30 Jan 2010

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

24 PAGES

SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010

Gates pledges $10bn for ‘miracle’ vaccines

SAFAR 15, 1431 AH

Russia unveils stealth fighter to rival US

Did da Vinci paint himself as ‘Mona Lisa’?

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Stern Shehata one win away from African record PAGE 21

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Hamas militant killed in Dubai Mabhouh electrocuted • Islamist group blames Israel

KUWAIT: Revellers hold a poster of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah during the launch ceremony of the Hala February festival yesterday. (Inset) A Kuwaiti woman joins in the fun. The festival, which takes place until Feb 24, kicked off with a parade which attracted thousands of people to the streets. The festival marks the beginning of the National and Liberation Day celebrations, which fall on Feb 25 and 26 respectively. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

in the news Amir grants OCIS £10m LONDON: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has donated £10 million to Oxford Center for Islamic Studies (OCIS), Kuwait’s ambassador in London said yesterday. The donation was delivered by visiting Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Ahmad to British Crown Prince Charles in a ceremony at Clarence House, Khalid AlDuwaisan said following the event. The move is a good addition to distinguished relations between Kuwait and the UK and will surely contribute to bolstering and cementing bilateral historical ties, the Kuwaiti ambassador said.

Prince Charles is the honorary chairman of the British-Kuwaiti Friendship Society and the OCIS. OCIS director Farhan Nethami told KUNA that the Amir’s bountiful donation to the OCIS is an extension of Kuwait’s relentless contributions to buttressing international scientific institutions. He also thanked Kuwait for contributing to building the OCIS’s library at the Oxford University.

Defiant Blair defends decisions on Iraq war Ex-PM denies secret deal with Bush

Twins trigger divorce ANKARA: A Turkish man decided to divorce his wife after DNA tests showed he was the father of only one of their twin boys, the masscirculation Sabah newspaper reported yesterday. Suspicious that his wife had been unfaithful, the security guard from Istanbul identified only as A K, had DNA tests performed on the three-year-olds. The tests established with a 99.99-percent certainty that he was the father of only one of the boys, Sabah reported, adding that the result was confirmed by a forensic medicine institute upon the request of the court handling the ongoing divorce case. The mother, identified as C K, had maintained a relationship with a lover she had dated before her family forced her to marry A K, the daily said. The phenomenon of twins with different fathers - known scientifically as heteropaternal superfecundation - is very rare in humans, though more common in animals such as cats and dogs. AK kept the boy he had fathered and disowned the other one, which ended up in a state care institution, Sabah said.

Sheikh abducts self BAALBECK, Lebanon: A Lebanese sheikh staged his own kidnapping allegedly in a desperate bid to secure a ransom and repay debts, a security official and his neighbours said. Police arrested Sheikh Mohammed Majzoub, the prayer leader at a Sunni Muslim mosque in the town of Majdel Anjar, for “plotting a fictional kidnapping,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Majzoub’s car had been found late Tuesday with its engine still running and hazard lights flashing on a side road of the town located in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley.

His white turban was found lying on the ground in a nearby street. But police found Majzoub, who is in his 20s, in a house near Majdel Anjar on Thursday night, with his beard and hair shaven off but otherwise unharmed.

LONDON: An anti-war protester wearing a Tony Blair mask stands behind wooden bars in a mock jail as he demonstrates outside the Iraq War Inquiry as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is called to give evidence yesterday. — AP

LONDON: Former British prime minister Tony Blair defended the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq yesterday, saying the Sept 11 attacks on the United States meant Saddam Hussein had to be disarmed or removed. The Al-Qaeda strikes against US cities had transformed the global security picture, raising the risk that militants could kill even more people if weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from a rogue state were to fall into their hands, Blair said.

Facing the first official public grilling on why he sent 45,000 British troops to war in Iraq, Blair batted away questions about the legality Continued on Page 19

GAZA CITY: The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas yesterday accused Israel of the “assassination” in Dubai last week of a founder of its military wing while on an arms-buying trip and threatened retaliation. “Mahmoud Abdel Rauf Al-Mabhouh died a martyr in Dubai on Jan 20, 2010 in suspect circumstances,” Hamas said in a statement released in its Gaza stronghold. “We hold Israel responsible for the assassination of our brother and leader,” the statement said, adding Hamas would “retaliate for this Zionist crime at the appropriate moment.”

There was no immediate Israeli reaction to the accusation. The Dubai government said police suspect a criminal gang of mostly European passport holders to be behind the killing, but that they had already fled the country.

“Preliminary investigations indicate that the crime was committed by a professional criminal gang that was following the victim before he came to the United Arab Emirates” on Jan 19, it said.

Dubai police will work with the Interpol to capture the suspects, it said in a statement, adding that “the culprits left a trace behind that points to them and will help in chasing and arresting them.”

A brother of Mabhouh charged that Israel’s Mossad overseas intelligence agency was behind the killing believed to have been conducted by two people. “The first results of a joint investigation by Hamas and the (United Arab) Emirates show he was killed by an electrical appliance that was held to his head. He was then strangled with pieces of cloth,” Fayeq Al-Mabhouh, who lives in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, told AFP. “Material was sent to a Paris laboratory which confirmed he was killed by electric shock,” he said. He said his brother was in charge of obtaining weapons for Hamas and was in Dubai on a mission for the Islamist movement.

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DAMASCUS: Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (left) and the group’s number two Mussa Abu Marzouq (right) march as mourners carry the coffin of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh (inset), one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing, during his funeral procession at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk yesterday. — AP

Laden raps US on climate, economy DUBAI: Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin L aden lectured the US and other industrial nations on climate change, and urged a dollar boycott in response to American “slavery”, in a fresh verbal assault broadcast yesterday. In the message aired on Al-Jazeera television, possibly timed to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, bin Laden said “all industrial nations, mainly the big ones, are responsible for the crisis of global warming.”

“Discussing climate change is not an intellectual luxury, but a reality,” he said in the audio recording whose authenticity could not be immediately verified. “This is a message to the whole world about those who are caus-

Veteran Algeria kingmaker dies ALGIERS: A retired general who was Algeria’s political kingmaker for decades has died, potentially leaving a vacuum at the centre of the energy exporter’s complex and opaque political system. Larbi Belkheir, who died on Thursday aged 72, was part of a generation of military officers who formed the bedrock of Algeria’s ruling elite since independence from France in 1962. But in the past few years many have died or left public life, altering the political landscape in a country that supplies 20 percent of Europe’s gas and which is still emerging from a long armed conflict with Islamist militants.

A former interior minister and presidential chief advisor, Belkheir played a central role in the emergence of two heads of state. He also acted as a mediator between the competing groups which share power in Algeria. “His death

could worsen the lack of coordination between the decision makers,” Algerian political analyst and writer Abed Charef told Reuters. Under Algeria’s constitution, political power is held by the president and parliament, which are both elected. Most analysts say though that the military and security services have substantial influence over decision-making.

The ruling system faces the challenge of how to manage the transition to a new generation of leaders.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is 72. His third term ends in 2014 and he has not said if he will exercise his right to seek re-election.

Belkheir spent the last few years as Algeria’s ambassador to Morocco. His influence declined but he was sometimes still called upon to help resolve disputes, analysts said.

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ing climate change, whether deliberately or not, and what we should do about that.”

The Al-Qaeda chief condemned the administration of former US president George W Bush for refusing to sign the Kyoto protocol on cutting carbon emissions. “Bush... and the Congress before him, rejected this agreement, only to satisfy the big companies,” said bin Laden. “Those (firms) are behind speculation and monopolies, and rises in prices... and they are behind globalisation and its tragic results.”

Bin Laden also slammed financial bailouts set up by wealthy countries to help big industry cope with the global Continued on Page 19

What’s really in Salinger’s safe?

JERUSALEM: In this photo taken Dec 31, 2009, a new car of the light train is seen at the depot next to the neighborhood of Shuafat. — AP

New Jerusalem tram has Palestinians irate JERUSALEM: Jerusalem’s first light rail star ts test r uns this spring, with its sleek silver cars gliding across the city and promising to relieve the perpetual congestion. But Palestinians see no reason to celebrate. They hope to derail the $1 billion tram because they fear it will further entrench

Israeli control over east Jerusalem, the part of the city they want as a capital. They’ve asked a French court to force two French multinationals, Veolia and Alstom, out of the project and are urging Arab countries to cancel contracts with the two companies.

Continued on Page 19

NEW YORK: So what about the safe? The death this week of J D Salinger ends one of literature’s most mysterious lives and intensifies one of its greatest mysteries: Was the author of “The Catcher in the Rye” keeping a stack of finished, unpublished manuscripts in a safe in his house in Cornish, New Hampshire?

Are they masterpieces, curiosities or random scribbles? And if there are publishable works, will the author’s estate release them?

The Salinger camp isn’t talking. No comment, says his literary representative, Phyllis Westberg, of Harold Ober Associates Inc. No plans for any new Salinger books, reports his publisher, Little, Brown & Co. Marcia B Paul, an attorney for Salinger when the author sued last year to stop publication of a “Catcher” sequel, would not get on the phone Thursday.

Salinger’s son, Matt Salinger,

J D Salinger referred questions about the safe to Westberg.

Stories about a possible Salinger trove have been around for a long time. In 1999, New Hampshire neighbor Jerry Burt said the author had told him years earlier that he had written at least 15 unpublished books kept locked in a safe at his home.

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NATIONAL

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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Diplomat hails Amir’s vision KUWAIT: HH the Amir exchanges a friendly chat with HH Sheikh Salem Al-Ali. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Amir visits Sheikh Salem Al-Ali KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on Thursday visited His Highness the Chief of the National Guards Sheikh Salem Al-Ali AlSabah to congratulate him on his recovery and safe arrival back home from an overseas medical tour.

A large number of people visited Sheikh Salem Al-Ali’s diwaniya in Qurtoba on the second day of his return from the medical tour. MPs, ministers and public figures, who visited Sheikh Salem Al-Ali wished him good health.

Also on Thursday, National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi sent a telegram to Sheikh Salem Al-Ali to congratulate him on his recovery and safe return. Al-Khorafi wished Sheikh Salem good health to continue his contributions to the country’s prosperity and progress.

Meanwhile, Deputy Premier for Economic Affairs and State Minister for Housing and Development Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah announced that Sheikh Salem Al-Ali’s name will be given to one of the residential areas.

KUWAIT: Sheikh Salem Al-Ali being congratulated by MP Askar Al-Enezi.

National Guards issues amnesty in tribute to Salem Al-Ali KUWAIT: In a decision made by the Deputy Head of the National Guard, Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, national guards serving jail time and those indicted for various violations were released. The amnesty was made in honor of the successful return of HH Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah to Kuwait, reported Al-Rai. Sheikh Salem Al-Ali is the country’s current Chief of the National Guard.

KUWAIT: Sheikh Salem Al-Ali is greeted by the US Ambassador to Kuwait Deborah K. Jones.

OTTAWA: Kuwaiti ambassador to Canada, Dr. Musaed Al-Haroun, congratulated yesterday the Kuwaiti leadership and people on the 4th anniversary of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah’s assumption to power. He said that HH the Amir has a clear vision for the future and praised his achievements in strengthening Kuwait’s role regionally and intentionally. He said that His Highness is a first-class statesman and a wise leader. For 40 years he enhanced and strengthened the foreign relations between Kuwait and the international community, he added.

Al-Haroun recalled the unlimited cooperation and support from HH the Amir when he was the First Deputy Prime Minister.

At the time Al-Haroun was the Minister of Education and Higher Education and he hailed HH the Amir’s deep care towards education. His Highness the Amir was sworn in accordance to article 60 of the constitution on January 29, 2006 and is the 14th ruler of Kuwait. —(KUNA)

KUWAIT: An undated photo of a large balloon carrying the picture of HH the Amir getting ready to fly in Austria. —KUNA

Yemen’s security undermined by foreign, domestic threats: FM LONDON: Yemen’s security and stability faces several internal and external threats which requires concerted international efforts, said Kuwait’s chief diplomat last night.

Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, Kuwait’s Foreign Minister, said during a conference held to help Yemen, that the regrouping of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, the lack of security in the Horn of Africa, refugees and piracy top the list of external dangers that threaten the country’s stability.

Calls for secession and clashes

between government troops and Houthi rebels are among the internal dangers in Yemen, Sheikh Mohammed said. To overcome these dangers, he noted, Yemen needs to activate political dialogue and implement its political and economic program.

He said that Yemen needs international help in the matter involving the nearly 800,000 Somali refugees and fighting terrorism and piracy in the Horn of Africa.

He said that Saudi Arabia will host a similar meeting in late February with the participation of donor nations and several

international organizations to review Yemen’s commitment to reform.

For his part, Ambassador Jamal AlGhanem, Head of the GCC Department at the Foreign Ministry, said that the international community plans to present more aid to Yemen to help restore law and order in the country.

The conference was attended by 21 countries and regional organizations, including the US, France, Germany, Italy, Arab Gulf states, the European Union, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). —KUNA

OIC conference hails Khorafi’s proposals KAMPALA, Uganda: Two proposals put forward by Kuwait’s National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi at the 12th session of the Organization of the Islamic Conference’s (OIC) Union Council and the 6th general meeting of the OIC’s conference related to the amendments to the statute of the union and the establishment of an Islamic monetary fund were highly appreciated and accepted by the majority of

KUWAIT: Sheikh Salem Al-Ali receives greetings of citizens.

E-connection expanding KUWAIT: The Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Commerce have agreed to connect the two ministries electronically. The step will pave the way for computerizing all transactions in the Municipality.

It is also an attempt to provide better services to citizens and residents, reported Al-Watan. The Minister of Public Works and Municipality Affairs, Dr. Fadhel Safar, vowed to work on eliminating obstacles to the project.

He added that the new system will allow data exchange between the Municipality and other governmental directorates as smooth and quick as possible. The system, which will be starting next week, will be applied and expanded until the whole system is integrated, indicated Deputy General Manager and Assistant for Development and Information Affairs, Ahmad Al-Manfoohi.

heads of delegations participating in the meeting.

Al-Khorafi, at the opening of the 12th meeting, presented a proposal concerning the transfer of the item on the amendments proposed by the special committee to the Statute of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC member states and place it on the agenda of the union council due to kick off in the Ugandan capital today.

The meeting of the special committee at the level of heads of parliaments tasked with developing a plan to reform the union of councils for the member states of the OIC which was held in Cairo in Jan 2008 had approved proposals submitted by the Kuwaiti parliamentary caucus notably the unification of the presidency of the union rather than a presidency of the union council and a presidency for

the executive committee, as well as determining duration of the convening of the union council and the conference to a single session to be held once a year instead of a biennial conference and a round for the union council every year. The council also will expand the membership of the executive committee of the union to consist of four members representing each regional group. —KUNA

16th Qurain Cultural Festival concludes

KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti vocalist performs on stage during the Qurain festival’s concluding ceremony. —Photos by KUNA

KUWAIT: A group of singers perform on the stage during the event.

KUWAIT: The 16th Qurain Cultural Festival recently wrapped up with big festivities, including a ceremony to honor Kuwaiti artist Abdelmihsin Al-Mhanna. A host of prominent artists attended the ceremony, led by Salih Al-Hureibi, Mohammad Al-Bloushi, Slaiman Al-Mulaa, and others and all performed well-known and loved songs by AlMhanna.

National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters (NCCAL) and head of the organizing committee Bader Al-Rifaei attended the ceremony and noted the diversity of this year’s festival.

He recalled the choice of the UAE as guest state of honor and said this stood testimony to the strong relations between the two nations.

The activities included a performance by a folklore arts troupe from the UAE and poetry readings by UAE poets.

Lectures were also given by UAE intellectuals and researchers on relations with Kuwait and on the cultural scene in the UAE. A key event this year was the inauguration of Kuwait Maritime Heritage Museum, and Al-Rifaei stressed the importance of preserving the state’s past and its present cultural identity.

Al-Quds City also featured on the agenda, as the Arab Culture Capital of the year, and in addition to lectures on Quds and Palestine themes, a film by Rashid Meshharawi was also screened.

The festival’s organizing committee sought to offer a unique list of events this year and shall try the same next time around, said the NCCAL Chairman. —KUNA

NATIONAL

Saturday, January 30, 2010

in the news Smart IDs with Saudi Arabia soon KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior is working with Saudi Arabian officials on allowing citizens from both countries to travel between each country using only their civil IDs. The coordination is part of a Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) security agreement signed between all member states in 1995, reported Al-Watan. The two countries have agreed to activate this project within the upcoming few months and steps to further regulate the process are ongoing.

Automation of MEW Services continues KUWAIT: The Ministry of Electricity and Water will start a new phase of their automation system and begin collecting fees electronically. It will also begin updating data related to citizen transactions on computers instead of using paperwork, reported Al-Watan. Departments in the Ministry have started scanning old documents in attempts to save the Ministry’s information on computers. This project was launched following direct orders from the Ministry Deputy Assistant, Ali Al-Wazan, to update the monitoring and information systems sectors.

So far, the amount of dues collected by the simplified epayment system has reached KD 34,700 compared to KD 80 thousand collected manually. Over 300 consumers have been able to make their payments online.

Ambassador calls for creating cultural bureau OTTAWA: Kuwait’s ambassador to Canada, Dr. Musaed Rashid Al-Haroun, underscored yesterday the importance of establishing a Cultural Bureau to be run by a Cultural Attache. Al-Haroun said that the Cultural Bureau would supervise students and doctors on scholarships to Canada and open new channels for cultural and educational relations with Canadian educational institutions. The new department would also follow up on agreements with universities and medical institutions, he added. He pointed out that the increasing number of Kuwaiti students and doctors on scholarships to Canadian universities and institutes shows the need of establishing an independent bureau. The Cultural Bureau would also be able to assist Kuwaiti students overcome the difficulties and obstacles that hinder their academic and social matters, he stressed. The ambassador hailed Al-Sayer’s meeting with doctors on scholarships in the cities of Toronto and Montreal and for listening to the obstacles they face there. He pointing out that the meeting was a good opportunity for the students and had a positive impact. There are currentluy about 130 Kuwaiti doctors being trained at Canadian universities and hospitals in various disciplines. —KUNA

Kuwait calligrapher wins int’l award KUWAIT: Ali Al-Baddah, a Kuwaiti calligrapher, earned an international prize at an annual championship in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Al-Baddah, supervisor of the Kuwait University’s Arabic calligraphy and decoration, said he won the Boorda Award for Modern Style in Arabic Calligraphy. Al-Baddah is the first Kuwaiti calligrapher to be awarded this international prize. This significant competition is annually organized by the UAE Ministry of Culture, Youth and Social Development on the occasion of the Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) birthday. The annual contest involves competition in poetry, creative art and Arabic calligraphy. He pointed out that he had joined the contest in 2006, but failed to win any prize.

The event attracted artists from Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Iran and Turkey, all of which boast a long history of conventional and modern styles of Arabic scripts. —KUNA

KUWAIT: Sheikha Fadia in an undated picture with a Kuwaiti squash champion. —KUNA

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Government pledges cooperation with MPs to implement 5-year plan KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of State for Development Affairs and Minister of State for Housing Affairs, Sheikh Ahmad AlFahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, has expressed optimism about the National Assembly’s (NA) second reading of the five-year development plan.

Sheikh Ahmad spoke to reporters after a meeting by the parliamentary committee on financial and economic affairs on Thursday. He said the meeting focused on questions raised by MPs during and after the first reading of the bill on Jan 14.

“The parliamentary committee is tasked with addressing the observations of the MPs and the government and presenting a report to the parliament before the second reading,” he pointed out.

“The government finalized a draft development program and it should be passed in synchronization with the state budget. If done, the annual program will be pegged to the state’s budget for the first time in Kuwait’s history,” the minister explained.

When Asked about the MPs questions regarding the viability of the state plan at Thursday’s committee meeting Sheikh Ahmad said the government understands the stance of the MPs. “We have the resolve to build a strong infrastructure and create legislation to finalize the development

KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of State for Housing and Development Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah addresses reporters after the committee’s meeting in the parliament on Thursday. —Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat plans,” he said.

“We are committed to the program and the framework of the strategic development plan and are preparing the ground to absorb the new agenda,” he affirmed.

Sheikh Ahmad disclosed that the government has a few reservations about some of the amendments proposed by the MPs because we believe that such amendments duplicate provisions in other laws. Other observa-

tions were worth considering and we have reached consensus on them.

Responding to questions about the failure to reflect Islamic identity in the draft plan, he said it is beyond question that the identity of the Kuwaiti

society is Islamic. “The absence of points related to the Islamic identity in the draft plan is unintentional but we believe we have a cultural and social heritage which highlights the Islamic dimension. Nevertheless, we supported the introduction of some points to the plan,” Sheikh Ahmad added.

The government plans to table the five-year development plan bill to the NA tomorrow as a prelude to its second reading.

Kuwait’s National Assembly recently given its first approval to a five-year development plan that could see massive spending on public works. The plan will involve spending of up to $125 billion (KD 37 billion) on oil and non oil projects.

Amongst the plans awaiting funding are Silk City, a new town whose blueprint includes the world’s tallest tower; a new container harbor and 25km causeway; a railway and metro system; and Project Kuwait, a complete overhaul of oil production infrastructure.

Citing comments made by the minister of finance, observers believes that up to KD 15 billion could be allocated for development projects this year. The plan awaits second approval within the next two weeks.

Given the history of discord between Kuwait’s government and its parliament, second approval is by no means guaranteed. —KUNA

This article has been removed in compliance with the proposed ‘amendments’ to the Press and Publication Law. This is part of Kuwait Times’ campaign against the proposed amendments.

CANADA: Kuwait’s Health Minister Hilal Al-Sayer after signing the MoU with Canadian health officials. —KUNA

Toxic gas leak hurts 6 workers KUWAIT: A private ship carrying chemicals and docked at Shuaiba Port was found leaking methane. As a result, six Asian workers were hurt after inhaling toxic fumes. The workers were taken to the Adan Hospital and are in stable medical condition. An investigations was opened to determine the cause of the toxic gas leak.

Forgery Teen dies A Nepali man was arrested after entering a A 15-year-old Arab girl died as a result of an epileptic seizure while in her family’s apartment restricted area in Shuaiba Port. Investigations in Salmiya. Police and paramedics responded to revealed that his access permit was forged. He the emergency only to find that the girl had was taken to authorities on charges of forging an already died. Criminal investigators were sum- official documents. moned and a case was opened at the area’s Home robbery police station.

A female citizen informed local police that KD 5,000 worth of jewelry was stolen from her Kidnap foiled The Jahra police responded to an emergency home in Taima. She accused her Asian maid of call after six criminals tried to kidnap a young- stealing the jewelry because the maid went missing after she was trusted with a key to the ster in Qairawan. The incident occurred when closet where the items were kept. A case was three youngsters were stopped by an SUV while opened and authorities are in pursuit of the runjogging in the area. Six masked men emerged away maid. from the vehicle and mugged them of their cell phones. The criminals then attempted to kidnap Fatal accidents one of the youths, apparently for reasons related A 30-year-old citizen was killed, and two to sexual assault. Their actions were interrupt- Indians aged 59 and 30 sustained several ed by the response of nearby police which injuries, in a car accident in Ahmadi. The injured prompted the kidnappers to leave the boy and were taken to the Adan Hospital. escape. Police are still searching for the crimiMeanwhile, a bedoon man suffered fatal nals. injuries after his vehicle collided with a half lorry driven by an Indian man. The injured driProstitutes held ver was taken to the Adan Hospital.

Police arrested two Asian prostitutes caught at a brothel in Hawally. An inspection of their Drug possession IDs revealed that they entered the country The Ahmadi police arrested a Gulf using visiting visas and do not have residencies. Cooperative Council (GCC) citizen found in posThey were taken to the proper authorities. session of hashish.

Kuwaiti health delegation ends visit to Canada, US WASHINGTON: Kuwaiti Minister of Health, Dr. Hilal Al-Sayer, and his delegation yesterday concluded their official visit to Canada and the United States.

Al-Sayer said that the visit was a success, during which memorandums of understanding were signed in Canada with the largest Canadian hospital and university, as well as in coordination with one of the largest US universities and hospitals.

He stressed the importance of such memorandums on the development of health services in Kuwait. He added that providing additional scholarships for doctors at Canadian and US universities in various rare fields will positively contribute to providing the best health services in Kuwait.

The minister said that the Kuwaiti political leadership is keen on Developing and upgrading health services in the country. He stressed the Ministry of Health’s desire to continue improving medical services to nationals and expatriates.

He said the attention of the Ministry of Health is not limited to the Construction, modernization, or expansion of medical facilities.

Developing the technical performance and

improving the quality of service also comes at the forefront of the ministry’s plan for the next five years, he stressed.

The minister noted that the coming period will witness a development in health services.

The ministry is making efforts to benefit from the use of foreign expertise for training and quality purposes, he said.

During his visit to Canada Al-Sayer signed a memorandum of understanding in cooperation with leading Canadian medical centers in Toronto and Montreal.

The agreements were to develop services for cancer disease and surgery and cardiovascular research and education.

The volume of trade between Kuwait and Canada increased by 70 percent in 2008 compared to 2007. The volume of trade between the two countries is estimated at more than 153 million dollars, with Canadian exports to Kuwait quoted at 90 million dollars.

Kuwait mostly imports food, consumer products, paper and plastic equipment, mechanical and electrical motors and autoparts from Canada. The volume of Kuwaiti exports of refined oil products to Canada is estimated at 63 million dollars. —KUNA

Sheikha Fadia launches Kuwaiti ambassador inaugurates Abdulaziz Rashed Lahsan Mosque in south Cairo squash fund initiative KUWAIT: Honorary president of the Arab Squash Federation Sheikha Fadia Saad Abdullah Al-Sabah launched yesterday an initiative for setting up a specialized sports fund for supporting Kuwaiti female and male squash players in order to take part in the international championships.

Sheikha Fadia said in a press statement to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) after receiving of a number of Kuwaiti squash heroines and heroes that this fund aims at enabling the Kuwaiti squash stars to participate regularly in the international championships. She noted that Kuwaiti Jannah Property Corporation will sponsor this fund.

She went on to say that this fund will have a remarkable impact on upgrading the levels of Kuwaiti players through their intensive participation in the international championships in a way which will further hone their experience through playing with world champions.

This is important especially as Kuwait is ranked first at the level of the Arab Gulf states and second at overall Arab level after the robust Egyptian selection, she added. Sheikha Fadia stressed that what is needed by the Kuwaiti players to win world advanced positions following their regional superiority is to further increase their participation in the international competitions, particularly the professional ones. —KUNA

CAIRO: Kuwait Ambassador to Egypt Dr. Rashed AlHamad yesterday inaugurated the Abdulaziz Rashed Lahsan Mosque in Al-Saff town, Helwan Governorate, south Cairo.

The construction of mosque was funded by the Kuwaiti Lasan family sponsored by Kuwait’s Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS).

Speaking to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), the ambassador said the mosque will serve thousands of Muslim worshippers in the town. He urged Kuwaiti charities to contribute to Islamic projects in sisterly Egypt such as mosques, religious institutes and hospitals.

“These projects materialize the close ties between the two

CAIRO: A general view of the Mosque in Al-Saff town, Helwan Governorate, south Cairo. —KUNA

nations,” the Kuwaiti diplomat said. Al-Hamad thanked Lasan family and RIHS for their joint initiative, asserting the support of the Kuwaiti government to such religious and humanitarian initiatives in Arab and Muslim nations.

Meanwhile, RIHS Board Chairman Tareq Al-Issa hailed the project as “an imposing Islamic edifice.” “The mosque is the nucleus for a grand complex consisting also of a clinic and religious institute,” AlIssa said.

He highly appreciated the generous contributions of the charitable Kuwaiti people like Lahsan family. “The mosque, covering an area of 700 square meters, has been launched in cooperation with the Egyptian Society of Ansar Al-Sunna AlMohammadia (loyalists of

Prophet Mohammad’s (PBUH) tradition),” he noted.

“It cost more than 500,000 Egyptian pounds (some 10,000 US dollars),” Al-Issa revealed.

The RIHS is currently implementing 14 mosque projects across Egypt, and two hospitals in Alexandria and Aswan,” he said, adding that it cares for more than 5,000 Egyptian orphans.

On his part, Director of Society of Ansar Al-Sunna AlMohammadia Ahmad Abulhadi voiced gratitude to the State of Kuwait and “her charitable sons” for their generous contributions to such “gigantic projects.”

He praised the growing cooperation between Egypt and Kuwait in various fields including the revival of Islamic heritage. —KUNA

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INTERNATIONAL

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Iraqi insurgents give up rebel life for govt jobs BAGHDAD: Like thousands of his compatriots, Mounir Ahmed Kalifa fought on more than one side in the Iraq war but ultimately took a stand against Al Qaeda militants and is now reaping his reward-a government job.

Kalifa, a Sunni Muslim ex-construction worker, took up with insurgents after the 2003 U.S. invasion. But when his brother was killed by Al Qaeda, Kalifa became one of the “Sons of Iraq” — thousands of fighters, farmers and others who switched sides.

Now, Kalifa has a new job at the Environment Ministry.

“The hiring of Sons of Iraq is a duty of the government, to pay back its indebtedness to the people who took their lives in

their hands and fought the most powerful terrorist organisation in the world, and achieved the victory,” Kalifa, 32, said.

The US military calls the Awakening or Sahwa movement “heroes” and credits them with helping turn the tide against a ferocious insurgency that killed tens of thousands.

In the lead-up to March elections, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki has made security a cornerstone of his campaign as Iraq tries to cement tenuous gains against the sectarian slaughter that peaked in 2006-07.

The Shi’ite-dominated government has tried to fulfil a promise to employ those who changed allegiance and formed a police aux-

iliary to secure neighbourhoods. But critics say that the government was slow to live up to its pledge.

The US military first welcomed the Sahwa fighters, offering $300-a-month salaries in a war-battered country with high unemployment. When the program was turned over to Iraq in 2008, Baghdad left some fighters unpaid for months.

Some complained the integration was too slow, and that efforts by government officials to arrest some Sahwa leaders for alleged crimes could send them back to the insurgency.

But now, nearly 50,000 Sons of Iraq of an estimated 83,000 have been integrated into

government jobs, Iraqi officials say.

That includes about 15,000 hired into the Interior Ministry, which controls Iraq’s 300,000-member police force. Sons of Iraq are not being hired for the military due to a political agreement to preserve the sectarian balance there.

Nearly 9,500 Sahwa in Baghdad have been transferred to the Interior Ministry but none in the provinces, said Zuhair al-Galabi, a government official working on the integration.

Galabi said Iraq purposely stalled the integration outside of Baghdad until after a March 7 parliamentary election, at the request of security officials who say Sahwa

need to continue neighbourhood patrols.

“After the elections, if the security situation is stable, (we) will transfer the remaining Iraq’s sons to ministries within a period not exceeding 10 days,” said Galabi, head of the Sahwa program at the Implementation and Follow-up Committee for National Reconciliation.

The government plans to create 115,000 public sector jobs in 2010, a portion of which will go to Sons of Iraq, officials say.

But as the March poll draws closer, some Sunnis feel they are under mounting pressure. Attempts to bar Sunni candidates, security crackdowns and the release from prison of radicalised Sunni insurgents raise

concerns some Sahwa may fight again.

“I don’t think we’ll see a major crack, but there may be a higher rate of recidivism than we’ve seen so far,” said Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Hussain Hamed, a 23-year-old handyman, has been promised one of the govenment jobs, and like many Iraqis he believes it will provide lifetime security, while freeing him from night patrols.

“I’m so happy to get a government job to guarantee my future at this time when it is difficult to get jobs,” he said. “I will not spend the night working and return to a normal life.” — Reuters

Washington warns Beijing

China risks diplomatic ‘isolation’ over Tehran PARIS: US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned China yesterday it risks diplomatic isolation and disruption to its energy supplies unless it helps keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Speaking in Paris, Clinton

said she and others who support additional sanctions on Iran for refusing to prove it has peaceful nuclear intentions are lobbying China to back new UN penalties on the Iranian government.

DAVOS: Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki talks to journalists in the congress center at the World Economic Forum yesterday. The World Economic Forum is attended by 2500 top politicians, captains of industry and civil society leaders. — AFP

Jordanian jailed for ‘honour killing’ AMMAN: A Jordanian court sentenced a 19year-old man to 10 years in jail for stabbing his sister to death in order to “cleanse the family honour,” a judicial official said yesterday.

The defendant turned himself in to police after killing his 22-year-old sister last year for many unexplained absences from home, said the official who requested anonymity.

“The court sentenced the defendant to 15 years in prison for premeditated murder,

but reduced the sentence to 10 years after the family dropped any legal claims” against him, the source said.

“The defendant killed his sister with knife stabs on April 5, 2009 to cleanse the family honour, because of her many absences from home,” the official said. “He then turned himself over to the police.”

Murder is punishable by death in Jordan but in so-called “honour” cases a court sometimes commutes or reduces sen-

tences, particularly if the victim’s family urges leniency.

Between 15 and 20 women are murdered in honour killings each year in Jordan despite government efforts to fight such crimes.

In September last year, the US-based Human Rights Watch urged Jordan to reform its penal code, which it says condones the murder of women as “honour crimes.” — AFP

WEST BANK: Palestinians evacuate a family from their home after tear gas fired by Israeli troops, not pictured, filled the house during a protest over water supplies in the West Bank village of Nabi Salah, yesterday. The water supply is used by Jewish settlers from the nearby settlement of Halamish and is claimed by both sides. — AP

Arab Israelis protest house demolitions LOD: Hundreds of people yesterday protested against the demolition of Arab-Israeli homes at a demonstration in the Israeli city of Lod, near Tel Aviv.

The protesters held up Palestinian flags and banners which read in Arabic and Hebrew: “Demolishing houses, Demolishing lives,” and “Yes to Development, No to Ethnic

Cleansing.”

Jamal Zahalka, an Arab MP among the protesters, said a total of 40,000 Arab homes in Israel were threatened with demolition.

Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a key West Bank settlement will remain part of Israel in any future peace deal with the

Palestinians. Netanyahu was speaking yesterday at a treeplanting ceremony in Ariel, a large Jewish settlement in the West Bank that is situated on land the Palestinians claim as part of their future independent state.

Netanyahu made similar comments at two other West Bank settlements this week

after meeting a U.S. envoy who is trying to renew peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

His remarks have angered Palestinians who insist all settlement construction end before negotiations resume.

They could also complicate Washington’s efforts to promote peace talks. — AP

She said she understood China’s reluctance to impose new penalties on Iran, its thirdlargest supplier of oil. But she stressed that a nuclear-armed Iran would destabilize the Persian Gulf and imperil oil shipments China gets from other Arab states in the region.

There is a new push for sanctions at the UN because of Iran’s continued refusal to engage on the matter with the five permanent members of the Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States and Germany.

Administration officials have invited new talks with Iran, but with no sign that Iran wants to do business, the focus has turned to penalties. “As we move away from the engagement track, which has not produced the result that some had hoped for, and move forward on the pressure and sanctions track, China will be under a lot of pressure to recognize the destabilizing impact that a nuclear-armed Iran would have in the Gulf, from which they receive a significant percentage of their oil supplies,” Clinton said.

The United States is the most visible leader in the new push for UN Security Council sanctions, and Clinton spent much of her time in Europe this week lobbying major powers whose support she needs to pass and enforce new economic penalties. Some of the additional measures that will be proposed target elements of Iran’s powerful militia structure, US officials said. The Obama administration has said Iran appears bent on developing nuclear weapons, although Iran claims its nuclear work is peaceful. Iran is thought to have stockpiled more than enough nuclear material to manufacture a single bomb, and more is being made daily.

The risks of an Iranian bomb are manifold, Clinton said. “It will produce an arms race,” in the Persian Gulf, and Israel will feel its very existence threatened, Clinton said in response to a question from an audience member during a speech at a French military academy. “All of that is incredibly dangerous.” The United States has cautioned Israel publicly against a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s known nuclear facilities, arguing that such an attack would invite an arms race and retaliation.

China has traditionally resisted UN Security Council sanctions, saying they are counterproductive and harm efforts to persuade Iran to prove its claim that the nuclear program is peaceful. Clinton met Thursday in London with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to make the case to move ahead with sanctions at the United Nations.

US officials said Yang’s response was noncommittal. In Paris, Clinton said her message to the Chinese had been this: “We understand that right now it seems counterproductive to you to sanction a country from which you get so much of the natural resources your growing economy needs.

But think about the longerterm implications.” — AP

BEIRUT: Lebanese civil defense workers gather debris from the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed on Monday into the sea, near Khalde beach, south of Beirut, Lebanon, yesterday. A Lebanese army official says search crews were inching toward a beacon picked up from the black box of the crashed Ethiopian Airlines but cautions that the operation could take days. — AP

Operation continues to retrieve Ethiopia plane’s black boxes BEIRUT: Recovery teams were working on Thursday to determine the exact location of the black boxes of an Ethiopian airliner that crashed off Lebanon’s coast, with hope the data would provide answers to the mystery surrounding the tragedy.

Search teams had picked up the flight data recorder signals late Wednesday but Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi said it remained unclear whether the boxes were still inside the body of the Boeing 737-800, which plunged into the Mediterranean on Monday with 90 people on board.

“If the black boxes are not in the body of the plane, it is easier to access them,” he said. “But if they are still inside the plane, the recovery will be more complicated.”

The boxes were located in a seafloor trench which makes access more difficult, a defence ministry official told AFP. On Thursday night, Information Minister Tareq Mitri said the recorders were about 14 kilometres (nine miles) off the coast at a depth of 1,500 metres (4,920 feet) and in an area of seven square kilometres (2.7 square miles).

Earlier, an army official had said the US navy destroyer USS Ramage, part of an international search operation, had picked up the signals approximately 10 kilometres west of Beirut airport at a depth of 1,300 metres.

Mitri said Thursday night that a sweep of the area was continuing. “I cannot fix a time, but the sweep has just about ended,” he added. Once the recorders’ exact location is pinpointed, he said a submarine would descend to photograph the area.

The Ocean Alert, a civilian vessel stationed in Cyprus, was working to salvage the device, a military source said. It is equipped to reach objects 2,000 metres (6,561 feet) deep.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, bound for Addis Ababa, crashed into the Mediterranean minutes after takeoff from Beirut at 2:37 am (0037 GMT) during a raging thunderstorm on Monday.

All 83 passengers and seven crew are presumed dead. Only 14 bodies, including those of two toddlers, and body parts have been found so far.

Rescue officials have said a number of the victims may still be strapped to their seats underwater.

In Lebanon, several families have begun to hold memorial services for loved ones who were passengers on the plane even though their bodies have not all been recovered.

Around 200 schoolchildren on Thursday held a moment of silence on the beachfront near the airport in remembrance of the victims and dropped flowers into the sea.

There were conflicting reports as to whether the jet exploded while airborne or after it had hit the water, and officials have said there will be no answers until the data from the black boxes is retrieved and analysed.

Officials are especially keen on knowing why the plane veered off course after takeoff, but have ruled out sabotage.

Ethiopian Airlines spokesperson Wogayehu Tefere said the pilot was experienced and had been with the company for 20 years.

The probe into the disaster includes French and US experts, among them a technical advisor from Boeing.

Flight 409 had 30 Ethiopian nationals on board, including the crew. Most of the Ethiopian passengers were employed in Lebanon as domestic workers and were flying home to see their families. There were also 54 Lebanese on board, most of them Shiites from southern Lebanon. Many were transiting in Addis Ababa to other countries in Africa, where they work.

Among the passengers was Marla Sanchez Pietton, wife of France’s ambassador to Lebanon.

Ethiopian Airlines has had two other deadly accidents over the past 25 years, one of which was a hijacking which ended in a crash when the plane ran out of fuel. — AFP

KARBALA: A Shiite Muslim procession heads from Najaf towards the holy city of Karbala, 110 kms (70 miles) south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, yesterday in preparation for the Arbaeen religious event, which marks the end of 40 days of mourning after the Ashura anniversary that commemorates the seventh century killing of the grandson of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), the revered Imam Hussein. — AFP

Saturday, January 30, 2010

INTERNATIONAL

5

Editor of pro-opposition paper arrested

Sri Lankan police raid losing candidate’s office NEW DELHI: Satnam Singh cries after receiving the body of his brother Ranjodh Singh at the international airport in New Delhi, India, yesterday.

According to a local news agency, Ranjodh Singh’s burnt body was found near Wilga Road, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Griffith, Australia, on Dec. 29, 2009. — AP

Anwar hits out after sodomy trial setback MANILA: Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim yesterday accused his country’s government of seeking to convict him quickly of sodomy as part of efforts to deflect attention against its own woes.

Anwar spoke out angrily after he lost his appeal for access to the government’s evidence against him in the sodomy trial, which is due to start in Kuala Lumpur next week and could see him jailed for 20 years.

“I’m shocked with the (government’s) impunity to go on with such a case despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary,” Anwar told AFP on a short trip to the Philippines.

Anwar accused Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak of orchestrating efforts to have him convicted of sodomy, and said he feared the court could buckle under the pressure from the government.

Asked if he thought he would win the case, Anwar said: “Yes, assuming the court agrees... to look at facts and the law. I’m confident of the facts. “(But) I’m not too confident of the system because I think Najib is quite directly involved.” Anwar said the court case may be over in a matter of weeks.

“It seems they want to rush it... their political masters want a quick conviction.”

Anwar insisted the government was seeking to jail him on sodomy charges only to eliminate his political challenge, as Najib’s ruling party was losing popularity amid corruption allegations and rising racial domestic tensions. “I think Najib wants to deflect attention from the cases of corruption and the tensions that are brewing,” he said.

Anwar is accused of having sexual relations with then 24-year-old Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, who was an aide in his office.

The case runs the risk of repeating history for Anwar, who was sacked as deputy prime minister and jailed a decade ago on separate sodomy and corruption charges.

He spent six years in prison but the sex charge was eventually overturned.

After being released, Anwar reinvigorated the opposition and rallied it in 2008 to achieve its best ever results in national elections, when it won a third of parliamentary seats.

Anwar said mass protests against the gov-

MANILA: Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim gestures during a forum with Philippine law students and lawyers at the University of the Philippines at Manila’s Quezon city yesterday.

Anwar deemed the ASEAN’s “constructive engagement” position on Burma as obsolete saying the ruling military junta remains “dismissive and arrogant” — AP ernment could occur if he was found guilty of sodomy again. “I cannot preclude that possibility,” he said when asked about the prospect of people taking to the streets to express support for him.

In Kuala Lumpur, Anwar’s lawyer said their legal team would seek a review of Friday’s Federal Court ruling that barred them from having access to the prosecution’s evidence against him. “The court ruled that the evidence that we were seeking did not fall within the ‘necessary and desirable’ category and turned down the appeal,” lawyer Sankara Nair told AFP. “It has far-reaching negative implications in Malaysian criminal law as it is a reversal of earlier positions in law allowing greater disclosure by the prosecutors so the accused can prepare his defence effectively.”

Sankara said he would seek a stay of the trial, which is due to begin on Tuesday, to give time for Anwar’s legal team to push for an appeal to strike out the case completely. — AFP

India to court martial general NEW DELHI: India’s army has ordered the court martial of one of its top generals over his alleged involvement in an illegal land deal, officials said yesterday.

Lieutenant General Avadesh Prakash is the highest ranking officer to face court martial in the history of India’s million-plus military. Army chief general Deepak Kapoor ordered the proceedings after Defence Minister A.K. Antony sought stern action against Prakash, who is slated to retire on Sunday, the officials said.

General Prakash holds the rank of military secretary and is one of the country’s eight key military advisers. If convicted, he could face imprisonment as well as lose his rank and his pension.

“The trial will begin after the army names the judges for the general court martial of General Prakash,” a senior defence ministry official said on condition that he not be named.

General Prakash is among four senior officers facing investigation over charges that they gave the go-ahead for a builder to acquire a 70acre (30-hectare) plot of army land at a throwaway price in

the Himalayan resort of Darjeeling.

A string of other eye-popping fraud cases has damaged the military-the world’s fourth-largest-in recent years.

A colonel seeking military honours as a route to promotion was sacked after he was caught faking gun battles with militants by sprinkling tomato ketchup on civilians in 2003.

Press coverage earned the disgraced officer the nickname “Ketchup Colonel” and led to a military investigation into other medal seekers.

A year later, a commander was arrested after he earned the sobriquet “Brigadier Booze” for selling subsidised military liquor.

There have been more than 7,000 court martial proceedings between 2000 and 2006, the latest year for which figures are available, pointing to falling standards in the Indian military, analysts say.

Most recently, disciplinary action was taken last month against 41 officers who sold their weapons and ammunition on the black market in Bhutan. — AFP

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan police raided the office of losing presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka yesterday, an aide said, two days after troops had surrounded him inside a hotel on suspicion he was plotting a coup. Fonseka lost

Tuesday’s election to incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa by 1.8 million votes, after a bruising campaign with personal attacks by both, who last May stood together in victory over the Tamil Tiger separatists after a 25-year war.

“The police Special Task Force broke into the office of Sarath Fonseka,” aide Asanka Magedara told Reuters.

A Reuters journalist saw police commandos outside Fonseka’s office. Police spokesman I.M. Karunaratne said he had heard of a raid but could not immediately confirm it.

Also yesterday, JVP legislator Vijitha Herath said police arrested Chandana Sirimalwatte, editor of the Lanka newspaper. The paper is seen as favouring the JVP, a Marxist party which joined other opposition parties to back Fonseka.

Karunaratne, the police spokesman, said he had no official statement.

On Wednesday, soldiers surrounded the luxury hotel where Fonseka and other opposition leaders went after polling finished and vote counting was proceeding.

The former army commander, a hero to many in the Indian Ocean nation, said he feared arrest but later walked out a free man. The military said it had gone there to arrest army deserters with him that may have been plotting a coup.

The political fracas was unlikely to roil the Colombo Stock Exchange, which hit a record high on Thursday after Rajapaksa’s re-election. It was one of 2009’s best performers with a 125 percent return.

“There won’t be any impact on the equity market or the economy in the short term,” a Sri Lankan financial analyst told Reuters. “Investors think there is a stable government and they only think about their returns.”

It was closed for a Buddhist holiday yesterday.

However, the analyst said there could be damage to the economy if the international community intervened. Fonseka has vowed to challenge the election results in court, but few expect that case to make much headway.

Local and international observers generally praised the election’s conduct, but condemned campaign violence, abuse of state resources and state media and urged investigation of election complaints. Five people were killed before the vote.

An observer mission from the 54nation Commonwealth on Friday praised the work of the electoral commission, but said Sri Lanka “will not fully meet key benchmarks for democratic elections” until the panel was allowed sufficient independence to enforce election laws.

“There is a compromised pre-election environment, including (an) election management body unable to fully ensure respect for the rule of law; a failure of some state institutions to respect legal provisions...and incidences of violence,” it said in a statement.

Immediately after the war ended in May, Rajapaksa and his brother Gotabaya, a former army officer who is the defence secretary, began to suspect Fonseka might attempt a coup. So the president promoted him to the newly created job of chief of defence staff, which in effect sidelined Fonseka because he had no control of troops. Fonseka said those were two of the reasons he retired to enter the race in November. — Reuters

Protestant church on Jan. 8, said government lawyer Anselm Charles Fernandis. It was the first and most serious of all the attacks on churches, most of which suffered only minor damage.

The men, who are in their 20s, face a maximum prison sentence of up to 20 years if convicted of “mischief by fire” with the intention of destroying a place of worship. The court did not immediately schedule a trial date. Five others arrested with the men last week in connection to the same attack were released without charges. The attacks on churches have abated in the past two weeks, though fears of tensions resurfaced Wednesday when severed heads of wild boars were found dumped at two mosques. Pigs are considered unclean by Muslims.

Government leaders have denounced the attacks on places of worship as a threat to amicable relations between ethnic Malay Muslims, who make up nearly two-thirds of

COLOMBO: Supporters of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, seen left on the poster, celebrate his victory in Colombo, Sri Lanka, yesterday. Sri Lanka’s defeated opposition candidate says he will contest the country’s general election later this year. — AP

Malaysia charges three for church firebombing KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian prosecutors charged three Muslim men yesterday in the firebombing of a church — the first suspects in a string of assaults on places of worship amid a dispute over whether non-Muslims can refer to God as “Allah.” Arson attacks, vandalism and other incidents at 11 churches, a Sikh temple, three mosques and two Muslim prayer halls in recent weeks have been a blow to decades of multiracial harmony in this Muslim-majority country. The attacks, which started on churches, followed anger among Muslims over a Dec. 31 court verdict that allowed nonMuslims to use “Allah” as a translation for “God” in the Malay language. Many Malaysian Muslims believe the word should be exclusive to their religion, and that its use by others could confuse some Muslims and even tempt them to convert.

Three suspects pleaded innocent in a Kuala Lumpur district court Friday to starting a fire that partially gutted a

Malaysia’s 28 million people, and religious minorities, mainly ethnic Chinese and Indians who practice Buddhism, Christianity or Hinduism.

The tensions follow a court battle in which the Herald, a Malaysian newspaper published by the Roman Catholic Church, argued it has the right to use “Allah” in its Malay-language edition because the word predates Islam. The word is also used by Christians in other predominantly Muslim countries, such as Egypt, Indonesia and Syria. The High Court ruled last month in favor of the Herald, overturning a government ban on the use of the word in non-Muslim publications. The government has appealed the decision.

Minorities say this is an example of institutionalized religious discrimination faced by non-Muslims, who have also complained about problems obtaining approval to build churches and temples. The government has denied any bias. — AP

6

INTERNATIONAL

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Pakistani scientist denies shooting at Americans NEW YORK: A US trained Pakistani scientist being tried on charges she tried to kill Americans while she was detained in Afghanistan in 2008 told a jury Thursday that she didn’t picked up a gun or fire it.

“This is crazy,” Aafia Siddiqui testified when cross-examined about the accusations at her attempted murder trial in Manhattan. “It’s just ridiculous. ... I never attempted murder, no way. It’s a heavy word.” The 37-year-old Siddiqui claimed that she was shot by two men while trying to escape.

“Somebody saw me and said something, a guy standing at the opposite end of the

room saw me and shot me. And then another came from here and shot me. And then I just passed out,” she said.

She told jurors her case is an example of how authorities “frame people,” she said.

Siddiqui, who’s been prone to courtroom outbursts and claims she was tortured in a secret prison, took the stand over the objections of her defense lawyers who said her “diminished capacity” would turn her testimony into a “painful spectacle.” A judge allowed her to testify after prosecutors called her tirades “opportunistic and calculated.” The defendant was alternately

poised, amusing and combative during about 90 minutes of testimony. The first question asked by a prosecutor _ “You were born in 1972?” — got the response, “If you say so.”

She described the charges as being so outrageous that they sometimes “make me smile under my scarf” — a reference to a white scarf covering her head and face. She said that although she’s a scientist, “I couldn’t kill a rat.” US authorities’ portrayal is more sinister: They say Siddiqui picked up an unattended US military assault rifle at an Afghanistan police station on July 18, 2008, and fired two rounds at FBI agents and US

Army soldiers. She missed and was wounded by return fire. Prosecutors say the shooting occurred as Siddiqui was about to be questioned a day after she was caught by Afghan police outside a governor’s building.

At the time of her arrest, she was carrying instructions for a dirty bomb and a list of New York City landmarks including the Statue of Liberty.

Siddiqui began her testimony by telling jurors she came to the United States to attend the University of Houston. She later transferred to MIT, where she earned an undergraduate degree in biology, before

obtaining a doctorate in neuroscience from Brandeis University in 2001. She said she left the United States in June 2002 with her three children and returned to her native Pakistan. Turning to the shooting, Siddiqui testified she was shot shortly after she poked her head around a curtain to see if there was a way she might slip out of the room where she was being held. She said she was desperate to escape because she had been tortured in a secret prison and feared she would be taken there again.

“I was very confused,” she said. “I wanted to get out.

... I was afraid.”

She not only denied firing the M4 assault rifle, she said when she heard about the allegations she thought, “What does an M4 look like?”’ After she was shot, she said she heard American voices saying: “We’re taking this ‘B’ with us. They used the B-word.”

Her lawyer asked her if she meant “b......”

“Yes,” Siddiqui said with a nervous giggle.

On the way to the hospital, she said she heard others expressing fear she might die.

She said one of them said: “A couple of us are going to lose our jobs.” — AP

Clinton in France for security talks

French prosecutors seek second trial for Sarkozy rival PARIS: French prosecutors yesterday sought a second trial for Dominique de Villepin after the former prime minister was acquitted of plotting to smear rival Nicolas Sarkozy and wreck his presidential bid. Villepin brand-

ed the decision to lodge an appeal as politically-motivated, accusing Sarkozy of being “consumed with hate” and fiercely determined to see him behind bars.

PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy (C) waves beside US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) after a meeting at the Elysee Palace yesterday in Paris. Clinton arrived in Paris yesterday for talks on European security, after France rejoined NATO’s military command last year. — AFP

Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes to be scattered at sea in S Africa JOHANNESBURG: Some of the last of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes, kept in secret for decades by a family friend, will be scattered at sea off South Africa’s coast today, 62 years after his assassination, his family said.

After a radical nationalist shot Gandhi on January 30, 1948, he was cremated according to Hindu custom.

Normally, ashes are immersed in rivers or the sea within days, but for Gandhi, his remains were divided to many urns and sent around India and across the globe so his followers could hold memorials.

One urn came to South Africa, where Gandhi had come to practise law in 1893, living in the country on and off for 21 years. A family friend, Vilas Mehta, helped with the arrangements for the prayers, and the ashes were immersed after 10 days, according to the Gandhi Development Trust in Durban. Unbeknownst to the family, Mehta kept a few remnants of the ashes, and guarded them in secret for the rest of her life, the Trust said.

She “decided to take a little bit of the ashes and keep it in safekeeping as a memento of that occasion, not realizing that it is our custom to immerse them,” said Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of India’s liberation hero, who lives in South Africa.

“When she passed on, her daughter-in-law decided to give

them to the family,” said Gandhi, a former South African parliamentarian.

Until recently, Gandhi’s family had no idea that any of the remains were still in Africa. But because so many urns were sent around the world in 1948, no one knows if any others are left. The last immersion ceremony for Gandhi was two years ago in Mumbai. Those remains had been kept for decades by an estranged son before being donated to a museum, which had wanted to display them. At the family’s request, they were spread in the Arabian Sea. Another urn was discovered in an Indian bank vault in 1997.

Those remains were scattered in a river. “Since it’s 62 years now, we can’t do the complete ceremony that already took place in

1948,” Ela Gandhi told AFP. “But in terms of the Hindu custom and family custom, we would pray throughout the night, from 4:00 pm tomorrow (1400 GMT Friday) until 4:00 am on Saturday morning,” she said. “We’ll take a little boat and go out into the ocean, and at sunrise, just as soon as the sun rises, the ashes will blow into the sea.” The Trust said the prayers would begin with a twohour inter-denomination service at the Phoenix Settlement, a community that Gandhi established north of Durban.

Afterwards the mourners would fast and hold a vigil through the night, then proceed to the harbour where they would take a boat to scatter the ashes in the Indian Ocean. At 1200 GMT Saturday, the family will hold a memorial service in Durban,

where India’s consul general in Durban and South African political leaders are expected to speak.

Gandhi’s experience with racial prejudice in South Africa was his political awakening, sparking a lifelong fight against injustice and oppression through “passive resistance”, which culminated in India’s 1947 freedom from British rule.

South African anti-apartheid activists, including Nelson Mandela, were inspired by Gandhi’s call to stage peaceful protests and flood the jails.

Mandela later felt forced to turn to an armed struggle against white rule, helping bring about the demise of apartheid in 1994, but Gandhi’s philosophy is credited with inspiring civil rights movements here and in other countries. — AFP

US considering 9/11 trial move from NY WASHINGTON: US officials are discussing options to move the trial of the alleged 9/11 mastermind out of New York City after mounting pressure from local politicians, an administration official said yesterday.

“Conversations have occurred within the administration to discuss contingency options should the possibility of a trial in Lower Manhattan be foreclosed upon by Congress or locally,” the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A group of eight New York lawmakers wrote to US Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday expressing concern about plans to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-

described chief organizer of the September 11, 2001 attacks, and four other co-accused to Manhattan for trial.

The move would be a blowback to the Obama administration’s bid to bring the accused plotters to trial in civilian federal court just blocks from where the World Trade Center once stood.

Signatories to the letter included Democratic Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Nydia Velazquez and the speaker of New York State’s assembly, Sheldon Silver.

On Wednesday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, expressed his opposition to the idea, reversing his initial support. — AFP

A second trial for the 56year-old will probably take place at the end of the year or early 2011, chief prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin told Europe 1 radio.

The decision came a day after a Paris court cleared Villepin of all charges that he took part in a plot to slander Sarkozy in 2004, at a time when the two men were angling to succeed president Jacques Chirac. Marin said he had decided to appeal because “some of the truth had yet to emerge” in the case, dubbed France’s trial of the decade.

The acquittal was an outright victory for Villepin and a blow to Sarkozy who had reportedly vowed to hang those responsible for the scandal by a “butcher’s hook.” The decision was seen as bolstering Villepin’s chances of a comeback as he sets his sights on the 2012 presidential vote, although the appeal suggested some of his time will now be taken up in preparing his trial defence. The silver-haired politician, best remembered for opposing the US invasion of Iraq at the United Nations, is presenting himself as an “alternative” from the right to Sarkozy, who is struggling with poor approval ratings.

“Villepin has the power to be a thorn in Sarkozy’s side for the coming two years,” said Anna Cabana, author of “La Verticale du Fou” (The Bishop’s Vertical Move), a profile of the ex-prime minister and foreign minister.

“He is the anti-Sarkozy: a tall figure who invokes literature, history and poetry,” she said. “Sarkozy is businesslike and really more prosaic.”

Villepin suggested Sarkozy had a hand in the decision to appeal, noting that the prosecutor reports to the “justice minister who is under the direct authority of the president.”

“The decision is a political decision,” Villepin told RMC radio. Sarkozy “is consumed with hate” and has “decided to persevere in his relentlessness, his hate, instead of assuming the responsibilities of his post as guarantor of French justice,” he said. Sarkozy, who is a civil plaintiff in the case, said Thursday he would not appeal but noted the court had ruled there had been a “serious conspiracy”. Villepin and four other defendants were accused of using falsified bank accounts to discredit Sarkozy ahead of his party’s nomination for the 2007 presidential vote, which he won. Sarkozy’s name was on the bogus list of hundreds of account holders at the Clearstream financial clearing house who allegedly took bribes from the sale of French warships to Taiwan.

Dubbed the Clearstream affair, the scandal made frontpage news across France when it broke in 2005 and Sarkozy long suspected that Villepin was behind an attempt to sabotage his presidential bid.

Prosecutors had argued during the trial last year that while Villepin did not deliberately take part in a plot to smear Sarkozy, he did nothing to stop the scandal from spinning out of control as he hoped to gain an advantage.

They had sought a suspended jail sentence of 18 months and a 45,000-euro (70,000-dollar) fine for Villepin.

Villepin was cleared on all four counts in the case: complicity to slander, to use forgeries, dealing in stolen property and breach of trust. — AP

MOGADISHU: A civilian is brought to Medina hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, after being injured during fighting, yesterday. Somali insurgents sparked the heaviest fighting in the capital for months yesterday after they launched simultaneous attacks on government forces and peacekeepers. A medical official said several people were killed in the clashes. — AP

Mogadishu bloodshed mars president’s first anniversary MOGADISHU: Al Qaeda-linked Somali insurgents yesterday rained mortar rounds on a ceremony feting the first year of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed’s shaky rule after a night of fighting that killed at least nine.

As poetry was being read inside a newly renovated theatre in Mogadishu’s presidential compound, Shebab Islamist rebels and their allies pounded the area, drawing heavy retaliatory fire.

There were surreal scenes of Sharif and his prime minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke watching a video celebrating their first year in office as the smell of gunpowder filled the room after a night of deadly clashes.

Four people were wounded on the compound but Sharif was unshaken despite the sound of explosions, outgoing or incoming mortar rounds and artillery shells drowning the show, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

A few metres away from the freshly whitewashed walls of the theatre a seriously wounded man was being evacuated in a carpet.

One mortar round smashed into the nearby Ethiopian embassy and another struck at an Amisom checkpoint but it was not immediately clear whether anybody was killed in the shelling.

Artillery exchanges and automatic weapons fire first broke out around 2:00 am (2300 GMT Thursday) between the African Union’s peacekeeping mission (Amisom) and Islamist insurgents and ran through the night.

“Around seven civilians died in the clashes, including women and children. Most of them were killed by mortar shells and stray bullets,” Abdi Adan, an eyewitness, told AFP. The fighting was concentrated around the strategic K4 junction halfway between the Somali capital’s airport and the port, on the edge of an area controlled by the African Union peacekeeping mission (Amisom). The Shebab in a statement said two of its fighters died in the overnight clashes.

“Four civilians died in Wardhigley district and three others were killed in Holwadag and Bakara area. It was the worst fighting we have seen

recently,” Mohamoud Ahmed, another local resident, said. “Kilometre Four” (K4) in southeastern Mogadishu is where the airport road meets several other key thoroughfares and is a major flashpoint in the war-ravaged coastal city.

Civilians living in the densely populated neighbourhoods clamped between Amisom-protected areas and the strongholds of the Shebab Islamist insurgents are often caught in the crossfire.

“We have collected around 22 injured from several locations in Mogadishu and several other people have died,” Ali Musa, head of Mogadishu’s ambulance services, told AFP. “I don’t have the full figures but I know that three of the dead are a mother and her two children,” he said. The Shebab issued a statement claiming responsibility for the shelling.

“Our holy warriors launched a fierce offensive on several locations in Mogadishu where the apostate militias and their Christian backers were stationed,” the Shebab statement said.

They were referring to government troops, whom they accuse of being puppets of the West, and to Amisom’s Ugandan and Burundian troops, whom they routinely describe as crusaders bent on introducing Christianity to Muslim Somalia.

On January 30 last year, Somali MPs gathered in Djibouti to elect a new president and Sharif was declared the winner the next day and hailed by many in his country and abroad as Somalia’s best chance of peace in years. Officials had spent the week preparing for yesterday’s celebrations, which included dancing, singing and poetry reading. The ceremony was attended by most of the embattled transitional federal government (TFG) as well as clan leaders.

Amisom’s Ugandan spokesman Ba-Hoku Barigye told AFP that two men were arrested after being caught phoning in instructions to insurgents on where to fire their mortar rounds.

Sharif, a moderate Islamist cleric, came to power a year ago pledging to bring Islamist rebels back into the fold but the Shebab and his former allies from the Hezb al-Islamm group instead turned against him. — AFP

ZAPORIZHIA: Leader of Ukraine’s Regions party and Presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich (L) holds a Bulava, a symbol of power for Ukrainian Cossacks, presented to him by priests during his campaign visit to the southcentral Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia yesterday. The second round of voting in Ukraine’s presidential election is scheduled for February 7. — AFP

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Japan’s finmin presses BOJ for deflation response TOKYO: Japan’s finance minister urged the Bank of Japan yesterday to align policy with the deeply indebted government’s efforts to fight deflation, maintaining pressure for possible monetary easing or even government bond purchases. BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa did not rule out any policy options but reiterated that the central bank’s current level of bond buying was appropriate for now. Some policymakers have called on the BOJ to step up purchases to tame rising bond yields, which threaten an economic recovery.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama echoed his finance chief, Naoto Kan, in calling for BOJ cooperation, telling parliament that the government will work with the central bank

to overcome falls in prices. The comments came after data showed Japan’s narrowest measure of consumer inflation fell at a record pace in December, underscoring persistently weak domestic demand that is hobbling the world’s second-largest economy.

Kan, known as one of the most vocal cabinet critics of the BOJ, took a slightly stronger stance than Hatoyama, calling for the central bank to take a flexible approach on policy to support the economy. “I expect the BOJ to support the economy by guiding monetary policy appropriately and flexibly, while keeping close contact with the government, in a way that is consistent with government efforts,” he said on a policy speech.

Hatoyama’s government, which faces an upper house election in mid-2010, has little room to boost spending further as the national debt is now almost twice as big as the country’s annual gross domestic product. Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s this week warned that it may cut the country’s rating. Kan said restoring fiscal health is indispensable for steady economic growth. The BOJ has been hesitant to increase its bond buying further, arguing that doing so would give markets the impression the bank is underwriting public debt.

“Trying to influence interest rates or monetising public debt would go against the central bank’s basic principle, which is to

achieve sustainable economic growth with price stability,” Shirakawa told a forum. “In supplying ample funds to the market, I think the bank’s current bond purchasing amount is appropriate,” he said. The BOJ currently buys 21.6 trillion yen ($240 billion) of government bonds from the market per year.

The central bank, under pressure from the government, has toughened its stance on deflation and on Dec 1 decided to offer commercial banks more short-term funds.

Under BOJ law, the central bank needs to take currency and monetary adjustments that are in line with the government’s basic economic policy. “So the request is something BOJ can’t ignore. The government continues to create an environment where it

can increase pressure on BOJ whenever the yen rises or stocks fall,” said Naomi Hasegawa, senior fixed income strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

BOJ policymakers fretted about sharp yen rises when they adopted the new measure, minutes from the meeting showed, a sign that renewed yen rises may be among the factors which may trigger fresh action in the future. The move was aimed at pushing down longer-term money market rates, which many board members thought was the most effective way of supporting the economy, it showed. The government has been gradually increasing pressure on the BOJ to respond to a lacklustre economy, which is becoming more of a risk to

Hatoyama. “The biggest challenge with economic and fiscal policy for the time being is to bring the Japanese economy back on a solid recovery path,” Hatoyama said, pledging to avoid a return to recession with planned state budgets and reiterating that the government will work with the BOJ to fight deflation. The so-called “core-core” consumer price index, which strips out the effect of volatile food and energy costs, fell 1.2 percent in December from a year earlier after a 1.0 percent drop in November. It was the biggest drop since the series began in 1970. Industrial output rose a less-thanexpected 2.2 percent in December following a similar rise in the previous month, data showed. —Reuters

Gates pledges $10 billion to vaccines for poor

Mexican leader at Davos pushes for climate deal DAVOS, Switzerland: Facing down the skeptics, Mexico’s president urged governments and companies yesterday to cough up the cash to fight climate change and avoid a repeat of the failure at Copenhagen to set binding targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. With a worldwide

BEIJING: A girl poses for photos while chewing candies in front of a chocolate BMW car model in a newly opened chocolate theme park yesterday. — AP

Senate backs Bernanke for second term at Fed WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Thursday backed Ben Bernanke for a second four-year term running the Federal Reserve, the world’s most powerful central bank, despite deep misgivings over his perceived policy missteps. Bernanke survived a revolt by lawmakers angry at big banks and their regulators, including the Fed. He still faces acute political pressure to ease economic strains at a time when the US central bank is showing divisions over how much support the economy needs.

Senators credited Bernanke with steering the economy through a wrenching financial crisis but leveled withering criticism at him. They said his policies sowed the seeds of the turmoil and he initially showed a slow response to the crisis.

“Bernanke fiddled while our markets burned,” said Senator Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee. The surprise election last week of a Republican to a Massachusetts US Senate seat long held by Democrats underscored the voter anger over Wall Street bank bailouts and the weak economy, undercutting support for Bernanke.

For a while his confirmation appeared in doubt, rattling global financial markets. President Barack Obama and Senate allies pressed senators over the past week to muster the 60 vote super-majority needed to overcome efforts to block Bernanke’s nomination. In the end, the Senate voted 70-30 to confirm Bernanke, the stiffest opposition to any nominee for Fed chairman in the nearly 32 years the Senate has voted on the position. Paul Volcker, who engineered two recessions with sky-high interest rates to break inflation, was confirmed 84-16 in 1983. “The

Ben Bernanke politically neutral and independent Fed has really been politicized this week, probably to its detriment,” said Chris Krueger of Concept Capital, a private firm that tracks Washington for institutional investors.

Many lawmakers who ended up supporting Bernanke said they were swayed by the ingenious approaches the Fed chief used to avert a deeper economic breakdown and said maintaining continuity would help sustain a fragile recovery from the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

“Chairman Bernanke’s performance in addressing the economic crisis and his current efforts to significantly enhance financial regulation to help prevent future crises outweigh his past mistakes,” said Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat.

Reflecting the public frustration at bank bailouts, Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said it was time to “pivot from the necessary rescue of our major financial institutions to the equally if not more necessary help to Americas families.”

Bernanke, whose first term as Fed chief expires on Sunday, will lead a central bank that has been reshaped by financial crisis, a recession and the shifting poli-

tics that ensued. His biggest task in coming months will be to decide when and how to dismantle or “exit” emergency measures that he helped put in place to support the economy and financial markets, without stunting a fragile recovery. After a two-day meeting, the Fed on Wednesday repeated its vow to keep interest rates “exceptionally low” for “an extended period.”

But Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig dissented, arguing it was time to drop that pledge. It was the first policy dissent since January 2009 and showed growing tensions on how the Fed should move forward.Bernanke may find it increasingly difficult to forge a consensus behind keeping rates low as a recovery builds.

Public outrage over the recession and expensive bank bailouts is dominating Washington politics ahead of congressional mid-term elections in November. That anger could translate into new moves in Congress to strip the Fed of its direct supervisory power over banks or its responsibility for protecting consumers.

Congress might also demand greater transparency on Fed emergency lending programs, and could decide to open up monetary policy decisions for review.

Financial markets breathed a sigh of relief that Bernanke’s confirmation takes away some of the political leverage Congress had over the Fed. Many investors, particularly foreign investors, may have worried Bernanke’s confirmation difficulties heralded greater political interference in central bank decisions, said Dan Fuss a vice chairman at Loomis Sayles in Boston.

“You trust the central bank or you don’t. This confirmation takes that uncertainty away for many,” he said.—Reuters

‘Safir’ Marina appoints Habbad as HR Manager Kuwait: The “Safir” Marina Hotel Kuwait announced yesterday the appointment of Kuwaiti national Abdulrahman Al-Habbad as the new Human Resources Manager for the Hotel. Armed with more than 23 years of HR experience, Abdulrahman has been appointed to manage the HR department at the Hotel.

Kuwaiti owned “Safir” Marina Hotel has been at the forefront promoting Kuwaiti nationals to work in the private sector and providing them with new opportunities at the hotel.

Having worked for some well known companies across Kuwait, Abdulrahman was the Vice President Human Resources in United Arab Shipping Company for more

Abdulrahman Al-Habbad than 20 years and was on the Board of Directors for Kuwait Shipping Agencies Company from 2004-2005. Over the years he has built relations

with high ranked customers and entities in Kuwait in particular.

Commenting on Abdulrahman’s appointment, Antoine Naoum, General Manager, “Safir” Marina Hotel said: I am happy to welcome Abdulrahman onboard our team, as he comes with long experience in the Human Resources and Administration field and has a comprehensive understanding the local market. I trust he will implement his expertise towards the greater continued success of the hotel.” The staff and management of the “Safir” Marina Hotel Kuwait are extremely pleased to welcome Abdulrahman Al-Habbad as a part of their team.

This year’s big UN climate change meeting - being held Nov 29-Dec 10 in the Mexican resort of Cancun - will be challenged to succeed where the 2009 meeting in Copenhagen failed. “We need to try to learn from our mistakes in Copenhagen,” Calderon said.

“If we can find an economic mechanism ... we will be on track.” Calderon spoke a day after the United States took an important symbolic step by submitting targets to the UN climate body, pledging to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 - using 2005 levels as a standard. But the commitment must be approved by Congress, which is not guaranteed.

US Congressman Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts who has pushed sustainable development policies, insisted that Copenhagen was not a failure and warned of the “catastrophic consequences” of global warming. The accord in Copenhagen was “not as far as we wanted to go, but it has now put in place the requirement that all of the major players have to make a commitment,” he said yesterday.

China and India - key to any final accord - have yet to submit their targets. Calderon said governments and the private sector should build cleaner energy plants in developing countries, make more efficient transport systems and support other projects to help poor nations reduce emissions as they grow and deal with the effects of global warming. Rich and developing countries clashed at Copenhagen over how much money each should contribute and how to spend it, but Calderon said the “economic costs associated with trying to tackle climate change” are central to the challenges facing governments.

The Copenhagen Accord fell short of expectations, but included commitments by developed countries to provide billions of dollars in emergency funds to help poor countries adapt to climate change. It also invited countries to formally list their nonbinding targets to cut emissions

by Jan 31 - or even later. In an interview with AP yesterday, UN climate change chief Yvo de Boer said he was confident that the business leaders in Davos were committed to the cause and would do more as profits bounce back after a rough couple of years.

“Energy sector investments that were put on hold because of the crisis are beginning to be made again,” he said. “I think people will take future climate change policy into account.” De Boer insisted that a climate change accord was “feasible” in Mexico. But as countries shakily emerge from recession, a key challenge is ensuring that progress is environmentally effective but also won’t break the bank. “In the private sector, we need clear targets,” said RenaultNissan head Carlos Ghosn, who has championed electric cars. He also encouraged closer cooperation among governments and the private sector.

Meanwhile, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates said he fears governments might take funds away from health issues to fight climate change - and says that could lead to many childhood deaths that otherwise would be prevented. “It would be a mistake on many fronts, because the health money not only saves lives but it reduces the population growth,” he told a news conference in Davos, where he and his wife Melinda announced that their foundation will donate $10 billion over the next decade to research new vaccines and bring them to the world’s poorest countries.— AP

shaky economic recovery under way, Felipe Calderon pleaded for aid and investment from executives and political leaders at the World Economic Forum, hoping to unite the world on a firm blueprint to slow the warming of the planet.

DAVOS: Bill Gates is seen at a press conference at the 40th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum yesterday. —AP

Yemen eyes Saudi agro deal by June SANAA: Yemen, grappling with poverty and a resurgent Al-Qaeda, is in talks with Saudi firms interested in acquiring farms or investing in fishery and livestock production with a first deal eyed by June, an official said. Talks with Gulf investors mainly from neighbouring Saudi Arabia focused on investing in the western Red Sea coastal area of Houdeida, home to a port and fishery industry, Salah Attar, chairman of Yemen’s General Investment Authority, told Reuters.

“We hope to conclude a big project, which is considered a strategic project, within quarter two of this year... It’s a huge project,” he said, adding that a first phase of the deal could be in the range of several hundred million dollars. He declined to name the interested Saudi investor, saying only that it was a well-known firm. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, has been encouraging private investors to invest in agricultural projects abroad to secure food supplies.

Western and Arab powers worry that

Yemen, where around 40 percent of the population lives on $2 a day, will become a failed state and fear Al-Qaeda could exploit the situation to use Yemen as a base for attacks. A Yemen-based regional wing of Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed Dec 25 attack on a US-bound passenger plane, driving home how the militant group could threaten Western interests from Yemen.

Yemen says it needs $2 billion a year in economic aid to stay afloat and double that amount to turn around the economy in a country facing a Shiite revolt in the north, separatists in the south and Al-Qaeda militants.

Dwindling oil reserves and water reservoirs add to Yemen’s woes. Yemen relies on groundwater, which nature cannot recharge fast enough to keep pace with a population of 22.4 million that is expanding by more than 3 percent a year.

Attar acknowledged that limited packaging capabilities and transport issues were obstacles for the agriculture industry. Diplomats

say government control is weak in several parts of the country where tribes often block roads to ask for benefits. Yemen was also in talks with European firms to start new gold and limestone granite mines, hoping to conclude the latter by year-end, Attar said, declining to elaborate. “The gold is more difficult because it’s sort of an agreement that goes through parliament,” he said.

More than 10 foreign mining firms from Europe, America, Asia and the Middle East operate in Yemen, according to the website of Yemen’s embassy in Washington. The World Bank is helping Yemen develop its mining sector as part of efforts to diversify its economy and root out poverty.

“Yemen’s mining industry has a considerable potential and could contribute to about 3 to 7 percent to the country’s GDP, generating foreign exchange revenues in the range of $0.5-1 billion annually,” the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, said on its website. — Reuters

Greece and EU close Jordan bank deposits ranks, say no bailout up 11% to $28 billion DAVOS: Greek and European Union officials closed ranks yesterday, insisting there was no chance of a Greek default or an EU bailout and that Athens would do whatever it takes to cut its burgeoning deficit.

“Solidarity is possible, will exist. A bailout is not possible and will not exist,” EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told Reuters Insider TV. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, also at the World Economic Forum in Davos, promised to do all that was required to cut the deficit and restoring confidence.

“Greece is in a situation where we need to take very strong measures and structural changes in our country,” he said. “We’re determined to implement the program.” The euro zone has pledged to cut its budget deficit this year to 8.7 percent of gross domestic product from over 12 percent and return to the EU’s 3 percent cap by 2012.

But fears that Athens will not be able to rein in spending

have continued to haunt markets and put pressure on the euro, fuelling speculation the euro zone would eventually step in. A senior euro zone official said yesterday that there were no formal talks or preparations in any European institutions to help Greece financially and that the EU strategy towards Greece was to continue pressing hard for budget cuts.

However, there may be informal talks among officials in some EU capitals over what to do in a worst-case scenario, said the official, who declined to be named. Germany and France have denied media reports they were working on an aid plan for Greece, and the EU Treaty bans the rescue of any member state by another or by the Union. “I can certainly say that in institutional terms the European Union is not preparing anything,” said the official. Greece partially regained investor confidence on Monday when it succeeded in selling €8 billion of 5-year bonds, albeit at a high price, and announced plans to sell more in February.-—Reuters

AMMAN: Deposits in Jordan’s banking sector rose by 11 percent in December against the same period in 2008 to 2O.1 billion dinars ($28.3 bln) with strong inflows into the local currency assets, central bank data showed yesterday. Private sector deposits, mostly dinardenominated assets that exclude public funds, rose 10.4 percent to 15.78 billion dinars at the end of Dec 2009 against 14.29 billion dinars at the end of 2008, according to Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) data obtained by Reuters.

Bankers say the CBJ policy to allow a wider interest rate differential against the dollar in favour of the dinar had encouraged banks and depositors to hold funds in dinar-denominated assets. A main plank of monetary policy is the defence of the dinar, which is pegged to the dollar, a policy that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says has served the national economy well.

Even Jordanian expatriates whose earnings were in foreign currencies were switching part of their savings into the dinar

attracted by interest as high as four percent, bankers say. The combined credit extended by the local banks to the private sector until the end of Dec grew a slight 2.6 percent to 13.378 billion dinars from 13.044 billion dinars the same period a year earlier as local banks continued to tighten up credit.

The monetary authorities since Nov 2008 cut reserve requirements on commercial deposits, stopped issuing certificates of deposit, and cut the major benchmark lending rate to help spur growth by prodding banks to extend cheaper credit.

Banks have become more cautious about extending new loans as the global downturn’s impact on the economy slows down growth and domestic consumption. But the kingdom has not seen any steep falls in capital inflows or capital flight, officials say. The country’s 23 commercial banks have had minimal exposure to Western markets, and a strong supervisory system run by an independent central bank has limited their currency, property and stock market exposure.—Reuters

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Toyota Europe to recall 1.8 million cars, Honda follows WASHINGTON/TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp faced US Congress scrutiny over its biggest ever safety recall as rival Honda Motor Co, tipped to gain from Toyota’s woes, also said it would recall thousands of cars worldwide.

Honda said it would recall a total of 646,000 units of its Fit/Jazz and City models, including 140,000 in the United States, because of a faulty window switch, after a child died when fire broke out in a car last year.

Toyota said later yesterday it will recall “up to 1.8 million vehicles” in Europe due to the accelerator pedal problem that has already led to massive recalls in the United States. “The precise number of involved units is still under investigation but may reach up to 1.8 million vehicles,” the company said in a statement in Brussels, citing “a potential accelerator pedal issue.” The models involved are the AYGO, iQ, Yaris, Auris, Corolla, Verso, Avensis and RAV4 series, covering a variety of periods going back to Feb 2005. “No Lexus models and no other Toyota models are affected,” Toyota added. “We understand that the current situa-

tion is creating concerns and we deeply regret it,” said Tadashi Arashima, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe. The company said it has “identified a remedy,” pending “final evaluation and confirmation”. The announcement came as investors, suppliers and consumers weighed the impact of an unprecedented halt in US production by Toyota, the world’s No.1 automaker.

Honda’s move, as well as Toyota’s recall due to problems with unintended and dangerous acceleration, come at a bad time for the industry as it struggles to lure buyers back to showrooms after a sales slump that helped drag US rivals General Motors and Chrysler into bankruptcy. In an unusual move, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman said he would hold a hearing next month to consider how quickly and effectively Toyota responded to complaints about sticking pedals and slipping floormats. “Like many consumers, I am concerned by the seriousness and scope of Toyota’s recent recall announcements,” Waxman said in a statement.

Toyota this week suspended North American sales and production of eight models including its best-selling Camry after regulatory pressure, and widened the recall to China and Europe. A Toyota spokeswoman said the company was still checking on whether any vehicles are affected in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. Japan’s largest company, studied for its devotion to quality, could recall about 8 million vehicles in total - more than the number of cars and trucks it sold worldwide in 2009.

In Tokyo, some worried about the knockon effects to Japan’s image and economy. “If Toyota has hard times, there’s a high probability that also Japan will,” said Takeo Namekata, a 62-year-old office worker. “Particularly, trade will suffer.” Honda’s recall added to concerns that the safety-conscious image of Japanese manufacturers would be threatened.

“The Japanese have built their image on reliability, the fact that they make bullet-proof vehicles,” said IHS Global Insight analyst Carlos Da Silva. “It’s not that their vehicles are

worse than the others, (the recalls are) just showing maybe that their vehicles are like the others. The race to cost cuts and the competition between all the brands is so fierce that even the mighty Japanese are doing things that are not as reliable as they were.”

Suppliers were expected to see some fallout. “If Toyota gets the flu, its suppliers will also be sneezing,” said Kevin Chen, president of Gasgoo.com, a major Chinese auto parts trading platform, noting Toyota’s hand-picked suppliers depend on the automaker for a living.

International supply companies were most at risk, said Tatsuya Mizuno, president of Mizuno Credit Advisory. “Of course, there will be negative implications. But if the company recognizes that this problem was caused because of international parts suppliers, then it’s conceivable that they could switch to Japanese partssuppliers,“ he told financial television service, Reuters Insider.

India’s Amtek Auto, which supplies some parts to Toyota in the United States, did not expect a major impact. “Our exposure to the

Inventories main driver, may overstate recovery strength

US economy up 5.7% in Q4, fastest in 6 yrs WASHINGTON: The US economy grew at a faster-than-expected 5.7 percent pace in the fourth quarter, the quickest in more than six years, as businesses made less-aggressive cuts to inventories and stepped up spending. The robust performance closed out a year in which the economy contracted 2.4 percent,

the biggest decline since 1946. After falling off a cliff at the start of the year, US gross domestic product turned higher in the third quarter, and the quickening fourth-quarter pace reported by the Commerce Department yesterday suggested a sustainable recovery was building.

PORTLAND: In this photo made Jan 24, 2010, a baker makes dough into rolls to be baked later in the day at Standard Bakery. The US economy grew for a second straight quarter from October through December, posting a 5.7 percent annual rate, the fastest pace since the third quarter of 2003. — AP

Europe feels chill of 10% unemployment BRUSSELS: Unemployment hit 10 percent in Europe yesterday, amid rising inflation and a weakened euro currency according to new data that shows recession-mired Spain bearing the brunt of a jobless recovery. The human cost of post-recession, structural economic rebirth could be seen in updated European Union data when the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for the 16 euro countries hit a miserable one in 10 in December.

The news came on top of rising inflation with separate official figures showing the annual rate of price rises hitting 1.0 percent, a new peak after falling to an all-time low of minus 0.7 percent six months earlier. The rising prices also come at a time when the euro is losing ground against the dollar - with the European currency’s value having slipped considerably from a November peak of $1.50 to currently trade at under $1.40.

An estimated 87,000 additional people tumbled out of work in the last weeks before Christmas, according to the EU’s Eurostat agency. That may have been down from the 102,000 people who joined benefit queues in

November - but it still took the total number of unemployed people across the 16 countries that share the euro to 15.763 million. The 10 percent rate was the highest since the currency was launched a decade ago and up from a downwardly-revised 9.9 percent in November.

Official figures published earlier this month had prematurely pegged the November eurozone rate at 10 percent. Across the 27-nation EU, December’s rate was only a smidgeon behind at 9.6 percent, up from 9.5 percent and corresponding to 163,000 more people unemployed. More than 23 million people were calculated to be out of work across the world’s biggest open trading bloc.

That meant that in the last year, 4.628 million people joined the ranks of the jobless across the EU, which also includes non-euro Britain, which only exited recession this week, and eastern industrial powerhouse Poland.

Some 2.787 million of those were in the core euro area. Spain’s unemployment rate hit a massive 19.5 percent, albeit only slightly up from the previous month.

Separate data from Madrid showed that the

rate in Europe’s fifth-largest economy - ravaged by a radical contraction after a lengthy property, construction and tourism boom soared to 18.83 percent throughout the fourth quarter of 2009. A total of 4.326 million people were out of work in Spain throughout that longer period, up more than one million from a year ago. Experts have repeatedly expressed fears of a “double-dip” recession on the Iberian peninsula - which is also struggling with a Greek-style public deficit way above EU targets.

“Although the rise in eurozone unemployment has slowed in recent months, it still seems poised to trend higher during much, if not all, of 2010,” warned analyst Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight. The “good news” was that it was the smallest rise since May 2008, but he warned that the wider psychological impact is “likely to hold down wage growth and limit the upside for consumer spending.” All told, the signs were that the European Central Bank will keep interest rates down at 1.0 percent until “at least late2010,” he concluded. —AFP

Porsche expects to increase 2010 sales FRANKFURT: German sports car maker Porsche AG said yesterday it expects to report a decline in revenue for the first half but to improve unit sales for the whole of the fiscal year, as the auto market continues to feel the effects of the economic downturn. Porsche, based in Stuttgart, said at its annual general meeting yesterday that it expects a 3.3 percent decline in revenue to Ä2.9 billion during the August-January period, from nearly Ä3 billion in the year-ago period.

However, “On the basis of the strong performance in the second quarter, Porsche continues to assume that unit sales for the full fiscal year 2009 - 2010 will exceed the prior-year figure of 75,238 vehicles,” Porsche said. Porsche, whose fiscal year begins in August, did not release a net income forecast.

The company’s biggest shareholder is Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest carmaker.

Porsche said it expects to have sold 3.1 percent less cars for the first six-month period, or about 33,200 vehicles, despite unit sales dropping by a quarter during the first four months.

The company said preliminary estimates show unit sales in North America dropped by about 16 percent during the first half to about 11,000 vehicles.

Europe’s unit sales declined about 6 percent to 10,200 vehicles. In what Porsche classifies as “the rest of the world,” the company said sales increased 18 percent to about 12,000 vehicles. Porsche said the Cayenne, a sports utility vehicle, remains the best-selling model, despite a 22 percent decline in unit sales to 13,100.

Sales of the 911 sportscar fell 45 percent during the period to 7,400 units, while sales of the Cayman and Boxter will increase 14 percent to about 4,500 units for the first half of the fiscal year. —AP

STUTTGARD: Qatar investor Sheikh Jassim bin Abdul Aziz bin Jassim Al-Thani gestures during the annual meeting of Porsche Automobil Holding SE yesterday. — AP

“Wow, great number. It’s very solid and gives us a running start into the second half of the year when we can’t rely on government stimulus,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. “That’s part of the plan, to get us moving as fast as possible so when life support is removed we’ll have a pulse.” US stocks opened higher on the surprisingly strong data, while Treasury debt prices deepened losses. US dollar rose against the yen. Economists had expected GDP to rise at a 4.6 percent pace.

Getting the economy on a sustainable growth track remains one of the key challenges facing President Barack Obama, who on Wednesday outlined a raft of measures to create jobs and nurture the recovery. In a further boost to recovery hopes, the Institute for Supply Management-Chicago said its business barometer rose to 61.5 in January, the highest in four years, from 58.7 in December. Consumers grew more confident this month, another survey showed, which should support spending in the months ahead.

The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers’ January consumer sentiment rose to 74.4 from 72.5 in December.

Growth in the fourth quarter was buoyed by a sharp slowdown in the pace of inventory liquidation. When businesses are selling off inventories, there is less need to step up production and therefore weighs on GDP. The slowing rate of inventory reduction in the fourth compared to the third quarter lifted GDP by nearly 3.4 percentage points. It was the biggest percentage contribution inventories have made since the fourth quarter of 1987.

But even stripping out inventories, the economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.2 percent, accelerating from the 1.5 percent increase in the third quarter, reflecting relatively strong performance from other segments of the economy. Still, this measure of final demand is meager compared with most normal recoveries, implying the Federal Reserve can bide its time before raising interest rates. “The economy continues to improve, but we do not have an economic boom here,” said John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Consumer spending increased at a 2 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, contributing 1.44 percentage points to GDP. In the third quarter, consumer spending had risen at a 2.8 percent pace, supported by the government’s “cash for clunkers” auto incentive program. Business investment grew at a 2.9 percent rate, the first increase since the second quarter of 2008, as the drag from the troubled commercial real estate sector was offset by robust spending on equipment and software. The growth of spending on new home construction braked sharply in the fourth quarter to an annual rate of 5.7 percent from an 18.9 percent pace in the third quarter. Home building has received a lift from a popular tax credit for first-time buyers, but recent data have hinted at some weakness starting to creep in. Export growth outpaced imports, narrowing the US trade gap and adding half a percentage point to GDP growth in the last quarter.— Reuters

US has already come down by 50 to 60 percent in the last one year due to the slowdown and recession,” said Finance Director Santosh Singhi. Analysts have estimated the sales halt could cost Toyota at least 50 billion yen ($556 million) in operating profit a month, almost as much as it made in the September quarter.

The impact will also depend on whether Toyota’s famously loyal customers begin to abandon the brand, an issue hotly debated on blogs and online forums. One reader of The Consumerist calling themselves theblackdog, wrote: “I don’t think I could trust buying a used Toyota that was manufactured in 2005 or later, so I guess I will be scratching Toyota off of my list to look at.” IHS Global Insight’s Da Silva argued Japanese carmakers would be able to salvage their reputation for safety as long as they moved quickly to show the recalls were isolated incidents. “If reliability becomes a permanent issue for Toyota and Honda that would negatively impact sales,” he said.

Recalls can show companies care about the cars they build, and don’t simply wash their

hands of them once they are driven away from the showroom, he added. “It should be an issue if they don’t take care of it and if it happens too often.” Toyota shares have dropped 17.6 percent since Jan. 21, when it said it would broaden its recalls by a further 2.3 million vehicles.

Shares ended down 2 percent in Tokyo yesterday. Industry analysts and executives estimate it will cost some $250 million in warranty costs alone for Toyota to address the smaller of the two recalls underway in the United States. The automaker also faces the fallout from the larger recall that began last year and was broadened this week for vehicles at risk of having floormats that can jam under accelerator pedals.

Then there are the still unknown costs of lost production, financial support to dealers and sales incentives the company has told its retailers it is considering. In addition, Toyota is certain to face lawsuits from people who claim injuries from the defects or class-action claims on behalf of consumers who will claim the crisis has damaged the value of their cars, analysts say.—Reuters

MNSS assures customers KUWAIT: This is in response to the published news that Toyota would halt temporarily the production of the some models at plants in the US and Canada in the first week of February. “The recall is only a part of the Toyota production policy, that insures no matter how minor an issue is, still Toyota will take drastic majors and steps up to take responsibility, and that’s what made Toyota the number one automotive company world wide in terms of customer’s confidence and satisfaction” said Mr Mubarak, CEO MNSS, exclusive dealers for Toyota in Kuwait, as he assures MNSS customers in Kuwait.

“So far, we have not received any directive from Toyota regarding recalls in the GCC or the region. Based, on the published information, we know that this pedal issue is a rare case situation and happened in cold countries, and had no damage to any of Toyota drivers. Additionally, all our cars comply with GCC quality standards” he added.

“However, this is a customer-driven move by Toyota, and clearly defines the transparency policy of the brand, and incase it was found that some models that have limited sales in the region might be recalled, we at MNSS assure our customers that we will comply with the high quality standards set

for their satisfaction, and in turn we shall guarantee our customers that full implementation of such decision will take place immediately”.

Whether this issue will affect models in the GCC, Mubarak said the fact that certain models available in Kuwait and the US doesn’t make them the same because each region would have its own parts supply and specs. “GCC specs are different from the US and hence sometimes what applies to the US doesn’t apply to our region”.

He added, “in this instance, a small limited number of vehicles might be affected, but we are waiting from TMC to confirm this especially our region is a hot region unlike Canada and the United states. Upon this confirmation, we will contact our customers and fix this issue. In the mean time, we assure all Toyota drivers that there is nothing to worry about and they can continue enjoying driving their Toyotas.” Mubarak re-iterated Alsayer Group commitment to customer safety and transparency and assures all their customers that they will never compromise their safety at any cost. In spite of the fact that suspending production and sales could have a big impact on TMC depending on how long it lasts, yet TMC takes every possible measure to insure that customer confidence is intact.

Microsoft Kuwait to participate in InfoBiz Kuwait: Microsoft Kuwait has announced its participation at InfoBiz 2010 along with its partners Ebla Computer Consultancy and Diyar United Company who are the platinum sponsors of Microsoft. InfoBiz 2010 is Kuwait’s premier IT and communications trade show that is being held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Nasser Al Mohammad AlAhmad Al-Sabah, the Prime Minister of Kuwait. InfoBiz will take place from Jan 31-Feb 4, 2010 at the Kuwait International Fair Ground. Commenting on the significance of the event, Ehab Mostafa, Country Manager for Microsoft in Kuwait said, “This year Microsoft is getting their partners together to present their solutions as part of Microsoft’s commitment to develop the private sector. We believe that it is an important platform that will enable us to showcase our latest business solutions that improve productivity and reduce costs and also share best practices that will transform and drive the success of businesses in Kuwait. We also thank Ebla Computer Consultancy and Diyar United Company for their continuous support and together, we aim to

help organizations understand and respond to changing business conditions with greater insight and speed than ever before.”

Microsoft will also have speakers at the event, who will deliver a range of presentations throughout the exhibition. In addition, Microsoft Kuwait will also host an ‘experience stand’ to showcase how customers can take advantage of the powerful new functionality of some of its latest offering including Windows 7.

Ebla Computer Consultancy will shed light on the Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (EPM). The Office EPM solutions helps organizations gain visibility, insight, and control across all work, enhancing decision-making, improving alignment with business strategy, maximizing resource utilization, and measuring and helping to increase operational efficiency.

Diyar will showcase e-government, e-services, and the Kuwait Government Online Portal (KGO Portal), and will be demonstrating the Microsoft System Center which helps our customers to manage the network, servers, and the stops.

Hilal Arnaoot, CEO, Ebla

Computer Consultancy said “This region is a key market for Ebla and we are committed to providing innovative technology products and services that have the potential to reshape the workplace and deliver great benefits to the enterprise. By participating at InfoBiz 2010, we hope to showcase a new line of solutions while offering insight into the latest trends and developments in the region’s information and communications technology industry.”

Bashar Atout, General Manager, Diyar United Company added, “Diyar and Microsoft share a strategic relationship and are collaborating to develop solutions that help customers optimize and transform their businesses.

At InfoBiz 2010, customers will get insight into how these new offerings, provide unprecedented business agility and IT productivity thereby reducing many challenges they face today.”

InfoBiz 2010 also aims to address key issues that face enterprises today including privacy, security and information management. Panel discussions will also be held during the event to discuss the future direction of the uptake of technology in Kuwait.

Doha Bank flying high KUWAIT: Sheikh Fahad bin Mohammed bin Jabor Al-Thani, The Chairman of Doha Bank announced that the board of directors in its meeting held on 20/01/2010 has approved the draft audited financial statements for the year 2009. Sheikh Fahad also announced that the bank’s net profit reached QR 973.6 million by end of year 2009 in comparison to 946.5 million in 2008, with a growth percentage of 2.9 percent.

He added that at the same meeting, the board of directors has decided to submit recommendation to the General Assembly to approve the distribution of cash dividends on the shareholders of 50 percent from the paid up capital i.e. QR five for each share. Sheikh Fahad further added that the audited financial statements, declared net profit, recommended distribution percentage, resolution of capital increase are all subject to the approval of the controlling authorities and the General Assembly of the Shareholders.

His Excellency said that the bank has achieved noticeable growth rates in all financial indicators. The total assets rose from QR 39 billion in 2008 to QR 46 billion in 2009 i.e. growth percentage of 18.1 percent. The total loans and advances rose from QR 24 billion in 2008 to QR 26 billion in 2009, i.e. 8.2 percent. Customers deposits grew by 20 percent , where the total deposits rose from QR 23.2 billion in 2008 to QR 27.9 billion in 2009 and the total equity of shareholders reached by the end of the year QR 5.9 billion i.e. increase of 19.1 percent from the previous year.

Sheikh Fahad also declared that the bank has also achieved noticeable growth in operational income of 22 percent, where the total opera-

Sheikh Fahad tional income rose from QR 1.7 billion in 2008 to QR 2 billion in 2009. The earnings per share was QR 5.38 . The return on average shareholders’ equity and the return on average assets was 21.7 percent and 2.3 percent respectively.

He also announced that Doha Bank actually received from Qatar Investment Authority the underwriting value in the bank’s capital for the second phase which is 5 percent from the total shares of the capital i.e. 8,612,408 shares. He noted that these shares will be issued directly after the holding of the meeting of the General Assembly Meeting of the Shareholders which is expected to be held on 24/03/2010. Finally Sheikh Fahad bin Mohammed bin Jabor AlThani, confirmed that the board of Directors and the Executive Management will work together to do more accomplishments and achieve all the defined goals in the bank’s strategy in the next three years.

TECHNOLOGY

Saturday, January 30, 2010

9

Fighter as Russia’s response to US

New Russian stealth jet makes first flight SUWON, South Korea: In this July 14, 2009 file photo, an employee of Samsung Electronics Co adjusts an LED TV at the company’s showroom.

Samsung said its 2009 net profit jumped 75 percent as sales rose amid higher prices for memory chips and strong demand for consumer electronics. — AP

Samsung profit tops $8bn SEOUL: South Korean giant Samsung Electronics yesterday said its annual earnings rocketed last year to more than eight billion dollars thanks to post-crisis demand for flat-screen TVs and higher chip prices. South Korea’s biggest company, which is competing with Hewlett-Packard (HP) for bragging rights as the world’s biggest technology firm, said its profit and sales both jumped as the consumer market perked up. “We see this positive growth and performance flowing on into 2010 as the global economy continues to stabilise,” said Samsung vice president Robert Yi. Compared to 2008, net profit surged 75 percent last year to 9.65 trillion won ($8.3 billion) owing to higher memory chip prices and the stronger demand for products including high-end televisions. Samsung, which employs some 164,600 people in 61 countries, said its sales at the parent level increased to a record 89.77 trillion won compared to 72.95 trillion in 2008. On a consolidated basis, 2009 sales came to 136.9 trillion won ($117.8 billion). HP of the United States expects to report revenue of 118-119 billion dollars this fiscal year.

Samsung’s leading South Korean rival LG Electronics this week also reported robust sales of flat-screen TVs as the global consumer electronics market rapidly regains health. Analysts say Asian components makers are now racing to expand capacity after running down their inventories last year on expectations of a much longer economic downturn. But demand worldwide has surged, fuelled by cheap credit and falling prices for consumer electronics, even if the West’s retail sales as a whole are still sluggish.

For the fourth quarter of 2009, Samsung said it swung to an operating profit of 3.7 trillion won from an operating loss of 740 billion a year earlier when the global slump began to bite. Net profit in the three months was 3.05 trillion won compared

to a 20-billion-won loss in the fourth quarter of 2008. Sales in the last quarter totalled 25.32 trillion won, up 37 percent from 18.5 trillion a year earlier.

However, Samsung Electronics shares lost three percent to end at 784,000 won, with stock markets across Asia down after steep falls on Wall Street. The company forecast growth across its businesses this year, with economic recovery expected to boost demand for flat-panel TVs as well as mobile phones and notebook PCs. Samsung said global demand for NAND chips was expected to rise this year on tight supply - which has already seen a rare rise in memory prices - and growth in the market for smartphones. The company is a leading supplier of the flash memory chips for Apple’s iPhone, while also marketing its own Omnia range of smartphones in competition.

In addition, Samsung sells a range of tablet computers that will be up against the iPad when Apple’s latest creation starts shipping in late March.

Despite the competition, the Korean firm will benefit from iPad’s launch because Apple uses Samsung components. “Samsung’s performance will be even better this year,” said Shinhan Investment Corp analyst Jin Sung-Hye. “The company is expected to keep up its pace, helped by a recovery in the market,” he told AFP. “It’s too early to say Samsung will overhaul (HP) this year in sales. But it will be able to do if it manages some risk factors in the global market.” Samsung forecast a robust appetite for its liquid-crystal displays thanks to the recovery, but cautioned of a possible supply glut in the second half of 2010. The company, the second-largest mobile phone maker after Finland’s Nokia, said it achieved “balanced growth” in handsets around the world last year despite a broad industry decline in sales. — AFP

Microsoft profit hits $6.66bn SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft said Thursday that second-quarter net profit hit a record $6.66 billion on unprecedented revenue driven by demand for the new Windows 7 operating system. Microsoft reported that its revenue surged 14 percent to 19.02 billion dollars in the fiscal quarter that ended Dec 31. “We saw record revenue and record profit, driven by strong demand for Windows 7 and PCs (personal computers),” Microsoft chief financial officer Peter Klein said during a conference call with analysts.

The net income amounted to 74 cents per share of stock in a 57 percent jump from the same quarter a year earlier. Microsoft said it has sold or licensed more than 60 million copies of Windows 7, which launched with Windows Server 2008 R2 software in late October.

Microsoft’s new-generation Windows 7 operating system hit the ground running on October 22, with US sales in its opening days blasting past those of its Vista predecessor, according to NPD Group.

Pressure was on Microsoft for a Windows 7 success after the disappointment of its previous generation operating system Vista. Technology analysts and users overall praised Windows 7 as a significant improvement on the muchmaligned Vista. While computer users may not give much thought to the operating systems that serve as the brains of

their machines, they are at the heart of Microsoft’s global software empire that runs more than 90 percent of the world’s computers.

Microsoft apparently learned a lesson from Vista and worked closely with computer makers, users and software developers while crafting Windows 7.

“What we are finding is people want Windows 7 on all devices in all form factors,” Klein said.

Off-the-shelf sales of Windows 7 brought in about $500 million in the quarter, trouncing a prediction Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer made when the software was released. “On the consumer side we had a very good retail quarter,” Klein said.

“A little more than we expected people are actually going out and buying shrink-wrapped Windows 7 to put on their PCs.” The consumer-oriented side of Microsoft’s technology empire drove the quarter’s strong showing, while businesses continued to be tight with spending, according to Klein.

“With Windows 7 we have tremendous consumer momentum and a great product for the enterprise market when it recovers,” Microsoft general manager of investor relations Bill Koefoed said during the conference call.

Software sales grew at double digit percentages in emerging markets while climbing “single digits” in mature markets, according to Microsoft.

Klein predicted business

spending on IT (information technology) will improve this year. “IT spending should improve from the recessionary levels of 2009,” Klein said. “We expect the business hardware refresh cycle to begin this year and continue gradually for several years.”

Tough economic times have lengthened the time businesses stick with older computer technology before “refreshing” operations with newer equipment, according to Microsoft.

The outlook is promising for online advertising and Microsoft is sticking with its hope that a deal for its new Bing Internet search engine to handle queries at Yahoo! websites will be approved by regulators. “It is a long-term process,” Klein said of getting clearance for the Microsoft-Bing deal.

Yahoo! and Microsoft unveiled a 10-year Web search and advertising partnership in July. Under the agreement, Yahoo! will use Microsoft’s search engine on its own sites while providing the exclusive global sales force for premium advertisers. “Bing is continuing to gain market share; what we really need to do is get the Yahoo! deal done and get that integrated.” December was the seventh month in a row of modest gains in search share for Bing, which Microsoft unveiled in June accompanied by a $100million advertising campaign in a bid to challenge search juggernaut Google. — AFP

Amazon cheers invertors SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon.com Inc blew past Wall Street profit estimates in its closely watched holiday quarter and forecast revenue for early 2010 that topped Wall Street expectations. The online retailer - which sells everything from books to barbecues while offering a host of services to businesses and Web developers - has been viewed as a winner of a fiercely competitive 2009 holiday season.

Amazon, whose shares rose 2 percent in afterhours trade, has gained ground as more consumers turn to the Web for bargains and has moved aggressively against retail juggernaut Wal-Mart Stores Inc in a battle for low-priced books, toys and electronics. Amazon’s growth “is not only intact and confirmed by the earnings report, they continue to surprise with nice upside beyond any reasonable expectations,” said Frederick Moran, analyst at Benchmark Co. “So far I see no chinks in the armor of Amazon’s earnings report,” he said. “We’d be buyers of the stock.”

Without giving specific numbers, the world’s largest online retailer also cheered investors with

what it called record sales of its Kindle electronic book reader. Amazon said it is now selling six Kindle e-books for every 10 physical books on its site in cases where it has editions in both formats, excluding free downloads. Fourth-quarter net profit jumped 71 percent to $384 million, or 85 cents per share, from $225 million, or 52 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had been expecting 72 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue increased 42 percent to $9.52 billion - above the $9.04 billion expected by Wall Street and the $9.13 billion that was at the high end of Amazon’s own forecast.

Investor response to Amazon’s numbers was strongly negative at first, with its shares falling more than 7 percent and then swinging more than 3 percent higher in a short period of time. “Their gross margin was lighter in the quarter than I was expecting but they offset that by just managing their operating expenses,” said Hamed Khorsand, analyst with BWS Financial. — Reuters

MOSCOW: Russia test-flew a long-awaited new fighter aircraft yesterday, determined to challenge the United States for technical superiority in the skies and impress weapons buyers. The “fifth-generation” stealth fighter - Russia’s first all-new warplane since the collapse of the Soviet Union plunged the defence industry into poverty and disarray - flew for 47 minRussia’s main television networks led news programmes with reports of the flight and showed footage of the needlenosed, camouflage-painted plane taking off from a snowlined airstrip at a Sukhoi factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in Russia’s Far East. “The plane performed very well. All our expectations for this first flight were met,” Sukhoi spokeswoman Olga Kayukova said on Rossiya 24 television. “The premiere was a success.”

Foreign journalists were not invited.

Fifth-generation aircraft are invisible to radar, have advanced flight and weapons control systems and can cruise at supersonic speeds. The new plane is Moscow’s answer to the US-built F-22 Raptor stealth fighter - the world’s only fifth-generation fighter yet in service - which first flew in 1997. Putin said the plane would first be delivered to the Defence Ministry in 2013 and serial production would start in 2015. Analysts have said it would probably be five to seven years before Russia’s military gets to fly the new fighter.

Successful development of the fighter, which Rossiya 24 said has been tentatively dubbed the T-50, is crucial to showing Russia can challenge US technology. The 1991 Soviet collapse ushered in a cashstrapped time of troubles for Russia’s military. Its aircraft makers have been building warplanes based on updated Sovietera designs. Defence spending increased in the oil-fuelled period of economic growth during the 2000-2008 presidency of Putin, who has encouraged pride in Russia’s military might.

The military has continued to suffer embarrassing and sometimes deadly setbacks since the nuclear submarine Kursk sank in 2000, killing all 118 seamen aboard. Several failed tests of the submarinelaunched Bulava (Mace) intercontinental ballistic missile, touted by Putin as able to pierce any air defence, have troubled the Kremlin. The Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified source as saying the new Russian plane had lowered and raised its landing gear twice during the flight and added that “the American F-35 fifth-generation jet couldn’t do that (on its test flight)”.

Lieutenant Colonel Marcel de Haas, Russian security researcher at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael, was not convinced of the plane’s bright future. “My impression is that this new fighter plane is also more propaganda than a real expectancy,” he told Reuters by email. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov told the cabinet more work had to be done on the engine and the armaments system. Neither he nor Putin went into details.

The new plane is important for future Russian arms sales.

In a statement on the company website sukhoi.org, Sukhoi director Mikhail Pogosyan said the company planned to develop its fifth-generation fighter programme further with India, its biggest client for existing planes. Sukhoi is Russia’s largest exporter of military planes and accounts for about a quarter of the country’s annual arms sales, which reached $7.4 billion last year.

Besides India and China, existing clients for Russia’s weapons include US foes such as Iran, Syria and Venezuela, and their purchase of an advanced new fighter could cause concern in the United States and its allies. The US Congress has banned export sales of the F-22. — Reuters

utes, planemaker Sukhoi said. “It’s a remarkable event,” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told his cabinet, but he suggested the plane still needed work. “There is very much to be done, in part as regards the engine,” Putin said. “But the fact that the plane is already in the air is a big step forward.”

KOMSOMOLSK-ON-AMUR, Russia: In this photo released by the Sukhoi Company Press Service and taken Thursday, a Russian-made Sukhoi T-50 prototype fifth-generation fighter jet is seen at a test airfield near this Siberian city. — AP

Nintendo chief unimpressed with iPad TOKYO: Nintendo’s president shrugged off the just unveiled iPad tablet computer from Apple as delivering “no surprises,” and displayed as little enthusiasm for 3-D technology and high-definition upgrades for games. “It was a bigger iPod Touch,” Satoru Iwata said of the much anticipated device shown Wednesday by Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs. Iwata denied speculation in Japanese media that what Nintendo Co has in the works in new gadgets may be a DS equipped with a motion-sensor similar to the wand for Nintendo’s hit Wii home console, or a Wii upgraded for high-definition TVs. “I question whether those features would be enough to get people to buy new machines,” he said of the DS. Nintendo engineers are developing new machines, he said, without giving details. Iwata also doesn’t expect 3D video-gaming to catch on, although he welcomed 3D movies at theaters like James Cameron’s hit “Avatar.” “I have doubts whether people will be wearing glasses to play games at home.

How is that going to look to other

people?” he said at a Tokyo hotel.

Sony Corp. and other technology companies are making big investments in 3-D TVs, expecting it will

TOKYO: Nintendo Co President Satoru Iwata speaks during a financial results briefing for the nine-month period ended Dec 2009 at a Tokyo hotel yesterday. — AP

boost sales growth in the next few years. Kyoto-based Nintendo, the maker of Pokemon and Super Mario games, would also have to look into the possible health effects of longtime 3-D game playing, which is likely to last longer than a two-hour film, Iwata said. Nintendo has scored success by making games easier to play for the elderly, women and newcomers. Iwata reiterated his company will continue on that track as potential for sales growth remains in Japan, the U.S. and Europe. He made no pretense to hide he was totally unimpressed with the iPad. “There were no surprises for me,” said Iwata. Apple says the iPad is a new kind of mobile device that is more intimate than a laptop but is packed with more functions than a mobile phone.

On Thursday, Nintendo reported April-December profit fell 9 percent as solid year-end sales failed to make up for the weak results for the earlier part of the fiscal year, a rising yen and a price cut for the Wii. ” — AP

Fujitsu says it made first ‘iPad’ TOKYO: Apple’s new tablet PC is not the first product to be called the “iPad”. Japan’s Fujitsu says it launched one year ago, and the name has also been used for small engines and even bra inserts. Amid the hype about Apple’s latest offering, the device has been hailed as an “iPhone on steroids” and a “Kindle killer” that will upstage electronic book readers, but also mocked on chatrooms for evoking a feminine hygiene product. Now it looks like Apple could have a trademark dispute on its hands.

Fujitsu Ltd. said its US subsidiary in 2002 launched the “iPad”, a sleek handheld multimedia device with a 3.5-inch screen, used by retail store clerks to keep inventory data, scan barcodes and manage business operations. Fujitsu’s device has an Intel processor and a Microsoft operating system and supports both Wi-fi and Bluetooth connections.

In 2003, Fujitsu’s US arm made a trademark application for the “iPad” name with the US Patent and Trademark Office, which is still pending and not yet registered, said Fujitsu spokesman Masao Sakamoto in Tokyo. He said Fujitsu was yet to decide on how it may react to the launch of Apple’s tablet computer, saying: “As we are now sorting out the facts, we have not decided on what action we may take.” A possible feud between Apple and Fujitsu has sparked debate on Japanese chatrooms, with one observer proposing: “Let’s apply for as many ‘i’ such-and-such names as possible! We’ll make money

in the future!!”

Apple has been embroiled in trademark disputes with other companies before, including Cisco Systems, which launched its “iPhone” before Apple. The two companies settled the dispute in 2007, agreeing to share the name. Professor Teruyuki Inoue, an IT sector expert at Daito Bunka University, said the “iPad” issue is unlikely to turn into a full-blown legal battle.

“They will probably have talks to settle this, given that the customers for their products do not overlap, and for the sake of their business ties in the future,” Inoue told AFP by telephone. He said he was not surprised the two companies had doubled up on the name, saying: “Everybody can think of an easy name like ‘iPad.’ It’s not creative.”

Indeed several other companies worldwide have had the same idea.

Germany’s Siemens uses the trademark “iPad” for small engines and motors.

The Swiss-based microchip maker STMicroelectronics has reportedly also registered “IPAD”, short for “Integrated Passive and Active Devices.” In Canada, the Ontario-based company Coconut Grove Pads Inc has since 2007 made a line of bra inserts and shoulder pads called the “iPad”, according to an online report by the Globe and Mail daily.

A Japanese company that makes a product of the same name - pronounced “ai pad” when transcribed from the Japanese - is Awaji-Tec, a manufacturer of adult nappies with a high-tech twist.

The company says its nappies feature an electronic device that can send a signal to a remote caregiver when it needs to be changed. “We have been selling this elderly care product for the past five years, said Yasuaki Mori,

who works at Awaji-Tec’s special sensors division. “It would be regrettable if people thought we had copied the name.”

Meanwhile in China, a company has used a different name - the “P88” - for an iPad look-alike, with a slightly larger screen, faster processor and larger memory but battery life of only 1.5 hours compared to the iPad’s 10 hours. It marks a new milestone by Chinese manufacturers - cloning a product before it had even been announced mused Shanghaiist.com, a Shanghai city blog, and Shanzhai.com, a tech blog dedicated to Chinese copies. But the makers of the P88, Shenzhen Great Loong Brother Industrial Co., said Apple appeared to be the copycats.

“We don’t understand. Why did they make the same thing as us?”

Huang Xiaofang, an executive at the company, told AFP. “We launched it earlier.” — AFP

Tokyo: Japanese manufacturer Fujitsu released these pictures yesterday showing the company’s “iPAD” mobile devices. — AFP

10

HEALTH & SCIENCE

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Experimental vaccine works against Chikungunya WASHINGTON: An experimental vaccine works against the newly spreading Chikungunya virus, at least in monkeys, and the approach may also work against other exotic viruses, US government researchers reported on Thursday. They used virus-like particles, which are mock versions of the virus that resemble an empty shell, to vaccinate monkeys against the rarely fatal but painful mosquito-borne infection.

“At a time when there are no commercially available vaccines ... a virus-like parti-

Trade, travel, climate change boosting mosquito species cle vaccine has the potential to have a considerable impact on the spread of this disease,” Dr Gary Nabel of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and colleagues wrote in the journal Nature MedicineThey said the same approach may be useful similar mosquito-borne viruses, known as alphaviruses. Chikungunya, first seen in the 1950s, came back in 2004 and 2005 and has since spread to nearly 20 countries to infect millions. The U.S.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a map at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/chikungunya/ CH_GlobalMap.html.

It is rarely fatal but it causes debilitating pain and exhaustion and can have long-term or even permanent effects. “Changes in trade, travel and global climate have aided the spread of mosquito species worldwide, which may potentially cause other alphavirus outbreaks,” they wrote. “Our

approach may prove useful for vaccine development against other pathogenic alphaviruses, including Western, Eastern and Venezuelan equine encephalitis viruses, O’nyong-nyong virus and Ross River virus.” O’nyong-nyong virus is similar to Chikungunya and is found in Uganda, while Ross River virus affects Australia, Papua New Guinea and other Pacific islands.

People have tried to make a Chikungunya vaccine but one attempt

caused similar symptoms to infection and others did not do well in testing. Nabel’s team tried making virus-like particles, an approach that Merck and Co uses in a vaccine against the human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer.

These particles resemble hollowed-out viruses, which the body can recognize and attack. They cannot cause infection on their own. Vaccinated monkeys fought off infection and the antibodies their bodies made against Chikungunya also protected mice, Nabel’s team reported. “Because virus-like-protein-

based vaccines are currently safely used in people for protection against hepatitis B and human papillomavirus infections, they may prove to be a practical candidate for Chikungunya vaccine efforts,” the researchers wrote. Nabel said the next step is human testing. Maryland-based vaccine maker Novavax has been using virus-like particles to make vaccines against influenza and has teamed up with Cadila Pharmaceuticals in India to make vaccines they hope will work against influenza and perhaps dengue fever and Chikungunya. — Reuters

Medicine running out at Haiti hospitals

US health bill in trouble Democrats see a problem with no clear solution WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama’s health care appeal failed to break the US congressional gridlock Thursday, dimming hopes for millions of uninsured Americans. Congressional leaders have insisted health care would get passed, even “It’s very possible that health care is just a stalemate and you can’t solve it this year,” said Sen. Mark Pryor.

If Obama and Democrats fail to pass any legislation this election year, Washington would still face the problem of millions of uninsured, rising medical costs and a dwindling trust fund for a governmentrun health plan for the elderly forecast to run out of money in 2017. The United States is the only developed country that lacks universal health care.

Obama urged lawmakers in Wednesday night’s State of the Union address not to abandon the effort on what was once his top domestic priority - expanding coverage to millions of uninsured and reining in medical costs. But his

enthusiastic words provided no specific prescription for moving forward, leaving lawmakers little better off than before. Senate Democratic leaders huddled Thursday to try to determine how to proceed, and the White House remained engaged in the negotiations. A Senate aide said lawmakers were hoping to decide on a legislative strategy by the end of next week. Republican senators said senior White House officials had reached out to several in their ranks, including some conservatives, despite the unanimous Republican opposition to the far-reaching bill. In a sign of how far health care had fallen since Obama campaigned on it, Senate Democrats devoted a weekly policy lunch Thursday to dis-

though last week’s stunning loss of the Massachusetts seat long held by the late Edward Kennedy cost Democrats the 60-vote supermajority they need to deliver in the 100-member Senate.

Many Democrats saw a problem with no clear solution. cussing jobs, not health care.

Yet House and Senate leaders insisted success was still in reach. “We’re going to move forward on health reform.

We’re going to do health care reform this year,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat.

The leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, acknowledged in her weekly news conference that plenty of work remained if the House was to agree to changes to the Senate bill. Just two weeks ago House and Senate leaders were working round the clock at the White House, with Obama personally involved, to merge legislation passed separately by each chamber and finalize a bill for Obama to sign in time for his State of the Union speech. That effort

was upended when Republican Scott Brown claimed Kennedy’s old Senate seat.

Since then Democrats have struggled to find a way forward. The leading strategy is for the House to pass the Senate bill along with a package of changes approved by both chambers, but that idea is fraught with difficulties both political and substantive.

Some Democrats favor retreating from a comprehensive overhaul and taking a less ambitious approach with a series of individual initiatives or a smaller bill. Insurers have opposed the overhaul even though it aims to insure more than 30 million people over the next decade with a new requirement for nearly everyone to be covered. — AP

Extreme winter in US signals climate change Variable snow-and-melt cycle challenges road maintenance WASHINGTON: Extreme winter weather in the northern United States shows that climate change can have severe effects, even when it doesn’t warm things up, the National Wildlife Federation reported yesterday. Climate change is expected to bring shorter, milder winters overall, but some US areas will have more intense snows, with more disruption to such activities as skiing and ice fishing, which depend on predictable conditions, the report said.

“More oddball winter weather is terrible news for skiers,” the federation’s Chip Knight, a former US Olympic slalom skier, told reporters. Mountain snow sports that require reliable snow conditions provide about $66 billion to the US economy; without them, local communities are vulnerable, Knight said. He pointed to extreme efforts under way to get snow to sites at the Vancouver Winter Olympics as “a startling example of

what’s at stake.”

In the northern United States, spring now arrives 10 to 14 days earlier than it did 20 years ago. However, some areas are expected to have more heavy snowfalls as winter storm tracks shift northward. For example, reduced ice cover on the Great Lakes is likely to result in more lake-effect snows. Strange winter weather is likely to strain local budgets if overall milder winters are interrupted by heavy snowstorms that require snow removal and road maintenance, said Sheldon Drobot of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Extreme variability from one winter to the next makes planning for maintenance difficult, he said.

The current season has offered sudden temperature swings that, among other things, stranded a flock of brown pelicans that failed to migrate south during a mild period in late fall. They’re

spending the winter indoors in Maryland after suffering frostbite, said the federation’s Amanda Staudt, a climate scientist.

Cutting the greenhouse gas emissions that spur climate change is “an essential first step,” Staudt said. However, she added that climate change is already occurring and must be dealt with.

“It’s clear that we’re already seeing some impacts and we need to start preparing for the new climate realities,” she said. “We can’t continue to plan based on what the historical trends have been.”

Curbing US greenhouse gas emissions has been one of the Obama administration’s top priorities, and one carbon-cutting bill passed the House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate.

President Barack Obama called for climate change legislation in Wednesday’s State of the Union address, and a trio of senators are working on a compromise measure. — Reuters

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Thousands of Haitians crowd food relief trucks as they distribute food to the tent cities in downtown Port-au-Prince. — AP

Painting rooftops white could cool cities: Study WASHINGTON: Painting all the world’s city rooftops white could significantly cool urban areas and perhaps ease the impact of global warming, according to a climate study released on Thursday. Considered a fanciful notion by some critics, the white-roof idea was championed last year by US Energy Secretary Stephen Chu, a Nobel Physics laureate, and research by scientists at the US National Center for Climate Research indicates it has possibilities.

“Our research demonstrates that white roofs, at least in theory, can be an effective method for reducing urban heat,” Keith Oleson, the study’s lead author said in a statement. “It remains to be seen if it’s actually feasible for cities to paint their roofs white, but the idea certainly warrants further investigation.” Climate change hits cities harder than rural areas because many urban surfaces, including darkcolored asphalt roads and tar-covered roofs, absorb heat from the sun. This creates so-called “heat islands” where temperatures can be 2-5 degrees F (about 1-3 degrees C) higher than in the countryside.

White roofs and lighter-colored roads would reflect this heat instead of absorbing it.

Researchers used a computer model to simulate how much solar radiation urban surfaces absorb, and figured that if all the roofs in cities around the globe were painted entirely white, the “heat island” effect could be cut by 33 percent. That would cool the world’s cities by an average of about 0.7 degrees F (about .4 degrees C), with the cooling effect most pronounced on summer days. And the white roofs would also keep the interiors of the buildings cooler.

In the real world, it would be difficult for any roof to be painted completely white, because of heating and cooling vents and other openings.

There wasn’t enough detail in the model to figure how much white roofs would cool individual cities, but there was enough to show temperature change in big metropolitan areas. In the New York area, white roofs would cool summer afternoons by almost 2 degrees F (about 1 degree C). The study is expected to be published this winter in Geophysical Research Letters. — Reuters

British university ‘hid’ climate data

TEXAS: A whooping crane eats a crab at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge near Rockport, Texas.

The world’s last remaining natural flock of endangered whooping cranes, which suffered a record number of deaths last year, will probably see another die-off because of scarce food supplies at its Texas winter 2009-2010 home this season. — AP

LONDON: The university at the center of a climate change dispute over stolen emails broke freedom of information laws by refusing to handle public requests for climate data, Britain’s data-protection watchdog said. A cache of email exchanges between leading climate scientists that were stolen from the University of East Anglia’s climate research unit and recently made public show that the institution ignored at least one request from the public for data, the Information Commissioner’s Office said.

The watchdog said it received complaints about the university from David Holland, a retired engineer, in 2007 to 2008, but it has only recently come to light that his requests for data were ignored.

“The emails which are now public reveal that Holland’s requests under the Freedom of Information Act were not dealt with as they should have

been under the legislation,” it said in a statement. The thousands of leaked emails - made public on the Internet just before the UN summit on global warming in Copenhagen in December sparked an international debate over whether scientists had exaggerated the case for man-made climate change.

Climate skeptics - including Republican lawmakers in the US claimed that the emails showed scientists secretly manipulated climate data and suppressed contrary views about climate change.

One of the emails disparaged climate skeptics, and a scientist said “the last thing I need is news articles claiming to question temperature increases.” Another complained about “getting hassled by a couple of people” to release temperature data that suggests uncertainties about climate change. “Don’t any of you three tell anybody that

the UK has a Freedom of Information Act,” Phil Jones, the director of climate research unit, wrote in one email. Jones temporarily stepped aside as unit director as an investigation into the matter proceeds. He has said the comments have been taken out of context and there never was an intent to manipulate data.

The Information Commissioner’s Office said it could not prosecute the university for its breaches because it was too late to do so - it said the law requires action within six months of the offense taking place.

Edward Acton, the university’s vice chancellor, denied that it hid data from the public and said there may have been a “misunderstanding.”

He told the BBC on Thursday that most raw data at the climate research center have long been publicly available. — AP

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Doctors and aid workers say treating the tens of thousands of Haitians injured by the earthquake is taxing the country’s devastated hospitals - as well as the efforts of physicians from around the world who are providing emergency care. Basic medical supplies such as antibiotics and painkillers are running dangerously low at some hospitals and clinics in Port-au-Prince, the capital, and in the countryside, alarming doctors who are struggling to keep up with demand.

The shortages complicate the effort to treat 200,000 people in need of post-surgery care “and an unaccounted number of people ... with untreated injuries,” Elisabeth Byrs, of the UN’s humanitarian coordination office said yesterday in Geneva.

Dr Nancy Fleurancois, volunteering at the damaged hospital in the Haitian coastal town of Jacmel, told a visiting UN official Thursday that her team is treating 500 people a day many for the first time since the Jan 12 quake and desperately needs antibiotics and surgical supplies. “You see people come here and they are at death’s door,” said Fleurancois, a Haitian-American from Newark, Delaware.

“More help is needed.” The doctor aired her concerns to Anthony Banbury, deputy head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, during his tour of Jacmel, where more than 20,000 people are homeless.

Banbury said later he would try to resolve her shortages, but noted there is a “grave need” for medicine all over Haiti. Aid workers say the need for medicine generally falls third behind water and tents for shelter from the blistering tropical sun and looming rains. The reason the supplies are not reaching people is the same: The need is too great and it’s just not possible to get them into Haiti fast enough or distributed in a country with ruined infrastructure.

The struggle to treat people comes amid warnings of a potential public health calamity with tens of thousands of Haitians living in squalid camps where there is a big concern about sanitation due to limited water supplies, Byrs said yesterday. “The health care system in Haiti has been terribly affected by the earthquake,” said Joe Lowry, a spokesman for the International Federation of the Red Cross. “Medical staff have been killed and injured, hospitals destroyed and stocks damaged and depleted.”

Marcela Sauza, the regional director of the Latin America and Caribbean office of the United Nations Population Fund, said Haiti’s maternal mortality rate - already by far the highest in the Western Hemisphere - is expected to jump this year because more pregnant women lack adequate food and health care and are stressed by the earthquake and its aftermath. Even as aid and emergency workers have poured in from around the world, it is easy to find aid workers struggling to keep up with demand. The UN estimates the quake injured about 200,000 people, including thousands who required amputation of damaged limbs and now must have postoperative care to prevent infection.

At the chaotic General Hospital in downtown Port-auPrince, amputees groan in pain while recovering in canvas tents in the courtyard of the damaged structure.

There is a shortage of painkillers as well as crutches, wheelchairs and physical therapy equipment, said Dr Bob Norris, who leads an International Medical Corps team of physicians. “We have a country full of people with new amputations who have to learn how to live their lives,” Norris said. — AP

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David Beckham finds it he England soccer player famously posed in his underwear for an Emporio Armani underwear campaign but admits it was not something that came naturally to him. He told 10 magazine: “I still feel quite shy when I see a poster or campaign like that.

“It was daunting stripping off in front of a roomful of people.

But after a while you get used to it - although my mum still hasn’t.” While the 34-year-old soccer star’s mother Sandra may not have been too happy with the shoot, his three children - ten-year-old Brooklyn, Romeo, six and Cruz, four found the adverts amusing.

David said last year: “When they first saw then they were like, ‘Daddy, why are you in your underwear so everyone can see?’ They don’t mind. If they were older they’d be embarrassed, maybe.” David previously admitted he was delighted to be offered the job

by Armani because he got to work with his wife Victoria, who modeled the female range for the Italian fashion house.

He said: “We never get a chance to work together and when we do, it’s amazing. It was great to work with her on the day.”

Saturday, January 30, 2010

‘daunting’ to strip

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Jude Law, Sienna Miller set to buy love

Jon Bon Jovi worries about growing old he rocker - who plans to on performing with T keep bandmates, guitarist Richie

What makes Mel Gibson wear earplugs?

Sambora, keyboard player Dave Bryan and drummer Tico Torres, as long as he can - is scared about the ageing process even though he still feels like a youngster on the inside.

He told Germany’s Reader’s Digest magazine: “I find it hard to believe I’m 47 already, because I still feel like 18. I don’t plan on being the next Mick Jagger and to keep on going till my late 60s. But at the moment I don’t see a reason why I should stop.” The singer - who was famed for his luxurious mullet in the 80s has previously revealed he became so horrified by his receding hairline, he began massaging his scalp every day to encourage it to grow back. He said: “Let me tell you, I am so worried. I look at guys like Sting and think, ‘Well, he’s cool about losing his hair,’ but I’m already losing a bit and I’m so aware of it. Someone told

me that you have to regularly massage your scalp so I do that all the time. You look like a jerk but it’s got to be worth a shot.”

el Gibson wears earplugs so his baby daughter can’t wake him at night.

The ‘What Women Want’ actor admits he allows three-month-old Lucia’s mother Oksana Grigorieva soothe her when she wakes up in the early hours of the morning because he needs his sleep. He told US talk show host Jay Leno: “There are shortcuts, I guess. Earplugs, you know! “I will be honest, I would say that her mother does the lion’s share of that work, but you know I support her.” The Hollywood actor also revealed he has given up smoking, and is finding

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the loss of his lifetime habit very tough. He said: “It’s been 18 days. It’s not funny! I mean, serious, you bury some serious anger. “Most people do it when they’re five; they get their security blanket taken away. “I did at 54 and I’d been smoking 45 years. There’s a lot of anger underneath it.”

Talking about why he was giving up cigarettes now, Mel - who is a father of eight - added: “Well, apart from carrying the garbage up to the top of the driveway and wheezing... I have a three-month-old daughter and someday I want to play tennis with her.”

— Bangshowbiz

Steven Tyler shocks shoppers at US hardware store he rock star - who checked into rehab in - launched into a cappella verT December sions of ‘Dude Looks Like a Lady’ and ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’ over the loudspeaker system at a Californian Home Depot store this weekend, shocking staff and shoppers. A source told website TMZ: “Steven also swallowed a few mouthfuls of gas from a helium machine, for blowing up balloons, and kept singing in a high pitched Bee Gees style. He was very relaxed though, and happily signed autographs for anyone who asked.” The troubled star is currently on hiatus from Aerosmith after a rocky few months with the group. He entered rehab last month to seek treatment for an addiction to painkillers, which comes from years of orthopedic injuries. The other members of the group have said they are looking for a replacement, but have no idea if it will be on a permanent basis or not. Guitarist Joe Perry said: “We’re going find somebody to get in there and fill that spot. We’ll play Aerosmith songs. Maybe we’ll do five shows, maybe we’ll do 20 shows, I don’t know.

And hopefully sometime Steven will come back.”

Steven’s impromptu performance was not the first time he has exercised his vocal chords in public recently. Earlier this month, he reportedly turned up at a karaoke bar in Palm Springs, California, where he joined locals in a rendition of ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’. Mike ‘DJ Kermie’ May, who hosted the event, said: “All of a sudden, near the end of the song, Steven grabbed the mic and started singing. The whole bar surrounded him and he just started singing the whole thing. Karaoke will never get better than that.”

he couple - who rekindled their relationship at the end of last year - have put in a £3 million offer on a Malibu mansion. The lavish property - which is just a few minutes away from the ‘Factory Girl’ star’s favorite shopping centre, Cross Creek has an incredible ocean view and its own private white sandy beach. A source close to the pair revealed to the Daily Star newspaper: “Jude and Sienna are hell-bent on not making the same mistakes they made first time around.

“They’re turning their backs on red car-

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pet romance and opting for a private life.

Jude wanted to buy a place they could call their own, where they could spend time with family away from the limelight.” Jude, 37, and Sienna decided to take their romance to the next level over the Christmas period after the actor realized the 28-year-old blonde is ‘The One’.

A source said at the time: “Sienna was always the one. And now she is back in his life and he never wants to let her go again. “Jude did some serious thinking over Christmas in Britain with his exwife Sadie and the kids. And he realizes

just how important family life is to him.

He needs a good woman to look after him.” Jude and Sienna spent the festive period on the Caribbean island of Barbados together with his three children, Rafferty, Iris and Rudy, from his marriage to Sadie. Last year, Jude became a father for the fourth time after American model Samantha Burke fell pregnant following a brief relationship.

It’s taken Sienna more than four years to forgive her former fiancÈ, after he slept with his children’s nanny back in July 2005.

Pierce Brosnan has never watched Daniel Craig as James Bond he handsome actor - who played the suave spy in four movies until 2002’s ‘Die Another Day’ hasn’t seen Daniel take on the role of 007 in either ‘Casino Royale’ or ‘Quantum of Solace’ even though he has tried to see the films. Pierce said: “I haven’t seen Daniel in the role. I tried watching it on an airplane. I thought 37,000 feet was a good distance to watch it from and it broke down right at the beginning. The attendant came and changed it and it broke down a second time, so I figured, ‘OK. The Gods must be saying something...’ So I never went near it! I just thought, ‘Let sleeping dogs lie.’” After his disastrous attempt to watch one movie, he decided to not even open the box when he was given a copy of ‘Quantum of Solace’.

He added: “I got the Academy screener for the last one and I turned it on for my boys and I left them to it. I didn’t go near it.”

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‘Mamma Mia!’ inspires Spice Girls to make a musical el B says she and her fellow bandmates - Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell - were keen to see their lives turned into a stage show similar to the hit production based on the songs of ABBA. She said: “All five of us are really super excited.

We don’t do anything unless all five agree. “All of us loved ‘Mamma Mia!’. We needed some-

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one who would have a great vision alongside ours.” However, 34year-old Mel - full name Melanie Brown - confirmed the musical will not just be a story about the girl group and will contain new elements too. She revealed: “It’s going to be fictional, but various characters will have traits that remind you of the group.”

Discussing how the idea for a Spice Girls musical came about, Mel said

she and her bandmates all got together before Christmas to discuss potential projects. She told Britain’s Hello! magazine: “We all just got talking. Lots of ideas were passed around and then one of the things that stuck was the musical.

“That night we celebrated the fact that we all had this amazing idea.”

The West End show which will be created by the producer of the ‘Mamma Mia!’, Judy Cramer.

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Saturday, January 30, 2010

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Did Da Vinci paint himself as ‘Mona Lisa’?

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he legend of Leonardo da Vinci is shrouded in mystery: How did he die? Are the remains buried in a French chateau really those of the Renaissance master? Was the “Mona Lisa” a self-portrait in disguise? A group of Italian scientists believes the key to solving those puzzles lies with the remains - and they say they are seeking permission from French authorities to dig up the body to conduct carbon and DNA testing. If the skull is intact, the scientists can go to the heart of a question that has fascinated scholars and the public for centuries: the identity of the “Mona Lisa.”

Recreating a virtual and then physical reconstruction of Leonardo’s face, they can compare it with the smiling face in the painting, experts involved in the project told The Associated Press.

“We don’t know what we’ll find if the tomb is opened, we could even just find grains and dust,” says Giorgio Gruppioni, an anthropologist who is participating in the project. “But if the remains are well kept, they are a biological archive that registers events in a person’s life, and sometimes in their death.” The leader of the group, Silvano Vinceti, told the AP that he plans to press his case with the French officials in charge of the purported burial site at Amboise Castle early next week.

But the Italian enthusiasm may be premature. In France, exhumation requires a long legal procedure, and precedent suggests it’s likely to take even longer when it involves a person of great note such as Leonardo. JeanLouis Sureau, director of the medievalera castle located in France’s Loire

This combination of images shows an undated self portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci (left) and the Mona Lisa. —AP Valley, said that once a formal request is made, a commission of experts would be set up. Any such request would then be discussed with the French Ministry of Culture, Sureau said.

Leonardo moved to France at the invitation of King Francis I, who named him “first painter to the king.” He

spent the last three years of his life there, and died in Cloux, near the monarch’s summer retreat of Amboise, in 1519 at age 67. The artist’s original burial place, the palace church of Saint Florentine, was destroyed during the French Revolution and remains that are believed to be his were eventually

reburied in the Saint-Hubert Chapel near the castle. The tombstone says simply, “Leonardo da Vinci;” a notice at the site informs visitors they are the presumed remains of the artist, as do guidebooks.

“The Amboise tomb is a symbolic tomb; it’s a big question mark,” said

This photo shows the reported tomb of Leonardo da Vinci at Saint-Hubert Chapel at the Amboise castle, in the Loire valley, western France. —AP Alessandro Vezzosi, the director of a museum dedicated to Leonardo in his Tuscan hometown of Vinci. Vezzosi, who is not involved in the project, said that investigating the tomb could help identify the artist’s bones with certainty and solve other questions, such as the cause of his death. He said he asked to

open the tomb in 2004 to study the remains, but the Amboise Castle turned him down.

As for the latest Italian proposal, Vinceti says preliminary conversations took place several years ago and he plans to follow up with a request next week to set up a meeting to explain the

project in detail. This would pave the way for a formal request, he said. The group of 100 experts involved in the project, called the National Committee for Historical and Artistic Heritage, was created in 2003 with the aim of “solving the great enigmas of the past,” said Vinceti, who has written books on art and literature.

Arguably the world’s most famous painting, the “Mona Lisa” hangs in the Louvre in Paris, where it drew some 8.5 million visitors last year. Mystery has surrounded the identity of the painting’s subject for centuries, with speculation ranging from the wife of a Florentine merchant to Leonardo’s own mother. That Leonardo intended the “Mona Lisa” as a self-portrait in disguise is a possibility that has intrigued and divided scholars. Theories have abounded: Some think that Leonardo’s taste for pranks and riddles might have led him to conceal his own identity behind that baffling smile; others have speculated that, given Leonardo’s presumed homosexuality, the painting hid an androgynous lover.

Some have used digital analysis to superimpose Leonardo’s bearded selfportrait over the “Mona Lisa” to show how the facial features perfectly aligned.

If granted access to the grave site, the Italian experts plan to use a miniature camera and ground-penetrating radar which produces images of an underground space using radar waves- to confirm the presence of bones. The scientists would then exhume the remains and attempt to date the bones with carbon testing. —AP

Reclusive US novelist JD Salinger dies at 91 J

D Salinger, the reclusive author of “The Catcher in the Rye,” has died at 91, his agent said Thursday, raising tantalizing questions over whether the legendary writer might have left behind a hoard of unpublished works. Salinger died Wednesday of natural causes at his home in New Hampshire, the Harold Ober Associates literary agency in New York said. Born in 1919, Salinger earned a place as one of the giants of 20th century US fiction. His 1951 tale of teenage rebellion, “The Catcher in the Rye,” became a cultural icon, making him rich and famous.

But overwhelmed by his sudden fame, he retreated to a hermit-like existence in Cornish, New Hampshire, publishing his last work in The New Yorker magazine in 1965 and refusing interviews for the last three decades of his life.

Fiercely guarding his privacy, he turned to the courts to stop publication of his letters and steadfastly refused offers to sell movie rights to “Catcher.”

Just last year in July, a US judge suspended the publication of an unauthorized sequel to “Catcher” by Swedish author Fredrik Colting.

Salinger’s death has reignited speculation over whether he may have left behind some valuable works which could be published posthumously. The author himself revealed in a 1980 interview with the Boston Sunday Globe that he was still producing-albeit not for an audience.

“I love to write, and I assure you I write regularly.

But I write for myself and I want to be left absolutely alone to do it,” he said. Roger Lathbury, whose Orchises publishing house acquired, then

Copies of JD Salinger’s classic novel “The Catcher in the Rye” as well as his volume of short stories called “Nine Stories” are seen at the Orange Public Library in Orange Village, Ohio on Thursday, Jan 28, 2010. —AP lost, the rights in the 1990s to publish in hardback Salinger’s “Hapworth 16, 1924,” said the literary world is holding its breath. “Nobody knows how much there is of it, nobody knows what it’s like, nobody knows,” he told AFP. “I assume the works, the work that he produced after his last published story in 1965, I assume they’ve been preserved. They then became part of his literary estate which will be administrated by whoever his will designates.” The market for any posthumous Salinger writings would likely be highly lucrative. Letters he wrote to his young lover Joyce Maynard, with whom he started a year-long relationship in 1972, sold for more than 150,000 dollars at auction in 1999.

In Hollywood, there is particularly intense interest in making a film of “Catcher,” a novel that sold more than 60 million copies worldwide and entered American pop culture, being referenced in everything from movies to songs and

other books. Reading the book “used to be an essential rite of passage, almost as important as getting your learner’s permit,” The New York Times said Thursday. “The novel’s allure persists to this day.”

The New Yorker magazine, which published much of Salinger’s output, said “The Catcher in the Rye” was the “purest extract” of the sense of disappointment for Americans who’d grown up in the 1950s.

The main character, Holden Caulfield, “is their sorrow king.” Even John Lennon’s 1980 murderer, Mark Chapman, homed in on “Catcher” after his crime, saying it “holds many answers.”

Repeated attempts have been made to film the novel and portray Caulfield, reportedly including by the BBC and movie moguls Steven Spielberg and Harvey Weinstein. But each time they were rebuffed by Salinger.

His antipathy to film adaptations is said to have been triggered by Hollywood’s treatment of his short story “Uncle

Wiggly in Connecticut.” What will happen now remains unclear. Reports, including from the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB), say he had blocked adaptations until after his death. Jerome David Salinger was born on New Year’s Day 1919 in Manhattan, New York, the son of an Irish mother and Jewish father with Polish roots.

As a teenager he began writing stories. In 1940, his debut story “The Young Ones” about several aimless youths was published in “Story” magazine. Then came America’s entry into World War II, and the young Salinger was drafted in 1942. He took part in the DDay stormings of the Normandy beaches, and his wartime experiences are said to have marked him for life.

He married a German woman after the war, but the marriage fell apart after just a few months, and Salinger renewed his writings with a passion. In 1948 he published the short story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” in the New Yorker, bringing him acclaim and introducing the Glass family and its seven rambunctious children Seymour Buddy, Boo Boo, Walt, Waker, Zooey, and Franny, who were to populate several of his short stories.

But it was “The Catcher in the Rye,” published three years later that sealed his reputation.

Sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield’s adventures and musings as he makes his way home after being kicked out of school touched a raw nerve and have fascinated generations of disaffected youngsters. The novel was also sharply criticized for its liberal use of swear words and open references to sex, and was banned in some countries. —AFP

In this image made available by the Act Alliance yesterday, children practice capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, music and dance, at a camp for homeless families in the Belair section of Port-auPrince. The program, run

by Viva Rio, a Brazilian nongovernmental organization, is designed to help children affected by the earthquake, recover their emotional well-being. The ACT Alliance is providing tents, water, psycho-social consultation and other support for families living here. —AP

Visitors are pictured in Anton Chekhov cabinet in a modest house in the Crimean coastline in the Ukrainian city of Yalta where he lived between 1899-1904 and wrote a series of late masterpieces. —AFP

Anton Chekhov’s moldy ‘dacha’ fights for survival I

t is one of the most famous buildings in the history of Russian literature. Yet all but forgotten by two states, its coffers are empty and it faces a battle to survive. It was in this modest house overlooking the Crimean coastline in the Ukrainian city of Yalta that Anton Chekhov lived between 1899-1904 and where he wrote a series of late masterpieces.

Then, the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea was part of the Tsarist Russian Empire. The house later survived through the turbulence of the Russian Revolution and the Soviet collapse in the 1990s.

The ownership of Crimea also changed hands, with Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev making it part of Soviet Ukraine in 1954 and the country then winning independence in 1991. But the white one-storey house-now a museum-appears forgotten by both Ukraine and Russia and looks into an uncertain future amid the celebrations this week for the 150th anniversary of Chekhov’s birth on January 29, 1860. “We are not even receiving money to pay the salaries, electricity bills and for security,” said the museum’s director Alla Golovachyova.

The museum is threatened by subsidence, she added, saying that funding of several hundred thousand euros (dollars) was needed to save the building. “We are in danger of sliding onto our neighbors’ heads or ending up being trapped in the ruins of the museum,” she said. “His house is in a deplorable state,” said local MP Oleg Zubkov, lambasting Ukraine for neglecting its heritage. “In Ukraine, culture just receives small change from the budget.” Aside from the frequent changes in the political cli-

mate, the museum has had to endure an earthquake and Nazi occupation in World War II. The villa’s heating did not work for several years and the leaking roof risked damaging historic exhibits including period chairs, documents and even clothes worn by the Chekhov family. One of Russia’s richest men and the owner of Britain’s Evening Standard, Alexander Lebedev, in 2008 came to the rescue by financing urgent restoration work including the installation of a heating system. Other contributions trickle in from private donors in Ukraine and also Britain. But the financing is not sufficient with the Ukrainian state offering a bare minimum while Russia gives nothing.

Then presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine visited the dacha in 2003 and left notes of thanks in the visitors’ book but no additional government aid followed. After building the house to his specifications, Chekhov settled here with his family and wrote his late masterpieces including the plays “Three Sisters” and “The Cherry Orchard” and the story “Lady with Lapdog”. He hoped the region’s balmy climate would ease the respiratory problems that afflicted him.

But he would leave in 1904 to Germany, where he died the same year of tuberculosis.

The museum was opened in 1921 by his sister Maria in the hope of creating a place that would preserve the ambience which had inspired his work Even the trees in the garden were planted by the writer and here he would walk with other cultural luminaries of the day such as the composer Sergei Rachmaninov and the writer Maxim Gorky. —AFP

Khagendra Thapa Magar, 18, who stands at 22 inches (56 centimeters) tall, and his father Rup Bahadur Thapa Magar hug each other as they wait to meet the media in Katmandu, Nepal, yesterday. Magar’s family initially filed a claim for the title of the world’s shortest man when he was just 14 years old but it was rejected since he was not an adult and there was a chance he might grow, said Min Bahadur Ranamagar of the Khagendra Thapa Magar Foundation. Magar turned 18 last October. —AP

SPECTRUM

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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Indian art show tackles Gandhi, and poverty new exhibition of art from India at Charles Saatchi’s London gallery tackles issues including poverty, the environment, war, religion and the region of Kashmir disputed by Pakistan. “The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today,” which runs from yesterday until May 7 follows similar surveys of art from China, the Middle East and the United States which have attracted more than a million visitors to the new gallery. It brings together 26 artists, mostly from India but a handful from neighboring Pakistan, who are either still working in their native countries or have moved abroad

A

to the United States, Britain and South Korea.

The Saatchi Gallery said Indian art has begun to thrive in galleries in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, and is increasingly reflecting political and social issues that come with rapid economic expansion in the world’s largest democracy. “They are certainly not purely decorative works which fit in with our notion of Indian art, which is of beautiful miniature paintings, for example,” said Rebecca Wilson, associate director of the Saatchi Gallery. “This is showing a whole other side of India and it’s not surprising that

the artists are engaging with things to do with migration, poverty, slums and refuse,” she added.

Wilson said that Saatchi, one of the world’s most influential art collectors, had been buying works from India for several years and felt he now had enough quality pieces to make up a show. “With China and now India becoming more significant on the global stage, growing as powers in their own right with booming economies, our attention is on these countries. “In terms of the art world, India has really begun to be a part of the international scene.” A handful of Indian

Ind-yeah for sure!

Models showcase creations by designer Lakshmi Jagmohan during the second day of the Bangalore Fashion Week in Bangalore, India, yesterday. — AP

artists have profited from the recent art market boom, with Subodh Gupta and TV Santhosh-both featured in the Saatchi showmaking headlines with giddying increases and works fetching six- and seven-figure sums. But the economic downturn hit values of modern and contemporary Indian art hard, and it remains to be seen whether the Saatchi exhibition will help restore the sector. “I think it’s across the board,” Wilson said of contemporary art market declines during the last 12-18 months.

Gandhi’s w ords The first room in the show features a

Ola Espanol!

Models present creations by Spanish designer Pilar Vera during the International Flamenco Fashion Show in Seville, Spain, Thursday, January 28, 2010. — AP

Stars in Stripes Models wear creations by Poland’s designer Joanna Klimas women’s fashion collection Autumn Winter 2010/2011, presented in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Jan 28, 2010.

— AP

monumental work lining an entire gallery wall with the words of a famous speech by Indian freedom hero Mahatma Gandhi spelled out with replicas of bones, an image of violence amid proclamations of peace.

Atul Dodiya’s “Woman from Kabul” tackles the plight of the refugee with the image of an elderly Afghan woman whose bones can be seen through her skin as she squats. Reena Saini Kallat has two companion pieces on display which feature large portraits of ordinary civilians from Pakistan and India overlaid with a map of Kashmir, the divided territory over which the rivals have fought two

wars. Jitish Kallat’s “Death of Distance” features five panels which each tell two separate stories depending on where the viewer stands. One is the launch of the “one rupee a minute” telephone rate across India and the other is the true story of a girl who committed suicide because her mother could not afford the one rupee she needed to buy a school lunch.

And Pakistani Rashid Rana’s “The World is Not Enough” looks from a distance like a large, colorful seascape, but in fact is a collage of hundreds of images of refuse digitally “stitched” together.— Reuters

Saturday, January 30, 2010

15

WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT Embassy information

EMBASSY OF SRI LANKA The Embassy of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka will celebrate the 62nd Anniversary of Sri Lanka’s National Day at the Embassy premises at 8:30 am on 04.02.2010. The ceremony will include the hoisting of the national flag, reading of National Day messages, remembrance of national heroes, religious ceremonies followed by a reception.

All Sri Lankan nationals and well-wishers are cordially invited for the event. Sri Lanka Embassy - Blockl0, Jabriya, Kuwait. (Tel. 25339140, 25339150)

A band plays Kuwaiti folklore in the background.

Dar Al-Athar Al-Islamiyyah holds annual cultural evening

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ar Al-Athar AlIslamiyyah (DAI) held its 15th Annual Cultural Evening on January 27, 2010. It was attended by DAI friends and all those involved in DAI cultural activities. The ceremony took place at the temporary headquarters of Dar AlAthar Al-Islamiyyah: The Historic American Hospital (National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters).

Sheikha Hussah Sabah Salem Al-Sabah, the Director General of DAI, received the guests; among them were a number of foreign and Arab ambassadors to Kuwait, some diplomats, VIPs, and important academic and media figures.

The ceremony began with a speech of welcome in English and Arabic by Bader A Al-Baijan, the head of the Steering Committee of the friends of DAI. In the background played Kuwaiti folkloric music while a digital display was running, presenting the cultural activities of DAI locally and abroad, with clips from the cultural season 2009/2010.

Guests enjoyed the light conversation and discussed cultural issues.

EMBASSY OF GREECE The Embassy of Greece has the pleasure to announce that with a view to promote business interaction and commercial relations between Greece and Kuwait and to present further support for the Kuwaiti importers, it requests all Kuwaiti Companies dealing with or representing Greek Companies in Kuwait to contact this Embassy as soon as possible and to provide by fax or e-mail the following information: (Name of the company, tel no, fax no, e-mail, type of business, name of the Greek companies/clients). The Embassy’s contacts are as follows: e-mail: gremb.kuw@mfa.gr; fax: 24817103, and tel no: 24817100, 24817101, 24817102.

The ambassadors of various nations pose for a picture. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Saleh Al-Ajairi addresses the gathering while Bader Al-Baijan looks on.

CHRISCCAA organizes family get-together HRISCCAA’s (Christian college Chengannur - Alumni Association, Kuwait Chapter) executive committee has decided to conduct its annual get-together on Thursday, February 11, 2010 in United Indian School, Jleeb, from 8:OO pm onwards.

There will be an exhibition of arts, crafts and a variety of entertainment programs for children and adults. If you wish to participate in any of the programs, please contact the Program Convener Alex Chacko at 97589611.

We are glad to invite all the present members and their families to participate in this program. All the alumnae in Kuwait who are not yet members can also attend with prior information. Please contact any of the following office bearers for more details. Mathew Alexander, President (99553036), George Mathew, Vice President (94060522), Sunil Thomas, Gen Secretary (66265702), or Jacob Varghese, Treasurer (66223348).

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EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya is happy to inform the general public and visitors to Kenya of a reduction in the cost of tourist visas by 50%, continuing through all of 2010.

Additionally, in recognition of the family travel segment, Kenya is giving a complete waiver of visit fees to children aged 16 years and below. Visitors are urged to take this opportunity and experience unique Kenyan beach holidays on palm fringed, sandy beaches, safaris in the country’s famous national parks, and activity based tourism.

For more information contact the Kenya Embassy located at Surra, block 6, Street 9, Villa No.3. Tel. 25353314/ 25353362 or visit the Mission’s websites www.kenyaembkuwait.com & www.magicalkenya.com. Official timings are 8:00 am - 4:00 pm, Sundays through Thursdays.

(From left): Sheikha Maymouna Al-Sabah, Sheikha Hessa Al-Sabah, and MP Masouma Al-Mubarak are seen at the event.

Sargotsav 2010 concludes successfully

T

he sixth Kuwait Engineers Forum Inter alumni children’s arts festival Sargotsav 2010 organized by Mar Athanasius College of Engineering Alumni Association (MACEAA) - Kuwait chapter was conducted on January 28-29 at Carmel school Khaitan. Sargotsav is an event organized to provide a venue for the children of KEF (Kuwait Engineers’ Forum) to express their aesthetic talents. Competitions included drawing, painting, solo and group dance, music, elocution, mono act and so on and the widely acclaimed alumni show. Around 275 children in Kindergarten, Sub Junior, Junior and Senior categories participated in various competitions.

Painting competitions were held and all the remaining competitions were conducted yesterday and continued till 7 pm. Prize distribution was held yesterday at the closing ceremony after the conclusion of all the events.

CRYcket 2010 he 13th annual crycket tournament is scheduled to be held on Friday, 26th March 2010 at the KOC Hockey Grounds, Ahmadi.

This tournament is organized by FOCC (Friends of Cry Club). Friends of CRY Club (FOCC) is associated with CRY (Child Rights and You), India and its main objectives are to create awareness of the underprivileged Indian children, help restore their basic rights, strive to provide support in personal development of the Indian children in

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Kuwait and bring out the qualities of social commitment in them. FOCC has been organizing CRY awareness programmes for children through its two annual events CRYcket (Cricket match for children below 14 years organized annually since 1997) and CRY chess tournament (for children of all ages organized annually since 2005) - and ‘Brain Bang’ programme which is an ongoing bi-weekly Accelerated Learning activity.

CRYcket will be played by 24 teams of children and

about 500 spectators are expected for this special one-day event. The deadline to receive the registration forms is 18th March 2010, however registration may be close earlier if the available slots of 12 teams in each category are filled. A colourful souvenir will be released to mark the 13th year of FOCC’s activities in Kuwait. For details how to become a sponsor and/or to advertise in the Souvenir or to volunteer as a FOCC member, pls visit www.focckwt.org or email focckwt@yahoo.com

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, AlAbraj Complex, Office No 9, Mezzanine Floor; 9 AM to 9 PM, Saturday to Thursday; 5 PM to 9 PM on Friday.

EMBASSY OF PHILIPPINES The Embassy of the Philippines wishes to inform the Filipino community in the State of Kuwait, that the recent supreme court decision to extend the registration of voter’s applies only in local registration in the Philippines under Republic Act no. 8189 and does not apply to overseas voters which is governed by Republic Act no. 9189, hence it has no impact on the plans and preparations on the conduct of overseas absentee voting. The overseas absentee voting for presidential elections will start on 10 April 2010 and will continue uninterrupted until 10 May 2010 daily at the Philippine Embassy. Registered overseas absentee voters are advised to schedule their days off in advance to avoid complications in their schedules.

Qualified voters are encouraged to get out and vote.

Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net fax: 24835619 / 20

SPECTRUM

16 CROSSWORD 885

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Calvin Aries (March 21-April 19) You can make a difference in many people’s lives today through your attitude. An instinctive imperative to be powerful and in control may lead to greater interest or experience in healing, investing and in the great mysteries of life.

Do not take chances or risks for now; slow and easy and sensing when to make your move is the best technique for your business achievements. Be satisfied with the ordinary but open-minded for the new. Novel ideas or insights could be more damaging than useful.

Emotional seriousness, a sober orientation, and a practical awareness of the nature of time are keynotes of your deepest feelings. There could be a tendency to be too strict with yourself—make every effort to enjoy the things that lighten the spirit. LAUGH! Taurus (April 20-May 20) You may be surprised with some advancement or good news in the work place today. You and your co-workers work closely and communication is good. Positive work attitude results in positive financial rewards. You could feel much more intuitive and psychic than previously thought possible. You may want to keep dated notes of your insights so that you can review them later and learn how to use this ability more often. You will soon be able to find a connection that can help you develop your psychic insights. Allow your inner voice to lead you. Your family will be planning a get-together soon and you will enjoy helping with some of the plans. Feeling needed is important and you are happy to lend a helping hand.

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. A unit of pain intensity.

4. Any orchid of the genus Disa.

8. An inflammatory disease of connective tissue with variable features including fever and weakness and fatigability and joint pains and skin lesions on the face or neck or arms.

11. Any of various primates with short tails or no tail at all.

12. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.

13. The fatty flesh of eel.

14. No longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life.

16. The sense organ for hearing and equilibrium.

17. Of or relating to or characteristic of Thailand of its people.

18. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

19. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

24. Flightless New Zealand birds similar to gallinules.

27. All the plant and animal life of a particular region.

30. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

31. A small digital computer based on a microprocessor and designed to be used by one person at a time.

33. A heavy silvery toxic univalent and bivalent metallic element.

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

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

37. A public promotion of some product or service.

39. (informal) Exceptionally good.

44. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

45. Naked freshwater or marine or parasitic protozoa that form temporary pseudopods for feeding and locomotion.

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

50. The basic unit of electric current adopted under the System International d'Unites.

52. Not only so, but.

53. A barrier constructed to contain the flow or water or to keep out the sea.

54. A light touch or stroke.

55. Harsh or corrosive in tone.

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

DOWN 1. An informal term for a father.

2. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

3. A unit of length of thread or yarn.

4. A person forced to flee from home or country.

5. The United Nations agency concerned with atomic energy.

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

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

8. Stalk of a moss capsule.

9. An accidental hole that allows something (fluid or light etc.) to enter or escape.

10. English essayist (1775-1834).

15. (Irish) Mother of the Tuatha De Danann.

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

21. Relating to or characteristic of a tribe.

22. Jordan's port.

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

25. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

26. A federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment.

28. The fifth day of the week.

29. A soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal.

32. Being one more than one hundred.

35. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

38. (Irish) Chief god of the Tuatha De Danann.

39. A unit of length of thread or yarn.

40. Avatar of Vishnu.

41. King of Saudi Arabia since 1982 (born in 1922).

42. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

43. God of love and erotic desire.

46. Type genus of the family Myacidae.

47. An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.

48. The Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Dali region of Yunnan.

51. A soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) You are wise in your choice of studies but it would also be good to take on a subject that includes society growth and attitude and trends type of class. You will be able to see your professional world with new eyes and have an advantage and insight that others will miss. You will be able to contribute your positive attitude to most problem solving situations. The inquisitive quality that you possess will come in handy on the home front this year. You will be the instigator for some very important matters in your living area. Neighborhood Crime Watch programs, Child Safety, Human and Animal Rights, etc, are just some of the areas you find an interest. The secret for you now is to—aim for balance.

Your wish to have a friendly evening with friends will come true.

Non Sequitur

Cancer (June 21-July 22) You enjoy talking about your work ideas with co-workers . . . consider submitting some of your ideas to a higher up instead; it will get you farther. Someone who appreciates your mind gives you encouragement. Young people near you this morning may need a little positive talk. You can easily teach that someone may have just lost 60 seconds of happiness because of 60 seconds of complaints. Although you can be unpredictable and unconventional at times, you will be in demand for your progressive ideas as well as your intuitive and intelligent advice. Someone wants you to help them with a business plan today. You are inventive, original, high tech and are able to give good advice. Your persuasive nature creates an opportunity for material gains.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Recognition is important to us all and you may receive that recognition from your work as well as from your neighbors for your input and dedication to subjects that need public attention or updating. This may mean equipment to a safe place for school kids to wait on the bus. You should be able to get a lot accomplished today, especially if you spend a little quiet time in contemplation. Higher education or philosophical/religious contacts have a part in making good things happen.

Travel and contacts with faraway people and places will play a big role for you soon. Such things bring love and gain in one way or another. You may find that someone close to you is supportive of your wishes. Tonight is a good time for order or take-home food.

Zits

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Interaction with older people may be in the forecast today. You may feel that you are in touch and in harmony with others; the lines of communication are open. The support you need is available.

You have many good things to say and teach others, young and old. You could be a manager or caretaker in a nursing home or school. You will successfully persuade a one track minded person to learn new ways of doing things. The importance here is not that you get your way but that you create a path to better communication. Now . . . you must listen. This is an easy, calm day that should find everything running in a smooth manner. A loved one really enjoys your company this evening—your charm is working. Laughter is good!

Libra (September 23-October 22) Group efforts today will be productive and everyone seems to enjoy being able to work as a group. Cooperative efforts, as well as rewards, are also enjoyed later in the day. Plans for a big garage sale are in the works and this can involve any number of benefits. You could be working for a charity organization or helping create a little fund for an employee’s family. As a group, again, you and your co-hearts can do just about anything. The people you get to know during this time will be in your life in positive ways for a very long time. The evening is another productive time—you could find yourself taking a class, teaching or expressing your views in a city council meeting. This is a full day. Share a little laughter, smiles and hugs with loved ones this evening.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) This could be a period of great material gain; it is certainly a time when material things have a great deal of importance for you. A coworker friend may share a favorite hobby with you. Break time can be shared a few times a week and quite enjoyable. You are patient or at least you can pull on that part of you that has sympathy for people that need patience. Today you will be in situations where you may have to call on that special patience. Some people would automatically have a negative opinion to a situation but you have positive opinions and see most situations as a positive; or the positive possibilities. This makes you a good problem-solver and here is where you must use your patience. There are plans for a busy and fun evening.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Your sense of humor comes into play today; you must have been the clown in school. Teaching, guiding, translating, instructing, lecturing, etc., all have a way of becoming dull, but with your guidance these classes or experiences can be most insightful. You are the fun teacher that everyone stands in line to be with when you are in a social situation. It would not be surprising to find you working in a driver’s license bureau and helping to sooth many frustrations. An older person may be in your life for part of the day and you may find yourself lending a helping hand. Since young people may be watching you—the way you communicate will leave an important impression on them. This is a healing and positive time.

Yesterday’s Solution

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Professional opportunities are available for the taking . . . the secret is to seek and find. Sit down with the family or a loved one this afternoon and decide where you might like to go for your vacation this year. A group decision could result in some compromises but you will find everyone willing and able. You may want to suggest a visit to a tourist place for some sort of vacation that allows everyone a hand in his or her own fun. You may decide to concentrate on building better relationships—a family decision about this vacation may be the first step. Building good memories keeps your tomorrows secure. This is a very nice day; perhaps filled with some renewed appreciation for all that is beautiful and fine. Enjoy romance this evening.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) If you push a

Yesterday’s Solution

little to accomplish your goals before noon you will be a happy camper—emotional seriousness kicks in this afternoon and could slow your progress. Spend the afternoon finishing up old or unfinished business. A problem seems to clear up magically today. You attract people that know how to make their money grow and are in control of their lives. Consider these friends when you need advice about finances. Ask yourself how they might handle a financial situation—this will give you insight. Consider the foods that are rich in sodium phosphate—raisins, oatmeal, berries and unpolished rice— they are what your body needs. If you are not in the mood for hot chocolate by the fireplace tonight, you might enjoy a movie with a loved one.

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Kuwait Qatar Abu Dhabi Dubai Raas Al Khayma Al-Shareqa Muscat Jordan Bahrain Riyadh Makkah - Jeddah Cairo Alexandria Beirut Damascus Allepo Tunisia Rabat

00965 00974 009712 009714 009717 009716 00968 009626 00973 009661 009662 00202 00203 009611 0096311 0096321 0021610 002127

Washington New York Paris London Madrid Zurich Geneva Monaco Rome Bangkok Hong Kong Pakistan Taiwan Bonn New Delhi Mumbai Madras Hyderabad

001212 001718 00331 004471 00341 00411 004122 0033 00396 00662 00852 0092 00886 0049228 009111 009122 009144 009140

Word Sleuth Solution

Pisces (February 19-March 20) If you have any urgent business to tend to this morning, everything will be working in your favor to get lots accomplished. You can really get your thoughts and ideas understood—perhaps you have an opportunity to verbalize some ideas that would help create more revenue for your employer. There is good communication throughout this day.

Insurance updates and marking your possessions with an engraving tool may be a passion throughout the week that is shared with co-worker friends or neighbors. Close relationships take on more emotional depth. An upcoming social event will have you going in different directions to prepare and purchase a few things. Take a friend with you and enjoy the shopping; you can help each other make good choices.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

17 ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya. Only for Keralite couples and ladies bachelors. Contact: 97134824. (C 20258) Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya with Malayali family, for decent bachelor or couples. Contact: 66332875. (C 20262) Sharing accommodation available in a C-A/C flat near Jabriya Indian school for decent family or working ladies, Jabriya, area 10.

Contact: 99606946.

(C 20257) 30-1-2010 Separate room available in Hawally Tunis street, Near Al Ghanim in 2 bedroom/bathroom C-A/C new flat with separate bathroom & balcony with family.

Contact: 99380453.

(C 20252) Furnished single room accommodation available in a flat for executive Muslim bachelor in Abbassiya, near Hi Dine supermarket. Contact: 99702105. (C 20254) Flat available with household items in Abbassiya, hall

very big and one spacious bedroom and kitchen items in good condition. Contact: 97143540. (C 20253) One room for rent, 2 bedroom flat for couple or two decent bachelors near Hi Dine supermarket, gents camp building from 25th January.

Contact: 65500258, 66041367.

(C 20255) To let from 1st February 2010, one furnished large bedroom with separate toilet in B始neid Al Gar area, for 1 decent executive bachelor.

Contact: 60046720 for details. (C 20256) 28-1-2010 Sharing accommodation available near Amiri hospital, Sharq, couple or working ladies or bachelor. Contact: 67766273. (C 20247) 27-1-2010 Sharing accommodation available with a Keralite Christian family in Abbassiya with separate bathroom in a C-A/C flat from 26th January. Call: 99412951. (C 20241) Room with attached bath available in new C-A/C, two bedroom, two toilet, flat in Abbassiya, to share with Sri Lankan couple. Contact:

66552905. (C 20245) Two rooms available C-A/C in Salmiya near Indian Public School, starting from 1st Februry for single, couple or working ladies. Contact: 97972920. (C 20240) Accommodation available in Farwaniya behind Crowne Plaza in a flat, G. floor, prefer Goan or Manglorean, rent KD 50. Contact: 97277454. (C 20242) Sharing accommodation available in Hawally behind Dar Al Shifa hospital with two bedroom + 2T, central A/C and shaded car parking. Contact: 99485424.

(C 20243) Sharing accommodation available for Indian, working ladies in a two bedroom, CA/C flat in Maidan Hawally, opposite 4th Ring Road, near Al Safat American Medical Center with a Keralite lady with all facilities.

Call: 99325130, 25649970.

(C 20246) 26-1-2010 Sharing accommodation, bachelor or family, central A/C building, bathroom attached, near Garden store. Contact: 65662085, 66274078. (C 20236) 25-1-2010

FOR SALE Toyota Camry, 1997 in excellent condition, registered until Jan 2011. Price KD 1,200 for interested buyers only. Call: 67056666.

1992 model Cressida Gl, excellent condition, price KD 600. Tel: 99687598.

Seat Toledo, model 2003, 1.6cc, mileage 81,000, good condition, owned by KFH, lease to own KD 56, remaining KD 1444, golden insurance. Call: 99820216.

(C 20260) 30-1-2010 Toyota Corolla, model 2006, golden color, very good condition, insured up to 11/2011, km only 80,000.

Price KD 3,000. Mobile: 99316392.

Toyota Corolla Xli 1.6L, model 2009, silver color, excellent condition, done 25,000 kms only, cash price KD 3,850.

Contact: 66211779. (C 20250) Nissan Urvan, 10 seater bus, model 2009, done 17,000 kms only, white

metallic, excellent condition, cash price KD 4,500. Contact: 97213518. (C 20251) 28-1-2010 Mitsubishi Gallant, model 2003, silver gray color, very good condition and insured up to October 2010, price fixed KD 1050. Please call: 97563505. (C 20249) Household items for sale, kitchen cabinets, couch love seat, etc. ATV 50cc E-ton runs great! Call any time 67039015. (C 20248) 27-1-2010 Toyota Corolla 2009, white color, run only 15,000 km, excellent condition, price KD 3,850, Contact: 66050484, interested person only. (C 20239) 26-1-2010

Lancer 2007, full option, Glx, km 68,000, super condition, KD 2100. Tel: 60048674. (C 20235) 25-1-2010

MATRIMONIAL Proposals invited for Keralite RC boy 30/170/ BA/DME working KRH Kuwait from professionally qualified girls. Email: abilashdk@gmail.com / abilashkaranath@yahoo.com (C 20238) 28-1-2010 Proposals invited for Keralite Marthomite boy, 30, 172, MoH male nurse, from CSI, Marthomite girls working in Kuwait. Going for vacation in June. Contact: mathewmerin@hotmail.com 27-1-2010

SITUATION WANTED Indian male, (MBA Finance) with 2.5 years Accountant experience in India, currently seeking for job, proficient in Tally 9,SAP fico, MS Office.

Holding valid transferable visa no. 18. Contact: 65547019, 25620738. (C 20214) Sri Lankan maid, 15 years experience in Kuwait, 3 years experience in US, cooking, cleaning, ironing, good with children, fine with pets, excellent English, prefers American or British family. Contact: 97918699. (C 20237)

SITUATION VACANT

Required cook for house, good experience all kinds of food continental, good

salary. Part time/ full time.

Contact: 66519719, 23901053. (C 20261) 30-1-2010 A lady cook is needed to work for a single Arab American man in an apartment located in Salmiya. She must know how to cook Arabic and Chinese food. The job also requires light cleaning. Working hour is 2 pm to 8:30 pm. Salary is KD 100.

Tel: 66417504. (C 20244) 26-1-2010

CHANGE OF NAME Old name: Vinodkumar Raghavan Ezhuthassan, Passport Number F 9952256, new name: Vinodkumaar Raghavan Ezhuthassan. (C 20216) 25-1-2010

No: 14625

Flight Schedule Arrival Flights on Saturday 30/01/2010 Airlines Flt Route Time Jazeera 0263 Beirut 00:05 Tunis Air 327 Tunis/Dubai 00:10 Wataniya Airways 2011 Sharm El Sheikh 00:15 Royal Jordanian 802 Amman 00:35 Wataniya Airways 2103 Beirut 00:50 Gulf Air 211 Bahrain 01:05 Kuwait 544 Cairo 01:15 Jazeera 0513 Sharm El Sheikh 01:25 Turkish A/L 1172 Istanbul 02:15 D.H.L. 370 Bahrain 02:15 Jazeera 0241 Amman 02:30 Emirates 853 Dubai 02:35 Etihad 0305 Abu Dhabi 03:00 Qatari 0138 Doha 03:25 Ethiopian 622 Addis Ababa / Bahrain 03:30 Air France 6770 Paris 04:35 Jazeera 0503 Luxor 05:35 Jazeera 0527 Alexandria 06:10 Kuwait 416 Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur 06:25 Jazeera 0529 Assiut 06:30 Jazeera 0481 Sabiha 06:35 British 0157 London 06:40 Kuwait 352 Cochin 07:40 Kuwait 206 Islamabad 07:40 Jazeera 0161 Dubai 07:45 Kuwait 302 Mumbai 07:55 Kuwait 676 Dubai 08:10 Kuwait 362 Colombo 08:20 Emirates 855 Dubai 08:30 Kuwait 286 Chittagong 08:35 Arabia 0121 Sharjah 08:55 Qatari 0132 Doha 09:00 Etihad 0301 Abu Dhabi 09:35 Gulf Air 213 Bahrain 10:45 Wataniya Airways 1121 Bahrain 10:45 Jazeera 0447 Doha 11:00 Jazeera 0165 Dubai 11:05 Jazeera 0425 Bahrain 11:10 Wataniya Airways 1021 Dubai 11:20 Jazeera 0113 Abu Dhabi 11:20 Iran Air 619 Lar 11:50 Middle East 404 Beirut 11:55 Yemenia 825 Sanaa 12:35 Pakistan 239 Sialkot 12:50 Egypt Air 610 Cairo 12:55 Jazeera 0171 Dubai 13:05 Kuwait 672 Dubai 13:25 Wataniya Airways 2301 Damascus 13:35 Jazeera 0525 Alexandria 14:05 Jazeera 0257 Beirut 14:10 Wataniya Airways 2001 Cairo 14:20 Kuwait 552 Damascus 14:35 Kuwait 744 Dammam 14:40

Jazeera Qatari Kuwait Kuwait Royal Jordanian Jazeera Emirates Gulf Air Saudi Arabian A/L Etihad Jazeera Arabia Jazeera Wataniya Airways Jazeera Sri Lankan United A/L Jazeera Wataniya Airways D.H.L. Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait Indian Kuwait Kuwait Jet A/W Wataniya Airways Oman Air Saudi Arabian A/L Jazeera Gulf Air Kuwait Middle East Qatari Emirates Kuwait Jazeera Jazeera Global Jazeera Jazeera Egypt Air Egypt Air Shaheen Air Lufthansa Wataniya Airways Wataniya Airways Wataniya Airways Pakistan

0457 0134 284 546 800 0173 857 215 510 0303 0239 0125 0367 2101 0497 227 982 0427 2003 473 1025 542 674 618 166 0177 614 774 575 102 562 572 1201 0647 506 0459 217 786 402 0136 859 502 0449 0429 081 0117 0185 612 606 441 636 2201 1029 1129 215

Damascus Doha Dhaka Alexandria Amman Dubai Dubai Bahrain Riyadh Abu Dhabi Amman Sharjah Deirezzor Beirut Riyadh Colombo/Dubai Washington DC Dulles Bahrain Cairo Baghdad Dubai Cairo Dubai Doha Paris/Rome Dubai Bahrain Riyadh Chennai/Goa New York/London Amman Mumbai Jeddah Muscat Jeddah Damascus Bahrain Jeddah Beirut Doha Dubai Beirut Doha Bahrain Baghdad Abu Dhabi Dubai Cairo Luxor Lahore/Karachi Frankfurt Amman Dubai Bahrain Karachi

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

Departure Flights on Saturday 30/01/2010 Airlines Flt Route Time Egypt Air 607 Luxor 00:01 Jazeera 0528 Assiut 00:05 India Express 390 Mangalore/Kozhikode 00:30 United A/L 981 Washington DC Dulles 00:40 Tunis Air 328 Tunis 01:00 Indian 982 Ahmedabad/Chennai 01:05 Pakistan 206 Lahore 01:10 Bangladesh 044 Dhaka 01:15 Lufthansa 637 Frankfurt 01:20 Safi A/W 216 Kabul 02:30 Kuwait 283 Dhaka 02:55 Turkish Al 1173 Istanbul 03:15 D.H.L. 371 Bahrain 03:15 Emirates 854 Dubai 03:50 Etihad 0306 Abu Dhabi 04:10 Ethiopian 622 Addis Ababa 04:15 Qatari 0139 Doha 05:00 Air France 6770 Dubai/Hong Kong 06:20 Jazeera 0164 Dubai 07:00 Wataniya Airways 1020 Dubai 07:00 Royal Jordanian 803 Amman 07:05 Jazeera 0524 Alexandria 07:20 Wataniya Airways 2000 Cairo 07:30 Jazeera 0112 Abu Dhabi 07:35 Jazeera 0446 Doha 07:40 Gulf Air 212 Bahrain 07:45 Wataniya Airways 1120 Bahrain 07:50 Jazeera 0422 Bahrain 07:55 Wataniya Airways 2300 Damascus 08:10 Kuwait 545 Alexandria 08:30 Jazeera 0256 Beirut 08:35 British 0156 London 08:55 Jazeera 0170 Dubai 09:00 Kuwait 671 Dubai 09:00 Kuwait 551 Damascus 09:10 Jazeera 0456 Damascus 09:25 Arabia 0122 Sharjah 09:35 Emiraies 856 Dubai 09:40 Kuwait 117 New York 10:00 Qatari 0133 Doha 10:00 Etihad 0302 Abu Dhabi 10:20 Kuwait 173 Frankfurt/Geneva 10:20 Wataniya Airways 2002 Cairo 11:30 Gulf Air 214 Bahrain 11:40 Kuwait 743 Dammam 11:55 Kuwait 541 Cairo 12:00 Jazeera 0172 Dubai 12:00 Wataniya Airways 2100 Beirut 12:05 Jazeera 0366 Deirezzor 12:20 Jazeera 0238 Amman 12:25 Kuwait 103 London 12:30 Iran Air 618 Lar 12:50 Middle East 405 Beirut 12:55

FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161

Yemenia Pakistan Egypt Air Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Jazeera Jazeera Wataniya Airways Jazeera Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Royal Jordanian Qatari Gulf Air Etihad Emiraies Arabia Jazeera Wataniya Airways Jazeera Jazeera Wataniya Airways Jazeera Global Jazeera Wataniya Airways Sri Lankan Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Wataniya Airways Jet A/W Oman Air Kuwait Gulf Air Saudi Arabian A/L D.H.L. Kuwait Middle East Jazeera Qatari Kuwait Emirates Jazeera Jazeera Egypt Air Jazeera Kuwait

825 240 611 1024 673 561 0496 0176 1200 0426 0458 617 785 501 773 613 801 0135 216 0304 858 0126 0262 511 0184 0116 2200 0448 082 0428 2102 228 1028 361 343 1128 571 0648 331 218 507 171 675 403 0188 0137 301 860 0636 0526 613 0502 411

Doha/Sanaa Sialkot Cairo Dubai Dubai Amman Riyadh Dubai Jeddah Bahrain Damascus Doha Jeddah Beirut Riyadh Bahrain Amman Doha Bahrain Abu Dhabi Dubai Sharjah Beirut Riyadh Dubai Abu Dhabi Amman Doha Baghdad Bahrain Beirut Dubai/Colombo Dubai Colombo Chennai Bahrain Mumbai Muscat Trivandrum Bahrain Jeddah Bahrain Dubai Beirut Dubai Doha Mumbai Dubai Aleppo Alexandria Cairo Luxor Bangkok/Manila

13:35 13:40 13:55 14:25 14:30 14:35 14:40 15:05 15:10 15:25 15:30 15:35 15:45 16:10 16:10 16:20 16:25 16:30 17:55 18:00 18:10 18:20 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:40 18:40 18:50 18:50 19:00 19:05 19:15 19:30 20:20 20:50 21:00 21:10 21:20 21:25 21:55 21:55 22:00 22:10 22:20 22:30 22:35 22:45 23:10 23:20 23:25 23:45 23:50 23:55

TV PROGRAMS

18

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings 00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

AMERICA PLUS Without a Trace Janice Dickinson ER The Closer One Tree Hill Cold Case GMA Recorded GMA Health What’s the Buzz One Tree Hill The Closer Ally McBeal One Tree Hill The Closer Ally McBeal Inside the Actors Studio GMA Live GMA Health What’s the Buzz One Tree Hill ER Law & Order ER Cold Case Nip/Tuck

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

ANIMAL PLANET Animal Cops Houston Ocean’s Deadliest Untamed & Uncut Night Night Animal Cops Houston Animal Cops Houston Lemur Street Monkey Business Aussie Animal Rescue Vet on the Loose Wildlife SOS Pet Rescue The Planet’s Funniest Animals The Planet’s Funniest Animals Animal Precinct Aussie Animal Rescue Miami Animal Police Animal Cops South Africa Wildlife SOS Pet Rescue Xtremely Wild Xtremely Wild Corwin’s Quest The Planet’s Funniest Animals The Most Extreme After the Attack Untamed & Uncut Untamed & Uncut I’m Alive

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

BBC ENTERTAINMENT Holby Blue Coast Amazon Abyss Amazon Abyss Rough Diamond Sd Holby Blue Coast Amazon Abyss Bargain Hunt Balamory Tweenies Fimbles Teletubbies Yoho Ahoy Tommy Zoom Balamory Tweenies Fimbles Teletubbies Yoho Ahoy Tommy Zoom Balamory Cash In The Attic Cash In The Attic Eastenders Eastenders Eastenders Eastenders Antiques Roadshow Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt

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

Bargain Hunt Cash In The Attic Cash In The Attic Model Gardens The Weakest Link Holby City Holby City Canterbury Tales Little Britain Down Under Green Green Grass Massive

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

BBC LIFESTYLE Ching’s Kitchen Masterchef Goes Large Masterchef Goes Large Cash In The Attic Usa Hidden Potential Living In The Sun Boys’ Weekend Ching’s Kitchen Ching’s Kitchen Masterchef Goes Large Masterchef Goes Large Cash In The Attic Usa Hidden Potential Living In The Sun What Not To Wear Antiques Roadshow Living In The Sun Cash In The Attic Usa Saturday Kitchen Saturday Kitchen Living In The Sun Coleen’s Real Women 10 Years Younger The Clothes Show Ching’s Kitchen Ainsley’s Gourmet Express Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escapes

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

CINEMA CITY 10 Inch Hero - 18 Wilby Wonderful - 18 A Walk in the Clouds - PG15 The King of Comedy - PG15 Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief - FAM Impact - Pt. *1* - PG Black Knight - PG Impact - Pt. *2* - PG Short Track - PG15 The Golden Bowl - PG15 Spy Game - PG15 The Narrows - 18

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

DISCOVERY CHANNEL Destroyed in Seconds Destroyed in Seconds Miami Ink Street Customs 2008 American Chopper Chop Shop Mythbusters Factory Made Ultimate Survival Smash Lab Brainiac Mythbusters Factory Made Street Customs Biker Build-Off Wheeler Dealers Wheeler Dealers American Chopper Street Customs Mega Engineering Man Made Marvels China LA Hard Hats Factory Made Eyewitness Eyewitness Against the Elements Decoding Disaster Ultimate Survival Deadliest Catch Swamp Loggers

DISCOVERY SCIENCE 00:15 Weird Connections 00:40 Mega World 01:30 Under New York

The Day the Earth Stood Still on Super Movies

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

Sci-Fi Science Sci-Fi Science Weird Connections Weird Connections Beyond Tomorrow Ten Ways How Stuff’s Made Green Wheels One Step Beyond Under New York Junkyard Mega-Wars Robotica The Future of...

Engineered Engineered Engineered Engineered Engineered Engineered How Does That Work?

Weird Connections Weird Connections Mighty Ships Download: The True Story of the Internet How It’s Made How It’s Made Robocar Sci-Fi Science Sci-Fi Science The Future of...

Mythbusters Mythbusters

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

E! ENTERTAINMENT Streets Of Hollywood Ths Extreme Hollywood Sexiest Ths Dr 90210 Ths 25 Most Stylish E! News The Daily 10 Keeping Up With The Kardashians Reality Hell Reality Hell E! News The Daily 10 Behind The Scenes Behind The Scenes Perfect Catch Wildest Tv Show Moments Wildest Tv Show Moments Ths Ths Behind The Scenes Behind The Scenes E! News The Daily 10 Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami Ths Ths Leave It To Lamas Leave It To Lamas E! News The Daily 10 Perfect Catch Wildest Tv Show Moments

FOX SPORTS 01:00 Torneo de Verano Mar Del Plata, Argentina 04:00 Golf Central International 04:30 The Golf Channel - TBA 07:00 2010 AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships Free Dance Spokane, WA 09:30 Dream Team Season 8 10:30 Torneo de Verano Mar Del Plata, Argentina 12:30 European Tour Commercialbank Qatar Masters Rd. 3 16:30 Torneo de Verano Mendoza, Argentina 18:30 2010 AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships Ladies Free Spokane, WA 21:00 College Basketball Game of the Week: Duke at Georgetown 23:00 World Sport 2010 23:30 Pac-10 Men’s Basketball Washington St. at Washington 01:10 02:50 04:20 06:20 07:50 09:55 11:30 13:00 14:55 16:30 18:20 20:10 22:00

MGM Mad Dog Coll Golden Gate Belly Of An Architect Gothic The Russians Are Coming Brenda Starr Far North Queen Of Hearts Heart Of Dixie Futureworld Juggernaut Of Mice And Men Coming Home

00:30 01:30 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 05:00 05:30 06:30 07:30 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:30 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:30 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00 23:30

NAT GEO ADVENTURE Lonely Planet Somewhere In China Destination Extreme Madventures Surfer’s Journal Bondi Rescue Destination Extreme Madventures Don’t Tell My Mother...

Lonely Planet Somewhere In China Destination Extreme Madventures Surfer’s Journal Treks In A Wild World David Rocco’s Dolce Vita Pressure Cook Lonely Planet On The Camino De Santiago Destination Extreme Treks In A Wild World David Rocco’s Dolce Vita Pressure Cook Lonely Planet On The Camino De Santiago Destination Extreme Treks In A Wild World David Rocco’s Dolce Vita Pressure Cook Lonely Planet

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 04:30 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:00

NAT GEO WILD World’s Wildest Encounters A Life With Bears Triumph Of Life Orca Killing School Hidden Worlds Snake Wranglers Animal Autopsy World’s Wildest Encounters A Life With Bears Triumph Of Life Orca Killing School Hidden Worlds Snake Wranglers The Last Lioness

12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Superfish Wild Russia Frogs - The Thin Green Line Animal Extractors Animal Autopsy The Last Lioness Superfish Wild Russia Frogs - The Thin Green Line Animal Extractors Animal Autopsy The Last Lioness

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

SHOW COMEDY Gavin And Stacey Seinfeld The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Live At Gotham Home Improvement The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne Will And Grace Two And A Half Men Home Improvement Rita Rocks Ellen Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 8 Simple Rules..

Watching Ellie After You’ve Gone Will And Grace Two And A Half Men Til Death 8 Simple Rules..

Ellen Watching Ellie Rita Rocks Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne Home Improvement After You’ve Gone Gavin And Stacey Seinfeld Ellen Watching Ellie Rita Rocks 8 Simple Rules..

Will And Grace Two And A Half Men Til Death After You’ve Gone Gavin And Stacey Seinfeld The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Nut Case Til Death

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

SHOW MOVIES 1 Cassandra’s Dream - PG 15 Talk To Me - PG 15 Rocky Balboa - PG 15 Fireproof - PG Blonde And Blonder - PG 15 Angus Thongs And Perfect Snogging - PG Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins - PG 15 Blonde And Blonder - PG 15 Angus Thongs And Perfect Snogging - PG Dan In Real Life - PG 15 Not Easily Broken - PG 15 Margot At The Wedding - PG 15

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 07:30 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

SHOW MOVIES 2 Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins - PG 15 Eastern Promises - 18 The Broken Hearts Club - PG Zorro And Scarlet Whip Revealed - FAM La Vie En Rose - PG 15 Rat - PG The Truman Show - PG 15 How About You - PG 15 Rat - PG The Truman Show - PG 15 Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins - PG 15 Doubt - PG 15

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 10:30 12:30 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:30 23:00

SHOW MOVIES ACTION Haven - 18 Kokoda - PG 15 The Mist - PG 15 The Glass House - PG 15 Missionary Man - PG 15 Stargate: Continuum - PG 15 Casino Royale - PG 15 Missionary Man - PG 15 Stargate: Continuum - PG 15 Desperation - 18 Mulberry Street - 18 Smokin’ Aces - 18

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

SHOW MOVIES COMEDY The Lonely Guy - PG 15 This Christmas - PG Golden Boys - PG My Favorite Martian - PG This Christmas - PG Kettle Of Fish - 18 First Kid - PG Superhero Movie - PG 15 Kettle Of Fish - 18 First Kid - PG The Moguls - 18 The Foot Fist Way - PG 15

01:45 FAM 03:30 05:00 06:30 08:30 10:00 11:15 13:00 14:45 16:30 18:15 19:45 21:00 22:45 00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00

SHOW MOVIES KIDS Yogi And The Invasion Of The Space Bears Barbie And The Three Musketeers - PG Barbie Fairytopia Mermaidia - FAM High School Musical 3: Senior Year - PG Barbie And The Three Musketeers - PG Mucha Lucha! Return Of El Malefico - FAM Snowglobe - PG Igor - PG Dark Crystal - PG Street Fighter Ii - PG Igor - PG Mucha Lucha! Return Of El Malefico - FAM Snowglobe - PG Dark Crystal - PG SHOW SERIES House C.s.i.

C.s.i.

Breaking Bad Hotel Babylon Spooks House Eureka Lipstick Jungle 10 Years Younger (usa) 10 Years Younger (usa) Hotel Babylon Eureka Spooks C.s.i.

C.s.i.

Haven on Show Movies Action 15:00 16:00 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Lipstick Jungle House Never Trust A Skinny Cook Never Trust A Skinny Cook Emmerdale Coronation Street Law And Order Life Law And Order: Criminal Intent C.s.i. New York Lipstick Jungle

00:00 01:00 01:30 04:30 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 11:00 12:00 14:00 14:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 20:00 20:30 22:30 23:00

SHOW SPORTS 1 Barclays Premier League Arabic Preview Premier League World Premier League Barclays Premier League Arabic Preview Scottish Premier League Highlights Premier League Classics Premier League Classics Barclays Premier League Arabic Preview Premier League World Scottish Premier League Highlights Barclays Premier League Barclays Premier League Arabic Preview Premier League Premier League World Barclays Premier League Arabic Preview Futbol Mundial Barclays Premier League Highlights Premier League World Live Toshiba Super Saturday Live Premier League Live Toshiba Super Saturday Live Premier League Live Toshiba Super Saturday Premier League

01:00 01:30 02:00 02:30 03:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 14:30 15:00 15:30 17:30 18:00 20:00 20:30 22:30 23:00

SHOW SPORTS 2 Premier League Preview Show Futbol Mundial European Tour Weekly Gillette World Sport Dubai International Horse Racing Carnival Premier League Preview Show Futbol Mundial Super League Premier League Preview Show Premier League World European Tour Weekly Gillette World Sport Futbol Mundial Cricket ODI Highlights Futbol Mundial Premier League Preview Show Live Scottish Premier League Live Toshiba Super Saturday Live Scottish Premier League Live Toshiba Super Saturday Live Scottish Premier League Live Toshiba Super Saturday Premier League

01:30 02:00 04:00 05:00 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 20:00 22:00

SHOW SPORTS 3 Premier League Preview Super League Weber Cup Bowling Premier League Preview Gillette World Sport Futbol Mundial European Tour Weekly PGA European Tour Premier League Preview European Tour Weekly Live PGA European Tour Premier League Preview Gillette World Sport Futbol Mundial Live Premier League Super League PGA European Tour

00:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 11:00

SHOW SPORTS 4 WWE SmackDown!

WWE Bottomline Bushido Rat Race NCAA Basketball WWE Bottomline WWE ECW WWE SmackDown!

WWE Vintage Collection

12:00 13:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 20:30 22:30 23:15

WWE Bottomline NFL Game Day UFC All Access WWE Bottomline WWE ECW WWE SmackDown!

Live Premier League NFL Game Day NCAA Basketball NFL Game Day Live NCAA Basketball

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

SUPER COMEDY The Jay Leno Show The New Adventures Of Old Christine The Ellen Degeneres Show Everybody Loves Raymond Late Night Show With Jimmy Fallon Jimmy Kimmel Live The Jay Leno Show The New Adventures Of Old Christine Frasier Two And A Half Men The Tonight Show With Conan O’ Brien The Ellen Degeneres Show Jimmy Kimmel Live Everybody Loves Raymond Frasier The New Adventures Of Old Christine Two And A Half Men The Jay Leno Show The Tonight Show With Conan O’ Brien Late Night Show With Jimmy Fallon The Ellen Degeneres Show Everybody Loves Raymond Frasier Jimmy Kimmel Live The Simpsons Two And A Half Men The Jay Leno Show The Tonight Show With Conan O’ Brien Late Night Show With Jimmy Fallon Weeds Jimmy Kimmel Live

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

SUPER MOVIES Malice in Wonderland - FAM Australia - PG15 Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants *2* - PG Malice in Wonderland - FAM In The Loop - PG15 Bride Wars - PG Kit Kittredge: An American Girl - FAM Taking Chance - PG Martian Child - PG Malice in Wonderland - FAM The Day the Earth Stood Still - PG Winged Creatures AKA Fragments - PG15

01:40 02:10 04:30 05:00 05:30 07:25 08:00 09:40 11:30 13:00 15:20 17:55 19:35 20:00 22:30 23:00

TCM The Screening Room Ice Station Zebra The Screening Room The Screening Room The Philadelphia Story The Screening Room Key Largo An American in Paris My Favorite Year Kelly’s Heroes Lost Horizon (1937) Key Largo The Screening Room Cimarron The Screening Room Vampira (1975)

00:40 01:30 02:20 03:10 04:00 04:55 05:50 06:40 07:30 08:20 09:10 10:00 10:55 11:50

THE HISTORY CHANNEL Mega Disasters Dinosaur Secrets Prehistoric Mega Storms Monsterquest Conspiracy?

UFO Files Day After Roswell Mega Disasters Dinosaur Secrets Prehistoric Mega Storms Monsterquest Conspiracy?

UFO Files Day After Roswell

Star Listings (UAE Timings) STAR 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30

Movies Greatest American Dog My Name Is Earl Scrubs Scrubs Painkiller Jane Eli Stone [V] Tunes [V] Tunes [V] Tunes Greatest American Dog [V] Tunes [V] Tunes [V] Tunes 7th Heaven Painkiller Jane Greatest American Dog The Simpsons The Bold And The Beautiful The Bold And The Beautiful The Bold And The Beautiful The Bold And The Beautiful The Bold And The Beautiful

10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30

Kyle XY Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

[V] Tunes Painkiller Jane The Simpsons According To Jim According To Jim According To Jim

Granada TV 21:00 Lost Royals 22:00 Northern Lights 23:00 Lost Royals 00:00 Life Begins (Series 1) 01:00 Football Saved My Life * 02:00 Big Bad World (Series 1) 03:00 Reversals 05:00 Northern Lights 06:00 Emmerdale Weekend Omnibus 07:30 Undercover Customs (Series 1) 08:00 Northern Lights 09:00 Revenge TV 10:00 Beyond Boiling Point

10:30 11:00 * 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00

Young, Posh and Loaded Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 1) The Colour Of Money * Don’t Try This At Home (Series 2) Prime Drama: Prime Suspect (Series 6) Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 1) The Colour Of Money * Don’t Try This At Home (Series 2) Prime Drama: Prime Suspect (Series 6)

Channel [V] 22:00 The Playlist 00:30 Double Shot 01:00 Loop 02:00 [V] Plug 04:30 Keys To The VIP 05:00 Backtracks 06:00 [V] Tunes 09:00 [V] Plug 11:30 Double Shot 12:00 Videoscope 13:00 [V] Countdown

15:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00

[V] Tunes Loop Backtracks [V] Special [V] Countdown

Fox New s 20:00 Happening Now 22:00 The Live Desk 00:00 Studio B with Shepard Smith Live 01:00 Your World with Neil Cavuto 02:00 Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck 03:00 Special Report with Bret Baier 04:00 The FOX Report with Shepard Smith 05:00 The O’Reilly Factor 06:00 Hannity 07:00 On the Record with Greta Van Susteren 08:00 The O’Reilly Factor 09:00 Hannity 10:00 On the Record with Greta Van Susteren 11:00 Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck 12:00 Fox Report 13:00 Special Report with Bret Baier

14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 19:30

Hannity (repeat) The O’Reilly Factor (repeat) FOX and Friends Saturday FOX and Friends Saturday FOX and Friends Saturday Bulls and Bears Cavuto On Business

National Geographical Channel 20:00 ABOUT ASIA -Space Crab S2 21:00 History’s Secrets -The Hunt For The Boston Strangler 22:00 Naked Science -Death Of The Earth 23:00 Inside -Hong Kong’s Big Bang 00:00 Amazing Moments -Most Thrilling Moments 01:00 ABOUT ASIA -Space Crab S2 02:00 Inside -Battle Of The Wines 03:00 Nat Geo Junior -Planet Mechanics : Water War 04:00 Thailand Special -Cooking The World :

Thailand:The Delights Of Thai Cuisine 1 05:00 ABOUT ASIA -Space Crab S2 06:00 Predator CSI -Mutant Devils 07:00 Megastructures -Super Copter 08:00 Big, Bigger, Biggest -Sky Wheel 09:00 Microkillers -Superflu 10:00 Dam Beavers 11:00 D-Day:Men And Machine 1 12:00 Convoy - War For The Atlantic -Death Blow 4 13:00 Adventure Wanted -White Water Challenge S1-6 14:00 Big Melt -Naked Science : Ice Age Meltdown 15:00 Search For The Amazon Headshri 16:00 Convoy - War For The Atlantic -Death Blow 4 17:00 Megastructures : Super Copter 18:00 Big Melt -Naked Science : Ice Age Meltdown 19:00 Inside -Hong Kong’s Big Bang

Saturday, January 30, 2010

NEWS

19

Latin America rejects old US approach in drugs war BUENOS AIRES: As an increasingly violent and costly drugs war clogs up prisons with small-time users, some Latin American countries are abandoning hardline US. policies on consumption to intensify the fight against major traffickers.

Convinced that the four-decade-old, US.-led war on drugs has failed, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and other countries are relaxing penalties for possession and personal use of small amounts of narcotics.

Critics warn drug abuse and violence will rise if the small-scale consumption of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs is tolerated, but policy makers in much of Latin America argue the new laws will free up resources to go after big traffickers and treat addicts. The shift away from zero-tolerance policies has picked up pace in the past year and US. President Barack Obama’s administration has voiced little opposition to the changes. That is a dramatic switch after decades of Washington’s resolute opposition to any easing of laws against consumption.

Even in countries such as Argentina, where drug violence is still unusual, judges are backing decriminalization because the justice system is congested with small-time busts, leaving prosecutors unable to go after bigger fish. “The courts were overwhelmed with cases of small consumers.

We have a real drug consumption problem

in Argentina and we cannot fix it just by punishing,” said Horacio Cattani, a federal judge who is on a high-level commission that drafted new drug laws for Argentina.

Most of the world’s cocaine still comes out of the Andean countries of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, even after billions of dollars spent eradicating crops. In Mexico, the drug war has killed more than 16,000 people since late 2006 when President Felipe Calderon took office and deployed tens of thousands of soldiers to combat ruthless cartels that behead and dismember rivals, and bribe or intimidate police and judges.

Drug violence has also soared in Central America, where street gangs have taken over the trade and in some cases infiltrated political parties. Mexico is the world’s biggest producer of marijuana and Paraguay, in the heart of South America, has taken the No. 2 position as demand grows in neighboring Argentina and Brazil.

Brazil and Mexico, the two largest economies in Latin America, are taking the lead in a new approach to individual drug consumers. Brazil has partially decriminalized drug use and in Mexico, carrying small amounts of any drug is no longer a criminal offense. In Argentina, President Cristina Fernandez is expected to soon send a drug reform bill to Congress that proposes sending users to treatment instead of jail, following on a Supreme Court ruling that

made it illegal to prosecute drug consumers.

In Ecuador, the leftist government has freed 2,000 traffickers in a pardon for smalltime traffickers known as “drug mules”, and other users hope they will soon be freed under penal code reforms. Jessica Trujillo has been in an Ecuadorean prison for a year awaiting sentencing for possession of 1.5 gm of a cocaine derivative. “A lot of people here get the same sentence for carrying a few grams or a few tonnes,” said Trujillo, who acknowledged her drug addiction in a telephone interview from Quito’s El Inca prison. “I don’t think consumers should go to jail because drug addiction is not a crime - it’s an illness.”

Since the Nixon administration declared a war on drugs four decades ago, the United States had resisted Latin American moves to relax drug policy. Mexico was close to decriminalizing some drug possession in 2006 but turned back under US pressure. But President Barack Obama’s administration was silent last year when Mexico and Argentina moved toward decriminalization. “The US is retreating from imposing a model,” said John Walsh, head of drug policy for the Washington Office on Latin America think tank. “The White House... is going to be taking a more measured approach to talking about drug policy.” — Reuters

Laden raps US on climate, economy Continued from Page 1 financial crisis, saying the programs helped companies that caused the economic meltdown. “When those perpetrators fall victims to the evil they had committed, the heads of states rush to rescue them using public money. He also borrowed from prominent American leftist Noam Chomsky, saying the US administration operates like the mafia. “Chomsky was right when he pointed to a resemblance between American policies and the approach of mafia gangs. Those are the real terrorists,” said bin Laden. He was apparently referring to comments made in British newspaper The Guardian in November by Chomsky, a linguistics professor famous for his attacks on US policy.

The Al-Qaeda leader went on to urge a boycott of the US dollar. “We should stop using the dollar and get rid of it... I know that there would be huge repercussions for that, but this would be the only way to free humankind from slavery... to America and its companies,” he said. “Whatever the repercussions of such (boycott) decision would be, staying in slavery to them would have bigger and more dangerous results.”

Bin L aden has mentioned climate

change and global warning in past messages, but the latest tape was his first dedicated to the topic. The speech, which included almost no religious rhetoric, could be an attempt by the terror leader to give his message an appeal beyond Islamic militants.

The broadcast came less than a week after bin L aden praised as a “hero” Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who allegedly tried to detonate explosives on a US plane approaching Detroit on Christmas Day, in another audio message. “The message that was conveyed through the (attack on the) plane... is that America should not dream of security until we enjoy it as a reality in Palestine,” he said in the message aired on Sunday by Al-Jazeera. The authenticity of that statement is also yet to be verified, but IntelCenter, a US group that monitors Islamist websites, said it appeared to be the voice of bin Laden.

US President Barack Obama said bin Laden’s decision to claim the attempted plane attack on December 25 showed the Al-Qaeda leader had been “weakened”.

The State Department said bin Laden was seeking “glory” by taking credit for incidents around the world. “Bin Laden has been trying to put his fingerprints on just

Defiant Blair defends decisions on Iraq war about everything that’s happened for years,” said Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism. Bin Laden has a $50-million bounty on his head and has been in hiding for the past eight years. He is widely believed to be holed up along the remote mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, bin Laden’s foray into climate change has sparked a lively guessing game on Twitter as to what subject the AlQaeda chief may choose to address on his next tape. “Bin L aden will carefully explain all the plot holes in Avatar,” predicted Twitter user @larrymadill. @IPDave said the Al-Qaeda leader would pronounce the 3-D effects in the film “great” but would complain about “too much naked blue skin!” Another Twitter user, @jeff13164, expects Bin Laden will tell the world “he can’t wait to get his hands on an iPad.” @Neal_Dewing said Bin Laden is likely to complain though that the latest creation from Apple is just “a giant iPhone that doesn’t make calls!” The Twitter messages about the next tape from the Al-Qaeda leader can be consulted on the micro-blogging platform at #nextOBLtape. — Agencies

Hamas militant killed in Dubai Continued from Page 1 Talal Nassar, an official in Hamas’ media office in Damascus, said Mabhouh had been “poisoned and electrocuted in his hotel room in Dubai”. He did not elaborate. Another Palestinian source said Mabhouh had barricaded the door of his room with chairs, a standard precaution by a man who believed Israeli intelligence had been after him for 20 years. “It seems that an autopsy was ordered and found traces of poison in his body.

Mabhouh was also ill. Hamas controls the information on this,” the source said. “He was one of their main military guys, although not a crucial figure,” the source added.

The military wing of Hamas, Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said it would soon publish “more details of the investigation,” adding that “the Zionist enemy bears complete responsibility for the assassination.” The Hamas official had already been targeted in the past, his brother said, adding that several months ago he was taken in a coma to a hospital in Damascus where doctors later told him he had been poisoned.

A funeral was held yesterday in the Syrian capital where Mabhouh, a 50-year-

old father of four, had been based for many years. Thousands of mourners attended as Mabhouh’s body, wrapped in a Hamas flag, was lowered into a grave at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk on the outskirts of Damascus. His son, Abdel Rauf Al-Mabhouh, was among mourners at the solemn ceremony who waved green flags and chanted: “There is no God but God and Mabhouh is God’s beloved.” The head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya, meanwhile, visited Mabhouh’s family in the Jabaliya refugee camp.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal made an impassioned speech to thousands of mourners at Mabhouh’s funeral. He described Mabhouh as a “great man” who fought the Israelis for 30 years. “I say to you Zionists, do not rejoice. You killed him but his sons will fight you,” he said.

“God already took our leaders and loved ones, but resistance goes on. Palestine is a blessed land. It will not remain patient.”

Izzat Rashaq, a top member of Hamas’ exiled leadership in Damascus, told AP that Hamas delayed the announcement about Mabhouh’s death because it was trying to “reach the Israeli agents who implemented this operation”.

In Dubai, the emirate’s police chief

Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan said the slain man had travelled under another name. “If we had been told of his presence, we would have provided him with the necessary protection,” he told the AlArabiya satellite channel. Born in Jabaliya, northern Gaza, Mabhouh was one of the founders of the Ezzedine AlQassam Brigades.

Hamas said Mabhouh was behind the capture of two Israeli soldiers in separate operations in 1989 during the early stages of a 1987-1993 Palestinian uprising.

Soldiers Avi Sasportas and Ilan Sadon were both later killed. Mabhouh also masterminded a number of other attacks on Israeli targets and Israeli authorities demolished his home in Gaza in retaliation.

Mabhouh spent several spells in Israeli custody. After his last release, “he spent his life being hounded by the Zionist occupier until he succeeded in leaving the Gaza Strip,” Hamas said.

Over the years, a number of Hamas leaders have died in operations Israel calls “targeted killings.” In 2004, Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was killed in an Israeli helicopter gunship attack in Gaza.

One month later, another Hamas leader in Gaza, Abdel Aziz Al-Rantissi, was killed when two missiles hit his car. — Agencies

What’s really in Salinger’s safe?

Continued from Page 1 A year earlier, author and former Salinger girlfriend Joyce Maynard had written that Salinger used to write daily and had at least two novels stored away.

Salinger, who died Wednesday at age 91, began publishing short stories in the 1940s and became a sensation in the 1950s after the release of “Catcher,” a novel that helped drive the already wary author into near-total seclusion. His last book, “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour”, came out in 1963 and his last published work of any kind, the short story “Hapworth 16, 1924”, appeared in The New Yorker in 1965.

Jay McInerney, a young star in the 1980s thanks to the novel “Bright Lights, Big City”, is not a fan of Hapworth and is skeptical about the contents of the safe.

“I think there’s probably a lot in there, but I’m not sure if it’s necessarily what we hope it is,” McInerney said Thursday. “‘Hapworth’ was not a traditional or terribly satisfying work of fiction. It was an

insane epistolary monologue, virtually shapeless and formless. I have a feeling that his later work is in that vein.”

Author-editor Gordon Lish, who in the 1970s wrote an anonymous story that convinced some readers it was a Salinger original, said he was “certain” that good work was locked up in New Hampshire.

Novelist Curtis Sittenfeld, frequently compared to Salinger because of her novel “Prep,” was simply enjoying the adventure. “I can’t wait to find out!” she said. “In our age of shameless self-promotion, it’s extraordinary, and kind of great, to think of someone really and truly writing for writing’s sake.”

Some of the great works of literature have been published after the author’s death, and even against the author’s will, including such Franz Kafka novels as “The Trial” and “The Castle”, which Kafka had requested be destroyed.

Because so little is known about what Salinger was doing, it’s so easy to guess.

McInernay said he has an old girlfriend who met Salinger and was told that the author was mostly writing about health

EAST BRUNSWICK, New Jersey: An unidentified woman, hanging upside down inside her overturned vehicle, talks on a cell phone as she awaits to be rescued on Thursday on the overpass of the New Jersey Turnpike along Hardenburg Lane. — AP

and nutrition. Lish said Salinger told him back in the 1960s that he was still writing about the Glass family, featured in much of Salinger’s work.

But the Salinger papers might exist only in our dreams, like the second volume of Nikolai Gogol’s “Dead Souls”, which the Russian author burned near the end of his life. The Salinger safe also could turn into a version of Henry James’ novella “The Aspern Papers”, in which the narrator’s pursuit of a late poet’s letters ends with his being told that they were destroyed.

Margaret Salinger, the author’s daughter, wrote in a memoir published in 2000 that J D Salinger had a precise filing system for his papers: A red mark meant the book could be released “as is”, should the author die. A blue mark meant that the manuscript had to be edited. “There is a marvelous peace in not publishing,” J D Salinger told The New York Times in 1974. “Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I love to write.

But I write just for myself and my own pleasure.”— AP

Continued from Page 1 of the invasion but admitted for the first time there had been mistakes in the post-war planning. The decision to go to war was the most controversial episode of Blair’s 10-year premiership, provoking huge protests, divisions within his Labour Party and accusations he had deceived the public about the reasons for invasion.

“This isn’t about a lie, or a conspiracy, or a deceit, or a deception, this is a decision,” said Blair, who initially looked nervous but grew more confident as the hearing went on. “And the decision I had to take was, given Saddam’s history, given his use of chemical weapons, given the over 1 million people whose deaths he caused, given 10 years of breaking UN resolutions, could we take the risk of this man reconstituting his weapons program?

I believed ... that we were right not to run that risk,” added Blair, saying he was convinced even now that Saddam was intent on restarting his WMD program even though no such weapons have ever been found.

The Iraq war sapped support for Blair and his Labour Party and the issue still provokes deep public anger, seven years after the invasion to topple Saddam and almost three years after Blair handed over to Gordon Brown. Commentators say the

current public inquiry could damage Labour before an election due by June, with the party trailing in opinion polls after 13 years in power.

Under close questioning from the fivemember panel, Blair, 56, was unrepentant over the stand he took with then US President George W Bush. Dressed in a dark blue suit and red tie, Blair began by explaining how his and the US view of Iraq dramatically changed after the Sept.

11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States. No evidence has emerged to link Iraq with 9/11, but Blair said the attacks on the United States had changed the “calculus of risk”.

“Up to Sept 11, we thought he (Saddam) was a risk but we thought it was worth trying to contain it,” Blair said.

“The point about this act in New York was that had they been able to kill even more people than those 3,000, they would have.

And so after that time, my view was you could not take risks with this issue at all.”

Blair said he was concerned that the risk remained today, referring repeatedly to concerns over Iran’s nuclear program.

Critics have long argued that Blair promised Bush in April 2002 that Britain would support military action to get rid of Saddam, and later arguments about WMD were designed to fit this objective. “The only commitment I gave, and gave openly,

was a commitment to deal with Saddam,” he said. “The fact is, it was an appalling regime and we couldn’t run the risk of such a regime being allowed to develop WMD. If we tried the UN route and that failed, my view was it had to be dealt with.”

Blair defended the war’s legality, relying on the green light the government’s top lawyer gave only days before the conflict, and saying a second UN resolution had only been desirable from a political, not legal perspective. But he said the post-war planning had been flawed. “The planning assumption that ... everybody made was that there would be a functioning civil service. Contrary to what we thought ... we found a completely broken system,” he said. “People did not think that Al-Qaeda and Iran would play the role that they did. It was the introduction of the external elements of AQ and Iran that really caused this mission very nearly to fail. Fortunately in the end it didn’t.”

Relatives of some of the 179 British soldiers killed in Iraq joined protesters outside the inquiry venue opposite parliament. They were held back by a large police presence. “The real question Tony Blair needs to answer in the end will be at The Hague and before a war crimes tribunal,” said Andrew Murray, chairman of Stop the War Coalition. — Reuters

New Jerusalem tram has Palestinians irate Continued from Page 1 The 14-km line runs from Jewish west Jerusalem to the largest of several settlements Israel built in the traditionally Arab eastern sector after capturing it in 1967. Palestinians say Israel is creating more facts on the ground with the tram, just as it has with its ever-expanding Jewish enclaves in east Jerusalem that are now home to 180,000 Israelis.

“The purpose of this project is to make a bridge between the settlements ... and west Jerusalem and they use our land, Palestinian land,” said Ahmed Rweidi, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “The train is illegal and the settlements are illegal.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he’s not willing to give up any part of Jerusalem, taking a harder line than some of his predecessors, and insists Israel has the right to build anywhere in the city.

Gover nment spokesman Mark Regev said “the light rail will serve all of Jerusalem’s residents and beyond, Arab and Jew alike.”

The campaign against the train is part of a wider attempt by Palestinian activists and politicians to use new ways to challenge Israeli rule over the lands they want for a state. Frustrated by the failure of nearly two decades of peace talks, they are increasingly trying to hit Israel where it hurts - the pocketbook.

Palestinian security forces have been confiscating goods made in Jewish settlements from West Bank shops. Dozens of Palestinian grassroots groups have been orchestrating a “boycott Israel” campaign since 2005. Inspired by the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, they say they’ve gained momentum, particularly after the international outcry over Israel’s war against Gaza’s Hamas

rulers last winter. Israeli officials say the campaign has failed to dent Israel’s economy and bristle at comparisons to apar theid-era South Africa. Jewish activists have been pushing back, branding the attempted boycott as antiSemitic.

The fight over the rail line comes amid an especially bitter deadlock over the fate of Jerusalem. Netanyahu’s refusal to stop settlement construction in east Jerusalem is one of the reasons Abbas won’t resume peace talks that broke off more than a year ago. But stopping the trains will be an uphill battle.

Tracks have already been laid on most of the route, which will have 23 stations and link west Jerusalem with Pisgat Zeev, the largest Jewish settlement in the eastern sector. Forty-four cars are parked at a depot in east Jerusalem, ready for a test phase that is to begin around March and last several months.

The Palestine Liberation Organization has asked a French court to order Veolia and Alstom to drop out of the project, on grounds that it violates the Geneva Convention’s prohibition of an occupier changing the nature of occupied lands. The two firms are members, along with Israeli companies, of the City Pass consortium which is building the rail line and is to operate it until 2036.

The court ruled in December that it has jurisdiction, but has not set a date for the next hearing. The Abbas government is also urging Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to cut business ties with the firms. Among other projects in the region, Alstom is involved in building a rail line between the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia.

Palestinian officials say they will raise the issue at a March summit of the Arab League. “This is the least Arabs can do

to support our rights in Jerusalem,” said Rweidi, the Abbas adviser. PLO officials said they were unaware of any actions taken by Arab gover nments. Saudi Arabia has kept silent about the pressure.

Veolia officials in Israel told AP the company is in the process of transferring its 5 percent share in the Jerusalem rail project to Israel’s Dan bus company. But they insist it’s strictly a business decision. The proposed sale would have to be approved by the consortium, but that may take several years.

Alstom, which is providing the rail cars, defended the project. Spokesman Philippe Kasse rejected claims that the tram creates a new reality on the ground, noting that buses now service the future train route. “We are told (by critics) that this tramway is a weapon designed to make ir reversible the annexation of east Jerusalem and the colonization policy led by Israel,” he wrote in an emailed response.

“Replacing an existing bus line by a tramway is neither using warfare nor establishing a political fait accompli.”

Jerusalem municipality spokesman Stephan Miller defended the rail project as beneficial to both Arabs and Jews. The train will make three stops in the Arab neighborhood of Shuafat. Some residents there expressed hope it will ease chronic congestion, while others complained that the tracks use up two lanes of their fourlane main road. Hind Khoury, a Palestinian diplomat in France involved in the legal battle against the tram, said the campaign is a measure of Palestinian frustration. “In the last few years, we were still hoping that the peace process would be credible enough to come to a conclusion,” she said. “Now we are taking the legal route.” — AP

Veteran Algeria kingmaker dies Continued from Page 1 “For at least three decades, he played a key role in Algeria’s political life, particularly in finding common ground between the military and the civilians,” political analyst Mahmoud Belhimer told Reuters.

Belkheir died in Algiers after suffering respiratory problems, official media reported. He was to be buried on Friday afternoon in the El Alia cemetery east of Algiers, reserved for the country’s most

distinguished soldiers and public servants. A veteran of the war of independence from France, Belkheir was the senior adviser to President Chadli Benjedid who was in office from 1979 until 1992.

He also served as Bouteflika’s senior advisor during his first term from 1999 until 2004.

Belkheir was Interior Minister in 1991, when the radical Islamic Salvation Front was poised to win a legislative election. He was instrumental in having the

election cancelled and in Benjedid’s replacement by an emergency Council of State. Soon af ter, a conflict began between security forces and armed Islamist rebels which killed about 200,000 people, according to estimates by international non-governmental groups.

The insurgents, now operating as AlQaeda’s North African branch, stage sporadic ambushes and bomb attacks but the violence has declined significantly in the past few years. — Reuters

20

SPORTS

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Chelsea seek to avoid curse of Turf Moor BURNLEY: If Chelsea are to open up a lead at the summit of the Premier League, they must achieve a result that has proved beyond title rivals Manchester United and Arsenal. Manager Carlo Ancelotti takes his side to Turf Moor to face Burnley, who have beaten Sir Alex Ferguson’s champions and held Arsene Wenger’s Gunners already this season.

Following on from an impressive 3-0 mid-week success against Birmingham, who had not lost for 15 matches ahead of their trip to Stamford Bridge, optimism will be high within Chelsea ranks that they can collect another three points. However, this fixture will provide a test of character for the side and experienced players at the club will realize it requires as much concentration and focus as any encounter against one of the country’s bigger clubs.

The Blues have suffered two away defeats this term, at the hands of Manchester City and Aston Villa, and this latest game on the road is an opportunity to open the gap at the top of the league. United and Arsenal face each other tomorrow, meaning a win at Burnley would leave Chelsea four points clear of Ferguson’s side, and five ahead of Wenger’s men. “If we open up that gap again it’ll be great,” said midfielder Frank Lampard, who was an integral part of Chelsea’s two Premier League title successes (2004-05 and 2005-06) under Jose Mourinho.

“Those little mental things are great during the season. “It’s a great to be back on top. We knew we had games in hand but we didn’t like to see ourselves down in third place. Arsenal were on a good run but it’s a marathon not a sprint.” Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou are both available following their time on Africa Cup of Nations Duty with Ivory Coast. Chelsea’s ability to cope without Drogba’s goals was questioned before he flew off to Angola, but since then the London outfit have won all four fixtures they have played-scoring 17 goals along the way.

“We didn’t say we’d struggle this month, everyone else did,” Lampard added. “We have a lot of belief. I just think the loss of Didier was talked about too much. We’ve got the players who can come in.

Maybe some needed to step up and everyone has done. “We have gone up another gear this month. We had a bad run in December, dropped some points and we’ve worked hard to get that back.” The last time these sides met was in August, and Chelsea ran out 3-0 winners courtesy of goals from Nicolas Anelka, Michael Ballack and Ashley Cole.

Since then Burnley have changed managers though, and Brian Laws has failed to pick up a win since taking over from Owen Coyle earlier in the month. In fact, Burnley have not even scored a goal since he arrived. The former Sheffield Wednesday chief has lost all three matches so far, leaving the Clarets inside the bottom three. And they have injury problems to contend with too. Versatile anchorman Graham Alexander and midfielder Chris McCann are almost certainly ruled out of the game, although Cameroon international Andre Bikey returns from international duty.

Defender Leon Cort and goalkeeper Nicky Weaver have been brought in this week in an attempt to add strength in depth to the squad.

Cort, a 1.5-million-pound signing from Stoke, is set for his debut against Chelsea, while former Manchester City keeper Weaver, who joined as a free agent, has made it clear he is ready to challenge Brian Jensen for the number one spot. He said: “The chance to come back into the Premier League was something I couldn’t turn down and hopefully it’s longer than just for a few months. “There are 16 games left and a lot of points to play for and all the players will pull in the right direction to keep the club in the Premiership.” — AFP

Junior salvage 2-2 draw with Racing Copa Libertadores Roundup BARRANQUILLA: Martin Arzuaga scored in injury time for Colombia’s Junior to rescue a 2-2 draw against Uruguay’s Racing in the qualifying round of the Copa Libertadores on Thursday.

Emerson Acuna opened the scoring for Junior in the 12th minute, but Mathias Mirabaje (28th) and Jose Pallas (67th) put Racing in front until Arzuaga’s equalizer a minute into injury time. The return leg will be next Thursday. Racing striker Martin Cauteruccio was sent off in first-half stoppage time, while Junior defender Roller Cambindo was also given a red card in the 74th.

The second leg lineup is: Libertad vs Tachira on Feb 2; Cruzeiro vs Real Potosi, Estudiantes Tecos vs Juan Aurich on Feb 3; Racing vs.

Atletico Junior on Feb 4; Universidad Catolica vs Colon on Feb 9; and Emelec vs Newells Old Boys on Feb 10. — AP

LONDON: Chelsea’s goalkeeper Petr Cech (right) tries to clear the ball away from Birmingham City’s Roger Johnson during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Birmingham City at Stamford Bridge stadium on Wednesday, Jan 27, 2010. — AP

Gerrard sees confidence returning to Liverpool LIVERPOOL: Steven Gerrard has urged Liverpool to take advantage of some home comforts and strengthen their chances of securing a top- four finish this season, starting with today’s visit of struggling Bolton. The encounter with Owen Coyle’s side is followed by the visit of Merseyside rivals Everton and Gerrard believes the brace of games at Anfield represent a wonderful chance for his team to turn up the pressure on Tottenham, who currently occupy the place above them that Rafa Benitez’s men covet so badly. The mood around Benitez’s squad has been somber in the wake of their disappointing goalless draw at Wolves in midweek, when Liverpool dropped two more points and, more worryingly, hardly gave home goalkeeper Marcus

Hahnemann a save to make.

The point nevertheless enabled them to climb above Manchester City into fifth place and extended their unbeaten run to five league games.

Gerrard is convinced confidence is growing in the camp and that Liverpool have turned the corner following the damaging slump earlier in the season.

The England midfielder believes Liverpool would have buckled and been beaten in a similar sort of game earlier in the season to the one they experienced at Molinuex. Now he has set his sights on re-igniting Liverpool’s chances of Champions League qualification, despite the fact leading scorer Fernando Torres remains sidelined.

Gerrard said: “We will keep fighting for that fourth spot. We’ve got a couple

of home games coming up and, if we take maximum points, I’m sure we’ll edge into that top four. “The important thing is that we are now playing better.

We’ve turned the corner and we are a much more difficult team to beat now.

“We would probably have lost that (Wolves) game 1-0 a couple of months back. Confidence was certainly low a few weeks ago. “The squad was suffering a lot of injuries and, when you are not getting the results you expect, it affects people’s confidence individually and as a group.

“But we’ve had a couple of encouraging results. Stoke away was a tough game and we got a point and the lads performed fantastically well against Tottenham. “Confidence is slowly coming back and, once that confidence is

back, results will follow. We are very confident we can eventually edge into that top four.” Gerrard insists the pain of past failings this season is now driving his side towards success and he added: “There were a lot of people in the dressing room hurt at seeing us lying in seventh and eighth position in the Premier League and you learn a lot from these situations when times are hard.

“We have looked at each other and we wanted to put it right. The most important thing for me over the last four or five games has been the character and the desire the players have shown.

Nobody is hiding and that’s a big positive. “Everyone knows this team has been through a difficult period. But we have shown we can dig in and battle. We know results will improve.” Bolton will

Campbell to face in-form Rooney

Today’s matches on TV African Nations Cup (Third place) Nigeria v Algeria Aljazeera Sport 2 JSC SPORT HD1 Aljazeera Sport +9 English Premier League Liverpool v Bolton ShowSports 1 ShowSports 2 Birmingham v Tottenham Premiere Sport CL1 ShowSports 3 Hull City v Wolves Show Commedy Extra West Ham v Blackburn Show series extra 1 Fulham v Aston Premiere Sport CL1 ShowSports 4 Burnley v Chelsea ShowSports 1 ShowSports 2 Spanish League Espanyol v Athletic de Bilbao Aljazeera Sport +6 Sporting v Barcelona Aljazeera Sport +2 Aljazeera Sport +3 Deportivo v Real Madrid Aljazeera Sport +2 Aljazeera Sport +3 Italian League As Bari v Palermo Aljazeera Sport +1 Napoli v Genoa Aljazeera Sport +1 German League Bayern Munich v FSV Mainz Premiere Sport 1 Borussia v Werder Bremen Premiere Sport 1 Premiere Start Hannoverscher v Nurnberg Premiere Sport 1 Premiere Start Hertha Berlin v VFL Bochum Premiere Sport 1 Premiere Start Eintracht v FC Kˆln Premiere Sport 1 Premiere Start Schalke 04 v TSG Hoffenheim Premiere Sport 1

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BIRMINGHAM: Arsenal’s English defender Sol Campbell gestures during the English Premier League football. (Inset) Manchester United’s English forward Wayne Rooney leaves the pitch with the match ball in this file photo. — AP

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arrive at Anfield in confident mood following their crucial mid-week win over fellow strugglers Burnley and Coyle, who is hoping to sign Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere on-loan in time for this game, said: “We are still very much a work in progress so no-one is getting carried away.

“We know this will be hugely difficult for us. When Liverpool are in full throttle Anfield can be a daunting arena.

“They’ve had a stop-start season but we have to recognize that when they are on top of their game Liverpool are a very good team. “They have top quality players and are desperate to get back into that top four, so we are going to have to be very respectful. But we have to go there and be brave and take the game to them whenever we can.” — AFP

Chelsea’s Cole hit with driving ban LONDON: Chelsea’s England international defender Ashley Cole was yesterday banned from driving for four months after being caught speeding at 104 miles per hour in a 50mph zone. The left-back had denied the charge and claimed that he was being chased by paparazzi while driving on the A3 in Kingston upon Thames, south-

west of London, in November 2008.

Kingston magistrates upheld the conviction made at a hearing earlier in January, banning Cole for four months and fining him 1,000 pounds (1,150 euros).

He was also ordered to pay a 15 pounds victim surcharge and 300 pounds costs, reflecting his income and the serious nature

of the offence. The 29-yearold’s legal team immediately announced that they will launch an appeal against the ban, which will be assessed at a later date.

Cole was not present but he was warned by the magistrates that he faces a prison term if he is caught driving while disqualified. His defense barrister’s request for 21 days to pay pro-

voked laughter from magistrates-Cole is thought to earn a six-figure salary-but was granted. Cole’s lawyer Katherine Hodson said her client was “regrettably” unable to attend the hearing because he was travelling with the Chelsea squad to Burnley prior to the Premier League game between the sides today. — AFP

LONDON: With four goals against Hull and an injury-time header that put Manchester United into another League Cup final, Wayne Rooney has hit top form at a time when his team appeared to be sliding. Now he needs to maintain it in a big Premier League confrontation with Arsenal, as defending champion United bids to stay in touch with leader Chelsea.

Rooney’ scoring streak has taken him to 21 in all competitions this season and his return to form has come after United was knocked out of the FA Cup by third-tier club Leeds and then slipped to third in the Premier League standings.

United has since moved up to second, a point behind Chelsea having played a game more and Rooney denies that the team, which has won the last three Premier League titles, has been in trouble. “I don’t need to say too much at all to people who think that United are starting to slide,” the striker said.

“Chelsea have a game in hand, but we’re still up there, in a good position in the Champions League and the final of the Carling (League) Cup. I can’t see any slide from us at the minute.”

He has also shrugged off suggestions that United is relying too much on his scoring, especially with Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen not getting many recent starts and United playing a different formation. “I don’t look on us as a one-man team or see it as a great burden on me, it’s nonsense,” he said. “If I don’t get the service, I can’t score. If I don’t, I expect others to, and we’ve done that well.

We’ve shared the goals out well and it’s certainly not just about me.

We expect to win as a team, not as individuals.” Rooney is waiting to see which Arsenal defender will be marking him at the Emirates Stadium tomor-

row. Thomas Vermaelen limped out of Wednesday’s 0-0 draw with Aston Villa fearing he may have broken his leg just below the knee. But the injury turned out to be not so bad and manager Arsene Wenger said yesterday the Belgian defender had a slight chance of facing United.

“The good news we have on Vermaelen is that there is no fracture,” Wenger said. “We have to assess his knee today, there is still a small chance that he will play tomorrow. We will do the maximum to get him fit but at the moment it looks unlikely. It should be a very short-term injury. “It looked to be a two-month problem, now at the latest he should be ready for the Chelsea game (on Feb 7).” If Vermaelen is ruled out, Wenger may have to turn to 35-year-old Sol Campbell, who has returned to the club after three seasons with Portsmouth and only one game for fourth tier Notts County.

Campbell went on as a first half substitute for Vermaelen and also played in Arsenal’s 3-1 FA Cup defeat at Stoke tomorrow. Now he could be up against Rooney. “He’s the talisman for United,” Campbell said of his former England teammate.

“He’s always going to pop up, he’s always dangerous. “As a top striker, you have to watch him.

In a flash, something can happen and they’re in.” Campbell also noted that Arsenal’s bid to win the title for the first time since 2004 might hang on the next three games against United, Chelsea and Liverpool. “It’s a challenge. That’s what it’s all about. We’re at the business end of the season,” said the central defender, who helped Arsenal win two Premier League titles.

“It’s a big two weeks for the club.

We have to get some points and go from there.” Wenger said he was confident Campbell would be able to stop Rooney if Vermaelen didn’t recover. — AFP

SPORTS

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Spanish League Preview

Relentless Barca seek to keep pressure on BARCELONA: League leaders Barcelona head into the second half of the season unbeaten and their imperious form shows little side of subsiding to allow Real Madrid to close the five-point gap at the top. They joined a select group of teams to go the first 19 games of the season without defeat after sweeping aside Valladolid and now it is the turn of Sporting Gijon to try and stop the side that won all six trophies they competed for in 2009.

Barca coach Pep Guardiola remains cautious though and believes there will be plenty of twists and turns still to come. “This is just an anecdote, last year at this stage of the season we had a 12 point lead over Madrid and in the end we had to go to the Bernabeu and win,” he said.

Barca have won their last three league games scoring 12 goals in the process and Xavi Hernandez’s performances have been instrumental. He joined the debate this week about the sending off of Cristiano Ronaldo against Malaga that will see the Portuguese suspended for the next two matches. Ronaldo swung his arm at Patrick Mtliga which led to his dismissal but there are strong claims from Madrid that he was unfairly treated as a similar incident involving Barcelona’s Leo Messi against Sevilla went unpunished.

“I don’t think you can compare the two situations because you have to take into consideration the intent. Leo wanted to keep playing and Cristiano wanted to hit out and then keep playing,” said Xavi. The loss of Ronaldo is a major blow for Real, who now take on Deportivo la Coruna, as they have become dependent on the Portuguese, who grabbed the two goals in the victory over Malaga. Real are set still to be without Rafael Van der Vaart and Gonzalo Higuain for what will be a difficult match against a rejuvenated Deportivo side.

The Galicians will be missing Felipe Luis, who suffered a horrendous broken ankle last weekend against Athletic Bilbao and will lose the rest of the season. Despite only managing a draw away to lowly Tenerife, Valencia are well placed to qualify for the Champions League but they face a crucial game against fellow aspirants Sevilla, who have dropped off the pace since Christmas after losing three of their last four matches. “This is a final because if we win then we can have a big cushion above one of our strongest rivals. We are performing well but we need to keep this going as nobody is going to give us anything from now on,” said Valencia striker David Villa.

Mallorca continue to be the real surprise this season as they fight among the top four in the championship. They showed their resilience to draw with Espanyol after going a goal down and now will be looking for victory against bottom side Xerez, who are really struggling to pick up any points at the moment. In fact the only point they have won in recent weeks was against Zaragoza who are in similar straits and are now suffering internal strife with captain Roberto Ayala having rescinded his contract.

They face a relegation battle against thirdfrom bottom Tenerife. Getafe and Athletic Bilbao, who take on Racing Santander and Espanyol respectively, are in the hunt for a place in Europe but also coming into the frame are Villarreal, who had a poor start to the season, and they play Osasuna. Atletico Madrid face Malaga with the pressure on coach Quique Sanchez as the side has failed to show any real signs of improvement since he took over and the club is firmly rooted in mid-table. There will be plenty of anxiety also in the clash between Valladolid and Almeria as they both lie on the fringes of the drop zone. —AFP

German League Preview

Bayern must keep winning: Gomez BERLIN: Bayern Munich striker Mario Gomez believes the German giants will need to win all of their remaining Bundesliga games to be sure of the title - starting with Mainz today. Bayern are second in the table, two points off leaders Leverkusen who host strugglers Freiburg tomorrow. Having let a 20 lead slip to a 2-2 draw against Bochum last weekend, third-placed Schalke will be hoping to take advantage of Hoffenheim’s slump in form when the sides meet today. The fate of this season’s Bundesliga title could well be decided when Bayern visit Leverkusen on the second weekend of April, but until then Gomez says Bayern must keep winning.

Louis van Gaal’s team suffered a shock when they were beaten 2-1 at Mainz last August, but with Bayern locked in a fierce battle with Schalke and Leverkusen, Gomez says only consistent victories will put them top. “I think we’ll need to win nearly all our games to take the title,” said Gomez, who is set to travel to June’s World Cup with Germany, with 15 league games left to go. Mainz beat Hanover last weekend to pick up their first Bundesliga win in seven games, but Bayern boss van Gaal will want three more points with his side having won all of their last eight games in all com-

petitions.

Bayern have a good chance of making the Champions League’s quarter-finals as they play Fiorentina in the last 16 next month, but the men from Munich are focused on the German league for the time being. “The only thing which can stop us now is ourselves,” said midfielder and rising star Thomas Mueller who was called into the Germany squad for fitness testing last week. But unbeaten Leverkusen continue to resist Munich’s march up the standings from eighth place after 12 matches.

“Bayern have overtaken us twice but we’ve hit back on both occasions. We’ve shown real durability,” said Toni Kroos, who is on loan from Bayern to Leverkusen. The Rhineland outfit have earned a reputation for dramatic losses of form in the second half of the campaign, but no-one at Bayern thinks that will happen this time. “Leverkusen are playing consistently well right now. We need to focus on ourselves and win our matches, and success will follow automatically,” said Bayern goalkeeper Joerg Butt. “We have to keep winning, and see how the others react,” said Butt. Munich were top of the league for 26 hours last weekend. “What matters is being first in May,” said Butt. “And it’s all still in our own hands.” —AFP

Scottish Premier League Preview

Rangers hoping to cruise to title GLASGOW: Steven Davis believes Rangers’ easing injury list means they can maintain their 10-point lead over Celtic in the race for the Scottish Premier League title. The Northern Irish midfielder was on target for the first time this season in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over St Mirren which saw Rangers increase their advantage at the top. Victory came as Celtic were slumping to a 2-1 home defeat to Hibernian.

Rangers, who face relegation-haunted Falkirk today, had looked a little threadbare in recent weeks due to injuries and suspensions to key players. Davis and his teammates had to rely on a last minute goal to rescue a point against Hearts last weekend as Walter Smith called-up several youth players.

However Nacho Novo, Kenny Miller, Steven Naismith and Pedro Mendes all returned in the midweek win over St Mirren and Davis believes this can boost their title hopes. “These are difficult times for us at the moment with the number of injuries we have. This month, in particular, has been quite hard for the boys,” Davis said. “But the boys who have come in have given the manager something to think about and we are starting to get a couple of players back. We have been missing a couple of important players recently and it will be good for us to get them back fit and get going again.” Davis added: “We had a great run in December, but since then we have had injuries and suspensions and the manager has had to chop and change the side about. That can be disruptive. “If we get everybody back fit it gives the manager a headache, a selection problem. Hopefully we can start playing better. We are capable of playing better.”Kenny Miller may struggle to make the match against bottom club Falkirk after going off against St Mirren with a recurrence of his hamstring injury and top scorer Kris Boyd is still out.

Old Firm rivals Celtic head to New Douglas Park to take on Hamilton on the back of a costly defeat to Hibs. Coach Tony Mowbray has stated that his side need to start winning games with his side only having claimed one victory so far this month and he will be boosted by the news several players have returned to training. Scott McDonald, Mark Wilson and Shaun Maloney are all pushing for a top team return but the game against Hamilton may come too soon. The Hoops boss might also be without Daniel Fox who is on the verge of joining English Premier League Burnley, but new signings Ki Sung-Yeung, Jos Hoovield and Morten Rasmussen, who made his debut against Hibs, are all available.

Elsewhere today only goal difference separates Aberdeen and Motherwell who meet at Pittodrie. High-flying Hibs host St Mirren at Easter Road. John Hughes’ side sit in third-place, just two points behind Celtic, and any slip up from the Hoops could find Hibs climbing into the Champions League places. Rugby Park is the destination for Peter Houston in his first game after being confirmed as Dundee United manager until the end of the season. Kilmarnock are just one point above the relegation zone and are yet to win in the league under Jimmy Calderwood. — AFP

WCup-bound Nigeria, Algeria struggle for Africa Cup bronze BENGUELA: World Cup-bound Nigeria and Algeria will have to dig deep to motivate themselves for today’s Africa Cup of Nations losers’ final. Nigeria were stopped from reaching the final proper by a youthful Ghana team courtesy of a first-half winner from Asamoah Gyan after the Super Eagles failed to convert a hatful of chances in their semi-final in Luanda on Thursday. Algeria, on the other hand, held out against their bitter rivals Egypt until just before half time in Benguela when they went behind through a penalty and also lost a defender.

Then in the second half they capitulated to let in three more goals and get two other players sent off. This is the second time that Nigeria coach Shuaibu Amodu has failed to reach the Nations Cup final after his team also lost to Senegal in 2002.

Amodu may have met the semifinal target set for him in Angola by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), but the signs are ominous that, as in 2002, he may not be the man in charge when the Eagles feature at the World Cup in South Africa in June.

Osaze Odemwingie, captain on the day against Ghana, did not help the coach’s situation when he questioned the team’s tactics after the loss to perennial rivals Ghana. He also said it would be difficult for the team to motivate themselves in the third-place playoff against Algeria at the weekend. “It will be difficult. We will have to travel again for the last game and have only one day to train.

We will be tired. Maybe those who have not had a chance will play,” said the Lokomotiv Moscow striker.

The Eagles will have their top players available with Everton defender Joseph Yobo pressing for a starting line-up place after he claimed he has had a “miracle” healing on a hamstring injury that had earlier ruled him of the competition.

The Desert Foxes of Algeria will be without at least three top stars - goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi and defenders Rafik Halliche and Nadir Belhadj after they all saw red against Egypt in Thursday’s semi-final.

“It will be a very difficult task for us against Nigeria because we will be without several of our players,” admitted coach Rabah Saadane.

Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra insisted Algeria will take a lot of positives from their experience in Angola despite going down to fierce rivals Egypt. —AFP

Lyon urged to forget French cup heartache PARIS: Lyon coach Claude Puel has told his players to get over the disappointment of their backto-back cup exits by returning to winning ways against Paris Saint-Germain in the league tomorrow. Les Gones went down 1-0 at Lorient in the quarter-finals of the League Cup on Wednesday, having been beaten

by Monaco in the last 32 of the French Cup last weekend. Their hopes of silverware appear to be fading fast, with the team currently sitting 11 points behind league leaders Bordeaux and set to confront the multi-million might of Real Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League.

“The match against Paris is very important,” said Puel. “We have to digest these two huge disappointments quickly and bounce back. “The message is to recover well and quickly move onto something else, but you’re never guaranteed to respond well after a defeat.” PSG beat third-tier Evian last Sunday to qualify for the last 16 of the French Cup but they, unlike Lyon, are still searching for their first league points of 2010. The capital club have already lost to Lille and Monaco and travel to the Stade Gerland in 11th place, seven points behind fifth-placed Lyon.

Antoine Kombouare’s men can at least take heart from the return to fitness of last season’s top scorer Guillaume Hoarau, who scored against Evian on his first start since October.

Marseille, fourth, have the same number of points as Lyon with a game in hand but life is much rosier at the Stade Velodrome after they came from behind to beat Lille 2-1 on Wednesday to reach the League Cup last four.

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The Mediterranean giants face a taxing trip to second-placed local rivals Montpellier today, but coach Didier Deschamps was enthused by his side’s performance in the victory over Lille.

“I enjoyed it and I think the players did too,” he said. “There were lots of good things; we controlled most aspects of the match, with a lot of movement, technical control and some nice moves. “We must be capable of repeating this kind of performance against Montpellier today.” Deschamps will have to do without France international goalkeeper Steve Mandana, who sustained a heavy knock against Lille, while Brazilian forward Brandao is likely to miss out after injuring his thigh in training. Montpellier this week finalized the signing of in-form striker Olivier Giroud from Tours, but the 23-year-old was immediately loaned back to the Ligue 2 side until the end of the season.

Runaway league leaders Bordeaux remain in contention for four trophies this season - the league, both domestic cups and the Champions League - and coach Laurent Blanc says they will attempt to win them all.

“We’ll see what happens in the four competitions,” said Blanc, whose team host second-bottom Boulogne today. “We have the time, for now we have the squad and not too many injuries. We can allow ourselves to rotate things. But the further we progress, the tighter it’ll get.”

Lille, third, host Lens today, while fourth-bottom SaintEtienne will attempt to continue their unbeaten start to the year in the league when they visit seventh-placed Auxerre tomorrow. —AFP

BENGUELA: Algeria’s Karim Matmour (left) attempts a goal against Egypt’s goalkeeper Essam El Hadary (right) during the semi-finals of their African Cup of Nations soccer match at the Ombaka National Stadium. —AP

Ghana’s young guns quietly taking over at Nations Cup LUANDA: Ghana have put their faith in youth at the African Nations Cup and the talented crop of players from last year’s world under-20 championship-winning side have not let the Black Stars down. Ghana, who will contest tomorrow’s final against holders Egypt, headed into the biennial tournament without injured defenders John Mensah and John Paintsil, as well as midfielder Stephen Appiah, and lost the experienced Michael Essien after their opening game.

Four players from the under-20 squad started in Thursday’s semi-final win over Nigeria and defender Samuel Inkoom particularly impressed. The centre back saved his team in the 75th minute at Luanda’s November 11 stadium when he denied Nigeria Yakubu Ayegbeni who was in a

great position to cancel out Asamoah Gyan’s first-half goal. “We knew how to defend on Yakubu. We had decided to catch him offside but he got away (in the 75th),” a confident Inkoom told reporters.

“But I always had an eye on him so I was ready for it.” Just over four months before the World Cup finals start in South Africa, Inkoom and fellow Under-20 winners Opoku Agyemang, Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu and Dede Ayew are establishing themselves in the Black Stars team.

“Yes, I believe that,” said Inkoom. “We are united, that is our strength.” Gyan, who has struck the winner in Ghana’s last two games, has been impressed by their contribution. “It’s unbelievable,” said the Stade Rennes striker. “We are a young team and

not many people gave us a chance of making the final.”

Defender Anthony Annan added: “It was a very tough game (against Nigeria) but we defended so well. Defense is a key thing. We are very proud. It’s been a long time for Ghana and I’m proud of what we are achieving.” Ghana lost the last Nations Cup final they played in 1992 against Ivory Coast and have not lifted the continental trophy since 1982. Inkoom predicted their title drought was about to end.

“Whoever we play, we will take the trophy home,” said Inkoom, who is already setting his sights on the World Cup finals. “I cannot imagine not going to the World Cup. I will go to the World Cup if I am not injured,” he said. —Reuters

Egypt’s Shehata ‘one win’ away from African record LUANDA: Stern, silver-haired Egyptian Hassan Shehata is one victory away from becoming the first coach to win three consecutive Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

His ‘Pharaohs’ face the ‘Black Stars’ of Ghana at the 50,000-seat November 11 Stadium tomorrow in an unexpected climax to the 2010 Cup between countries hard hit

by pre-competition injuries. Media-shy Shehata, who usually leaves the talking to long-time assistant Shawky Gharib, says his squad will claim a record seventh African title provided luck wears a red shirt.

“We just need luck. We could have beaten Cameroon by a wider margin but were unlucky,” he said, recalling a 3-1 quarter-

BENGUELA: Egypt’s coach Hassan Shehata celebrates after winning the semi-finals of their African Cup of Nations soccer match against Algeria at the Ombaka National Stadium in Benguela. — AP

final victory over the ‘Indomitable Lions’ after extra time. What the man who watches most games leaning against the side of the dugout forgot to mention was luck was very much on the side of Egypt in that showdown against one of the five African qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup. When a free kick from captain Ahmed Hassan struck the crossbar and came down it did not cross the goalline, but an assistant referee ruled it had and Egypt were two goals ahead and en route to the penultimate phase.

Shehata says teamwork and a lack of reliance on the many stars he can call up have been the recipes for success with his team unbeaten in 18 Nations Cup games spanning four tournaments. “The top teams in Africa fear us because of our amazing teamwork. Much is made of those who miss tournaments because of injury, but we do not rely on individuals,” he stressed. Egypt were hard hit before departing Cairo for Angola with superstar Mohamed Aboutraika, fellow midfielders Mohamed Barakat and Mohamed Shawky and striker Amr Zaki ruled out by injury.

When the former national team striker replaced Italian Marco Tardelli six years ago in one of the ‘hottest’ African national team posts, few expected him to survive long.

Even when Egypt lifted the 2006 Nations Cup after a penalty shootout victory over Ivory Coast, there was no shortage of skeptics who claimed the feat was achieved largely because of home advantage and suspect refereeing. But Shehata was a national hero in a country where football is an obsession and he stayed in charge for the title defense in Ghana, where Ivory Coast were hot favorites to succeed.

Written off as a tired, over-the-hill squad, Egypt launched their defense with a 4-2 thumping of Cameroon, crushed Ivory Coast 4-1 in the semi-finals and defeated Cameroon again in a tense final settled by a late Aboutraika goal. Before Angola the media were once more critical of the defending champions, saying they were probably a spent force, full of ageing players in the twilight of their careers, and unable to conjour up the heroics of two years ago. Try telling that to Nigeria, Mozambique, Benin, Cameroon or Algeria, the teams who had the misfortune to face the rampant Egyptians en route to the final. —AFP

SPORTS

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Saturday, January 30, 2010

NHL results/standings NHL results and standings on Thursday.

Atlanta 4, Philadelphia 3; Ottawa 4, Pittsburgh 1; Carolina 4, NY Islanders 1; Los Angeles 4, Columbus 1; Minnesota 1, Colorado 0; Phoenix 3, Calgary 2 (SO); St. Louis 2, Edmonton 1; Chicago 4, San Jose 3 (OT).

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division GP W L OT Pts GF GA New Jersey 52 34 16 2 70 139 115 Pittsburgh 55 33 21 1 67 173 156 Philadelphia 52 26 23 3 55 158 148 N.Y. Rangers 54 24 23 7 55 138 150 N.Y. Islanders54 23 23 8 54 142 168 Northeast Division Buffalo 52 31 14 7 69 147 126 Ottawa 55 30 21 4 64 154 155 Montreal 55 25 25 5 55 141 149 Boston 51 23 20 8 54 127 131 Toronto 54 17 27 10 44 142 187 Southeast Division Washington 53 35 12 6 76 207 146 Atlanta 53 24 21 8 56 162 170 Florida 53 23 21 9 55 146 154 Tampa Bay 52 22 20 10 54 135 157 Carolina 53 18 28 7 43 141 174 WESTERN CONFERENCE Central Division Chicago 54 37 13 4 78 178 125 Nashville 52 29 20 3 61 145 145 Detroit 53 25 19 9 59 137 143 St. Louis 54 24 22 8 56 141 150 Columbus 56 21 26 9 51 146 186 Northwest Division Vancouver 53 33 18 2 68 173 129 Colorado 52 30 16 6 66 153 137 Calgary 54 26 20 8 60 137 141 Minnesota 54 27 23 4 58 151 158 Edmonton 52 16 30 6 38 136 178 Pacific Division San Jose 54 35 10 9 79 182 132 Phoenix 54 31 18 5 67 147 141 Los Angeles 53 31 19 3 65 160 147 Dallas 53 23 19 11 57 152 171 Anaheim 54 24 23 7 55 150 171 Note: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss.

PHILADELPHIA: Philadelphia Flyers forward Simon Gagne (left) lands after colliding with Atlanta Thrashers goalie Johan Hedberg in the third period of an NHL hockey game on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010. —AP

Blackhawks edge Sharks in high-stakes shootout SAN JOSE: Troy Brouwer scored his second goal of the game 1:37 into overtime to lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks in Thursday’s clash between the NHL’s top two teams. Brouwer scored one of three first-period goals for Chicago, which took a 3-0 lead before the midway point of the frame but needed overtime to beat the Sharks. Joe Pavelski scored twice and Manny Malhotra added another for San Jose, who saw their lead in the standings over Chicago cut to a single point.

club record winning streak of eight with a defeat of Pittsburgh. Brian Elliot made 30 saves, while Mike Fisher, Chris Kelly, Jason Spezza and Nick Foligno scored for the Senators, who matched the Washington Capitals for the NHL’s longest active winning streak.

Elliott has been in the nets for the last six Senators victories, allowing only six goals during that span.

Evgeni Malkin scored after just 1:34 in for the Penguins, whose lead over the Senators for fourth place in the Eastern Conference was trimmed to three points.

Senators 4, Penguins 1 In Pittsburgh, Ottawa matched a

Coyotes 3, Flames 2, SO In Glendale, Arizona, Phoenix

Hurricanes overwhelm Islanders blew a two-goal, second-period lead, but recovered to inflict Calgary’s ninth straight loss. Robert Lang and Lauri Korpikoski scored in the shootout for the Coyotes, after Keith Yandle and Shane Doan had given them an early lead in regulation. Phoenix earned its 31st win of the season in its 54th game, the fastest the Coyotes have reached that total in the 30-year history of the franchise. Mark Giordano and rookie Mikael Backlund scored for the Flames, who are their longest losing streak since dropping 11 straight in 1985-86.

Wild 1, Avalanche 0 In Denver, Martin Havlat’s late goal saw Minnesota inflict Colorado’s first loss in 20 days.

Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson was going for his third shutout in four games, but his shutout streak ended at 126 minutes, 24 seconds.

The Wild have won five of six games against the Avalanche this season.

Kings 4, Blue Jackets 1 In Columbus, Ohio, Anze Kopitar scored his 100th and 101st career goals as Los Angeles

downed Columbus to tie a season high with its fourth straight win.

Matt Greene and Ryan Smyth also scored for the Kings, who have won five straight on the road.

Columbus’ Antoine Vermette scored his 17th goal of the season midway through the third period.

Thrashers 4, Flyers 3 In Philadelphia, Jim Slater’s second goal of the game lifted Atlanta over Philadelphia. The Thrashers came from a 3-1 deficit to hand Philadelphia its first loss this season when up after two periods. The

Flyers were 22-0. Ilya Kovalchuk and Rich Peverley also scored for the Thrashers, who moved a point ahead of the Flyers, who entered the night in a four-way tie for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Claude Giroux, Arron Asham and Dan Carcillo had goals for Philadelphia.

Hurricanes 4, Islanders 1 In Raleigh, North Carolina, Cam Ward made 26 saves to help Carolina defeat New York. New captain Eric Staal scored his third goal in two games as the Hurricanes won a third straight.

Matt Cullen, Stephane Yelle and Jussi Jokinen also found the net for

Aussie Rumford upstages rivals

DOHA: Brett Rumford of Australia takes his shot at the 8th hole while playing the 2nd round of the Qatar Masters at Doha Golf Club yesterday. —AP

American Piercy takes charge at Torrey Pines SAN DIEGO: American Scott Piercy, with his approach play in top order, made the most of ideal scoring conditions on the southern California coastline to surge one stroke clear in the San Diego Open first round on Thursday. With hardly a breath of wind on a glorious sundrenched day, Piercy fired a sizzling eight-under-par 64 on the North Course at Torrey Pines, one of two layouts hosting the fourth PGA Tour event of the year.

Piercy scorched the front nine in seven-under 29 before ending the round one ahead of compatriots Ben Crane, Chris Tidland and Tour rookie Matt Every, plus Ryuji Imada of Japan, who all played on the North layout. American Tom Pernice Jr opened with a bogey-free 66 on the North while Australian Robert Allenby, who started out on the more difficult and much longer South Course, was among a group of nine bunched on 67. Tournament favorite and three-times champion Phil Mickelson, who also began on the South, carded a two-under 70 after adopting a conservative approach in his first competitive round of the year. Piercy, a rookie on last year’s PGA Tour, was delighted to make a red-hot start after missing the cut in his first two events of the season. “I ended the year well and was excited for 2010 to start,” the 31-year-old told reporters. “I almost won twice late in the year and I was kind of itching to get back out here. “I made a lot of tap-in birdies today. —Reuters

DOHA: Australia’s Brett Rumford produced a sensational birdie blitz to take a one-shot clubhouse lead in the second round of the 2.5-million-dollar Qatar Masters here yesterday.

Taking advantage of surprisingly benign conditions at the Doha Golf Club where winds had caused havoc during Thursday’s first round, Rumford sunk five birdies over the last nine holes to move ahead of Welshman Bradley Dredge who had shared the lead with England’s Oliver Wilson with 67 after the first round.

Rumford’s six-under-par 66 yesterday gave him a total of 135, putting him one shot ahead of Dredge who fired a 69 yesterday for an aggregate of 136.

European number one Lee Westwood of England, who missed the cut in Abu Dhabi, was back to his assured best as he fired a 69 to add to his 68 and share the third spot with Wilson on 137. “It was pretty calm out there, making life easy for us,” Rumford said after his round.

“Hopefully the conditions won’t change over the next two rounds.” Rumford, who has won three times on the European Tour, started off with a birdie but dropped a shot on the par-4 fifth hole before rounding off the front nine with another birdie.

Then he hit a purple patch over the next nine holes, beginning with a birdie and picking up shots on the 13th, 15th, 17th and 18th to top the leaderboard.

Dredge hit five birdies and two bogeys while Wilson had just two bogeys in a round that say him make 16 pars. European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie was six over with eight holes remaining, while former major champions Michael Campbell of New Zealand and Todd Hamilton of the US were nine over after their 18 holes. —AFP

the hosts. Matt Moulson scored his 20th goal this season with 4:31 remaining but the Islanders lost a third consecutive games.

Blues 2, Oilers 1 In Edmonton, Alberta, St Louis handed Edmonton its 12th straight loss. Eric Brewer and Alexander Steen had goals as for the Blues, who extended their peculiar record of being much stronger on the road than at home. Dustin Penner scored for the Oilers, who are approaching the franchise record winless streak of 14 games set in 1993. Edmonton, which has the fewest points in the NHL, have won only once in their past 16 at home.—AP

McLaren unveils Button, Hamilton and new car

JEONJU: Mao Asada of Japan performs in the ladies free program at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Jeonju, South Korea yesterday. —AP

NEWBURY: Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button unveiled McLaren’s car for the Formula One season yesterday in their first public appearance as teammates.

Button’s MP4-25 car is adorned with the No 1, and he seemed to take the upper-hand at the launch despite the presence of the 25-year-old Hamilton, who won the 2008 championship. “You never know what to expect going into a new team, not knowing what the atmosphere will be,” said Button, who won last year’s title with Brawn.

“I’ve been pleasantly surprised.”

Both Button and Hamilton are eager to forget the 2009 season - for very different reasons. While Button doesn’t want to dwell on ending his long wait for a first title, Hamilton had a difficult third season, finishing 46 points behind his new teammate. “After the last race you think about what you have achieved and it goes through your mind, the road to becoming world champion, but soon after that you start forgetting because you are already focused on 2010 and the new challenge,” Button said.

“We need to start forgetting about last year ... and start looking to the future.” Hamilton, who won the title in his second season in F1, is hoping the improvements in downforce and aero efficiency will allow him to challenge for the championship again this season. “I’m sure it’s going to handle completely differently to last year’s car,” Hamilton said. “I hope so.” Testing will begin next week, and each driver will have seven days in the car ahead of the season-opening race in Bahrain. —AP

Asada nails 2 triple axelsto win Four Continents JEONJU: Mao Asada nailed two triple axels yesterday to win the Four Continents figure skating title in a breakthrough victory just weeks before the Vancouver Olympics. The feat pushed Japan’s four-time national champion ahead of compatriot Akiko Suzuki, who was first after the short program but settled for silver after faltering on her combination jump. Caroline Zhang of the United States, the 2007 world junior champion, came in third with her best performance of the season. She edged out fellow American Amanda Dobbs and Japan’s Haruka Imai, who finished fourth and fifth.

For Asada, the win was a boost as she gears up to take on world champion Kim Yu-na of South Korea for the Olympic gold next month. The triple axel, a jump few

women attempt, is her not-sosecret weapon. Asada made skating history in 2008 when she landed it cleanly twice to beat Kim on her home turf for the Grand Prix title.

Landing it twice again yesterday showed she’s still in the fight after a lackluster 2009. “I landed both

triple axels at the Grand Prix finals and again today, so I am very happy with my competitions here in South Korea,” she told reporters.

“What I need to do now for the Olympics is to just do my best with every element in my program.”

Yesterday’s win notches up the

competition between the two 19year-olds, who have been fierce rivals since their days as juniors.

Asada claimed the world championship and the Grand Prix title in 2008, but Kim was crowned the world champ in 2009 and has won the gold in every competition since

Chinese duo grabs pairs gold at Four Continents JEONJU: Chinese pairs skaters Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao notched their highest score of the season as they grabbed the gold at the Four Continents championship in their last outing before the Olympics. The world’s No 2-ranked pair nailed all their jumps and throws Thursday to handily outscore Americans Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker with a season’s best 126.36 points. Canada’s Meagan Duhamel and Craig Buntin finished third.

The Chinese pair will be gunning for gold at the

Vancouver Olympics, having won silver at the previous Winter Games in Turin. Zhang Dan said the pair approached the Four Continents as a “warmup” to the Olympics. “We are very pleased to win this competition and we hope we will do just as well at the Olympic Games,” Zhang Dan said.

The ambitious throw they attempted in Turin - a quad throw salchow - won’t be in the program, they said. Zhang Dan took a hard spill when they tried the throw at the last Olympics in a bid to become the first pair to land it in competition. —AP

her second-place finish to Asada.

Asada performed poorly at her past two international events, placing third and sixth. However, she rebounded at the Japanese nationals, winning a fourth straight title.

With Kim choosing to stay in Canada where she lives and trains to prepare for the Olympics, Asada was expected to run away with the Four Continents title. However, an under-rotated triple axel, a botched triple flip and a deduction for skating one second too long left her in third place after the short program.

Asada admitted yesterday that she had the jitters during the short program. Suzuki missed a triple as well, but displayed spectacular footwork that earned her high praise from the judges. When the scores came up, it was Suzuki at the top of the list, not Asada. —AP

SPORTS

Saturday, January 30, 2010

23

Brilliant Federer sweeps into the Australian final A warning to Murray MELBOURNE: Roger Federer provided a masterful demonstration of his incredible talent and insatiable desire to win by overwhelming Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2 6-3 6-2 yesterday and join Andy Murray in the final of the Australian Open. The world number one was at his brilliant best as he outclassed his French opponent to wrap up a lopsided victory in under 90 minutes at Melbourne Park. “I’m very happy. You’ve always got to deal with how your opponent plays.

Sometimes he plays like you want, sometimes not,” a relaxed Federer said. “It’s nice going through like this but I already know the next match won’t be this way.”

Federer beat Murray in the 2008 US Open final but the Scotsman has been the form player over the past fortnight. However Federer’s imperious display could give him a couple of sleepless nights before tomorrow’s final. “I know he’d like to win the first for British tennis in... what is it...like 150,000 years?” Federer joked in a courtside interview. “The poor guy has to go through those moments over and over again. He’s done tremendously. We match up well. I’m looking forward to the final.” Federer has already won the Australian Open three times, in 2004, 2006 and 2007, and is now through to his fifth final after losing an epic five-set clash with Rafa Nadal last year.

BREAKING RECORDS The Swiss is also through to his 22nd grand slam final, more than any other man in history, and his eighth in a row. A victory over Murray will provide the 28-year-old with his 16th grand slam, extending yet another of his own records. “I feel a need for myself that I spent three weeks here and I don’t want to just give away a match,” Federer said. “So I will make sure I will make it as hard, as tough as possible for my opponent. “I hope I can play another good match. I’m really where I want to be. Being back in a grand slam final is always an amazing thrill for me.” Growing in confidence with every match after a slow start to the championship, Federer showed no mercy against a weary Tsonga, who had won his two previous matches in five sets.

He broke Tsonga’s erratic serve once to win the opening set then twice more in each of the next two while comfortably holding each of his service games. “I thought he did really well in those five set matches and I expected him to come out here and be really athletic the way we know him,” Federer said. “Maybe he was mentally more fatigued than physically.” Tsonga, who reached the Australian Open final two years ago but has yet to win a grand slam, did not get a single break point on the Swiss master’s serve.

SUBDUED TSONGA The 10th seed had been bouncing around with all the energy of a schoolboy when he beat Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals but was left deflated after his loss to Federer. “It was tough to play against him today,” he said. “He took the ball earlier than me and he was just better than me. He was really good, and that’s it.” Earlier, Serena Williams warmed up for her singles final against Justine Henin today by teaming up with her sister Venus Williams to successfully defend their doubles crown. The Americans beat Zimbabwe’s Cara Black and American Liezel Huber to claim their 11th grand slam doubles title. “It always feels good to be that I’m gonna go home with at least one title,” Serena said. — Reuters

MELBOURNE: Supporters of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France smile as Tsonga plays Roger Federer (inset) of Switzerland in the Men’s singles semifinal match at the Australian Open tennis championship yesterday. — AP

Williams, Henin to renew fierce rivalry MELBOURNE: Today’s Australian Open showdown between Serena Williams and Justine Henin is more than a dream final between defending champion and comeback queen. It marks the rebirth of one of the fiercest rivalries in modern tennis on a stage where the stakes could not be higher. Despite a long rivalry stretching back over a decade, today’s clash is their first meeting in a grand slam final. “I think it’ll be a defining match for both of us,” said world number one Williams.

The pair have played each other 13 times with Williams winning seven and Henin six and both have held the number one ranking. Their individual records already show they are two of the greatest players the game has seen. Williams has won 11 grand slam titles and Henin seven. Williams has pocketed almost $30 million in prize money and the Belgian around $20 million. In many ways, the pair could hardly be any different-Williams is

an imposing figure who uses her incredible physique and supreme confidence to overpower her opponents. Henin is smaller, quietly spoken but possesses brilliant technique.

They also bear striking similarities, driven by their fierce determination to succeed. The players

Tennis clashed at the 2003 French Open when Williams accused the Belgian of lying after she refused to allow her to replay a contentious point. They have not exactly kissed and made up but Henin said they had resolved their differences and buried the past. “It’s far away now, it’s a long time,” the 27year-old said. “We exchanged a few words here...so I’m sure there’s no problem about that between the two of us. “We both want to win. We

both respect the fact that the other gave a lot to the game and that’s very good.”

WILLIAMS FAVOURITE Williams is the favorite to win the Melbourne Park final. She has already won the Australian Open four times and warmed up for the event by teaming up with her sister Venus to successfully defend the doubles title yesterday. The 28-yearold struggled to win her quarter-final against Victoria Azarenka and then her semi with Li Na, but fought her way out of trouble each time and is relishing the prospect of facing her old sparring partner.

“I definitely think of her as a rival. We bring out the best game in each other,” Williams said. “We both just play our hearts out. That’s what creates a good rivalry.” Their rivalry was put on hold for two years after Henin quit the sport in 2008, fed up with the relentless grind of playing, training

and travel. She only made her comeback this month and has exceeded her wildest expectations by reaching the final. The odds may be stacked against her but she has not given up hope of winning after her fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters won last year’s US Open when she too was in the early stages of a comeback.

Henin won the Australian Open in 2004 and was runner-up to Amelie Mauresmo in 2006 when she threw in the towel because she was feeling ill. “It’s a special occasion but I see it as an opportunity to play the number one player in the world in a grand slam final,” said Henin. “It’s more than a dream for me. It’s a perfect challenge and I love this kind of situation. “The one who will want it more will win probably. I know I’ll have to be aggressive generally and use my qualities. I have the determination and the ambition, of course.” — Reuters

Lewis lifts Magic to victory over Celtics Nash powers Suns past Mavericks ORLANDO: Rashard Lewis’ layup with 1.3 seconds remaining saw the Orlando Magic cap a rally from a 16-point deficit to beat the Boston Celtics 96-94 in the NBA on Thursday. Lewis took the ball after a broken play and sprinted down the baseline past Kevin Garnett for an uncontested layup. Rasheed Wallace missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving the Magic their second victory in three games against the Celtics this season. Orlando moved level with Atlanta atop the Southeast Division. Lewis led the Magic with 23 points, and Dwight Howard overcame early foul trouble to score 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter. He also had 10 rebounds. Ray

Allen had 20 points for Boston, whose Atlantic Division lead was cut to six games.

Suns 112, Mavericks 106 In Phoenix, reserves Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley and Louis Amundson led an unlikely Phoenix comeback with 14 fourth-quarter points that sank

NBA Dallas. Dragic finished with 13 points, Amundson had 12, and Dudley eight.

Amare Stoudemire had 22 points before spending the entire fourth quarter on the bench, Steve Nash added 19 points and 11 assists, and Jason Richardson had 17 points to

help the Suns snap a threegame losing streak against the Mavericks. Jason Terry led Dallas with 19 points, and Dirk Nowitzki had 17. Nowitzki played in his 884th game to surpass Brad Davis as Dallas’ career leader.

Raptors 106, Knicks 104 In New York, Toronto won a fourth straight game, edging New York. All-Star Chris Bosh had 27 points and 15 rebounds, while Hedo Turkoglu set season highs with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Jarrett Jack made one of two free throws in the final seconds and drew a charging call on Al Harrington on New York’s final possession. New York was led by David Lee’s 29 points and 18 rebounds. — AP

NBA results/standings FLORIDA: Orlando Magic guard Vince Carter (right) and Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo battle for a loose ball during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Orlando on Thursday, Jan 28, 2010. The Magic won 96-94. — AP

Court invader faces charges MELBOURNE: A man who invaded the Rod Laver Arena court at the end of the Australian Open semi-final between Briton Andy Murray and Croatian Marin Cilic on Thursday night will face police charges. A man wearing a shirt emblazoned with Croatian colors invaded the court just after the players finished their match and approached Cilic as he was preparing to shake the chair umpire’s hand.

After shaking Cilic’s hand, the man was intercepted and escorted off court. Cilic later played down the incident, but the embarrassing security breach has thrown the spotlight on security at the Australian grand slam. The man, 22, from Melbourne, would be “charged on summons with disrupting proceedings and unauthorized entry to an arena,” a police spokesman said in a statement yesterday. Tennis Australia described the incident as “a major breach of security and completely unsatisfactory.”

“A thorough investigation has been undertaken and appropriate measures will be implemented,” the governing body said in a statement. Players still remain vulnerable to crowd invasions despite pledges by tournament organizers to bolster security after Monica Seles was stabbed in the back by a Steffi Graf fan in a Hamburg tournament in 1993. A man was charged after he invaded the court at Arthur Ashe stadium at the US Open last year to kiss Spain’s Rafa Nadal on the cheek. World number one Roger Federer was unnerved when a spectator jumped from the stands and tried to put a hat on his head during the final of the French Open. — Reuters

Fight brewing over Wizards ownership WASHINGTON: A fight over purchase rights and a sale price for the NBA’s Washington Wizards has former AOL executive Ted Leonsis in a dispute with the executors for the estate of the late Abe Pollin. The Washington Post reported Thursday that an official of the holding company which owns the Wizards, one in which Leonsis owns a 44 percent stake, says his group has the right to put the Wizards on the open market.

Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said that negotiations which began earlier this month halted last week with the sides thought to be on opposite ends of whether the deal is worth 500 million or 600 million dollars.

“We have been willing to take on the acquisition even knowing that the Wizards are losing money this season and facing challenges,” Leonsis said in a statement on his blog Thursday after the newspaper story.

A day after Wizards star Gilbert Arenas and reserve Javaris Crittenton were each suspended for the remainder of the NBA season for bringing guns

into the team’s locker room, the struggling Wizards were a miserable 14-30. “The last thing the Wizards need now is more uncertainty,” Leonsis said. “I would like to restore a winning tradition to the Wizards and help the team and its fans achieve the rewards that come from competing for a championship.”

The final price tag could have an impact on the value of every NBA club. Leonsis, whose Washington Capitals are among the top teams in the National Hockey League behind Russian Alex Ovechkin, says his deal requires an appraiser set a value for disputed properties with Leonsis having the first right to buy. Pollin struck a deal to smooth the ownership transfer of the NBA club he loved after his passing, which came last November, when Leonsis bought the Capitals and a 44-percent share of the Wizards and their arena in 1999.

Washington Sports and Entertainment president of business operations Peter Biche, according to the Post, thinks they can put the Wizards, the

arena they share with the Capitals and a ticket sales franchise on the open market. Biche said in a memo that no one has an exclusive right to negotiate a purchase deal, although Leonsis and his investor group would be able to match any offer, according to the report. “At the end of the appraisal process established in my agreement with Mr. Pollin, there is only one person or entity that has the right to buy the outstanding share - my partnership,” Leonsis said.

By owning the arena, Leonsis could boost the profitability of the Capitals, who are now playing to sellout crowds after a decade of losing money. Leonsis has hired an appraiser and the estate is in the process of doing so, but if they differ a third will be used to determine a fair market value for the Wizards and other assets. Sources told the newspaper that Leonsis thinks a neutral appraiser would set a price both sides could agree upon and that only if Leonsis rejected such a figure could the team be put up for open sale to the highest bidder. — AFP

NBA results and standings on Thursday. Toronto 106, NY Knicks 104; Orlando 96, Boston 94; Phoenix 112, Dallas 106;

Boston Toronto NY Knicks Philadelphia New Jersey Cleveland Chicago Milwaukee Indiana Detroit Atlanta Orlando Miami Charlotte Washington

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT 29 14 .674 25 22 .532 18 27 .400 15 30 .333 4 40 .091 Central Division 36 11 .766 22 22 .500 19 25 .432 16 30 .348 15 29 .341 Southeast Division 29 15 .659 30 16 .652 23 22 .511 22 22 .500 14 30 .318

GB 6 12 15 25.5 12.5 15.5 19.5 19.5 6.5 7 15

Western Conference Northwest Division Denver 31 14 .689 Utah 27 18 .600 Portland 27 20 .574 Oklahoma City 24 21 .533 Minnesota 9 38 .191 Pacific Division LA Lakers 35 11 .761 Phoenix 27 21 .563 LA Clippers 20 25 .444 Sacramento 16 28 .364 Golden State 13 31 .295 Southwest Division Dallas 30 16 .652 San Antonio 26 18 .591 Memphis 25 19 .568 New Orleans 25 20 .556 Houston 24 21 .533

4 5 7 23 9 14.5 18 21 3 4 4.5 5.5

Injured Nadal out for weeks MADRID: Spaniard Rafa Nadal will be out of action for two weeks because of a minor tear to a tendon in his right knee, doctor Angel Ruiz Cotorro said in a statement yesterday after completing a scan on the player in Barcelona. The injury forced the 23-year-old to retire from his quarter-final against Andy Murray at the Australian Open on Tuesday. Nadal will undergo treatment before gradually

returning to training over the following two weeks, and has pulled out of the Rotterdam tournament due to start on Feb 8.

“As I said in Melbourne after the game... I knew the injury wasn’t the same as the one I suffered last year,” Nadal said in the statement. “I am feeling well and am only thinking about how long it will take me to recover. I am disappointed to be

missing the Rotterdam tournament. It is an event I would like to have won as I nearly did last year. “I’m not overly worried about my ranking... all I want to do is to feel good on the court again, something I had achieved in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Melbourne where I was competing to a high standard.”

Nadal missed almost two months of the season last year with knee problems. — Reuters

www.kuwaittimes.net

Atletico, Getafe reach King’s Cup semis Getafe squeak past Mallorca on away goals rule

MADRID: Diego Forlan fired Atletico Madrid into the King’s Cup semi-finals when his clinical finish sealed a 21 aggregate win at seconddivision str ugglers Celta Vigo. The Uruguay striker robbed defender Francisco Noguerol in the 26th minute and af ter sprinting clear lashed a powerful shot into the bottom corner past goalkeeper Yoel Rodriguez.

Celta, relegated at the end of the 2006-07 season and 17th out of 22 in the secondtier standings, battled valiantly in front of their vociferous fans and almost snatched an equaliser in the 84th minute.

The impressive Roberto Trashorras cut in from the lef t and Jose Luis Mato headed the midfielder’s cross against the bar.

Atletico will play R acing Santander in next month’s two-legged semi-finals after the Cantabrians won 3-0 at Osasuna on Wednesday for a 5-1 aggregate victory. Getafe squeezed through to the last four on away goals earlier on Thursday after a 2-2 aggregate draw against L a Liga rivals Real Mallorca and will play Sevilla in the semis.

Madrid-based Getafe, who lost to Sevilla in the final in 2007 and Valencia in the 2008 final, were beaten 1-0 in their near-empty Coliseum stadium but progressed thanks to a 2-1 success in the first leg.

Mallorca striker Aritz Aduriz, who earlier had a penalty saved, put the Balearic Islanders in front with a header in first-half added time. Defender Ruben Gonzalez fluffed a golden chance to double the visitors’ lead five minutes after the break, heading over from close range. Sevilla, conquerors of holders Barcelona in the last round, lost their quarter-final second leg 1-0 at home to Depor tivo Coruna on Wednesday but went through 3-1 on aggregate. —Reuters

MILAN: Inter Milan Brazilian defender Maicon (foreground with back to camera) is fouled by Juventus midfielder Felipe Melo, of Brazil, to give away a free kick, during the Italian Cup soccer match at the San Siro stadium. —AP

Inter Milan down Ferrara’s troubled reign in Juve ends Juve in Italian Cup

VIGO: Atletico de Madrid’s Diego Forlan from Uruguay (front) jumps for the ball with Celta’s Roberto Lago Soto during the Copa del Rey quarter-final second leg soccer match in Vigo. —AP

Juventus sack Ferrara, appoint Zaccheroni

ROME: Juventus ended Ciro Ferrara’s troubled stint as coach yesterday when the Serie A club installed former AC Milan and Inter Milan boss Alberto Zaccheroni in his place until the end of the season. “Zaccheroni (is the) new coach of Juventus,” the club said on their website.

“Juventus announce that they have relieved Ciro Ferrara of his position and appointed the coach from Romagna.” A source at the club confirmed that Zaccheroni has been hired until June 2010.

Ferrara’s dismissal came after the Turin side’s abject form continued on Thursday

with a 2-1 Italian Cup quarter-final defeat at Inter Milan.

Italian media said the club were intent on sacking him even if they had won on Thursday. Juve have dropped to sixth in Serie A, 16 points behind Inter, following a run of five defeats in six league games. The media say Juve have appointed Zaccheroni as a ‘ferryman’ to steady to ship while they line up a long term solution for next season, with the favorite being Liverpool manager R afa Benitez.

His main objective is Champions League qualification or at least fourth place in

Serie A to book a slot in a preliminar y round. That objective is followed by a good crack at the Europa League, now Juve’s only realistic chance of winning a trophy this ter m as their Champions League campaign ended at the group stage last month. Former Juve and Italy defender Ferrara took charge for two games at the end of last season after the surprise sacking of Claudio Ranieri and impressed enough to be given the role full time despite his lack of managerial experience.

It looked an inspired move when Juventus won their first

four league games but his inexperience showed when he could find no answer to an ensuing drop in form, despite several formation changes.

Zaccheroni won a league title with Milan in 1999 after making a name for himself with his innovative tactics at Udinese. But he has not worked since 2007 after less than glorious spells at Lazio, Inter and Juve’s city rivals Torino. Zaccheroni will take training today to prepare for first his match in charge, at home against former club Lazio tomorrow(1945 GMT), before giving a news conference at 1600 GMT. —Reuters

MILAN: None other than Mario Balotelli scored the 89th-minute winner for Inter Milan to beat Juventus 2-1 in the Italian Cup quarterfinals on Thursday. Juve fans were banned from attending the game at the San Siro specifically due to racial taunts directed at Balotelli, who was of Ghanaian descent. The game may have been the last for Juventus coach Ciro Ferrara, with the Turin club struggling mightily in Serie A and also eliminated from the Champions League. Balotelli knocked in a rebound of a shot

from Thiago Motta. Diego put Juventus in front 10 minutes in with the help of an error by Inter goalkeeper Francesco Toldo, who let the ball pass through his legs. Inter defender Lucio equalized in the 72nd, deflecting in a free kick from Wesley Sneijder.

Inter will face Fiorentina in the two-leg semifinals on Feb 3 and 10, while AS Roma faces Udinese in the other half of the draw. Inter nearly equalized immediately after Diego’s score, but a powerful effort from Balotelli was pushed wide by Juventus

goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Playing in place of usual starter Julio Cesar, Toldo again had trouble stopping a shot from Diego in the 17th, needing two tries to pick up the ball. In the 20th, Inter forward Goran Pandev set up Maicon but he couldn’t find the target.

Italy lef t back Fabio Grosso nearly made it 2-0 for Juve in the 37th, with Toldo forced to push a long shot wide. Inter then thought it had a case for a penalty, but a handball by Felipe Melo inside the area was r uled

involuntary, infuriating coach Jose Mourinho as the squads walked off for halftime. In the 55th, Diego provided a cross for Giorgio Chiellini and the defender’s header skimmed the outside of the post. Inter took off midfielder Esteban Cambiasso in the 61st and put on a third forward, Diego Milito, setting up a full-on assault from the Serie A leader. In the 70th, Balotelli had Inter’s best chance to that point, with Buffon making a a tough save, and Lucio equalized two minutes later. - AP

Dominant Williams sisters crowned doubles champions

MILAN: Juventus coach Ciro Ferrara reacts during an Italian Cup soccer match between Inter Milan and Juventus, at the San Siro stadium in Milan on Thursday, Jan 28, 2010. —AP

MELBOURNE: Venus and Serena Williams coasted to their 11th Grand Slam doubles title yesterday when they beat top seeds Cara Black of Zimbabwe and American Liezel Huber to be crowned Australian Open champions. The American pair won 64, 6-3 for their second successive Australian title and their fourth overall in an 86-minute victory over the 2007 winners. They also won here in 2001 and 2003. Both pairs had almost identical winning records over the early rounds but the Williams sisters dominated the final, easing to a comfortable win.

However, the actual moment of the victory caught Venus by surprise, as she had not realized it was match point and was taken aback by Serena’s sudden unbridled delight. “I actually didn’t know the score and I thought that it was 5-2,” she said with a laugh. “I thought, she’s really

happy about this break. “I thought, wow, I’ve never seen her this happy, but I’ll go with it.”

Serena, who plays Justine Henin in the singles final today, said their success as a doubles combination made them wish they had teamed up earlier.

“We were talking today about how we wished we had have played more when we were, you know, younger,” she said. “We still feel like we have so much we can win and just stay focused. We just love being out there and we love the competition. “More than anything, we really have fun, we smile and we enjoy it.” The sisters are now the third most successful women’s doubles partnership in the Open Era, af ter Mar tina Navratilova and Pam Shriver (21 Grand Slam titles), and Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva (14). They have now won four of the past six Grand Slam doubles titles. —AFP

MELBOURNE: Serena Williams of the United States and her sister Venus Williams hold trophy during the awarding ceremony, after beating Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Liezel Huber of the United States to win the final of the Women’s Doubles at the Australian Open tennis championship yesterday. —AP