 2007-08, last year he spoke in only five

debates and voted in 56% of divisions.

Yaqoob was wooed by Labour after 2005. She acknowledges that “my values are traditional Labour but New Labour has gone to the right”. She was even courted by the Liberal Democrats and the Tories, a tribute to her rare capacity for fair-minded plain speaking, most evident in her Question Time appearance earlier this year when she earned respect for her handling of questions about British soldiers killed in Afghanistan, a war she opposes.

But she has stuck with Respect, despite its internal disputes, since 2005, and is probably now better known than her party. She is accused by prominent Labour and Liberal Democrat Muslims of “leading the community into a cul de sac” but defends her way of doing politics vigorously. “I couldn’t speak like I do if I was in Labour. I’m not here as a career politician but because I want to offer an alternative to the neo-liberal model which is patently failing. I now punch above my weight, working with other parties and influencing them. I want to try and open the space for discussion and debate, which is crucial right now, and nudge Labour into a more principled position.”

She says she won’t “make a tactic into a principle”, clearly indicating that she would come back to Labour on the right terms. In the meantime, her gamble to be her own woman and to speak her mind without having to submit to party discipline is surviving against all the odds. A recent independent assessment argued that she is among Birmingham’s three most influential councillors.

Her toughest battles are probably within the Muslim community. Contrary to assumptions that this is where the core of her support lies, she has had to pick her way very carefully through the sensitivities of conservatives within her community. The old Sparkbrook and Small Heath had the highest number of Muslim votes of any constituency in the country, and many of them are now in Yaqoob’s patch.

“I’ve had death threats and criticism that I support gays because I have a clear anti-discrimination position - and there have been claims that it is haram [forbidden in Islam] to vote for women. People say to me, “Have you no shame?” and they accuse me of immodesty and ask my husband why he lets me speak in public. It’s still an uphill struggle.”

But she has been winning even her fiercest critics round. “Some people who made out fatwas against voting for a woman have now been saying that I’m the right candidate. I have been invited into mosques - some which don’t even have facilities for women to pray - to give the Friday sermons.”

Yaqoob is well aware that she is a challenge to traditional Muslim political culture not just because she is a woman, but because she is not afraid to speak her mind. She has openly criticised the way the postal vote has been misused in Birmingham to strengthen the traditional biraderi - clan affiliations.

What this means in practice is that a community fixer will offer a party hundreds of votes in return for favours.

She recognises that many non-Muslim voters can feel threatened by her as a Muslim. “I’m between a rock and a hard place,” she says. “I have to jump hurdles because of the way I look. Firstly, I have to make it clear that I don’t support terrorism, secondly, that I’m British, thirdly, that I don’t just lobby for Muslims and lastly, that I’m not a Trojan horse for sinister Islamist plots. “People still question me about the hijab as a symbol of oppression. I try to stay patient and build a relationship of trust. For a real discussion, people have to be able to hear each other: someone has to pull the barriers down. People have a genuine fear, and you need to deal with it or you are dehumanising them - it won’t just go away.” — Guardian

14

NEWS

Monday, April 26, 2010

Lebanese rally for ‘civil Mississippi counts cost marriage, not civil war’ after tornadoes kill 10 BEIRUT: Thousands of Lebanese marched to parliament in Beirut on Sunday in a peaceful rally demanding the secularisation of a state long built on sectarianism. The rally, organised by independent grassroots movement Laique Pride, joined women, men and children of all ages who blocked the main road leading to parliament as they waved Lebanese flags and chanted, “Secularism”. “Change must come from us,” an organiser cried through a loudspeaker outside parliament, where police set up barricades to prevent demonstrators from reaching the building.

“Only we citizens can do this.”

Amid tight security, activists distributed red roses while others raised banners that read: “Civil marriage, not civil war” and “Fatima and Tony love each other... That’s a problem,” a reference to the fact that civil marriage is not an option in sectarian Lebanon. Gay rights activists too made a strong show in the rally, waving gay pride flags and banners that read: “Queers for secularism.” “This rally is symbolic, even though it will have little to no political impact,” said a 24-year-old man who gave his name only as Hani, as he joined the march. “What’s important is that all marginalised groups are here today demanding a state for all human beings.”

While Lebanon is considered more liberal than its neighbours in the largely conservative Middle East, religion still plays a key role in the tiny Mediterranean country which is home to no less than 18 different religious communities. The Lebanese state is based on a complex power-sharing system fostered decades ago in an attempt to preserve the rights of the country’s many minorities. Under the system, the president is a Maronite Christian, the speaker of parliament a Shiite Muslim and the prime minister a Sunni Muslim. Seats in government and parliament are also equally divided among Christians and Muslims.

Rights groups have been pushing for a secular state since the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, a sectarian bloodbath that saw many killed at roadblocks based on the religion noted on their ID cards. In an unprecedented move last year, Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, known as a champion of secularism and civil rights, allowed citizens to remove their religion from official records and replace it with a slash sign. But civil marriage is still not an option in Lebanon, leaving the Lebanese with no choice but to resort to church or mosque, or seek a civil union in nearby countries like Cyprus. — AFP

WASHINGTON: Rescuers scoured wreckage in Mississippi yesterday for any survivors of the deadly tornadoes that tore through the souther n US state, killing at least 10 people and destroying dozens of homes. The National Guard fanned out across affected areas, using Humvees to reach hardhit Yazoo county, nestled in the hills that rise sharply out of the Mississippi delta. Others surveyed the damage from Blackhawk helicopters. Official said three children aged three months, nine and 14 were among the dead in Choctaw county.

The toll could well mount as rescuers clear the debris from Saturday’s storms, which tore roofs off buildings, reduced homes to splinters, overturned vehicles, downed power lines and toppled trees onto the roads. Survivors told dramatic stories of narrow escapes from tornadoes that were up to a mile wide and packed winds of nearly 165 miles per hour, according to meteorolgists.

Sandra Grayson, who was sitting on her front porch just outside Yazoo City when she saw the tornado come tearing over a nearby hill, ran and hid inside her bathroom. “I could hear all around me the trees twisting and swaying,” she told The Clarion-Ledger newspaper. “I asked God to hug us because it

BEIRUT: A Lebanese secular activist holds up a pro-civil marriage banner as she marches with other participants in a march calling for secularism and the abolishment of sectarianism yesterday. — AP

Hamas broadcasts cartoon on captured Israeli soldier Continued from Page 1 The soundtrack includes clips of his son’s voice taken from a Hamas video released last October to prove the soldier was still alive. That video came amid talks aimed at trading Schalit for about 1,000 Palestinians prisoners. Negotiations have since stalled. Toward the end of the film, screen text in Hebrew and Arabic informs viewers that the Israeli government’s efforts to clinch a prisoner swap deal succeeded. Noam Schalit sits near Israel’s Erez border crossing with Gaza, where a black van unloads a coffin draped in an Israeli flag. The father screams, then wakes up, finding himself sitting at a bus stop. A screen text reads: “There is still hope.”

Noam Schalit called the film “psychological warfare” and urged Hamas to reach a deal with Israel in order to ease an Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has made life hard for the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. “Hamas leaders would do better if instead of producing films and performances, they would worry about the real interests of the Palestinian prisoners and the ordinary citizens of Gaza who have been held hostage by their leaders for a

long time,” he said in a statement. Hamas has placed considerable emphasis on expanding its media empire since seizing control of Gaza in 2007, ousting forces loyal to its Western-backed rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Last year, the group released its first feature film, an action-packed homage to a top militant. Hamas also has produced cartoons before, including a jihad-loving mouse for a children’s show. Last year, a short cartoon showed Schalit strapped to a chair, pleading with a Palestinian boy to set him free. The boy refused, saying he had relatives in Israeli prisons. Nashat AlAqtash, media professor at Birzeit University in the West Bank, said Hamas has invested in media production as an easy way to spread its ideology - a tactic also used by other militant groups.

Cheaper technology has made it easier to produce animated films, which can be widely distributed on the Internet while keeping their creators’ identities secret, Al-Aqtash said.

Hamas declined to say who made yesterday’s film. Israelis criticized the film for exploiting the Schalit family’s pain. The family’s plight has struck a chord with

Jewish Israelis, most of whom perform mandatory military service and feel the same could have happened to anyone’s son. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the film demonstrated Hamas’ “terrorist and cruel character.” Others noted that the video was released just two days after Israel permitted the daughter of Hamas’ top security official in Gaza to pass though Israel on her way to seek urgent medical treatment in Jordan.

The daughter of Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hamad left Gaza on Friday for an Israeli hospital, where she was airlifted to Jordan, Israeli and Jordanian officials said yesterday. Jordanian officials declined to discuss Elham Fathi Hamad’s treatment but said Jordan’s King Abdullah II personally appealed to Israel so the woman, who is in her 20s, could make the rare medical trip through Israel. Hamad once headed the armed wing of Hamas that released the Schalit video. He now oversees all of Hamas’ security forces. Nir Hefez, media adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the video’s timing “attests, more than anything, to the character of this terrorist organization”. — AP

Iran tests missiles as war games end Continued from Page 1 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Khomeini as supreme leader in 1989. Vahidi dismissed talk of a fourth round of UN sanctions against Tehran specifically targeting the Guards’ business interests.

“The Guards’ greatest enemies have always been the aggressive Zionist and US regimes, and that remains the case today,” he said. “From the beginning the corps stood against any form of aggression and will continue to do so. Our enemies hate this,” he added. The United States and the European Union have singled out the Guards as a target for sanctions amid accusations that the force is the driving force behind Iran’s controversial nuclear program.

Western governments suspect the program is cover for a drive for a nuclear warhead, something Iran strongly denies.

Neither the United States nor Israel, which has the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, have ruled out a resort to military action to prevent Iran developing an atomic bomb. Washington has targeted the growing economic power of the Guards through unilateral sanctions for several years and is now spearheading efforts at the Security Council to secure agreement on a fourth round of UN sanctions that would target the force.

The Guards now permeate all sectors of Iranian society, with its engineering wing winning massive contracts.

Meanwhile, Iran’s push to avoid new UN sanctions appeared to make little headway yesterday with Austria, with the Security Council member saying the onus was on Tehran to defuse international concerns about its nuclear agenda if it wanted to avoid fresh penalties. Austria and other non-permanent members of the 15-nation UN Security Council are the targets of a diplomatic offensive by Tehran designed to stave off a US-supported push for a fourth set of Security Council sanctions for its nuclear defiance.

The Vienna visit of Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki followed a trip by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Uganda, another non-permanent member.

In Kampala on Saturday, Ahmadinejad blasted the US and Britain, which also

supports sanctions, saying that while Washington and London “say they are concerned about the building of a nuclear bomb (by Iran) ... they are lying,” and describing the Western push for new sanctions as illegal.

Mottaki, speaking to reporters in Vienna alongside Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger, sounded the same theme, saying “the talk of sanctions is unjust”, and insisting his country had broken no international laws.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had been noncommittal, telling reporters his country would decide on its position after consulting other African nations.

Spindelegger was blunter, saying only cooperation by Iran could derail the push for sanctions. “We want a clear change of course by Iran,” he said. “We want guarantees that Iran’s nuclear program is meant exclusively for peaceful purposes. It is up to Iran to restore international trust.”

“The clock is ticking,” he said. “Time is running out for Iran - I made it clear to my opposite number that the direction toward sanctions is to be stopped only if Tehran gives a clear signal for cooperation.”

Austria, he said was ready “to work constructively on an Iran resolution” along with other Security Council members supporting such a move.

Austria is an EU member and Spindelegger’s comments appeared to mirror the European stance. The EU backs new sanctions if Iran continues to flout Security Council resolutions demanding it curb nuclear programs that could be used to make a bomb. Spindelegger said he had consulted with U.S. Secretary of State Clinton by telephone before the talks with his Iranian counterpart and had brought some issues to the table on the basis of that conversation. Mottaki, for his part, dismissed the demand that Tehran needed to compromise. “It is time for the other side to take their steps to have our trust and build confidence for the Iranian side,” he said.

Mottaki also met International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano for talks that IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor described as conducted “in a businesslike atmosphere.” That term usually means no progress on outstanding issues. Before his trip, Mottaki said Iran wants to talk with all council members except the US

about a moribund nuclear fuel swap deal that foundered after Tehran refused to accept all of its terms, adding to Security Council sentiment for new sanctions.

Iranian delegations, he said, will be pushing for agreement on the proposal in visits to veto-wielding permanent council members China and Russia and the 10 non-permanent members.

Russia has recently expressed a readiness to support “smart” sanctions that do not target the Iranian people. China also appears willing but is insisting on further watering down present drafts submitted by the West. Only permanent council members could veto proposed sanctions, but strong opposition by non-permanent members could strengthen Iran’s case.

Brazil and Turkey, also serving two-year terms on the Security Council, already have indicated a reluctance to support new sanctions, and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is due in Tehran on May 15. Mottaki’s next stop was Bosnia, another non-permanent Security Council member.

Iran began enriching uranium to near 20 percent two months ago and says it will be turned into fuel rods for a research reactor that manufactures medical isotopes for cancer patients. It says it was forced to take this step because the big powers refused to meet it half way on the plan, which would have supplied the rods from abroad. Any success in enriching up to that level brings Iran closer to quickly being able to make weapons grade uranium that serves as the core of nuclear warheads. Iran last year rejected a UNbacked plan that offered nuclear fuel rods in exchange for most of Iran’s stock of lower-level enriched uranium.

Beyond meeting Iran’s needs, the US and its allies saw the proposal as delaying Iran’s ability to make a nuclear weapon by stripping it of much of the enriched uranium it would need for such a project.

Tehran denies seeking such arms, insisting it is enriching only for an envisaged network of power-generating nuclear reactors. The main stumbling block has been Tehran’s refusal to ship the bulk of its lowenriched uranium abroad - a condition insisted upon by the West as key to slowing Iran’s accumulation of enriched uranium and thereby any bomb-making capacities. — Agencies

was like you could just tell you were looking in the eyes of death.”

Mississippi governor Haley Barbour declared a state of emergency in 17 counties devastated by the storms and twisters, while the federal government and the American Red Cross dispatched rescue teams to the disaster zone.

Tarps, meals and water were being distributed as officials called for volunteers to help coordinate efforts in Yazoo City to remove fallen trees, splintered homes and other debris.

The storms began early Saturday in neighboring Louisiana, later cutting west to east across Mississippi, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake. The severe weather also dumped hail the size of tennis balls in Mississippi’s southern Lowndes county, according to the National Weather Service. The storms stretched through a broad area from Missouri to the Florida Panhandle, causing more than two dozen twisters to develop in Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama.

“The effects of these storms have left many Mississippians with destroyed businesses and without homes,” Barbour said in a statement. In addition to the widespread damage in Yazoo county, nearly 200 homes were damaged in other areas, officials said. “It reminds me of (Hurricane) Katrina,” a teary-eyed Barbour told local reporters of the damage in his hometown of Yazoo City, from where at least 21 victims had to be ferried in helicopters and ambulances to nearby hospitals. Counting the cost of the disaster would be a big challenge, said government emergency department spokesman for Mississippi Jeff Rent.— AFP

Kuwait: Oil over $100 ‘damaging’ Continued from Page 1 “I was expecting to see the demand, but not at the same pace as we’ve seen lately...

Look at China and India, they are taking part of the surplus.” Kuwait ships most of its exports to Asia. It pumped around 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, according to a Reuters survey. Current oil prices were acceptable to both producers and consumers, he said. The oil price was reacting to movements of the dollar and sentiment about pace of economic recovery,

rather than to fundamentals, he said.

A delegation from Kuwait would leave for China today to continue negotiations with China’s Sinopec Group on a joint refining and petrochemical project in Zhanjiang, Sheikh Ahmad said. Kuwait hoped some kind of an agreement would be signed soon, he added, declining to give further details.

A feasibility and environmental impact assessment for the $9 billion, 300,000 bpd plant was due for completion last month.

The plant in China and another in Vietnam were priority projects for Kuwait, he said.

At home, Kuwait continued to focus on boosting oil capacity to 4 million bpd from 3 million bpd by 2020, and sustaining the higher capacity level for 10 years, he said.

The country was sitting on more oil than previously thought, not just the Burgan oilfield, Sheikh Ahmad said. He declined to give more details. Kuwait holds about 8 percent of all the world’s oil reserves, he said. Last week, a Kuwaiti official said Greater Burgan, the world’s second-largest oilfield, was bigger than past estimates had indicated. — Reuters

2 die in UAE hot air balloon crash Continued from Page 1 Kollar said a sudden change of wind struck the balloon as it came in to land. The balloon took off in light winds but gusts picked up considerably shortly after takeoff, prompting the pilot to make an emergency landing, the company said in an e-mailed account of the accident. “It was a freak wind

change,” Kollar told AP. “The balloon did not fall out of the sky. It happened at landing.”

The company has suspended flights for the coming days while authorities investigate the crash. Kollar said the company was working with local investigators.

Dubai-based Balloon Adventures operates early morning desert sightseeing trips from a launch site in the remote area near

where the crash occurred. The company describes itself on its website as “the most experienced balloon company in the world,” with other operations in Germany, New Zealand and Hungary. It is licensed by Emirati authorities and regularly tests its balloons during routine maintenance. It says this is its first accident in five years of operation. — AP

Immigration Dept set to be renamed Continued from Page 1 Enezi said the committee also agreed to allow servicemen in the police and military to grow beards without any conditions. Under existing military rules, beards can be grown to a certain length and must be taken care of. Hardline Salafist Islamist MPs and activists consider growing a beard as one of the key principles in Islam and some of them even say that those who do not grow beard are sinful. Enezi also said the committee approved amendments to the residence law that stiffens penalties on infiltrators and those who enter the country illegally.

In another development, the campaign against the privatization law continued yesterday with the Popular Action Bloc saying it had completed amendments to

the law that was passed in the first reading less than two weeks ago. Spokesman of the Bloc, MP Musallam Al-Barrak said the group’s proposed amendments call for banning the privatization of the oil sector, education and health.

The amendments also call for making it obligatory on the government to have a “golden share” in the privatized facility so it can veto any decision deemed contradicting national interests. It also calls for setting up public shareholding companies to manage the privatized facility in which 40 percent of its shares will be given to Kuwaitis free of charge. The head of the Assembly’s financial and economic affairs committee MP Yousuf Al-Zalzalah said the panel has received a large number of amendments to the privatization bill. He said the proposals will be

reviewed by the committee next week when the finance and commerce ministers return from a foreign tour.

Meanwhile, MP Salwa Al-Jassar called on the government to take decisive measures to curb price rises by setting up a joint committee from the ministries of commerce and social affairs in addition to the chamber of commerce and industry, which should take specific steps to combat price hikes. The statement came after Commerce and Industry Minister Ahmad Al-Haroun said yesterday that prices of essential commodities in Kuwait were the lowest in the GCC states. But MP Dhaifallah Buramia stressed that the minister’s statement is a cover up to protect merchants who are exploiting people and give the impression that they have not increased prices.

Ministry exposes 130 bogus firms Continued from Page 1 expatriate manpower to minimize their numbers in ministries. “The Cabinet emphasized that “Kuwait’s image as a caretaker of human rights must be improved in the international arenas,” informed sources told Kuwait Times. The Cabinet called for boosting the skills of national workers, especially in financial and commercial fields by educating and training graduates in the local marketplace.

The Cabinet pointed to the importance of the replacement of expat labor to achieve the best use of national labor and motivate them to participate in true job opportunities in both the private and public sectors. “It is important to control appointments in the private sectors

through more opportunities of encouraging national initiatives to establish small projects to facilitate the effective economic participation by citizens, while continuing the opening of new work opportunities and expanding the field for women in a manner that supports its development role in the society,” the Cabinet said Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Traffic Affairs Maj Gen Mahmoud Al-Dousari denied that the ministry plans to raise the minimum age to obtain a driver’s license from 18 to 21. “Some countries even issue licenses at the age of 16,” the official told the local press. Dousari added that some other conditions could be applied like the requirement of holding a university degree or a minimum monthly

salary of KD 400 with some exceptions, like those working in certain professions like representatives, drivers, engineers, doctors and journalists.

On second-hand vehicles imported from the US or some other European countries, Dousari stressed that they would not be registered in Kuwait.

“These vehicles are usually worn out and will disintegrate at the slightest collision as seen in many accidents around Kuwait,” he said. He added that in a bid to reduce traffic violations, the Traffic Department was currently considering increasing fines collected for exceeding speed limits by over 40 km, driving through red lights, reckless driving and driving in the opposite lane to KD 300.

“However, this motion is awaiting parliamentary approval,” he said.

‘Liberal’ Saudi top cop sacked Continued from Page 1 But it came three days after Ghamdi was reportedly dressed down by the country’s highest cleric for saying that Muslims are not necessarily required to pray inside a mosque with a group of other Muslims in daily prayers. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh told Ghamdi he was getting involved in matters of Islamic sharia law that were outside his authority, the Al-Madinah newspaper reported on Friday.

Underscoring the point, Sheikh said in his sermon during Friday prayers that anyone suggesting that congregation prayer is not necessary is “leading people to hell”, according to reports. Ghamdi, who could not immediately be contacted,

had denied on Wednesday reports that he had already been fired by Humain for making statements advocating free mixing of unrelated men and women. His views contrasted with a key duty of the Saudi religious police, which is to enforce gender segregation and the closure of all shops and offices so that men will attend prayers together.

Ghamdi has argued that Islamic scripture does not support the strict segregation enforced by Saudi Arabia’s ultrastrict Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam.

“There is nothing in Islamic law about mixing,” he said in interviews with Saudi newspapers. In December he endorsed a new research university near Jeddah, where an international group of men and women scientists freely mix in their

work.

That seemed to place him on the side of Saudi King Abdullah, for whom the new institution is named. Just two months earlier Abdullah had sacked cleric Sa’ad Al-Shethry from the powerful Council of Senior Ulema after he criticised mixing of the sexes at the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology. Since then, religious conser vatives have continued to blast Ghamdi’s views. In February, hardline cleric Abdulrahman Al-Barrak called advocates of mixing “apostates” who should be executed. And on a TV religious talk show last week, prominent Prince Khalid bin Talal accused Ghamdi of insulting Prophet Muhammad with his arguments. — AFP

SPORTS

Monday, April 26, 2010

15

MLB results/standings Major League Baseball Results On Saturday: LA Dodgers 4, Washington 3 (13 Innings); NY Mets 3, Atlanta 1; San Diego 5, Cincinnati 0; Cleveland 6, Oakland 1; NY Yankees 7, LA Angels 1; Chicago White Sox 5, Seattle 4; Florida 4, Colorado 1 (1st Game); Tampa Bay 9, Toronto 3; Houston 5, Pittsburgh 2; Minnesota 9, Kansas City 7 (12 innings); Chicago Cubs 5, Milwaukee 1; Boston 7, Baltimore 6; Detroit 8, Texas 4; Philadelphia 3, Arizona 2; Colorado 8, Florida 1; San Francisco 2, St. Louis 0.

American L eague Eastern Division W L P CT GB Tampa Bay 13 5 .722 NY Yankees 12 5 .706 0.5 Toronto 10 8 .556 3 Boston 8 10 .444 5 Baltimore 2 16 .111 11 Central Division Minnesota 13 5 Detroit 10 8 Cleveland 8 9 Chicago White Sox 7 11 Kansas City 6 11

.722 .556 .471 .389 .353

3 4.5 6 6.5

Oakland Seattle LA Angels Texas

Western Division 11 8 9 9 9 10 7 10

.579 .500 .474 .412

1.5 2 3

Philadelphia Florida NY Mets Washington Atlanta

National League Eastern Division 11 6 10 8 9 9 9 9 8 9

.647 .556 .500 .500 .471

1.5 2.5 2.5 3

St. Louis Milwaukee Chicago Cubs Houston Pittsburgh Cincinnati

Central Division 10 7 8 9 8 10 7 10 7 10 7 11

.588 .471 .444 .412 .412 .389

2 2.5 3 3 3.5

San Diego San Francisco Colorado LA Dodgers Arizona

Western Division 11 6 10 7 9 9 8 9 7 10

.647 .588 .500 .471 .412

1 2.5 3 4

ARLINGTON: Detroit Tigers left fielder Johnny Damon (18) slides safely into third base as Texas Rangers third baseman Michael Young (10) catches a throw from home plate during the third inning of a baseball game.—AP

Rays overpower Blue Jays, Yankees pound Angels ST. PETERSBURG: Jason Bartlett and Ben Zobrist drove in two runs apiece during a seven-run eighth inning that set up the Tampa Bay Rays’ 9-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League on Saturday. Tampa Bay’s BJ Upton tied it at 33 with an RBI single in the eighth off Scott Downs (0-2). Reid Brignac drew a basesloaded walk and John Jaso was hit with with a pitch as the Rays took a 5-3 lead. Bartlett and Zobrist added two-run singles to make it 9-3. Jaso also hit his first major league homer. Adam Lind and Lyle Overbay homered for the Blue Jays, who had their sixgame road winning streak snapped. Rays pitcher Dan Wheeler (1-0) struck out Alex Gonzalez with two on and two outs in the eighth to take the win.

Yankees 7, Angels 1 In Anaheim, Andy Pettitte pitched eight

sharp innings to steer New York over Los Angeles. Pettitte (3-0) struck out eight and walked none.

He gave up his only run on Torii Hunter’s sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Robinson Cano had four hits, and Nick Swisher and No. 9 hitter Francisco Cervelli each drove in two runs for New York.

Angels starter Joel Pineiro (2-2) worked six innings and allowed six runs, two more than he gave up in 20 1-3 innings over his first three starts.

Indians 6, Athletics 1 In Oakland, Mark Grudzielanek hit a tiebreaking single with two outs in the eighth inning and Cleveland went on to beat Oakland.

Cleveland starter Fausto Carmona (3-0) had another stellar outing, scattering seven hits over 7 1-3 innings and striking out four

while lowering his ERA to 2.96. Austin Kearns had three hits and three RBIs while Mike Redmond doubled and scored twice for the Indians, who snapped a six-game losing streak to the A’s.

Twins 9, Royals 7 In Kansas City, Joe Mauer matched a career high with five hits as Minnesota edged Kansas City. Mauer, last year’s AL MVP, finished 5 for 6 with two RBIs, including a sacrifice fly in the 12th that gave Minnesota an insurance run.

Denard Span singled home the go-ahead run in the 12th inning, after Justin Morneau hit a tying, two-run homer in the seventh for the Twins, who overcame an early 5-1 deficit.

Minnesota reliever Jon Rauch (1-0) gave up Jose Guillen’s tying double in the 11th but held on in the 12th with the help of a dis-

puted call at second base. Delmon Young led off the Minnesota 12th with a double against Royals’ Robinson Tejeda (1-2).

Tigers 8, Rangers 4 In Arlington, Johnny Damon drove in two runs and scored twice, helping Detroit rally from an early four-run deficit to beat Texas.

Damon extended his hitting streak to 11 games and has reached base in 14 straight (18 hits, 11 walks) since an 0-for-14 stretch.

Texas starter Scott Feldman (1-2) wasted a 4-0 lead by allowing eight runs, four earned, over 3 2-3 innings. He walked four and threw a wild pitch on which Detroit scored two runs to go ahead to stay.

Detroit’s Eddie Bonine (2-0) pitched three scoreless innings in relief to take the win.

White Sox 5, Mariners 4 In Chicago, Alex Rios hit a game-ending

two-run homer in the ninth to give Chicago victory over Seattle. Trailing 4-2 in the ninth with one out, Paul Konerko hit a solo home run off Mariners closer David Aardsma (0-1).

With two outs, Carlos Quentin walked, then Rios went long into the left-field bleachers to give the White Sox consecutive game-ending homers.

In the top of the inning, Casey Kotchman hit a two-run ground-rule double to give the Mariners a two-run lead. Kotcham’s drive to right was picked by a fan and first base umpire declared the play dead after a run scored, but the umpiring crew overruled the call and allowed Jack Wilson to score from first. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was ejected for disputing the call.

Red Sox 7, Orioles 6 In Boston, Marco Scutaro and Kevin

Giants get past Cardinals SAN FRANCISCO: San Francisco pitcher Barry Zito struck out 10 batters over eight crisp innings to steer the Giants to a 2-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League on Saturday.

Zito (3-0) outpitched Adam Wainwright (3-1) to come out on top in an impressive pitchers’ duel, earning his first career victory against the Cardinals after previously going 0-4.

Pinch-hitter Andres Torres singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth as San Francisco inflicted St. Louis’ first series defeat of the season.

Marlins 4, Rockies 1 In Denver, Florida and Colorado split their doubleheader. In the opener, Florida starter Ricky Nolasco (2-0) limited the Rockies to one run in eight innings, striking out a season-best nine and walking none to improved to 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA at Colorado. Rockies starter Greg Smith (1-2) gave up four runs in five-plus innings.

In the second game, Colorado starter Aaron Cook (1-2) showcased the effective sinker that had eluded him in his three previous outings, notching his 32nd career win at Coors Field _ the most by any pitcher. He also singled twice and scored two runs.

Colorado’s Miguel Olivo hit his 100th career homer. Florida’s Jorge Cantu singled in the opening game to extend his hitting streak to 21 games, but that ended in the late game. He was hitless in four atbats, though his sixth-inning groundout drove in the Marlins’ run. Quiet in the opener, Rockies batters tagged Marlins starter Nate Robertson (2-1) in the second game.

Phillies 3, D’backs 2 In Phoenix, Jayson Werth hit two homers, including a tiebreaking shot in the ninth inning, as Philadelphia downed Arizona.

Raul Ibanez also connected for

the Phillies, tying the game with a drive in the seventh inning. Werth hit a mammoth shot to center off Juan Gutierrez (0-2) with two outs in the ninth.

Philadelphia’s Ryan Madson got three outs for his fourth save in five attempts. Jose Contreras (1-1) struck out three in a scoreless eighth for the win.

Padres 5, Reds 0 In Cincinnati, San Diego’s winning streak reached eight with victory over Cincinnati. Adrian Gonzalez homered for the second straight day, Will Venable also connected and Yorvit Torrealba added a two-run double for the Padres.

Wade LeBlanc (1-0) pitched six scoreless innings for San Diego to take the win. Reds starter Johnny Cueto (0-1) gave up five runs in six innings to lose in his first decision from four starts.

Dodgers 4, Nationals 3 In Washington, Russell Martin lined a two-out single in the 13th inning to drive in the winning run for Los Angeles against Washington.

Nationals reliever Miguel Batista (0-2) entered in the 11th inning and had retired the first two batters in the 13th before Rafal Furcal singled, stole second, then scored on Martin’s full-count hit to center.

Carlos Monasterios (1-0), Los Angeles’ seventh pitcher, threw the final 2 2-3 innings. In the 13th, he had allowed runners at second and third with one out. But Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake, who earlier had hit two homers, threw out Ivan Rodriguez at home plate to end the game.

Mets 3, Braves 1 In New York, Jason Bay hit a tying double in the sixth inning and Jeff Francoeur doubled in the goahead run in the seventh to lift New York over Atlanta.

New York improved to 5-1 in its

Vinokourov stuns cycling favorites

10-game homestand and at 9-9 evened their record for the first time since a 2-2 start.

Atlanta starter Jair Jurrjens (02) was 4-0 with a 1.60 ERA in five starts against the Mets last year, but could not prevent the Braves slipping to a season-worst fourth straight loss.

Manny Acosta (1-0) got the win in relief. His previous win was for Atlanta against the Mets last season.

Cubs 5, Brewers 1 In Milwaukee, Ted Lilly threw six shutout innings in his season debut to guide Chicago past Milwaukee. Lilly (1-0), back from shoulder surgery last year, struck out four.

Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano, normally a starter, made way for Lilly and instead made his first appearance out of the bullpen in almost eight years. He also hit a sacrifice fly in a three-run eighth inning.

Doug Davis (0-2) took the loss despite pitching six strong innings for Milwaukee, which has scored just two runs in two games since beating Pittsburgh 20-0.

Astros 5, Pirates 2 In Houston, the hosts beat Pittsburgh in a game that began with Pirates starter Chris Jakubauskas getting hit in the head by a Lance Berkman line drive.

Jakubauskas (0-1), called up from the minors, was making his first start of the season. Berkman drove a pitch straight back to the mound in the first inning, hitting Jakubauskas behind his right ear.

Jakubauskas was carted off and rushed to hospital, where he was being kept overnight for observation.

Astros starter Wandy Rodriguez (1-2) struck out seven and allowed just one earned run in 7 1-3 innings. Hunter Pence and Pedro Feliz drove in two runs apiece for Houston.—AP

Youkilis each hit a three-run homer as Boston scored six times in the seventh inning to rally from a two-run deficit and beat Baltimore.

The Orioles fell to 2-16, losing their fifth straight game and 10th in a row against the Red Sox despite a season-high 17 hits.

With a strong wind blowing out to left field, the teams combined for five homers over the Green Monster. Jason Varitek hit a solo shot for the Red Sox. Boston’s John Lackey (2-1) gave up three runs in seven innings to take the win.

The Orioles scored three in the ninth to cut a 7-3 deficit to one run, but after giving up three straight singles, Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon struck out two batters to earn his fifth save. Baltimore’s Matt Albers (0-3) took the loss for the second straight night. —AP

PHOENIX: Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Chase Utley fields the ball for an out against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning during a baseball game.—AP

BRUSSELS: Kazakhstan’s Alexander Vinokourov broke clear of Alexandr Kolobnev in a long sprint to the finish line to win the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic yesterday.

It was Vinokourov’s biggest victory since returning from a two-year suspension for blood doping. There were plenty of whistles when Vinokourov, who won the race in 2005, crossed the line.

It was another second place in a major race for Russia’s Kolobnev, who was a world championship runner-up twice over the past three years.

“It is magnificent. It is a revenge. I dreamed of this,” said Vinokourov. Victory was all the more remarkable because Vinokourov raced in Italy earlier this week where he won the Tour of Trentino.

Vinokourov won the 258-kilometer (160-mile) race, the oldest and one of the most prestigious classics in cycling, in 6 hours 37.48 minutes, holding a six-second gap over Kolobnev.

Alejandro Valverde, who won the classic through Belgium’s southern Ardennes in 2006 and 2008, took third place, 1.04 minutes behind. The Spaniard beat Belgian Philippe Gilbert and world champion Cadel Evans in a sprint among the chasers.

Vinokourov’s Astana teammate and pre-race favorite Alberto Contador finished tenth, 1.07 behind. Vinokourov was banned for blood doping during the 2007 Tour de France while he was racing for the Astana team, which stuck with him after his suspension ended. “Everyone deserves a second chance. Vinokourov reacted in a great way,” Astana sporting director Laurenzo Lapage told VRT network.

Vinokourov’s reemergence is a major boost for Astana as it tries to lead Contador to his third Tour de France title. Basking in sunshine and ideal cycling conditions, the favorites in the pack remained together with only two of ten hills and 20 kilometers (12 miles) to go.

Then a group of 17 that included many of the favorites broke away. The move threw open the race, with Vinokourov and Kolobnev breaking away from the elite group. Gilbert, Evans and Valverde set up the chase to make it a five-man race.

At the front, Vinokourov sought to shake Kolobnev off, to no avail. Behind them, Gilbert broke away from the chasers to look for the leaders on his own and make up 20 seconds over the last 6 kilometers (4 miles). It proved too big a task, as the two leaders powered on and Vinokourov made the decisive jump in view of the finish line. —AP

SPORTS

16

Monday, April 26, 2010

DENVER: Goaltender Craig Anderson No. 41 of the Colorado Avalanche tries to check the puck away from Joe Pavelski No. 8 of the San Jose Sharks as Anderson’s teammate Matt Duchene No. 9 plays defense in the second period of Game Six of the Western Conference Quarterfinals during the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. —AP

Penguins and Sharks advance OTTAWA: Pascal Dupuis scored 9:56 into overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 comeback win over the Ottawa Senators that scured a 4-2 series win and a place in the second round of the NHL playoffs.

The Senators led 3-0 in the second period and looked set like forcing a deciding Game 7. Ottawa appeared to go up 4-1 in the frame, but lost a goal to video replay when it was determined

the puck crossed the line after the net was knocked off its moorings.

Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke scored his second of the game with 7:36 left in regulation to tie it 3-3. Bill Guerin scored earlier in the third.

Matt Cullen and Daniel Alfredsson each had a goal and an assist for Ottawa, which had won Game 5 in triple overtime to stave off elimination. Pascal Leclaire made 38 saves, and Chris Neil

also scored for the Senators.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28 shots as the Penguins won for the eighth time in nine playoff series, with the only loss in that stretch being to Ottawa in the first round in 2007.

Sharks 5, Avalanche 2 In Denver, San Jose also made passage to round two by beating Colorado in Game 6. Joe Pavelski scored two goals, including the

tiebreaking tally midway through the third period. The tying goal was soon followed by Dan Boyle’s go-ahead effort.

Devin Setoguchi and Douglas Murray added empty-net goals in the final minute after the Avalanche pulled goalie Craig Anderson for an extra skater.

Marek Svatos and Brandon Yip Evgeni scored for Colorado.

Nabokov was steady in net for the Sharks all night, but not very busy

as he stopped just 16 shots.

Anderson finished with 29 saves.

Blackhawks 5, Predators 4 In Chicago, Patrick Kane tied the game with just 13.6 seconds left and Marian Hossa scored the overtime winner as Chicago beat Nashville to take a 3-2 lead in their series. Chicago can advance in the Western Conference playoffs with a win at Nashville today.

The Blackhawks blew a 3-1 lead, and the Predators went ahead 4-3 with two third-period goals by Martin Erat.

With Nashville protecting its lead late despite being a man up after Hossa’s boarding penalty, Kane tied it with his third goal of the series.

Chicago killed off the remaining 3:57 of Hossa’s penalty in overtime before he emerged for the dramatic winner.

The

Predators are the only team in this year’s playoffs without a power-play goal. Their latest failure with the game on the line pushed the drought to 0 for 21 with the advantage.

Andrew Ladd, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Tomas Kopecky also had goals for Chicago in regulation. David Legwand had a goal, and Joel Ward added a short-handed tally for the Predators. —AP

Bohn leads by three in rainy New Orleans

SOUTH KOREA: Marcus Fraser of Australia holds his trophy after winning the Ballantine’s Championship golf tournament at Pinx Golf Club. —AP

Fraser ends title drought SEOUL: Australian Marcus Fraser was close to tears after breaking a seven-year title drought with a wire-to-wire victory by four strokes at the weather-shortened Ballantine’s Championship on Jeju Island yesterday.

The 31-year-old dropped only his second shot of the week on the final hole for a three-under-par 69 to win his first European Tour title since his maiden triumph at the 2003 Russian Open.

“It’s unbelievable... I can’t describe it. I don’t know how I did that today, it’s really blown me away,” Fraser, who held a one-stroke lead after the chaotic first two rounds, said in a greenside TV interview.

“I’ve had so many chances to win in the last seven years that I just didn’t know if it would ever be my day, but today it was,” he added, fighting back the tears.

Northern Irishman Gareth Maybin also dropped a shot at the last for a round of par 72 to share second with Fraser’s compatriot Brett Rumford, whose 71 also put him at eight-under.

Local hope Noh Seung-yul hit an eagle in his 68 — the best round of the day-and was the top Asian finisher in fourth place a further shot back alongside Briton Oliver Fisher (71).

Three-times major winner Ernie Els, who had been chasing his third win of the year after successes at the WGC-CA Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month, shared ninth after a third round 74.

The $2.9 million tournament, also sanctioned by the Asian Tour, had been reduced to three rounds after six hours of the first day’s play were lost to heavy fog.

“I don’t know if I had anything left in me if I had to go out another day and play a fourth round,” said Fraser. “But I don’t care. I worked my butt off the last few years to get back into a position where I should be winning golf tournaments so its a huge reward.”

Fraser was one of only 36 players to complete his opening round on Thursday and that sevenbirdie 65 was the foundation of his victory.

On Sunday, the world number 232 managed three fewer birdies but again kept his error count down to bank a cheque for half a million dollars.

With a five-stroke cushion going into the last, Fraser was still taking no chances and laid up to take the bogey. “I just hit the fairway down the last and thought there’s no way I am going for that green after my playing partners missed it left and right,” he said.

South African Els looked like he might be a threat to Fraser after birdying his first two holes and picking up three shots on the front nine, but three bogeys and a double bogey after the turn ended his challenge.

Thailand’s defending champion Thongchai Jaidee (75) dropped shots on his last two holes to finish alongside Els and three others at fiveunder. —Reuters

NEW YORK: Jason Bohn celebrated his birthday on Saturday by snatching a handy three shot lead after the third day of the rain-interrupted New Orleans Classic at Avondale, Louisiana.

The American, who turned 37, was cruising along at 12-under-par when bad light stopped play as tournament organisers desperately tried to make up time after two days of torrential rain.

Bohn had only completed six holes of his third round when darkness fell and faces the prospect of playing 30 holes on Sunday.

“Another long day, it’s going to be,” he told a news conference. “We’ve just got to stay patient. That is the thing. You have to wait for your opportunities out here.”

Australia’s Greg Chalmers and Alex Cejka of Germany were tied for second at nine-under when play was suspended, with a group of five more players one shot behind them.

None of the 75 players who survived the cut were able to finish their third rounds after lightning storms and heavy rain washed out most of Friday’s action and parts of Saturday.

As soon as the second round finally ended late in the afternoon, the players were sent back on to the course to get in as many holes as possible before nightfall, playing in groups of three and starting at the first and 10th tees.

Bohn, chasing his second PGA Tour win after winning the BC Open five years ago, led by four shots at the halfway mark after carding a second round five-under-par 67, that featured birdies on each of his last three holes.

He dropped a shot when he bogeyed the opening hole of his third round but got it back with a birdie at the second. He parred the next four and was left with a 17 foot birdie putt on the seventh when play was called off.

“The start of my third round, I kind of hit a couple of loose shots. I think it’s a little fatigue,” he said. “I wasn’t mentally focused on where I needed to be. So good night’s rest, good meal, and I think tomorrow will be a completely different day.

Australia’s John Senden and American Jeff Overton were tied for second at eight-under at the end of the second round but failed to improve their scores and were overtaken by Cejka and Chalmers.

The German birdied two of six holes in his third round, and Australian Chalmers bogeyed the first after a long wait in the clubhouse then reeled off four birdies in the next six holes.

“I’ve had a pretty relaxing day,” Chalmers said. “Sitting around watching TV, bored out of my mind for about eight hours. Then came out and played seven holes, six holes really well, and one hole just average.” —Reuters

CUBA: Golf players walk on the practice area during the “Montecristo Cup Golf Tournament” in Varadero, Cuba. The Caribbean island held its second ever golf tournament at a beach resort course on land that once belonged to US chemical tycoon Irenee du Pont, the only 18-hole course on the island. —AP

Top Spanish bullfighter gored MADRID: One of Spain’s top matadors was seriously injured in Mexico when a 1,100-pound (500kilogram) bull gored him in the groin and hoisted him into the air, causing major blood loss, his manager said yesterday.

Jose Tomas received a transfusion of eight liters (17 pints) of blood after being gored Saturday by a beast named Navegante in the Mexican city of Aguascalientes.

The bull’s horn penetrated 4 inches (10 centimeters) into Tomas’ groin and punctured a vein and an artery, manager Salvador Boix told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser from Aguascalientes.

Tomas, one of Spain’s most popular matadors, has a relatively rare blood type (A-) and bled so profusely that bullring officials appealed over the arena loudspeakers for

compatible donors to come forward for transfusions, Boix said.

Bullring doctors operated on the 34-year-old Tomas immediately to stabilize him, and he underwent more surgery later at a hospital for more than three hours. “Now he has new blood and is in intensive care, waiting to see how things evolve,” Boix said, adding that Tomas is not conscious.

Mexican television footage aired on the Web site of the Spanish newspaper El Mundo shows Tomas working the animal with his cape when the bull makes a quick turn toward the matador and catches him in the groin, lifting him into the air for a few seconds and shaking its head with Tomas dangling from its sharp left horn.

Once on the ground, Tomas rolled away and held his hands up

as if to say he was OK, but a large, dark red stain was already spreading through his glittering gold suit.

The newspaper El Pais said Tomas’ injury was so serious that the bullring doctors who first operated on him did not even take time to anesthetize him.

Tomas is known for a daring bullfighting style in which he gets particularly close to the bull. His full name is Jose Tomas Roman Martin, but he goes by just Jose Tomas. In Spain, he has been something of an enigma: in 2002, at the peak of his career, Tomas suddenly retired without saying why.

Tomas returned to the ring in 2007 to tremendous fanfare — he told one interviewer “living without bullfighting is not living” — and since then had suffered a number of serious gorings in Spain. —AP

Monday, April 26, 2010

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17

MILWAUKEE: Atlanta Hawks’ Mike Bibby and Milwaukee Bucks’ Brandon Jennings go after a loose ball during the first half of Game 3 of the first round of the NBA basketball playoffs. —AP

Blazers, Thunder level series

PORTLAND: Brandon Roy made a surprising return from knee surgery as the Portland Trail Blazers evened their NBA Western Conference first-round playoff series with the Phoenix Suns at two games apiece with a 96-87 victory on Saturday.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 31 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers, who unexpectedly activated Roy shortly before the game, eight days after he had arthroscopic surgery to repair torn cartilage in his right knee.

Roy didn’t start and played a relatively quiet 26 minutes, finishing with 10 points, but hit a key 3-pointer with 4:55 left that gave Portland a 85-79 lead and swung the momentum of a close game. Amare Stoudemire led the Suns with 26 points.

The series returns to Phoenix on Monday.

The Blazers were much more competitive at the start than they had been the past

two games and led 54-50 at halftime.

The game was tied 74-74 early in the fourth quater. The Suns were unable to pull ahead, despite poor shooting by the Blazers from the field. Portland missed 12 straight shots but was able to stay in the game on the free throw line.

Then came Roy’s 3-pointer with 4:55 left to make it 85-79. He made a jumper with 2:10 left that gave the Blazers a 91-83 lead, their biggest of the game.

Magic 90, Bobcats 86 In Charlotte, Orlando overcame Dwight Howard’s continuing foul trouble to beat Charlotte and take a commanding 3-0 series lead. Howard played only 26 minutes and fouled out with 3:32 left. But Jameer Nelson had 32 points, including a key late basket, and backup center Marcin Gortat hit two

free throws with 12 seconds left to put it away. Charlotte’s Stephen Jackson scored 19 points, but was 6 of 18 from the field and missed a key 3-pointer in the final minute.

For the third straight game, Howard played about half the game, finishing with 13 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks, but the Magic can clinch a spot in the second round with a victory here in Game 4 today.

The cold-shooting Bobcats, meanwhile, face the prospect of a first-round sweep in their first playoff appearance. Charlotte hadn’t hosted a playoff game since the Hornets’ last year here in 2002 before bolting for New Orleans. But with owner Michael Jordan squirming in his seat, the 6year-old Bobcats wilted in the fourth quarter despite the biggest crowd in franchise history.

Nelson’s floater in the lane with 1:32 left put Orlando ahead 85-82. After an empty possession for each team, Raymond Felton’s driving layup with 52 seconds left cut the lead to one.Nelson then missed a contested layup, giving Charlotte the ball with 31 seconds left. But Jackson was badly short on a straightaway 3-point attempt.

Vince Carter hit two free throws at the other end, Felton missed a shot in the lane, and Gortat then hit 3-of-4 free throws to put it away.

never seriously threatened after building a 19-point, first-half lead. Veteran Kurt Thomas had eight points, 13 rebounds and four stitches and rookie Brandon Jennings added 13 points for Milwaukee.

Joe Johnson scored 25 for Atlanta. Game 4 is Monday in Milwaukee. The Hawks shot 39 percent for the game, and only once appeared poised to make a run. They cut the lead to nine early in the third quarter, but Jennings and the Bucks turned up the pressure.

Bucks 107, Hawks 89 In Milwaukee, John Salmons scored 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting and Milwaukee never let up after a hot start to beat Atlanta and close the series deficit to 2-1. The Bucks shot 68 percent in the first quarter and 51 percent for the game, and were

Thunder 110, Lakers 89 In Oklahoma City, the hosts squared their series with Los Angeles at 2-2. Kevin Durant scored 22 points and Russell Westbrook added 18 points and eight assists for the Thunder, who again capitalized on a significant edge at the foul line and

on the boards despite the presence of the Lakers’ towering tandem of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

Oklahoma City never trailed after the opening 5 minutes and led by double digits for the final three quarters in a thorough dismantling of the defending NBA champions.

Bynum had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Gasol also scored 13 to lead Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant finished with only 12 points. Game 5 is tomorrow in Los Angeles.

Oklahoma City held a 50-43 rebounding edge and shot 20 more free throws _ finishing 42 of 48. The Thunder are still fighting against history. Only three of 52 eighthseeded teams have ever pulled an upset against a No. 1 seed, and Lakers coach Phil Jackson is 44-0 when his team wins Game 1 of any playoff series. — AP

Bulls go on top after Crusaders’ shock loss

BULGARIA: World chess champion Viswanathan Anand from India (left) plays against his Bulgarian challenger Veselin Topalov (right) during their second game of FIDE World Chess Championship in the Bulgarian capital Sofia. —AP

Anand wins second chess game SOFIA: India’s defending champion Viswanathan Anand yesterday won the second game in his 12-game duel for the world chess title against Bulgarian challenger Veselin Topalov, to level the scores at 1-1.

The Indian grandmaster, who played white yesterday, beat Topalov on the 43rd move of the game. The third game of the 12-round duel between the two is scheduled for tomorrow.

The 40-year-old Anand, known as the “Tiger from Madras,” first became World Champion in 2007 and had already once defended his title in 2008.

He was ranked fourth on the March 2010 ratings list by the FIDE international chess federation. The 35-year-old Topalov, who is currently ranked number two by FIDE, won the right to challenge Anand by beating Gata Kamsky of the United States in the semi-final in February 2009. On Saturday, Bulgarian challenger Veselin Topalov took a 1-0 lead against defending champion Viswanathan Anand of India on the first day of their duel for the world chess title to run until May 13.

Topalov, who played white in the first game, defeated Anand on the 30th move. The Indian grandmaster, who became World Champion in 2007, had already once successfully held onto the title in 2008. He was ranked fourth on the March 2010 ratings list by the FIDE international chess federation.

The 35-year-old Topalov, who is currently ranked number two by FIDE, won the right to challenge Anand by beating Gata Kamsky of the United States in the semi-final in February 2009. Under the rules, Topalov will play white in the first, third and fifth games, when Anand will play black. Colours will be reversed after game six. The first player to score 6.5 points or more in the 12 games shall be the new world champion. If the scores are level after 12 games, the two will play four tie-break games of rapid chess, where each player has a total of 25 minutes to make his moves. If the scores are again even, the new world champion will be decided in five five-minute blitz chess matches of two games each, ultimately followed by one sudden-death game. —AFP

WELLINGTON: Canterbury’s shock loss to the Western Force in the 11th round of rugby’s Super 14 raised the possibility that no New Zealand team would make the playoffs for only the second time in the tournament’s history.

The Force posted their first-ever win over the Crusaders, 24-16 after trailing 13-0 at halftime at Perth, to knock the seven-time champions from the top of the standings and into third place by the end of the round.

The Cape Town-based Stormers briefly took over first place on points differential despite a 16-13 loss to the Queensland Reds, before defending champions the Bulls returned to the top of the table with a 51-11 win over South African rivals the Lions.

Canterbury’s loss in the first and apparently the easiest match of a three-match road trip put in doubt their hold on a place in the top four, with tough matches remaining against the Stormers, the Pretoria-based Bulls and the sixth-place ACT Brumbies.

None of the other New Zealand sides has a strong chance of reaching the playoffs, though the Wellington Hurricanes beat the Otago Highlanders 33-31 to stay in ninth place and the Auckland Blues remained eighth after a 23-10 loss to the Durban-based Sharks.

Otago’s playoff chances evaporated weeks ago as did those of last year’s finalists the Waikato Chiefs when they were held to a 2525 draw on Friday by the Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs.

Since Super 12 began in 1996, New Zealand teams have been absent from the semifinals only once: in 2001 when the Brumbies, Sharks, Cats and Reds contested the playoffs.

Canterbury has featured in the semifinals 10 times. Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder remained confident of his team’s playoffs chances.

“We’ve still got an opportunity,” he said.

“There are some great teams ahead of us and we are excited about that. We’ve just got to tidy up a couple of key areas in our game and then we’ll be back.” Queensland’s win over the

Stormers at Brisbane meant the Reds remained fourth and on target to reach the semifinals for the first time in nine years.

Despite the loss, the Stormers’ bonus point for losing by fewer than seven points meant the Cape Town club moved up rather than down the table and will play their last three games in South Africa.

They have matches remaining against the Crusaders, the Sharks and — in what might decide first place — the Bulls in round 14.

Stormers captain Schalk Burger said the Brisbane match “got away.” “It was one of those games where we couldn’t really get anything going,” Burger said.

“They’ve been a dangerous side this year, but the conditions were pretty slippery, and we couldn’t get the ball through the hands very easily.” Morne Steyn hoisted the Bulls back to the top of the standings with 26 points in Saturday’s 51-11 win over the Lions. The Springboks halfback scored the fourth of six Bulls tries and landed eight from 10 kicks.

Steyn’s first successful kick made him South Africa’s highest point scorer in Super rugby, overtaking former Lions flyhalf Andre Pretorius’ 645 points. New South Wales winger Lachlan Turner scored the only try of the match off Berrick Barnes’ kick to give the Waratahs a 19-12 win over ACT in Sydney.

The win moved the Waratahs into fifth and a point outside a semifinal spot with three rounds left. The Brumbies picked up a bonus point but their playoff chances are fading, dropping seven points behind the leading four.

The Australian Rugby Union said yesterday that combined spectator figures for the three matches played in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney delivered the highest Australian attendance ever recorded for a single round of the competition in its 15-year history.

The Waratahs played to a record regularseason crowd of 40,271, the Reds attracted 30,259 and the Western Force had a sellout of 19,279 in Perth. The total of 89,809 improves on the previous mark of 79,157 set in May 2003. —AP

FRANCE: Biarritz’ Australian centre Karmichael Hunt (center) is tackled by Clermont’s Elvis Vermeulen as Clermont’s French center Julien Malzieu (second right) looks on during the French Top 14 rugby union match. —AFP

Warrington keep pressure on Wigan LONDON: Warrington full-back Richie Mathers put reports of a move away from the Wolves behind him to help them keep up the pressure on leaders Wigan with a comfortable victory over Catalans.

The 26-year-old crossed for two tries in the 40-6 rout as speculation of a move to Huddersfield fell on deaf ears while Ben Westwood kicked six goals from seven attempts. Warrington were never in trouble against their French opponents and stand-off Lee Briers, Richie Myler, Chris Riley, Mike Cooper and Mickey Higham all chipped in with a try a piece.

Catalans battled valiantly and did get themselves on the score sheet through David Ferriol with Gregory Mounis slotting the only goal but they otherwise had little to shout about.

The win for Warrington now puts them second just two points behind leaders

Wigan - who slipped to just their second league loss against Harlequins on Friday night. Fit-again stand-off Luke Dorn inspired Harlequins to a huge upset over Wigan with two tries in their stunning 3826 win at the DW Stadium.

The one-time Manly back was making his first league start of the season after surgery on his dislocated shoulder and was in fine form as the rock-bottom side came from 24-6 down at the break.

Cameron Phelps had bagged one of Wigan’s four tries in the first period but it was all one-way traffic after the break as Dorn, who switched to full-back after Ben Jones-Bishop was taken off with a nasty head injury, struck twice.

Will Sharp and Rob Purdham scored before ex-Manly hooker Chad Randall sealed a memorable win in the closing stages. —AFP

SPORTS

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Rain replaces volcanic ash as marathon hazard

LONDON: Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede reacts after winning the London Marathon to end a six-year winning streak for Kenyan runners, while Liliya Shobukhova led home a Russian one-two in the women’s race.—AP

LONDON: Russia’s Inga Abitova (centre), Ethiopia’s Aselefech Mergia (left) and race winner Russia’s Liliya Shobukhova (right) pose for photographers after the London Marathon.—AP

Bolt dazzles at Penn Relays PHILADELPHIA: Usain Bolt dazzled a capacity crowd with a lightning-fast final leg, overtaking USA Blue’s Ivory Williams on Saturday to win the 4x100-meter relay at the Penn Relays.

The 23-year-old world record holder in the 100- and 200-meter runs was clocked in an incredible 8.79 for his leg of the relay.

A quartet of Mario Forsythe, Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson and Bolt finished in 37.90 seconds for Jamaica Gold, setting a competition record. Bolt took a perfect handoff from Anderson and blazed for the final 100 meters to a raucous ovation.

“I told the guys to make sure I didn’t have to work, because I really didn’t want to do much,” Bolt said with a laugh. “I got the baton pretty much in front, so I wasn’t really worried about anything else.”

Bolt’s appearance at the Penn Relays was responsible for the highest single-day attendance (54,310) in the event’s 116-year

history. A total of 117,346 fans watched the three days, also a record.

Bolt, an international track & field sensation, was the biggest draw from the moment his participation was announced. The excitement began to swell from the moment he appeared on the field, about an hour before his race. “It was so loud, I thought, ‘Is the President here?”‘ said Miki Barber, of USA Blue, who was warming up for her race at the time.

By the time Bolt and his team took the track, the celebration had gone full-blown, with USA and Jamaican fans chanting for the respective countries, so much so that an announcement was made asking for quiet to start the race.

When it began, Jamaica Gold and USA Blue remained close through the first three legs. Shawn Crawford later said his team struggled with bad handoffs, the Jamaicans played flawlessly, leading to Bolt’s impres-

sive sprint. “If I’m in front of Usain Bolt, I don’t think he’s going to catch me, to be honest,” said Ivory Williams, who ran the final leg for USA Blue. “I ran a real good fourth leg, but I couldn’t pass him up (Bolt).

I don’t care if it’s Usain Bolt or not, I’m trying to win. When they’re cheering for Usain Bolt, I feel like they’re cheering for me. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to pass him up, but I was trying. I think we really can beat these guys.”

Bolt’s victory lap was met with a deafening roar, and he stopped twice to make a “lightning bolt” motion in front of screaming Jamaican fans. He also mingled before leaving the grounds, signing autographs and posing for pictures. “Over the past two years I’ve been surprised by the amount of people that know me and the welcome I get when I go to track meets or functions,” Bolt said. “I’m still trying to get used to it and I’m enjoying it.”—AP

PHILADELPHIA: Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt smiles after crossing the finish line to win the 4x100 relay at the Penn Relays athletics meet.—AP

LONDON: Steady rain yesterday replaced clouds of volcanic ash as the chief hazard to elite athletes entered in the 30th London marathon.

Temperatures of 21 degrees Celsius and clear skies had been predicted for Sunday but, after a week of fine spring weather, rain fell during both races and the sky remained overcast.

Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede complained of leg problems on the slippery surfaces after overcoming a combined Kenyan challenge to win the men’s race in two hours five minutes 19 seconds.

“The rain wasn’t very nice, it made my pace a little slow and because of that I had a few problems in my legs,” he told reporters.

Kebede was one of the African runners whose participation in London was threatened when scheduled flights throughout the world were cancelled last week following an eruption of ash from an Iceland volcano. The Ethiopian was forced to fly from Addis Ababa to Israel and then Spain before finally arriving in Britain.

A trip lasting a total 36 hours from Nairobi to Spain and then to London appears to have contributed to Olympic gold medallist and defending champion Sammy Wanjiru’s decision to drop out at 25 kms with a right knee injury.

“I started to feel pain about 20 kms and it became very serious,” Wanjiru said. “Travelling here was very hard and maybe that affected my knee. I wasn’t comfortable sitting on the plane all that time.”

Second-placed Kenyan Emmanuel Mutai added: “We only had two days to recover, it affected my performance.”

Briton Mara Yamauchi, second last year, finished 10th in the women’s race after an epic sixday journey from New Mexico to London via Portugal, Spain and France.

“Maybe I wasn’t as prepared as I was last year,” she said.

“The journey to get here tired me out a bit more than I thought.”

The women’s race was won by former track specialist and current Chicago champion Liliya Shobukhova of Russia in two hours 22 minutes.

Russian Shobukhova, the European 5,000 metres record holder, pushed hard in the second half and never looked extended once defending champion Irina Mikitenko was forced to withdraw after 18 kms.

“The rain was no problem,” she said. “The pace was easy but I decided to push in the second half to break up the pack.”

Mikitenko, who had to train on an indoor track this year because of the brutal European winter, said she had been forced to stop because of pain in her shins.

“It seems to be a muscle problem, maybe it’s because I couldn’t train for five weeks on the pavements,” she said. “The pain is in my shins but it is worse in my head.”

Despite all the problems the race still fully justified its status as the world’s premier big city marathon with organisers performing heroics to ensure all elite athletes were present. A record 37,527 runners registered for the race with 36,000 expected to finish.—Reuters

BARCELONA: Spain’s Fernando Verdasco holds his trophy after defeating Sweden’s Robin Soderling in the final match of Barcelona Open Tennis Tournament.—AP

Verdasco wins Barcelona Open BARCELONA: Fernando Verdasco beat Robin Soderling of Sweden 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to win the Barcelona Open yesterday.

Verdasco ensured an eighth straight Spanish winner at Godo after bettering the second-seeded Soderling in a battle of baseline groundstrokes.

Fifth-seeded Verdasco broke Soderling on consecutive service games to take the first set before faltering in the second to even the match.

Verdasco scored the decisive break in the fourth game of the last set when Soderling hit wide. Verdasco served out the match for his second title of the season in his third final appearance.

Verdasco dropped to the red clay to savor a win that came only after the Spaniard accepted a lastminute wild-card invitation.

“I wasn’t planning to play this week so you can imagine my feelings right now. It’s incredible,” the ninth-ranked Verdasco said after improving his overall record in finals to 5-7 while snapping a four-match losing streak to Soderling.

“At the last minute they convinced me to come and now I’m lifting the trophy so thanks to all of them.” Verdasco’s clay court season started with last week’s Monte Carlos Masters final loss to Rafael Nadal, who had won the Barcelona Open for the last five years.

Verdasco stroked a crosscourt forehand win-

ner for a triple-break chance that he would convert for a 4-3 lead when Soderling’s forehand hit the net. Verdasco clinched the opening set on his fourth try as he worked Soderling wide before slamming a forehand winner down the line as the Swede, who had 15 unforced errors in the first frame, dropped a set for the first time all week.

Soderling failed to create a break opportunity against Verdasco until the opening service game of the second set as he went ahead from a triplebreak chance when Verdasco hit long.

Verdasco broke right back to even it, but would then trail 4-3 after sending his backhand into the net to be broken. Neither player ventured to the net often but Soderling did to clinch the second set as he guided Verdasco’s return to the far corner to even the match.

Trailing 2-1, Soderling came forward to try a backhand smash but instead found the net.

Verdasco was undone by a bad bounce off the net on the first break chance but was vindicated immediately after as Soderling hit wide to trail.

Neither player dropped serve after that and Verdasco secured his second title of season and a €286,000 paycheck ($383,000) when Soderling hit out.

The eighth-ranked Soderling was looking to be the first Swede to win in Barcelona since Kent Carlsson. He fell to 5-8 in career finals. —AP

Elena draws Russia level in Fed Cup semi NEW YORK: Elena Dementieva and Melanie Oudin won their opening singles matches on Saturday to leave the Fed Cup semi-final between Russia and the United States tied at 1-1.

Oudin gave the hosts a perfect start when she recorded a 6-3 6-3 win over Alla Kudryavtseva before Dementieva levelled the tie at the indoor hard court in Birmingham, which kept the players away from the storms battering Alabama.

The Olympic champion, ranked sixth in the world, defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4 6-3 set the stage for a tense final day that will begin with her reverse singles rubber against Oudin.

“It always feels a little bit more pressure when you have to win your match,” Dementieva told a news conference. “I expect a tough match against Melanie.

“I think this kind of court suits her game.

“Physically she looks pretty fit. ...Tomorrow I will be aggressive from the beginning, try not to go to long rallies because I know she feels very com-

fortable at the baseline.”

Oudin, shouldering the burden of being America’s top-ranked singles player after Serena and Venus Williams declared themselves unavailable, recovered from slow starts in both sets to beat Kudryavtseva, ranked almost 50 places below her and making her Fed Cup debut.

“I thought I played a really good, solid match all the way through ... a little rocky in the beginning of the first set, but I thought I closed it out really well,” Oudin said.

“I’m gonna go into tomorrow just like any other match I’d play. I’ve played Elena twice now.

We’ve played really good matches. I played well both times.”

The best-of-five tie was to be decided yesterdaywith two reverse singles and a concluding doubles rubber. The winners will advance to the November final against either holders Italy or Czech Republic. Italy lead 2-0 after the opening day in Rome.—Reuters

Angulo stops Julio in 11th round ONTARIO: Mexico’s Alfredo “Perro” Angulo stopped Joel Julio with a right cross midway through the 11th round Saturday to retain the WBO interim light middleweight title.

Angulo (18-1, 15 KOs) dramatically ended a highly competitive fight with one perfect blow to Julio’s chin, sending his Colombian opponent tumbling to the canvas. Although Julio (35-4) shakily got back up and wanted to keep fighting, referee Raul Caiz stopped the bout at 1:39 of the 11th.

“Joel never hurt me,” Angulo said. “I know he has power, but it is really hard to hit Perro.” Angulo earned his third straight victory after his only defeat against Kermit Cintron last May, while Julio lost for the third time in four bouts despite causing plenty of trouble for Angulo in a fight filled with damaging blows by both boxers.

Julio was furious afterward, saying Angulo was favored because he lives in California. —AP

DENMARK: Britain’s Carl Froch (left) throws a punch at Mikkel Kessler of Denmark during their boxing fight for the WBC World Super Middleweight title.—AP

Kessler wins WBC title LONDON: Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler beat Briton Carl Froch on points to claim the WBC super-middleweight world title in Herning, Denmark on Saturday.

Kessler won a bruising encounter despite being cut over the left eye in the ninth round and all three judges had him ahead on their scorecards.

It was the first defeat of Froch’s professional career and despite the unanimous decision he rattled Kessler, flooring him in the fifth only for referee Michael Griffin to rule it a slip.

But the Dane, cheered on by the noisy home fans, gradually got on top at the 10,000 capacity MCH Messecenter and Froch failed to come up with the knockout that could have saved him.

The judges scored the fight 117-111, 115-113 and 116-112 in favour of Kessler, who had lost a unani-

mous points decision to the undefeated world champion Briton Joe Calzaghe in 2007.

The fight was part of the Super Six World Boxing Classic which brings together six of the best super middleweights in a series of bouts running through to early 2011. Former WBA champion Kessler, 31, now has two defeats in 45 professional fights having lost his first Super Six bout on a technical decision after being cut against Andre Ward.

Froch, 32, beat Canadian Jean Pascal for the vacant WBC title in December 2008 and successfully defended it against Americans Jermain Taylor and Andre Dirrell. The split decision win over Dirrell was Froch’s first fight in the Super Six tournament.

Kessler and Froch each have two points from two Super Six fights and must win their next bouts to reach the semi-finals.—Reuters

SPORTS

Monday, April 26, 2010

19

Atletico defeat Tenerife 3-1

ITALY: Juventus’ Vincenzo Iaquinta (right) vies for the ball with Bari’s Sergio Almiron of Argentina (left) during their Italian League soccer match at the Olympic Stadium in Turin.—AP

Juve sink Bari to stay in Champions League hunt ROME: Juventus kept alive their slim hopes of playing Champions League football next season with a routine 3-0 win at home to Bari yesterday.

Vincenzo Iaquinta scored a brace in the second period, sandwiching an Alessandro Del Piero penalty, as Juve cruised.

They are now four points behind Palermo in the crucial fourth spot, although Sampdoria could move six clear of Juve if they win at AS Roma in yesterday’s late game.

Juve coach Alberto Zaccheroni claimed his side had benefitted from having free midweeks to train properly, and for having their preferred forward combination. “I’ve been saying the same things for months and I’ve been accused of making excuses but Diego is better when Iaquinta plays,” he said. “We’ve managed to find fluidity in training and I hope we continue in this way.

“Bari gave us nothing and we won because we deserved to, because we dominated possession and that allowed us to go forwards. “You could see the last two weeks of training and now we’re in the right shape.” Juve toiled in the first period and did little to suggest they could break the deadlock while they had goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to thank for not falling behind. Five minutes before the break the Italy number one made a great stop to deny Vladimir Koman from 12 yards.

But after the interval the hosts moved up a gear with Jean-Francois Gillet making an instinctive save

with his foot to deny Giorgio Chiellini from close range. Del Piero than shuddered the crossbar with a close range header from Paolo De Ceglie’s left wing cross. But the Old Lady of Turin took the lead on 53 minutes as Diego played a ball in behind the Bari defence which Iaquinta ran on to, rounded Gillet and then slotted home from a tight angle.

Del Piero then finished from the spot after Gillet had clumsily brought down Diego in the box on 69 minutes. Juve full-back Jonathan Zebina almost handed Bari a lifeline when his back header appeared to be heading for the bottom corner but Buffon flung himself to his left to tip it around the post.

However, Juve made the game safe four minutes from time as Antonio Candreva got down the left and crossed for Iaquinta, who was incredibly unmarked on the six yard box, to poke home.

Napoli’s hopes of securing that fourth spot were hit hard as they were held to a 0-0 home draw by Cagliari, leaving them five points behind Palermo with three games left.

Livorno became the first club to be relegated this season despite a 3-1 win at home to Catania.

Bologna’s 2-1 home success against Parma left Livorno 10 points from safety with just three to play.

Siena are all but mathematically down after their 4-1 defeat at Udinese. They could still draw level on points with Bologna and have the edge in the headto-head record but that would take an extraordinary set of results over the last three weeks.—AFP

Italian League results/standings Bologna 2 (Di Vaio 38, 50) Parma 1 (Biabiany 23); Fiorentina 0 Chievo 2 (Pellissier 54, Sardo 75); Genoa 1 (Palacio 8) Lazio 2 (Dias 25, Floccari 32); Juventus 3 (Iaquinta 53, 86, Del Piero 69-pen) Bari 0; Livorno 3 (Lucarelli 50-pen, Bellucci 60, Bergvold 66) Catania 1 (Maxi Lopez 87); Napoli 0 Cagliari 0; Udinese 4 (Pepe 19, 42, Sanchez 61, Di Natale 81) Siena 1 (Calaio 40).

Playing later AS Roma v Sampdoria Played Saturday Inter Milan 3 (Milito 24, Mariga 35, Chivu 78) Atalanta 1 (Tiribocchi 5); Palermo 3 (Bovo 9, Hernandez 18, Miccoli 69) AC Milan 1 (Seedorf 55).

Italian Serie A table ahead yesterday’s late game (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Inter Milan AS Roma AC Milan Palermo Sampdoria Juventus Napoli Genoa Fiorentina Parma

35 34 35 35 34 35 35 35 35 35

21 21 18 16 16 16 13 13 13 12

10 8 10 10 9 6 14 9 7 10

4 5 7 9 9 13 8 13 15 13

68 61 56 54 43 52 46 56 47 38

31 37 38 44 39 49 41 57 43 46

73 71 64 58 57 54 53 48 46 46

Chievo Bari Cagliari Udinese Catania Lazio Bologna Atalanta Siena Livorno

35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35

12 8 11 10 11 9 11 9 9 13 9 13 10 9 9 7 7 9 7 8

15 14 15 15 13 13 16 19 19 20

33 41 52 48 41 34 39 35 38 25

34 46 53 51 43 39 52 48 63 53

44 43 42 42 40 40 39 34 30 29

Auxerre close the gap on Marseille PARIS: Auxerre closed the gap on French leaders Marseille to just two points yesterday with a 3-0 canter at Toulouse, but the southerners were set to streak clear in the late game with a victory over St Etienne.

As reigning champions Bordeaux have slumped in recent weeks — Saturday’s loss to Lorient left Laurent Blanc’s side in sixth place, 11 points off the pace, two behind Champions League semi-finalists Lyon - so Auxerre have slipped into top gear.

And yesterday’s success took Jean Fernandez’s side on to 66 points from 34 games, heating up the title battle with four games to go as Marseille target their first crown in 18 years.

Auxerre, who won the domestic double in 1996 under former coach Guy Roux, are on a hot streak right now with eight wins and three draws in their last 11 outings - though that run of form will be tested next week when they take on the leaders.

After an early spell of Toulouse pressure Auxerre turned on the style after the break and Benoit Pedretti’s freekick two minutes after the restart broke the deadlock.

Secure in the knowledge that on the 18 occasions they have drawn first blood this season, they have not lost Auxerre then tightened their grip.

After keeper Olivier Sorin had saved well from Turkish international Colin Kazim-Richards on the hour, Polish striker Ireneusz Jelen smashed a fierce drive past Toulouse keeper Olivier Blondel in the 68th minute.

Jelen then wrapped things up with a neat finish after Valter Birsa set him up with 11 minutes left to give Auxerre fans the chance to dream of a possible second title success if they can win next week’s battle at the Stade Abbe Deschamps.

Auxerre defender Adama Coulibaly said the club would have to work furiously if they are to overhaul Marseille.—AFP

FRANCE: Marseille’s Brazilian forward Evaeverson Lemos Brandao (behind) challenges for the ball with Saint-Etienne’s defender Yohan Benalouane, during their French Division One soccer match.—AP

MADRID: A brace from Argentine youngster Eduardo Salvio helped Atletico Madrid warm up for their Europa League clash against Liverpool on Thursday with a 3-1 victory over Tenerife.

With nothing left to play for in the league, Atletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores chose to rest players ahead of the match at Anfield with his side leading 1-0 from the first leg.

It meant giving striker Salvio his first starting place since moving from Lanus in Argentina in January and he responded with his first goals for the club as Atletico dominated.

After the break Tenerife, with the chance to leave the relegation zone with a win, responded with Roman Martinez pulling a goal back but Sergio Aguero put the game beyond them with a goal after 77 minutes.

An injury-time equaliser from Aritz Aduriz salvaged a point for Champions League chasing Mallorca, who drew 1-1 with Malaga in a game which they should have won comfortably.

The Oni Stadi has been a fortress for Mallorca this season where they have only lost twice but they were very nearly beaten again by relegation threatened Malaga.

Mallorca dominated the contest but profligate finishing and dogged defending saw Malaga keep them at bay. Shortly before half time Malaga defender Milan Stepanov was dismissed for a handball but Gustavo Munua saved the subsequent penalty taken

by Gonzalo Castro.

Victor Obinna stunned the stadium, scoring against the run of play, and although Aduriz grabbed a 91st minute equaliser it still means that Sevilla, who play later against Getafe, can move above them into fourth with a win.

Sixth-placed Villarreal came from behind to beat Racing Santander 2-1 to boost their hopes of qualifying for a place in the Europa League.

Sergio Canales put Racing ahead with a fine shot but Villarreal deservedly turned the game around with strikes from Diego Godin and Nilmar Honorato. Today, Athletic Bilbao can draw level with Villarreal if they beat Osasuna.

Mateus Manucho and Javier Baraja were both on target for third-frombottom Valladolid who secured an important 2-0 win away at Sporting Gijon.

Espanyol put distance between themselves and the relegation zone with a 1-0 away win at Almeria with Luis Garcia hitting the target.

The gap at the top of the table remains just one point with Real Madrid beating Zaragoza 2-1 yesterday after Barcelona had earlier defeated Xerez 3-1.

It was a nervous performance from Barca, who nonetheless beat the league’s bottom side with goals from Jeffren Isaias, Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Mario Bermejo scored for the visitors who lost their composure in the final minutes with Matias Alustiza and Fabian Orellana both dismissed.

Brazilian midfielder Kaka came off the bench, following a six-week injury absence, to grab the winner for Real Madrid after Zaragoza’s Adrian Colunga had cancelled out a Raul Gonzalez opener.

Valencia consolidated their third position with a 1-0 victory over Deportivo la Coruna thanks to a firsthalf penalty converted by David Villa.—AFP

SPAIN: Mallorca’s Portuguese defender Nunes (top) vies with his team mate defender Ruben Gonzalez during their Spanish League football match at the Ono Stadium.—AFP

Spanish League results/standings Almeria 0 Espanyol 1 (Luis Garcia 54); Sporting Gijon 0 Valladolid 2 (Manucho 80, Javier Baraga 90) Racing Santander 1 (Canales 39) Villarreal 2 (Godin 70, Nilmar 82); Real Mallorca 1 (Aduriz 90+1) Malaga 1 (Obinna 86); Atletico Madrid 3 (Salvio 10, 31, Aguero 78) Tenerife 1 (MartÌnez 61).

Playing later Getafe v Sevilla

Played Saturday Barcelona 3 (Su·rez 14, Henry 24, Ibrahimovic 56) Xerez 1 (Bermejo 25); Real Zaragoza 1 (Colunga 61) Real Madrid 2 (Raul 50, Kaka 82); Valencia 1 (Villa 34-pen) Deportivo La Coruna 0.

Playing today Osasuna v Athletic Bilbao

Spanish league table ahead of Sunday’s late match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Barcelona Real Madrid Valencia Real Mallorca Sevilla Villarreal Athletic Bilbao Getafe Deportivo La Coruna Atletico Madrid

34 34 34 34 33 34 33 33 34 34

27 28 18 16 16 15 14 14 12 12

6 2 8 8 6 7 7 5 8 7

1 4 8 10 11 12 12 14 14 15

83 89 53 53 49 50 45 48 33 52

20 30 37 38 38 46 44 43 43 53

87 86 62 56 54 52 49 47 44 43

Espanyol Osasuna Almeria Sporting Gijon Racing Santander Malaga Real Zaragoza Valladolid Tenerife Xerez

34 33 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 34

10 11 10 8 9 11 9 10 8 12 7 13 8 10 6 14 8 8 6 9

13 15 14 15 14 14 16 14 18 19

27 30 34 33 37 38 39 34 35 31

40 39 46 46 50 43 58 54 66 59

41 38 38 37 36 34 34 32 32 27

Freiburg escape bottom three BERLIN: Freiburg took a step closer to Bundesliga survival yesterday with a shock 1-0 win over defending Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg to escape the bottom three with two games remaining this season.

Freiburg striker Cedrick Makiadi hit the winner in the 38th minute after a mistake in the Wolfburg defence which gave his side their second consecutive win and lifts them up to 14th in the table.

Earlier, Europa League semifinalists Hamburg were humbled 5-1 at Hoffenheim with strikers Chinedu Obasi and Vedad Ibisevic both scoring twice for the hosts.

Having been held to a goalless draw by Fulham in the first-leg of the Europa League semi-final last Thursday, Hamburg were left stunned at Hoffenheim after conceding two goals after barely ten minutes, both from Ibisevic.

Obasi’s two goals then took advantage of poor defending, particularly for his second goal when the Nigerian was allowed to go one-on-one with Hamburg goalkeeper Frank Rost on 73 minutes.

Hamburg midfielder Robert Tesche had hit a long-range equaliser on 65 minutes.

Hoffenheim kept the scoreboard ticking over when midfielder Sejad Salihovic took further advantage of poor defending to make it 5-1 on 76 minutes.

To compound their misery with injury time approaching, Hamburg’s second-half replacement Tolgay Arslan was shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle. The defeat leaves Hamburg seventh in the table with Hoffenheim 11th.

League leaders Bayern Munich were held 1-1 at Moenchengladbach on Saturday, while Schalke drew level on 64 points with two games left after sneaking a 1-0 win at bottom side Hertha Berlin with a late goal.

Germany striker Miroslav Klose spared Bayern’s blushes with a second-half equaliser to seal the draw at ‘Gladbach.

After Bayern beat Lyon 1-0 in the first-leg of the Champions League semi-final last Wednesday, Klose came off the

GERMANY: Moenchengladbach’s goalkeeper Logan Bailly (right) jumps for the ball against the head of Munich’s Ivica Olic (left) during the German First Division Bundesliga soccer match.—AP bench to score only his third league goal of the season and keep his side top of the Bundesliga.

French midfielder Franck Ribery, who is being investigated as part of the under-age call-girl scandal rocking the French football team, played the full game, but was booed on occasion at the

sold-out Borussia Park.

German Cup finalists Bayern’s draw also keeps them on course for the treble with the Champions League semi-final second leg at Lyon to come on Tuesday.

Bottom side Hertha Berlin are now almost certain to be relegated at the end of the season after

Schalke captain Heiko Westermann scored their winner on 87 minutes.

Werder Bremen are third in the league having beaten Cologne 1-0 with a last-minute goal as captain Torsten Frings scored a 91st-minute penalty after defender Pedro Geromel gave away the spot kick with a handball.—AFP

German League results/standings Hoffenheim 5 (Ibisevic 2, 11, Obasi 31, 72, Salihovic 76) Hamburg 1 (Tesche 65); Freiburg 1 (Makiadi 38) VfL Wolfsburg 0 Played Saturday Borussia M’gladbach 1 (Reus 60) Bayern Munich 1 (Klose 73);Nuremberg 2 (Frantz 30, Eigler 84) Borussia Dortmund 3 (Barrios 27, 63, 78) ; Hertha Berlin 0 Schalke

04 1 (Westermann 87); Bayer Leverkusen 3 (Kiessling 26, 87, Kaplan 64) Hanover 96 0; Mainz 05 3 (Bance 45, Simak 56, Bance 86) Eintracht Frankfurt 3 (Meier 13, 20, Korkmaz 62); Werder Bremen 1 (Frings 90pen) Cologne 0 Played Friday VfL Bochum 0 VfB Stuttgart 2 (Cacau 14, Marica 18)

German League table after the weekend’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Bayern Munich Schalke 04 Werder Bremen Bayer Leverkusen Borussia Dortmund VfB Stuttgart Hamburg VfL Wolfsburg Eintracht Frankfurt

32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32

18 19 16 15 16 15 12 13 12

10 7 9 12 8 8 12 7 10

4 6 7 5 8 9 8 12 10

66 53 68 63 52 48 51 60 45

29 29 39 36 38 38 40 56 49

64 64 57 57 56 53 48 46 46

Mainz 05 Hoffenheim Borussia M’gladbach Cologne Freiburg Nuremberg VfL Bochum Hanover 96 Hertha Berlin

32 12 9 32 10 8 32 10 8 32 9 10 32 8 7 32 7 7 32 6 10 32 7 6 32 5 8

11 14 14 13 17 18 16 19 19

34 41 41 31 30 31 32 34 32

40 40 53 39 56 54 58 66 52

45 38 38 37 31 28 28 27 23

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Chelsea back to top

Gerrard at the double as Burnley go down Burnley 0

Liverpool 4 BURNLEY: Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard scored twice in a 4-0 win that condemned Burnley to Premier League relegation at Turf Moor yesterday and revived the Reds’ Champions League hopes.

England midfielder Gerrard rode to the rescue of his lacklustre side with two clinical finishes inside seven minutes before Maxi Rodriguez added a third for good measure.

Ryan Babel made it 4-0 with the last kick of the game to leave second-bottom Burnley facing an immediate return to the Championship.

Liverpool’s win saw them close to within two points of Tottenham Hotspur, who occupy four th place in the Premier League - the last Champions League spot on offer to English clubs - and have a game in hand over the Merseysiders.

Gerrard opened the scoring in the 52nd minute when his drive deflected off Leon Cort to leave Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen stranded.

He doubled his side’s lead in fine style seven minutes later, charging onto a miscontrolled ball by Alberto Aquilani before curling a sublime shot beyond Jensen to leave the home side with no way back.

Aston Villa’s derby victory over Birmingham earlier in the day had meant it was even more

imperative for Liverpool to follow suit.

Before kick-off R afa Benitez’s men found themselves five points behind both Villa and Tottenham and four behind Manchester City, who have a game in hand.

Bur nley had beaten Manchester United at home this season and needed a shock of equal measure to avoid the inevitable.

The absence of injured duo David Ngog and Fer nando Torres meant Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt was on his own in attack, with Gerrard tucked in behind.

But there was little fluency to Liverpool’s play from the start as Benitez’s men struggled to threaten. It took them almost 20 minutes to show signs of an attacking threat when Babel burst down the left flank only to drag his shot wide and fail to test Jensen.

The slightly better football was coming from Burnley, who looked like a side with nothing to lose.

Danny Fox wasted a good opportunity in the 22nd minute when he curled a free kick high and wide before Mar tin Paterson created the first real chance of the game five minutes later with a delightful cross which Steven Fletcher headed over the crossbar.

Liverpool’s frustration was beginning to mount, never more so than the 31st minute when Ger rard’s goalbound volley str uck referee Phil Dowd.

Moments later the ball broke to Gerrard but he shot straight at Jensen.

The home side wasted another golden chance to go

Chelsea 7

Stoke 0

LONDON: Burnley’s Steven Fletcher (left) and Chris Eagles walk from the pitch after their 4-0 defeat to Liverpool. —AP ahead on just before half time when Tyrone Mears picked out the unmarked Jack Cork, but he headed straight at Pepe Reina.

Liverpool’s af ter noon seemed to go from bad to worse three minutes after the re-start when Kuyt limped off with what looked like a calf problem, to add to the team’s problems up front.

But just when the visitors needed inspiration, up stepped Gerrard even if his opening goal relied on a slice of luck to beat the helpless Jensen. Gerrard

then doubled Liverpool’s advantage with a rasping strike.

Brian Laws’s men refused to give up and even though there was no way back, Fletcher drilled a shot against the post in the 72nd minute and substitute Robbie Blake went close with the rebound.

But their spirit was broken once and for all with 17 minutes remaining when Rodriguez notched his first goal for the club following Aquilani’s clever pass before Babel added the fourth. —AFP

LONDON: Chelsea stormed back to the top of the Premier League as Salomon Kalou’s hat-trick inspired a 7-0 win over Stoke yesterday which sent the Blues one point clear of Manchester United.

Carlo Ancelotti’s team had lost first place to United following the champions’ win against Tottenham on Saturday, but this imperious display was the perfect response to the challenge from Old Trafford.

Ivory Coast forward Kalou scored twice in the first half at Stamford Bridge, then Frank Lampard added a penalty. Kalou completed his treble after the break and Lampard netted a sublime strike before Daniel Sturridge and Florent Malouda scored late on to give Chelsea their third seven-goal haul this season.

The Blues’ lacklustre defeat at Tottenham last weekend had allowed United back into a title race which neither team has been able to lead for long.

But Chelsea’s biggest win of the campaign leaves Ancelotti’s men still on course to win the league for the first time since 2006.

The crucial test comes next Sunday at Liverpool - where victory would leave just a home game against Wigan on May 9 standing between Chelsea and the title. If there were any title jitters around the Bridge, they were quickly banished as the hosts took control. In

LONDON: Chelsea’s Salomon Kalou (top) celebrates his goal against Stoke City with teammate Didier Drogba during their English Premier League soccer match. —AP the 10th minute, Lampard fired in a long-range effort which Thomas Sorensen could only parry out to Ashley Cole.

The England left-back, back in action for the first time after a broken ankle, was unmarked and had just Sorensen to beat, but he shot too close to the Stoke goalkeeper.

It was a glaring miss but, with so much at stake, there was no chance of Chelsea becoming discouraged.

Ancelotti’s team penned Stoke into their own half as they pressed for the opening goal and Didier Drogba went close to delivering it.

Paulo Ferreira curled a cross to Drogba at the near-post and his glancing header forced Sorensen into a brilliant one-handed save.

The pressure finally told in the 24th minute as Kalou put the finishing touch to a finely crafted goal.

Florent Malouda began the move by spraying a high pass towards Drogba on the right wing.

Drogba initially seemed to have

misjudged the ball’s flight but he controlled superbly with the outside of his boot, then whipped over a low cross that Kalou met with a diving header past Sorensen. Any nerves had long since been banished as Ancelotti’s side continued to toy with Stoke and they moved further ahead in the 31st minute after another incisive move.

Drogba’s clever flick allowed Lampard to drive in a powerful shot which Sorensen failed to hold, giving Kalou the chance to slide the loose ball into the net from close-range for his 10th goal of the season.

Sorensen suffered a suspected fractured elbow when Kalou collided with him while scoring and the Dane had to be replaced by Asmir Begovic after lengthy treatment.

Begovic’s first job was to pick the ball out of the back of the net in the 44th minute. Kalou was Stoke’s tormentor again as he wriggled clear of Robert Huth on the left

edge of the penalty area. The German defender fell to the turf as he tried to make a tackle and ended up hauling Kalou down by his leg.

The initial foul took place outside the area but referee Steve Bennett pointed to the spot and Lampard stepped up to send Begovic the wrong way with a cool penalty.

Kalou notched his treble in the 68th minute when he ran onto Lampard’s pass and beat Begovic at the second attempt.

Chelsea were turning on the style now and Lampard scored the goal of the day in the 81st minute as he met substitute Sam Hutchinson’s deep cross with a perfectly-judged flick over Begovic.

There was still time for Sturridge to skip round Begovic and stroke home Drogba’s pass in the 87th minute before Malouda converted Joe Cole’s cross two minutes later. —AFP

Aston Villa 1

Birmingham 0

Villa eye Euro elite BIRMINGHAM: Aston Villa maintained their bid for a place in next season’s Champions League after a late and contentious penalty from James Milner secured a 1-0 derby win over Birmingham City here yesterday.

There were just seven minutes lef t at Villa Park when England international Milner scored from the spot af ter referee Mar tin Atkinson ruled City defender Roger Johnson had brought down Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor in the box.

But replays suggested Johnson had won the ball first.

Villa are now level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who currently occupy the last Champions League place on offer to English clubs, although they have played one game more and have an inferior goal difference. —AFP

LONDON: Everton’s Phil Jagielka (left) vies for the ball against Fulham’s Erik Nevland (right) during their English Premier League soccer match. —AP

Everton edge Fulham Everton 2

Fulham 1 LIVERPOOL: Mikel Arteta conver ted an injur y-time penalty to give Everton a come from behind 2-1 win over Fulham at Goodison Park yesterday to keep their s l i m h o p e s o f E u ro p a League football next season alive.

Erik Nevland gave

Fulham a 36th-minute lead against the run of play b e f o re Vi c t o r A n i c h e b e hauled Ever ton level five minutes after his arrival as a half-time substitute.

Everton grabbed the winn e r f ro m t h e s p o t i n t h e fourth minute of injury time after Chris Baird fouled Tim Cahill who was celebrating his 200th appearance for the Merseysiders.

Fu l h a m boss Ro y Hodgson made nine changes to his team with one eye on Thursday’s Europe League semi-final second leg clash against Hamburg. —AFP

EPL results/standings Aston Villa 1 (Milner 83-pen) Birmingham 0; B u r n l e y 0 L i v e r p o o l 4 ( G e r r a rd 5 2 , 5 9 , Rodriguez 74, Babel 90); Chelsea 7 (Kalou 24, 31, 68, L ampard 44-pen, 81, Sturridge 87, Malouda 89) Stoke 0; Everton 2 (Smalling 49og, Arteta 90-pen) Fulham 1 (Nevland 36)

Played Saturday Arsenal 0 Man City 0; Bolton 2 (Klasnic 26, Davies 28) Portsmouth 2 (Dindane 54, 68) Hull 0 Sunderland 1 (Bent 7); Man Utd 3 (Giggs 58-pen, 86-pen, Nani 81) Tottenham 1 (King 70); West Ham 3 (Ilan 31, Kovac 45, Parker 77) Wigan 2 (Spector 4-og, Rodallega 52); Wolves 1 (Ebanks-Blake 81) Blackburn 1 (Nelsen 28)

English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

Sunderland 36 11 11 Blackburn 36 11 11 Fulham 35 11 10 Stoke 35 10 13 Bolton 36 9 9 Wolverhampton 36 8 11 Wigan 36 9 8 West Ham 36 8 10 Hull 36 6 10 Burnley 36 7 6 Portsmouth 36 6 7 Note: Portsmouth deducted 9 administration

Chelsea Man Utd Arsenal Tottenham Aston Villa Man City Liverpool Everton Birmingham

36 36 36 35 36 35 36 36 36

25 25 22 19 17 17 18 15 12

5 4 6 7 13 12 8 12 11

6 7 8 9 6 6 10 9 13

93 81 78 63 51 69 61 59 35

32 28 39 37 35 42 33 49 44

80 79 72 64 64 63 62 57 47

14 47 14 38 14 36 12 33 18 40 17 29 19 35 18 44 20 32 23 37 23 31 points for

53 44 54 44 39 43 44 43 65 36 52 35 69 35 62 34 73 28 78 27 64 1 6 entering

Gulf Bank reports operating profit of KD 44.3m for Q1

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Oman Air adds Al Ain to its expanding network

US Senate panel releases Goldman Sachs emails

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Monday, April 26, 2010

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WB agrees on power shift to emerging nations Developing countries to demand bigger say at World Bank WASHINGTON: US Treasur y Secretary Timothy Geithner yesterday said that World Bank members had agreed to give emerging nations more say in how the bank is run and how its funds are disbursed.

“The new formula will better reflect the weight of the developing and transition countries in the global economy, while protecting the voice of the smallest and poorest countries,” he said.

Geithner added that Washington would not seek an increased share in the bank’s new governance structure as a sign of support for the shift in influence to developing countries.

“Because we believe this overall outcome merits our strong endorsement, the United States agreed not to take up its full shareholding in this new arrangement,” his statement said.

Japanese deputy finance minister Rintaro Tamaki said in his own statement that “as a result of the voice reform this time, Japan will shoulder a burden of the largest reduction in the voting share, in order to contribute to realizing a shift of the voting share to the developing and transition countries.”

Tamaki added that “it is the first time for Japan to have our voting share reduced since we

joined the Bank in 1952.”

World Bank president Robert Zoellick had forecast earlier that the bank’s spring meeting on Sunday would represent a turning point after “2009 saw the end of what was known as the Third World.”

“Economic and political tectonic plates are shifting,” he noted, and added: “We can shif t with them.”

Raising money for global aid and giving emerging countries more say in how it is distributed were core World Bank issues to be mulled yesterday at a meeting in Washington.

Bank president Robert Zoellick has said its 186 shareholders will be asked to approve a “once-in-ageneration request” to raise the bank’s capital by five billion dollars, more than half of which would come from developing countries. The bank also planned to “decide on whether to give developing countries a bigger say in the running of the institution,” he said ahead of the meeting, as the iconic world body reflected a shift in influence away from traditional global powers.

Emerging countries now have 44 percent of voting rights in bank decisions following a first phase of reforms in 2008, Zoellick noted. He said early this month

that with the bank’s first capital increase in more than 20 years, “shareholders face a decision to strengthen the Bank Group, or allow it to wane in influence, losing an effective multilateral institution and leaving it poorly resourced to cope with whatever comes next.”

The capital hike is aimed at covering some of the more than $100 billion in bank commitments made since July 2008 for loans, subsidies, financial sector investments and guarantees for private projects.

A similar shift in influence is being seen at the International Monetary Fund, which held its own meeting Saturday, even though the IMF was criticized for lacking ambition by a key emerging country, Brazil.

Changes at the IMF would essentially benefit China at the expense of European Union member countries which now have a strong voice on the Fund’s executive board.

IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a press conference on Saturday he believed “the political will was strong” to address “a long list of questions,” including the board’s size and who would fill the post he currently holds. — AFP

WASHINGTON: Youssef Boutros-Ghali, Chairman of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, right, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn (center) and IMF First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky appear at a press conference at the end of the second day of the G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank at the World Bank headquarters in Washington.—AP

Weekly Commodity Update

UAE banks likely to take Dubai World hit in Q2

Full steam ahead!

Sheikh Ahmed says debt proposal largely well received

By Alan Plaugmann he past weeks trading in energies have shown no major gains, nor losses, but much of the general market action leaves us with some interesting observations for the future market direction.

In a week where financials dominated the headlines in the equity markets, it has been ver y interesting to observe what price dynamics could be seen in commodities, in general. As the story surrounding Goldman Sachs and the SEC fraud case unraveled, there was a clear kneejerk reaction in markets with a flight to quality. Gold and Crude Oil were both immediately offered, as the market moved towards risk reduction.

However as the market shrugged off any residual market concern, buyers returned into commodities and erased any losses.

The US dollar is very close to levels not seen for over one year now, too.

Many investors like to watch the US dollar and use it to gauge the value of Crude and Gold as an investment, and they would also have been slightly surprised, as both found strength concurrently.

In my scribbles last week, I also saw little strength to underpin Crude trading as the freight markets seems to be in a lull, with little sign other than moderate physical trading. There again, there are signs of movement as we are beginning to see more activity surrounding key routes in energy trading. The demand growth is especially driven strong growth in China and Japan, which has shown specific interest.

The signs of demand growth should also begin to eat its way through the supply overhang that we are currently looking at. Inventories are far above cyclical averages at present, however have not appeared to give rise to any concern for positive price development.

All in all, it would appear that the market has tried to throw most everything it has against crude oil; however, we are still seeing strong support.

And with some of the main drivers in the market turning positive, we have to believe that a further extension of the longer term bull rally is looming.

The market technical’s show signs for renewed strength as well. Last week we indicated that there was technical support in the market at $80.70. Crude oil firmly rejected this level as it also tested the 50 day moving average.

The moving average has been a good indication for the current market trend, for some time and is showing no indications that is about to break. We see this acting as major support for the foreseeable future and a break of the level as being a major trend reversal.

Short term though, $83.25 is the support level to watch as we set up for a further rally towards the recent daily highs at $87.10.

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DUBAI: United Arab Emirates banks are likely to face the brunt of the Dubai World restructuring impact in the second quarter after the central bank told lenders they are not required to book provisions until there is more clarity.

In a circular dated April 22, the central bank told local banks they “are not required to provision their related exposure to Dubai World”. It said it would “provide further guidance to banks concerning the treatment of Dubai World debt in their books”.

Banks in the United Arab Emirates have an estimated

exposure worth of $15 billion to Dubai World, the state conglomerate that is holding debt talks with its nearly 100 creditors.

The central bank’s circular allows domestic banks to avoid taking a full hit related to Dubai World in the first quarter, analysts said. “Once the banks accept the (Dubai World) proposal they will have to announce the accounting impact,” said Deepak Tolani, a banking analyst at Al Mal Capital.

“It (Q2 headlines) could be negative,” he said. Some banks, have indicated they already started booking provi-

sions against Dubai World debt despite the central bank circular.

“Irrespective of what the central bank said in its circular on Thursday, the bank is taking provisions in first quarter,” said an official from an Abu Dhabi-based bank with exposure to Dubai World, who asked not to be identified.

“Under the restructuring, the bank is losing substantially on interest and that is what we are providing for,” the official said. An executive at another UAE bank said: “We are booking some provisions generally but nothing specific to Dubai World in line with the

central bank order. We will wait for further directions from the Central Bank.”

Dubai World recently offered creditors a 1 percent interest rate on two new tranches of debt as part of its restructuring plan, but it was rejected as too low.

Lenders are pushing for a better rate in order to limit the impact on their books.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed AlMaktoum, the chairman of the Supreme Fiscal Committee of Dubai, said in a television interview yesterday the proposal has been well received but still needs time to be finalized.

Emirati banks have already kicked off the first-quarter earnings season. Until last week the lenders, their auditors and the central bank have been holding discussions on when to book provisions against their Dubai World exposure, one banker familiar with the situation said.

“The question was whether to account immediately for Dubai World, based on assumptions as the final outcome of the negotiations isn’t clear yet, or wait until the next quarter when precise figures are available,” the banker said.

First Gulf Bank, the UAE’s

second-largest bank by market value, said on April 21 first-quarter net profit rose 23 percent, ahead of analysts’ forecasts.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank said on April 19 it may need to book further credit impairments in 2010, after posting a 9.3 percent rise in first-quarter net profit.

Emirates NBD and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, two of the local banks believe to be most exposed to Dubai World, are expected to post a 51 percent and 23.7 percent fall in first-quarter net profits respectively in coming weeks. —Reuters

Kuwaiti asset sales could be M&A opportunity Gulf Islamic banks eye conversion of conventional peers MANAMA/DUBAI: More banks in the Gulf Arab region may convert to Islamic finance in a bid to tap rising demand for sharia-compliant products and to avoid the heavy investment required to launch new banks.

A source told Reuters this month that Qatari investors are planning to buy a 25 percent stake in Ahli United Bank from Kuwaiti investors and have plans to convert Bahrain’s largest retail bank, which itself plans to take its Kuwaiti unit Islamic.

“Converting to Islamic is compelling in the region. In Kuwait Islamic banks have rapidly won market share from conventional ones,” said Sayd Farook, senior consultant at Dar Al Istithmar.

Converting conventional banks would help the industry expand its retail footprint—for instance in countries where no new licenses are given out but conversions are allowed — which experts say the industry needs to develop a more sustainable business model.

The Islamic banking industry in the Gulf Arab region has mostly relied on channelling the region’s oil wealth into real estate and private equity, and was badly hit by a regional property correction late in 2008.

“I would say between 70 to 80 pct of the Muslim market (in the region) would bank with an Islamic

bank....if you are an Islamic bank you get to capture that market,” said Sameer Abdi, head of Islamic finance at Ernst & Young. Scholars have said they do not oppose converting conventional banks as long as their investments and debt levels are brought in line with sharia, which bans investments in certain sectors such as alcohol, over a grace period.

“There is usually a two-year conversion gap from the moment you convert....during which you need to give away to charity any income from conventional instruments,” said Farook.

Experts say that converting a bank comes cheaper than launching a green-field retail bank, but costs associated with revamping the bank’s work-flow, accounting and core banking IT systems are still high. “Depending on the scale of the bank and the market in which it operates, it could take two or three years before the investment pays off,” said Hatim El Tahir, a Bahrainbased director at Deloitte & Touche.

Abdi said he estimated that up to 15 percent of existing customers could leave a converted bank, not necessarily because they disapprove of the switch to sharia, but because the bank might struggle to maintain its service level during a difficult transition period.

Bahrain’s Al Salam Bank is converting Bahraini Saudi Bank, which it bought last year, as is Egypt’s National Bank for Development after Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank partially bought the lender in 2007.

But the Gulf Arab region is rarely seeing mergers and acquisitions due to cultural sensitivities and opaque ownership structures, which could be the biggest obstacle to the conversion of conventional assets.

Bahrain’s Ithmaar Bank this month concluded the transformation from an investment house to an Islamic retail bank to improve its funding base, but could do so because it fully owned Islamic retail bank Shamil. But Kuwaiti banks and merchant families have been badly hit by the financial crisis and are trying to sell down their international assets, which could be a way in.

Their ownership in many banks in the off-shore banking centre Bahrain, both Islamic and conventional, could migrate to Qatari investors and banks that are awash with cash, bankers and analysts say.

“Qatar is a small economy...the bigger banks are looking at other markets,” said Janany Vamadeva, banking analyst at HC Brokerage, adding that Qatari companies would also be best positioned to raise money in current capital markets. — Reuters

KARACHI: A Pakistani vendor sells decorative butterflies by a roadside in Karachi yesterday. Raising money for global aid and giving emerging countries more say in how it is distributed are core World Bank issues to be mulled at a meeting in Washington.—AFP

IMF ‘confident’ of timely Greek finance agreement WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund will reach an agreement with Greece before Athens is forced to borrow billions to cover its budget, IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said yesterday.

“The IMF, the European partners, and everyone involved in the financing effort recognizes the need for speed. I am confident that we will conclude discussions in time to meet Greece’s needs,” StraussKahn said in a statement after meeting here with Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou. The country has overall public debt of about 300 billion euros ($400 billion) and the return it must pay to secure new loans has skyrocketed in recent weeks

as investors feared Greece may be heading for a default. The rate on benchmark Greek 10-year bonds has risen on private capital markets from around five percent last year to over eight percent this week.

Athens must normally go back to markets for billions in new loans by mid May. But Germany, which would likely be the biggest European contributor to a Greek bail-out, might still refuse to pony up, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said yesterday in an interview. “The fact that neither the European Union nor the German government has taken a decision means: it could be positive or negative,” he told the mass-selling Bild am Sonntag newspaper. — AFP

BUSINESS

22

Monday, April 26, 2010

Capital ratio increases to 17.4%

Gulf Bank reports operating profit of KD 44.3m for Q1 KUWAIT: Gulf Bank posted an operating profit of KD 44.3 million for the first quarter of 2010, compared to KD 15.6 million for the corresponding period of 2009, achieving a growth rate of nearly 280%. The first quarter results included an exceptional gain of KD 14 million on the sale of an investment portfolio.

Commenting on the positive results, Ali Al-Rashaid Al-Bader, Chairman - Gulf Bank, said: “In view of the fact that the Kuwaiti economy is still in the primary stages of recovery from the consequences of the global financial and economic crisis, the Bank had to cope with the market conditions through continuing to implement precautionary plans to meet the technical provisioning requirements.

This necessitated setting aside the bulk of the operating profit of KD 44.3 million for 2010 Q1, and adding this amount to the provisions made to offset the risks of certain existing credit facilities.

As a result, net profit declared for the 2010 Q1 amounted to KD 524,000. Provisions enhancement and improvements in collateral led to

Gulf Bank Chairman Ali AlRashaid Al-Bader

improving the capital adequacy ratio of the Bank from 15.9% as at December 31, 2009, to 17.4% as at March 31, 2010”.

“The reported net profit serves as a good indicator of the continuity of the Bank’s recovery and the shift to the stage of its adequate profitability.

The net profit reflects the Bank’s restoration of its prominent position as a leading Kuwaiti financial institution, which is properly prepared for sustainable future growth and success” adds Al-Bader.

“The results were driven by a set of positive factors that contributed to the Bank’s acceptable performance during 2010 Q1.

These include the great efforts exerted by the Bank towards improving the credit and investment portfolios profile; the general improvement

in the local and regional economic activity; and the adherence to the Bank’s conservative strategy by focusing on the core banking business which responds to the requirements of the various customer segments.”

Al-Bader continued: “Gulf Bank’s profits mirror the management and employees’ relentless efforts in achieving the strategic objectives of the Bank for the coming three years, and which execution has commenced through implementing the action plan for 2010.”

“Gulf Bank maintains an optimistic outlook for the coming period, with the anticipated improvement in the general economic conditions of the country, and the expected execution of the several vital projects provided for in the new development plan,” AlBader concluded.

VIVA Kuwait participates Emirates to expand fleet, sees orders in i-VAS Conference KUWAIT: Marketing Core Service Manager Abdullah Al Harbi, represented VIVA Kuwait as a keynote speaker during the second annual iVAS Conference and Exhibition, held in Kuwait.

The i-VAS Conference attracted regional and global telecommunications operators.

Al - Harbi was part of a panel on Mobile Number Portability (MNP), which discussed numerous issues such as the relevance of the portability service, the technical and commercial challenges in implementing it, and the key benefit MNP offers to customers when they are given the opportunity to change from one network operator to another without the need to change their existing telephone number.

“MNP is all about customer choice” said Abdullah Al Harbi “and the main beneficiary is the customer”.

The panel also deliberated on the cooperation between the operators in Kuwait developing common policies and processes for Mobile Number Portability, as well as the importance of taking the customer approach ensuring it is easy and fast for customers to move their numbers to another network operator.

When asked whether the Industry was forced to implement MNP by the Ministry of Communication, Abdullah Al Harbi said, “We are grateful to the Ministry of Communication for its ongoing

this year: CEO

support, and for providing the facilities to enable us to launch this service; there is every likelihood that we can introduce MNP to our customers soon , but this is contingent on the co-operation of all operators in Kuwait,” Al -Harbi added.

The event brought together top level industry experts from all layers of the VAS industry., and provided a forum for attendees to discuss

the latest commercial and technical trends in telecommunications value added services, and better understand how to address the missing links on MNP implementation.

By participating in such conferences VIVA Kuwait is focusing on taking a leadership position in the field enabling us to provide the best service to our customers, in line with our overall strategy.

DUBAI: Dubai governmentowned carrier Emirates plans to expand its fleet and may announce more aircraft orders later this year, its chairman said yesterday.

“I’m sure you’ll be hearing more announcements during this year on maybe more aircraft to come to Emirates, or signing new aircraft to be bought by Emirates,” Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said in an interview with Dubai One television. Sheikh Ahmed also said the carrier was ready to launch an initial public offering whenever the Dubai government gave it the green light.

The Arab world’s biggest carrier said last week it was losing $10 million per day due to flight disruptions caused by ash from an Icelandic volcano.

Sheikh Ahmed said Emirates should make up the loss incurred. Emirates, whose fiscal year ends March 31, is expected to report fullyear results in the first week of May. The airline’s chairman said Emirates’ result last year “was very excellent.” He did not elaborate. “Our reserve cash flow is excellent, so I don’t see any problem within Emirates and the Emirates Group in total.”

The airline’s revenues fell 13.5 percent in the first half of 2009 on lower passenger and cargo yields.

However, net profit jumped 165 percent in the period ending Sept 30 to 752

million dirhams ($204.7 million). Emirates, the largest customer for the Airbus A380 superjumbo, expects to take delivery of 11 aircraft in 2010.

Sheikh Ahmed reiterated that funding the carrier’s aircraft purchases was not an issue.

One of Dubai’s prize assets, Emirates in December raised $1.13 billion from Citibank, backed by a guarantee from the European Export Credit Agencies, and a second loan from Doric Asset to finance six aircraft.

The chairman told the channel that he saw realistic fuel prices of up to $90 a barrel.

“The airline will always see the reasonable price should be between $80-90,” he said.

Emirates has grown to be the world’s 10th-largest airline by scheduled passenger-kilometers flown, according to IATA. Excluding domestic flights, it is the world’s fourth-largest airline.

The airline’s chairman said in November, discussions were ongoing with Boeing and Airbus for new plane orders which could number in the “tens of planes”. The airline already has orders worth $55 billion with the two manufacturers.

The carrier, which started in 1985 with two planes, has grown to rival airlines such as Qantas Airways and Singapore Airlines for passenger traffic between Europe and East Asia. — Reuters

Canon reveals new products he Nasser Mohammad Al-Sayer, the exclusive official sponsor of the Canon products in Kuwait, recently held dinner parties on April 19 and 20 at the Crown Plaza Hotel - Farwaniya, in which a demonstration was made in regards to the future plans of the company, while customers were given the chance to review the company’s latest technology in photography.

The event was attended by regional directors for the Canon company. During the first day of the event, Mr. Sidney Pereira,

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the press products manager for the Middle East, gave a demonstration for a number of newly introduced scanners and multitask copying machines. He also acknowledged the role played

by Al-Sayer company in expanding the number of customers for Canon products.

In the second day, Myung Naier, the video camera produces manager for the Middle East, showcased the latest technology reached by the company in this field, which distinguishes the Canon cameras from all of its competitors. In addition, Naier acknowledged the role of

Al-Sayer company which helped increase he sale rates for Canon cameras in the country significantly in recent years.

At the end of the event, Nabeel Eskandarani, the CEO of Al-Sayer Co, indicated that they continue to be committed to providing the best service to its customers, urging them at the same time to refrain from purchasing Canon products from dealers other than the exclusive sponsor and that in order to make use of the after-sale and maintenance services provided

by Al-Sayer for their sponsored merchandise.

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2830000 .4380000 .385000 .2680000 .2810000 .2640000 .0045000 .0020000 .0779910 .7598420 .4020000 .0750000 .7448930 .0045000 .0500000

.2930000 .4460000 .3920000 .2770000 .2890000 .2720000 .0075000 .0035000 .0787750 .7674790 .4170000 .0790000 .7523790 .0072000 .0580000

US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2873000 .4402660 .3872940 .2700910 .2835820 .0520390 .0400400 .2667140 .0370090 .2088690 .0031010 .0064550 .0025310 .0034300 .0041940 .0782600 .7624540 .4063200 .0766520 .7466070 .0065140

.2894000 .4433760 .3900290 .2720040 .2855900 .0524070 .0403230 .2685970 .0372710 .2103490 .0031230 .0065010 .0025490 .0034540 .0042230 .0787590 .7673160 .4091980 .0771410 .7513680 .0065600

US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals

TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2894000 .4433760 .2720040 .0771410

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES 3.108 6.516

Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound Yemen Riyal Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

3.431 2.531 4.079 211.300 37.242 4.171 6.515 8.983 0.301 0.292 GCC COUNTRIES 77.110 79.440 751.140 767.900 78.742 ARAB COUNTRIES 54.500 52.160 1.284 205.330 408.300 194.000 6.300 35.244

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 289.000 Euro 390.440 Sterling Pound 448.240 Canadian dollar 292.510 Turkish lire 195.500 Swiss Franc 272.640 Australian dollar 267.800 US Dollar Buying 287.500 GOLD 225.000 115.000 59.500

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

SELL CASH 272.000 768.390 4.430 291.900 567.400 15.800 52.300 167.800 54.390 390.500

37.910 6.770 0.035 0.294 0.255 3.190 410.150 0.195 91.700 47.200 4.260 211.400 2.183 49.800 750.560 3.520 6.700 79.910 77.150 211.610 41.260 2.738 448.800 40.800 273.000 6.400 9.310 217.900 78.840 289.300 1.330

10 Tola

GOLD 1,250.240

Sterling Pound US Dollar

37.760 6.495

408.420 0.194 91.700 4.080 209.900

SELL DRAFT 270.500 768.390 4.170 290.400

211.600 52.195 389.000

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Cyprus Pound Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees

Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.

271.500 9.160 78.740 288.900

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Nepali rupee Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Candaian Dollars

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 446.800 288.900

288.850 290.428 444.925 388.697 268.983 707.989 764.553 78.622 79.319 76.995 407.606 52.163 6.514 3.446

2.527 4.177 6.500 3.073 8.950 6.301 4.052

Currency 750.380 3.450 6.515 79.480 77.150 211.610 41.260 2.534 446.800

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash

Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

288.050 3.450 6.500 2.540 4.170 6.540 78.760 77.250 768.000 52.175 450.000 0.000032300 4.100 1.550 410.300 5.750 392.000 296.500

Al Mulla Exchange Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

Transfer rate 288.600 387.800 446.000 290.100 3.100 6.500 52.150 2.532 4.170 6.510 3.443 767.000 78.620 77.090

business

Monday, April 26, 2010

Oman Air adds Al Ain to its expanding network MUSCAT: Oman Air, the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman will launch on May 3 its services between Muscat, capital of the Sultanate of Oman, and Al Ain, in the UAE. The carrier offers passengers daily flights between Al Ain and Muscat.

With the introduction of Al Ain, Oman Air marks its 35th destination worldwide and the fourth in the United Arab Emirates, the other three being Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah.

Peter Hill Oman Air’s Chief Executive Officer says: “Al Ain, referred as the fourth largest city in the United Arab Emirates is also called the ‘Garden City of the Gulf’. With this addition to the Oman Air network, we are sure many new markets will open up. The daily flights of Oman Air between Muscat and Al Ain will give the residents of Al Ain an opportunity to try the services of Oman Air. Oman Air currently flies to 34 destinations with Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia joining the network from May 1st, and Ras Al Khaimah from May 2. Going forward Oman Air will commence flights to Lahore, Islamabad, Dar-Es-Salaam, and Kathmandu, in the summer schedule of 2010, and Milan will join the network in the Winter Schedule.”

Famous for its lush green landscapes and spacious urban design, Al Ain has 75 parks and

Al-Marzouq optimistic about 2010 after conversion

Ahli United Bank posts net profits of KD 6.2m for Q1 KUWAIT: Ahli United Bank, formerly BKME, continued to realize good profits during the first quarter of 2010, whereas the net profit realized for the period amounted to KD 6.2 million. Such profits were generated from operating income of KD 21.5 million from the Bank’s core business, in that the Bank succeeded to raise the financing income by 29.7%. The Bank made precautionary general and voluntary provisions and reserves amounting to KD 9.4 million, thereby indicating the Bank’s prudent policy in handling the local and world economic changes and its capability

gardens, the first of which was built in 1969. These offer a variety of outdoor attractions to the city’s residents and visitors.

The city also offers outdoor enthusiasts the chance to enjoy lush green wadis, camping and

offroad driving along mountain tracks. Al Ain has top class hotels with a full range of sporting and recreational facilities.

The new route will be operated by Oman Air’s ATR aircraft.

Oman International Bank Q1 profit falls 11.2% DUBAI: Oman International Bank, the sultanate’s fourth-largest bank by market value, yesterday said its first-quarter net profit fell 11.2 percent, hurt by higher loan loss provisions.

The bank reported a first-quarter net profit of 5.66 million rials ($14.70 million), compared with 6.37 million rials in the first quarter of 2009.

The result fell short of analysts’ average forecast of 6.02 million rials in a Reuters poll.

Provisions for loan losses in the first-quarter increased to 477,000 rials compared with 372,000 rials in the year-ago quarter.

Banks in Oman, as elsewhere in the Gulf region, in the past year have booked more provisions against bad debt, dampening profits and curtailing credit growth.

Overall, Omani lenders are considered to be well-capitalized and expected to benefit from the sultanate’s economic growth in 2010. The nonOPEC member still relies heavily on oil revenues, which account for a large chunk of the Gulf state’s gross domestic product.

Omani officials in March said the country expects to post a budget surplus in 2010 on the back of high oil prices, while economic growth is forecast to be around 6 percent. — Reuters

Oman inflation seen at up to 5% in 2010 MUSCAT: Inflation in Oman may reach 5 percent this year due to imported price pressures, while the Gulf oil exporter’s budget should not end in a deficit if oil prices remain high, officials said yesterday.

The global downturn slashed price growth across the Gulf last year from 2008 record peaks, with the United Arab Emirates and Oman booking deflation. Inflation should pick up speed again this year due to economic recovery.

“I see inflation in 2010 between 4 and 5 percent, because Oman is importing inflation being pegged to the dollar,” central bank Executive President Hamood Sangour Al-Zadjali told Reuters on the sidelines of a forum, reiterating his previous forecast.

Zadjali said last month accelerating inflation should not cause any difficulties to the sultanate, which lacks independent monetary policy due to its greenback link. Oman’s annual inflation maintained a modest upward trajectory to reach an eight-month high of 2 percent in February, but remained well below the June 2008 high of 13.7 percent.

Analysts polled by Reuters have forecast infla-

tion at 4.0 percent this year after 3.4 percent in 2009.

Zadjali also said that provisions of local banks regarding their exposure to debt-laden stateowned conglomerate Dubai World are adequate, but did not give details.

The banking sector in the neighboring UAE is heavily exposed to Dubai World, while regional impacts have been limited. Higher oil prices should help the non-OPEC oil producer to keep its 2010 budget at least balanced despite plans to spend about 1 billion rials ($2.60 billion) on infrastructure, the country’s economy minister said at the same event.

“I expect to wipe out (the 2010) budget deficit if the price of oil stays above $50 a barrel for the rest of the year,” Economy Minister Ahmad bin Abdul-Nabi Mekki told reporters.

Mekki said last month that Oman expected a surplus as oil prices were seen at $60-80 per barrel, above initial projections. Oman based its 2010 budget on a projected oil price of $50 a barrel and expected a deficit of 800 million rials. The benchmark US crude rose to $85.12 a barrel on Friday, its highest close since April 16. — Reuters

Hamad Almannai, Chairman

GBI’s

Executive

Vice

to surpass the economic fluctuations in safe pace, along with enhancement of its financial reserves withstand to the future fluctuations.

Commenting on the positive results realized by the Bank, the Chairman and Managing Director Hamad Abdulmohsen Al-Marzouq said that the first quarter results account for encouraging constructive outcome in light of the economic circumstances witnessed in the region, whereby the Bank realized these profits owing to its performance stability and adoption of the best growth strategies and risk management prac-

tices. These results also reflect the Bank’s capability to realize its objectives within adverse economic conditions.

Al-Marzouq said that the Bank at present witnesses a dynamic phase, specifically with the development and launching of innovative Islamic Sharia compliant products which the Bank offers to its customers.

Such products satisfy and meet the needs of present and potential customers who anticipated the launch of Al-Motahid into a bank which conducts its business in accordance with the Islamic Sharia, and this conversion will add safe investment

distinction to our customers, AlMarzouq added.

Al-Marzouq stressed that the customers’ confidence in the Bank has been reflected in the increase in deposits by 10.1%, thereby confirming that the Bank will remain the safe haven to its customers, to whom we always endeavor to render the best banking services tailored with their expectations, in that the Bank Management pays its customers the utmost concern and focus on all levels.

Al-Marzouq said that the successful performance of the Bank motivates us towards real-

izing further achievements by the expansion in offering innovated Islamic services and products aimed at upgrading the customer service standards, in the framework of integrated banking group that attains distinctive regional position.

Concluding his release, AlMarzouq said, “I am optimistic of the year 2010 following the successful conversion into Islamic banking and I am assured that our qualified personnel and long history in banking sector will make Ahli United Bank the safe banking haven for the satisfaction of customers’ aspirations”.

Tang Singles to stir up consumption with portable convenience for convenience, variety and excitement in the beverages they consume. Being a brand that already enjoys a strong GCC heritage and has established taste credentials, Tang Singles will now enable our consumers to enjoy the same great taste of Tang in a much simpler way”, said Najeeb Hasany, Marketing Director GCC at Kraft Foods.

Anytime, anywhere, and from the kitchen to the backyard, the portable and flexible convenience of the single serve sachets opens up many more occasions for consumers to enjoy a refreshing glass of Tang throughout the day.

A-sachet-a-glass also makes it possible to enjoy a range of flavors without wastage either. “One of the most consistent findings that emerged from our in depth consumer testing prior to launching was that the new format is flexible and convenient enough to enable multiple consumption occasions in and out of home. While in the past, Tang was typically served at home during lunch or dinner, the single serve format now creates alternative moments of consumption for Tang anytime of the day”, added Hasany.

DUBAI: Iconic powdered beverage, Tang, stirs up the fun with an exciting, single serve format that will put a smile in every household across the GCC. Convenient to handle, easy to prepare, Tang Singles is set to change the way that consumers can enjoy this historical brand in GCC whenever and wherever the thirst strikes! It comes in the alltime popular variants of orange, mango and tropical, which makes it easier for consumers to enjoy a range of Tang flavors on a single occasion.

Conveniently packaged, each sachet of Tang Singles makes up one perfect glass that tastes as great and consistent as always down to the last drop. Preparing a glass of Tang is now simpler and more straightforward all it requires is.. picking a flavor.. mixing in it with water.. and stirring.

Light, hassle-free and simple to manage, Tang Singles makes it easy for children to serve themselves and enjoy the experience without the unnecessary spillage!

“Tang Singles will transform the powdered beverage market, which was rife for innovation. The new format is modern and relevant for today’s consumers who look

Oman’s economic forum to discuss 5-year plan MUSCAT: The second Omani Economic Forum kicked off yesterday under the patronage of the Minister of National Economy and Deputy Chairman of the Financial Affairs and Energy Resources, Ahmed Bin Abdulnabi Macki.

This year’s Oman Economic Forum is organized by AlIktissad Wal-Aamal Group and The Ministry of Trade and Industry in cooperation with the Capital Market Authority and the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Forum will focus on all aspects of Oman’s economic

TIC of Iran, GBI agree to submarine cable in Iran DOHA: Gulf Bridge International (GBI), the newly established submarine cable operator in the region, and TIC in the Islamic Republic of Iran, have agreed to land GBI’s submarine telecom cable in Iran and signed the Landing Party Agreement on 21st of April 2010.

GBI’s plan to land its telecom submarine cable in Iran aligns with the strategic plans of TIC of Iran.

In addition, this agreement will facilitate onward connectivity to many central Asian countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azarbaijan, Armenia and Turkey.

The Gulf Bridge International Cable Network is planned to connect Iran with the Gulf region and the rest of the world, via a reliable, high capacity submarine fiber optic cable linking the region to India and the Far East via the East Route and to Europe via the West Route.

Commenting on the landing of GBI’s cable in Iran, Hamad

23

Almannai, GBI’s Executive Vice Chairman said “Landing our cable in Iran is part of GBI’s plan and full commitment toward connecting the Gulf to the whole world with a reliable cable infrastructure.

Commenting on the landing of GBICS with TIC in Iran, Mahmoud Khosravi, TIC Managing Director and member of the Board said “TIC is happy to land GBICS in Iran which will be a great addition and expansion to Iran’s international connectivity”.

Designed to operate for 25 years and enter service during 2011, GBI’s cable will exploit the commercial opportunity provided by the increasing demand for reliable highspeed telecommunications capacity in the Gulf region.

In order to achieve this, GBI’s cable is designed to meet all current and anticipated future capacity demands across the Gulf Region, incorporating a design capacity of 5 Terabits per second on certain cable sections.

vision and the topics up for discussion include the government’s five-year economic plan, developing infrastructure, financing requirements and the role of banks and financial markets, and the future of the industrial sector.

Other topics include special economic zones in Oman, investment opportunities in the alternative and renewable energy sector, and regulations and incentives needed in this regard.

The first Oman Economic Forum was held in 2008 and brought together more than

600 participants from 17 Arab countries representing major banking and financial institutions, as well as companies active in industry, oil and gas, tourism and real estate sectors. The event proved a major boost to foreign investment in Oman.

In his opening speech, Macki said that the Omani economy managed to record positive growth in 2009 estimated at 3.7 percent despite the drop in oil prices. He attributed this result to policies aiming at diversifying the economy, and at promoting

investment, both domestic and foreign.

The Muscat Stock Exchange overcame the economic crisis as well, and the index wrapped 2009 up 17 percent compared with 2008. This was mainly due to the establishment of a fund to balance and support the capital market and to restore confidence in the investment climate.

The minister explained that the crisis had some advantages for the Sultanate, including the low inflation rate, especially in building materials. This brought down cost of

ongoing and new development projects, he noted.

The official pointed out the need to find mechanisms for rapid intervention to support the economy in future crises. “We are not immune to what happens elsewhere in the world ... We must be ready to react swiftly in case of a future crisis.”

The meetings are also expected to touch on the Sultanate’s state of affairs in terms of its water and energy needs, the investment climate in general, and food security. —KUNA

United Towers braces to open by middle of year

By Rawan Khalid KUWAIT: United Towers Holding Company held its annual general Assembly meeting at Al-Shaheed Tower yesterday morning.

Addressing the shareholders, Ahmed Al-Sameet, Head of Board of United Towers said, ‘Now we have reached the 54th floor.

And it is expected to be completed by the end of July 2010. We are doing our best to open the Tower officially in the middle of the year 2010,’ he stated. ‘Also we are going to launch a new marketing campaign to generate awareness about the tower and to attract more tenants.

The assets of the company reached KD 90.13 million in comparison with KD 70.26 million in 2008.

The total of shareholders’ equity reached KD 57.42 million in comparison with KD 54.04 million of 2008,’ Al-Sameet added. Al-Sameet also stated that the total expenditure of the company during 2009 stood at KD 740,436. The net profit of the company reached KD3.36 million in 2009 while it was KD 1.4 million in 2008, he added.

KUWAIT: Ahmed Al-Sameet addressing the press conference.

—Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

BUSINESS

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KSE equities close mixed GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT

Emaar rallies on Q1; markets up on outlook MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS

KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended the first trading session on a mixed note as the KSE Price Index dropped, while the Global General Index (GGI) gained. It is worth mentioning that Agility and Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company had ended in the green yesterday after a series of setbacks during the last several trading sessions.

GGI added 0.02 points (+ 0.01 percent) during the session to reach 206.06 points.

However, the KSE Price Index decreased by 3.60 points yesterday and closed at 7,251.20 points. Market capitalization was up KD2.59mn yesterday to reach KD34.01 bn.

Ma rket breadth During the session, 132 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards decliners as 50 equities retreated versus 40 that advanced. A total of 121 stocks remained unchanged during the trading session.

Trading activities ended on a negative note yesterday as volume of shares traded on the exchange decreased by 14.33 percent to reach 219.28mn shares. Furthermore, value of shares traded dropped by 4.14 percent to stand at KD53.14mn.

The Services Sector was both the volume and value leader yesterday, accounting for 35.76 percent of total traded volume and 46.23 percent of total market value. Jazeera Airways Company was the volume leader yesterday, with a total traded volume of 23.74mn.

Agility was the value leader with a total value of KD6.97mn.

In terms of top gainers, National Cleaning Company

Monday, April 26, 2010

took the top spot for the day, adding 8.62 percent and closed at KD0.315. On the other hand, United Industries Company shed 8.77 percent and closed at KD0.104, making it the biggest decliner in the market.

Sector wise Regarding Global’s sectoral indices, they ended the day on a mixed note with Global Insurance Index being the top gainer.

The index ended the day with a gain of 0.68 percent backed by Warba Insurance Company and Kuwait Insurance

Company, the only gainers in the sector, ending the day up 3.26 percent and 1.59 percent, respectively. Global Industrial Index was the second biggest gainer for yesterday.

The index added 0.43 percent to its value backed by Kuwait Metal Pipe Industries & Oil Services ending the day with a gain of 5.48 percent and closed at KD0.385. Further aiding the index’s gain was Kuwait Cement Company which posted a 1.41 percent increase in value to close at KD0.720.

In terms of decliners, Global Non-Kuwaiti Index took the

lead with a drop of 0.66 percent backed by Sharjah Cement & Industrial Development Company and Ahli United Bank ending the day down 1.69 percent and 2.80 percent, respectively.

Global special indices also ended on a mixed note, with Global Large Cap Index and Global High Yield Index being the top gainers, both up 0.06 percent.

Global Large Cap Index was aided by Agility ending the day up 5.36 percent and Global High Yield was aided by Kuwait Projects Company (Holding)

ending the day up 1.18 percent.

Oil news The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $82.36 a barrel on Thursday, compared with $82.01 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

Gulf Bank, posted a net profit of KD0.52mn during the 1Q2010 compared with a net profit of KD1.59mn in the 1Q-2009, a 67.11 percent drop. Total assets dropped by 15.59 percent in the 1Q-2010 to reach KD4.52bn compared with KD5.13bn in the 1Q-2009.

DUBAI: Emaar Properties advanced yesterday after the developer’s first-quarter profit more than tripled, helping Dubai’s index end higher for a second session.

Most Middle East markets rose, bolstered by end-of-week gains on oil and global equity markets as an improved economic outlook lifted expectations for energy demand. Emaar climbed 2.5 percent, having been up as much as 5.3 percent intraday. Its quarterly profit jumped 221 percent, beating estimates.

“Emaar’s results are positive for UAE property stocks, but they do not reflect what other real estate earnings are likely to be,” said Shawkat Raslan, Prime Emirates head of sales.

Emaar’s earnings beat forecasts on higherthan-expected returns on its malls and hotels business, Credit Suisse wrote in a research note, while Shuaa Capital said Emaar was its top UAE property pick because of its recurring cash flows, geographically diverse projects and relatively low leverage.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) added 0.5 percent and Dubai Islamic Bank rose 1.3 percent after the UAE central bank said lenders did not yet have to take provisions for exposure to indebted Dubai World.

“The central bank statement was positive for banks, and will give them time to negotiate the interest on the Dubai World restructured loans till end of the second quarter,” said Mohammed Yasin, Shuaa Securities chief executive. Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (Taqa) and Dana Gas climbed 1.6 and 1.1 percent respectively.

“Service sector stocks like Dana and Taqa are likely to provide sustainable revenues and so are likely to lead gains,” said Samer AlJaouni, general manager of Middle East Financial Brokerage Co. “Abu Dhabi fundamentals are stronger than Dubai, but Dubai has had more news flow recently, so investors are focusing there.”

Al-Rajhi Bank climbed 2.5 percent, bouncing back from last week’s earnings-driven drop, as traders bet a bullish economic outlook for Saudi Arabia will translate into improved bank performance. The kingdom’s index rose 0.5 percent to be within two points of April 11’s 18-month high.

“I see the Saudi market moving in one direction and that is up - Saudi Arabia does not have any significant debt, it has a large surplus and a substantial spending plan,” said Youssef Kassantini, an independent financial analyst.

“The regional geopolitical environment is pretty stable and perhaps the best place in the world to put your money right now is Saudi Arabia.”

Oman International Bank dipped 0.7 percent as its quarterly profit missed analysts’ forecasts.

“Although OIB has clean books, with very little provisions this quarter, its deposits and loan book fell, which is creating negative sentiment for the stock,” said Adel Nasr, United Securities brokerage manager.

“Investors are worried about the first-quarter results of KFH and also its exposure to other Kuwait listed companies,” said Naser Al-Nafisi, general manager for Al-Joman Center for Economic Consultancy in Kuwait, adding sentiment for Kuwait’s banking sector was negative.

“The index should trade sideways until the first-quarter results season is over,” said Nafisi.

HIGHLIGHTS DUBAI The index climbed 0.8 percent to 1,769 points.

KUWAIT The measure slipped 0.05 percent to 7,251 points.

QATAR The index rose 0.1 percent to 7,651 points.

ABU DHABI The measure climbed 0.2 percent to 2,822 points.

SAUDI ARABIA The index rose 0.5 percent to 6,893 points.

OMAN The index fell 0.5 percent to 6,815 points.

BAHRAIN The index rose 0.4 percent to 1,567 points.

—Reuters

business

Monday, April 26, 2010

25

Pressure mounts on Europe for swift Greek bailout WASHINGTON: Europe faced mounting pressure to quickly bail out debt-stricken Greece on Saturday amid fears the crisis could spread and threaten the global economic recovery.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner huddled with key officials from Greece, the IMF and European Union in Washington, a day after Athens asked for a massive bailout to stay afloat.

Focus quickly shifted to the speed of that rescue effort, as economic powers worried the crisis could spread to other euro-zone nations, with Portugal, Italy, Spain and Ireland all in the firing line.

The Treasury Department said Geithner pressed Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou

and EU officials to quickly implement fiscal reforms and roll out the bailout.

“Secretary Geithner encouraged them to move quickly to put in place a package of strong reforms and substantial concrete financial support,” a statement said.

Greece on Friday ended weeks of speculation that had permeated the euro-zone by asking the EU and IMF for 45 billion euros to pay looming debts. But Germany, the euro-zone’s biggest member, has balked at the idea of a bailout without substantial budget cuts.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble said yesterday that the decision could go either way.

“The fact that neither the European Union nor the German government has taken a decision means

it could be positive or negative,” he told the mass-selling Bild am Sonntag newspaper. “It depends alone on whether Greece in the coming years continues along the saving course on which it has embarked. The Greek finance minister said that as well.”

German leaders, facing a key regional election in May, are under intense pressure to hold a hard line against Greece, with some members of the ruling conservative Christian Democrats bloc calling for Athens to be kicked out of the euro-zone.

Political pressure has also been heaped on the Greek government as it imposes tax increases and cuts public pay amid strikes and demonstrations.

The IMF is likely to ask for further austerity measures as a condition of

its part of the loan.

But time is running out for Greece, which must pay lenders $8.2 billion on May 19 or risk becoming the first euro-zone country to default on its debt.

Ending Saturday’s meeting of the IMF’s 186 members, managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn addressed the Greek public’s opposition to the bailout.

“Greek citizens shouldn’t fear the IMF. We are there to try to help them,” he said.

Strauss-Kahn had earlier promised that the Fund will “move expeditiously” in response to Greece’s appeal for help. The EU has said it sees no “obstacles” to Athens’ request to activate a three-year joint EU-IMF rescue, which would offer

interest rates of about 5.0 percent, far below the levels being demanded by private lenders.

Under a deal hammered out with EU leaders on April 11, the IMF would cover a third of the cost of the loan. EU economic and monetary affairs chief Olli Rehn said Friday that EU members had worked intensively on details of a Greek rescue package and “should be able to complete the work by early May.” The stability of the euro-which closed Friday up one US cent at $1.3384 in New York-is at stake as Greece wrestles with debt of around 300 billion euros. IMF finance ministers meeting in Washington for an annual spring meeting also discussed measures to help sustain the global economic recovery.

“Signs of a strengthening economic recovery are encouraging but many challenges remain that need to be tackled collaboratively,” IMF members said in a statement.

Divisions emerged over the creation of a worldwide tax on banks, aimed at clawing back the cost of bailing out financial institutions. The IMF had initially drawn up a proposal for two taxes-one to reimburse governments for the cost of bailing out banks hit by the crisis, and another to dissuade banks from taking excessive risks in the future.

It was met with a cool response in countries like Canada, Brazil and Japan, where the banking sector survived the global financial meltdown largely intact.

“The crisis didn’t start in our

country’s financial systems,” said Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega. Strauss-Kahn termed opposition to the measures as “a bit shortsighted,” and said the IMF would prepare a report on the policy for a meeting of G20 leaders in Toronto this June.

Brazil and other emerging nations also slammed the IMF for failing to give them more say in how the fund is run. Mantega said a failure to resolve the issue at Saturday’s meeting showed a “lack of ambition” and “resistance to change.”

Overhauling voting rights would essentially benefit China at the expense of European Union member countries which now have a strong voice on the Fund’s executive board. —AFP

‘A new Odyssey for Hellenism’

Aboard sinking ship, Greeks await EU-IMF loan lifeline

WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (left) meets with Greek Finance Minister Giorgos Papakonstantinou at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. —AFP

US shale gas thwarts Gazprom’s dream MOSCOW: It is the world’s largest gas firm, supplies one-quarter of Europe’s gas needs and is a pillar of the modern Russian state-so what could threaten energy giant Gazprom’s global ambitions?

The answer is to be found in the United States where mother nature and high technology mean that US natural gas output is soaring, undercutting what were once seen as core Russian gas markets.

New drilling methods that can tap hitherto inaccessible reserves in deep shale rock means US gas production overtook Russia’s for the first time in decades last year.

Russia’s natural resources minister admitted this week that shale gas could undercut his country’s premier position. “We have a problem with shale gas. This is not only my position but also that of Gazprom’s management,” Yuri Trutnev said.

It “raises the perspective of a change to the structure of the gas markets ... so we must begin to take account of this.” US drillers use hydraulic fracturing to break up deep, hard-packed rock to release the gas and have introduced more new technology to maximize returns, boosting output to the point where the US hardly needs gas imports.

In 2000, shale gas only represented 1.0 percent of US output, today it accounts for 20 percent and could surpass 50 percent by 2030, a study published by research firm IHS CERA found last month.

With the sudden boost in production, the United States has even re-routed shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the European market, depressing demand for Russian pipeline gas.

Increased gas flows from Norway and Algeria also mean more competition for Russian gas shipped to European countries. European states have been seeking to reduce their dependence on Russia after Moscow’s chronic delivery conflicts with Ukraine interrupted supplies on several occasions, most notably in the January 2009 gas crisis.

Gazprom has meanwhile pressed ahead with an expansion masterplan, undeterred by debt and slumping demand due to the global economic downturn last year.

But the new supply calls into question its investment plans, including in its flagship Shtokman project, officials and industry analysts say. Not only are reserves in North America now estimated at up to a 100 years, but energy giants such as ExxonMobil and Chevron are snapping up licenses to explore similar shale formations in Sweden, Poland, Germany and France.

“Poland has issued 56 drilling licenses for shale gas” for example, Mikhail Korchemkin, an analyst with East European Gas Analysis, told AFP. Discoveries of sizable gas deposits there could undercut Gazprom’s dominance in Central and Eastern Europe, he said. But other analysts caution that the shale gas industry is at an early stage.

It is at a “preliminary stage” and remains some 10 times more costly than natural gas production in Russia, said Valery Nesterov, an energy analyst at Troika Dialog brokerage.

The environmental costs of shale fracturing, particularly on underground water supplies, are also untested, he said. At the same time, it was long overdue for Gazprom to review its expansion plans, he added.

“Alarmist predictions are useful in sending a signal to Gazprom that it must change its approach and we know that Gazprom has already begun to think about it and make changes,” said.

In February, Russian media disclosed that Gazprom had been in negotiations with its main European clients, Italy’s Eni and Germany’s E.ON Ruhrgas who were seeking to cut their gas bills.

Gazprom has also delayed for three years the development of the giant Shtokman gas field in northern Russia, a project originally aimed at serving the United States and Canada.

Gazprom grew out of the former Soviet Union’s Gas Industry Ministry and was part-privatized from 1993. The state retains a controlling stake of 50 percent. —AFP

Senators: No deal yet on financial regulations WASHINGTON: The Senate’s key Republican negotiator on financial overhaul legislation said he’s not optimistic about getting a deal before a showdown vote yesterday.

Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby predicted yesterday that all 41 Republican senators will vote to delay the start of debate on the bill unless talks lead to an agreement.

Shelby is the top Republicans on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

The committee chair-

man, Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, said he hopes to get the necessary votes to move ahead today. But he acknowledged that Democrats may not be able to peel away any Republican senator. Dodd needs 60 votesóand there are 59 Democrats and Democraticallied independents. The Senate’s Republican leader said the financial overhaul bill isn’t ready for a full Senate debate, but he isn’t saying that Republicans have enough votes to prevent Democrats from begin-

ning debate on the bill.

McConnell said he thinks there’s a good chance Democrats and Republicans eventually will reach an agreement on the plan.

Republicans oppose some provisions of the measure, especially a multibillion-dollar bailout fund. Democrats say that proposal and other initiatives are aimed at preventing another financial meltdown.

Dodd and Shelby appeared on NBC television’s “Meet the Press.”

McConnell appeared on “Fox News Sunday.” —AP

ATHENS: Greece put itself and the EU in uncharted waters this week by becom- water as the Greek prime minister described the country as a “ship about to ing the first euro-zone country to ask for a loan lifeline involving the IMF as its sink.” “All of us ... inherited a ship that is about to sink,” Premier George economy risked running aground. Athens on Friday called on the EU and the IMF Papandreou told Greeks on Friday from the tiny Aegean island of Kastellorizo as to activate a rescue plan worth 45 billion euros ($60 billion) to keep its head above he lambasted his conservative predecessors for their handling of the economy.

“We are on a difficult course, a new Odyssey for Hellenism,” he said, referring to the Greek hero’s great voyage home from the Trojan War of antiquity.

The government said its hand was forced after the European Commission on Friday issued a sharp revision on its 2009 public deficit, followed by a new downgrade on its debt by ratings agency Moody’s, the latest in recent weeks.

“As the Greek saying goes, five in the hand is preferable to the hope of ten,” said political analyst George Sefertzis. “The IMF has been linked to antisocial policies (in return for aid) but ensuring that the country does not go bankrupt is a much better overall defense of the poorer classes,” he told AFP. As the Greek finance minister headed to Washington for a scheduled International Monetary Fund meeting and his staff brokered the emergency loan terms with a mission of EU, ECB and IMF officials in Athens, Greeks wondered where their future lay.

“This will change basic facts ATHENS: A man reads by the Athens academy. The Greek press appeared resigned to having recourse to EU about our quality of life,” said Vassilis Korkidis, head of the aid to dig the country out of its debt crisis, while fearing a bitter pill from the IMF. —AFP Greek traders confederation.

“Nobody can say what the final outcome of this choice will be,” he added.

The government on Friday federal government.

BERLIN: Finance Minister Wolfgang with its dire debt crisis. admitted that its efforts to win Any aid would also require the approval The EU said it did not see any “obstaSchaeuble underlined that Germany could over skeptical markets with refuse Greece’s plea for emergency loans cles” and would rapidly respond to the of parliament. But the issue was already tough crisis policies had failed to rescue it from a mountain of debt, in an request to activate a three-year debt rescue driving a fresh wedge through Merkel’s and that those very efforts worth up to about 45 billion euros ($60 bil- fractious centre-right coalition, with the interview published yesterday. risked being nullified by the “The fact that neither the European lion) in the first year at concessionary inter- pro-business Free Democrats skeptical additional cost of Greece’s Union nor the German government has est rates of about five percent. But German about any Greek bailout amid strong public steeply rising loan rates. The taken a decision means: it could be positive Chancellor Angela Merkel drew a line in opposition to aid for Athens. country has overall public debt The Christian Social Union, the or negative,” he told the mass-selling Bild the sand Friday, saying that aid to Greece of about 300 billion euros ($400 was not automatic and depended on a Bavarian sister party to Merkel’s conservaam Sonntag newspaper. billion) and the return it must “It depends alone on whether Greece demonstrable threat to euro-zone stability tive Christian Democratic Union, went furpay to secure new loans has skyin the coming years continues along the and Athens producing a credible austerity ther, calling for Greece to consider leaving rocketed in recent weeks as the euro-zone entirely. saving course on which it has embarked. plan. investors feared Greece may be And a group of euro-skeptic academics Germany, the biggest economic power The Greek finance minister said that as heading for a default. The rate well.” Greece appealed Friday for tens of in the 16-nation euro-zone, would likely be have pledged to challenge any German on Greek 10-year bonds-a billions of euros in unprecedented help asked to contribute around 8.4 billion euros state aid for Greece before the Federal benchmark instrument-has from the European Union and the to any rescue package, in the form of a loan Constitutional Court, the Welt am Sonntag risen from around five percent International Monetary Fund to grapple by the KfW public bank guaranteed by the newspaper reported. —AFP last year to over eight percent

Germany could say no to Greece aid: FM

this week.

“Today, the market situation threatens to undermine not only the sacrifices of the Greek people but also the normal progress of the economy,” Papandreou said. But after being hit with a barrage of spending cuts and tax hikes worth around 16 billion euros this year, many Greeksand especially labor unions-are saying enough is enough.

“The question is who will decide on policies and how?”

Korkidis said.

“Are we giving up central functions and responsibilities to a group a technocrats, and what repercussions will these decisions have on the social state?” he said.

So far the bulk of cuts have hit the Greek civil service, a haven of fiscal waste that successive governments had not dared to touch. A source of envy and resentment for many Greeks-particularly those not employed in it-it was padded for decades with political appointees and became a byword for sloth.

But while Greeks concede the end of the civil service bonanza was long overdue, there are fears that the EU and IMF will demand further austerity measures such as broader wage cuts that will plunge the country into a recession even deeper than the one it currently faces. —AFP

US Senate panel releases Goldman Sachs emails WASHINGTON: A US Senate investigative panel has released several emails that could prove embarrassing to Goldman Sachs as they suggest the Wall Street investment giant used the US sub-prime mortgage crisis to make tens of millions of dollars in profit.

The documents, made public on Saturday, do not provide proof that the investment bank broke the law, but they do show that its executives sought to make a killing on the crisis that erupted in 2007.

The revelations come at a bad time for Goldmans Sachs, which seeks to improve its image in the wake of fraud charges leveled against it by the federal government.

“Investment banks such as Goldman Sachs were not simply market-makers, they were self-interested promoters of risky and complicated financial schemes that helped trigger the crisis,” said Democratic Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

He said the bank had bundled toxic mortgages into complex financial instruments, got credit rating agencies to label them as AAA securities, and

NEW YORK: Financial professionals in the Goldman Sachs booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at midday watch President Obama give a speech about Wall Street financial reform in New York. —AFP then sold them to investors, magnifying and spreading risk throughout the financial system.

In addition, said the senator, the bank often betted against the instruments it sold and rolled in profits as a result. The 2009 Goldman Sachs annual

report stated that the firm “did not generate enormous net revenues by betting against residential related products,” Levin said, “These emails show that, in fact, Goldman made a lot of money by betting against the

mortgage market.” The four emails released by the subcommittee address practices involving residential mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), financial instruments that were key in the financial crisis. —AFP

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BUSINESS

Monday, April 26, 2010

A year on, fight against tax havens far from over PARIS: A year after leaders at a summit of the G20 nations declared an end to the era of bank secrecy, most of the countries targeted as tax havens have, one by one, been taken off the list of offenders. But for many critics, the banking world is still a long way from financial transparency.

“Not everything is perfect yet but there has been considerable progress,” said Francois D’Aubert, president of the working group set up by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

His group was given the task of evaluating “non-cooperative jurisdictions,” those reluctant to break traditions of bank secrecy when asked for information by other states about possible tax evaders.

On paper at least, the figures suggest there has been progress. Of the 42 territories originally listed as offenders in an OECD list released a year ago, only 17 remain, mostly small islands in the Caribbean or the Pacific.

The likes of Luxembourg, Monaco, Singapore and Switzerland have all been given a clean bill of health. What shortened the list of offenders was a series of agreements with the various countries on the exchange of tax information, agreements that were far more extensive than before, said D’Aubert.

For French President Nicolas Sarkozy, that was enough to do the job.

“There are no tax havens anymore,” he declared last September. But for many of the campaigning groups that follow the issue, he spoke to soon.

Rather than the OECD list, they prefer one compiled by the Tax Justice Network, a network of associations campaigning for greater transparency in international finance.

Their list still has 60 different territories operating as tax havens, including many of those given a clean bill of health by the international community over the last 12 months.

They include the City of London, the US state of Delaware and Hong

Kong. French campaigners, the Catholic Committee Against Hunger and for Development (CCFD), are skeptical of the “official version” as set out in the OECD list.

In a recent report, they calculated that the 17 countries still on the OECD list represent only 0.25 percent of the world market in offshore financial operations. The OECD criteria were far too lax, they argue. “What we have today are completely empty lists and the promised OECD evaluation will stretch as far as 2014,” said Jean Merckaert, who heads up the CCFD’s team investigating tax havens.

For Merckaert, the G20 committed a strategic mistake of focussing their effort on the actual territories, when in reality, physical locations count for little.

“What counts is to call for transparence from the users and the intermediaries” of the tax havens, he argued. Ronen Palan, Professor of International Political Economy at

Birmingham University, England, takes a similar view.

“Western governments have put the stress on tax evasion, to recover the tax receipts they are badly lacking and to fill their deficits,” he said. But the agreements the various countries signed to get themselves off the OECD list of offenders were far from being effective on that score and there has been no noticeable drop in tax evasion.

And to get a country to hand over information on an individual or company accused of fraud, you still have to first of all identify the target and justify the request, he added.

But the whole point of tax havens is that such information is not easy to obtain and that one does not really know what is going on. For Palan, the solution is to make the exchange of information automatic and for international regulation in this area to cover all countries.

D’Aubert has promised to look into NGOs’ findings. —AFP

Lagarde says ‘great strictness’ to accompany aid

Raymond W McDaniel Jr, Chairman and CEO of Moody’s, New York (right), passes Kathleen Corbet, Former President of Standard & Poor’s after they testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations on Capitol Hill in Washington.—AP

Euro-zone needs to be firm Thai political crisis with Greece debt: France PARIS: Helping Greece overcome its debt problems is necessary for euro zone stability but the bloc needs to be firmer with members if it wants to prevent future crises, French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde told a newspaper.

Greece yielded to overwhelming financial market pressure on Friday, appealing to its European partners and the International Monetary Fund for

emergency loans in the first financial rescue of a euro zone member. Asked by French paper Journal du Dimanche whether it was indulgent to support Greece rather than threaten to expel it from the euro zone, Lagarde said: “It’s a cocktail of indulgence and great strictness. We want to stabilize.

But that doesn’t prevent us from being firm, and we will need to watch the results very carefully,” she was quoted

as saying in the Sunday paper.

The French parliament will have to approve the rescue plan, and Lagarde said she hoped lawmakers would agree with her view that solidarity with a troubled partner did not mean being lax.

She said the euro-zone needed to be more rigorous in the future in reining in its less disciplined members. “With its incorrect data and unsuitable economic policies, Greece hasn’t honored its com-

mitments. We will need stricter control mechanisms to make sure we don’t fall into a bottomless pit. All that will be the mission of the European Commission and the IMF,” she said.

To make sure Greece reimburses its aid, the funds would be released gradually according to its needs, she added.

“In the case of default on repayment, we will immediately put the foot on the brake,” she said. — Reuters

Voters angry with bankers in British home of RBS EDINBURGH: As home to the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Edinburgh was stunned by its fall from grace in the credit crunch-and its voters are in no mood to forgive and forget at Britain’s general election. Scotland’s capital is Britain’s main financial services hub outside London and the sector is the city’s biggest employer after the state, but residents’ sense of pride in the success of its banks is now badly bruised.

Even Finance Minister Alistair Darling, who had a House of Commons majority of over 17,000 in his seat in the city at the last parliamentary polls in 2005, is now facing a battle to win again, albeit after a redrawing of boundaries. “People look up at the banks, they look at these buildings and have a wry smile at them thinking, you weren’t so great after all,” said Neil Nelson, 29.

“I do think maybe a little bit of a swing of power might help in a certain way-it might get some new faces in, some new ways of thinking that move away from the whole fat cat greediness of the banks”.

All three main parties include pledges to crack down on the activities of banks in their manifestos for the May 6 poll, when Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labor government looks likely to be voted out.

Banking in Edinburgh dates back to 1695, when the Bank of Scotland was founded, and the city is studded with historic stone buildings and modern glass-fronted offices which highlight this pedigree.

But RBS, Edinburgh’s third biggest employer, has been tainted by the excesses linked to the crisis, drawing criticism for paying bonuses to staff even though it is now 84 percent state-owned.

Last year, the Edinburgh home of ex-RBS boss Fred Goodwin, nicknamed “Fred The Shred”, was targeted by vandals who smashed windows and damaged his Mercedes car amid a row over the size of his pension.

Edinburgh’s other main bank, the Bank of Scotland, was latterly part of HBOStaken over by Lloyds TSB in an emergency, government-

brokered deal in 2008. Bank of Scotland branches in the city now fly Lloyds flags.

Locals enjoying the spring sun outside 18th century Dundas House one of RBS’s flagship Edinburgh buildings which highlights why the city is nicknamed “the Athens of the north”-said the mood towards bankers had changed since.

“I don’t think anybody’s happy with them,” said Andrew Ford, 69, while his wife Betty chipped in: “They keep giving themselves big bonuses and big pensions and it’s no’ their money to do that.”

They said the issue of bankers’ behavior would weigh on their minds as they voted. “He’s had a tough time but I think we’re needing a change,” Betty Ford said of Scotsman Brown.

The city’s economy has been hit by the credit crunchthe number of people claiming unemployment benefit is up 30 percent on the same time last year, although the overall rate, 3.8 percent, is well below the Scottish average.

Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce spokesman Graham Bell said the impact on sectors like construction has been more damaging than the “shrinkage” of financial services, where employees are often skilled and easily re-employable.

“Edinburgh has many more aspects to its financial services industry than banking and therefore the city as a whole has not been hit nearly as badly as was predicted at the outset,” he said.

But a respected group of economists from auditors Ernst and Young warned in November that there were still “challenging days ahead” for Scotland’s financial services sector-plus there could be more job cuts to come.

And even though Britain is now out of recession, bankers in Edinburgh must also put up with regular jibes from friends about their jobs.

“A lot of the employees who I’ve met, quite a few of them are friends, maybe don’t feel so hot about where they work anymore,” said Nelson. “As soon as somebody mentions it to them, they get a smack from the general public”. — AFP

SINGAPORE: Singaporean property developer Eric Cheng (left) watching as a worker feeds the fish on his floating farm in Singapore. His wife and business associates call him ‘crazy’ for investing almost one million Singapore dollars ($728,000) in a fish farm but Cheng does not mind one bit.—AFP

Singapore boosts local farming to enhance food security SINGAPORE: His wife and business associates say he’s mad to invest almost a million Singapore dollars in a fish farm, but Singaporean property developer Eric Cheng does not mind a bit. The 35year-old city boy is confident his foray into aquaculture will make money as seafood-loving, import-dependent Singapore strives to boost local production and enhance its food security.

Soaring food prices in 2008, driven by a global supply crunch, reminded Singapore of its vulnerability and prompted the government to take a fresh look at its agricultural policies and support investors willing to go into farming.

Cheng had zero experience running a fish farm but carried out extensive research and spoke to veterans in the trade before deciding to grow and sell garoupa, a fleshy, succulent fish variety popular across Asia.

“They say I am crazy for going into uncharted territory since I know nothing about fish farming, but my business instinct tells me that there are plenty of opportunities,” Cheng said in an interview.

“You look at Singapore.... It produces less than five percent of its own consumption and if I can supply in sufficient quantities to the local market, I can make it,” he said.

The self-made Cheng is managing director of ECG Group, a property-based concern also involved in car rental, finance and technology. His new venture is one of 106 licensed coastal fish farms in the city-state, which last December launched a Food Fund of five million Singapore dollars ($3.6 million) to support entrepreneurs willing to venture into farming. While Singapore has a land area of only 710 square kilometers (284 square miles), most people live in high-rise apartments and industries are clustered together, leaving space available for technology-driven farms.

The port city is also surrounded by waters where floating fish farms can thrive side-by-side with ocean-going vessels loaded with electronics and petrochemicals destined for the world market.

“The Food Fund has been set up to enhance Singapore’s food supply resilience especially in chicken, pork, fish, eggs, leafy vegetables and rice,” the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) told AFP in a statement. Specifically, the AVA will co-finance research and development

and help upgrade local farms. It will also support feasibility studies on investments in overseas food zones, overseas contract farming and other nontraditional sources.

Singapore’s goal is to raise local production of fish to 15 percent of domestic demand from four percent at present, eggs to 30 percent from 23 percent and leafy vegetables to 10 percent from seven percent. Last year the government announced plans to set aside more land for intensive farming and Mah Bow Tan, minister for national development, said local produce could serve as a “strategic stockpile” for the population, which currently stands at five million.

Specialized farms like Cheng’s will play an important role. The volume of fish captured at sea is expected to decline due to continued over-fishing, said Chin Yew Neng, the AVA’s deputy director for food supply. “To ensure Singapore’s fish supply resilience, the way forward is through aquaculture, which is more sustainable,” he said.

According to the AVA, fish farms “do not deplete the resources in the sea” as their produce comes from fingerlings mostly produced by hatcheries.

“Some of the fish farms produce the fingerlings themselves,” it added.

At Cheng’s farm, the new owner has been busy revamping the place and focusing on breeding the high-value tiger garoupa since buying the business last October.

Tiger garoupa, also known as grouper, is popular among ethnic Chinese diners and can easily cost 60-70 Singapore dollars a piece at restaurants, he said.

“The best returns are (from) tiger garoupa,” he said at the 38,000-square-foot (3,420-squaremetre) fish farm in the eastern part of Singapore, where he is trying to modernise practices-on the wall a planning chart tells workers when they need to feed and weigh the fish, as well as wash the nets.

Cheng estimates it will take at least two years for his investment to break even, but it is worth the wait. “It’s not difficult to achieve because the returns are quite high if you get it right,” he said.

And even if the venture fails, Cheng says he will have no regrets. “In every business, there is a learning experience,” he said. — AFP

hurting economy?

BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday political unrest will force the government to revise down its projection for growth in the country’s export-oriented economy this year.

While the economic costs from a long-running crisis have so far been largely confined to the tourism industry, consumer sentiment is declining and businesses are hurting. The central bank last week deferred a rate hike, saying the crisis was hitting confidence, tourism, private consumption and investment.

Thailand’s top broker Kim Eng Securities warned on Friday the escalating political violence could lead to civil war and anyone buying Thai shares was taking “a huge risk”.

Abhisit rejected talks with “red-shirt” demonstrators who offered to end increasingly violent protests in return for early polls. The red shirts have told their supporters to expect a crackdown on their sprawling encampment in central Bangkok.

This raises questions about risks to the $264 billion economy, Southeast Asia’s second-largest, if the protest movement drags on, the government falls or more violence breaks out.

Investment Portfolio investors had been piling into Thailand, driving the stock market to a 22-month peak on April 7, three days before a crackdown on red-shirt protesters killed 25 people and injured more than 800. Stocks have lost 7 percent since then on the prospect that Thailand’s intractable political divide had entered a new and more dangerous phase.

Fitch Ratings downgraded Thailand’s local currency rating, blaming political uncertainty and a poor policy environment. It said prolonged political uncertainty was likely to undermine sovereign creditworthiness over time.

Some view Thai stocks as cheap. Listed firms trade at 11.9 times estimated 2010 earnings, making Bangkok the second cheapest market in Asia after Pakistan. The baht has been strengthening since Feb. 26, despite the troubles, and so the market does not pose a currency risk-at least not yet.

The baht did weaken on Friday after grenade attacks the day before raised the prospect of civil conflict. It is up more than 3 percent this year, broadly in line with regional peers.

FDI The Board of Investment saw few signs of foreign investors seeking to relocate, but said investment pledges this year could fall 15 percent to 300 billion baht. Japanese firms, the country’s biggest investors, have expressed concern and might look elsewhere if the crisis continues.

General Motors Thailand said it doesn’t have second thoughts over plans to spend $467 million over the next two years on a new diesel-engine plant and retooling existing production lines. Ford Motor, Honda Motor, and Chevron-some of the biggest foreign investors-all had no plans to pull out.

GDP estimates Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij had earlier estimated the crisis could shave 1-2 percentage

points from the 4.5 to 5 percent forecast. The central bank had forecast growth of as much as 5.3 percent this year, the highest since 2004, when the economy expanded 6.3 percent. A revised forecast is due April 29.

Tourism Hotel occupancy rates in Bangkok have crumbled to around 20 percent-zero in luxury hotels around the red-shirt encampment. The United States, Britain, Australia, Japan and other countries have warned citizens to reconsider travel plans to Bangkok. Thailand has seen 24 coups or attempted overthrows since 1932 and scores of other political crises. Foreigners have rarely been affected.

But Thursday’s grenade attacks in the business district near Patpong’s go-go bars wounded four foreign men.

The “Land of Smiles” is one of the developing world’s most popular tourist destination, alluring to both jet-setters and backpackers. The number of tourist arrivals is expected to fall significantly short of of this year’s target of 15.5 million.

The Federation of Thai Tourism Associations says the industry lost more than $300 million in the year to March and falls will likely be even greater in April when the protests turned violent.

Business As Thailand’s political unrest enters a seventh week, the economic toll in Bangkok is worsening.

Offices in the business district have closed since the grenade attacks. Shops have hung out signs that say: “Sorry, closed due to political unrest”.

Bangkok’s Patpong district of go-go bars is deserted most nights.

“Every morning I wake up in fear,” said Inthira Chamnon-arsa, founder of a group of business executives called “Good Friends” that seeks a peaceful resolution of the conflict. “(Thais) have never before expressed this level of hatred,” The Bangkok Post quoted her as saying on Sunday.

Hotels and malls around the red-shirt encampment in central Bangkok have closed at a cost of millions of dollars a day. The Bangkok Post said the unrest has caused 63,000 job losses, mainly due to the impact on the local hotel and tourism industry.

Consumer sentiment has steadily fallen during the crisis, the Federation of Thai Industries said.

Concern the protests could turn violent is the biggest factor affecting consumer sentiment, said Santi Vilassakdanont, honorary chairman of the FTI. Impact Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Friday Indonesia was alert to the possibility the Thai troubles could have a contagious impact in the region. “In the past we remember that a situation in one country, if not well managed, could give an impact to the region,” Natalegawa said.

The 1997 Asian financial crisis began in Thailand with a run on the baht and spread to the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea, as panicky investors pulled their money out.

Singapore on Friday urged all sides to seek a peaceful and lasting resolution for the good of the region. — Reuters

WASHINGTON: Photographers and staff await the start of the International Monetary and Financial Committee during the G-20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank at the World Bank headquarters in Washington on Saturday.—AP

TECHNOLOGY

Monday, April 26, 2010

27

Internet, mobiles spread Mexico drug gang fears

This handout composite image by NASA/ESA from the Hubble telescope, taken between Feb 1-2, 2010 and obtained on April 23, 2010 shows an image of a pillar of star birth, three light-years high, depicting how scorching radiation and fast winds (streams of charged particles) from super-hot newborn stars in the nebula are shaping and compressing the pillar, causing new stars to form within it. This pinnacle lies within a stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina. — AFP

Revolutionary Hubble space telescope turns 20 WASHINGTON: Astronomers around the world this weekend mark the 20th anniversary of the launching of the iconic Hubble, NASA’s first orbiting space telescope that has revolutionized human understanding of the universe. More than any other instrument, the Hubble has stimulated a modern-day infatuation with deep space, beaming to Earth the most spectacular images ever taken of faraway galaxies and the births and deaths of stars - and along the way helping scientists make some of the most important discoveries of our time.

Hubble was launched aboard space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990 and deployed into orbit the following day. Piloting the shuttle on that historic mission was astronaut Charles Bolden, who went on to become the US space agency’s administrator last year. In the two decades since, Hubble has enabled astronomers to peer through the celestial curtain to set the age of the universe at 13.7 billion years old. “Hubble is undoubtedly one of the most recognized and successful scientific projects in history,” said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

From its unique perch some 570 km above Earth, the telescope is our eye on the cosmos, snapping pictures of more than 30,000 celestial objects, some of them located on the far ends of the universe. The quality of Hubble images is 10 times clearer than pictures from the most powerful ground-based telescopes, because it is beyond

the Earth’s atmosphere, which distorts the view of ground telescopes. “It’s that extreme clarity that gives us the feeling we’ve traveled out into space to see these objects,” said Jon Grunsfeld, an astronaut who did repair work on Hubble during two shuttle missions. “It really is our time machine.”

Although Hubble is universally acknowledged today as a scientific gem, it had a rocky start: once it was deployed scientists quickly discovered that the telescope’s main mirror had a slight blemish, and a shuttle mission had to be sent up to install a new mirror. When it became fully operational in late 1993 the Hubble began transmitting pictures that stunned the world. One of Hubble’s best known images is of the vast Carina Nebula, an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas, helium gas and plasma that lies some 6,500 light years away from Earth. Each light year is about 9.5 trillion kilometers, or 5.9 trillion miles.

The Hubble also photographed supernovas, gigantic explosions that mark the death of a star. It revealed the existence of black holes at the center of practically all galaxies.

Until then scientists only suspected the existence of black holes.

Thanks to data collected by the Hubble, astronomers have learned that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. This acceleration is caused by a mysterious force called dark energy, which makes up nearly 75 percent of the universe and balances the force of

gravity.

Around five percent of the cosmos is made up of visible matter, while 20 percent of it is so-called dark matter. Other discoveries credited to Hubble include the detection of the first organic molecule in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a distant star. It also observed small forming galaxies that emitted rays of light when the universe was less than a billion years old.

In the Earth’s solar system, Hubble has observed radical changes in the direction of the winds on Saturn, and shown that Neptune has seasons.

The Hubble, the result of collaboration between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the European Space Agency (ESA), measures 13.2 m long, has a maximum diameter of 4.2 m and weighs 11,110 kg. A 2009 mission of shuttle Atlantis gave Hubble an extreme makeover, fitting it with a new, more powerful camera and spectrograph, sprucing up its scientific instruments, and extending Hubble’s life for at least five years.

“The new and improved Hubble will continue to have a positive impact on the world for decades with many of its greatest discoveries yet to come,” said Weiler, who described it as “an icon in the American psyche.” But the mission was bittersweet, as the repair job marked the end of NASA’s human missions to the beloved Hubble. Its successor is the James Webb Space Telescope, an infrared optimized space observatory scheduled to be deployed in 2014. — AFP

WSJ takes on NYT WASHINGTON: In one corner, The New York Times. In the other, The Wall Street Journal. The two newspaper heavyweights are poised to do battle as Rupert Murdoch’s Journal challenges Arthur Sulzberger’s Times on its home ground New York. The Journal unveils a New York edition today in what promises to be a bruising competition for readers and advertising dollars with the publication that has long dominated the city.

It’s the type of aggressive move Murdoch has become known for during his decades building News Corp. into a newspaper and entertainment titan - and the Australian-born mogul appears to be relishing the fight. The 79-year-old veteran of the London circulation wars, throwing down the gauntlet to the Times last month, said the Journal’s New York section would feature full color and would be “feisty”. “We believe that in its pursuit of journalism prizes and a national reputation, a certain other New York daily has essentially stopped covering the city the way it once did,” he said.

Murdoch, whose New York Post has been tussling with the city’s other tabloid the Daily News for years, said the Journal will “cover everything that makes New York great: state politics, local politics, business, culture, and sports.” Since purchasing the Journal’s parent Dow Jones from the Bancroft family for five billion dollars in 2007, Murdoch has gradually transformed the newspaper into a more general publication from one focused near exclusively on business.

In an interview earlier this month with journalist Marvin Kalb, Murdoch professed admiration for the Times - if not its politics. “I’ve got great respect for the Times, except it does have very clearly an agenda,” he said. “You can see it in the way they choose their stories, what they put on Page One - anything (President Barack) Obama wants.” “And the White House pays off by feeding

them stories,” he said.

Times publisher Sulzberger, whose family has run the newspaper for more than a century, has largely stayed above the fray. It was Times Co president and chief executive Janet Robinson who responded to Murdoch’s challenge last week.

“When you’re the lead dog people are constantly going to go after you, whether it be The Wall Street Journal or (others),” Robinson said. “We’ve had many competitors not just one, for many years. We don’t shy away from the competition, we never have and we never will,” she said. “We fully understand how to compete and in fact we enjoy it.”

Robinson said that she does not expect advertisers to abandon the Times for the Journal, even if it does cut advertising rates by as much as a reported 80 percent. “From a volume perspective certainly they will increase volume by giving away a lot of free advertising,” she said. “We are not doing that. “Advertisers are very well aware that a free ad in any vehicle may not necessarily be as effective as a paid ad in a property that has a very, very responsive audience,” Robinson said.

The Times Co executive also sought to highlight the newspaper’s larger reach in print and on the Web compared with that of the Journal.

“Advertisers are aware of the fact that our audience is 22 million in print and online versus the Journal’s 13 (million),” she said. The Times may currently have the edge when it comes to readership in the New York market, but News Corp chairman Murdoch is the one with the deeper pockets if it comes to a long, drawn-out fight. The Times eked out a profit of $14.1 million last quarter, reversing a loss of $74.2 million a year ago, while News Corp, which includes “Avatar”-maker 20th Century Fox and the Fox television networks, raked in a profit of $254 million in its most recent quarter. — AFP

MEXICO CITY: The Internet is playing a growing role in Mexico’s drug war, spreading both information and fear, at a time when many journalists have been scared into silence.

Drug gangs have long used warnings scrawled on sheets pinned up on bridges, or even gruesome beheadings to sow fear, but the Internet, and mobile phones, have taken their messages to a wider audience.

Cuernavaca, a popular weekend retreat outside Mexico City, saw restaurants and bars shuttered this month after rumors of a curfew imposed by a drug gang spread by email and across social networking sites. “It spread very quickly through the population, generating panic, fear and doubts,” Morelos state government secretary Oscar Sergio Hernandez told AFP. Local officials contacted the business community, union leaders and school directors in an effort to bring calm to Cuernavaca, known as the “City of the Eternal Spring”.

But although no deaths were reported during that weekend and it’s still unclear who started the rumors, the streets remained empty. The following Monday, officials set up a team to monitor Internet traffic on sites that included Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

More than 22,700 people have died in suspected drug attacks since the end of 2006, as violence has increased alongside a military crackdown on organized crime. Apart from almost daily killings in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, the country’s most violent, new hotspots continue to erupt across the country. Many attribute Cuernavaca’s growing violence to an internal battle for control of the Beltran Leyva cartel set off by the army’s killing of its leader Arturo Beltran Leyva last December.

Authorities in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas - a battlefield between supporters of the Gulf gang and its former allies the Zetas - meanwhile called on the population to remain calm in February following multiple unfounded rumors of shootouts, transmitted by text messages and social networks. “There’s an increase in crime, a fight between criminal groups and violence has risen, but there’s also a campaign through informal media to terrorize people,” said Tamaulipas governor Eugenio Hernandez.

The messages set off a panic in Reynosa, a city across the border from McAllen, Texas, and some schools, businesses and the US consulate were briefly closed. Nervous residents of Tamaulipas can now check for regular updates on violent crime on the state government website. The Reynosa city hall uses Twitter to transmit security alerts. Citizens, as well as drug traffickers, load up their own videos to YouTube or contribute to online forums on security issues.

“Alert. Five vans with heavily armed men. Don’t go out.

Don’t go out,” said a recent posting on a site administered by the Reforma newspaper group for the town of Ciudad Mier, Tamaulipas. The site says a lack of information from authorities is to blame for a psychosis among local people.

While some officials rush to figure out how to use the Internet to inform the public, others hope to regulate websites used by criminals. A leftist lawmaker, Nazario Norberto Sanchez, plans to propose a law in September to create what he calls a cyber-police for Mexico to try to prevent criminal activities on the Internet.

“Obviously we won’t touch people’s freedoms, but what we want is to regulate Twitter and Facebook,” Sanchez told AFP. But many Mexican Internet users regard such plans as a threat to civil liberties. And those caught in the crossfire desperately seek more up-todate information on crime in their neighborhoods, which the mainstream media is slow to provide, with reporters often cowed or corrupted. The Committee to Protect Journalists in April ranked Mexico ninth on its list of countries where crime against journalists most often go unpunished. “Astonishing levels of violence against journalists covering crime, drug trafficking, and government corruption continued in 2009,” it said. — AFP

Federal police stand next to fallen fellow officers after they were ambushed by unknown gunmen in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico April 23, 2010. — AP

Email mistakes - and how to avoid them Use email when you need to provide a more formal update to a business colleague or ask a question that cannot be misconstrued.

Email also provides you and your recipient with a record of a conversation, so when record-keeping is important for one or both of you, then it’s the right tool to use.

WASHINGTON: These days, with email at the heart of both business and personal communications, your reputation can be established or destroyed through the inbox. That’s why it’s important to get email right. Start by becoming aware of some of the most common mistakes people make by email - and learning how to avoid them.

Forgetting the attachment Failing to attach a file when the body of your email message says that you have is all too common. The result is typically that your recipient emails you back to say no file was attached. “Whoops,” you say. “Sorry. Here it is.” The problem is certainly not a career destroyer, but it is annoying if it happens frequently. You can put an end to forgotten attachments if you use Microsoft’s Outlook or Mozilla’s Thunderbird.

One of Microsoft’s development engineers got tired of receiving messages that were supposed to contain an attachment. His solution: create the Forgotten Attachment Director (http://bit.ly/4rAme), a free plug-in that checks for the occurrence of certain words in an email message - including “attachment”, of course - and warns you if you try to send the message without something attached.

Thunderbird users have a similar tool in the Attachment Reminder (http://bit.ly/az8A4e), which scans your messages before they’re sent to check for keywords that you define.

Using “Reply All” You may have received an email message along with 25 other people on the CC line.

That doesn’t mean you need to click Reply All to the message when your response really only concerns the sender. The other 24 people who received that message are likely to be annoyed at having to read another message from you that doesn’t concern them. If you have something to say to the sender, say it to the sender - and leave the others out.

Remember: people receive more than enough email today. They don’t need another one from you if it doesn’t concern them.

Not using multiple accounts Today you need multiple email accounts,

Failing to spell check Most email programs today include a spell checker that will automatically kick in before you send your message out, but too many people fail to use it. Don’t be one of them. In an age when written communication by email is the way in which people form opinions about each other, it’s more important than ever that you avoid obvious errors.

for several reasons. First, if you use just one email account for very long, your inbox will be overrun with spam. Get a lot of spam, and one of two things will happen: your anti-spam filter will surely end up routing legitimate messages into the spam folder, out of your sight, or you’ll pay less attention to your e-mail out of pure fatigue with dealing with the spam.

Email accounts are so easy to set up these days that there’s little reason not to use one for each of your major purposes: business, retail dealings, and personal use, for example.

A free Google Gmail account can be used for all three, and it’s easy to keep track of them all with one email client, such as Outlook.

Using email too often Email has its place, but increasingly that place should be strictly defined. Email is not the best means of communication, for example, when nuance in your communications is required. For that, nothing beats talking over the phone or meeting face-to-face. Email is also not the proper medium to use for short, frequent communications. Instant messaging or text messaging is probably preferable in those cases.

Not backing up Email probably constitutes the primary record you have of your correspondence over the past decade. It also likely contains more contact information than your rolodex or any other tool you use to keep track of your friends and colleagues. That’s why losing email should not be an option. The only way to ensure that your email is not lost is by backing it up. You need to go beyond simply backing up your email, however. You should also know how to restore it should you ever have to. Find a good email backup program, use it, and become informed about how you restore your email if you have to.

Forgetting your manners It’s worth remembering that once you send off an email message, you usually cannot get it back. So be very careful when composing email. Use this rule of thumb: if you have a question about whether to write something down in an email message to someone, don’t.

Err on the side of caution. Don’t write messages in anger, and don’t write anything that you would not want forwarded to your boss or your best friend - because it could be. Also, unless you know your recipient very well, avoid jokes or comments that could be construed as rude or impertinent. — dpa

Handy Google apps you’ve never used WASHINGTON: By now, most know that Google is about far more than search. Gmail, Google maps, and Blogger are used widely. But those apps are just a hint of what this Internet behemoth offers under the hood of its famous search engine.

Here’s a rundown of some useful Google gems that you may not know about - but probably should.

Mobile Smartphones are what’s hot in technology today, and that fact isn’t lost on Google. The company has ported some of its best applications to the mobile market. It’s just that finding them isn’t always easy, and many people still use a smartphone’s often clunky built-in browser to access the web and perform simple searches.

Google Mobile changes that.

Just point your phone’s browser to http://m.google.com, and download the Google Mobile app. Once installed, this handy smartphone app works with the speed of most other smartphone applications and the simplicity that Google is known for.

With Mobile, you can conduct speedy web searches either by typing or by voice, and you can also use its handy links above the Search box to access your Gmail, Maps, News, and Reader apps as well. If you use

Google on your notebook or PC, it’s likely that Mobile will quickly become a frequently used app on your smartphone as well.

Docs You might have read about Google Docs - the online word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation package - but you probably haven’t tried it. It’s time to change that. The fact is that Google Docs has grown a lot since its introduction several years ago. The word processing module is intuitive and surprisingly robust, the spreadsheet will be instantly usable for Excel junkies, and the presentation program will suffice for all but the most glitz-happy PowerPoint fans.

What’s more, you can use Docs to edit existing documents you might have created with Microsoft Office applications or other popular business productivity software. So you can use Docs to work on files on the road or to make them available to you from work or other locations. With the 1 gigabyte of storage space that Docs gives you for free, it’s even possible to use the service as a free replacement for a USB thumb drive that you would otherwise have to carry around.

Perhaps the best part of using Docs is that you don’t

even have to sign up for it. If, like many, you already have a Google account for Gmail or some other Google service, just go to http://docs.google.com and click Create New or Upload to get started. There’s a Help system available, but if you’ve used another productivity application, you probably won’t need it.

Alerts Why go back to Google repeatedly to search for some product, person, or keyword?

With Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts), you can get the latest search results automatically, either as a periodic e-mail messages or via an RSS feed. Let’s say you like to keep abreast of anything new that’s happening with your favourite sports team. Instead of searching for the latest news every day, set up a Google Alert. Go to Alerts, type in the team’s name in the Search Terms box, and use the other drop- downs to select the type of information you’re looking for (news, blogs, video, etc.), how often you’d like the updates delivered, and the address to which the updates should be sent.

That’s it. If you have a Gmail account, the alerts will automatically be routed to your Gmail inbox. If you’d prefer that the

results be sent you some RSS reader you have, you can configure that as well.

Reader If you regularly visit a handful of social networking sites and a few newspapers every morning looking for the latest updates, why not just have Google Reader aggregate that information in one place? That’s the idea behind Reader, which is both remarkably easy to use and effective. Just log on to Reader (http://www.google.com/reader), click the Add a Subscription button, and type in the name of your favourite forum, blog, or news site. Keep adding subscriptions until you’ve included everything you want to stay abreast of.

Then use Reader as a kind of “recent posts” list. You can quickly scan headlines, along with a snippet of the actual article text, without being bothered by the site’s ads or other distractions. Want to see the full text, posting, or blog entry? Just click the title, and you’re whisked off to the original site where the content appears. If you’d like to share what you enjoy with others, you can even send things you have “favourited” to Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Twitter, or a number of other social networking sites. — dpa

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HEALTH & SCIENCE

Monday, April 26, 2010

Scientists test powerful ocean current off Antarctica PARIS: Oceanographers said yesterday they had measured a system of mighty currents off Antarctica that are a newly-discovered factor in the equation of climate change.

The system, known as Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), is generated in clockwise movement in four big sea shelves that abut Antarctica — the Weddell Sea, Prydz Bay, Adelie Land and Ross Sea. Extremely cold water sinks to the bot-

tom of these shelves and slides out northwards along the continental shelf.

At the edge of the shelf, some of the water mixes with a well-known ocean movement, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which sweeps around the abyss off Antarctica.

The rest of the AABW, though, makes its way northward through a maze of ridges and gullies, reaching into the southern latitudes of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and into the

Atlantic as far north as southern Brazil.

The study, led by Yasushi Fukamachi of Japan’s Hokkaido University, is published online in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Fukamachi’s team used an array of eight seabed sensors, anchored at a depth of 3,500 metres (11,375 feet) for two years over 175 kilometers (109 miles) on the Kerguelen Plateau, east of Antarctica, where current exits from the Prydz Bay shelf.

On average, about eight million cubic

metres (280 million cubic feet) of water colder than 0.2 degrees Celsius (33 degrees Fahrenheit) were transported northwards over this narrow section, the researchers found.

That is four times more than the previous record documented in an AABW flow, at the Weddell Sea, on the other side of Antarctica.

Over two years, the Kerguelen monitors recorded the current’s average speed at

more than 20 centimetres (eight inches) per second, the highest ever seen for a flow at this depth.

The findings are important because ocean currents are major players in climate change. They circulate heat, moving warm waters on the surface to the cold ocean floor. After this water is chilled, it is eventually shuttled back by currents to the surface, for warming again.

Currents also help determine the suc-

Ongoing plan combines prevention, education and treatment

Cambodia hopes to contain drug-resistant malaria strain PHNOM PENH: Next week, teams of health workers will head to 10 of Cambodia’s most malaria-infected villages near the western town of Pailin, in a region notorious for its mystifying ability to produce resistant strains of the disease. The purpose of their visit is unique in the country’s programme to combat malaria. Health workers will take blood samples from every villager, lab test for the falciparum malaria parasite, and then provide treatment within days to anyone with the parasite whether or not they are showing malaria symptoms.

This pre-emptive action is one of many the government and donors have taken in a year-old programme to combat a potential catastrophe: The spread of a falciparum strain that has shown resistance to the world’s most important malaria treatment - ACT, which combines artemisinin with other drugs to attack the parasite.

Dr Steven Bjorge, a malaria specialist at the World Health Organization’s office in Phnom Penh, said scientific tests have proven that a deadly strain resistant to chloroquine, for example, developed in western Cambodia before migrating to Africa.

“And so the fear is that again the drug-resistant parasite, for example from western Cambodia, will move to Africa, and Africa is a malaria problem many magnitudes

worse than anything in South-East Asia,” Bjorge said.

The objective of next week’s effort, which follows World Malaria Day on April 25, is to reduce the number of malaria carriers. Should that prove successful, it will be rolled out across the country as part of a wider containment programme, he said.

“And that’s going to then reduce the number of parasites that are generally in the population, and then probably reduce transmission,” Bjorge said.

Dr Duong Socheat heads the government’s National Centre for Malaria Control. When news broke two years ago of the increasing resistance to ACT, health professionals and the government met to map out an urgent course of action. “The experts

were very concerned - how to contain, how to stop the spread of artemisinin-resistance to other areas?” he said. “So before it spread, we had to take some action.” The resultant containment plan divides Cambodia into three zones.

Zone 1, comprising around 5 per cent of Cambodia, is centred in the west around Pailin and is the main initial focus. Zone 2, a buffer zone, expands beyond the first zone and accounts for about half of the country. Zone 3 comprises the rest of Cambodia. The ongoing plan combines prevention, education and treatment.

Duong Socheat said one aspect has been to provide training to private health practitioners, drug manufacturers and importers to ensure they understand the

importance of not using one drug to treat the disease - so-called monotherapy.

Another is a government crackdown on counterfeit drugs being sold in markets and pharmacies.

“This is a real achievement that people are following our guidelines,” he said. “Before you could see plenty of counterfeit drugs in the market, but now there are very few.”

Other steps include providing bed nets to prevent people being bitten by mosquitoes. WHO figures show Zone 1 now has an average of 1.79 people per bed net.

Another vital step was training at least one volunteer in every Zone 1 village how to use a free kit to provide testing for any villager with fever. In a country where

people are often charged for theoretically free health services, a free testing service is key.

Duong Socheat said indications show the situation has stabilized in Zone 1, which last year reported zero deaths from malaria. The number of infections was stable too. All 270 deaths from the disease in Cambodia last year took place in Zones 2 and 3.

WHO’s Bjorge said he is “very, very cautiously optimistic” the containment programme is working. “We feel that in Zone 1 we are having some success. It’s still early in the game and so we’re trying to gather the data and evaluate it, but we think that we’re having some impact,” he said.

Assuming the data shows success, the next step is to expand the containment programme over

the next five years to cover Zones 2 and 3, using money provided under the Global Fund, which targets HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.

Duong Socheat said the government wants zero malaria deaths in Cambodia by 2020. The containment programme is bound to help.

He said the most difficult task will be to ensure migrant workers who crisscross Cambodia looking for work do not bring back the resistant form to their home provinces. The more the government can help to improve the economy, the easier that task will be. “It’s very important. When the economy improves, gross domestic product increases and it’s easier for poor people to protect themselves,” he said. — dpa

cess of oceans as storage of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal greenhouse gas.

Microscopic marine plants called phytoplankton take in CO2 at the surface under the natural process of photosynthesis.

When they die, the phytoplankton sink, but a current will determine whether they reach the ocean floor, thus sequestering the carbon for essentially forever, or whether they are swept back up towards the surface. — AFP

Zuma launches HIV testing in South Africa JOHANNESBURG: South African President Jacob Zuma revealed he was HIV negative yesterday as he launched a scaled-up counselling and testing campaign in the world’s worst affected country.

“After careful consideration, I have decided to share my test results with South Africans.

The purpose is to promote openness and to eradicate the silence and stigma that accompanies this epidemic.

Zuma, who told a court in 2006 when charged with raping a HIV-positive woman that he had showered rather than worn a condom to ward off the risk of HIV, revealed he had been taking regular HIV tests. “My April results, like the three previous ones, registered a negative outcome for the HI virus,” Zuma told thousands of people who attended the event at Katlehong hospital east of Johannesburg.

However, Zuma said that by disclosing his status his aim was not to put pressure on any citizen to do the same. “Anyone’s HIV status is private and confidential. Disclosure is an individual decision. We must respect the decisions of those who choose to keep their status confidential, whether positive or negative,” Zuma said.

The campaign, which hopes to test 15 million people by the end of June 2011, is aimed at providing anti-AIDS drugs to 80 percent of South Africans in need of treatment in the world’s worst affected country.

An estimated 5.7 of 48 million South Africans are HIV positive, according to the UN AIDS agency, with South Africa now boasting the world’s largest treatment programme after years of failure to roll out life-saving drugs.

Zuma, who is 68 and has three wives, came under pressure earlier this year when it emerged he had fathered a child out of wedlock with opposition parties accusing him of undermining efforts to fight HIV and Aids. — AFP

Japan reports more foot-and-mouth cases TOKYO: Japanese officials reported more suspected cases of foot-and-mouth disease yesterday, days after announcing the country’s first outbreak in a decade.

The government of the southern prefecture of Miyazaki, on Kyushu island, said four cows had tested positive for the highly contagious disease at a farm with 725 cattle.

All of the cows on the farm will be culled to prevent further spread, the prefecture government said in a statement.

“We plan to kill all the cows, bury contaminated items and to disinfect the affected farm,” the prefecture said.

The announcement came after the same prefecture said on April 20 that it had slaughtered a herd of 16 cows on another farm after three of them tested positive for foot-and-mouth.

It is the first outbreak of the disease in Japan since 2000. The earlier discovery prompted Japan to suspend exports of meat products from cattle, pigs and certain other animals.

Officials in Miyazaki have found suspected foot-andmouth cases at seven farms in the area since the outbreak was first announced. Foot-and-mouth disease affects cloven-hoofed animals, also including sheep, goats and deer. It is rarely transmitted to humans but spreads easily between animals, causing them pain and often killing young animals. — AFP

Aliens may pose risks LONDON: British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking says aliens are out there, but it could be too dangerous for humans to interact with extraterrestrial life.

Hawking claims in a new documentary that intelligent alien lifeforms almost certainly exist, but warns that communicating with them could be “too risky.” The 68-year-old scientist says a visit by extraterrestrials to Earth would be like Christopher Columbus arriving in the Americas, “which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

He speculates most extraterrestrial life will be similar to microbes, or small animals — but adds advanced lifeforms may be “nomads, looking to conquer and colonize.” The Discovery Channel said yesterday it will broadcast “Stephen Hawking’s Universe” in Britain next month. — AP

SEOUL: South Korean activists sit in mosquito nets in a campaign to mark World Malaria Day in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday. This event was organized by the United Nations Foundation to send a strong message to the world about the importance of continuing the fight against malaria, an easily preventable and treatable disease that still kills more than one million people every year mostly children in Africa. — AP

Genes influence smoking addiction PARIS: Starting smoking and addiction to it could be driven to a large degree by your genes, a trio of studies published yesterday suggested.

Researchers reported that single yet widely prevalent changes in the DNA code on several chromosomes were associated with a range of smoking habits.

The papers, published online

in the journal Nature Genetics, are based on a trawl through the genome of more than 140,000 people, gathering smokers and non-smokers.

A flag was raised over a variant on a gene on Chromosome 11 that was strongly linked to smoking initiation, and another on Chromosome 9 that was associated with quitting smoking.

People with variants of genes on Chromosomes 8 and 19 were likelier to smoke more cigarettes-about half a cigarette extra per day-and run a 10-percent higher risk of lung cancer compared to non-carriers, another of the studies added.

The findings add to a basket of known gene variants linked to smoking vulnerability.

Together, they contribute

towards diagnostic tools to identify people who may have a high inherited risk from tobacco.

“Smoking is bad for anyone’s health,” said Kari Stefansson, head of deCODE, an Icelandic company which specialises in genomic data-mining and which led one of the papers.

“It is even worse for some, and today’s discoveries continue to strengthen our ability to

identify whose those people are and giving them a compelling reason to quit.”

Still unclear is the metabolic pathway by which these genes confer the risk, said Stefansson.

The link between lung cancer and smoking has been established for more than half a century.

But scientists are still trying to answer why there remain big

variations in how much people smoke, their ease in kicking the habit and susceptibility to disease.

Premature deaths attributable to tobacco smoking are expected to rise to 6.4 million in 2015 and 8.3 million in 2030, according to research published in 2007 in the journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine. — AFP

This April 5, 2010 file photo shows astrophysicist Stephen Hawking of England presenting a lecture titled, ‘Out of a Black Hole’ at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. Hawking says aliens are out there, but it could be too dangerous for humans to interact with extraterrestial life. — AP

Monday, April 26, 2010

HEALTH & SCIENCE

Red Cross seeks help as Europe ages ‘Ageing is not a negative development’ VIENNA: The European Red Cross movement is seeking to include more parts of society to help care for the continent’s growing elderly population, Red Cross officials said at a conference in Vienna.

At the meeting that is being held this week, national Red Cross organizations are looking for new strategies as the movement expects that neither governments nor aid groups will be able to shoulder the growing need for elderly care alone.

“Europe is old. It is today the oldest world region,” said Massimo Barra, the Italian chair of the standing commission of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent.

By 2050, almost 35 per cent of Europeans are projected to be over 60, up from 22 per cent last year, accord-

ing to the latest UN report on ageing. Some 27 per cent are expected to be older than 65 by the middle of the century.

“We need a ‘welfare mix’”, Monika Wild told the German Press Agency dpa.

The senior Austrian Red Cross official is part of the conference’s working group on ageing.

Red Cross societies in Europe agree that more volunteers are needed to work alongside professional caregivers, and models are being developed to build closer social networks in neighbourhoods.

The problem is especially acute in eastern countries such as Georgia and Lithuania, where many young people have emigrated to seek jobs elsewhere, leaving elders without family care.

“Shared apartment living could be one model,” Wild said. In these cooperatives, which already exist in Germany, around 10 elderly people share an apartment, and are cared for by one professional, as well as volunteers and family members who take turns on a rotating schedule.

The Red Cross does not expect volunteers to do actual care work such as washing patients, but to help with additional services such as physical or mental training activities.

Although the Red Cross in Europe has long been offering care services for the elderly, it has held off discussing the problem of ageing until now because it was focused more on problems in poorer countries, Wild said.

Besides social networks,

the Red Cross is looking to technology to meet increasing demand for care services.

For example, detectors worn on the wrist or installed in the floor which notice if a person falls have been developed, though they still need more work. Other innovations already in use in countries such as Japan include video monitoring in homes.

But the Red Cross is not only seeking to increase care for the elderly, but also by the elderly. The idea is to get more recent retirees to work as volunteers.

“Ageing is not a negative development,” Barra said, “let’s not forget that they are an important resource for society, especially for the Red Cross and Red Crescent.” —dpa

Drugmakers lose fight over cheap UK medicines LONDON: Drug companies have lost a legal battle against schemes promoted by Britain’s state health service that encourage doctors to prescribe cheaper medicines. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), representing dozens of pharmaceutical firms, had argued that National Health Service prescribing incentive schemes were an illegal inducement under strict European rules on drug promotion. But the European Court of Justice ruled on Friday they were in compliance with European Union advertising legislation, cheering producers of generic medicines who said such schemes helped ensure value for money.

Under the incentive schemes, British medical practices are rewarded for switching patients to cheap unpatented drugs or prescribing them to new patients who would otherwise have got a more expensive patented medicine.

Individual doctors who share in the profits of medical practices could ultimately benefit from such financial incentives, prompting drugmakers to argue that they breached an EU ban on financial incentives for drug prescribing. —Reuters

29 Australian kids falling ill after flu jabs SYDNEY: Australian doctors were ordered to stop giving children under 5 seasonal flu vaccine after some were hospitalized with convulsions and dozens displayed adverse reactions to the jabs.

A mother in Perth said three hours after her 3-year-old daughter and her 1year-old twins were vaccinated, the trio became ill.

“My 3-year-old started shaking,” the woman told local radio. “She went purple and she was trembling and she couldn’t stop.”

Australian National University infectious diseases specialist Peter Collignon said that this year’s vaccine incorporated a swine-flu dose and that children might be reacting badly to that.

“If you were infected with swine flu itself last year, or had been given the swine flu vaccine last November or December or January, if you then get exposed again to a part of the virus, you’ve already got antibodies and white cells that are turned on to try to fight the virus,” Collignon told public broadcaster ABC. “Therefore if you get exposed to it

again, you may have a brisk reaction where you produce more antibodies and more white cells, which gives you a fever and an inflammatory reaction.”

Collignon said vaccinating millions of Australians might do more harm than good.

“If you’re in a risk group, everybody agrees you need to be vaccinated, but the majority of the population don’t have risk factors, including children, and before we roll out a vaccine to millions of people, in my view, we need to do studies of thousands of people over a period of time to make sure we are always going to do more good than harm with the vaccine.”

Professor Collignon said that last southern hemisphere winter the risk of those under 40 dying from swine flu was less than one in a million.

“You have to start weighing this up because you may actually produce as much influenza-like illness with a vaccine as you prevent with people not getting influenza,” he said. “That’s been my concern about rolling out this vaccine to the entire population. I don’t think we’ve got enough data to know how effective it’s going to be.” —dpa

WHAT’S ON IN KUWAIT

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Embassy information Embassy of UkrainE The Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait informs that it has started updating the information about Ukrainian citizens, who live and work in Kuwait. In this connection, we are asking you to refer to the Embassy and update your file in consular register in order not to be excluded from it. For additional information please call: 25318507 ext.106 or visit the embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait (address: Hawalli, Jabriya, bl.10, str.6, house 5). The consular section of the Embassy open every day from 09:30 till 14:30 except Friday and Saturday.

NAFO celebrates annual day

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n Friday, April 23, 2010, NAFO Kuwait celebrated its Annual Day - 2010, at Indian Community Senior School, Salmiya, with colorful stage programs which were attended by hundreds of NAFO members, families and well wishers. Indian Ambassador Ajai Malhotra was the Chief Guest. The cultural programs included visual presentation of NAFO title song, Dasavatharam,

solo and group songs, puppet show, comedy skit, layavinyasam (classical instrumental fusion), mohiniyattam, semi-classical and fusion dance performed by NAFO members and children. Some of the programs were choreographed by NAFO children, which showed their artistic talents.

The ambassador praised NAFO children and the socio-cultural activities of

NAFO and for professionally organizing the event. During the function, the Ambassador inaugurated “nafoscholars.net” a network aimed to electronically connect children of NAFO families studying in Kuwait, India and abroad. The organizers explained that this network would provide a platform for children to interact with each other and understand about social, cultural, econom-

ic and educational issues of different countries.

The ambassador appreciated such novel initiatives of NAFO and suggested full support of the Indian embassy. NAFO General Secretary B S Pillai, welcomed the gathering, President, Dr Srikumar, felicitated and advisory board member, Dr Prasad Nair proposed a vote of thanks.

The three hours program ended with

Gulf Voice of Mangalore 2010 auditions

KKMA launches sixth kidney dialysis center

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fter the stupendous success of ‘Gulf Voice of Mangalore 2008’- a mega Konkani Singing talent hunt show, “Youth Recreation Center” is all geared up for the preliminary rounds of GVOM 2010 on June 11, 2010 at the Indian Community Girls School Auditorium, Salmiya, Kuwait. This competition is open to all Konkani speaking singers of Mangalorean origin born on or before October 15, 1992 and with valid residence permit holders in Kuwait. Six males and females each from the preliminary rounds will be chosen for semi-finals and one male and one female from each country will go to Dubai for finals to contest for the coveted title. Vinay Lewis of Kuwait was the winner of GVOM 2008. Interested participants for registration and enquiries in Kuwait may contact: Lawrence Pinto - 65828008; Louis Rodrigues - 66561184; Wilson Saldanha - 99719938 or email your enquiries to: gulfvoiceofmangalore@hotrnai1.com. Log on to: gulfvoiceolrnangalore.webs.com. Last date for registration is May 15, 2010.

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uwait Kerala Muslim Association (KKMA) opened its 6th charitable Kidney Dialysis Center (KDC) in Trivandrum, capital city of Kerala State. Oomman Chandy, opposition leader of Kerala Legislative Assembly inaugurated the Kidney Center in association with Al-Arif Hospital on Friday, April 16, 2010.

The inaugural function held at Al-Arif Hospital was presided over by Shivan Kutty, member of legislative assembly.

M M Hasan, former Minister for Pravasi Affairs was the guest of honor. Sageer Trikarpur, chairman of KKMA provide a brief account of KKMA kidney center project.

Speaking at the inaugural function, Sageer Trikarpur explained that the joining hands with Al-Arif will help KKMA to help needy poor dialysis patients to have their dialysis procedures at minimal cost of Rs 450 or less per procedure. A joint Management Supervisory Committee of KKMA and Al-Arif will look after the day to day administration of the center.

Veeran Kutty (Director Manarul Huda Trust) welcomed the audience. Shahid Labba, secretary of KKMA Abbasiya branch coordinated the entire program.

KKMA mentioned that the seventh KKMA Kidney Center will be opened in Wynad Distrct by end of this year.

prize distribution for winners of NAFO cultural competitions - 2010. Competition judges who kindly provided their expertise in deciding the winners were also honored at the function. NAFO cultural secretary and co-convener of the event, Madhu Warrier, thanked the participants and audience for their support and encouragement which made the event a grand success.

Philipe Pellaud

Radisson Blu Hotel announces new GM

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he Rezidor Hotel Group - one of the fastest growing hotel companies worldwide - announces the appointment of Philipe Pellaud as General Manager of the Radisson Blu Hotel, Kuwait.

Pellaud, a Swiss national; has extensive international hospitality experience, including the last 20 years as a General Manager.

Having joined Rezidor in 1992 as the General Manager of the Radisson SAS Hotel, Kuwait; this is Pellaud’s second term in charge of the hotel.

Pellaud left Kuwait in 1995 to take on the role of General Manager of the Radisson SAS Hotel, Jumeirah Beach in Dubai and has since taken on an impressive number of international assignments as General Manager in various locations including Dresden, Prague, Cannes, Istanbul, Sofia, Stockholm, Wroclaw, Krakow, Ankara,

Vienna and Istanbul again.

Throughout his time with Rezidor, Pellaud has been involved in numerous openings and conversions. Most recently, he has been working as pre-opening and opening General Manager of the Radisson Blu Resort & Spa in Dubrovnik, Croatia, since January 2009.

Speaking of the appointment, Marko Hytonen, Area Vice-President said “We are delighted to welcome Philipe back to the Middle East and to a hotel that he is already extremely familiar with; his wealth and depth of experience and strong ‘Yes I Can!’ service attitude are a real asset to any team”. Pellaud, who is a graduate of the Ecole Hoteliere in Lausanne and attended the General Manager Program at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, speaks fluent French and English.

Vanithavedi to celebrate May Day

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s part of the ongoing 10th anniversary celebrations of Vanithavedi - Kuwait, May Day will be celebrated on Saturday, 1 May 2010 from 2 pm at Abbassiya United Indian School. It will begin with a painting competition for children and women along with the exhibition of the selected works of women painters. A legal workshop focusing on difficulties and problems faced by women workforce and the available legal protection will be held at 5 pm. Adv Twinkle Annie Chacko will give the keynote address. Representatives from various Indian organizations will participate in the ensuing discussions. Phone numbers 24342807, 24312180 and 97114331 can be contacted for details.

AMICOS Rock Nite

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ssociation of Mar Ivanios College Old Students (AMICOS) is holding a fun filled evening of western & eastern musical program “AMICOS Rock Nite” along with annual general body meeting on May 6, at the Indian Community School, Salmiya from 6 pm. Program will be followed by a gala dinner. Entry for the program is restricted only to AMICOS members and invited guests. Please contact Raj Mohan Thampi (99535202), Kuruvilla (99849402), Sunil (66582760) for more details.

‘Shaastrotsav’ is a roaring success

‘S

haastrotsav’ (the Science Festival), organized by the NSS College of Engineering Alumni Association, Kuwait Chapter in association with GUST, was held on April 23, 2010 at GUST (Gulf University for Science & Technology). The exhibition was inaugurated at 10 am by presidents of eight engineering college alumni associations from Kerala while ribbon cutting at the Exhibition Center was done by Dr Mazoud Al-Kandri (Director Public Relations, GUST).

Ribbon cutting at Technology Center was done by Varkey Monsey Kuruvilla, KEF General Convener. The exhibition that attracted a large number of people continued till 6:30 pm. Fourteen schools with sub-junior, junior and senior categories participated in the science exhibition competition.

Eight Engineering College Alumni Associations from KEF (Kuwait Engineers Forum) participated in the science exhibition competition. An air/gas propelled cars design contest was held for school children as well as for KEF members separately. Dr Vidula Mhaiskar of Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), India conducted a science activity workshop which enthralled the audience. The

workshop which was originally planned for one hour, continued for almost three hours because of the interest shown by audience. She demonstrated how easily available material, which we normally throw away as waste can be used for making toys to demonstrate scientific principles. Adults and children were thrilled by the toys which they learned to make in the workshop to demonstrate scientific

basis of sound, gravity, light, magnetism, wave propagation etc.

American Society for Safety Engineers conducted a technical seminar on safety with the help of multimedia presentation from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Indian Doctors’ Forum conducted a seminar on ‘Life Style Disorders’. After a detailed presentation by four doctors a question answers section was held.

Indian Ambassador Ajai Malhotra visited the exhibition stalls at 5:45 pm to 6:30 pm. He interacted with the students in the exhibition halls and took keen interest to know about each and every exhibit. R C Suresh, a wellknown industrialist from Kerala also accompanied the ambassador.

Evening program started at 6:30 pm with Ambassador Ajai Malhotra delivering his speech. He

appreciated and encouraged the organizers of ‘Shaastrotsav’.

Malhotra advised the organizers to conduct this program in the coming years also. Dr Robert Kook (Vice Chairman of GUST) also delivered a speech and he mentioned that he is too proud in providing support and venue for such wonderful program.

Dr Kesavadas, Professor, Buffalo University New York, who is an internationally renowned expert in Haptics technology and Virtual Reality, delivered keynote speech and presentation on use of Virtual Reality technology in areas such as surgery, remote robotic control, volcanic simulation and

factory design. Dr Kesavadas demonstrated Robotic Surgical Simulator, or RoSS, the latest surgical simulator developed by him and his team in VR Laboratory of Buffalo University. The Robotic Surgical Simulator, or RoSS, addresses the quickly growing need for a realistic training environment for robot-assisted surgery, a field that is rapidly expanding and is expected to constitute a significant number of all surgeries within the next five to seven years. The program was concluded with a vote of thanks by Eng Sunil Jacob (NSS Alumni).

The prizes for the winners of various contests were distributed.

Embassy of inDia The Embassy of India has further revamped and improved its Legal Advice Clinic at the Indian Workers Welfare Center, and made the free service available to Indian nationals on all five working days, i.e. from Sunday to Thursday every week.

Kuwaiti lawyers would be available at the Legal Advice Clinic daily from Monday to Thursday, while Indian lawyers would be available on Sundays.

Following are the free welfare services provided at the Indian Workers Welfare Center located at the Embassy of India: [i] 24x7 Helpline for Domestic Workers: Accessible by toll free telephone no. 25674163 from anywhere in Kuwait, it provides information and advice exclusively to Indian domestic sector workers (Visa No. 20) as regards their grievances, immigration and other matters. [ii] Help Desk: It offers guidance to Indian nationals on routine immigration, employment, legal, and other issues (Embassy premises; 9 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 4.30 PM, Sunday to Thursday); (iii) Labour Complaints Desk: It registers labor complaints and provides grievance redressal service to Indian workers (Embassy premises; 9 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 4.30 PM, Sunday to Thursday); (iv) Shelters: For female and male domestic workers in distress; (v) Legal Advice Clinic: Provides free legal advice to Indian nationals (Embassy premises; Kuwaiti lawyers 3 PM to 5 PM, Monday to Thursday; Indian lawyers 2 PM to 4 PM on Sunday); and (vi) Attestation of Work Contracts: Private sector worker (Visa No. 18) contracts are accepted at the Embassy; 9 AM to 1 PM; Sunday to Thursday; Domestic sector worker (Visa No. 20) contracts are accepted at Kuwait Union of Domestic Labor Offices (KUDLO), Hawally, Al-Othman Street, Kurd Roundabout, Al-Abraj Complex, Office No 9, Mezzanine Floor; 9 AM to 9 PM, Saturday to Thursday; 5 PM to 9 PM on Friday.

Embassy of PhiliPPinEs The Embassy of the Philippines wishes to inform the Filipino community in the State of Kuwait, that the recent supreme court decision to extend the registration of voter’s applies only in local registration in the Philippines under Republic Act no. 8189 and does not apply to overseas voters which is governed by Republic Act no. 9189, hence it has no impact on the plans and preparations on the conduct of overseas absentee voting. The overseas absentee voting for presidential elections will continue uninterrupted until May 10, 2010 daily at the Philippine Embassy.

Registered overseas absentee voters are advised to schedule their days off in advance to avoid complications in their schedules. Qualified voters are encouraged to get out and vote.

Information on Cuba

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he Government of Cuba decided last February 16, that all travelers, foreign and Cubans living abroad, coming to the island from May 1, 2010 and thereafter shall take out a medical insurance policy. To meet such requirement, travelers shall have a travel insurance which covers medical expenses or a policy for medical expenses with coverage in Cuba. For more information when planning your trip to Cuba please, visit our web site or any Cuba embassy or consulate next to you, or any Cuban Tourism Office. You can visit www.cubatravel.cu or at www.asistur.cu

WHAT’S ON IN KUWAIT

Monday, April 26, 2010

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Announcement ‘A Serene Poetry Evening’ WARE announces ‘A Serene Poetry Evening’ with Fatima H Alwan tomorrow at 7 pm, Fatima , an enthusiastic, anglophone, Kuwaiti writer and poet, and the author of two books of poetry; “A Dreamer’s Pulsing Thoughts” and “Poesy Whisperer”, escorts you in a thrilling journey to venture into the refulgent realm of classical poetry and wallow in the beauty and luxury of classical poetic forms. Fatima shall also uncloak her own creative poetic form, which she calls “Sparrowet”. For further details contact AWARE by Tel: 25335280 or visit us online at www.aware.com.kw emails may be sent to info@aware.com.kw

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Mohammad Arif Butt, President Pakistan Business Council

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Sajjad Ahmad Sahar, Charge de affairs Pakistan Embassy

Indian Lawyers Forum Kuwait ndian 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

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■■■■■■ Kala Balakalamela erala Art Lovers Association-KALA will conduct Arts and Literature competitions for Indian school children on April 30 at Indian Community School, Khaitan. The items include classical dances, essay writing, elocutions, recitations, singing, classical music and skits.

The event is named “Balakalamela-2010”.

Prizes to winners will be given away the same evening. Free entry forms are available at all Indian schools, J Saji, general secretary KALA, said. For assistance and details, the following numbers may be contacted: 97817100 / 99122984/ 24317875.

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Ikhlaq Malik, Finance Controller

A picture of the cake cutting ceremony

Pakistan Business Council holds oath-taking ceremony

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he oath-taking ceremony of Pakistan Business Council was held in Kuwait Continental. Sajjad Ahmad Sahar, Charge de Affairs Pakistan Embassy presided over the function. The program began with the recitation of the verses of the Holy Quran. The members of Pakistan Business Council and prominent members of the community were

present in the ceremony. Irfan Adil conducted the program in his particular style.

Ikhlaq Ahmad, prominent businessman and finance controller of the council thanked the audience. He said “We should try our best to promote Pakistani products all over the world including Kuwait and other Gulf countries” and discussed the ways by which imports of

Pakistani fruits and vegetables can be enhanced.

Mohammad Arif Butt, president of the Pakistan council also thanked the charge de affairs and the audience and promised to fulfill the objectives of the council. He said overseas Pakistanis live thousands kilometers away from their homeland but they are more patriotic than the rest.

They love their country and are trying their best for the progress and development of their homeland. He promised that the council will make sincere efforts to increase the trade between two brother countries. They will do their best to promote the imports of Pakistani products, fruits and vegetables. Sajjad Ahmad Sahar, Charge de Affairs Pakistan Embassy in

his address congratulated the president and other responsible persons of the Pakistan Business Council and assured full support from Pakistan Embassy. They will always strengthen their efforts for increasing the trade between Kuwait and Pakistan. At the end a specially made cake was cut and audience were invited for the dinner.

■■■■■■ Al-Thaalib Scholarship 2010 l-Thaalib Scholarship is a financial aid scheme for under privileged school students in Kuwait, sponsored by Islam Presentation Committee (IPC) & Ministry of Awqaf in association with Friday Forum and Pakistan Kuwait Welfare Association.

Last year we were able to provide financial assistance to nearly 900 students of various Indian & Pakistani Schools in Kuwait for the academic year 2008-09. These scholarships were given to the needy students irrespective of their religion or nationality. We are pleased to inform that the process for Al-Thaalib Scholarship for the current academic year, 2010-11, has begun for all Indian, Philippine and Pakistani Schools in Kuwait.This year we shall endeavor to reach the scholarship to as many needy students as possible to help them continue with their education without any financial hindrance. In order to avail this scholarship, applicants are requested to collect the Application Form, from Al-Thaalib Office located in CAMS, Ahmed Al-Jaber Street, Darwaza, Near Warba Insurance Co, Int’l Islamic Charity Organization Building, 2nd Floor, Al-Sharq.

The duly filled application form shall be submitted to Al-Thaalib office on or before April 30, 2010 along with all supporting documents specified in the Application Form. For more information, you may contact 55046318 or 22418934 ext 204/202.

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Investiture ceremony in Al-Amal Indian School

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he senior wing of Al-Amal Indian school organized an investiture ceremony on April 5, 2010 in the school quadrangle. The ceremony was proposed to declare the student council for the session 2010-2011. The student

council consisted of the Head Boy, Asst Head Boy, Head Girl, Asst Head Girl, Sports Captain, Asst Sports Captain, Cultural Captain and Asst Cultural Captain. These portfolios were assigned to students so as to make sure that the

works in the three areas of the schoolacademic, sports and cultural activities could be shared by the council members.

In their speeches, the Head Boy and the Head Girl expressed their determination to work for the school. Other

New office bearers elected

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uthamizh Arignar Narpani Manram (Muthainizh Arignar Welfare Association) held their special meeting on April 23, 2010 at 10:00 am at old Thanjai Restaurant, Mirqab for electing new office bearers for the forthcoming period and following members were elected. The vote of thanks was presented by Sadiq Basha.

Management Committee: President : K Jayabalan Vice-President : K Natarajan Secretary : B S Sheikh Adam Deputy Secretary: K K Mathivanan Treasurer : Radhika Selvam Propaganda Secretary: S Sadiq Basha Public Relations Officer: Senthai Raveendar Co-ordinate Committee: N Selvam U K Sivakumar V E Mathiyazhagan Solapuram I Shajahan

■■■■■■ Food competition n the occasion of MES Ladies Wing’s 5th Anniversary Celebration a food competition will be held on Friday April 30, 2010 at Kuwait Medical Association Hall - Jabriya from 3 to 6 pm. It is open to all residing in Kuwait. The first 15 entries will be accepted from each category. The three categories are Dessert, Snacks, Biriyani. Interested persons can contact on Tel: 99862430, 99135198, and 97299734 for registration. Valuable prizes will be awarded for the 1st 2nd 3rd prize winners from each category. The Judges interpretation and decision will be final. The judging panel headed by Dr Lakshmi Nair, from Kerali TV will select the winners.

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India International School children excel in IAIS

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Mahma Kan Althaman exhibition he world’s first Kuwaiti comic book, Fatima Al-Qadiri and Khalid AlGharaballi’s Mahma Kan Althaman (“Whatever the Price”) is the story of the hermaphroditic lovechild of Moogambo, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, and a 1970s Italian fotonovela, commissioned by Bidoun Magazine. It will be on display at Sultan Gallery. A series of prints from the book will be on show alongside a selection of local designer Kleenex boxes and cutting-edge, Emirati perfumes. The opening night is tomorrow from 7 pm - 9 pm and it will continue April 28, from 11 am to 2 pm and 7 pm - 9 pm, and on April 29, from 11 am to 2 pm.

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council members also pledged to work for the betterment of their areas. The prefects of the four houses viz Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire and Amber promised to give their helping hands to the Head Boy and the Head Girl in materializing their

Austin John

Chandan R Bhat

Mafazah Sharfuddin

Fibin Bethel Babu

Tanvi

Jeswin Wilson

Yumna Kulsoom

ndia International School students came out successfully with gold medals, higher distinctions and distinctions in IAIS - a diagnostic test jointly organized by Macmillan India Limited and the University of New South Wales, Australia.

Mafazah Sharafuddin, III standard, has got gold medal for her outstanding performance in English across Kuwait, IIS secured 26 distinctions and one higher distinctions out of 270 participants. Allen Thomas of Class III secured the highest grade in English, Science and

Mathematics. Yumna Kulsoom Adeel of Class III has got Higher Distinction in Science.

Fibin Bethel Babu of Class IV has topped in Maths and Austin Joseph John of Class IV secured Distinction in English and Computer.

Chandan Raghavendra Bhat of Class V secured the highest grade in Science. Jeswin Wilson of Class VI has got the highest grade in English and Science. Tanvi Chitnis of Class VIII has topped in English. The school management and the principal congratulate all these toppers and wish them success in all walks of life.

mission. In his address to the student council, The Principal, Baldwin Faife, spoke on the quality of a good leadership, and emphasized on the areas which should be looked upon by the council members.

Birthday Greetings

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appy birthday to Shereen Nasser Sayed! We wish you more happiness, good health and more birthdays to come. Greetings from Baha Nasser, Mama Delia, Dada Tareq and Tita Juvy, and also from your loving sister and brothers.

May God bless you.

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appy birthday to R S Harikrishnan who turns seven today. You are so special to everyone. May God bless you and keep you in good health. Best wishes from Achan S V Ramesh, Amma S Sindhu Devi, brother R S Hariharan, Appupan and Ammamma.

TV PROGRAMS

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings

00:40 E!es 02:20 Sexiest 03:15 25 Celebrity Near Death Experiences 05:05 Dr 90210 06:00 15 Unforgettable Hollywood Tragedies 07:45 Style Star 08:10 Style Star 08:35 E! News 09:25 Bank Of Hollywood 10:15 E!es 11:05 E!es 12:00 E! News 12:50 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 13:40 Ths 15:25 Behind The Scenes 16:15 E! Investigates 17:10 Kendra 18:00 E! News 18:50 Streets Of Hollywood 19:15 Battle Of The Hollywood Hotties 19:40 Ths 20:30 Ths 21:20 Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami 22:10 E! News 23:00 Dr 90210 23:50 Wildest Tv Show Moments

00:00 House 01:00 Dawson’s Creek 02:00 Bones 03:00 Hotel Babylon 04:00 Dawson’s Creek 05:00 Supernatural 06:00 CSI New York 07:00 House 08:00 Criminal Minds 09:00 Cold Case 10:00 Bones 11:00 Hotel Babylon 12:00 CSI New York 13:00 Supernatural 14:00 Bones 15:00 Dawson’s Creek 16:00 Criminal Minds 17:00 Cold Case 18:00 House 19:00 CSI New York 20:00 Hawthorne 21:00 Saving Grace 22:00 Supernatural 23:00 Rescue Me

00:45 Whale Wars 01:40 Untamed & Uncut 02:35 Untamed & Uncut 03:30 Killer Whales 04:25 Night 04:50 Night 05:20 Animal Cops Phoenix 06:10 RSPCA: Have You Got What it Takes?

06:35 Jockeys 07:00 Wildlife SOS 07:25 Pet Rescue 07:50 Face to Face with the Polar Bear 08:45 Austin Stevens Adventures 09:40 Beverly Hills Groomer 10:05 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:30 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:55 Monkey Business 11:20 SSPCA: On the Wildside 11:50 Miami Animal Police 12:45 E-Vets: The Interns 13:10 Pet Rescue 13:40 Animal Cops Houston 14:35 Wildlife SOS 15:00 SSPCA: On the Wildside 15:30 Face to Face with the Polar Bear 16:25 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 16:50 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 17:20 Beverly Hills Groomer 17:45 Deep Into the Wild with Nick Baker 18:15 Dogs 101 19:10 Planet Earth 20:10 Animal Cops Phoenix 21:05 Untamed & Uncut

00:25 Doctor Who 01:10 Hell To Hotel 02:00 Casualty 02:50 Casualty 03:40 Doctors 04:10 Doctors 04:40 Doctors 05:10 Doctors 05:40 Doctors 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 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 16:15 The Weakest Link 17:00 Doctors 17:30 Cash In The Attic 18:00 Robin Hood 18:55 Coast 20:00 The Weakest Link 20:45 Doctors 21:15 Eastenders 21:45 New Tricks 22:45 Holby City 23:45 Holby City

00:00 Boys’ Weekend 00:25 Boys’ Weekend 00:50 Saturday Kitchen 01:45 Living In The Sun 02:30 Cash In The Attic 04:45 Chuck’s Day Off 05:30 Trish’s Mediterranean Kitchen 05:55 Gino D’Acampo - An Italian In Mexico 06:20 Living In The Sun 07:10 Saturday Kitchen 08:10 Daily Cooks Challenge 08:40 Bargain Hunt 09:20 Antiques Roadshow 10:10 Antiques Roadshow 11:00 Cash In The Attic USA 11:20 Hidden Potential 11:45 The Naked Chef 12:30 Living In The Sun 13:25 What Not To Wear 14:15 Bargain Hunt 15:45 Antiques Roadshow 16:35 Cash In The Attic USA 16:55 Hidden Potential

Charlie Wilson's War on Super Movies 17:20 The Naked Chef 17:45 The Naked Chef 18:10 Living In The Sun 18:55 Antiques Roadshow 19:45 Daily Cooks Challenge 20:15 Come Dine With Me 20:40 MasterChef Goes Large 21:10 Saturday Kitchen

01:00 Jennifer Eight-18 03:15 The Juror-18 05:15 Land Of Plenty-PG15 07:15 Hardball-PG15 09:00 Nicholas Nickleby-PG15 11:15 Dialogue Avec Mon Jardinier-PG15 13:00 Chariots Of Fire-PG 15:00 Jump Tomorrow-PG15 17:00 All Hat-PG15 19:00 Map Of The Human Heart-18 21:00 La Personne Aux Deux Personnes 23:00 The Contender-18

00:00 Megaheist 01:00 Rampage!

02:00 Nextworld 02:55 Fifth Gear 03:20 Fifth Gear 03:50 American Chopper 04:45 How It’s Made 05:10 Destroyed in Seconds 05:40 Destroyed in Seconds 06:05 Extreme Explosions 07:00 Massive Machines 07:30 Massive Machines 07:55 Wreck Rescue 08:20 Street Customs Berlin 09:15 Mythbusters 10:10 Ultimate Survival 11:05 Fifth Gear 11:35 Fifth Gear 12:00 Border Security 12:30 How It’s Made 12:55 How It’s Made 13:20 American Chopper 14:15 Miami Ink 15:10 Mythbusters 16:05 Dirty Jobs 17:00 World’s Toughest Jobs 18:00 Border Security 18:30 Street Customs Berlin 19:30 Destroyed in Seconds 20:00 How It’s Made

00:05 The Gadget Show 00:30 Science of the Movies 01:20 Future Weapons 02:10 Future Weapons 03:00 The Gadget Show 03:25 The Gadget Show 03:50 Science of the Movies 04:45 What’s That About?

05:40 Test Case 06:10 Engineered 07:00 Junkyard Mega-Wars 08:00 Cosmic Collisions 09:00 The Gadget Show 09:25 The Gadget Show 09:55 How Does That Work?

10:20 Stunt Junkies 10:50 What’s That About?

11:45 Mean Green Machines 12:10 Weird Connections 12:40 Cosmic Collisions 13:35 The Gadget Show 14:00 The Gadget Show 14:30 Nextworld 15:25 How Does That Work?

15:55 Junkyard Mega-Wars 16:50 Brainiac 17:45 Mega World 18:40 Building the Biggest 19:30 Kings of Construction 20:20 How It’s Made 20:45 How It’s Made 21:10 Mythbusters 22:00 Building the Biggest 22:50 Kings of Construction 23:40 Mega World

00:00 Suite Life On Deck 00:20 A Kind Of Magic 00:45 Phineas & Ferb 01:10 Fairly Odd Parents 01:35 Replacements 02:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 02:25 Lazytown 02:45 Imagination Movers 03:10 Handy Manny 03:30 Jungle Junction 04:00 Suite Life On Deck 04:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place 04:45 Jonas 05:10 Hannah Montana 05:25 Sonny With A Chance 06:00 Higglytown Heroes 06:10 My Friends Tigger And Pooh 06:35 Lazytown 07:00 Special Agent Oso 07:20 Imagination Movers 07:45 Jungle Junction 08:10 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 08:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 09:00 Handy Manny 09:25 Special Agent Oso 09:45 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 10:10 Fairly Odd Parents 10:35 Hannah Montana 11:00 I Got A Rocket 11:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place 11:45 Phineas & Ferb 12:10 Suite Life On Deck 12:35 Replacements 12:55 American Dragon 13:20 Kim Possible 13:40 I Got A Rocket 14:05 Fairly Odd Parents 14:30 Phineas & Ferb 14:55 Replacements 15:15 A Kind Of Magic 15:40 Wizards Of Waverly Place 16:00 Hannah Montana 16:25 Sonny With A Chance 16:45 Fairly Odd Parents 17:10 Phineas & Ferb 17:35 Suite Life On Deck 18:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 18:25 Hannah Montana 18:45 The Replacements 19:00 Jonas 19:25 Suite Life On Deck 19:50 Sonny With A Chance 20:15 Hannah Montana 20:35 Wizards Of Waverly Place 21:00 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 21:25 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody

06:00 American Dragon 06:25 Kid vs Kat 06:50 Phineas & Ferb 07:15 Phineas & Ferb 07:40 Phineas & Ferb 08:05 American Dragon 08:30 Pokemon DP: Battle Dimension 09:00 Phineas & Ferb 09:30 Zeke & Luther 10:00 Phil Of The Future 10:30 Suite Life On Deck 11:00 Kid vs Kat 11:30 Power Rangers Jungle Fury 12:00 Aaron Stone 12:25 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 12:50 Pokemon DP: Battle Dimension 13:20 NEXT X EUROPE 13:30 Phineas & Ferb 14:00 Zeke & Luther 14:30 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 15:00 American Dragon 15:30 Kid vs Kat 16:00 Phineas & Ferb 16:30 K9 ADVENTURES 17:00 Suite Life On Deck 17:30 Aaron Stone 18:00 Iron Man: Armoured Adventures 18:25 Kid vs Kat 18:50 NEXT X EUROPE 19:00 Zeke & Luther 19:30 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody 20:00 American Dragon 20:30 K9 ADVENTURES 21:00 Phil Of The Future

00:00 Iron Chef America Special 01:00 30 Minute Meals 01:00 Iron Chef America 06:00 Chopped 06:00 Iron Chef America 07:00 Everyday Italian 07:00 Iron Chef America 08:00 Great British Menu 08:00 Iron Chef America 09:00 Daily Cooks Challenge 09:00 Iron Chef America 10:00 30 Minute Meals 12:00 Teleshopping 12:40 Barefoot Contessa 13:00 Teleshopping 14:20 Barefoot Contessa 15:00 Teleshopping 16:00 Great British Menu 17:00 Teleshopping 18:00 Daily Cooks Challenge 19:00 Teleshopping 20:00 Barefoot Contessa 21:00 Barefoot Contessa 21:00 Teleshopping 22:00 Tyler’s Ultimate 23:00 Food Network Challenge 23:00 Tyler’s Ultimate

00:30 Undercover 01:20 Murder Shift 02:10 On the Case with Paula Zahn 03:05 Deadly Women 04:00 Undercover 04:55 Amsterdam Vice 05:20 FBI Files 06:10 Ghosthunters 06:35 Ghosthunters 07:00 Forensic Detectives 07:50 FBI Files 08:40 Real Emergency Calls 09:30 The Prosecutors 10:20 Forensic Detectives 11:10 FBI Files 12:00 Mystery ER 12:50 The Prosecutors 13:40 Disappeared 14:30 Forensic Detectives 15:20 FBI Files 16:10 Real Emergency Calls 17:00 The Prosecutors 17:50 Forensic Detectives 18:40 FBI Files 19:30 Mystery ER 20:20 The Prosecutors 21:10 Disappeared 22:00 Forensic Justice 22:50 Dr G: Medical Examiner

01:05 The Hunting Party 02:55 The Pope Must Die 04:35 Madonna: Truth Or Dare 06:30 Slamdance 08:10 Parker Kane 09:45 Heart Of Dixie 11:20 Far North 12:50 Prancer 14:30 Nobody’s Perfect 16:00 Beach Blanket Bingo 17:35 Mannequin 19:05 Broadway Danny Rose 20:30 Signs of Life 22:00 Livin’ Large 23:35 The First Time

00:00 Alaskan Killer Shark 01:00 Wild Chronicles 01:30 Savannah 02:00 Hippos: Africa’s River Beast 03:00 Dogtown 04:00 Kalahari 05:00 Fairy Penguins 06:00 Alaskan Killer Shark 07:00 Wild Chronicles 07:30 Savannah 08:00 Hippos: Africa’s River Beast 09:00 Dogtown 10:00 Kalahari 11:00 Mother Warthog 12:00 The Last Lioness 13:00 Secrets Of The King Cobra 14:00 Built For The Kill 15:00 Bonecrusher Queens 16:00 World’s Deadliest Animals

17:00 Mother Warthog 18:00 The Last Lioness 19:00 Secrets Of The King Cobra 20:00 Built For The Kill 21:00 Bonecrusher Queens 22:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 23:00 Mother Warthog

00:00 Better Off Ted 00:30 The Office 01:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 Best ofLate night with Jimmy Fallon 03:00 Saturday Night Live 04:30 South park 05:00 Better Off Ted 05:30 Best of 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 Yes dear 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 Best of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson 13:00 The Office 13:30 Yes dear 14:00 The Nanny 14:30 Malcolm in the Middle 15:00 Saturday Night Live 16:30 Drew Carey 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 Significant Others 18:30 Just Shoot me!

19:00 Billable Hours 19:30 The Office 20:00 Best of Late night with Jimmy Fallon 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 21:30 Colbert Report Global 22:00 Monday Stand Up night 23:30 South park

00:00 The Martha Stewart Show 01:00 Downsize Me 02:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 03:00 Moms Get Real / Now you know / Amplified 04:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Best Of) 05:00 GMA Weekend (Repeat) 06:00 Moms Get Real / Now you know / Amplified 07:00 Parenting 07:30 Job Club 08:00 The Martha Stewart Show 09:00 Downsize Me 10:00 The Best of Jimmy Kimmel 11:00 The View (repeat) 12:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 13:00 The Martha Stewart Show 14:00 GMA Live 16:00 Ahead of The Curve 16:30 Nature’s Edge 17:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Best Of) 18:00 Eat Yourself Sexy 18:30 10 Years Younger 19:00 The View (repeat) 20:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 21:00 The Best of Jimmy Kimmel 22:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Best Of) 23:00 Moms Get Real / Now you know / Amplified

21:00 Modern Marvels 21:55 Modern Marvels 22:50 Battle Stations 23:40 Dogfights 00:00 Barbie Of Swan Lake-FAM 02:00 Superman: Doomsday-FAM 04:00 Just For Kicks-PG 06:00 Curious George: Follow That Monkey-PG 08:00 Simba The King Lion-FAM 10:00 Just For Kicks-PG 12:00 The Jungle Book IV: Hate And Love-FAM 14:00 Superman: Doomsday-FAM 16:00 Robotech - The Shadow ChroniclesFAM 18:00 Justice League: The New FrontierFAM 20:00 Soccer Dog-PG 22:00 The Jungle Book IV: Hate And Love-FAM

00:00 The Ex-list 01:00 Law & Order: Criminal Intent 02:00 Breaking Bad 03:00 Survivor : Samoa 04:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 04:30 Coach 05:00 Repear 06:00 Emmerdale 06:30 Coronation Street 07:00 Law & Order 08:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 08:30 Coach 09:00 Survivor : Samoa 10:00 Repear 11:00 Law & Order 12:00 Emmerdale 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 13:30 Coach 14:00 The Ex-list 15:00 Law & Order: Criminal Intent 16:00 Repear 17:00 Survivor : Samoa 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Coronation Street 19:00 Ugly Betty 20:00 Desperate Housewives

01:15 Premier League 05:30 Portuguese Liga 09:00 Premier League 11:00 Portuguese Liga 13:00 Premier League 17:00 Futbol Mundial 17:30 Premier League World 18:00 Premier League Classics 18:30 Premier League 20:30 Live Premier League Review Show 22:00 Futbol Mundial 22:30 Premier League World 23:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights

00:15 Premier League 02:15 NRL Premiership 04:00 NRL Premiership 06:00 ICC Cricket World 06:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 07:00 Snooker World Championship 10:30 NRL Premiership

01:00 Super 14 03:00 Premier League Darts 07:00 PGA European Tour 11:30 World Sport 12:00 Live Snooker World Championship 16:30 Live Snooker World Championship 20:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 20:30 Premier League World 21:00 Live Snooker World Championship

01:00 The Day The Earth Stood Still 03:00 Charlie Wilson’s War-18 05:00 The 11th Hour-U 07:00 A Shine Of Rainbows-PG15 09:00 Last Mimzy-PG 11:00 The El Escorial Conspiracy-PG15 13:00 Christmas In Wonderland-PG 15:00 Lost Holiday: The Jim And Suzanne Shemwell Story-PG 17:00 Last Mimzy-PG 19:00 The Memsahib-PG15 21:00 Alatriste-PG15 23:30 Hannah Montana The Movie-PG

00:20 Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid 01:35 The Dirty Dozen 04:00 Quo Vadis 07:00 White Heat 08:50 The Sunshine Boys 10:40 Young Cassidy 12:30 Butterfield 8 14:15 The Glass Bottom Boat 16:05 Elvis: That’s The Way It Is 17:45 The V.I.P.S 19:40 Kelly’s Heroes 22:00 They Call Me Mister Tibbs!

23:50 Shaft

00:30 Monster Quest 01:20 Dogfights 02:10 Deep Sea Detectives 03:00 Lost Worlds 03:55 Seven Deadly Sins 04:50 Life After People 05:40 Ax Men 2 06:30 Monster Quest 07:20 Dogfights 08:10 Deep Sea Detectives 09:00 Lost Worlds 09:55 The Universe 10:50 Life After People 11:40 Ax Men 2 12:30 Monster Quest 13:20 Dogfights 14:10 Deep Sea Detectives 15:00 Lost Worlds 15:55 The Universe 16:50 Life After People 17:40 Ax Men 2 18:30 Monster Quest 19:20 Dogfights 20:10 Deep Sea Detectives

00:00 What I Hate About Me 01:00 My Celebrity Home 02:00 How Do I Look?

03:00 Split Ends 04:00 Dr 90210 05:00 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane 05:30 Area 06:00 How Do I Look?

07:00 Style Star 07:30 Style Her Famous 08:00 My Celebrity Home 09:00 Style Star 09:30 Dress My Nest 10:00 Peter Perfect 11:00 Whose Wedding Is it Anyway?

12:00 Ruby 13:00 Clean House 14:00 Clean House Comes Clean 14:30 Dress My Nest 15:00 How Do I Look?

16:00 Split Ends 17:00 Dallas Divas & Daughters 17:30 Style Her Famous 18:00 Running in Heels 19:00 Split Ends 20:00 Clean House 21:00 Giuliana & Bill 21:30 Dallas Divas & Daughters 22:00 Clean House 23:00 What I Hate About Me

00:00 Globe Trekker 01:00 Secrets of Bangkok 02:00 Cruising the Spirit of Adventure 03:00 Distant Shores 03:30 Wild At Heart 04:00 Angry Planet 04:30 Culture Shock 05:00 Secrets of Bangkok 06:00 Globe Trekker 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 Globe Trekker 09:00 Essential 09:30 Dream Destinations 10:00 Travel Today 10:30 Feast India 11:00 Chef Abroad 11:30 Entrada 12:00 Planet Food 13:00 Globe Trekker 14:00 Chef Abroad 14:30 The Thirsty Traveler 15:00 Feast India 15:30 Entrada 16:00 Angry Planet 16:30 Essential 17:00 Globe Trekker 17:30 Raging Bulls 18:00 Essential 18:30 Journey Into Wine-South Africa 19:00 Chef Abroad 19:30 The Thirsty Traveler 20:00 Globe Trekker 21:00 Planet Food 22:00 Floyd Uncorked 22:30 Travel Today 23:00 Culture Shock 23:30 Essential

00:00 Capturing Mary-PG15 02:00 The Caller-PG15 04:00 Space Chimps-PG 06:00 Quid Pro Quo-PG15 08:00 Paul Blart Mall Cop-PG15 10:00 Saving God-PG15 12:00 No Reservations-PG15 14:00 Sarah Landon And The Paranormal Hour-PG 16:00 Paul Blart Mall Cop-PG15 17:45 The Prestige-PG15 20:00 Burn After Reading-PG15 22:00 The House Bunny-18

01:00 The Art Of War III: Retribution 03:00 W Delta Z-18 05:00 Dragon Heart-PG 07:00 Mercury Man-PG15 09:00 Twin Daggers-PG15 11:00 From A Place Of Darkness-PG15 13:00 The Last Drop-PG15 15:00 Twin Daggers-PG15 17:00 Death Warrant-PG15 19:00 Ninja Cheerleaders-PG15 21:00 Alien Raiders-18 23:00 Living Hell-18

00:00 Satellites And Meteorites-PG15 02:00 Futurama: Bender’s Game-PG15 04:00 Heartbreakers-PG15 06:00 Will You Merry Me-PG15 08:00 Short Track-PG 10:00 I.Q.-PG 12:00 Scrooged-PG 14:00 Americanizing Shelly-PG 16:00 Satellites And Meteorites-PG15 18:00 Prom Wars-18 20:00 Deep In The Valley-PG15 22:00 The Last Shot-PG15

The House Bunny on Show Movies

Star Listings (UAE Timings) STAR Movies 20:40 I Love Trouble 22:45 The Delphi Effect 00:15 Scary Movie 01:40 Nothing To Lose 03:20 Bachelor Party 2: The Last Temptation 04:55 I Love Trouble 06:55 The Delphi Effect 08:25 Scary Movie 09:50 Nothing To Lose 11:30 The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause 13:05 The Darjeeling Limited 14:35 A Woman’s Rage 16:10 Phone Booth 17:30 Watching The Detectives 19:05 New York, New York STAR World 20:00 Mental 20:50 Charlie’s Angels 21:00 The Listener 21:50 Who’s The Boss?

22:00 90210 23:00 [V] Tunes 00:00 [V] Tunes 01:00 [V] Tunes 02:00 Kyle XY 03:00 Scrubs 03:30 The King Of Queens 04:00 Samantha Who?

04:30 05:00 05:50 06:00 06:50 07:00 07:50 08:00 08:50 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:50 11:00 11:50 12:00 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:50 17:00 17:50 18:00 18:50 19:00 19:50

Samantha Who? Criminal Minds Jackie Chan Adventures Grey’s Anatomy Charlie’s Angels 90210 Who’s The Boss?

Mental Jackie Chan Adventures The King Of Queens The Bold And The Beautiful Kyle XY Charlie’s Angels Grey’s Anatomy Who’s The Boss?

[V] Tunes Criminal Minds Scrubs The King Of Queens Samantha Who? Samantha Who? October Road Jackie Chan Adventures Reaper Charlie’s Angels Stone Undercover Who’s The Boss?

Criminal Minds Jackie Chan Adventures

Granada TV 20:00 Lewis (Series 1) 22:00 New Homes From Hell ** 23:00 Vroom Vroom (Series 2) 00:00 60 Minute Makeover (Series 3) 01:00 Piers Morgan’s Life Stories Special With Gordon Brown * 02:00 Crime Monday: Lewis (Series 1) 04:00 Young, Posh and Loaded 04:30 The Sunshine Girls 05:00 Emmerdale 05:30 Coronation Street 06:00 60 Minute Makeover (Series 3) 07:00 Crime Monday: Lewis (Series 1) 09:00 Piers Morgan’s Life Stories Special With Gordon Brown * 10:00 Young, Posh and Loaded 10:30 The Sunshine Girls 11:00 Emmerdale 11:30 Coronation Street 12:00 Teen Fat Camp 13:00 Crime Monday: Lewis (Series 1) 15:00 Piers Morgan’s Life Stories (Series 2) * 16:00 Emmerdale 16:30 Coronation Street 17:00 Teen Fat Camp 18:00 Crime Monday: Lewis (Series 1) Channel [V] 21:00 [V] Tunes

21:30 22:00 23:00 23:30 00:00 01:00 01:30 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 05:30 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00

[V] Tunes Loop Amp Around Asia [V] Tunes [V] Special XO Loop Backtracks Videoscope [V] Special [V] Tunes [V] Tunes Loop Amp Around Asia [V] Tunes Loop [V] Tunes [V] Plug Loop Backtracks XO [V] Tunes [V] Plug The Playlist [V] Countdown Backtracks Double Shot Loop [V] Tunes [V] Plug

17:30 18:00 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30

Loop Backtracks XO [V] Tunes [V] Plug The Playlist

Fox News 00:00 America’s News HQ host Shannon Bream 02:00 Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 03:00 The O’Reilly Factor(repeat) 04:00 America’s News HQ hosts Gregg Jarrett and Julie Banderas 06:00 FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 07:00 FOX Report Sunday host Julie Banderas 08:00 Huckabee with Mike Huckabee 09:00 Hannity with Sean Hannity 10:00 Geraldo At Large with Geraldo Rivera 11:00 Huckabee with Mike Huckabee 12:00 Hannity with Sean Hannity 13:00 Geraldo At Large with Geraldo Rivera 14:00 FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace (repeat) 15:00 War Stories with Oliver North 16:00 Bulls and Bears (repeat) 16:30 Cavuto On Business (repeat) 17:00 FORBES on FOX (repeat) 17:30 Cashin’ In (repeat) 18:00 FOX & Friends First Live 19:00 FOX & Friends Live 21:00 America’s Newsroom

22:00 America’s Newsroom 23:00 Happening Now National Geographic Channel 20:00 Fight Masters -Silat 21:00 Theme Week -Six Degrees Could Change The World 22:00 Theme Week -Shark Eden (aka Journey To Sha 23:00 Theme Week -Diving The Labyrinth 00:00 Air Crash Investigation -Ditch The Plane 01:00 ABOUT ASIA -Somewhere In China : Silk Road 1 02:00 Locked Up Abroad -Party Girl 03:00 Dangerous Encounters -Dangerous Encounters With Brad : Monster Crocs (aka Size Matters) 04:00 The Living Edens -Canyonlands: America’s Wild West 05:00 ABOUT ASIA -Somewhere In China : Silk Road 1 06:00 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet -Turkish Delights 06:30 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet -Community Power 07:00 Triumph Of Life -Survivors 08:00 Locked Up Abroad -Party Girl 09:00 Wild Chronicles -13 09:30 Wild Chronicles -14 10:00 Theme Week -History’s Secrets : The Hunt For Hitler 11:00 Air Crash Investigation -Ditch The Plane 12:00 ABOUT ASIA -Somewhere In China : Silk Road 1 13:00 Generals At War -The Battle Of Midway

Monday, April 26, 2010

33 Flight Schedule Arrival Flights on Monday 26/04/2010 Airlines Flt Route 045 Dhaka/Bahrain Bangladesh Wataniya Airways 188 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 306 Cairo Gulf Air 211 Bahrain Turkish A/L 772 Istanbul Sharm El Sheikh Wataniya Airways 322 Jazeera 435 Mashad Jazeera 287 Beirut DHL 370 Bahrain Jazeera 637 Aleppo 853 Dubai Emirates Etihad 305 Abu Dhabi Qatari 138 Doha Ethiopian 622 Addis Ababa/Bahrain Jazeera 503 Luxor 201 Dubai Falcon Jazeera 527 Alexandria Jazeera 529 Assiut Kuwait 412 Manila/Bangkok British 157 London 204 Lahore Kuwait Kuwait 382 Delhi Kuwait 302 Mumbai Fly Dubai 053 Dubai Kuwait 676 Dubai 352 Cochin Kuwait Kuwait 284 Dhaka Kuwait 344 Chennai Kuwait 362 Colombo Emirates 855 Dubai Arabia 121 Sharjah Qatari 132 Doha Etihad 301 Abu Dhabi Jazeera 425 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 182 Bahrain Gulf Air 213 Bahrain Middle East 404 Beirut Jazeera 165 Dubai Wataniya Airways 102 Dubai Iran Aseman 6521 Lamerd Jazeera 171 Dubai Egypt Air 610 Cairo Kuwait 672 Dubai Oman Air 645 Muscat Jazeera 525 Alexandria Royal Jordanian 800 Amman United A/L 982 Washington DC Dulles Fly Dubai 057 Dubai Jazeera 257 Beirut Wataniya Airways 422 Amman Saudi Arabian A/L 500 Jeddah Kuwait 552 Damascus Nas Air 745 Jeddah Qatari 134 Doha Kuwait 548 Luxor Kuwait 546 Alexandria Kuwait 678 Muscat/Abu Dhabi Kuwait 118 New York Bahrain Air 344 Bahrain Etihad 303 Abu Dhabi Emirates 857 Dubai Jazeera 693 Shiraz Gulf Air 215 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 402 Beirut Saudi Arabian A/L 510 Riyadh Jazeera 217 Isfahan Jazeera 493 Jeddah Jazeera 239 Amman Arabia 125 Sharjah Jazeera 367 Deirezzor Sri Lankan 227 Colombo/Dubai Wataniya Airways 304 Cairo Kuwait 104 London Wataniya Airways 106 Dubai Kuwait 542 Cairo Kuwait 502 Beirut Kuwait 786 Jeddah Kuwait 618 Doha Jazeera 177 Dubai Kuwait 744 Dammam Kuwait 674 Dubai Kuwait 614 Bahrain Kuwait 774 Riyadh Indian 575 Chennai/Goa Fly Dubai 061 Dubai Middle East 402 Beirut Rovos 081 Baghdad Jet A/W 572 Mumbai KLM 0445 Amsterdam Wataniya Airways 404 Beirut Jazeera 459 Damascus DHL 372 Bahrain Gulf Air 217 Bahrain Emirates 859 Dubai Qatari 136 Doha United A/L 981 Bahrain Jazeera 429 Bahrain Jazeera 185 Dubai Tunis Air 327 Tunis Lufthansa 636 Frankfurt Pakistan 239 Sialkot Jazeera 263 Beirut Wataniya Airways 108 Dubai

Time 00:05 00:30 00:50 01:05 01:15 01:20 01:30 01:45 02:15 02:15 02:25 02:55 03:25 03:30 05:15 05:25 06:05 06:10 06:15 06:30 07:10 07:20 07:50 07:55 08:00 08:05 08:10 08:20 08:20 08:25 08:40 09:00 09:25 10:25 10:45 10:45 10:50 11:05 11:05 11:45 12:50 12:55 13:15 13:15 13:20 13:35 13:35 13:50 14:10 14:10 14:30 14:35 14:55 15:05 15:10 15:30 15:35 16:15 16:40 16:50 16:55 17:00 11:15 17:15 17:20 17:20 17:25 17:35 17:40 17:40 18:00 18:35 18:35 18:45 18:50 18:50 18:55 18.55 19:05 19:15 19:20 19:20 19:25 19:30 20:05 20:20 20:30 20:30 20:40 20:50 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:15 21:35 21:55 22:15 23:05 23:35 23:45 23:55 23:55 23:55

Departure Flights on Monday 26/04/2010 Airlines Flt Route Jazeera 528 Assiut India Express 390 Mangalore/Kozhikode KLM 0447 Amsterdam Lufthansa 637 Frankfurt Safi A/W 216 Kabul Ind1an 982 Ahmedabad/Chennai Pakistan 206 Peshawar/Lahore Bangladesh 046 Dhaka Turkish A/L 773 Istanbul DHL 371 Bahrain Emirates 854 Dubai Ettihad 306 Abu Dhabi Ethiopian 622 Addis Ababa Qatari 139 Doha Wataniya Airways 101 Dubai Jazeera 524 Alexandria Jazeera 164 Dubai Jazeera 422 Bahrain Gulf Air 212 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 181 Bahrain British 156 London Jazeera 256 Beirut Kuwait 345 Alexandria 054 Dubai Fly Dubai Kuwait 677 Abu Dhabi/Muscat Kuwait 671 Dubai Jazeera 170 Dubai Wataniya Airways 421 Amman Kuwait 551 Damascus Kuwait 547 Luxor Arabia 122 Sharjah Emirates 856 Dubai Qatari 133 Doha Etihad 302 Abu Dhabi Wataniya Airways 401 Beirut Gulf Air 214 Bahrain Kuwait 165 Rome/Paris Wataniya Airways 303 Cairo M1ddle East 405 Beirut Kuwait 541 Cairo Jazeera 492 Jeddah 366 Deirezzor Jazeera Kuwait 103 London Jazeera 238 Amman Iran Aseman 6522 Lamerd Kuwait 501 Beirut Kuwait 785 Jeddah Egypt Air 611 Cairo Jazeera 692 Shiraz Jazeera 216 Isfahan Oman Air 646 Muscat Wataniya Airways 105 Dubai Royal Jordanian 801 Amman Fly Dubai 058 Dubai 982 Bahrain United Airlines Jazeera 176 Dubai Kuwait 673 Dubai Wataniya Airways 403 Beirut Kuwait 617 Doha Saudi Arabian A/L 501 Jeddah Nas Air 746 Jeddah 45$ Damascus Jazeera Kuwait 773 Riyadh Qatari 135 Doha Kuwait 613 Bahrain Kuwait 743 Dammam Rovos 082 Baghdad Bahrain Air 345 Bahrain Ettihad 304 Abu Dhabi Wataniya Airways 305 Cairo Gulf Air 216 Bahrain Em1rates 858 Dubai Kuwait 543 Cairo Jazeera 262 Beirut Arabia 126 Sharjah Saudi Arabian A/L 511 Riyadh Jazeera 184 Dubai Jazeera 428 Bahrain Sri Lankan 228 Dubai/Colombo Wataniya Airways 107 Dubai Kuwait 283 Dhaka Fly Dubai 062 Dubai Kuwait 331 Trivandrum Middle East 403 Beirut Jet A/W 571 Mumbai Wataniya Airways 187 Bahrain KLM 0445 Bahrain/Amsterdam Gulf Air 218 Bahrain DHL 373 Bahrain Kuwait 675 Dubai Emirates 860 Dubai Kuwait 381 Delhi Falcon 102 Bahrain Qatari 137 Doha Kuwait 301 Mumbai Kuwait 205 Islamabad Jazeera 526 Alexandria Jazeera 502 Luxor Jazeera 636 Aleppo United A/L 981 Washington DC Dulles Kuwait 411 Bangkok/Manila

FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161

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

ACCOMMODATION

FOR SALE

Sharing accommodation in Jabriya, separate room in mulhak for decent Muslim bachelor, rent KD 65, near Al Hadi hospital, from 1st May, phone facilities. Contact: 99546413. (C 2177).

25-4-2010

Mitsubishi jeep Nativa, model 2008, silver color, excellent condition, cash price KD 2,800, done 65,000 kms only, Contact: 66211779. (C 2184) 26-4-2010

Sharing accommodation available for 1 Keralite bachelor in a C-AC flat in Abbassiya near Caesar’s cargo/ opposite Al Jas Int’l Shipping. Call 66349475.

(C 2173)

Nissan Pathfinder 2005, (XES 3.5), color grey, run 130,000 km, passing up to April 2011, new tires and very good condition. Price KD 3,100 (negotiable). Call 99338742. (C 2176)

Sharing accommodation available for Keralite couple to share with Keralite family in 2 bedroom 2 bathroom flat in Abbassiya. Call: 97168979. (C 2175) 24-4-2010

Laptop IBM Intel Centrino, RAM 512, HD 30 GB, WiFi, DVD-CD-WR, price KD 65 & IBM PC P4, CPU Intel original 2.8, RAM 256, HD 40 GB, price KD 35, all in excellent condition, call 99322585. (C 2180)

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)

Honda Accord, 2004 model, gold color, full options, 120,000 km, excellent condition. Price KD 2,800. Call: 55522942. (C 2181) 25-4-2010 1998 GMC Sierra - 3500 pick up 6.5L diesel engine, double heel in very good condition, full options. KD 2,250. Contact: 66714700.

(C 2150) 1996 Chev Silverado pick up 2W in very good condition, loaded with options.

KD 2,050.

Contact: 97485532. (C 2149) 22-4-2010

No: 14710

SITUATION VACANT

Part time maid required in Messila area for a small family. Contact: 99754411 (C 2185) 26-4-2010

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

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

CHANGE OF NAME Old name: Pichai Senthil Kumar, Passport No: F8462965. New name: P. Sayed Ahmed. (C 2174) 24-4-2010

MATRIMONIAL Invited from parents of well educated qualified boy for a Keralite Roman Catholic (RC) girl 25/slim/fair working as Saudi MOH nurse. Interested parents may respond with complete profile to jibyvandakom@yahoo.in (C 2186) 26-4-2010

(C 2171) 22-4-2010 SITUATION WANTED

Indian male, B.Tech electronics + MBA Marketing, 2 years experience in sales/marketing/management, proficient in computer applications, good communication skills, seeks suitable employment. Tel: 65170157. Email: baby_eldhose@yahoo.co.in (C 2179) I need full/part-time job as accountant, I am commerce graduate, with 3 years experience in Kuwait. I can use different financial packages, good MIS skills. Call: 55355954. (C 2182)

SPECTRUM

34 CROSSWORD 970

Monday, April 26, 2010

Calvin Aries (March 21-April 19) Someone could challenge you on a very sensitive issue today.

Unfortunately, this could result in an argument or, at the least, a very intense discussion. A particular subject may touch upon some very emotional parts of you. Sometimes when the facts are clear, there is still a difference of opinion. Acceptance may be the key to a better relationship now. Your taste in art and appreciation in general are heightened. Perhaps this is a good time to select furnishings, colors, and so on—the finer things of life. Your sense of value is very good. General good feelings and a sense of support makes this a happy time. Everyone may want to work together this evening to create something fun together; perhaps a mailbox cover, birdhouse, stepstool, etc.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You love to move about and exercise your mental abilities as well as your physical abilities. You rarely study one subject intensely, but have a vast array of knowledge at your ready and can communicate in many different levels of intellect. You could find yourself enjoying many different activities, particularly with young people. There is a strong tie to relatives now.

You make every effort to keep in touch and in the know when it comes to your relatives. This may be a good day for a picnic in the park or planning a get-together in order to visit at a time other than weddings, baby showers or funerals. This is a vital day with much positive action.

You may feel a bit radiant. This time is energizing and stimulating!

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

4. An anxiety disorder associated with serious traumatic events and characterized by such symptoms as guilt about surviving or reliving the trauma in dreams or numbness and lack of involvement with reality or recurrent thoughts and images.

8. Considerate and solicitous care.

11. An ugly evil-looking old woman.

12. Thin fibrous bark of the paper mulberry and Pipturus albidus.

13. 10 hao equal 1 dong.

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

16. (Babylonian) God of wisdom and agriculture and patron of scribes and schools.

18. (astronomy) The angular distance of a celestial point measured westward along the celestial equator from the zenith crossing.

19. A small cake leavened with yeast.

20. The quantity that a cap will hold.

22. A digital display that uses liquid crystal cells that change reflectivity in an applied electric field.

25. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

26. A high-crowned black cap (usually made of felt or sheepskin) worn by men in Turkey and Iran and the Caucasus.

32. (Old Testament) The second patriarch.

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

36. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

37. Extremely pleasing.

40. A Russian river.

42. A short labored intake of breath with the mouth open.

45. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

47. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

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

51. The emotion of hate.

52. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

53. Light informal conversation for social occasions.

54. Lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise.

55. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research.

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

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Your thoughts today may be on improving or updating your spring wardrobe. At least you will be taking notes on the new clothes you may be purchasing soon. You may even decide to spend the afternoon shopping. Be careful that you do not indulge just now. There is a test of faith with purging the superficial things in your life may very well take hold at the very roots of your existence. This is a kind of spiritual or philosophical rebirth and it is not always gentle. Ultimate answers come from far away. There is a relationship now that is coming together quite nicely. Communication between the two of you is quite good. Romance is strong this evening. You and your lover may enjoy a drive to a nearby ice cream store.

Non Sequitur

Cancer (June 21-July 22) A friend may surprise you with their negative thinking today. Your thoughts and ideas go against their secretive, power-oriented manner and you are not afraid to tell them so. You can present an attitude of common sense, positive action and warmth to this person, enabling them to create a more positive manner. Be careful that you do not go on a spending spree this afternoon, for you may appreciate the beauty and value of everything you encounter. You could feel loving and warm to those around you and you are appreciative of your own life and self, in general. You are most successful at home today where you can be your real self. Water flowing in or near your home can aid in your relaxation, artistic nature and intuitive thoughts.

Leo (July 23-August 22) There could be a line forming with people waiting for your attention today. You are good at working with hair, cutting and styling your own, your friends, spouse and/or children. Later today, you could be overly generous and careless with your money. Think about how much get-up-and-go it takes to work and pay for what you want and you may decide to purchase what you need. You may wish you were far from crowds—alone with your beloved. Consider having a picnic or get some day old bread and feed the ducks together. Quiet time alone with the people you love helps you to bond and build good memories. Now is not the time to criticize love, even if you feel that you would like to do so. Romance works this evening.

Zits

Virgo (August 23-September 22) You have a special

DOWN 1. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

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

3. A soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal.

4. A heavy precious metallic element.

5. Of a light yellowish-brown color n 1.

6. A detailed description of design criteria for a piece of work.

7. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

8. The fifth day of the week.

9. A Loloish language.

10. Fossil fuel consisting of carbonized vegetable matter deposited in the Carboniferous period.

15. A high-crowned black cap (usually made of felt or sheepskin) worn by men in Turkey and Iran and the Caucasus.

17. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

21. The syllable naming the fourth (subdominant) note of the diatonic scale in solmization.

23. Tropical American tree producing cacao beans.

24. The district occupied entirely by the city of Washington.

27. A very poisonous metallic element that has three allotropic forms.

28. A white soft metallic element that tarnishes readily.

29. Being one hundred more than two hundred.

30. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

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

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

34. A Bantu language spoken by the Chaga people in northern Tanzania.

38. The sixth month of the civil year.

39. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

41. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

43. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

44. A metabolic acid found in yeast and liver cells.

46. A young woman making her debut into society.

48. A nucleic acid consisting of large molecules shaped like a double helix.

49. A light touch or stroke.

talent for appreciating and creating beauty—particularly beautiful things made from luxurious and rich materials. You might enjoy working with elegant fabrics, colorful yarns, fine leathers and richly grained woods. If you are not making furniture, you will probably be repairing furniture. If this is not a regular profession it can be a stress relief activity. You would make a terrific gourmet cook, reveling in succulent sauces and delicate desserts. You can expand your enjoyment of life with more recreation, entertainment and creative pursuits. There are new opportunities for romance. Pleasant social activities are on the increase, especially those related to educational, religious or cultural interests. This is a good time to travel for pleasure.

Libra (September 23-October 22) You think about something in your life that you want to add or change and you may debate the best possible approach. This could include a bit of traveling or it could mean a return to school. Coincidentally, a friend who has been traveling makes plans to visit you. Unpredictable at times in your personal relationships, you often connect better to strangers than your own family.

This can bring you great joy, but trouble as well. Your own family members might like to get to know you better. Emotions have a good balance this evening and a close friend benefits from your understanding advice. This is actually, a great time to reflect and understand your own life. You might have fun with the study of astrology or some other area of metaphysics.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You will want to be responsible and sensitive to the feelings of others as usual.

This may cause you to abandon your tendency to prove a point and become absorbed in a fun hobby. You may be sought after for advice regarding very personal and emotional issues but it would be best to encourage the other person to take some time to think through their own answers. You are very enterprising financially and can encourage or teach others along this line as well. You want to complete any home projects today and then you consider a date or some other activity with friends. If you are involved in a difficult relationship you will find improvements happen with little steps. If you are looking for a relationship, the thrill of the chase may be quite invigorating.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You could be extremely busy today. This may mean that outside your own personal chores and responsibilities, a friend is moving or needing repairs on their home or car.

It would be an excellent idea to bring a focus into your day by finding out where your energies can be best applied. Also, make sure you are not the only one that can help. Work goes fastest when you can share a task with another person. There is plenty of time today to be helpful to others. Spend some quiet time in your garden this evening. Plan or read about creating a little rock garden with some herbs for this year. Many herbs attract butterflies, bees, hummingbirds as well as good smells. Some of the members of your family may like to work their own section of the garden.

Yesterday’s Solution

yester

Yesterday’s Solution to

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Kuwait Qatar Abu Dhabi Dubai Raas Al Khayma Al-Shareqa Muscat Jordan Bahrain Riyadh Makkah - Jeddah Cairo Alexandria Beirut Damascus Allepo

00965 00974 009712 009714 009717 009716 00968 009626 00973 009661 009662 00202 00203 009611 0096311 0096321

Tunisia Rabat Washington New York Paris London Madrid Zurich Geneva Monaco Rome Bangkok Hong Kong Pakistan Taiwan Bonn

0021610 002127 001212 001718 00331 004471 00341 00411 004122 0033 00396 00662 00852 0092 00886 0049228

Word Sleuth Solution

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) There is much mental busywork today. Perhaps you are writing a story, solving a puzzle, learning about new health remedies, etc. Today is indeed a day to soak up some good vibrations, whether you have to create them, or they come to you naturally. These are good ways in which to express your range of feelings. Dreams and illusions, forgiveness and understanding human frailties are the things that arouse deep feelings.

Driving to the store this afternoon could take you on more of an adventure than you had in mind. A friendly, entertaining and gifted partner could gain your attention this afternoon. Perhaps their hobby is fascinating and you want to learn some new technique. This evening should be filled with relaxation and laughter.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You may feel a bit out of step today and your ideas could run ahead of everyone?s thought process. It seems your intuitive side is in full working order and you may glean many truths from the people around you. Seeing things as they really are and expressing this to others may not earn you any popularity points, however. Just take the insights with a grain of salt and use them in your own growth process. Understanding life trends and people’s spiritual process can be of great benefit to your own development. You have a clear vision into your own inner sense of values, how you appreciate and love. This may be a good time to examine and think about what is important and of lasting value in life.

Understanding human frailties arouses deep feelings.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) There is restlessness and perhaps a bit of worry over something you cannot change today. Make an effort to move your attention to a more productive direction. You may find yourself busy with those little things around the house that need fixing.

Inventive concepts may come easily. Perhaps some equipment does not work and you manipulate the item until you have everything working. You may help a friend put together a bicycle, or crib for a child. You busy yourself with tools and parts—you may have a new tool or tool chest. There is some self-examination and transformation going on in your personal life now. If you are looking for a new love you may find someone just breeze into your life. If you have a significant other, this evening is healing.

INFORMATION

Monday, April 26, 2010

35 FIRE BRIGADE Operation Room 112 Al-Madena 22418714 22545171 Al-Shohada’a Al-Shuwaikh 24810598 22545171 Al-Nuzha Sabhan 24742838 22434853 Al-Helaly Al-Fayhaa 22545051 24711433 Al-Farwaniya Al-Sulaibikhat 24316983 23927002 Al-Fahaheel Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 24316983 23980088 Ahmadi Al-Mangaf 23711183 23262845 Al-Shuaiba Al-Jahra 25610011 25616368 Al-Salmiya

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw

For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 HOSPITALS Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha’a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

24874330/9 CLINICS

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

4892674

Al-Omariya

4719048

N.Kheitan

4710044

Rabiya

4732263

Fintas

3900322

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988 AIRLINES

PHARMACIES ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE Ahmadi

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PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists: Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea Dr. Masoma Habeeb Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy Dr. Mohsen Abel Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly

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Zahra Qabazard Sohail Qamar Snaa Maaroof Pradip Gujare Zacharias Mathew

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25658888

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25329924

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SPECTRUM

Naomi Campbell to tie the knot

36

Monday, April 26, 2010

Lohan not ‘bankable’ indsay Lohan has reportedly been fired for her latest film because she is not “bankable”. The troubled actress was to play a student working on a deserted island in ‘The Other Side’, but sources close to the film told website TMZ she was let go from the project because her name isn’t enough to guarantee box office success. The film’s writer and director, David Michaels, was diplomatic about Lindsay’s departure, saying: “Our team simply chose to move on from Lindsay and we’ll soon be announcing a replacement.” Other actors involved in the film include Woody Harrelson, Giovanni Ribisi and singer Alanis Morissette. The lead role in which Lindsay was cast was also at one time associated with late actress Brittany Murphy, who tragically died of pneumonia last year aged 32. Former child star Lindsay has not appeared in a film that has been a hit with critics or at the box office since a bit part in ‘Bobby’ in 2006.

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Her last film, ‘I Know Who Killed Me’ in 2007 flopped. The 23-year-old actress’ personal troubles have done little to help her career, with her father, Michael Lohan, saying he believes she is taking drugs and this week arriving at her Hollywood home with police officers in an attempt to stage an ‘intervention’ and take her to rehab. Michael said: “We all know she’s drinking and if she’s on prescription drugs, you can’t do both. And then there’s cocaine, of course.” Lindsay reacted angrily to her father’s actions, posting messages on her twitter page saying she wanted to take out a restraining order against him, and calling him her “ex-dad”.

She wrote: “I have no choice but to make this public, due to my sister’s safety, as well as my own, “my ex-dad” just WALKED INTO MY APT like the devil’s advocate with officers (sic). “my lawyer isn’t answering I NEED A RESTRAINING ORDER! MY SISTER AND FRIEND TOO!!!!! HE’S NUTS!!! (sic).”

Rihanna wants to collaborate with La Roux Elly - who is joined in La Roux by producer Ben Langmaid - admits she would never have accepted it anyway. She added: “To be honest, do I really want to work with Rihanna? Not really. I’m more interested in what the phone call would be like.” While the ‘In For The Kill’ singer is reluctant to work with Rihanna, she does have other collaborations lined up. She added: “I’ve just spoken to Giggs, the rapper, and I’m hopefully doing a track with him and Liam Howlett from The Prodigy.

Liam’s made a beat and me and Giggs are going to cover it.

he ‘Umbrella’ hitmaker who was assaulted by thenboyfriend Chris Brown last February - was keen to record a track with the duo’s singer Elly Jackson, but the British star admits she is still waiting to be approached. Elly said: “I’ve had three or four offers for collaborations in America. Big, big artists.

Rihanna was very interested for a time. “That was weird. My A and R man said, ‘Rihanna’s going to call’ but that was the last I heard of it. She didn’t call! It was around the time of er, troubles in her life.”

Despite never receiving the offer,

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Lewis writes words of encouragement on her hands

he supermodel’s boyfriend, Russian millionaire Vladislav Doronin, has been speaking about their plans to tie the knot, revealing fashion designer-andmagazine editor Dasha Zhukova - the partner of Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich - will be bridesmaid. Online newspaper life.ru quoted the 47year-old business tycoon as saying: “I can’t say it took us long to decide who will be bridesmaid. “We are good friends with Dasha, she is a wonderful person and talented designer. So she will be next to Naomi at our wedding.” Vladislav did not hint at a possible date for the nuptials and did not give away any further details. Naomi’s spokesperson has previously laughed off speculation the couple are engaged. Her representative said in January: “Naomi is not engaged nor has any plans to wed.” It is believed Vladimir is currently still married to Ekaterina, the mother of his teenage daughter Katia. Naomi, 39, and Vladislav - who is nicknamed the ‘Donald Trump of Russia’ in his home country - began dating in 2008. Shortly after they got together, it was reported the businessman was so smitten with Naomi he bought her a $18.5 million penthouse in Brazil. A source said at the time: “Naomi told Vladislav how much she loved Brazil and that she really wanted to settle down there. So he bought her the apartment, and said it was a gift for her. They will use it as their base when they are in Brazil together.”

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Sophie Ellis-Bextor won’t Google herself he ‘Bittersweet’ singer admits she is curious about searching for herself on the internet but refuses to give in to her urge because she doesn’t want to read anything negative. She said: “As for forums and people dissecting stuff, I don’t know.

Those things can be kind of... It’s not intended for me to view. So I think it would be unwise of me to look. People might be really positive but all you can remember is all the negative stuff. I try and steer clear on the whole.

“You know what it’s like? You know when you’re at school and you leave the room and you get the idea people are talking about you and you kind of want to know what they’re saying. But it’s best you don’t. “ The 31-year-old pop star - who has two children, Sonny, five, and 14-month-old Kit Valentine, with The Feeling guitarist Richard Jones - thinks the web is bad for musicians because you can see criticisms instantly. She explained to BANG Showbiz: “The internet has made everyone so self-centered. I don’t think it’s good for my head. You can check your Facebook and if you put a video on YouTube you can check that. And then you can check where your name is being discussed. It’s not good to be so aware of all those things.” Sophie’s new single ‘Bittersweet’ is released May 3.

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he 25-year-old actress - who plays sexy Russian spy Black Widow in the superhero movie - admitted she actively campaigned for the role after actress Emily Blunt dropped out because of scheduling conflicts. She said: “I was a huge fan of the first movie and was quite ‘geeked’ out at being part of the second one. I just wanted to be a part of ‘Iron Man’ so I really researched the comic books and came in with some ideas of my own about how to develop the character. I see her as being determined and

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ambitious.” Scarlett was anxious to get the part because she was keen to “kick *ss” alongside her co-stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr She said: “I love everything about this character. She’s a total bada*s. I love every detail from her fabulous outfit to the wonderful hair. I mean, there’s nothing not to like about the character. She’s very bad and I think it’s rare that we get to see these sort of super heroines bought to the screen, where they’re really kicking some major a*s, which she does.”

Rupert Grint feels like a confident actor he ‘Harry Potter’ star - who shot to fame in 2001 after landing the role of Ron Weasley in the wizarding franchise - admitted he used to have concerns about his acting abilities and whether he was talented enough, but that’s a thing of the past now he’s hit his twenties. He said: “When you’re working with people that have been classically and professionally trained, it makes you feel a bit... I don’t know. I’ve definitely, I’ve gained confidence really, just the more you do.” The 21-year-old star recently finished work on ‘Cherrybomb’ - in which he plays a teenager caught in a whirlwind of sex, drink, drugs and crime - and admits it felt strange film-

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ing something so out of his “comfort bubble”. He said: “It was the first kind of real adult role for me really so I was quite nervous about it. It did feel like a massive step, as it’s kind of away from home. We filmed it in Belfast, out of the whole comfort bubble of ‘Harry Potter’ really, as I’ve known everyone there for all my life. I had to speak with a different accent, so yeah everything felt different and it took me a while to adjust to that.” Rupert also admitted he feels he has a responsibility not to go off the rails because his fans see him as a role model. He said: “I do feel like I just have to behave and not be too controversial. Going out in London is hard to do.”

he ‘Bleeding Love’ singer admits she gets nervous before she performs but has learned little tricks to help keep focused and stop letting her worries get the better of her. She said: “I try to focus on what I’m doing. I get really nervous beforehand but as soon as I go out, I’m kind of OK. “Something else kind of takes over and the nerves just disappear. “I sometimes write stuff on my hands, like words from my songs or mantras or something I’ve read that really helps me. “I think that getting up there and performing in front of thousands of people is like putting on a bit of a character.” Leona shot to fame after winning UK TV talent show ‘The X Factor’ in 2006 but insists she thinks she still would have had a successful music career without the show. She added: “I really believe in destiny. After I left performing arts college I was working with a lot of producers so I do really believe that I would still have ended up doing music. “I don’t know one what kind of level it would have been, but I still definitely would have been in this world.”

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SPECTRUM

Monday, April 26, 2010

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37

Music & Movies

eviews

ARTIST: SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS ALBUM: I LEARNED THE HARD WAY ince 2002, powerhouse singer Sharon Jones and her eight-piece backing band the Dap-Kings have been finding ways to bring old-school soul music into a contemporary setting. The group’s latest album, “I Learned the Hard Way,” is a more traditional take on Motown that thrives on the simplicity of its midtempo song structures.

Throughout 12 songs and a little less than 40 minutes, the Dap-Kings keep their arrangements brisk and enjoyable on tracks like the funky opener “The Game Gets Old” and doo-wop standout “Give It Back.” Jones remains a vivacious vocal force, but some of her best moments come as an intimate storyteller. “I’m a better woman than I have been/ ‘Cause I don’t think about way back when,” she confidently croons over electric guitar and hand claps on “Better Things,” a song that captures the album’s lighthearted atmosphere. “I Learned the Hard Way” finds an eminent R&B band playing within its comfort zone and Jones continuing to distinguish herself as a multilayered frontwoman.

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Tribeca film explores Qaeda’s history and culture Spitzer documentary premieres at Tribeca Film Fest

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ARTIST: MGMT ALBUM: CONGRATULATIONS bout 30 seconds into MGMT’s second album, “Congratulations,” singer Andrew Vanwyngarden asks, “How will I know if it’s working?” Indeed, leading up to the set’s release, the duo announced that the follow-up to its synthpop-heavy 2007 debut, “Oracular Spectacular,” would be a wild departure. The new nine-song album blends psychedelia with elements of post-punk, surf rock and even folk. The track “Someone’s Missing” begins sparsely with soft guitars and sitar-like effects that echo the falsetto vocals before swelling into an easygoing funk jam. Cuts like “Song for Dan Treacy” and “Brian Eno” are surf-tinged and vaguely danceable, while the approximately 12-minutelong “Siberian Breaks” channels English cult group Television Personalities and features dreamy vocal arrangements reminiscent of Simon & Garfunkel and the Mamas & the Papas. Despite its retro influences, MGMT isn’t out of touch: “Lady Dada’s Nightmare” is an eerie, instrumental nod to a certain pop star. So to answer Vanwyngarden’s question: Yes, it’s working.

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much-anticipated documentary about former New York governor Eliot Spitzer premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Though many of those interviewed for the film were in attendance Saturday evening, the documentary’s subject was not. Director Alex Gibney, whose ‘Taxi to the Dark Side’ won the 2007 documentary Oscar, interviewed Spitzer four times over the two years he spent making the film. Though it was billed as unfinished and doesn’t yet have a title, Gibney said the film was ‘mostly finished.’ He made the film in tandem with author Peter Elkind, whose book ‘Rough Justice: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer’ was recently released.

Ashley Dupre, the former call girl involved in the scandal, was not interviewed for the film. Gibney told the audience she asked for editorial control, which he refused. Messages left with representatives of Dupre late Saturday night weren’t immediately returned.

Among those interviewed on camera were former CEO Cecil Suwal of the Emperor’s Club VIP escort service and Spitzer

(From left to right) Grace Hightower, actor and co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival, Robert De Niro, comedian Omid Djalali, director and actor Ahmed Ahmed, and actor Vince Vaughn attend Doha Tribeca Film Festival Presents ‘Just Like Us Comedy Night’ at Twelve21 on April 24, 2010 in New York City. —AFP new film by Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney takes viewers from Cairo to London on a search for the cultural and historical roots of Al-Qaeda and some of its motives behind its attack on the United States.

“My Trip to Al-Qaeda,” which debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday, follows US journalist Lawrence Wright’s worldwide exploration of the historical context of what formed and radicalized Al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden.

“We know Al-Qaeda, we know the terror, we know the threat, but we really don’t know why, we don’t know how. And Larry’s personal journey made that understandable in a very low-key, compelling way,” Gibney told Reuters in an interview. Adapted from Wright’s 2007 one-man play that was

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based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning book “The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11,” it shifts between Wright’s storytelling on stage and real-life interviews with Wright’s sources. “The search for AlQaeda isn’t so simple, as to just say, who are these individuals?

It’s where they come from.

What is the context in which the terror was made manifest?”

Gibney said. The film begins with Wright in Cairo detailing the radicalization of Ayman alZawahiri, the Egyptian surgeon who formed Al-Qaeda’s backbone. In 1984, Al-Zawahiri left a Cairo jail after being tortured with electricity and wild dogs for three years, according to Wright. He was “hardened, resolute and bent on revenge,” the journalist said.

The film then shifts, explaining how bin L aden’s father,

described as “a one-eyed illiterate Yemeni laborer,” rose to become Saudi Arabia’s biggest contractor. But the younger bin Laden became disillusioned with Saudi Arabia, says Wright, who refers to a key moment when he was humiliated after being turned down by Saudi Arabia to protect its people when Kuwait was invaded by Saddam Hussein in 1990.

Instead, the Saudis turned to the United States and bin L aden’s “pride was hurt,” Wright says. The incident helped form Al-Qaeda’s early agenda to get US troops out of the Middle East, according to the author. Later, Al-Qaeda is shown using humiliation in martyrdom tapes with participants chanting “we will not accept humiliation.” Bin L aden is fueled by the historic event that occurred on Sept 11, 1683. On

that date, Polish, Austrian and German forces broke the Ottoman siege of Vienna, marking the moment when Islam began a long retreat and “the Christian West regained its footing,” Wright said.

Gibney said, “It is interesting to find out how Osama bin Laden redefines himself as this great hero who is going to lead the Middle East to some kind of victory over the West.” Many of the Sept 11 hijackers were from repressive societies with high unemployment rates, the film says, including Hani Hanjour.

Wright says Hanjour’s brother stated he became radicalized only when he could not find a pilot job in Saudi Arabia and became depressed. “Their own culture offered them no way to be powerful in the world, but al Qaeda could offer them glory,” Wright says. —Reuters

ARTIST: COURT YARD HOUNDS ALBUM: COURT YARD HOUNDS he first words out of Emily Robison’s mouth-”What am I doing here?”-are certainly appropriate for Court Yard Hounds’ self-titled debut.

Sister duo Robison and Martie Maguire might have confused a few fans by spinning off from their usual Dixie Chicks gig.

But that will likely stop once they get an earful of the familiar, harmony-laden pop-country hybrid on this 12song set. But that’s not to say “Court Yard Hounds” simply recasts the Dixie Chicks’ melodic virtues. For starters, Robison, who sings lead on 11 of the tracks, is a subtler vocalist and lyricist than her absent bandmate Natalie Maines. Robison and Maguire prove capable of crafting galloping, catchy choruses for such songs as “The Coast,” “Ain’t No Son,” “It Didn’t Make a Sound” and “I Miss You.” The sibling duo mines a bit of psychedelia on the track “Delight (Something New Under the Sun)” and blues flavors for the Sheryl Crow-like “Then Again,” while Maguire’s richly arranged “Gracefully” and the rootsy “See You in the Spring” (a duet with Jakob Dylan) offer well-deployed changes of pace.

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ARTIST: SOLOMON BURKE ALBUM: NOTHING’S IMPOSSIBLE oul legend Solomon Burke’s newest album, “Nothing’s Impossible,” a collaboration with famed Memphis producer Willie Mitchell (who died in January), sets out to prove that even at 70 years old, a man should always pursue his dreams. The powerful connection between artist and producer is especially evident on the shimmering love serenade “Dreams,” where the sweet strings are perfectly balanced with bluesy horns to build tension for Burke’s emotional outbursts. The song “You’re Not Alone” spices up the mood with a funky rock feel and a guitar solo that replaces the often-heard saxophone that appears throughout the set. And experience speaks for itself on the track “The Error of My Ways,” on which Burke sings the blues accompanied by Mitchell’s weeping strings, which evoke Gershwin. With themes of love, loneliness and longing, Burke’s raw emotional delivery and Mitchell’s rich arrangements ensure that the music penetrates to the heart and soul.

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ARTIST: PAPER TONGUES ALBUM: PAPER TONGUES efore a chance run-in with “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson helped land them a recording contract, Paper Tongues grew from a collective of Charlotte, N.C., musicians that mixed witty alt-rock with measures of hip-hop, funk and soul. Here, each member brings their electric taste to the band’s self-titled debut. The party-rock single “Ride to California” features a hip-hop beat and auctioneer intensity during the verse, mixed with bombastic electronica and a tongue-in-cheek hook. —Reuters

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Musician Keith Urban performs during day 1 of Stagecoach: California’s Country Music Festival 2010 held at The Empire Polo Club on April 24, 2010 in Indio, California.

Stagecoach 2010:

Are you ready for some country music?

W hat’s the difference between Coachella and Stagecoach? It was clear, even before a note sounded at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio for the annual country music festival.

For starters, there are more styles of barbecue at Stagecoach than naval piercings at Coachella, which took place last weekend.

And in what alternate universe could you imagine Coachella fans lining up the way Stagecoach enthusiasts are happily doing at the Soap Nation tent in hopes of snagging an autograph or a happy snap with one of the stars of “All My Children,” “One Life to Live” or the other stars of ABC daytime TV dramas who are hanging out here this weekend?

In those and numerous other

Singer Jennifer Nettles, left and musician Kristian Bush. ways, there was no mistaking the widely disparate look and atmos-

phere at the two events.

Coachella fans pretty much

hate anything that smacks of merchandising; Stagecoach-goers can’t get enough, and this year there are more vendors than ever, selling not just cowboy hats and boots, but all the accessories. Still, some fans wanted more.

“I’m so bummed,” one woman was overheard saying outside the Elusive Cowgirl boutique fashion booth, “that they’re not doing tattoos!” But another woman just around the corner had only two requirements to get her day going: “I need alcohol, and some shade!” she told her fest-mates. The former was clearly easier to come by.

But with the thermometer tipping only into the mid-80s by midafternoon, Stagecoach is off to a ridiculously temperate start.

— LosAngeles times

Susan Boyle success helps Cowell amass a fortune ritish music mogul Simon Cowell has seen his fortune rise by more than 40 million pounds (46.3 million euros, 61.5 million dollars), leapfrogging the Beckhams, according to new estimates Friday. Cowell, whose earnings were boosted by the surprise worldwide success of Scottish singer Susan Boyle af ter she appeared on his TV show “Britain’s Got Talent”, is now reckoned to be worth 165 million pounds.

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The promoter earns substantial amounts from “Britain’s Got Talent” and “The X Factor” and the artists he discovers through the TV shows.

Footballer David Beckham and his pop star-turned-fashion designer wife Victoria are now reckoned to be worth 145 million pounds, according to The Sunday Times Rich List 2010 to be published this weekend.

Cowell is now ranked 11th in the list of top British music millionaires, up from 15th place last year thanks to

Susan Boyle and Simon Cowell

the 38 percent rise in his assets.

The Beckhams saw their fortune swell by 20 million pounds, helped by Victoria’s success as a fashion designer and her husband’s sponsorship deals, although they remain in 14th spot. Cowell still has a long way to catch up with fellow music and media mogul Simon Fuller, the man who has guided the Beckhams’ careers, who has launched another new company XIX in recent months.—AFP

rivals former New York Sen. Joe Bruno and Kenneth Langone, the former director of the New York Stock Exchange.

Gibney said he also discovered the identity of another prostitute, ‘Angelina,’ whom Spitzer frequently visited. She wouldn’t be interviewed on camera, though, so Gibney hired an actress to read her answers in character. Spitzer’s wife, Silda Wall Spitzer, didn’t grant an interview for the documentary.

Often sitting on a couch in a suit with his legs crossed, Spitzer looks directly into the camera as he tries to explain why he continued to visit prostitutes before resigning in 2008. ‘You cave to temptations in ways that seem easier and perhaps less damaging,’ he says. The documentary tracks Spitzer’s meteoric rise in New York politics and his crusades against Merrill Lynch, AIG and the New York Stock Exchange. The film also raises questions about the investigation into the Emperor’s Club, suggesting that political motives may have been behind the investigation.

Gibney said Spitzer had not yet seen the film but is expected to soon. —AP

Bollywood star Bachchan has cirrhosis

mitabh Bachchan, one of India’s top actors, whose disciplined, teetotaling life is somewhat rare in Bollywood, has said his liver has been partially destroyed by cirrhosis, requiring constant medical attention. The 67-year-old Bollywood star said the condition was caused through a blood transfusion following a near-fatal accident while shooting for a film in 1982.

“I was therefore technically, or shall we say in medical terminology, a patient by default. A patient that had developed cirrhosis of the liver-a condition that is normally associated with that of an alcoholic,” Bachchan wrote on his blog on Friday.

Cirrhosis impairs the liver’s ability to control infections and process nutrients, hormones and drugs. It is also caused, as in Bachchan’s case, by the hepatitis virus.

The damage to the liver was discovered eight years ago, he said, speaking about his ailment for the first time. The latest revelations were prompted by a recent visit to the doctor following an abnormal blood test.

Bachchan’s post drew concerned reactions from hundreds of readers and fans, but the actor responded that the condition was just “5 per cent” of what ails him.

It “is a saga that never seems to end, for, what is more in store for me I cannot comprehend,” he wrote on Saturday. Bachchan, who has acted in more than 180 films, was voted the greatest star of the millennium in a BBC poll. He has had a troubled medical history, starting with the accident in 1982 on the sets of the film ‘Coolie’. He ruptured his spleen and was critically ill for several months. A vegetarian, he had abdominal surgery in 2005, keeping him out of action for almost three months. He was last seen in “Teen Patti” (Three Cards) in January, where his acted alongside British veteran Ben Kingsley. —Reuters

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Travel

Mazatlan offers two vacations in one

Sun and culture on a budget or 10-year-old Morgan King of Saskatchewan, a Mazatlan morning starts with a new hairdo from Valeria Lopez, who sets up her mobile salon on the beach near the El Cid resort. Soft music from a poolside yoga class blends with the whirl of blenders as bartenders whip up the first batch of pina coladas. Working with a handful of pink and white beads, Valeria braids Morgan’s hair while her mother, Lana, soaks up the sun on the beach that fronts the city’s Golden Zone of high-rise hotels, bars and restaurants. A few miles south, a different scene unfolds along the streets of Old Mazatlan.

Guests at the faded Hotel La Siesta breakfast on huevos rancheros while joggers and bikers get their morning exercise along a paved seawalk. Boys in swimming trunks grab their fishing spears and inner tubes and head out into the surf for the day’s catch. Golden or Olden? Most tourists choose one or the other when they vacation in Mazatlan, a commercial fishing and port city founded by the Spaniards in the 1500s on Mexico’s Pacific coast.

I sampled both on a recent five-day trip, checking in first at El Cid, a $146-a-night allinclusive beach resort, then moving downtown to a $50-a-night room at La Siesta, one of the first hotels built in Mazatlan when tourism began developing in the 1950s.

As other parts of Mexico began to draw visitors, Mazatlan developed a reputation as a party destination, more suited to the springbreak crowd than families or those interested in art and culture. That’s begun to change.

The rebirth of the historical center as a cultural district is drawing new galleries, restaurants and shops to its European-style neighborhoods. Resorts in the Golden Zone, less showy and built-up than in Puerto Vallarta or Acapulco, are picking up on the trend toward family-friendly vacations. Both Mazatlans have something to offer budget-minded travelers.

With just a 10-mile stretch of beach connecting the two, why settle for just one?

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The Zona Dorada Built in 1983, El Cid’s 393-room Castilla Beach hotel was among the first high-rise resorts developed when Mazatlan’s tourism industry shifted north, and the Golden Zone (Zona Dorada) replaced the historical center as the favored destination. Its orange and green towers, part of a mega-complex of four hotels, a marina and golf course, face a long swimming beach. The entrance fronts on a busy highway flanked by a bikini boutique and a restaurant called Senor Frog’s.

My husband and I weren’t sure what to

expect when the desk clerk snapped on our purple wristbands, a sign to waiters and bartenders that we were on the all-inclusive plan.

Would all the drinks, food, activities, even taxes be included, as promised, with no hidden charges? Yes, it turned out. “Think of it as a cruise ship that doesn’t move,” advised Bob Levinstein, CEO of ResortCompete.com, a Web site that searches for the best deals on all-inclusive resorts.

Chances are we could have snagged a room upgrade had we agreed to a time-share sales pitch. But the sun was out and our time was short, so we settled for the resort equivalent of an inside cabin.

The walls were covered in a bumpy white stucco that looked like popcorn. The air conditioner rattled, but the room was large and overlooked one of two sparkling pools. A flash of the purple wristbands bought unlimited beer, wine and drinks-not the watereddown variety you sometimes hear about-and anything we wanted from an oceanfront seafood buffet and four sit-down restaurants serving Mexican, Argentine, Italian food and sushi.

Slipped under our door each night was the “El Cid News,” listing yoga classes, cooking lessons, water aerobics and a Spanish class taught by Fhernando, a young man who doubled as an Aztec dancer at the nightly dinner shows. Signs warn guests not to buy from beach vendors, but no one pays attention. They keep the local economy humming, and what could be easier than having a shopkeeper come to you?

“Hello amigos. Good prices today. Almost free,” was how one man with a pile of straw hats on his head greeted us. He opened a case filled with silver earrings and beaded necklaces. Next came a man balancing a tray of fruit cups on his head, then three Mariachi singers, one dragging a bass fiddle through the sand. Sipping a pina colada on our balcony after a day of swimming, snacking, and learning to cook fajitas, I concluded this was a good value for anyone who wants to keep a vacation easy and hassle-free.

The King family of Saskatchewan spent 10 days here, mainly relaxing while their kids tried boogie boarding and cooled off with SpongeBob SquarePants smoothies at the swim-up bars. The best part about the allinclusive plan: not having to worry about where to eat. “It puts your mind at ease,” said Lana King. “If the kids want to eat burgers at 10 a.m. and we want seafood at noon, there’s no problem.”

If you go: azatlan, with a population of about 500,000, is in the state of Sinaloa on Mexico’s Pacific Coast.

Lodging: The Golden Zone has many beach resorts in all price ranges. Consult www.tripadvisor.com for those with the best customer ratings. I choose El Cid because it rated highly on TripAdvisor and offered an optional all-inclusive plan. The $146 rate, booked on the hotel’s Web site, included airport pickup, all taxes, meals and drinks for two. See www.elcid.com or call 866-3066113.

The Hotel La Siesta is the budget choice along Old Mazatlan’s beachfront. Rates vary according to the season, with ocean-view doubles going for $39 April-July. (011-52669-981-2640 or www.lasiesta.com.mx). A step up is the remodeled Best Western Posada Freeman Express, another original Olas Altas hotel. April rates start at $90 (800-780-7234 or www.bestwestern.com).

Nearby is Olas Altas B&B, a boutique inn with suites at $105 including breakfast (775293-4446 or www.olasaltasmaz.com).

Dining: The most romantic dining is at the sidewalk restaurants around the

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Plazuela Machado. Three less touristy choices are: Puerto Azul on the beach at Playa Norte.

A whole fish for two with trimmings is about $10 at the current exchange rate of 12.4 pesos to $1.

El Shrimp Bucket, ground floor of Hotel La Siesta. Despite the name, high-quality and authentic Mexican specialties at half the price of the trendy Plazuela Machado spots.

Mariscos Dunia, 711 Vicente Guerrero.

Bring your own shrimp, or order from the menu.

What to do: Walk, jog or bike along the Malecon, the miles-long paved seawalk that separates the Golden Zone and Old Mazatlan. Go to the 11th-floor bar at the Posada Freeman for sunset and panoramic views. Take a 30minute walk to the top of El Faro, a lighthouse perched high on a bluff. Explore the arts scene on a First Fridays art walk (www.artwalkmazatlan.com). Take in a performance at the Teatro Angela Peralta (www.culturamazatlan.com) on the Plazuela Machado. Tour the Casa Machado, a historical museum in a restored mansion. —MCT

The Centro Historico A snip of the plastic wristbands at checkout, and we were reaching into our wallets for pesos for the first time in two days. A few minutes of sidewalk negotiation with the driver of a “pulmonia” _ one of the open-air vehicles that look like golf carts and serve as taxisand we were on our way to the Hotel La Siesta, one of three original oceanfront hotels still in business along a pocket cove called Olas Altas beach in Old Mazatlan.

Faded green tile floors and a lobby atrium planted with trees so tall their vines hang down over the tables evoke a time when the Siesta was once a classy address that drew movie stars and wealthy tourists. The walls are thin and the furniture worn, but the sunset views that came with a balcony room in the 1950s haven’t changed.

No morning blender action here. Just warm breezes and the sound of the surf pounding against the sea wall. We became breakfast regulars on the hotel’s sidewalk terrace, amusing the

(Above) The Malecon, a seawalk along the beach between the Golden Zone and Old Mazatlan, is a great place to walk along the ocean. (Left) The treelined Plazuela Machado is Old Mazatlan’s cultural and arts hub. (Below) Morgan King of Saskatchewan, Canada, gets a new hairdo from Valeria Lopez, who sets up her mobile salon on the beach near the El Cid Resort in Mazatlan.

—MCT photos

waiter with our order of huevos divorciados, or divorced eggs-two poached eggs, one with red sauce and the other with green.

Away from the beach, a Centro Historico preservation push has attracted artists, restaurants and cafes to back streets lined with classic houses. Rak and Loa Gacia and their children make leather masks in a workshop in back of NidArt, a gallery in a restored mansion where artists sell pottery and art made from coconut and clay. Expats favor the nighttime music and dining scene around the shady Plazuela Machado, anchored by the Teatro Angela Peralta, an 1800s-era opera house where we bought tickets to a folk ballet for $10 each.

The best seafood is along the beach or in town at the local cantinas. A walk from Olas Altas along the paved Malecon seawalk leads past a platform popular with local cliff divers.

Further north is Playa Norte and a group of thatched-roof beach restaurants. Pick out a

fish, then relax while it’s grilled over a wood fire and served on a platter heaped with roasted tomatoes, peppers, salad and rice, all for about $10. One afternoon friends led the way to Serdan, a street of kitchen shops and fabric stores near the twin-spired cathedral and the Pino Suarez public market. There we found the “shrimp ladies” selling fresh prawns wiggling around in buckets of water.

No place to cook? No worries.

Nearby is Mariscos Dunia, a restaurant with oversized plastic Christmas bulbs strung over the bar and party music on the boom box. A waitress took the bag of shrimp from our hands, then brought chilled beers to our table. Vendors wandered through selling nuts, wallets, cigars and songs. A few minutes later, our waitress returned with our shrimp peeled and cooked to order in butter and garlic. Bring Your Own Shrimp. I could get used to that.—MCT

Parasailing is popular in Mazatlan, Mexico.

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Monday, April 26, 2010

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Travel

Golden gate

For a thrilling perspective of SF, walk the Golden Gate

The Bay Bridge, seen in background, is the less famous San Francisco suspension bridge. —MCT photos he day I walked it, the sky was as blue as vintage china. There was no wind, just the slight breeze from traffic. It was pleasantly cool. A few cyclists sped by, a couple of runners, a handful of walkers. With every step, the orange towers loomed larger.

With every step, I felt smaller, a tiny dot above San Francisco Bay. Walking the Golden Gate Bridge isn’t on everyone’s todo tourist list. But when this city’s fabled fog parts for sunshine, it could be one of the most memorable experiences you will ever have. Opened in 1937, the 1.7-mile orange bridge connecting San Francisco to Marin County is one of the few big bridges in the world that welcome walkers and bicycle traffic.

Unlike Michigan’s 5-milelong Mackinac Bridge, which allows pedestrians only on Labor Day, the Golden Gate span has a dedicated pedestrian/cycle lane. The celebrity bridge also has its own visitor’s center, gift shop, gardens and cafe, located at the foot of the span on the San Francisco side. From there, it’s just a few steps up to the walkway.

Once on the bridge, the incline is steady but not steep.

Tourists usually see the Golden Gate Bridge from below on a tour boat, or by

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bus, car or bike (see story at right). But standing quietly on

the bridge, a walker absorbs both the organic experience of

If you go: How to visit the Golden Gate Bridge On foot: The 10-foot-wide walkway on the bridge is free and open from dawn to dusk.

By tour: Most sightseeing tours stop only for a minute for a photo op. But San Francisco City Guides leads free walking tours of the bridge every Thursday and Sunday at 11 am. Meet at the statue in front of the visitor’s center on the San Francisco side. The tour lasts about 90 minutes. For info: www.sfcityguides.org or 415-5574266.

By bike: Bike and Roll bike rental has a “Bike the Golden Gate Bridge” tour. It’s a 9-mile ride offered at 1 p.m. daily ($55) from San Francisco to Sausalito. Cyclists ride over the bridge, then take a ferry back. For info: www.bikeandroll.com, 415-229-2000.

By boat: The Red and White Fleet has a one-hour Golden Gate Bridge tour. It’s narrated by an audiotape, which is filled with tales of hair-raising San Francisco events-earthquakes, fires, Alcatraz prison escapes, runaway horses, collapsing buildings-but nothing bad about the bridge, which is good, since your little tour boat passes right under it. Buy tickets at Pier 43 { at Fisherman’s Wharf ($24 adults, $16 ages 5-17). For info: www.redandwhite.com, 413673-2900.

By bus: Don’t take the bus across the bridge _ take it to get to the bridge, $2. For complete directions and schedules, see transit.511.org. A taxi from Fisherman’s Wharf will cost about $15.

By car: Yes, you can drive across it, but it’s a lot more fun to park and walk. Take Highway 101 to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area exit just before the bridge on the San Francisco side. There is limited parking. Or just tell a taxi driver you want to go to the Golden Gate Bridge visitor’s center. To reach the Marin side vista area, cross the bridge by car from San Francisco, then take the Vista Point exit, which also has parking.

More: For tourist information, see www.goldengatebridge.org.

To see pictures of what suicide barrier alternatives would look like, see www.ggbsuicidebarrier.org. —MCT

being on the span itself and the sights beyond its cables and steel. Look down. See the roiling water of San Francisco Bay more than 200 feet below.

Look north and east, and see the undulating green of Marin County, melancholy Alcatraz Island and the tidy San Francisco skyline.

At the same time, up close, you can see that each rivet is the size of a salad plate. The orange paint is slightly ocher.

The pavement beneath your feet vibrates a bit from the traffic.

More than 1.8 billion vehicles have crossed the Golden Gate Bridge since it opened in 1937. Bridge officials don’t keep track of how many pedestrians use the bridge, but there can be as many as 6,000 on a busy summer day, says Mary Currie, spokeswoman for the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District. In the early 20th century, San Francisco boomed with dreamers, but ferries were the only way across the Golden Gate straits. Why? Nobody thought it was possible to build an earthquakeproof bridge there.

Then engineer Joseph Strauss and colleagues came up with an idea-a suspension bridge able to move with the

wind and anchored securely against peril.

It worked. For 73 years, the Golden Gate Bridge has withstood storms and earth-

quakes, even the 1989 Loma Prieta quake that cracked the nearby Bay Bridge. It can sway (side to side) 27.7 feet and flex (up and down) 10.8

feet. Can a pedestrian feel it sway? I tried to. I didn’t. But then again, it was a quiet day.

At the bridge’s highest point, walkers stand 271 feet above the water, while the Art Decostyle towers loom another 500 feet straight up.

Along the way, I met a bridge painter unrolling a hose and toting pails of International Orange paint. Is it true that as soon as they finish painting the bridge from one end to the other, they have to start over? “That makes a good story,” he said, laughing. Although the bridge radiates good nature, it has a dark side. Anyone who walks it will quickly realize that its orange railings are way, way too low for common sensejust 4 feet high. About 24 people commit suicide every year by jumping off the bridge.

Golden Gate Bridge officials have proposed adding metal nets 20 feet below the railings on each side to catch or deter jumpers. The $50million net idea has been deemed the least intrusive to the architecture while also being effective. It also would allow them to keep the bridge open to pedestrians. Because final funding has not been approved, there’s no start date yet for the bittersweet project, says Currie. But it would

be good to end the bridge’s link to sorrow. I’d wager that for most people, standing atop the Golden Gate makes you glad to be alive, not the opposite.

Famous U suspension bridges Which bridge is longest?

Well, bragging rights depend on how you measure it. Most suspension bridges are measured by their “main span”-the portion of the road actually suspended by the two towers.

But you also can measure a bridge by its total length.

Here are some comparisons.

Mackinac Bridge, Michigan (1957): Total length: 26,632 feet, or 5 miles; main span: 3,800 feet.

Golden Gate Bridge, California (1937): Total length: 8,981 feet, or 1.7 miles; main span: 4,200 feet. Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Washington (1950): Total length: 5,979 feet, or 1.1 miles ; main span: 2,800 feet.

Brooklyn Bridge, New York, (1883): Total length: 6,016 feet or 1.1 miles; main span: 1,595 feet.

(Sources: Washington State Dept. of Transportation; NYC Dept. of Transportation; Golden Gate Transportation District; Mackinac Bridge Authority) —MCT

(Left) Disneyland arborists clear excess foliage from the Jungle Cruise’s main waterway in Anaheim.

(Top right) Disneyland arborist scales a tree to trim away excess foliage in Anaheim.

(Below right) Bromeliads and toucans line Amazon stretch of the Disneyland Jungle Cruise waterway.

—Mct photos

Disneyland’s fake jungle is pretty real he animals in Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise may not be real. But the jungle is. Since the ride opened in 1955 in Anaheim, Calif., the land around the ride’s river has transformed into its own ecosystem. Disney workers have switched the plant makeup from mostly leftover orange trees from the land’s previous owner to those more like a real jungle. And with the new plants, the land itself has turned into its own interactive

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environment.

“Now it has a large tree canopy made up of coral trees, ficus trees, some of the large palm trees and bamboo overhead,” said Karen Hedges, director of the Disneyland Resort’s Horticulture and Landscaping. Hedges said the canopy is as high as 100 feet in some areas and the foliage is growing more like the plants do in real jungles.

“The plants actually keep the heat in

from the day time and carries it through to night time,” Hedges said. When the temperatures in Anaheim dip to freezing, that saves the plants from dying. “It will stay a couple degrees warmer in here,” she said. While the landscaping crews work in the jungle every day, they try to leave it alone except for pruning the higher trees, and making sure the plants do not interfere with the animatronic animals that guests see. They even leave

Disneyland horticulturist Abel Cazares tends to a bromeliad plant at the Jungle Cruise.

most of the fallen leaves on the ground to let the nutrients naturally return to the soil, just like in the jungles of the Amazon or Africa. “The humidity has even attracted aerial roots from the ficus trees,” Hedges said. And that humidity has also allowed flowering, native-jungle plants to blossom in a soil-less environment right above the visitors riding in the Jungle Cruise boats while listening to those famous wise-cracking skippers. —MCT

www.kuwaittimes.net

Gandhi’s personal life laid bare in new book new book on Mahatma Gandhi has delved into the intimate life of the Indian icon whose famous vow of chastity did not prevent him sleeping with naked women and conducting bizarre sex “experiments”.

“Gandhi: Naked Ambition” by British historian Jad Adams sheds new light on the spiritual leader and independence hero whose spartan existence and resistance to earthly pleasures are an integral part of his popular image.

The book has been released in Britain and will be available soon in India where it is bound to make waves in a country where Gandhi’s image is fiercely protected and a source of national pride. That his attitudes to sex were censorious and unusual is well known. He wrote of his disgust at himself for having intercourse with his wife Kasturba, aged 15, when his father died in 1885. Gandhi also wrote about his experiments in his quest to lead a completely celibate life in his extremely candid autobiography and also made numerous references to them in letters and in conversation.

In later life, having fathered four children, he forbade even married

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couples in his ashram retreats from having sex and lectured men on the need to take a cold bath when they felt lustful. More than 60 years after Gandhi’s death, Adams has gone through hundreds of pages of his writings and eyewitness accounts to build a behind-closed-doors picture of a man considered both a saint and the father of the nation in India.

“One of things you find about Gandhi is how much he wrote about sex,” Adams told AFP by telephone from his home in London.

“When we look at his sexuality, what happens is that he has a perfectly normal sex life for the first part of his life, one that would be recognizable to almost anyone in the world. “He gets married and has a family of four. “But what interested me was that he made a decision that it would be a good idea to be chaste (in 1900). Six years later, he makes a vow and puts it into practice.” But contrary to the image of the abstemious Hindu ascetic, in later life Gandhi frequently bathed with nubile young women, had nude massages and often shared a bed with one or more of his followers, Adams’ book said.

Adams says he has no evidence that Gandhi broke his vow of chasti-

his most devoted male followers.

Adams believes the “experiments” were like a game of striptease in which there was non-

In this picture taken on March 1930, Indian freedom fighter Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is pictured with his followers during the famous salt march to Dandi in the western Indian state of Gujarat. —AFP

ty with any of the women, though he was defining the idea in a rather limited way. “He’s talking about penetration. However he’s defining sex so narrowly that he’s ignoring a lot of activities that many people would consider sensual, if not

actively sexual. “My interpretation is that he was expecting these women to try to stimulate him sexually in order that he could demonstrate his resistance.”

The sister of Gandhi’s secretary, Sushila Nayar, was one of the

women who took part, as was his 18-year-old grandniece, Manu. In other cases, the wives of men in his ashram were called upon to share his bed, even though they were forbidden to sleep with their husbands, leading to complaints from some of

contact sexual activity. “He wanted to see if sex could be controlled because he felt it was such a powerful force,” he said.

Gandhi’s views and activities-he also believed in conserving his semen, which he saw as a source of spiritual energy —- did not endear him to fellow independence leader and India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. “Nehru considered them abnormal and completely distanced himself from Gandhi’s

behaviour,” Adams said.

And what of Gandhi’s long-suffering wife Kasturba, whom he married when he was 13? As with his long absences abroad, his sometimes indifferent treatment of his children and frequent extreme fasts, she appears to have gone along with the chastity and sex experiments, albeit reluctantly. “She didn’t give much credit to the restrictions on eating or seemingly any of the things that he did, but she went along with them because she was a devoted and devout Hindu wife,” said Adams.

The author says that Gandhi’s practices were commonly discussed when he was alive but after his assassination in 1948 the details were glossed over in his elevation to the stature of national icon. “I don’t think that an understanding of any individual’s sexuality necessarily casts them in a poor light. To suggest it does implies a negative view of sex, which I don’t have,” he said.

Adams is a visiting research fellow at London University and has previously written biographies of British politician Tony Benn, pioneering British feminist Emmeline Pankhurst and India’s Nehru dynasty. —AFP

Models and a dog walk the catwalk during the Pet Fashion Week in Sao Paulo, Saturday.

—AP photos

Emirati women look at ‘Witness from Baghdad’ piece by Iraqi Halim al-Karim exhibited by Christie’s in Dubai yesterday. Christie’s will host its seventh auction of international modern and contemporary art in Dubai on April 28.

An Emirati woman looks at ‘Like Everyday’ piece by Iranian artist Shadi Ghadirian exhibited by Christie’s in Dubai yesterday.

—AFP photos

Bare bottoms, zebras: he naked women and tattooed giraffes look like something from a fantasy comic strip but, with prices of up to 16 thousand euros (21,000 dollars) per canvas, something must make these pictures special. Is it the Daliesque darkness of the religious visions? The fighting bulls like Picasso’s? More likely, it’s the story of the artist behind them: Pal Sarkozy, the 82-year-old father of France’s president, Nicolas.

“You must understand that it’s not just a naked woman or a

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The art of Sarkozy senior

portrait. Every picture tells a story,” Pal Sarkozy told AFP, strolling round the Espace Cardin gallery where the show opened Saturday, a stone’s throw from his son’s offices in the Elysee palace. He stops by “Happy Dolores”, a rear view of a shapely woman in suspenders with a wooden stump where her right leg should be.

“It’s not just for the sake of showing a girl,” he says. “It’s to illustrate her story-she was able to build a new life, even after losing a leg.” Next to it, “Noah Help” depicts a Biblical

ark perched atop a female backside and legs in black stockings.

The pictures are based on drawings by Sarkozy senior, digitally colored by his collaborator, Werner Hornung.

While the president has seen record low approval ratings in recent months, his father has drawn a mixture of interest and derision on his own account, first for publishing a memoir of his life and loves and now for his art.

“Everyone on the right-wing says it is very good. Everyone on the left says it’s very bad,”

he said. “It doesn’t matter to me. There are very few painters who were recognized in their lifetime.”

Among the works in the current show is a portrait of France’s first lady, the supermodel-turned-singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, playing a guitar.

Pal Sarkozy gave it to the presidential couple as a marriage gift. A portrait he painted of the president has been left out of the show however. “People are always talking about that picture. I want them to talk about the others,” he said.

“In a way it’s a handicap having a son who is exceptional like Nicolas.” The pictures have received scant critical attention and the artist-who separated from Nicolas Sarkozy’s mother when the future president was a child-has been accused of seeking to cash in on the family name. Asked to give a critical appraisal of Pal Sarkozy’s paintings, Le Monde newspaper’s art critic Harry Bellet laughed out loud and refused. “They’re very colorful, I’ll say that much,” Bellet told AFP. “I don’t think that someone who

has started late like that would gain such international media coverage without some link to his son. “I think the day Pal Sarkozy is exhibited at the Guggenheim in Venice we will start to take him seriously. But since I don’t think that’s going to be in the news soon, we’ll wait a bit,” Bellet added. But with opinion polls showing almost two thirds of the public against the president, name recognition can cut both ways.

His father says that through his exhibitions, he has got used to criticism too. —AFP

The father of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Pal Sarkozy, poses at the Espace Cardin in Paris. —AFP