10 Feb

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

Aviation giants scrap for contracts at India airshow

Iranian ‘checkmates’ Israeli to win back record

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RABI ALAWAL 7, 1432 AH

MPs, blocs slam govt requests on charter Lawmakers call to raise salaries of Kuwaitis

Max 17 Min 4 Low Tide 09:53 & 22:37 High Tide 03:08 & 15:50

By B Izzak KUWAIT: The issue of a government request sent to the constitutional court to interpret a number of articles in the constitution yesterday appeared to be snowballing into a major flashpoint between the opposition and the government. Opposition MPs and blocs have described the government’s move as a clear attempt to undermine the status of the 1962 constitution or to amend it to reduce the margin of freedoms stipulated in the charter.

The constitutional court has set Feb 21 to look into the government request for the interpretation of articles 50, 100, 111 and 163 with the aim to explain the status, duties and responsibilities of the prime minister under the Kuwaiti constitution. The main aim is to clarify over which issues the prime minister can be held accountable and responsible and consequently grilled, following eight grillings that have been filed against Prime Minister HH Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad AlAhmad Al-Sabah since he was appointed to the post five years ago.

Sheikh Nasser became the first premier in Kuwait’s history to be grilled and face a non-cooperation motion which is similar to a no-confidence vote. Last month, the premier narrowly survived a non-cooperation vote Continued on Page 14

Activists call for democracy in Gulf region

KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah waves as he arrives at Bayan Palace yesterday to meet athletes who have won trophies and championships or achieved good results on national and international levels. — KUNA (See Page 4)

Pirates hijack tanker laden with Kuwait oil Supertanker bound for US

KUWAIT: HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah is received by Kuwait Times Marketing Director Adnan Saad (right) as he visits the Kuwait Times booth at the “Britain in Kuwait” trade exhibition yesterday. — Photo by Joseph Shagra

LONDON/ATHENS: Suspected Somali pirates captured a US-bound tanker carrying around $200 million worth of crude oil in the Indian Ocean yesterday in one of the biggest hijackings in the area so far. The Irene SL, the length of three football pitches and with 25 crewmembers on board, was carrying about 2 million barrels of Kuwait oil, or nearly one fifth of daily US crude imports. The hijacking came a day after an Italian tanker carrying oil worth more than $60 million was snatched by Somali pirates, reinforcing industry fears that the piracy scourge is “spinning out of control”.

“This morning the vessel was attacked by armed men,” the Irene SL’s Greecebased manager Enesel said. “For the moment there is no communication with

the vessel.” Commander Susie Thomson, spokeswoman for the multinational Combined Maritime Forces fighting piracy in the area, said the 333-m tanker was hijacked 220 miles off Oman and was likely to have been attacked by Somali pirates. “We can only speculate as to where the ship is being taken.”

Shipping industry associations have warned that over 40 percent of the world’s seaborne oil supply passing through the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea is at risk from Somali pirates, who are able to operate ever further out to sea and for longer periods, using mother ships. John Drake, a senior risk consultant with security firm AKE Ltd, said pirate activity off Oman first Continued on Page 14

Strikes erupt as Egypt protesters defy threats

Bahrain arrests 200 at gay party MANAMA: Bahrain has arrested around 200 men, an official said yesterday, in what local newspapers said was a swoop on a gay party in the Gulf Arab island state. An official at Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the group was arrested last Thursday “due to immoral activities”.

Media reports over the past week said police in the small conservative town of Muharraq raided a celebration hall filled with cross dressers and male revelers drinking wine and smoking water pipes.

“After entering the room, a secret source said he saw a large group of people from the third sex wearing scandalous female clothing ... and immediately called in the city patrol, which then surrounded the hall and arrested the suspects,” the Bahraini newspaper Al-Ayam said. The men were between 18 and 30 years old and were mostly from Gulf Arab countries and were also believed to have come to Bahrain specifically for the party, the daily said. The official said foreign nationals were likely among those arrested but could not provide further details, adding the case had been referred to prosecutors. Local newspapers said there was one Syrian and one Lebanese man in the group.

Bahrain is considered among the more liberal Gulf states, with alcohol sold in shops while elsewhere in the Gulf sales

are limited to hotels. Its nightlife attracts weekend visitors from other Gulf countries such as Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, to which Bahrain is linked via a causeway. Gulf Arab states ban homosexuality, considering it a violation of Islamic values. Homosexual men in the region are regularly arrested and sentenced to prison terms.

“Bahrain has been more tolerant compared to for example the United Arab Emirates, without allowing it to be public,” Said Boumedouha, a researcher at human rights group Amnesty International, said. He urged the Bahraini government to free anyone who had been arrested based on his sexual preferences. A municipal official from Muharraq has called for a crackdown on celebration halls after the incident last weekend, the local paper Gulf Daily News said.

“I know the men had conned the hall’s manager into believing they were holding a birthday party,” Ramzy Al-Jalaleef was quoted as saying. “However, it turned out, as I have heard, they were holding a wedding for two of the men.”

Jalaleef told the paper that there should be careful investigation of events being booked in the town, which he said had 29 mosques and was very religious and conservative. Officials at Bahrain’s public prosecution could not be reached for comment.— Reuters

KUWAIT: Gulf activists yesterday urged conservative monarchies which have ruled the region for centuries to embrace democracy and freedom of expression. They also warned Gulf authorities, especially in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, against cracking down on activists planning to stage peaceful protests, and urged the United Arab Emirates to release an activist arrested last week. “We hope that the ruling families in the Gulf realise the importance of democratic transformation to which our people aspire,” said a statement signed by the coordinator of the Gulf Civil Society Forum, Anwar Al-Rasheed.

The Forum includes dozens of liberal intellectuals, academics, writers and rights activists drawn from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. The group also called for the ruling families to “understand that it is time to free all political detainees and prisoners of conscience and issue constitutions that meet modern day demands.” “The Gulf peoples look forward for their countries to be among nations supporting freedom, the rule of law and civil and democratic rule which have become a part of peoples’ basic rights,” the statement said.

The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, most of which do not have constitutions. Only Kuwait and Bahrain have elected parliaments with legislative powers, but in Kuwait unelected ministers automatically become MPs while in Bahrain an appointed upper house has the power to block parliamentary resolutions. The statement called on Bahraini authorities to deal peacefully with a protest planned next Monday by activists whose demands include the release of political prisoners and the resignation of the prime minister.

The statement also warned Saudi security agencies against using repressive means to curb protests and demonstrations. Saudi activists launched a campaign on Facebook - a social networking website tapped in Tunisia’s uprising and Egypt’s revolt - to call for a constitutional monarchy, parliamentary elections and an independent judiciary. The Forum also condemned the “repressive arrest” of Emirati citizen Hassan Mohamed Al-Hammadi, who was detained last Friday after delivering a speech in support of the Egyptian uprising, and called for his immediate release. — AFP

KUWAIT: Queen Rania of Jordan speaks during a charity dinner for the charitable institution “Palestine Is My school” in this Dec 14, 2010 file photo. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

CAIRO: Thousands of state workers and impoverished Egyptians launched strikes and protests around the country yesterday over their economic woes as antigovernment activists sought to expand their campaign to oust President Hosni Mubarak despite warnings from the vice president that protests won’t be tolerated much longer. Some 8,000 protesters, mainly farmers, set barricades of flaming palm trees in the southern province of Assiut, blocking the main highway and railway to Cairo to complain of bread shortages.

They then drove off the governor by pelting his van with stones. Hundreds of slum dwellers in the Suez Canal city of Port Said set fire to part of the governor’s headquarters in anger over lack of housing. Efforts by Vice President Omar Suleiman to open a dialogue with protesters over reforms have broken down since the weekend, with youth organizers of the movement deeply suspicious that he plans only superficial changes far short of real democracy. They refuse any talks unless Mubarak steps down first.

Continued on Page 14

Jordan’s tribes break taboo by targeting queen AMMAN: Popular discontent took a new turn with unprecedented public criticism of King Abdullah II’s wife, Queen Rania, who stands accused of “corruption” by large tribes, the bedrock of Jordan’s regime. “We call on the king to return to the treasury land and farms given to the Yassin family (of the queen). The land belongs to the Jordanian people,” 36 tribal leaders said this week in a joint statement. By so doing, they have broken a taboo in the desert kingdom, where criticism of the royal family is punishable by a three-year imprisonment.

The palace has not been available for comment on the accusation.

“The events in Tunisia and Egypt have given courage to Jordanians to publicly say what they have been whispering about for a while,” a political analyst told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Arab peoples used to fear their authoritarian regimes.

Continued on Page 14

CAIRO: Egyptian anti-government demonstrators wear headbands with the colours of their national flag at Tahrir square yesterday. — AFP

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

local

Microsoft Lync arrives in Kuwait

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Sabah's development plan to turn Kuwait into an economic and financial hub by 2025 needs more than simple tools, requiring technology which offers solutions, according to a local Microsoft executive.

Speaking at the Kuwaiti launch of the Microsoft Lync communications system held on Tuesday at the Holiday Inn Downtown, Alaa Hamieh, Microsoft's Enterprise and Partner Group Manager for Kuwait, told the Kuwait Times that the company is working closely with public and private sector bodies to help realize HH the Amir's vision.

"We have adopted His Highness the Amir's plan and we have a strategy to go along with his vision," Hamieh told the Kuwait Times. " We are also partner-

Alaa Hamieh

a huge office, a big team, but we also have a big commitment to the country." Hamieh emphasized the innovative nature of the Microsoft Lync, which will allow all parties to communicate efficiently and effectively. "This is the rebranded version of our OCS," he said. "We're launching [it] with our partners, Polycom and Jabra. What we deliver is a solution, not a product, a unified communications solution."

The Microsoft official said that as everyone knows, technology is evolving steadily at a rapid pace almost every year. Some technology, he said, has been created in response to the recent global crisis, including the Microsoft Lync. "Nowadays [after the global financial crisis] companies prefer technologies that aren't just solution providers but also help to cut expenses," he explained. The technology used by Lync, he said, will enable users to save

Joel Hamon

ing with private and public sector bodies here to deliver and be part of this country's development program."

For a country to be a financial hub and accommodate massive levels of traffic and demand, said Hamieh, "you must have the right solution" to overcome any related problems. The Lync program, he asserted, provides it. "We are here to help His Highness the Amir deliver and accomplish his plans and objectives for the country. The project is already in place and ready on the ground, and we, as Microsoft, will provide the right solution."

The Microsoft Lync is seen as the next generation of communication technology, providing a single multimedia communication platform that can connect people virtually anytime and anywhere via PC, phone or browser. This new platform integrates instant messaging presence, audio, video, web-conferencing and voice to bring people together in the way in which they communicate best, explained Hamieh. Apart from offering software solutions, Microsoft Kuwaiti takes pride in the cordial relationships it has formed in many sectors, particularly education, the senior executive continued. "We are overwhelmed by the level of support we're getting from the government; because of their support we are now what we are today in this country. We have

Charles James

greatly on time too. "For example, if you're a business traveler, even by just going to Dubai you automatically need at least six hours of your time; these are all wasted hours without achieving anything.

But with the entry of Lync, you'll be able to use precious time productively."

Hamieh conceded that while a number of companies have introduced similar innovative communications systems, the Microsoft Lync brand offers not just a guaranteed name but a reassurance of quality and performance. "What we offer is a solution, but we also provide quality, performance and experience," he asserted.

When Microsoft sells products, said Hamieh, it is not simply selling the product but a commitment of product assurance by the company. "You are entitled to an upgrade and new edition, new version of our technology; this is part of our commitment," he said. "If you bought Windows XP and Windows Seven came out, you'd definitely get the latest version. But you have the choice either to stay with XP or go with the new Windows Seven version for example."

Hamieh revealed that the value of communications industry sector is growing annually, hitting $8 billion in 2010. "They're expecting this sector to grow by 16.4 percent in 2014," he revealed, adding,

"Company savings will be tremendous and Microsoft will definitely always be there as a global leader in the industry."

The ultimate goal for Microsoft, said Hamieh, is to have IT become a household utility like water or electricity. "It should reach all people at a faster and more rapid pace, just like electricity," he said.

Several senior Microsoft executives and representatives of their partner firms, as well as dozens of valued clients attended Monday's event.

Jabra and Polycon are providers of quality speakerphone, five touch-screen, multiuse headsets and the best audio equipment.

Charles James, the Director of Polycom Microsoft Alliance EMEA, said that the Microsoft Lync solution would make communication faster and easier, and make organizations much more organized and efficient. "Because of our solution you don't need to be physically present with the people you wanted to communicate with. So it saves time, but also travel expenses," he explained.

According to James, the return on investment for purchasers of Lync is an amazing 337 percent in just one year. "Through our commitment with Microsoft to deliver flexible standards-based solutions, Polycom is transforming business communications with the most comprehensive and intuitive communications experience that will deliver high-definition video, voice and content-sharing capabilities to conference rooms, classrooms and meeting spaces across the enterprise," he added.

Another partner, Joel Hamon, President of EMEA & CALA at Jabra, added, "We are committed to delivering the most extensive portfolio of audio endpoints for Lync to both the market and to our customers. These new, innovative additions demonstrate Jabra's continued investment in developing a portfolio that addresses how businesses are extending communications through desk, mobile, and soft phone applications. With each generation of new products, we seek to deliver on our goals to increase end-user productivity, improve their experience, and reduce the costs for enterprises through improved design, functionality, and durability at cost effective prices."

Several other global partners, such as British Telecom (BT), Dell, Dimension Data, HP and Verizon Business are offering services to help customers evaluate, deploy and manage their Lync infrastructure. For more information about Lync please see: http://www.microsoft.com/lync.

Those interested in buying the new system can download a free trial version of Lync at: http://www.lync.com

News

in brief

National Guards role KUWAIT: Kuwait National Guard Undersecretary Maj. Gen. Naser Al-Daei said yesterday that the participation of National Guard personnel alongside their security and armed forces counterparts is a reflection of the historic role and "cooperation portrayed by the men-atarms." The comment came in an inspectional tour carried out by Al-Daei along with senior commanders and officers of Al-Somoud training camp, to assess the latest measures taken for a joint military parade held later this month. The parade which will be held in the northern area of Al-Sabiya, on the occasion of the country's national celebrations, will include personnel of the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior and the National Guard. Al-Daei met a number of National Guard officers tasked with organizing the parade, while he was briefed on the roles and responsibilities of the participating units. He also watched a live demonstration, stressing the importance of discipline and wise judgment in the presence of the international icons set to attend the parade.

Slovak-Kuwaiti cooperation BRATISLAVA, Slovakia: Kuwaiti Ambassador to Slovakia Bader Nasser Al-Houti discussed with Secretary-General of Slovakian Ministry of Health Ian Browisky ways to boost health sector in both countries. Ambassador AlHouti told Kuwait News Agency on Wednesday after his meeting with Slovakian official, that they have discussed ways to attract investors to Slovakia to invest in the health sector. Al-Houti praised the level of Slovak specialists of cardio and cancer treatment, therefore, inviting them to help the Kuwaiti health sector with their expertise. Cooperation agreements to be signed between Kuwait and Slovakia aim to broaden the mutual cooperation horizon For his part, Browisky affirmed his country's keeness to boost the health sector with Kuwait.

NUKS lauds Amir's contribution KUWAIT: The administrative body of the National Union of Kuwaiti Students (NUKS) lauded yesterday His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah's continuous contribution to Kuwaiti students especially those studying abroad. he NUKS personnel said that they were grateful to have met with His Highness the Amir today, affirming that such meetings would continue to boost education in Kuwait. NUKS UAE Branch Chairman Abdulaziz Al-Roudhan thanked HH Sheikh Sabah for his care, stressing that such sentiment was continuously shown by His Highness towards Kuwaiti students. Other NUKS representatives affirmed that the leadership's keenness to develop education was

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

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School helps boost students’ environmental awareness Parents celebrate children’s achievements

By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: Kuwait Fire Service Department Director General Major General Jassim Al-Mansouri visiting Lance Corporal Waleed Al-Meri who was recently injured while on duty. Al-Mansouri expressed his appreciation for the Amiri grant to send Al-Meri for treatment abroad.

One dead, 11 injured in road accidents

By Hanan Al Saadoun KUWAIT: A car accident in Sulaibiya left a 20-year-old Jordanian with a fractured pelvis, a 21-year-old Saudi with a bruised leg and a 22-year-old non Kuwaiti with back pain. They were admitted to Farwaniya Hospital.

M eanwhile, a 36-year- old Egyptian broke his right leg and suffered cuts all over his body after a car accident on Sixth Ring Road. He was admitted to

Farwaniya Hospital. In an unrelated incident, an unknown person was killed in a car accident in Kabd while a 19-year-old suffered a bloody nose and back pain. The injured was referred to Farwaniya Hospital.

Also, a 16-year-old citizen sustained severe chest lacerations following an accident on an ATV in the Zour area. He was taken to Adan Hospital.

Meanwhile, a 21-year-old Saudi injured his back in a car accident on Fifth Ring Road. He was referred to

KD1.2bn for new hospitals KUWAIT: The Ministry of Public Works MPW is working on establishing eight new public hospitals for an estimated total cost of KD 1.2 billion, reported Al-Qabas.

The project comes as part of 44 projects that the ministry plans on building for the Ministry of Health.

In a report issued by the MPW, it was indicated that that three of the eight projected hospitals will be built in the Ahmadi, Jahra and Capital Governorates.

Additionally, they added that a neurosurgery hospital, a maternity hospital, a pediatrics hospital, an infectious diseases hospital and a physiotherapy medical facility will be built in the southern part of the country.

Furthermore, the report mentioned that the Jaber AlAhmad Hospital being built in South Surra with a 1,168 bed capacity will be finished by 2013.

Mubarak Hospital.

Also, injured in a car accident was a 12-year-Kuwaiti who suffered a fractured right thigh bone and an 18-year-old who suffered a perforated laceration on his forehead. They were both referred to Adan Hospital.

In an unrelated incident, a 37year-old Egyptian sustained a fractured neck vertebrae and broken backbone while a 54-year-old Pakistani bruised his knee in a car accident in Ahmadi. They were referred to Adan hospital.

Weather to remain cold, sunny and dry KUWAIT: The weather is expected to remain cold, sunny and dry with light northwesterly winds for the next ten days approximately, according to local meteorologist Dr. Saleh Al-Ajairi.

Dr. Al-Ajairi predicted “fine weather with little chance of rain over the next few days,” explaining that this is a standard feature of the current ‘Scorpion’ season, which began a few days ago.

The prominent meteorologist told Al-Anba that the skies are likely to remain cloudless, but the temperatures will remain low, although they are unlikely to go below 2 degrees Celsius.

KUWAIT: The French School of Kuwait held a ‘Protect the Environment Awareness Day’ at the school premises in Salmiya yesterday, to help teach pupils there how best to conserve and protect the natural environment. The event was organized as part of the school’s efforts to support the educational sector, after a previous event made a significant contribution to the scientific development initiative by holding a ‘Maintaining a Clean Environment’ awareness day previously.

The French School welcomed New Year in 2011 by supporting the cause of environmentalism in Kuwait and the need to create and maintain a healthy environment since it shares the same love for and loyalty to Kuwait, as well as sharing in the tremendous joy at the upcoming celebrations to mark the 50th and 20th anniversaries of the nation’s independence and liberation respectively, along with the fifth anniversary of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Sabah’s investiture, explained a school official.

At yesterday’s awareness day, which was attended by the French Ambassador to Kuwait Nada Yafi, the pupils enjoyed a range of scientific activities, with their artworks displayed at an exhibition organized for the event, as well as enjoying six workshops held to teach them more about various aspects of environmental protection.

Also during the event, Ambassador Yafi and the school administration jointly planted a ‘Plumeria’ tree as a symbolic gesture emphasizing the importance of protecting the environment.

Parents were also invited to celebrate their children’s achievements during the previous scientific event, with the pupils using recycled materials to create handmade artworks. The event concluded with a prize-giving ceremony at which outstanding pupils were presented with awards for their productive participation in the school’s environmental club’s activities and received testimonial certificates.

KUWAIT: The owner Muna Al-Khalid and the French Ambassador Nada Yafi with teachers of the French school at one of the workshops.

KUWAIT: Muna Al-Khalid and Nada Yafi planting the Plumeria tree.

—Photos by Joseph Shagra In her address during the ceremony, the owner of the French School, Muna Al-Khaled, expressed great pride in the pupils’ achievements.

“Your presence and support for our initiative to conserve the environment is an honor and the school is proud of what the pupils and teachers have presented here,” she said.

“We hope that further efforts will sustain what we witnessed here today.

We hope that we’ve been successful advocates in communicating the message of conserving our green Kuwait,

and we promise to spare no efforts in protecting it for society as a whole.”

The school’s environmental club, which organized yesterday’s event, was established with the help of teachers and pupils at the school in November 2010. Its mission is to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the environment and avoiding the more harmful aspects and habits of contemporary life. It seeks to achieve this through promoting waste recycling to benefit both the planet and humankind.

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LOCAL Foodstuffs stock adequate for co-ops’ requirements: KFMB

Local Spotlight

TV is no longer alone!

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Flour Mills and Bakeries Co. (KFMB) insisted yesterday that its strategic supply of the products included on Kuwaitis’ subsidized foodstuffs cards would cover the demand from local Cooperative Societies throughout the next year, during which all the goods included will be given to citizens for free as part of the Amiri Grant, no matter how great their needs.

In a press release, the company said that it had made all the necessary precautions and implemented all the measures required to cover the distribution of all the goods, as well as augmenting its stocks, with distribution to Co-op representatives taking place at its allocated centers between 5 AM and 9 PM to ensure a smooth and timely distribution process. — KUNA

Motivational Speaker Nick Vujicic in Kuwait KUWAIT: Wataniya Telecom is always looking for new ways to inspire and motivate its customers, employees and the people of Kuwait. Wataniya continues to invest in creative campaigns and sponsors events that make a positive difference in everyone’s life. Wataniya’s latest endeavor was to become the main sponsor of the “Life without Limits” Seminar. The main speaker at this event was the famous Nick Vujicic who was born without arms and legs. He shared with the audience, eye opening insights about how to overcome obstacles and road blocks in life.

In spite of Nick’s crippling shortcomings, he has found success. He has motivated millions around the world with his inspiring speeches. His teachings have helped people cope with difficult situations and given them the strength to find the true purpose of their lives.

At the seminar, he spoke about the challenges he faced with his handicap, how this made him a stronger person and enabled him to find happiness. His talk was not only encouraging but gave hope to the hundreds present in the auditorium.

Abdolaziz Al Balool, Director of Public Relations said, “Nick is the epitome of courage, having him speak to the Wataniya employees and customers as well as handicapped people will no doubt inspire confidence in all.

By bringing this unique event to Kuwait, Wataniya aims to give people a gift of hope.”

The seminar took place at Gulf University of Science and Technology on Wednesday, 9th of February, 2011.

Attendees were very touched by Nick’s words and have expressed their appreciation to Wataniya for sponsoring such a great event in Kuwait.

Wataniya will continue to find unique ways to inspire and motivate its customers and employees. It will sponsor events and create innovative services and products that will enhance peoples’ communication experiences and bring positivity into their lives.

By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

Amir receives winning athletes

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KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received yesterday at Bayan Palace Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr Mohammad Al-Afasi and athletes who have won trophies and championships or made good results on the national and international levels.

HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah hailed the achievements of Kuwaiti athletes in all the games and championships.

HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah told athletes that their country is proud of the medals and trophies they had won.

All world countries are now competing to win sports games, so all support should be offered to Kuwaiti athletes and teams to help them achieve success on the regional and international levels, the Amir said.

For his part, Al-Afasi thanked HH the Amir for his unlimited support to Kuwaiti athletes.

The meeting was also attended by Deputy Minister for Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah and a number of the Kuwaiti officials.— KUNA

reports of withdrawing security from seminar rejected Team formed to assess ministry work KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad AlHumoud Al-Sabah yesterday rejected reports that he had ordered the withdrawal of state security forces during a seminar organized by MP Mubarak Al-Waalan. Speaking in an interview with Kuwaiti daily Al-Dar, the minister insisted that the reports were “false,” adding that he had gone to the scene of the seminar to assess the situation for himself and ascertain whether or not the officers were performing their duties in a satisfactory manner.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud said that he was greeted by the seminar host on his arrival and spoke cordially with him, asking Al-Waalan whether all the guests and others there felt comfortable and were not perturbed by the security presence.

“It is my duty to ensure that all parties can be at ease, and to uphold law and order,” said the senior government member. Sheikh Ahmad Al-

Humoud also emphasized his awareness of the needs of his position, saying, “I have great experience and knowledge of how the Ministry of Interior functions,” and adding that he confers closely with other senior ministry officials before taking any decisions concerning ongoing situations.

The recently appointed minister also explained that any reshuffles, reappointments or changes in staff’s duties at the interior ministry under his tenure would be made only after he considers all aspects of the current situation there and the current priorities. “Decisions are not taken overnight and there are duties which both junior and senior officers have to fulfill once specific decisions are reached,” he said.

On the continued hosting of parliamentary seminars and the legal transgressions committed by those individuals who host these and similar events, the minister said, “There is a

law I shall implement on all, and I urge MPs and figures taking part in the seminars to familiarize themselves with the law fully and help me uphold it, since it is their constant demand that the law be upheld by all.”

The paper also quoted a ministry insider who asserted that the new minister is working hard to assess the duties and performance of all ministry departments, and that a special team has been set up consisting of officers and senior ministry officials to present an overall assessment of work at the ministry. The ministry insider said that this assessment includes the aspect of “putting the right man in the right position, and [introducing] a new work mechanism for all departments.”

The insider also stressed the need for “new blood” at all levels of the ministry after, according to the insider, “certain faces monopolized certain posts and became ‘fixtures’ there for a long time.” — KUNA

Nick Vujicic

A musical operetta depicting Kuwait history KUWAIT: On the occasion of Kuwait’s independence Golden Jubilee, the 20th anniversary of liberation and the 5th anniversary of assuming power by HH the Amir of the State of Kuwait, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), in another first-of-its-kind initiative, has launched a special musical operetta presented as a commemorative gift to the Amir, HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and to the people of Kuwait. Titled “Habibityi ya Kuwait”, the operetta consists of a series of musical tableaux that depict the evolutionary history of Kuwait and will be aired and broadcasted via all audio and visual media in Kuwait.

Speaking at a press conference, Manal Al-Mattar, Executive Manager of Public Relations and Advertising at NBK said: “This unprecedented and historical musical work was developed on the initiative and instructions of NBK’s management calling for the creation of an artistic work that reflects the evolutionary spirit and remarkable history of Kuwait for future generations to be presented as a commemorative gift for HH the Amir and for the people of Kuwait on the occasion of the National Day. NBK will also present this piece of art to all media and TV stations in Kuwait in addition to all interested companies and individuals”.

Al-Mattar explained that the unprecedented “Habibityi ya Kuwait” operetta, a piece of art that is rich in connotations and invokes remarkably vivid community-related associations, reflects the history of Kuwait starting from early settlement, fishing, pearl diving and sea trade to oil discovery and the subsequent development of modern Kuwait.

MP faces charges for insulting judicial system KUWAIT: The public prosecutor is currently investigating an official complaint made by a Kuwaiti citizen who accused a member of parliament of verbally insulting the judicial authority, reported Al-Qabas.

A news report quoting sources familiar with the case indicated that citizen Khalil Al-Essa also pressed charges against a number of newspapers that published MP Dr Waleed Al-Tabtabaei’s statements, which includes claims of governmental control over judges. The statements in question were made in response to a court order made in the cases filed against activist Khalid Al-Fadhalah and columnist Mohammad Al-Jassem. According to the complaint, MP Dr Al-Tabtabaei “questioned the fidelity of our justice system,’ explaining that “the MP alleged the courts were made in favor of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah “as a favor to the Prime Minister.”

or so many years now the TV has been the number one tool of entertainment for people of all ages. The color TV was a revolutionary change for everyone and made the TV an influential industry.

It affected the way people thought, their views and attitudes. For many years now TV and its shows and programs shaped public opinion.

Today we are confronting a new era. Viewers are no longer welcoming the TV as their permanent guest. They now have alternative forms of entertainment. Different instruments match their choice, their way of thinking, their personal preferences and their timing.

Suddenly the TV has come in a new style; the 3D TV. The 3D TV is the newest thing to make watching movies, football matches, and TV series more entertaining. While 3D TV is still expensive if you look around the Kuwaiti market you will find that the prices have dropped considerably compared to just a few months ago. Prices are getting reduced to make the technology available to everyone! If those of you who have been living in Kuwait for the past 10 or 20 years remember how expensive and difficult it was to buy a cell phone then and how easy it is to get one now you will know exactly what I am talking about!

I believe that technology is becoming more available to everyone everyday so it is no wonder that 3D TV is getting its place now. It may not be on the table of everyone’s family now but in time it will be.

With the internet and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter the key issues are freedom and speed; two elements that the regular TV cannot compete with. With the internet you have the freedom to choose who you want to connect to and the speed to get news at any time of the day.

The problem with TV in the Middle East is that official channels are censored under different terms, rules and regulations. Private channels meanwhile are the savior. They are quick and with all their music and sound effects they make the news sound better.

Channels like Al-Jazeera or Al-Arabiya know how to track the latest news.

Another factor here is the internet. Nothing is more convenient than going online and getting the news live at any time of the day or night. No official TV can do that. This is the power of the new technology. Today there are so many means for entertainment and education. The TV is no longer the single child in the family. He now has more brothers and sisters than he could have wished for. We just have to wonder if the TV is getting old fashioned.

Kuwait Digest

The secular revolution

By Jaber Al-Hajri

T

he January 25 revolution that took place in Tahrir Square eliminated the sectarian fear that has long been distributed with the social situation in Egypt. Thousands of Egyptian young men stood together and called for freedom and for the military rule to be replaced by a democratic, secular system in which all rights are protected.

Images of Egyptian Christians guarding their Muslim brothers during their prayers for mercy on the souls of the fallen as well as those of Christians performing memorial prayers while being surrounded by Muslims have completely erased concerns about a civil war between the followers of the two different faiths.

Fears of sectarian troubles collapsed the moment Muslim and Christian Egyptians stood together and shared a common goal of cooperation for the benefit of the country.

This situation is not something new in the history of the Arab world. During the time of the Inquisition in Europe and other similar practices people of different religions were living together in harmony in Arab societies. This means that the Arab nation is capable of living through a constitutional system away from religious fundamentalism.

Multi-religious societies are something common in the Arab world, which has its place in the nation’s history without being affected by sectarianism of religious fundamentalism. It was made available with the adoption of the concept of believing in the common interests of the people of a single community.

Arab societies have long practiced secularism.

In fact, it has preceded all other nations on that regard so it’s not impossible for a new Arab ruling system to adopt secularism. It is the best solution for a nation that has suffered from religiously-motivated slogans for the past few decades.

The revolution of Egypt’s young men and women is a secular revolution that cannot be abducted by outdated parties. The Arab World is changing toward living in communities with secular constitutions. This leaves no room for corruption, sectarianism or religiously fundamentalist slogans. — Al-Qabas

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

local

Deputy PM reassures Twitter users, accepts interview invite

kuwait Digest

An honorable man

Second Q&A session KUWAIT: Nobody in Kuwait has been summoned by the authorities for questioning regarding posts made on Twitter or any other social networking site, according to a senior Cabinet member. Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah made the assertion during a question and answer session on the popular site in response to a question from another Twitter user. Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad, who is also the Minister of Housing and Minister of Development Affairs, also answered questions on a number of other topics during the session.

Asked about rumors that the Olympic Council of Asia, which he currently chairs, rents its headquarters building on Arabian Gulf Road for a nominal fee of only KD300 per year, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad said that these were entirely false, adding that the OCA pays more than KD750,000 per year to rent the property.

Asked about the rates of implementation of the government's major national development plan during its first year, the minister said that the government considers the 30 percent of the plan concerning infrastructure, legislation and other objec-

tives achieved during that period to be a great success. He added that poor performance in implementation in some areas is related to the individual performance of the government bodies in question.

The minister also accepted an invitation during the session from Al-Jazeera correspondent Saad Al-Saidi to conduct a 'Twitterview' or Twitter interview, for the channel in the future. Al-Saidi also explained that the closure of Al Jazeera's office in Kuwait prevents him from practicing his journalistic duties in the normal way. This was Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad's

By Mubarak Al-Maosharji second Q&A session on Twitter since first opening his account almost two months ago. The deputy premier's tweets have managed to capture media attention due to their ability to directly address public concerns which cannot be achieved by regular means. The senior government member's tweets have also caught the attention of MPs, with some using their own Twitter accounts to leave comments on various subjects covered during the sessions. This new openness is making the popular social networking site a new forum for expression of opinion on Kuwait's political scene.

Kuwait to increase electricity, water debt collector centers KUWAIT: The Ministry of Electricity and Water said it plans to increase debt collectors' offices in Kuwait and hire meterreaders from the country and the Gulf, in order to encourage people to pay their debts.

After inaugurating a new consumer affairs office in the Governorate of Jahra, Minister of Electricity and Water Bader Al-Shuraiaan told reporters yesterday that his ministry had agreed a deal with Al-Wataniyah Technologies for the installation of smar t meters throughout the country's governorates, to accommodate the rising number of inhabitants.

The smart meters will enable electricity and water bills to be prepaid via smart card, and will provide the ability to read consumption levels from afar.

KUWAIT: The Minister of Electricity and Water, Dr Bader Al-Shuraian inaugurated a new consumers affairs center for the Jahra Governorate. He said the center will be similar to other centers in other governorates that provide citizens and residents with better services. Meanwhile, the minister revealed plans for the ministry to boost their efforts to collect unpaid fees by increasing the number of collection points and hiring additional Kuwaiti and Gulf national staff members. —Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh

‘No problems at Kuwaiti Embassy in Cairo’ KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti Embassy in Cairo is working normally and has received no instructions to evacuate diplomatic personnel, according to the ambassador, Dr Rashid Al-Hamad.

In a telephone interview with AlQabas, Ambassador Dr Al-Hamad said that whilst activity at the embassy is quieter than usual due to most Kuwaiti expatriate residents, holidaymakers and students returning to Kuwait following the recent massive pro-democracy demonstrations in the Egyptian capital and elsewhere in the country, staff there are facing no difficulties.

Asked whether the embassy had faced any problems given the upheaval in Cairo and the largely peaceful protests, the ambassador asserted, "There are no problems whatsoever."

He explained that the Egyptian army is providing the necessary protection to all embassy buildings as an additional precaution.

Ambassador Dr Al-Hamad further indicated that the few Kuwaitis who have chosen to remain in Egypt are either the owners of businesses there or currently undergoing medical treatment in the country.

"The ministry has pledged its commitment to offer the best services to the people of Jahra Governorate by opening this (consumer affairs) centre, designed to specifically mirror others that will be opened for all nationals and residents alike in the coming period," he said. He added that he would be opening his office to nationals once a month, to listen to their complaints, noting he would be pursuing an open-door policy.

On other issues, the minister said that the GCC joint electricity network would do the required to substitute shortages that could affect any of the six countries, affirming Kuwait's ability to cover its own consumption as well as any likely shortage in neighboring states. The joint project is part of the GCC integration initiative, he concluded.— KUNA

y earliest knowledge of the new-old Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad AlHumoud Al-Sabah, is when his two sons attended a school where I used to work as an administrator. Back then, he was known for being very humble, and was keen on following up on his kid's studies despite his post's obligations. He also earned everyone's respect, especially when he regularly insisted that his sons should not be given special treatment due to their father's senior official post.

I knew Al-Humoud as a good father, and others knew him as a devout and unpretentious state official, which is why his recent appointment as the interior minister was welcomed by Kuwaiti citizens with joy and hope, and I'm confident that he will be able to find solutions to corruption problems and restore the image of police officers in a short time.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud already knows his job due to his great experience in the field, so he isn't short of instructions by which he can organize the plans for the work that lies ahead for him. I wish him success in the task he was assigned with

by His Highness the Amir.

And so to the former minister Sheikh Jaber AlKhalid; I would like to say that he entered a dark tunnel when he decided to fight by-elections without protection, which made him vulnerable to continuous attacks that aimed to oust him. While he was busy defending himself from those attacks and trying to find explanations for his employees' mistakes, his attention was distracted from the increasing corruption at the ministry, until the death of a citizen after days of police torture came as the fatal blow to his tenure.

Sheikh Jaber's insistence on resigning reflects his immense sense of moral and political responsibility regarding the crime, coming as a responsible action to help the cabinet to avoid facing more tensions. — Al-Rai

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

local kuwait Digest

A govt with no vision

By A Latif Al-Amairi t last, the Council of Ministers has decided to accept former minister of interior Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid Al-Sabah's resignation. It was accepted after three MPs filed grilling motions. The government worked towards sabotaging NA Council meeting for more than 40 days to escape the grilling motion. The Minister for Cabinet Affairs declared that the resignation was not accepted. The government lawyer began yelling, asking the minister to clean up the ministry.

This would not have happened, had the resignation been immediately accepted, without accepting a convincing justification. The government has no vision to deal with matters, most are made at random without any planning. When the government studied the MPs' position, it discovered that calculations are never made in its favor. It then had no choice but accept the resignation of the Minister of Interior.

A big question mark hovers about the retirement of Undersecretary of Ministry of Commerce Rasheed Al-Tabtabae.

He has not reached retirement age, and considered an efficient undersecretary who has full knowledge of the Ministry of Commerce's work.

What is the reason behind his retirement? If there are subjective reasons, why not declare it? If there are specific reasons that breed corruption which result in honest individuals being disgraced, and political settlements being made, it cannot be hidden. MPs of the nation should trace this out and hold the Minister of Commerce politically accountable. —Al Anba

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Citizen killed in Seventh Ring Road accident Indian held for alcohol possession KUWAIT: A citizen was killed and others were injured in a car accident on Seventh Ring Road that involved four vehicles, reported Al-Watan. The victim was killed when he crashed into a car in front of him that stopped suddenly and crashed into a truck parked on the side of the road.

Paramedics responded to the scene of the incident and pronounced the victim dead upon their arrival. Eyewitnesses provided authorities with the registration numbers of two vehicles that were also involved in the accident that fled the scene before the police arrived.

Two injured A teenager was seriously injured in a brawl that occurred in Salmiya and was admitted to Mubarak Hospital with a laceration on his hand, reported Al-Rai. The 17year-old was reportedly attacked by a group of six to eight people for being spotted hanging out with someone else's girlfriend. Attempted murder charges were

pressed against the suspects. Meanwhile, a young man was hospitalized with a fractured skull after being attacked in the parking lot of Razi Hospital, reported Al-Rai. The victim was apparently on his way out of the hospital when he was jumped by six people with rods and knives. The victim provided authorities with a description of one of his attackers when his condition stabilized, explaining that the two had a previous dispute.

Fire victim A Kuwaiti child died of smoke inhalation in a fire that consumed his family's home in Oyoun, reported Al-Watan. Firefighters responded to the emergency and admitted the child to Jahra Hospital in critical condition where he was later pronounced dead.

An investigation was launched to determine the cause of the fire.

Electric shock An electrician was admitted to Amiri

Hospital's intensive care unit in critical condition after sustaining an electrical shock, reported Al-Watan. The accident occurred while the 26-year-old Egyptian was fixing an electrical malfunction at a school in Shamiya.

Family feud Two families living in a Qurain neighborhood had a fight following a dispute between the two family's children, reported Al-Watan. Police were called when the female relatives of the arguing children got into a physical fight. After the situation was put under control authorities referred members from both families to a police station.

Alcohol possession An Indian man was arrested for being in possession of alcohol after authorities pulled him over on Fahaheel Highway, reported Al-Watan. Police pulled the man over for driving suspiciously and found a

bottle of liquor in the backseat of his car.

The suspect was referred to the proper authorities.

Illegal resident An Afghani man was held for questioning after he admitted entering Kuwait illegally, reported Al-Anba. The suspect was stopped by police for walking suspiciously through Sulaibiya and detained when he failed to provide officials with identification. He is being questioned by authorities to determine exactly how he infiltrated the country.

Salmiya robbery Police are searching for three thieves that stole around KD 2,000 from an accessories shop in Salmiya at knifepoint, reported Al-Qabas. Authorities responded to the scene of the crime and found the shopkeeper tied up. He informed authorities that his attackers wore traditional Kuwaiti outfits.

Four Zain personnel among best 100 young Kuwaitis KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommunications operator in Kuwait, recently honored four personnel who were included in the list of the Top 100 Kuwaitis.

Jaber Al-Mahanna, Maysam AlDuaij, Waleed Khalid Al-Khashti, and Nour Mohammed Al-Sanea will be part of Thukher, a leadership development program designed to promote Kuwait as an international financial and commercial hub. They will participate in training programs and field trips to New York designed to identify

KUWAIT: The four personnel who were included in the list of the Top 100 Kuwaitis with Zain Kuwait Chief Executive Officer, Khalid Al-Omar.

leadership and tackle administrative challenges and how to handle them.

'Zain is proud to be among the companies contributing to national projects from its reservoir of young talent," said Zain Kuwait Chief Executive Officer, Khalid Al-Omar. He added, "Zain is committed to investing in and building the talents of its young staff who are the nucleus of its investment operations. The nomination of a group of its young leaders to participate in the Thukher is proof of its success in developing the skills and

capabilities of its people".

Al-Omar seized the opportunity to thank Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad, for his support in this national initiative, and his belief in the nation's young leaders. He added that Zain's investment in its human capital is part of a greater vision to develop its operating strategy and long-term plans. Al-Omar concluded by calling upon all young leaders in Zain to intensify their efforts and to work with this national initiative, placing Kuwait's interest as their ultimate objective.

Kuwait envoy hails Syria’s noble role DAMASCUS: Syria played a noble role in the liberation of Kuwait from the Iraqi occupation, Kuwaiti Ambassador to Syria Aziz Al-Daihani said yesterday, on the sidelines of Kuwait's national celebrations here.

While celebration the 50th Anniversar y of the Independence, the 20th Anniversary of Liberation, and the 5th Anniversary of the Amir's Assumption of Power, Kuwait remembers Syria's historic stance during the Iraqi occupation, Al-Daihani said on the sidelines of a banquet grouping the delegation of Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA).

The ambassador hailed the Syrian deployment of forces to take part in liberating Kuwait and praised the role of late Syrian President Hafiz Al-Assad.

He also expressed his satisfac tion over the "notable" development of

DAMASCUS: Members of the KJA delegation with Syrian Foreign Minister Waleed Al-Mua’lem yesterday.

Kuwaiti-Syrian relations on all levels.

The banquet was attended by Syrian M inister of Information and the Director General

of Syrian News Agenc y (SANA) Muhsin Bilal, Chairman of the Union of Syrian Journalists Elias Murad, along with a number of editors in chief of

Syrian newspapers. The delegation of K JA which arrived in Damascus on Tuesday is scheduled to meet senior Syrian officials. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Maj Gen Jasem Al-Mansori and representatives from the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate with Tarek Sultan and Agility's team.

Agility honors Fire Service Directorate, Interior Ministry KUWAIT: Agility, a leading global logistics provider, has honored the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate and Ministry of Interior, for their efforts in putting out a fire at one of its warehouses last month.

The ceremony included Agility's management team as well as the firemen from the various Fire Service centers in Kuwait. Over 40 plaques were distributed to representatives from the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate and the Ministry of Interior as tokens of thanks for their contributions.

Tarek Sultan, Agility's chairman and managing director, expressed his gratitude on behalf of the company to everyone that responded quickly and contained the fire before it could spread. "This appreciation event is

just our small way of saying thank you," he said. "We hope you continue to do your best and we look forward to a safer and more secure Kuwait in your hands."

From its roots in emerging markets, Agility brings efficiency to supply chains in some of the globe's most challenging environments, offering unmatched personal service, a global footprint and customized capabilities in developed countries and emerging economies alike. A publicly traded company, Agility is one of the world's leading providers of integrated logistics with close to $6 billion in annual revenue and 32,000 employees in over 550 offices across 120 countries.

Agility's commercial business, Global Integrated Logistics (GIL), is

headquartered in Switzerland. Agility GIL provides supply chain solutions to meet complex and traditional customer needs. GIL offers air, sea and road freight forwarding, warehousing, distribution and specialized services in project logistics, fairs and events, fuels and chemicals. Agility's unique collection of portfolio businesses includes Agility Defense & Government Services, a logistics provider to governments, ministries of defense and international organizations. Agility's Infrastructure group of companies manages commercial and industrial real estate and offers solutions in customs optimization and clearance, waste management and recycling, aviation services, remote infrastructure and life support.

International THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

memory of the dead galvanizes protest ‘Martyrs of the revolution’ inspire new egyptian protesters

Suicide bomber kills 7 in Kirkuk Page 8

CAIRO: Egyptian gather around a wrecked car in central Cairo yesterday, as Egyptians mark the 16th day of protests against the 30-yearregime of President Hosni Mubarak. — AFP

CAIRO: In Tahrir Square, the memory of young Egyptians killed in the revolt against President Hosni Mubarak has mobilized more opposition to his 30-year rule. For those who saw fellow protesters die, some clubbed by men claiming loyalty to Mubarak, others shot by police, the toll of “martyrs of the revolution” has hardened their resolve. Images of the dead, printed on huge banners, hang from lamp posts around the central Cairo square that has become the epicenter of the protest movement which is locked in a standoff with

Mubarak. “The martyrs’ blood will not go to waste,” reads one banner next to a photo image of the bloodied face of “Martyr Mahmoud Mohammed Hassan”.

Nagwan Hammad has preserved the blood of another protest casualty, Karim Banouna, in a bottle, which she handled with the veneration of a relic as she took it out of a locked suitcase. “This is the greatest proof that we are ready to make sacrifices for the sake of our country: that we are ready to die for the sake of our country and our children,” said the

33-year old, who has been in the square for two weeks. A photo of the dead man and a newspaper clipping about him were taped to the bottle: “The martyr Karim Banouna, 29 years old, an engineer, father of two children, Omar and Mariam, hit by a bullet from a sniper’s rifle in Tahrir Square.” He was killed last week when men claiming loyalty to Mubarak launched an offensive to force the demonstrators out of Tahrir Square.

Mubarak’s administration has promised an investigation into last week’s violence. The protesters have held

mass prayers for the dead. Some Egyptians attending the protest for the first time on Tuesday cited the deaths as the reason for their participation in one of the biggest rallies there so far. The United Nations estimates at least 300 deaths across Egypt in the unrest.

“At first I was scared to come down, but when I saw that people had died to defend us, to defend our future, so that this country can become better, I decided to come,” said Nazira Adel, a 19-year-old law student. “I am now proud to call

myself an Egyptian. The martyrs raised our heads up high,” she said as she arrived at the square on Tuesday to take part along with hundreds of thousands of other demonstrators.

Protesters who have been in the square from the start of the demonstrations on Jan. 25 say they are willing to meet the same fate, so deep is their enmity towards the Egyptian administration and conviction that it must change.

Many say they have gone too far to turn back now. The protesters have shown their determination by sitting

under army tank tracks at moments when they thought they were about to move against them and in repelling the attempt by the armed loyalists to drive them out of the square last week. So far, the army has not mounted a serious attempt to break up the protest. “All of this has given a sense of heroism, a sense that are going to continue the path of those martyrs, a sense that we are ready to sacrifice,” said Ahmed Abdel Nabi Sayyed, a 29-year old lawyer whose arm was broken in the violence. — Reuters

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

Years

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Graft finances terrorism: Iraq BAGHDAD: Instead of fighting graft Iraq’s ministers prefer to hide departmental corruption, contributing to a major source of insurgent financing, the country’s top anti-fraud official said yesterday.

Iraq is rated by watchdog Transparency International as the fourth most corrupt country in the world, with diplomats and local officials persistently citing widespread graft as a major impediment to the country’s development. “Once they step into their positions, they see their ministry as a family concern and prevent others from coming in or fighting against corruption,” said Rahim Hassan Al-Uqailee, head of Iraq’s Commission on Integrity (COI). “They seek to protect their team,” he told AFP in an interview.

Uqailee said 4,082 arrest warrants were issued in 2010 against officials suspected of corruption, compared to 3,791 the year before. He said 197 were for top mandarins or ministerial-level officials, compared to 152 the previous year. Last year, 2,844 suspects were referred to court for 2,322 cases of corruption, amounting to a total $1.3 billion in diverted public funds, he added.

Warrants against defense ministry officials accounted for the biggest chunk of the total, with 13.4 percent of the overall figure, followed by the interior ministry in second place at 7.3 percent.

Municipality and public works was third with 6.2 percent.

In the most high-profile such arrest warrant issued in recent years, Iraq’s ex-trade minister Abdel Falah Al-Sudani was dramatically detained in May 2009 after his plane was ordered back to Baghdad as he tried to flee the country. “We are in constant conflict with them (ministers) but we manage to impose the law. The COI is feared by all, including senior officials and even ministers,” said Uqailee, who has headed the commission since January 2008. “Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki is trying to fight corruption and has made efforts in this direction, but he cannot do everything by himself,” the 44-year-old former judge added. “I believe the ministers do not fight against corruption seriously, and sometimes even think it is better to cover it.” The number of civil servants imprisoned for corruption grew from 94 in 2006 to 148 and 417 the next two years, and 1,719 in 2009. Last year’s number was 1,619. “The increase in the number of arrest warrants, indictments and convictions doesn’t mean there is more corruption, it means we are more efficient,” said Uqailee, adding he regularly receives death threats, like many of the 1,650 employees working under him.

According to monthly surveys conducted by the COI, the government ministry seen by Iraqis as the most corrupt for nine out of the past 12 months is the justice ministry, while residents of the holy Shiite province of Najaf saw their province as the most corrupt for eight months in 2010. — AFP

Suicide bomber kills 7 in Kirkuk Qaeda calls for prison breaks in Egypt SULAIMANIYAH: A suicide bomber struck a Kurdish security headquarters in the first of a string of attacks yesterday against the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk that killed seven and wounded up to 80 people. Within minutes, two more bombs exploded nearby, sending dark plumes of smoke into the clear winter sky and ending a six-month lull in violence in a city rife with simmering ethnic tensions located 180 miles north of Baghdad.

The city is divided between Kurds, Turkomen and Sunni and Shiite Arabs and has long been feared to be a potential new flashpoint in Iraq. Police Brig Gen Sarhat Qadir said two policemen were among the dead, while five police and eight officials with the Kurdish intelligence forces known as the Asayish were wounded. Dr Khalid Ahmed of Kirkuk emergency hospital confirmed the total casualty count of seven killed and as many as 80 injured.

“We had just passed the car bomb - it was less than 40 yards away,” said policeman Meriwan Salih, whose arm was broken and who had shrapnel pierce his back when the third bomb exploded as his patrol sped by. “The huge blast threw me into the air.” Kirkuk’s police chief, Maj Gen Jamal Tahir, said the suicide bomber slammed his pickup truck into a blast wall surrounding the Asayish headquarters around 10 a.m., sending flames through the building and damaging its front facade. The second explosion hit a few blocks away, near a gas station. AP Television News footage showed police cars with blaring sirens racing to the headquarters when the third blast exploded, just down the street from the suicide bomber.

The third bombing knocked people to the ground, and was immediately followed by gunshots. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Tahir said the Arab militant group Ansar Al-Sunna last week threatened to target Kurdish security forces and political parties in Kirkuk. “We have informed all security headquarters and political parties then to be careful and take security measures,” Tahir said. He said Kirkuk police also will investigate how the bombers got past security precautions to launch the attacks.

In addition to being an epicenter for

KIRKUK: Iraqi firefighters extinguish a fire in a destroyed building after a car bomb attack in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers north of Baghdad yesterday. — AP

ethnic tensions, Kirkuk also sits on top of one-third of Iraq’s estimated $11 trillion in oil reserves, and Arabs fear the Kurds want to annex the city to their northern autonomous region. Last summer, Gen Ray Odierno, who was then the top American military commander in Iraq, said UN peacekeeping forces may need to replace departing US troops in disputed region if the feud between Arabs and minority Kurds continues through this year. His comments underscored the fragility of the area’s security and the dangers if it is disrupted - although UN officials have not embraced his suggestion.

In another development, Al-Qaeda’s Iraq-based arm called on Egyptian Muslims to free all prisoners from their nation’s jails, issuing an appeal for holy war as Cairo said Islamist militants had already escaped during anti-government turmoil. The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) attacked the Egyptian government for failing to implement strict Islamic law,

and said it was better for Muslims to die fighting their government rather than live under its rule. Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman said on Tuesday that militants linked to al Qaeda were among the thousands of prisoners who escaped from jails last month during the unrest triggered by a popular uprising.

The ISI’s “ War Ministry ” called on Egyptians to free more prisoners. “Don’t rest until you have rescued them all, then destroy them (the prisons) with the aid of God, so that not a single stone remains standing,” it said in a statement which was posted on Islamist websites on Tuesday. The ISI’s links to Egyptian militants and the strength of its influence are unclear, but some analysts said the group may have inspired a deadly attack on an Egyptian church last month.

The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization seen as Egypt’s largest opposition group, renounced violence decades ago and has warned that gov-

ernment efforts to stamp out its influence could push some towards more radical ideas. Calling for a holy war against Egypt’s government, the ISI said: “If the people of Islam die trying to reach this goal, it is better for them than having a tyrant who rules them with laws other than God’s Sharia law.” “Here is the market of jihad, and all the reasons to facilitate it in your home. The doors of martyrdom have opened.”

Hundreds of thousands of Egyptian protesters of various political and religious backgrounds have taken to the streets over the past two weeks to demand President Hosni Mubarak end his three -decade rule. ISI has been blamed for releasing statements to inspire church bombings after it attacked a Baghdad church last year. Egyptian officials have said “foreign elements” orchestrated a suspected suicide bombing on a Coptic church in Alexandria on Jan. 1, killing 21 people, and linked the bomber to Al-Qaeda. — Agencies

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

I n t e r n at i o n a l

Clash looms over US surveillance methods House fails to pass nine-month extension WASHINGTON: The Obama administration has urged the US Congress to extend for nearly three years key powers to track terrorism suspects, setting up a possible clash with Senate Republicans who have urged making them permanent. The methods, originally adopted shortly after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks and set to expire at the end of this month, permit roving wiretaps, tracking suspected foreigners who may be acting alone in plotting attacks, and accessing certain business records. A majority the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted in favor of a nine-month extension, but the vote - 277-148 - fell short of the needed two-thirds majority to prevail under the chamber’s expedited procedures.

Some House Democrats opposed approving the extension without a longer debate or a chance to propose changes. The House could vote again on an extension under regular procedures that would require just a simple majority to pass. The White House said that while it would support the nine-month extension proposed by House Republicans, it would “strongly prefer” that they be re-authorized through December 2013. “ This approach would ensure appropriate congressional oversight by maintaining a sunset, but the longer duration provides the necessary certainty and predictability that our nation’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies require,” the

White House said in a statement.

An aide for Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee said a nine-month extension would provide time for new lawmakers to get up to speed on the issue and for the panel to discuss fully the usefulness of the techniques.

Senate Republicans last week pushed for a permanent extension of the surveillance to give authorities greater certainty as they try to detect and disrupt plots against the United States. The different approaches present an early test of bipartisan cooperation between Obama and Republicans who last year won control of the House and narrowed the Democrats’ Senate majority.

Republicans have repeatedly hammered the administration over its handling of terrorism cases. More broadly, they and the administration have been increasingly concerned about the socalled lone wolf threat. In recent months, there have been several terrorism plots uncovered involving individuals largely acting alone. The American Civil Liberties Union has urged lawmakers to adopt stronger protections to ensure that authorities are not allowed to illegally spy on innocent Americans. “We’re disappointed that another sunset is coming and going without any substantial changes to the Patriot Act,” said Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel for the ACLU. — Reuters

Tunisia president gets wide powers TUNIS: Tunisia’s Senate agreed unanimously yesterday to grant wide powers to the interim president struggling to restore order to the country following the overthrow of ex-leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The upper house followed the lead of the lower house of parliament which on Monday authorized interim president Foued Mebazaa to rule by decree.

“We are coming under social pressure because of the demands of the people for improvements to their situation,” caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi told the house before the vote. “But it has to be taken into account that the state is not yet capable of responding to all these demands. We do not have a magic wand.” Even as he spoke a stray bullet from the gun of a soldier who fired warning shots to disperse

a crowd in Tunis wounded a 26-yearold man, witnesses said.

They said the crowd of jobless people had massed outside the social affairs ministr y, which on Tuesday began distributing a dole to the handicapped and unemployed.

The shots were fired as the crowd refused to line up before the offices opened but instead tried to force a way in, the witnesses said. The measures voted by parliament empowers Mebazaa to sidestep the assembly made up mostly of followers of Ben Ali and decide key issues by decree, relating notably to the transition to democracy and the holding of elections within six months.

These include a possible general amnesty, human rights legislation, the organization of political parties and a new electoral code.

Ghannouchi said that par ties

TUNIS: Tunisians, who came to get humanitarian aid, argue with a military officer (center) after a man seeking aid was shot in the foot by a soldier in Tunis. — AFP

Venezuela prison population swells CARACAS: Venezuela’s prison population has swollen in recent years to its largest ever recorded of over 44,500 inmates, according to figures given by Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami, as fears rose of gross overcrowding. In a report Tuesday to lawmakers in the national legislature, El Aissami said the number of inmates was 44,520 in 2010 and said the figure should spur a “greater commitment to transformation of the Venezuelan justice system.”

The minister did not specify the official capacity of the country’s prisons, but according to the non-governmental monitoring group Venezuelan Violence Observatory (OVP), the system was intended to house just 15,000 inmates. According to the OVP, massive overcrowding was the main reason behind violence in the prison system, with 366 killed in 2009, and 221 inmates killed in the first half of 2010.

Opposition lawmaker Alfredo Osorio reminded El Aissami pointedly that “over 90 percent of the people in prison are awaiting sentencing,” and called for drastic reform to the system. Earlier Tuesday official data meanwhile showed Venezuela had the highest murder rate in Latin America last year, with 48 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. The OVP group, which follows crime trends in the country, puts the total at 17,600. The murder rate given by El Aissami surpassed those of neighboring Colombia, which was 32 per 100,000 inhabitants last year, and Mexico, which was 14 per 100,000 inhabitants. The world average is eight homicides per 100,000 people, according to official statistics. — AFP

banned under Ben Ali would be made legal within days ahead of “transparent and fair elections with the participation of all the parties.”

The transitional government has banned Ben Ali’s ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Assembly, and accused loyalists of the former leader ousted on Januar y 14 of attempting to foment unrest so as to block the transition to democracy.

Mass protests sparked partly by poverty and unemployment erupted across the countr y last month, resulting in Ben Ali’s ouster. Pockets of unrest remain and police, closely associated with the hated Ben Ali regime, have played no role in restoring law and order. On Tuesday the government called up reservists to bolster the army which has been carrying out security duties to help keep order. Some 234 people have been killed during the unrest in Tunisia and 510 have been injured, an official source told AFP on Tuesday. The United Nations last week had put the figure at 219.

Ghannouchi yesterday called on Tunisians to return to work, saying the country had suffered “considerable losses” because of the unrest.

The head of the Tunis-based African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka said the bank would be prepared to give Tunisia substantial additional funding to help it face up to immediate problems. And a group of French travel agents visiting the country said they planned a strong promotional drive to encourage the return of tourists within weeks. The industr y, one of Tunisia’s main sources of income, saw a 40 per cent drop in revenue in Januar y and February is expected to be similar.

Tourism Minister Mehdi Houas said that with the eventual lifting of the curfew and the return of security, “We are counting on a real recovery around March-April.” — AFP

Guantanamo ‘one of world’s finest prisons’ WASHINGTON: The “war on terror” prison at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is “one of the finest prison systems in the world,” former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday. Rumsfeld, who is promoting his autobiography titled “Known and Unknown,” praised US military personnel that worked at the site in the interview on FOX News Channel’s Hannity show. Rumsfeld was defense secretary 2001-2006 under former president George W Bush. He was replaced as defense secretary by Robert Gates. “ The heart-breaking thing with respect to Guantanamo is not that there’s anything wrong with it, it’s one of the finest prison systems in the world,” said Rumsfeld. “What’s awkward is the fact that, for whatever reason, the administration was incapable of persuading people that that was a firstclass operation, that they were not torturing people, that they were not hurting people,” he said. Rumsfeld described it as “a fine operation,” and said US mili-

tary personnel working there have “taken a lot of the heat unfairly” and “deserve a lot of credit” for their work.

Rumsfeld was also critical of President Barack Obama’s attempt to close the site.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama “was critical of indefinite detention for unlawful combatants. He was critical of military commissions,” he said. “And here we are ... two-plus years later, and all of those things are there.

Not because anyone wants them to be there, but because they were the best solutions.” The Guantanamo prison opened in January 2002 to hold prisoners captured in Afghanistan and swept up elsewhere in the US “war on terror.”

Upon taking office in January 2009, Obama promised to close the prison in one year, but has not found a place to move the inmates and the US Congress has banned the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to US soil. There are currently 173 inmates at the Guantanamo prison, of which only three have been convicted after a trial. — AFP

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Korean talks collapse A setback for nuclear dialogue

PREAH VIHEAR: A Cambodian soldier walks towards Cambodia’s famed Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Preah Vihear province. — AP

Cambodia troops bunkered at cliff-top Khmer temple PREAH VIHEAR: Hundreds of Cambodian soldiers were camped yesterday at a cliff-top Khmer temple in the line of fire from deadly border skirmishes with Thailand, as the Cambodian leader raised the temperature in the conflict by declaring it a “real war.” Cambodia’s government denies that it deploys soldiers at the millennium-old World Heritage site - seeking to avoid the impression it would deliberately put the temple in danger or use it as a shield and has accused Thailand of seriously damaging the complex.

However, Associated Press journalists who visited the temple yesterday found hundreds of Cambodian soldiers deployed in and around the sprawling temple compound, which was fortified by sandbagged bunkers. They also saw areas where shrapnel chipped away at some of the sanctuary’s ancient walls, but no signs of large structural damage.

The UN cultural agency, UNESCO, says it plans to send a team to makes its own assessment of the damage.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that the damage constituted a war crime _ indicating he has no intention of backing down, despite a fragile truce that has quieted guns for two days. “Thai Prime Minister Abhisit (Vejjajiva) must be held responsible for war crimes,” said Hun Sen, adding that the conflict was not just an armed clash but a “real war.” Hun Sen is a canny politician known for his use of heated rhetoric to put pressure on his adversaries. Each country blames the other for starting fighting last Friday which set off several days of artillery duels, leaving at least eight people dead. Dozens of soldiers were wounded, and thousands of civilians evacuated to safety, before fighting eased Monday.

Thailand accuses Cambodia of stationing soldiers at the temple and firing across the border at Thai soldiers.

Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement yesterday it “strongly rejects such a slanderous assertion.” “There has never been and there will never be Cambodian soldiers at the temple of Preah Vihear. This has always been a place for worship and tourism,” the statement said, adding that the only security presence at the temple is a small number of policemen with light weapons to ensure safety at the site.

Dressed in military camouflage, some of the troops at the temple played cards its shaded walls. Some rested on cots or hammocks while others poured new sandbags and stacked them up. “We’re here to defend it,” said one soldier who was inside a sandbagged bunker that was covered with a military tarp. “When the fighting stops, we will go.” The soldier declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to media. He said he and other soldiers were stationed

several miles away but moved to the temple Friday when fighting erupted.

Weapons were visible around the complex, including rifles and rocket launchers leaned against temple walls.

An 81-mm mortar tube was positioned in a pit pointed at Thailand, across a ravine from the Cambodian frontier. Thai army spokesman Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd defended his earlier remarks about Cambodian military presence at the temple. “It’s obvious,” he said. “You can take a look at the photographs, even the ones taken by them. There’s definitely military presence at Preah Vihear.

Their soldiers fired at us from there.”

“We never intended to attack Preah Vihear,” he added. “We would never want to damage such a valuable cultural and religious site. The firing only occurred when they fired at us from that location.”

Hun Sen said that he told UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon in a phone conversation Tuesday night that the countries were involved in “a real war now.” He said he asked Ban to send UN peacekeepers or observers to the area. The Cambodian leader also rejected peace talks with Bangkok and taunted Thailand’s Abhisit for refusing to refer the dispute to a third party. “I would like to tell Abhisit that if you are not a thief, don’t be afraid of a judge,” he said.

Preah Vihear temple, built between the 9th and 11th centuries, sits atop a 1,722-foot cliff in the Dangrek Mountains along a disputed border zone between Thailand and Cambodia. It has been a source of tension and fueled nationalist sentiment on both sides of the border for decades.

It is dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva, but it was later used as a Buddhist sanctuary. The temple is revered partly for having one of the most stunning locations of all the temples constructed during the Khmer empire - the most famous of which is Angkor Wat. The World Court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but sovereignty over adjacent areas has never been clearly resolved.

In 2008, UNESCO backed Cambodia’s bid to list the temple as a World Heritage site. Thailand initially supported the bid but then reneged after the move sparked domestic outrage and protests. Some Thais worried that the distinction would undermine their claims to a strip of surrounding land. Both sides sent troops to the border, resulting in several small clashes over the years. But the latest skirmishes were the most intense yet, marking the first time artillery and mortars have been used, according to soldiers and locals. The latest fighting comes as Thailand’s embattled government faces protests from ultranationalists at home who say it hasn’t done enough to protect Thailand’s sovereignty in the border region. — AP

SEOUL: Military talks between the rival Koreas have “collapsed,” a unification ministry official in Seoul said yesterday, dealing a setback to efforts to restart international aid-fordisarmament talks. Tensions have eased on the divided peninsula since the start of the year, with both sides calling for dialogue, raising hopes the neighbors could rebuild relations shattered over the past two years by a series of deadly attacks and failed nuclear talks.

Colonels from the two Koreas, still technically at war since their 1950-53 civil conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, talked for two days but failed to get past the first hurdle of the preliminary meeting-setting the agenda for senior discussions. “The talks have collapsed; they haven’t even agreed on a date for their next meeting,” the official told Reuters, referring to the first meeting since the North’s attack on the southern island of Yeonpyeong in November, which killed four people and raised the threat of possible all-out war.

The South’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that the North’s representatives had “unilaterally walked out of the meeting room”. Seoul said the offer for senior-level military talks still stood, but on the condition the North “takes responsible steps regarding” last year’s attacks, a ministry official said. The talks also became bogged down over the procedural issue of what rank any senior talks would take, with the South demanding either a ministerial or four-star general confab while North insisted on vice-ministerial dialogue.

While the failed talks underline the deep divisions and distrust between the rivals, analysts said they were hardly surprised and that any talks would follow a stop-start pattern. “I thought it would take some time due to a gap in views of the both,” said Park Syung-je, an expert at the Asia Strategy Institute. “Next time ahead of talks, South Korea should check if North Korea truly wants them.” Tensions rose on the divided peninsula last year when 46 South Korean sailors were killed in an attack on a naval vessel. North Korea, which denies responsibility for that attack, also revealed major advances in its nuclear program in

PANMUNJOM: North Korean counterpart Col Ri Sun Gyun (right front) pictured with other North Korean soldiers at the south side of the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas. — AP

November. Beijing and Washington had set inter-Korean dialogue as a prerequisite to restart six-party talks which offer the North aid and diplomatic recognition in return for disabling its nuclear arms program. Tokyo and Moscow are the other six-party members. The North has said it wants to return to the broader negotiations, but Seoul and Washington have questioned its sincerity about denuclearizing-pointing to its revelations about a uranium-enrichment program. “ Without having the bilateral talks between the two Koreas, holding six-party talks also looks unclear now,” said Kim Seunghwan of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The North quit the sixway talks in 2009, declaring the process dead, in protest against UN sanctions for conducting nuclear and missile tests. The North’s shelling of Yeonpyeong, the first attack

S Sudan minister shot dead in Juba JUBA: A minister in the government of South Sudan was shot dead inside his ministry yesterday, days after referendum results confirmed the region will become Africa’s newest independent state, the region’s army said. South Sudan’s Interior Minister Gier Chouang Aloung said the attacker was the minister’s brother in law. “We want to make very clear there is no political motive whatsoever...it is a family issue... he was killed by his own brother-in-law.”

South Sudan’s army spokesman Philip Aguer said the Minister of Rural Development and Cooperatives, Jimmy Lemi, was shot dead inside the ministry in the heart of the region’s capital Juba. “(The attacker) also killed a guard at the door of the ministry,” he said. Aguer said the attacker was under arrest. He had earlier said that the man had committed suicide.

Officials said Lemi was a former member of the National Congress Party which dominates the north, who had defected to the south’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement ahead of April 2010 elections.

Security forces had cleared away hundreds of onlookers from around the ministry. A government car with a window smashed was parked inside the building compound. “We...saw a man taking a gun out of the car-he ran inside and we heard three or four shots,” said one witness. An ambulance moved slowly away from the scene in a funeral procession, followed by dozens of wailing mourners.

No motive was immediately clear for the attack, which underlines insecurity and the spread of arms in the region. Final results of a referendum on independence confirmed on Monday that South Sudan will become the world’s newest state on July 9. The region waged a decades-long civil war with Sudan’s north which ended with a peace deal six years ago. Violence in the south remains persistent since the end of the north-south civil war. An estimated 3,000 people were killed in ethnic battles and tit-for-tat cattle raids in 2009 alone, although clashes had subsided ahead of the January referendum. — Reuters

Iran’s prosecutor warns opposition against rally Iranian minister urges sex segregation in colleges TEHRAN: Iran’s chief prosecutor has warned opposition supporters not to hold a rally next week, saying they can expect a response from “vigilant” Iranians if they do, the semi-official Mehr news wire reported yesterday.

Opposition leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi have applied to stage a rally on Monday in support of revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, hoping the uprisings there can revive their “Green movement” which was stamped out in the months following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s June 2009 re-election. Although the government is unlikely to permit a rally organized by people it considers “seditionists”, many Iranians have said they may attend in any case. A Facebook page dedicated to the day has more than 20,000 followers. It would be the Green movement’s first demonstration since December 2009 when eight protesters were killed and more than 1,000 arrested, ending months of mass protests during which Iran witnessed the worst unrest since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Prosecutor General Qolam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said that if Iranians want to

against civilians on South Korean soil since the Korean War, set off a wave of war-like rhetoric that worried financial markets in a region home to one-sixth of the world’s economy.

Under pressure from their main allies, the United States and China, the neighbors have stopped their combative language and reopened a hotline at their border. And the two sides showed some signs of cooperation yesterday, with Seoul sending a telegram to Pyongyang saying it was ready to discuss humanitarian issues. During the preliminary military talks this week, the South demanded the North acknowledge its role in shelling of Yeonpyeong and the attack on the vessel, the defense ministry said. North Korea repeated that it was not responsible for the sinking the naval vessel and blamed the Yeonpyeong attack on the South’s live-fire drills in disputed waters. — Reuters

show their support for protesters in North Africa, they should do so at nationwide government-sponsored rallies this Friday marking the anniversar y of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. “If a person really has the motivation to support the heroic people of Egypt and Tunisia, he will join the rally of Bahman 22 (Feb 11) along with the nation and the government,” Mohseni-Ejei said. “Setting another date means these gentlemen have distanced themselves from the people and created division. This is a political act. But the people of Iran are vigilant and if necessary they will respond,” he added.

Basij militia forces loyal to the government helped suppress Green movement protests in 2009. In an interview with The New York Times, conducted via the Internet from his home where he said he was living under conditions close to house arrest, the 73-year-old cleric Karoubi said: “Next Monday will be a test for the Green movement. “If the government issues a permit, there will be a huge demonstration and it will show how alive the Green movement is.” He did not say what

might happen in the event the authorities deny permission, as seems likely.

Both sides of Iran’s deep political divide have expressed solidarity with the North African uprisings that ousted Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and have put Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year tenure in jeopardy. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described the uprisings as an “Islamic awakening”, continuing the work started by Iranian revolutionaries who overthrew the US-backed Shah in 1979 and established Shi’ite Muslim clerical rule.

The Green movement leaders have said the Tunisian and Egyptian protesters borrowed slogans from their own 2009 protests against an election result they say was rigged, a charge the government denies. Karoubi said a successful uprising in Egypt would win democratic freedoms that are lacking in Iran. “It will show that Iran has been left behind, that it has not gone forward with the principles of the revolution that everything should be based on the vote of the people,” he told The New York Times. —Agencies

MAKATI: Taiwan Ambassador Donald C T Lee (right) reads his statement to reporters beside Minister Michael Hsu at their embassy in suburban Makati, south of Manila yesterday. — AP

Taiwanese general ‘spying’ for China?

TAIPEI: A Taiwanese general has been arrested over claims he spied for China, the defense ministry said yesterday as it scrambled to limit the damage from what it called the worst espionage case in 50 years. Army Major General Lo Hsien-che was recruited by China while stationed in Thailand between 2002 and 2005 and was detained late last month, the ministry said in a statement. At the time of his arrest, the 51-year-old was head of the army’s telecommunications and electronic information department, according to the statement.

“We don’t know for sure, but there’s no reason to believe that he stopped spying for China after returning home from Thailand,” a ministry official said, on condition of anonymity. “This is definitely the worst Chinese communist espionage case in the past half century.” It was not immediately clear how much harm Lo had caused Taiwan’s military, but given the sensitive affairs he was in charge of, “it could be serious,” the official added. Local media said prosecutors had seized highly confidential documents while searching Lo’s office. Some reportedly detail the Po Sheng (Broad Victory) system, a sophisticated command, control and communications network that Taiwan is purchasing from US defense contractor Lockheed Martin at a cost of Tw$46 billion ($1.6 billion). China is believed to be very interested in learning more about the project as it enables the Taiwanese military to get access to US intelligence systems, the China Times newspaper said. Other documents include the army’s procurement of 30 Boeing-made Apache AH-64D Longbow attack helicopters and the army’s underground optical fibre network system, it said.

The defense ministry has set up an ad hoc group in an effort to limit the possible damage, according to Lieutenant General Wang Ming-wo, acting director of the ministry’s Political Warfare Bureau.

“He has brought shame to the military.

Servicemen are supposed to be loyal to

their country,” Wang said. The arrest of Lo came amid fast-warming ties between Taipei and Beijing following the 2008 election of Ma Ying-jeou of the Chinafriendly Kuomintang as president.

“Although tensions across the Taiwan Strait have eased over the past more than two years, the Chinese communists have not stopped their infiltration into Taiwan,” said Wang. “Instead, they have been stepping up their intelligence gathering, what we call the ‘smokeless war,’ against us.”

Taiwan and China have spied on each other ever since they split in 1949 at the end of a civil war. Beijing still regards the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification.

Legislator Tsai Huang-lang from the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, known for its anti-China stance, described the event as “a big military setback for Taiwan”. “Defense minister Kao Hua-chu and the ministry’s chief of staff Lin Chen-yi should immediately step down to assume full responsibility,” he said. Military analysts warned that the espionage case may further delay the proposed US sale of next generation F-16 fighter jets and submarines, weapons Taiwan says it badly needs to defend itself against its giant neighbor. “The case may give the United States second thoughts while evaluating the arms deals,” said Wung Ming-hsien, a strategy expert at Tamkang University near Taipei. In another development, Taiwan yesterday accused the Philippines of bowing to pressure from Beijing over the “inhumane” deportation of alleged Taiwanese criminals to China, and warned of retaliatory action. The 14 Taiwanese, along with 10 Chinese nationals, were arrested by Philippine authorities in December over alleged credit card fraud and all were deported to China last week. Donald Lee, head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, which represents the island’s interests in the Philippines, said authorities ignored his request for the suspected fraudsters to be returned to Taiwan. —Agencies

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India GOVERNMENT hit

by Corruption scandals NEW DELHI: Indian police have arrested the first executive in a probe into a billion dollar telecoms scam that has rocked the Congress party-led coalition government and undermined Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Here are details on five major recent scandals: TELECOMS LICENCE ROW India may have lost up to $39 billion in revenue when the telecoms ministry gave out lucrative licenses and radio spectrum in 2007/08 at below-market prices, the state auditor has said. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s (CAG) report in November also said rules were flouted when the licenses were awarded, which led to many ineligible firms winning licenses.

Telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja was sacked in November after the report was released. He was arrested this month on charges of misuse of ministerial office and criminal misconduct. Raja denies the charges.

The federal Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said yesterday it had arrested overnight the managing director of India’s DB Realty and vice chairman of Etisalat DB. Etisalat DB is a joint venture between DB Group, the parent of DB Realty, and Abu Dhabi’s Etisalat. DB Group sold a 45 percent stake in Swan Telecom to Etisalat after the operator was granted a license by Raja despite being ineligible. Since Swan Telecom has been renamed Etisalat DB. The CAG report also said units of realtor Unitech were given licences despite not having adequate capital. The units are now part of the India operations of Norway’s Telenor. All firms have denied wrongdoing, and said they complied with all rules when licenses were given. The scam has had serious political implications for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Congress party. The opposition closed the winter session of parliament with its

demands for a joint parliamentary probe, which the government rejected, saying separate investigations were underway. A government climbdown appeared close on Tuesday.

ANOTHER TLECOMS SCANDAL India’s space agency is being probed by the CAG for granting a private firm lucrative mobile Internet bandwidth in 2005 without a proper bidding process that reports say has cost the government up to 2 trillion rupees ($44 billion). Prime Minister Singh, who personally oversees India’s space ministry, denied on Tuesday that any revenue had been lost. Any political fallout may fail to gather momentum due to the case’s complexity and the fact the satellites have not even been launched. But once again, Singh has been accused by the opposition of negligence. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) leased transponders on two of its satellites to private firm Devas Multimedia, which granted it access to S-band telecom spectrum, worth billions of dollars to communication providers.

S-band spectrum, while not currently in extensive use, is likely to become increasingly valuable in India’s rapidly-growing mobile phone market, with its ability to provide wireless broadband and other mobile data services. The ISRO has moved to cancel the contract, admitting that it granted Devas improper access to a valuable national resource in a flawed contract that undervalued the spectrum. Opposition politicians have demanded that Singh explain his role in the deal, as the former minister of state for space in 2005, while the law ministry said that they had recommended its cancellation last year, local media reported.

LOAN BRIBERY SCAM Top officials of Indian banks, lenders and financial firms have

been accused of taking bribes to grant corporate loans. While the size of the scandal is not known, local media have reported it could run into millions of dollars. The CBI, India’s federal investigative agency, arrested eight people in November, including the chief executive of LIC Housing Finance and senior officials at state-run Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India.

The bribes were allegedly paid by private finance firm Money Matters Financial Services, which acted as a “mediator and facilitator” for the loan beneficiaries, the CBI said.

Three Money Matters executives, including the managing director, have been arrested for offering bribes. Several leading Indian firms were named in court documents filed by the CBI, including wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy, infrastructure company HCC’s Lavasa unit and real estate firm DB Realty . All three have denied any wrongdoing. A CBI source has said the probe will widen to look if other banks were involved. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has asked investors not to panic over the case, following up on comments by other officials that this is a case of individual wrongdoing and not a widespread scam and that the banking sector will not be affected by it.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES The sporting extravaganza in October, which cost up to $6 billion, was dogged by several cases of alleged corruption, including the purchase of equipment and issuing contracts. The anti-corruption watchdog has identified more than 16 projects with possible irregularities. The Congress party has sacked Suresh Kalmadi from the post of chairman of the organizing committee and as secretary of the party’s parliamentary wing. Three of his close aides have been arrested and local media has said Kalmadi too could be arrested. —Reuters

Pakistan cabinet resigns Smaller cabinet eyed to reduce spending

LAHORE: In this file photo, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani (center) is surrounded by officials and members of his government. Pakistan’s prime minister dissolved his 50-plus member Cabinet yesterday as part of a process to shrink his circle of advisers in response to demands for greater financial savings in the economically struggling country. — AP ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ministers yesterday submitted their resignations to the prime minister as part of plans to appoint a smaller cabinet in order to reduce government spending at a time of economic crisis. Still reeling from unprecedented flooding last year that caused damages of $9.7 billion, the government is under huge pressure to introduce economic reforms and meet IMF targets agreed in a 2008 bail-out package.

“Today’s meeting is going to be the last meeting of the present cabinet,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told more than 50 ministers, praising their record on the economy, constitutional reform and response to major floods.

Government officials said the ministers tendered their resignations to Gilani and that the new cabinet would be announced within four days, although analysts and the political opposition dismissed the move as window dressing. “The size

of the new cabinet will be smaller than this one,” Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told state-run television.

“It was a demand from the opposition to cut the cabinet size and the People’s Party government listened the voice of the masses and opposition.” A government official said that the cabinet would be formerly dissolved after President Asif Ali Zardari accepts the resignations.

The main ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) last week authorized Gilani to dissolve the cabinet after power ful opposition parties demanded a smaller line-up as part of retrenchment efforts to tackle Pakistan’s economic woes.

A reduction in the size of the cabinet is a legal requirement of the 18th amendment to the constitution, which stipulates it should be no larger than 11 percent of parliament, which would be a maximum of 49 members. The government is under huge pressure from the

opposition to implement a raft of reforms, in order to head off any possible threat of a call for early elections from opposition leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Sharif in January gave the government 45 days to implement key reforms or risk having the PPP kicked out of government in Punjab province.

Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim LeagueN party said yesterday that the government needed to do far more to curb spending than simply appointing a new cabinet. “ We have demanded a 30-percent reduction in government expenditure... So far we are disappointed. The 45-day period will be over before the end of the month but they have done nothing tangible,” said party spokesman Siddiqul Farooq. “We may think seriously about making an appeal to the people of Pakistan to demand fresh elections. We have to see the size and the credibility of the new cabinet members. — AFP

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Issues

Crisis spells trouble for Mideast peace

By Josef Federman srael’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has only recently and grudgingly accepted the idea of an independent Palestinian state next to Israel.

With Egypt in flux, efforts to bring this about may soon go into deep freeze. Israel’s main concern is whether its peace agreement with Egypt, which underpins its security in a hostile Arab world, can survive without President Hosni Mubarak at the helm. The tumult in Egypt has plunged Israel into dismay, arousing fears that Islamic radicals, backed

by Iran, are about to score another victory, as Hezbollah has done in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza even though the anti-government protesters in Egypt are led by secular activists. While Egypt’s main fundamentalist group the Muslim Brotherhood has a role, it has no known links to Iran.

At this point, Israeli leaders can only guess what will happen in Egypt now that Mubarak has said he won’t run for re-election. Mubarak is Israel’s bridge to the Arab world and a mediator with the Palestinians.

Gaza borders Egypt’s Sinai desert, making Egypt the guardian of its western border. Until the picture clears, Netanyahu is unlikely to rush into a deal with the Palestinians that creates even more uncertainty on his doorstep by turning over territory to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a man Israelis see as well intentioned but weak.

“A peace on paper does not guarantee peace in practice,” Netanyahu said in a speech to parliament on Wednesday. Under the 1979 treaty with Egypt, Israel’s first with an Arab country, Israel withdrew from the Sinai peninsula, which it had captured from Egypt in the 1967 Mideast war. A demilitarized Sinai allowed Israel to slash military spending and troop levels along the border. The return of the massive, US-supplied Egyptian army to potentially just 65 km from Tel Aviv would send shudders through Israel’s military establishment. To the east is Jordan, where street protests forced King Abdullah II to sack his Cabinet this week and promise reforms. Jordan, the other country with whom Israel has a peace treaty, separates Israel and the West Bank from Iraq.

Beyond lies Iran, which says Israel shouldn’t even exist. Some analysts argue that now is the time to strike a deal with the Palestinians and take some of the sting out of the turmoil sweeping Arab countries.

But Israelis will prefer caution, said Aaron David Miller, a former US peace negotiator who is now at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a Washington think tank. “The logic for Israel will be ‘We need to be very careful with respect to anything we do’,” he said in an interview. He said the best-case scenario foresees a “fairly lengthy delay” in getting peace efforts restarted. “At worst, it will make it very difficult to hold serious negotiations or reach any agreement any time soon.”

Netanyahu warned his parliament that Islamic radicals, backed by Iran, could exploit the chaos in Egypt, a common theme heard here since the unrest erupted last week. He also repeated his call for peace talks with the Palestinians, but reiterated his security concerns and acknowledged the gaps may be too wide to bridge. A Palestinian state, even if Israel got to keep its largest settlements in the West Bank, would leave this country much narrower at its populous waistline.

“We need security on the ground, not only for peace, but also in case that peace falls apart. In the Middle East nobody can guarantee the stability of regimes,” Netanyahu said. Among his demands is that Israel retain a military presence in the West Bank after a Palestinian state goes up. The Palestinians flatly reject this. President Barack Obama has made Israeli-Palestinian peace a priority, and the lack of progress so far has hurt his credibility here. Israeli media are full of commentaries criticizing Obama’s response to the Egypt crisis. They accuse him of abandoning an important ally and claim his push for more democracy in the Mideast is naive. Netanyahu warned in his speech that Islamic groups have already taken over by democratic means in Iran, Lebanon and Gaza. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a friend of Mubarak and until last month a member of Netanyahu’s Cabinet, accused Obama of dumping a “courageous” friend.—AP

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Ireland anti-EU rhetoric here to stay

By Carmel Crimmins

rish politicians may regret their antiEuropean rhetoric in this month’s election campaign. Throwing down ultimatums to Brussels and rubbishing “Frankfurt’s way” might win votes on Feb. 25 but it could make life difficult for the next government and cement anti-EU sentiment as a potent political force in a country with a history of putting the brakes on European Union (EU) ambitions. “Euroscepticism is a political force waiting to take off in Ireland,” said Hugo Brady, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. “Irish pro-Europeanism was always a very fickle political force and the version we had has run its course.”

Ireland’s election is the first in Europe to be dominated by the debt crisis and the two mainstream opposition parties, favourites to form a new administration, are campaigning to renegotiate a controversial 85 billion euro EU/IMF bailout. The centre-right Fine Gael party and the centreleft Labour party argue Ireland cannot afford the rescue deal, a view shared by many investors who continue to steer clear of Irish debt for fear of default.

With the interest rate on the IMF’s portion of the loan tied to a fixed formula,

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opposition parties are focusing their ire on the EU, which at Germany’s insistence, has added a 300-basis point margin on the rate it is charging for Ä40 billion worth of loans.

The opposition parties’ description of the cost as “penal” and their criticism of the European Central Bank (ECB) for requiring Dublin to protect bank bondholders has helped popularise a view that Irish people are being punished for the benefit of European banks, which have big exposures to Ireland.

“We’re not being treated fairly. Brussels should butt out and mind its own business,” said Thomas, a 48-year-old taxi driver waiting at a rank on O’Connell Street, Dublin’s main thoroughfare. “Our politicians need to start speaking up for ourselves and stop being bullied by France and Germany,” he added.

Two years ago Ireland’s membership of the euro zone was hailed as a bulwark against an Icelandic-style bust, prompting voters to reverse their rejection of the Lisbon Treaty on EU institutional reform.

But the argument by all the main parties, including Fine Gael and Labour, that a vote for Lisbon would mean jobs and growth rings hollow amid EU insistence on savage cutbacks and tax increases. A Franco-

German plan to set a minimum corporate tax rate in Europe has further aggravated the Irish people, who were promised they would retain full freedom to set their own taxes before they ratified the EU Treaty, and who view their 12.5 percent corporation tax rate as sacrosanct.

It has also boosted support for anti-EU groups including the nationalist Sinn Fein party, which could see its five-seat parliamentary presence more than double after the poll. “If the country was seen to be forced to raise the corporation tax I am almost positive that one of the (mainstream) parties would go euro sceptic,” said Brady. Despite the anti-EU language, including Labour’s description of the president of the ECB as a “civil servant” who would do his masters’ bidding, all the main parties in Ireland are pro-Europe and conscious that without ECB support their banks would have collapsed a long time ago. Fine Gael and Labour’s focus on trying to renegotiate the interest rate and burning bondholders is understandable given that they are locked into years of austerity under the bailout. But a cut to the interest rate and imposing losses on senior bondholders would have little impact on Ireland’s debt burden according to analysts

and a spreadsheet model prepared by Reuters.

Giving voters false hope about how much Ireland could save from cutting the interest rate could come back to haunt both parties and hasten a new government’s early demise. “I would be worried that domestic voters would get a view that we can change this (deal) radically and we won’t have to have all of these cuts and of course they will,” said Austin Hughes, chief economist at KBC Ireland. “The idea that a new government will be able to come in with an easy and painless resolution of the current problems is just fanciful.”

Meanwhile, the use of anti-EU sound bites risks radicalising Irish attitudes towards Europe, a dangerous development in a country whose laws require that any change in the scope of the EU be subject to referendum. Twice in the past 10 years, Irish voters held up European integration by rejecting new treaties but that was due more to apathy than antipathy towards Europe, whose generous grants helped pull Ireland out of poverty. “Ireland’s relationship with the EU went through a child-like, puppy-love phase,” said Brady. “From now on it will be extremely difficult to sell any EU referendum in Ireland.” — Reuters

Gillard battens down for disaster fallout

By James Grubel ustralia’s cruel summer of cyclones and floods could generate a new, devastating political storm for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who now must buck hostile public opinion to find a way to pay for the clean-up. Gillard, who holds a paper-thin majority in parliament, missed out on being cast as heroine in the nation’s hour of need, losing that role to the premier of disaster-stricken Queensland state. Now she will pick up responsibility for a disasters bill likely to top $10 billion. “The prime minister has left a lot of people cold this past few weeks,” David Pemberthy, editor in chief of online newspaper The Punch, wrote on Friday. By contrast, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, a direct descendant of Captain William Bligh of Bounty mutiny fame, has won widespread praise for her management of the disasters and could be the only politician to reap any political benefits. The floods and cyclone destroyed crops and infrastructure across northeastern Australia, particularly in Queensland, where at least 35 people were killed, 30,000 houses inundated and roads, bridges and rail lines wiped out.

Parliament resumes next week and Gillard, who relies on three independents and one Green lawmaker to ensure her Labor party government’s one-seat majority, faces a fight over her plan to impose a temporary tax to cover the damage bill. It is a fight Gillard needs to win to show she can effectively run the government, and to head off faint complaints within her own party over her leadership and her inability to lift Labor’s fortunes in opinion surveys.

The proposed temporary “floods tax” on middle to high income-earners has produced a firestorm of protest on radio phone-in shows and its passage is set to be a major test of her political character. “Winning that battle looms as make or break for Gillard, already in a weakened position and struggling to project confidence and authority to the community,” Courier Mail newspaper political editor Dennis Atkins wrote.

Australia’s central bank further complicated the task for Gillard, suggesting that it was prepared to raise interest rates again at some point to head off inflation, despite short-term impact from the recent disasters. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s outlook raised economists’

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expectations of higher home loan interest rates later this year, a further political headache for Gillard in a country where rising mortgage rates are political poison. She is already embroiled in a battle over how to pay for the disaster recovery and to maintain her plan to wipe out the budget deficit by 2012/13 (July/June).

Australian Financial Review political editor Laura Tingle said the fight over the floods tax could eventually be an opportunity to strengthen Gillard politically over opposition leader Tony Abbott. “Labor has to break out of its defensive mindset of 2010, learn to make unpopular decisions into winners and provoke Abbott into making mistakes,” Tingle wrote. “ Voters might not have warmed to her. (But) Gillard is trying to slowly build some grudging respect.”

The national budget has been set back by $5.6 billion due to the floods, and there is no estimate yet of the cost of damage inflicted this week by Cyclone Yasi, though it will be much smaller.

Queensland will also pick up a big share of the costs. The

government wants to polish its fiscal credentials before the next election, due in late 2013, to counter withering opposition attacks on its reputation for economic management already dented by some wasteful stimulus spending since 2008.

Next Thursday, Gillard will introduce laws to impose the floods tax to raise A$1.8 billion ($US 1.8 billion), but there is still no clear sign that the measure will secure passage. The move has clearly prompted anger among many people who had already made donations to flood appeals. An Essential Media poll found only 39 percent public approval. The Greens and independents have so far withheld suppor t for the tax and want more concessions before making a final decision, leaving Gillard’s plan in doubt.

Some opponents want the flood costs funded wholly from budget cuts or borrowing, which would further dampen her hopes of producing a budget surplus before the next election. Under Gillard’s current plan, the tax will run for 12 months from July 2011 and be accompanied by A$2.8 billion of spending cuts and a further A$1.8 billion savings from delaying some infrastructure spending. — Reuters

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

ANALYSIS

At CIA, grave mistakes, then promotions

By Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo n Dec 2003, security forces boarded a bus in Macedonia and snatched a German citizen named Khaled El-Masri. For the next five months, El-Masri was a ghost.

Only a select group of CIA officers knew he had been taken to a secret prison for interrogation in Afghanistan. But he was the wrong guy. A hard-charging CIA analyst had pushed the agency into one of the biggest diplomatic embarrassments of the US struggle against terrorists. Yet despite recommendations, the analyst was never punished. In fact, she has risen in the agency.

That botched case is but one example of a CIA accountability process that even some within the agency say is unpredictable and inconsistent. In the years after the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, officers who committed mistakes that left people wrongly imprisoned or even dead received only minor admonishments or no punishment at all, an Associated Press investigation has found. And though President Barack Obama has sought to put the CIA’s interrogation program behind him, the result of a decade of haphazard accountability is that many officers who made significant missteps are now the senior managers fighting Obama’s spy wars. The analyst at the heart of the El-Masri mishap, for instance, has one of the premier jobs in the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center and helps lead Obama’s efforts to disrupt AlQaeda. The AP investigation of the CIA’s actions revealed a disciplinary system that takes years to make decisions, hands down reprimands inconsistently and is viewed inside the agency as prone to favoritism.

When people are disciplined, the punishment seems to roll downhill, sparing senior managers involved in mishandled operations.

“Someone who made a huge error ought not to be working at the agency,” former Sen Kit Bond said in November as he completed his tenure as the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“We’ve seen instance after instance where there hasn’t been accountability.” For example, when a suspected terrorist froze to death in a CIA prison in Afghanistan in 2002, the CIA inspector general faulted Matt, the spy running the prison, and expressed concerns about Paul, the top officer in the country, according to former officials. Like most of the dozens of people interviewed by AP, the officials spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. In the end, how-

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In this undated file photo taken by Sgt Charles Frederick, Army Spc Sabrina Harman, of the 372nd Military Police Company, poses with the body of Iraqi detainee Manadel AlJamadi who is packed in ice at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. – AP ever, the CIA decided not to discipline either Matt or Paul.

The AP is identifying Matt, Paul and other current and former undercover CIA officers - though only by partial names - because they are central to the question of who is being held accountable and because it enhances the credibility of AP’s reporting in this case. AP’s policy is to use names whenever possible. The AP determined that even the most sophisticated commercial information services could not be used to derive the officers’ full names or, for example, find their home addresses knowing only their first names and the fact of their CIA employment. The AP has withheld further details that could help identify them.

The CIA asked that they not be identified at all, saying doing so would benefit terrorists and hostile nations. Spokesman George Little called the AP’s decision “nothing short of reckless” but did not provide any specific information about threats. The CIA has previously provided detailed arguments in efforts to persuade senior executives at the AP and other US news organizations to withhold or delay publishing information it said would endanger lives or national security, but that did not happen in this case. The CIA regularly reviews books by retired officers and allows them to identify their undercover colleagues by first name and last initial, even when they are still on

the job. The CIA said only the agency is equipped to make those decisions through a formal review process.

Paul has risen to become chief of the Near East Division, overseeing operations in the Middle East. Matt has completed assignments in Bahrain, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he was deputy chief of tribal operations. In another case involving detainee mistreatment, an interrogator named Albert put an unloaded gun and a bitless drill to the head of a suspected terrorist at a secret prison in Poland. The inspector general labeled this a “mock execution” - something the US is forbidden to do. Albert was reprimanded. His boss, Mike, who ran the prison, retired during the investigation.

Albert stayed on until retirement, then returned as a contractor.

Ron, the Poland station chief who witnessed the incident but didn’t stop it, now runs the Central European Division. Little, the CIA spokesman, said the agency’s accountability process is vigorous and thorough. CIA Director Leon Panetta has fired employees for misconduct in other cases, he said.

“Any suggestion that the agency does not take seriously its obligation to review employee misconduct - including those of senior officers - is flat wrong,” he said. The CIA wants officers to take chances.

As former CIA Director Michael Hayden told Congress, officers

should operate so close to the boundaries that they get “chalk on their cleats.” When officers cross those lines, discipline is usually carried out secretly. In complicated cases, the director can convene a panel of senior officers to review the matter. But the director has the final word on discipline. These reviews, along with Justice Department and congressional investigations, can keep careers in limbo for years and leave veteran officers wondering why some were disciplined and others weren’t. “It’s unpredictable and scattershot,” said John Maguire, a former senior operations officer who spent 23 years at the CIA. After the Sept 11 Commission faulted the CIA for being “averse to risk,” managers have been reluctant to do anything that might discourage risk-taking, officials said. The ElMasri case reveals how that plays into disciplinary decisions. Some at the Counterterrorism Center doubted El-Masri was a terrorist, current and former officials said. But Frances, a counterterrorism analyst with no field experience, pushed ahead. She supported El-Masri’s rendition - in which the CIA snatches someone and takes him to another country. The AP agreed to the CIA’s request to refer to Frances by her middle name because her first is unusual. Senior managers were briefed, and a lawyer in the Counterterrorism Center, Elizabeth, signed off, former officials said.

The CIA’s inspector general determined there had been no legal justification for el-Masri’s rendition. Though the inspector general does not make legal conclusions, the CIA’s watchdog had essentially said the agency acted illegally. The report came down hard on Frances and faulted Elizabeth’s legal analysis. Nobody in management was singled out. Hayden decided that Elizabeth should be reprimanded, current and former officials said.

Frances would be spared, he told colleagues, because he didn’t want to deter initiative within the ranks.

Hayden wouldn’t discuss the case but said fairness was only one factor. “Beyond the requirements of fairness and justice, you always made these decisions with an eye toward the future health and operational success of the institution,” Hayden said in an AP interview.

Frances now runs the CIA’s Global Jihad unit dedicated to hunting down Al-Qaeda. Elizabeth is now legal adviser to the Near East division. In his book “Beyond Repair,” longtime CIA officer Charles Faddis contrasted the CIA with the military, where he said officers are held responsible for their mistakes and the mistakes of their subordinates.

“There is no such system in place within the CIA, and the long-term effect is catastrophically corrosive,” Faddis wrote. After a prisoner died at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, one CIA officer, Steve, was reprimanded for not seeking medical attention when the prisoner arrived. But nobody was explicitly punished for the death. Steve retired and is now back at CIA as a contractor.

CIA Director Leon Panetta may be getting tougher on discipline. On his watch, about 100 employees have been subjected to disciplinary review, a US intelligence official said.

Of those, more than a dozen were senior officers. Many were fired or resigned. Last year, Panetta punished 16 current and former officers involved in a mishap in Peru nearly a decade ago. A civilian airplane that was misidentified as a drug flight was shot down, killing an American missionary and her young daughter.

In a more recent case, Panetta was less harsh after mistakes allowed an Al-Qaeda double agent to blow himself up at a CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan, killing five officers and two contractors. A review determined that warnings had been ignored and security protocols weren’t followed. Panetta agreed but opted not to punish anyone.

“The conclusion was that the blame just didn’t rest with one individual or group of individuals,” Panetta said. It was a collective failure, Panetta said. So nobody was held accountable. — AP

Rebels take aim at Russia in poll year

By Amie Ferris-Rotman

suicide attack on Russia’s busiest airport shows Islamist rebel leader Doku Umarov is serious about inflicting “blood and tears” on the Russian heartland ahead of the 2012 presidential election.

Umarov, a 46-year-old rebel leader who styles himself as the Emir of the Caucasus, claimed responsibility for the Jan. 24 attack that killed 36 and said he had dozens of suicide bombers ready to unleash on Russian cities.

Russia is struggling to contain a growing Islamist insurgency along its southern flank nearly 12 years after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rose to popularity by leading Russia into a second war against Chechen separatists. “Terrorist attacks will most certainly continue in Moscow. I don’t think they are designed to be before elections, but of course they will not make Putin look good,” North Caucasus expert Alexei Malashenko, from Moscow’s Carnegie Centre, said. The Domodedovo airport bombing, which authorities say was carried out by a 20-year-old from the Muslim Ingushetia region, came 10 months after twin suicide bombs on the Moscow metro that killed 40 in the first attack on the capital in six years. “Even if Umarov is killed tomorrow he will be replaced by someone even more organised. The North Caucasus is full of Islamist organisations now,” Malashenko said. Putin has hinted he will return to the Kremlin in 2012 or leave his protege, President Dmitry Medvedev, in place for a new six-year term - either way keeping his hands on Russia’s reins of power for years to come. Umarov suggested that the North Caucasus insurgency will haunt Russia’s leaders for just as long, claiming that he has a steady supply of suicide bombers ready for attacks against Russia.

In his 16-minute video, posted on several Islamist websites, Umarov vowed more attacks “on the territory of Russia. They will be carried out, God willing, there is no doubt about it”. Chechen-born Umarov wants to create a separate state with Sharia Islamic law across the patchwork of Muslim republics along Russia’s south that he considers to be “occupied” territory. “There will be hundreds of brothers who will be ready to sacrifice themselves for the establishment of the word of God,” Umarov, clad in camouflage and sporting a long black beard, said. On Friday he said that five or six dozen men were presently ready for “martyrdom”.

“It is believable that he has a fair quantity of people lined up as there are a lot of damaged people available to be exploited in this way,” said Oliver Bullough, an author on the region and Caucasus editor at the

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Institute of War and Peace Reporting in London. Local leaders say a potent mix of clan feuds, poverty, Islamism and heavy-handed tactics by law enforcement agencies has driven youths into the hands of rebels who want to create a pan-Caucasus state independent from Russia.

Medvedev has cited an increase in Islamist attacks and told security officials after the airport attack that terrorism is Russia’s biggest threat. The Kremlin chief also has called Islamist ideology a “cancer” which needs to be tackled head-on. “We need to fight this not only with force, but in ideological terms. Otherwise, our forces will destroy one terrorist and the ideological conveyer belt will produce 20 terrorists,” Semyon Bagdasarov, from the pro-Kremlin Fair Russia party, said on Tuesday in televised comments.

But despite billions of dollars poured into the region

by the Kremlin, the insurgency has attracted more young men and the violence does not abate. In an independent Russian poll released by the Levada Centre on Tuesday, 63 percent of those surveyed across 130 Russian towns believed the situation in the North Caucasus was “tense”, unchanged from the same poll a year ago. Adding to the violence is the actual nature of the insurgency, which experts say has changed in recent years, mutating from a grassroots separatist movement towards jihad, whose propaganda and patronage point abroad. Regional Muslim leaders and rebels revile each other as blasphemous and criminal.

But after years of the Soviet Union suppressing religion, both welcome an Islamic revival. “What is scary about the situation now is there is no strategy, just rage,” Bullough said. — Reuters

Focus

Young marriage is on the rocks

By Brian Winter and Brian Ellsworth t least once a week during her young presidency, Dilma Rousseff has met with trusted advisers to try to solve an intractable problem - China. Only a few months ago, Brazil and China seemed destined to enjoy one of the defining alliances of the early 21st century - two fast-growing emerging market economies seeking evergreater opportunities for business together and standing side by side on key global issues such as trade negotiations.

It’s not quite working out that way.

Rousseff’s regular meetings are just one sign of how she is steering Brazil toward a more confrontational stance with China. She is trying to address what she sees as an increasingly lopsided relationship while also bringing Brazil’s strategic alliances in line with her dream of turning it into a middle-class country by the end of the decade. The core problem is a torrent of Chinese imports that has quintupled in size since 2005, with disastrous effects for Brazilian manufacturers and the well-paying, highly skilled jobs that Rousseff is so focused on creating.

While the weekly session of ministers and finance ministry officials is ostensibly about how to improve Brazil’s competitiveness in global trade, “it’s basically a China meeting,” said one high-level official who takes part. “Relations between the two countries are not hostile,” the official said.

“But we are going to take measures to protect ourselves ... and push for a more equal relationship.” In the short term, senior government sources say that will mean more targeted tariffs on manufactured goods coming from China and tighter supervision by customs officials, as well as more anti-dumping complaints against Beijing.

New restrictions on foreign mining companies are also likely, officials say, reflecting concerns that China wants to consolidate its grip on Brazil’s commodities wealth while offering insufficient access to its own market. In a break from her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Rousseff will push for a stronger yuan currency and more access to the Chinese market for Brazilian companies like airplane maker Embraer when she visits China in April. In the long run, Brazil and China are likely to retain relatively warm ties and continue to expand bilateral trade. Yet the shift evolving since Rousseff took office on Jan 1 could affect everything from Brazil’s relationship with the United States to the future of so-called “south-south” ties among emerging market countries. “It’s surprising that the relationship is changing so fast,” said Mauricio Cardenas, director of the Latin America program at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “Brazil is clearly seeking major changes ... That could have consequences for all of Latin America as many other countries, who are experiencing the same problems (with China), follow the example of Brazil,” Cardenas said.

Redefining a relationship with China is easier said than done. Just as the United States has struggled to balance its demands for a stronger yuan against its desire for cheap Chinese imports and financing, Brazil must also untangle a web of dependence that has grown rapidly in the last decade. Bilateral trade soared from just over $2 billion in 2000 to $56.2 billion in 2010. China has surpassed the United States as Brazil’s main trading partner and was the biggest single source of foreign direct investment last year, at about $17 billion.

The robust trade growth helped Brazil’s economy expand last year at its fastest pace in two decades. It also means that any efforts by Rousseff to pass new protectionist measures may be fruitless, said Qiu Xiaoqi, China’s ambassador to Brazil. “Trade between China and Brazil grew so fast because of a reciprocal need. When that need exists, nobody can get in the way,” Qiu told Reuters in a rare interview. Qiu, who prides himself on his Brazilian cultural knowledge and insisted on conducting the interview in Portuguese, attributed anti-China rumblings to “a minority” of officials on Rousseff’s team. He also pointed out that Brazil had a large trade surplus with China last year - about $5 billion. A closer look, however, shows that it would have been a deficit if not for an extraordinary increase in the price of iron ore, which accounted for 40 percent of exports to China. Brazilian exports to China as measured by weight - thus, controlling for increases in commodities prices - fell 3 percent in 2010, while Chinese imports rose 89 percent.

“Brazil has been naive in its management of the China relationship in recent years. It’s far more uneven than most people think,” said Fernando Henrique Cardoso, an opposition party leader who was president of Brazil from 19952003. Despite Brazil’s strong economic growth last year, its manufacturers are reeling. Industrial production has been flat or shrinking since April, and the damage in areas like textiles and shoes has been so severe that the National Industry Confederation, or CNI, has warned of “deindustrialization”. The shift under Rousseff reflects her emphasis on nurturing local industries while Lula’s trade policy was in part dictated by his dream of a grand alliance among developing nations.

Still, some who do business in both countries worry that China is being used as a scapegoat for Brazil’s own problems. “Brazil’s lack of competitiveness has nothing to do with the Chinese,” said Charles Tang, president of the Brazil-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Rio de Janeiro. He attributed Brazil’s problems to high taxes, labor costs and infrastructure bottlenecks that, along with an overvalued currency, make local goods comparatively expensive to produce. He also said that Brazilian companies, which for decades focused primarily on their own large domestic market, have missed several opportunities to do more business in China.

Soraya Rosar, a trade expert at the CNI, agrees but says Rousseff needs to push for greater access to China’s market.

Frustration with Chinese policies, especially over its slow appreciation of the yuan, has convinced Rousseff’s team that Brazil must strengthen ties with the United States if it is to negotiate on anything approaching an equal footing with China. “Brazil alone will accomplish little,” said one official close to Rousseff. “With the United States by our side, maybe they’ll listen to us.”

The US-Brazil relationship, which suffered under Lula, has changed rapidly under Rousseff. President Barack Obama will travel to Brazil in March, and China will be “a subject ripe for discussion” when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner visits, a source with knowledge of the talks said. Cardoso says Rousseff appears to be recasting Brazil’s foreign policy with China as both a threat and an ally. “China for many years cleverly tried to frame the relationship as ‘south-south’ ... that its interest was the same as Brazil’s interest. But China’s not the south. China is China, with its own set of interests,” Cardoso said. Cardenas, of the Brookings Institution, says Brazil’s policy shift could have profound implications if other countries follow its lead.

“The Chinese were confident that they could count on the south-south relationship for support, but now they’re seeing these voices of criticism are not just coming from the US,” he said. “When your friends start to turn against you, maybe it’s time to reexamine things.” — Reuters

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HAEL, Saudi Arabia: A Saudi family arrives at the desert to follow day two of the Hael International Rally in Hael Nufud desert, 600 km north of Riyadh, yesterday. — AFP

Jordan’s tribes break taboo by targeting...

Continued from Page 1 Things have changed and now Arab leaders fear their peoples.” A member of a large tribe said Jordanian authorities had “pressured some tribes for several days and told them to be careful in what they say to the international press”. “We still have loyalty to the Hashemite throne, but we believe that King Abdullah should stop his wife and her family from abuse. Otherwise, the throne might be in danger,” he said, also without wanting to be named.

Tribal leaders have warned that Jordan suffers from a “crisis of authority,” and growing influence of “corrupt businessmen in the entourage of the executive power, affecting political decisions and ignoring national interest”. They urged the “trial of the corrupt who have looted the country and public funds, regardless of who they are and irrespective of their rank and importance. “Jordan will sooner or later be the target of an uprising similar to the ones in Tunisia and Egypt due to suppression of freedoms and looting of public funds,”

the group warned.

Public discontent in Jordan has led to several protests, inspired by the revolts which ousted Tunisia’s strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and threaten the regime of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak. They warned against the “interference in executive decisions by those who have no constitutional powers,” in an apparent reference to the queen.

“The queen is building centres to boost her power and serve her interests, against the will of Jordanians and Hashemites,” the leaders said, comparing her to the wife of Ben Ali. The tribes represent nearly 40 percent of Jordan’s population and they play a vital role in its politics and stability. Their loyalty to the Hashemite ruling family has been crucial in times of crises in the past century. The statement also made reference to unconfirmed reports that the queen’s office has helped 78,000 Palestinians obtain Jordanian nationality between 2005 and 2010.

A large number of Jordan’s 6.3-million population are of Palestinian origin and Jordanians fear the addition of more Palestinians could facilitate Israeli plans to turn Jordan into

a substitute homeland for the Palestinians.

Queen Rania is herself of Palestinian origin and was born in Kuwait. Her family fled the Gulf country after the 1990 Iraqi invasion and settled in Jordan, where she married Abdullah in 1993 when he was a prince. The queen is a highly popular figure on the international scene where she has celebrity status as an attractive and influential woman, and she has often been cited as one of the world’s most influential people.

But her lifestyle has also often come in for criticism on the home front. In September, she celebrated her 40th birthday in the renowned Wadi Rum desert of southern Jordan, after which the tribes complained of “the party’s colossal cost ... at the expense of the treasury and the poor.” “ They do not like the queen’s lifestyle and overexposure, especially on local political appointments,” said human rights activist Labib Qamhawi, who is also of Palestinian origin. “Criticism against the queen is not motivated by her Palestinian origin,” according to Qamhawi. — AFP

Pirates hijack tanker laden with Kuwait oil Continued from Page 1 emerged in 2009. “This is a strategic area of concern because it implicates shipping travelling to and from the Arabian Gulf,” he said. “This area also does not have a significant naval presence like the Gulf of Aden.”

On Tuesday, pirates firing guns and rocket-propelled grenades hijacked an Italian oil tanker in the Indian Ocean and diverted the vessel towards Somalia. The Irene SL is only the fourth very large crude carrier to have been hijacked by Somali gangs since piracy escalated in 2008, the International Maritime Bureau said.

Joe Angelo, managing director of INTERTANKO, an association whose members own the majority of the world’s tanker fleet, said the hijacking of the Irene SL marked “a significant shift in the impact of the piracy crisis in the Indian Ocean”. Angelo

said the Irene SL’s cargo of Kuwaiti crude oil represented nearly 20 percent of total US daily crude oil imports and urged governments to step up anti-piracy efforts. “The piracy situation is now spinning out of control into the entire Indian Ocean,” he told Reuters. “If piracy in the Indian Ocean is left unabated, it will strangle these crucial shipping lanes with the potential to severely disrupt oil flows to the U.S. and to the rest of the world.”

Pirate gangs are making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, and despite successful efforts to quell attacks in the Gulf of Aden, international navies have struggled to contain piracy in the Indian Ocean owing to the vast distances involved. “The situation is only going to worsen. With rising ransoms pirates are able to hire more men, bribe more officials and wait longer

periods to negotiate,” said AKE’s Drake. “Pirates may not set out into the Indian Ocean with specific intent to capture oil tankers but if they see one they will likely attack it with more determination and ferocity than other vessel types, simply because of the potential ransom sum they could secure through holding such a vessel.”

Pirates last year received a record $9.5 million ransom for the release of the Samho Dream South Korean oil tanker. A study showed maritime piracy costs the global economy between $7 and $12 billion a year.

The European Union Naval Force said a South Korean fishing vessel, the Golden Wave, and its 43 crew had been released from pirate control. The ship was hijacked off the Kenyan coast last October. EU NAVFOR did not say if a ransom had been paid. — Reuters

MPs, blocs slam govt requests on charter Continued from Page 1 following a marathon grilling over the use of force against MPs and citizens at a rally on Dec 8.

Many pro-government MPs and even ministers described the grilling as unconstitutional because it should have been filed against the interior minister who directly controls the police force.

The charge against the government move was led by veteran MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun who said the interpretation will automatically include at least 10 more articles related to the original four articles, in addition to three other articles in the National Assembly’s internal charter.

Saadoun claimed the new government move aims at undermining the powers of the constitution and to

strip the National Assembly of its constitutional powers, describing it as even worse than previous attempts to amend the constitution.

Throughout Kuwait’s parliamentary life, the opposition have rejected government attempts to amend the constitution because of the fear the process could reduce freedoms guaranteed under the existing constitution. Saadoun said there are parliamentary contacts to counter the government “ploy”. The Islamist Reform and Development Bloc called for withdrawing the government request, adding it represents an attempt to amend the constitution. Spokesman of the bloc MP Jamaan Al-Harbash said the government request will affect 14 other articles, adding the move represents a coup attempt against the consti-

tution. The liberal National Action Bloc said in a statement that the articles that the government wants to interpret have never been a point of controversy and accordingly should not have been sent to the court.

Two MPs meanwhile yesterday submitted separate proposals to raise the salaries of Kuwaitis to help them face a rise in the cost of living.

MP Dhaifallah Buramia proposed that the basic salaries of Kuwaitis in the government be hiked by 50 percent and to raise the monthly children allowance from KD 50 to KD 75 each. In another proposal, MP Mikhled Al-Azemi called for raising the child allowance for Kuwaitis to KD 100 monthly and to increase pensions by 10 percent and state aid by 25 percent.

Strikes erupt as Egypt protesters defy threats Continued from Page 1 Showing growing impatience with the rejection, Suleiman issued a sharp warning that raised the prospect of a renewed crackdown. He told Egyptian newspaper editors late Tuesday that there could be a “coup” unless demonstrators agree to enter negotiations. Further deepening skepticism of his intentions, he suggested Egypt was not ready for democracy and said a governmentformed panel of judges, dominated by Mubarak loyalists, would push ahead with recommending its own constitutional amendments to be put to a referendum.

“He is threatening to impose martial law, which means everybody in the square will be smashed,” said AbdulRahman Samir, a spokesman for a coalition of the five main youth groups behind protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. “But what would he do with the rest of the 70 million Egyptians who will follow us afterward.” Suleiman is creating “a disastrous scenario,” Samir said. “We are striking and we will protest and we will not negotiate until Mubarak steps down. Whoever wants to threaten us, then let them do so,” he added.

Nearly 10,000 massed in Tahrir yesterday on the 16th day of protests. Nearby, 2,000 more blocked off parliament, several blocks away, chanting slogans for it to be dissolved. Army troops deployed in the parliament grounds. For the first time, protesters were calling forcefully yesterday for labor strikes, despite a warning by Suleiman that calls for civil disobedience are “very dangerous for society and we can’t put up with this at all.”

Strikes broke out across Egypt as many companies reopened for the first time after closing for much of the turmoil because of curfews. Not all the strikers were responding directly to the protesters’ calls - but the movement’s success and its denunciations of the increasing poverty under nearly 30 years of Mubarak’s rule clearly reignited labor discontent that has broken out frequently in recent years.

The farmers in Assiut voiced their support of the Tahrir movement, witnesses said, as did the Port Said protesters, who set up a tent camp in the city’s main Martyrs Square similar to the Cairo camp. In Cairo, hundreds of state electricity workers stood in front of the South Cairo Electricity company, demanding the ouster of its director. Public transport workers at five of the city’s roughly 17 garages also called strikes, calling for Mubarak’s overthrow, and vowed that buses would be halted Thursday, though it was not clear if they represented the entire bus system.

Also, dozens of state museum workers demanding higher wages staged a protest in front of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, crowding around antiquities chief Zahi Hawass when he came to talk to them. Several hundred workers also demonstrated at a silk factory and a fuel coke plant in Cairo’s industrial suburb of Helwan, demanding better pay and work conditions. Two protesters were killed Tuesday when police opened fire on hundreds who set a courthouse on fire and attacked a police station in the desert oasis town of Kharga, southwest of Cairo, in two days of rioting, security officials said yesterday. The protesters are demanding the removal of a senior local police commander accused of abuse. The army was forced to secure a number of government buildings including prisons. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

Strikes entered a second day in the city of Suez yesterday. Some 5,000 workers at various state companies including a textile workers, medicine bottle manufacturers, sanitation workers and a firm involved in repairs for ships on the Suez Canal - held separate strikes and protests at their factories. Traffic at the Suez Canal, a vital international waterway that is a top revenue earner for Egypt, was not affected. “We’re not getting our rights,” said Ahmed Tantawi, a Public Works employee in Suez. He said workers provide 24-hour service and are exposed to health risks but get only an extra $1.50 a month in hardship compensation. He said there are employees who have worked their entire lives in the department and will retire with a salary equivalent to $200 a month.

In Tahrir, organizers of the central anti-Mubarak demonstrations called for a new “protest of millions” for tomorrow similar to those that have drawn the largest crowds so far. But in a change of tactic, they want to spread the protests out around different parts of Cairo instead of only in downtown Tahrir Square where a permanent sit-in is now in its second week, said Khaled Abdel-Hamid, one of the youth organizers. A previous “protest of millions” last week drew at least a quarter-million people to Tahrir - their biggest yet, along with crowds of tens of thousands in other cities. A Tahrir rally on Tuesday rivaled that one in size, fueled by a renewed

enthusiasm after the release of Wael Ghonim, a Google marketing manager who helped spark the unprecedented protest movement.

Still, authorities were projecting an image of normalcy.

Egypt’s most famous tourist attraction, the Pyramids of Giza, reopened to tourists yesterday. Tens of thousands of foreigners have fled Egypt amid the chaos, raising concerns about the economic impact of the protests.

Mubarak met yesterday with a Russian envoy. Suleiman’s interview Tuesday evening was a tough warning to protesters that their continued demonstrations would not be tolerated for a long time and that they must get behind his program for reform. The US has given a strong endorsement to Suleiman’s efforts but insists it want to see real changes.

Vice President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Suleiman on Tuesday, saying Washington wants Egypt to immediately rescind emergency laws that give broad powers to security forces - a key demand of the protesters. Officials have made a series of pledges not to attack, harass or arrest the activists in recent days. But Suleiman’s comments suggested that won’t last forever. “We can’t bear this for a long time,” he said of the Tahrir protests.

“There must be an end to this crisis as soon as possible.”

He said the regime wants to resolve the crisis through dialogue, warning: “We don’t want to deal with Egyptian society with police tools.” He also warned of chaos if the situation continued, speaking of “the dark bats of the night emerging to terrorize the people.”

If dialogue is not successful, the alternative is “that a coup happens, which would mean uncalculated and hasty steps, including lots of irrationalities,” he told state and independent newspaper editors in the round-table briefing Tuesday. Although it was not completely clear what the vice president intended in his “coup” comment, the protesters heard it as a veiled threat to impose martial law - which would be a dramatic escalation in the standoff. Suleiman, a military man who was intelligence chief before being elevated to vice president amid the crisis, tried to explain the remark by saying: “I mean a coup of the regime against itself, or a military coup or an absence of the system. Some force, whether its the army or police or the intelligence agency or the (opposition Muslim) Brotherhood or the youth themselves could carry out ‘creative chaos’ to end the regime and take power,” he said. Suleiman, a close confident of the president, rejected any “end to the regime” including an immediate departure for Mubarak, who says he will serve out the rest of his term until September elections.

Suleiman reiterated his view that Egypt is not ready for democracy. “The culture of democracy is still far away,” he said.

Over the weekend, Suleiman held a widely publicized round of talks with the opposition - including representatives from among the protest activists, the Muslim Brotherhood and official, government-sanctioned opposition parties, which have taken no role in the protests. But the youth activists who participated say the session appeared to be an attempt to divide their ranks and they have said they don’t trust Suleiman’s promises that the regime will carry out constitutional reforms to bring greater democracy in a country Mubarak has ruled for nearly 30 years with an authoritarian hand.

A committee of the various youth groups behind the protests say they will hold no talks, and the Brotherhood underlined that they too have cut off contacts for now.

“Since our last meeting with Soleiman we have not met with him or anyone else from the government in either an official or nonofficial manner,” said Mohammed Mursi, a Brotherhood leader.

Suleiman indicated the government plans to push ahead with its own reform program even without negotiations, a move likely to do nothing to ease protests. On Tuesday, Suleiman announced a panel of top judges and legal experts would recommend amendments to the constitution by the end of the month, which would then be put to a referendum. But the panel is dominated by Mubarak loyalists, and previous referendums on amendments drawn up by the regime have been marred by vote rigging to push them through.

The head of the panel, Serry Siam, top judge on the country’s highest appellate court, “represents the old regime along with its ideology and legislation which restrict rights and freedom,” said Nasser Amin, director of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession, an independent organization that works for judicial neutrality. In one concession made in the newspaper interview, Suleiman said Mubarak was willing to have international supervision of September elections, a longtime demand by reformers that officials have long rejected. — AP

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

sp orts Commonwealth Games dispute

Adriano refuses breathalyzer SAO PAULO: Roma striker Adriano had his driver’s license suspended after refusing to take a breathalyzer test in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian police said yesterday.

Adriano was allowed by law to refuse the breathalyzer test but by doing so his license was automatically suspended for five days and he will have to pay a fine of $574. Adriano told police officers he had been drinking but was not drunk, police Major Marco Andrade told The Associated Press.

Andrade dismissed local media reports that Adriano displayed signs of drunkenness when he his Porsche Cayenne was stopped in Rio’s west side at about 1 a.m. local time. “He said he drank earlier, but there were no signs he was drunk,” Andrade said. “The officers found no reason to detain him.”

One of the three friends who were with Adriano took him home after he was released by authorities. Adriano will go on trial because of his refusal to take the breathalyzer test and can still be found guilty of drunk driving. The striker, a member of Brazil’s 2006 World Cup team, is in Rio to treat a right shoulder injury sustained in a match against Lazio in the Italian league last month.

It is not the first time the 28-year-old Adriano has made headlines for off-field problems.

In recent years, he has been involved in minor car accidents, a public altercation with a girlfriend and even a police investigation for alleged ties with drug lords in the shantytowns where he grew up _ although he was not charged with any offense.—AP

NEW DELHI: The payment dispute over last year’s Commonwealth Games rumbles on with a foreign company rejecting claims of nonperformance by organisers and demanding their fee is paid immediately.

Organisers of last year’s controversy-ridden Commonwealth Games said earlier this month partial payment to nine foreign companies have been withheld for “non-performance” without elaborating. One of the companies, Event Knowledge Services (EKS), dismissed the allegations.

“EKS has never received any official or unofficial indication, written or verbal, that it was in breach of contract or that it was not performing satisfactorily against the agreed scope of work,” EKS chief executive Craig McLatchey said in a statement yesterday.

“EKS strongly refutes allegations

of non-performance and publicly confirms its rights to all outstanding payments due under its contract with the Organising Committee.”

“EKS has today written to the Chief Executive of the Delhi 2010 Organising Committee requiring full payment and retraction of the false and misleading claims of nonperformance...” Organising committee chief executive Jarnail Singh could not be reached for comment.

The October Games were widely criticised by media and fans for the poor state of facilities and accommodation, particularly in the days leading up to its opening.

Ric Birch, whose Spectak Production organised the opening and closing ceremonies and is one of the nine unpaid companies named, told Reuters last week he had taken legal action against the Games organisers.—Reuters

Probe begins on blood transfusion ROME: Italian prosecutors and the Italian Olympic Committee are investigating reports cyclist Riccardo Ricco, coming back from a long doping suspension, was hospitalized after allegedly doing a blood transfusion on himself. The Gazzetto dello Sport reported yesterday that doctors at Pavullo Hospital in Modena quoted Ricco as saying he administered a transfusion to himself using blood he stored in the fridge for 25 days. He was admitted to the hospital on Sunday in a state of shock, the report said.

Ricco was expected to be released yesterday.

Prosecutors in Modena have opened an investigation into Ricco, the newspaper said. In Rome, the anti-doping prosecutors’ office of the Italian Olympic Committee also said it had started a “disciplinary procedure” based on media reports. The head of the Italian Cycling Federation, Renato Di Rocco, urged Ricco to leave the sport for his own good and the good of cycling. He issued a blistering statement calling Ricco sick and “intoxicated by false messages.”

“He did what he did despite the sentence he received and despite the risk to his own life,” Di Rocco said. “The damage to cycling’s image is enormous, and the federation will do everything possible to repair it. But the moral disaster is terrifying.” Ricco’s Dutch cycling team Vacansoleil said in a statement it will check the “rumors” about Ricco. —AP

Couture sets record, Sharks win WASHINGTON: Logan Couture became the first rookie to get seven game-winning goals on the road in a season when he broke a scoreless tie with 8:05 to play Tuesday in a 2-0 win over the Washington Capitals.

Ben Eager led Couture just enough for the rookie center to take the pass in open ice at the left circle and put the shot through the legs of goaltender Michal Neuvirth.

Dan Boyle added another goal, this time from the right circle with 5:53 to go, as the Sharks extended their points streak to nine games and improved to 3-0 on their sevengame road trip.

NHL results/standings NHL results and standings on Tuesday: New Jersey 3, Carolina 2 (OT); Toronto 5, NY Islanders 3; Columbus 4, Pittsburgh 1; San Jose 2, Washington 0; Buffalo 7, Tampa Bay 4; St. Louis 2, Florida 1. (OT denotes overtime win)

Philadelphia Pittsburgh NY Rangers New Jersey NY Islanders

Blue Jackets 4, Penguins 1 At Pittsburgh, Rick Nash and Jakub Voracek each had a goal and an assist to lead Columbus past Pittsburgh.

Samuel Pahlsson and Antoine Vermette also scored for Columbus, and Steve Mason was sensational in net with 32 saves. The Blue Jackets avenged a 7-2 loss to Pittsburgh on Dec. 4, when Sidney Crosby had two goals for the Penguins. This time, Crosby was missing for the 14th straight game. Tyler Kennedy spoiled Mason’s shutout bid with a power-play goal in the third to make it 3-1.

Sabres 7, Lightning 4 At Tampa, Florida, Drew Stafford had three goals as Buffalo scored three times in a span of 1:42 during a fivegoal third period to rally past Tampa Bay. Buffalo took control after Jordon Leopold pulled the Sabres even at 3 on a disputed goal at 4:26 of the third. During the play it appeared Stafford lost his balance skating near the crease and tripped Tampa Bay goalie Dwayne Roloson to the ice.

Goals by Tim Connolly (10:14), Thomas Vanek (11:01) and Stafford (11:56) put Buffalo ahead 6-3. Stafford completed the hat trick with a power-play goal with 6:33 to go.

Sean Bergenheim and Vincent Lecavalier each scored twice for Tampa Bay. Devils 3, Hurricanes 2 At Newark, New Jersey, Mattias Tedenby scored his second goal of the game 2:42 into overtime as New Jersey continued its winning ways without goalie Martin Brodeur by beating Carolina. Fellow rookie Nick Palmieri tied it with 2:54 to play in regulation and Johan Hedberg made 20 saves and picked up an assist on the game-winner.

Rookie Jeff Skinner had two goals for Carolina, which moved a point ahead of idle Atlanta in the race for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

The 38-year-old Brodeur hurt his right knee in a win Sunday

Boston Montreal Buffalo Toronto Ottawa Tampa Bay Washington Carolina Atlanta Florida

UNIONDALE: Mikko Koskinen No. 1 of the New York Islanders in action against the Toronto Maple Leafs. — AFP over Montreal and is expected to be sidelined for a while.

Maple Leafs 5, Islanders 3 At Uniondale, New York, Tomas Kaberle scored the first of Toronto’s three third-period goals to break a tie as the Maple Leafs took advantage of New York’s emergency goalie in snapping a five-game road losing streak.

The Islanders were forced to start Mikko Koskinen in his NHL debut after second-string goalie Kevin Poulin appeared to injure his left leg during pregame warmups, minutes before the opening faceoff.

Colby Armstrong, who had two assists in the third, and Jay Rosehill scored to give Toronto a 2-0 lead on the Maple

Leafs’ first two shots against the 22-year-old Koskinen.

Nikolai Kulemin stretched it to 4-2 with 11:11 left and Fredrik Sjostrom made it a three-goal lead with 5:07 remaining. Matt Moulson, Michael Grabner and Rob Schremp scored for New York.

Blues 2, Panthers 1 At Sunrise, Florida, Matt D’Agostini scored the tiebreaking goal with 4 minutes left to lift St. Louis over Florida.

David Backes also scored and Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves for the Blues, who snapped a four-game road losing streak.

Dennis Wideman scored for Florida and Tomas Vokoun stopped 26 shots. — AP

Detroit Nashville Chicago Columbus St. Louis Vancouver Calgary Minnesota Colorado Edmonton Dallas San Jose Phoenix Anaheim Los Angeles

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF 35 13 5 180 34 17 4 165 29 23 4 155 20 30 4 116 17 29 7 131 Northeast Division 30 16 7 161 30 19 5 139 25 22 5 152 23 26 5 143 17 29 8 119 Southeast Division 33 17 5 168 29 16 10 150 26 21 7 161 24 22 10 162 23 24 6 141 Western Conference Central Division 32 15 6 176 28 19 7 141 27 22 4 168 26 22 5 145 24 20 8 140 Northwest Division 35 10 9 183 27 21 7 157 27 20 5 135 25 22 6 164 16 29 8 133 Pacific Division 30 18 5 152 29 19 6 152 27 19 9 156 29 21 4 146 29 22 2 150

GA 137 126 138 156 174

PTS 75 72 62 44 41

119 131 153 169 178

67 65 55 51 42

169 136 167 183 143

71 68 59 58 52

156 129 150 163 154

70 63 58 57 56

127 161 138 175 180

79 61 59 56 40

150 144 156 150 129

65 64 63 62 60

Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L).

Japan’s ancient sumo grapples with modern scandals Loeb title defence is leap in the dark KARLSTAD: Defending World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb is taking nothing for granted as the 2011 season starts here today with the new regulations and the new cars putting his unfavoured wintry conditions to the back of his mind.

The Swedish event is the only true snow race on the 2011 World Rally Championship (WRC) 13 leg circuit, but France’s Loeb, who has won the last seven drivers titles was more concerned about the effects of the close season revamp than weather conditions.

“I’ll be taking it one race at a time because with a new car, new rules and a new teammate that’s a great deal of change and a great deal of unknowns,” said Loeb, who will defend his title in a brand new Citroen DS3, rather than the Citroen C4 of the past four seasons.

“The new car suits me, its been reliable in the trials, which is encouraging, and I was also agreeably surprised by the motor, the balance and the handling. All that makes me feel everything will go well,” said Loeb, who turns 37 on February 26.

Loeb added that he expected Ford to do well in Sweden, explaining that everyone knew he himself was more adept on gravel, a surface that makes up nine of the 13 legs. The defending champion also insisted there was no pecking order with new teammate Sebastien Ogier.

The race features 11 specials over 351km, which are each run twice on snow which is too slippery to walk on but where the cars are expected to hit a hairraising 200km/ph.

The line-up for the rally in the Karlstad region, which concludes on Sunday, will feature Norway’s Citroen driver the 2003 world champion Petter Solberg, who despite limited trials in the new car is a proven master on the snow.

Solberg can also look forward to two specials in his homeland on day one. He took eight podiums last season to come third overall, but is however without a win since 2005.

Also in the Citroen line-up is 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen, who came tenth last year in his second rally season.

But Ford have won this rally since 2006 and certain pundits feel Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala, runnerup to Loeb in the overall last year and also winner here in Sweden in 2009, will be hard to beat this time out in his Fiesta RS.—AFP

TOKYO: Japan’s ancient sport of sumo faces an uncertain future as it grapples with a match-fixing scandal that some have called the “darkest chapter” in a 1,500-year history steeped in ritual and ceremony.

The sport-a battle of brawn and skill pitting bulky, glowering wrestlers clad only in a loincloth and weighing an average of 150 kg (330 lbs) against each other-is likely to survive. But needed changes will come slowly given the grip of tradition on the country’s national sport.

“Sumo is now paying its dues for not having grasped the mood in society and sticking with old ways of thinking,” said Kunihiro Sugiyama, a sumo commentator. “It won’t be easy for the sport to continue on like before

TOKYO: The sumo ‘dohyo’, or ring, is covered with a large sheet at the Kokugikan sumo gymnasium in Tokyo. Japan’s sumo authority cancelled its spring tournament over a match-fixing scandal, in the first such cancellation in over half a century as the ancient and tainted sport reaches a new low. — AFP

unless it comes up with a way that fits the current era.”

The scandal has given rise to hand wringing and calls for action throughout the country-from top politicians to rank-and-file fans. “If match-fixing did take place, this is a very serious problem,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said last week. “As a fan, I feel very betrayed. I want them to be able to create a situation in which they can respond to the public and fans’ expectations soon.”

The affair came to light when police confiscated cell phones of wrestlers as part of an investigation into a separate scandal over illegal betting on baseball-in a country where wagering is strictly regulated and limited to certain sports including horse racing.

Two wrestlers and a sumo elder, a retired competitor, last week admitted to having fixed matches, a practise long rumoured to have plagued the sport but so far unproven.

The Japan Sumo Association (JSA), the sport’s governing body, cancelled next month’s grand tournament, the first such decision since 1946, when a stadium needed repairs from wartime damage. “As a representative of wrestlers, I would like to apologise from my heart to everyone in Japan and to those who love sumo,” said “yokozuna” grand champion Hakuho yesterday.

“I think wrestlers need to pull ourselves together and do our best,” the kimono-clad Mongolian wrestler told a news conference.

The latest revelations are a blow to a sport already struggling with declining popularity after other scandals, including the hazing death of a trainee, as well as competition from other popular sports such as baseball and soccer.

But curiously-perhaps at least to outsiders-the matchfixing does not appear to have been linked to gambling.

There is no evidence of any wagering on the outcome of matches so far.

Experts say one motive for the rigging was wrestlers’ fear of falling to a lower rank after a poor performance in tournaments, a drop in status that would deprive them of salaries and other perks given only to those in the sport’s top ranks.

Only wrestlers in the top five of nine broadly classed ranks receive monthly salaries and are allowed to marry or live away from the “stables”, or gyms, to which they belong.

Others have no regular income and must live in communal space at the “stables”.

“The differences in treatment are clear,” said Yuki Ozaki, a former wrestler who fought under the ring name Takanowaka until 2007 and rose to the third highest rank.

Ozaki said he had heard rumours about match-fixing but had never come across proof.

“The problem cannot be handled in an obscure way for the sport to survive,” he said. “I think it will take time.” Sumo is already struggling with a declining fan base, especially among young people who favour baseball or soccer over the solemn traditions of sumo.

Sumo matches start with stylised rituals such as throwing salt for purification, with competitors then squatting with fists touching the ground, scowling and stamping.

The match can be over in seconds after the victor topples his opponent or pushes him out of the ring-a clay floor edged with straw bales.

Women are traditionally barred from entering the ring on grounds that their presence would defile the sacred space. A total of 554,500 spectators paid to watch sumo bouts last year at six grand tournaments, one third down on a decade ago.

A lack of home-grown stars also keeps some away from a sport that appears to be losing appeal to young Japanese athletes. Foreign wrestlers increasingly dominate the top ranks-the last time a Japanese wrestler achieved the rank of yokozuna was in 1998.

Competition is also falling flat as currently there is only one grand champion “yokozuna”. Yokozuna Asashoryu, also a Mongolian and adored and disliked in equal parts for his “bad boy” image, was forced out of the sport last year after accusations he had broken a man’s nose in a drunken brawl outside a Tokyo nightclub.

Critics say the JSA has failed to reform despite earlier scandals and predict it will be sluggish again. Mark Buckton, the editor-in-chief of online Sumo Fan Magazine, said the JSA should draft more outsiders to help clean house.

“You’ve got to have the Sumo Association audited on a moral scale,” he said. Some experts have also called for a cut in the number of wrestlers and tournaments to improve the quality of matches.

While the hierarchical nature and harsh conditions of the sport have been cited as reasons for its plight, some say the strict traditions are the source of sumo’s beauty.

Former wrestler Ozaki said that under a good stablemaster, sumo’s hierarchical structure gives wrestlers a sense of achievement and motivates them to work harder to reach the top.

“The fact that the sport has survived so far means there are people who definitely understand its attraction,” he said.

“There are hundreds of wrestlers and most of them are doing this seriously. I know this because I was one of them.

I just want people to understand that and not think that it is a lie.” — Reuters

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

sp orts

Tiger Woods insists game on upswing despite rough start DUBAI: Tiger Woods insists his game is coming together and it’s just a matter of time before he wins his first tournament in more than a year.

Appearing relaxed and upbeat at the Dubai Desert Classic, the third-ranked Woods said yesterday his game “was progressing” and he took away positives regarding his overhauled swing from finishing in a tie for 44th in his season-opener at San Diego two weeks ago. “I still feel I can win golf tournaments,” said Woods, who has won 14 majors among 82 titles around the world. “I’m not that old. I figure I’ve got some years ahead of me.

“I don’t always win. I’ve certainly lost a lot more tournaments than I’ve won. But it’s the goal every week you tee up and that doesn’t change.” Woods’ result at Torrey Pines was his worst to start the season since he turned pro-

fessional. Last year, his marriage ended following a string of extramarital affairs and he gave up the No. 1 ranking to Lee Westwood in October.

Woods said he wasn’t going to return to the top soon because of the “complete overhaul” he’s made to the movement and philosophy of his swing with the help of his coach, Sean Foley.

“Obviously I still have to pay attention to the short game and my techniques there, all the different shots, as well as the putting stroke,” Woods said. “It’s progressing. I’m putting pieces together and working on the same things.

“Sean and I, we are sticking with the game plan and just trying to get better each and every week,” he added. “Good things happened in the last event I played in, and it’s nice to have some things that showed up

DUBAI: Tiger Woods of the USA speaks during a press conference prior to the start of the Dubai Desert Classic 2011 at the Emirates Golf Club. —AFP

that I had not had in practice. So we were able to identify that, work on it and I feel a lot more comfortable coming into this week.”

Woods acknowledged his struggles have been “frustrating” but that he takes some solace from the fact he has been through similar slumps before, especially from 1997-99 when he won only one tournament.

“Certainly it was frustrating that I didn’t perform the way I know I could,” he said of Torrey Pines. “But ... I’ve been here before. It takes time. I went through, as I said, a twoyear period where I didn’t do anything and a year-and-a-half period where I didn’t do anything ... You don’t make changes and just start winning a bunch of golf tournaments.”

This week, Woods is grouped with Westwood and No. 2 Martin Kaymer today and tomorrow, the first time the world’s top three golfers are playing in a regular European Tour event in 17 years.

“It’s fun,” he said. “The last time I played in a pairing like this was the US Open in 2008, the top three guys and we had a lot of fun. It was fun competing and playing in the group.

I think tomorrow will be the same.” Along with the sight of the top three playing together, there is much at stake this weekend which is not only exciting fans but many of the golfers as well.

Westwood could lose the top spot if Kaymer wins and he finishes lower than second, and if Kaymer finishes second and Westwood is out of the top 10. If Kaymer is tied for second, he could still become No. 1 if Westwood finishes out of the top 36.

Woods could jump ahead of Kaymer if he wins and the German finishes outside the top five.

“It feels different because you’ve got the best three players in the world here this week,” said seventh-ranked Rory McIlory, who is also playing in Dubai. “Plenty of points up for grabs and plenty to play for. Westwood could be No. 1, Kaymer could be No. 1. Not sure if Tiger could quite get to No. 1 with a win. It’s great.”

Woods won in Dubai in 2006 and 2008 but did not play here last year. He played in a proam yesterday. “They (the greens) are running very true,” said Woods, who lagged behind on several holes yesterday to practice his putting and chipping.

“We’ll see what happens as the tournament progresses, see if they dry out or not because they have the potential of being pretty firm,” he said. “You know, today, this morning, it was pretty soft ... I suspect if you get any kind of wind or warm weather, it will dry them out and it will be a really good test come this weekend.”—AP

New tour opens for players in Middle East, North Africa DUBAI: Golfers from the Middle East and North Africa will have more opportunities to develop with the creation of a new tour, vice chairman and CEO of Golf in Dubai Mohamed Juma Buamaim said yesterday.

The new MENA (Middle East North Africa) Tour would create “windows of playing opportunities” for professionals and amateurs in the region and would commence with four tournaments from 2012, Buamaim said at the launch. “ There is no shortage of talent in the Middle East and North Africa region and even the facilities are second to none, but the players lack regular exposure to highclass competitions, so hopefully this new tour will create the right environment and

develop their skills.

“The prizes will be funded at first by the Shiekh Maktoum Golf Foundation, but we hope that we will be able to find sponsors as we go along.

“Also one day we are hoping that the MENA Tour can slot two events into the European Tour’s secondary Challenge Tour,” added Buamaim. European Tour CEO George O’Grady welcomed the announcement and called it a “wonderful initiative”. “ The hope is that the MENA Tour will become one of our third-tier tours which has a way into the Challenge Tour but you will have to play for a year or two first,” he added.

Each event will comprise a field of 109

players made up of 60 professionals and the rest amateurs and carry a minimum prize fund of $75,000.

No dates or venues have been set but MENA Tour officials will meet on Saturday with representatives of a number of Middle East and North African golf associations to work on a schedule. The tournament will receive recognition from the R&A and carry World Amateur ranking points.

Buamaim said the three top players on the MENA Tour money list would compete in the Dubai Desert Classic and was hopeful places could be made available in the European Tour’s other ‘Middle East Swing’ events-the Abu Dhabi Championship, Volvo Champions and Qatar Masters. —Reuters

Seve Ballesteros seen in action in this file photo

Seve calls for changes to Ryder Cup format LONDON: Seve Ballesteros has called for the Ryder Cup to be extended from three to four days and for every team member to be allowed to play on the opening day of the competition.

The 53-year-old Spaniard, still battling to recover after having four operations since being diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2008, believes the alterations he is suggesting would be good for the fans, players, sponsors and television.

“Everything in life can improve and sometimes changes can be beneficial,” Ballesteros told Reuters by email. “The event could go to four competition days.

I think this would be good for everyone.

“From the players’ point of view because being at a venue from the Monday and waiting four days to play (on the Friday) it is sometimes very long in my opinion. You really want to play and start the competition.

“For the audience it is also very good because they see more golf, and also for the sponsors and television. I think that would be a positive change,” added the five-times major winner.

Ballesteros, synonymous with the Ryder Cup during his brilliant playing career, would also like to see a change in the schedule to ensure each member of the 12-man European and U.S. teams is involved on the first day of the biennial event.

“I think a format where all the players play from the first day would be something very good ... (we could copy) the Seve Trophy and the Royal Trophy,” said Ballesteros.

The schedule now features four fourballs and four foursomes matches on the opening day, although bad weather forced sweeping changes in 2010, and it is often the case that some players are left out of the first two sessions.

Ballesteros, who played in eight Ryder Cups and captained Europe to victory in Spain in 1997, went through a spell after his operations when he could play the

Bjorn recollects taming the Tiger in the desert DUBAI: Ten years ago Tiger Woods te e d u p i n t h e D u b a i D e s e r t Classic only to be handed a golf lesson at the hands of Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn.

In March, 2001 Woods was the tearaway world number one, holding three major titles, which he would add to a month later with the US Masters win at Augusta National.

Dubai organisers grouped Woods with the 30-year-old Bjorn, who matched Woods’ opening round of 64 and as it turned out, the Dane played all four rounds with the American before he won the tournament by two strokes.

“I played sensational that week against Tiger in 2001, and the best golf I’ve ever played,” Bjorn, who is fresh off winning the Qatar Masters, told Reuters. “Every part of my game was just per fec t that week.

“And while my win in Qatar is a big boost in confidence, it would be nice to be tackling Tiger again this week in the final round. “But t h e n we a l l k n ow h ow g o l f changes.

“I had played poorly for a good

time leading up to this win, so all I can do is enjoy my victory for a few days.”

Bjorn turns 40 next week and joins the likes of his Ryder Cup winning colleagues Darren Clarke and Miguel Angel Jimenez along with major winners Ernie Els, Angel Cabrera, Retief Goosen and Michael Campbell the other side of 40.

The 46-year- old Jimenez will defend this week’s Dubai Desert Classic, having won four times last year, which is something that Bjorn aspires to.

“What Miguel achieved last year was phenomenal and I’m not concerned about turning 40 because I feel quite comfortable where I am health wise, as I am with my golf,” Bjorn said. “ S o a g e d o e s n’t m a t te r a n d besides with this new ... driver I am getting on average a further 10 yards off the tee than I have for a few years. “So I feel good about my golf at the moment, and I will b e o n t h e ra n g e i n D u b a i s t i l l pounding golf balls because I still want to improve and that ’s the way it is.” —Reuters

occasional round of golf.

In recent months, though, doctors have suggested new treatment for his illness and he has decided to put down his clubs in order to concentrate on the recovery programme.

“I am not playing golf at the moment,” said Ballesteros. “I stopped practising last summer as I decided to focus on the therapy which I need to follow to get better.

“The recovery process in this kind of disease takes a very long time. Mentally I am feeling okay even though physically I’m very tired as I started a new treatment at the end of December.

“I continue working in the gym as much as I can and I will have a medical check in the coming weeks to see how I am doing.

“I continue positively and it is very important all the support I am receiving from lots of people especially my family,” Ballesteros added.

The charismatic Spaniard also pledged his support to Tiger Woods, who was without a victory last year, and predicted an imminent return to form by the former world number one.

“Tiger is a magnificent player,” said Ballesteros. “He is competitive and he will soon win again. “Tiger is able to win despite not being on full form. Nobody should think he is finished. Personally, I wish him the best.”

Ballesteros, who won the British Open in 1979, 1984 and 1988 and the U.S. Masters in 1980 and 1983, is the patron for Madrid’s bid to stage the 2018 Ryder Cup (www.rcmadrid2018.com).

Spain will be up against France, Germany, Netherlands and Portugal when the host venue is chosen in May. “I am very excited,” said Ballesteros. “I really believe Spain is the option. Madrid would be a great place to host the event and if the Ryder Cup comes here I can assure you they will be taking the right decision.” —Reuters

Scotland unchanged for Wales clash

DOHA: Thomas Bjorn of Denmark competes on the final day of the Qatar Masters Golf Tournament in this file photo. —AP

EDINBURGH: Scotland coach Andy Robinson yesterday named an unchanged starting line-up for his team’s Six Nations clash against Wales at Murrayfield this weekend.

Robinson has kept faith with the side beaten 34-21

by France in Paris on Saturday as the Scots look to build on an encouraging performance against the Welsh in Edinburgh. Although dismayed by defeat in Paris, Scotland ran in three tries against the Grand Slam champions at the Stade de France.

“We were disappointed as players and management that we did not start the championship with a win against France. We are determined to put that right with an improved performance against Wales,” Robinson said. Wales suffered a 26-19 defeat to England at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium last Friday.

Robinson added: “Wales showed again last weekend that they are combative and skilful and play for the full 80 minutes and we know we have to be more accurate and ruthless this weekend.” The only change to Scotland’s matchday 22 comes on the replacements bench, where hooker Scott Lawson comes in for Dougie Hall. The match will also mark the first time captain Alastair Kellock has led Scotland out at Murrayfield, where Scottish rugby’s patron, Princess Anne, will be in attendance.

Scotland: Hugo Southwell; Nikki Walker, Joe Ansbro, Nick De Luca, Max Evans; Dan Parks, Rory Lawson; John Barclay, Kelly Brown, Nathan Hines; Alastair Kellock, Richie Gray; Euan Murray, Ross Ford, Allan Jacobsen Replacements: Mike Blair, Richie Vernon, Sean Lamont, Ross Rennie, Ruaridh Jackson, Moray Low, Scott Lawson. —AFP

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

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Ponting prepares to play through pain at World Cup

COLOMBO: Netherlands’ cricketer Ryan Ten Doeschate (left) speaks as captain Peter Borren (center) and Tom Cooper look on during a media briefing in Colombo yesterday. —AP

Dutch aim for upsets ROTTERDAM: As most of the Dutch team was packing its orange bags in the country’s only indoor nets on a freezing night in late January, hard-hitting allrounder Ryan Ten Doeschate was gearing up to play for Tasmania against New South Wales in the finals of Australia’s Twenty20 competition.

South African-born Ten Doeschate and South Australia’s Tom Cooper are the higher-profile players in a Netherlands team of relative unknowns that is also made up of students, a tobacconist and a hamburger restaurant owner. Many of the players had to take time off work or study to travel to the World Cup. But the Dutch par t-timers have proven in the past they are capable of pulling off a shock, beating hosts England by four wickets in the opening match of the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup. “The target for us is obviously to cause upsets, make an impression,” New Zealand-born captain Peter Borren said. “And to do that, we need to knock off one of the big boys.” Realistically, however, the Netherlands will be targeting their two last Group B matches, against Bangladesh and Ireland as games to win.

Before those two matches, the

Netherlands takes on England in its opener at Nagpur on Feb. 22, followed by West Indies, South Africa and India. Borren said subcontinent cricket is not new to the team as it embarks on its fourth World Cup campaign. “In the last four years we’ve probably been to India maybe five or six times so everyone’s had some experience there,” he said. “But obviously not all that much experience playing at that level in those conditions.”

Netherlands made its World Cup debut in 1996 and appeared at the last two editions of cricket’s showcase tournament in 2003 and 2007.

So far its only two World Cup wins have been over fellow minnows Namibia, in 2003, and Scotland in 2007. Selector and former captain Tim de Leede said the Netherlands has no genuinely fast pace bowler to spearhead its attack and will rely on steady medium pacers and a pair of economical slow bowlers _ off spinner Adeel Raja and left arm orthodox Pieter Seelaar. “ They have to bowl line and length and hopefully the fielders will do as well as they possibly can to support them,” De Leede said.

In its race to catch up with the rest of the cricketing world, the Netherlands has been using spe-

cialist fielding, batting, bowling and wicketkeeping coaches and has a full-time coach, Australian Peter Drinnen. “They have more professionals than ever. They have a fulltime coach, they have specialists coming in ... so there are really no excuses any more,” De Leede said.

Batting is the Netherlands’ strongest suit, with Eric Szwarczynski, a fluid strokemaker who has a knack for finding gaps in the field and Worcester’s Alexei Kervezee likely to open. Pakistanborn bowler Mudassar Bukhari _ usually a lower order hitter _ also can open in limited-overs matches.

The middle order will feature professionals Ten Doeschate, Borren and Cooper, who has a oneday average of 65.44 in his 10 matches for the Netherlands _ most of them against second-tier associate opposition, including 80 not out on debut against Scotland.

Seelaar says the likes of Borren and Ten Doeschate have changed the way many homegrown players approach the game and he hopes the new mind set will pay dividends at the World Cup. “I think we now are getting close to a professional setup now,” he said. “The pros teach us how to be pros.”—AP

Miandad: Spot-fixing a threat to cricket ISLAMABAD: Pakistan cricket great Javed Miandad believes spot-fixing is more damaging to the game than match-fixing and urged the recently banned players to assist in purging it from the game.

The International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption tribunal last weekend banned Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir for a minimum of five years for bowling no-balls at predetermined times in a test against England to fix spot-betting markets.

Miandad, a director general of the Pakistan Cricket Board, said the banned trio should now assist the ICC and the PCB to identify those people involved in rigging betting markets, and thereby harming the game. “If the players identify the bad elements in the game, only then we can fight with this spot-fixing menace,” Miandad told The Associated Press.

“It (spot-fixing) can’t be finished if the players do not cooperate.” The tribunal also directed the banned players to participate — under the auspices of the PCB — in a program of anti-corruption education.

“It’s a good program, but it’s the responsibility of the players to be honest because they are the ones who are directly approached by bad guys,” Miandad said. “I’m sure no one has the guts to buy a cricketer

without the consent of the player himself.”

Miandad was part of Pakistan’s World Cup winning squad in 1992 and holds the record of most test runs for Pakistan with 8,832 runs from 124 test matches. He said spot-fixing poses a greater threat to the integrity of the game than match fixing because it provides more opportunity to fix betting markets; there is only one win-loss result per match, but there are vast numbers of bets on events within games.

“In a 50-overs-a-side game play-

ers could commit an intentional mistake not once but 600 times,” Miandad said referring to six ball over bowled in a one-day international.

“In match-fixing it’s a matter of win or lose, but in this spot-fixing players commit intentional mistakes one after the other.”

Miandad said it was difficult to predict about the future of the three players, but termed the tribunal’s decision as a “reasonable verdict.” “It could have been more severe, but it will send a strong message to players all over the world.”—AP

SYDNEY: Australia skipper Ricky Ponting is preparing to play through pain in his fifth World Cup but he does not think the hangover from his broken finger will hamper his performance.

Ponting, the tournament’s second most prolific batsman behind India’s Sachin Tendulkar and a three-times winner, has not played since fracturing the finger while fielding in the Ashes series in December. “It’s a little bit sore, but I think it’s going to be a bit sore for a while,” he told reporters at Sydney airport before the squad left for India on Wednesday evening. “But it certainly hasn’t hindered me in the nets last week, which is a positive.”

Ponting said there had been pain after the intensive net sessions but that he would probably wear a guard to protect it at the World Cup and would not take up his usual fielding position in the slips.

“If I’ve got pain, so what?” he added. “If it functions fine then it’s 100 percent, that’s how I’ve always looked at it. Most players play with some sort of pain at different times.

“There’s not many fast bowlers who can say they’ve played a game pain-free ... I’ll look at different ways of protecting it ... but I’m confident it won’t hinder me at all.”

Ponting has scored 1,537 runs at an average of 48.03 in his four previous World Cups and is hoping to lead Australia to a fourth successive title in the Feb. 19-April 2 tournament, which is being hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The Tasmanian said he wanted to take part in Australia’s two warm-up matches in Bangalore-against India

BANGALORE: In this Oct. 8, 2010 file photo, Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting gestures towards journalists during a training session ahead of their second Test cricket match against India.—AP

on Feb. 13 and South Africa two days later. “I’ve been a long time out of cricket and I need to be playing both of them if I can, to make sure my game’s in order,” he said.

Being out of the team for so long had been a trial, he said, but he had been encouraged by the 6-1 defeat of England in the one-day series that followed the Ashes debacle. “ We’re in good shape at the moment, we’ve just got to keep improving over the next few weeks and make sure at the “big end” of the World Cup that we’re improving from where we are now,” he said.

“Looking at the last few results, I think they were very satisfying against a pretty good England team. “ The most inspiring thing

about the last series for me was that when it looked like we were down and out and beaten, we found a way to win games.

“I think that’s been a trademark of very good Australian teams over a long period of time now.” Ponting said the loss of Mike Hussey, who was replaced in the squad by Callum Ferguson on Tuesday, was a setback although he was unable to shed any light on why the batsman had not been allowed more time to recover from a hamstring injury.

“I actually don’t know (why),” he said, adding: “He’s a massive loss to our group. Huss is a class player in all three forms of the game. A very experienced player, a leader around our group.”—Reuters

India starts as WCup favorite NEW DELHI: No captain will be under more pressure at the World Cup than Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is expected to deliver India its first World Cup title since 1983.

Kapil Dev is still feted as a national hero for guiding India to its only World Cup triumph 28 years ago, when his lineup stopped the all-conquering West Indies in the final at Lord’s. The international cricket landscape has changed dramatically since then, with India now the commercial powerbase of the sport and the nation of almost 1.2 billion people expecting its team to win a World Cup in the subcontinent.

Though Dhoni says pressure is no great concern, he knows it is not going to be anything like the World Twenty20 championship triumph in South Africa four years ago, when he led a young and unfancied team to victory in the first edition of the T20 event just months after India’s early and inglorious exit from the World Cup in the Caribbean. A batting lineup containing Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni would command respect from any opposition.

Add the dependable Gautam Gambhir, the in-form Yusuf Pathan and Virat Kohli to the mix, and it’s an even more potent batting order. “The Indian team for the World Cup is the strongest batting lineup we have ever seen in world cricket,” Kapil Dev said. Pathan and Kohli were among the runs in a recent 3-2 limited-overs series loss in South Africa, where India’s top order was depleted. Pathan scored 166 runs in three matches including a century in the last match, while Kohli amassed 193 from five innings including an unbeaten 87 in the second match.

Sehwag (shoulder), Gambhir (hand) and Tendulkar (hamstring) missed all or part of the series in South Africa because of injuries, but are all fit now and considered certainties to take their places at the World Cup. Dhoni would prefer his squad to be considered underdogs than favorites, but he’s confident the squad has learned from its letdown in the Caribbean four years ago and there won’t be any complacency at home.

“If any side thinks the other sides can’t win, that is the biggest mistake,” he said. “All the top sides in the world have a chance of winning the World Cup and it’s just about playing consistent cricket.” Dhoni and his squad will get their first chance to redeem one of

BANGALORE: Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (right) and teammate Suresh Raina gesture to teammates during a training session ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup. —AP their worst World Cup memories from 2007 when they take on Bangladesh in the opening match of the 2011 tournament at Dhaka on Feb. 19.

India went into the last World Cup high on confidence after reaching the final in 2003 but cracks emerged quickly with concern over the team’s preparation and cohesion. Tension only increased after a shocking fivewicket loss to Bangladesh in its opening match. That left India needing to beat Sri Lanka just to advance to the Super Eight stage from the four-team group. But the Sri Lankans scored a decisive win over India en route to the final, where they lost to Australia. For India, high-scoring matches should not be a worry in familiar home conditions this time. Apart from Tendulkar, who is aiming to cap his magnificent career with an elusive World Cup title, the Delhi pair of Sehwag and Gambhir complete a formidable top three.

“Sehwag and Gambhir have been very important players for India and will have a huge role to play in the World Cup,” says test batsman VVS Laxman. “I think the team has the

potential to lift the cup and recapture the glory of 1983.” Dev is also tipping India to win back the title, despite his concerns over the strength of the bowling attack.

“It looks a balanced team though the bowling is a bit weak,” Dev said of an attack led by left-arm pace bowler Zaheer Khan. Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel and Shantakumaran Sreesanth — a late replacement for injured Praveen Kumar — are the other seam options for India, while off-spinners Harbhajan Singh and Ravichandran Ashwin are slow-bowling options along with legspinner Piyush Chawla. “Our fast bowling department is confident of the challenge,” the 28-year-old Sreesanth said. “Our team is a perfect mix of talent and experience this time.” While the pitch and weather conditions are expected to favor the Indian team, the ICC’s choice of Kookaburra ball for the tournament is less than ideal for the co-hosts. India usually uses the locally produced SG balls when it hosts series, so it is expected to take time to adjust to the variations in swing and movement in the air.—AP

Organisers confident of safe World Cup NEW DELHI: With Pakistan scratched from the itinerary and peace descending on Sri Lanka, there is a growing feeling that the spectre of terror is no longer stalking the World Cup in the subcontinent like it did 15 years ago.

In 1996, the last time the region hosted the event, Australia and New Zealand preferred for feiting preliminar y matches to playing in Colombo barely a week after a massive blast had killed 80 people in the Sri Lankan capital.

Since then, bombs have gone off claiming lives in Colombo, K arachi and Mumbai though nothing shook the cricketing fraternity more than the 2009 attack on the visit-

ing Sri Lankan players in Lahore, killing five police and injuring six cricketers.

The Lahore incident prompted the International Cricket Council (ICC) to shift World Cup matches out of Pakistan, while Sri Lanka’s three-decade civil war ended in 2009 with the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Both augur well for the Feb. 19-April 2 World Cup, according to columnist Ashok Malik. “In such a situation, I don’t see any extraordinary security threat to the World Cup,” Malik told Reuters.

“In today’s world, every sports event in every country faces these issues. Have no illusion, the 2012 London Olympics would

be under similar threat as well. But to be fair, I don’t think there is any specific threat to the World Cup.” “There are no matches in Pakistan and I would say Sri Lanka is at its peaceful best in 30 years because the LTTE is now virtually non-existent.”

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat shared Malik’s optimism. “With the (peaceful) situation in Sri Lanka and the fact that we got (World Cup matches) now in three countries, I believe it will be a major success,” Lorgat said on Tuesday. “Those are realities beyond our control. Those are not issues that we can foresee or dictate “We’ve got, I believe, adequate security

measures in place. We are now a lot more mature and have got the expertise to prepare adequately on security arrangements.

So it’s not an issue that troubles me as much as it did in the past.”

Tournament Director Ratnakar Shetty also spoke positively. “Security is not at all a concern. Now that all the governments have ex tended full suppor t, ever ything is in place,” Shetty told Reuters.

“Most countries bring their own security advisors though it ’s not mandator y.

Countries like Australia, England and New Zealand bring their security advisor even during bilateral series. But there is no worry, everything is being taken care of.”—Reuters

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

S P ORT S

Iranian ‘checkmates’ Israeli to win back record TEHRAN: An Iranian grandmaster said he ousted the Israeli title holder yesterday to regain the Guinness record for simultaneous chess games after facing more than 600 players in over 25 hours.

Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, 28, won 96 percent of his games which began on Tuesday in Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University, a feat reportedly making him the new Guinness title holder of the game.

A representative of World Chess Federation (FIDE) who was present during the event was yet to confirm Maghami’s victory. He had to win 80 percent of the games to seal the record, Iran’s ISNA news agency reported.

Of the total 614 games, Maghami won 590, lost eight and drew 16 in a feat that took more than 25 hours and treading around 55 kilometres (34 miles) as he moved from opponent to opponent.

Maghami said there was “no problem to register the record given the presence of the FIDE representative who was observing the matches. FIDE will report the outcome to Guinness.”

He said he would have put in the same zeal even if the previous title holder was a non-Israeli.

“Iran is great and deserves the best. Let’s not talk politics... even if this record was held by another person, I would have gone all out to break it,” he said after the matches when asked about ousting Israeli Alik Gershon.

On October 22, Gershon had won 454 games, lost 11 and drawn 58, setting the record at 523 after ousting another Iranian, Morteza Mahjoob, who previously won the title in August after victory in 500 games. On defeating Mahjoob, an euphoric Gershon said: “Hopefully, all our wars against Iran will be on the chess board.”

Iran and Israel are bitter rivals outside of chess with the latter not ruling out a military strike against the Islamic republic to stop its controversial nuclear programme.

The political animosity between the two escalated under Iran’s firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has often denied the Nazi Holocaust and said the Jewish state will one day be “wiped off the map.”“I am so happy to break the record, but now I have to break my sleep record,” ISNA quoted Maghami as saying. He said a physician, masseuse and a dietician were monitoring him.

Maghami said he would not be surprised if his record was also broken soon, adding he would like to better it himself. “It is not strange for my record to be broken by anyone. Mr Mahjoob had the title for more than a year. I could try to improve it,” Maghami said. Mahjoob said he will pitch for the title again and expressed his joy at a fellow Iranian regaining the title. “Soon I will set a record. The title will remain Iranian since I will have a go at the record in the coming summer. I am determined and I will do it,” Mahjoob said, quoted by Mehr news agency.

In October, after his defeat to Gershon, he said he would exert extra efforts to win again and even play against 1,000 players simultaneously.

Chess was outlawed in Iran in 1981 because it was perceived to encourage betting, which is forbidden in Islam. But in 1988 the Islamic republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a decree permitting chess as long as no gambling was involved. Since then the game has made a vigorous comeback in Iran. — AFP

Iranian chess grandmaster Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (center- standing), 28, plays chess simultaneously with more than 600 players.

Maghami ousted the Israeli title holder to regain the Guinness record for simultaneous chess games after facing more than 600 players in over 25 hours.— AFP

Del Potro sends Gabashvili packing SAN JOSE: Juan Martin del Potro won his first match in the United States since claiming the 2009 US Open title, beating Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-2 in the SAP Open on Tuesday.

Querrey played only six matches in 2010 because of a right wrist injury, dropping to 448 in the rankings. The Argentine has won in the first-round at each of his three tournaments this year, but lost in the second round of the previous two, including to Marcos Baghdatis at the Australian Open.

Del Potro’s opponent in round two here will be Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko, who earned his first career win against a top-20 player — at the 12th attempt — by beating thirdseeded American Sam Querrey 7-6

(6), 6-3.

The loss by the 17th-ranked Querrey was one of three by seeded players in the first round on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic upset fourth-seeded Belgian Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-4, and sixth-seeded Benjamin Becker of Germany lost to Lithuania’s Richard Berankis 6-3, 7-6 (2). This is the third straight loss to open the year for Querrey, who lost his first match of the year in Sydney to Alexandr Dolgopolov and fell in the first round of the Australian Open to Lukasz Kubot.

The American quickly left the court as soon as the match ended and went right out of the arena without changing, refusing to do a postmatch interview despite a

SAN JOSE: Juan Martin Del Potro, of Argentina, celebrates his win over Teymuraz Gabashvili, of Georgia, in the first round of the SAP Open tennis tournament. — AP

request from the tournament organizers.

This marked the second straight year Querrey has lost his first three matches. He ended that drought last year by making a run to the semifinals in San Jose before losing a third-set tiebreaker to Andy Roddick and winning the following week in Memphis for his first of four tournament wins.

He was unable to make a similar run in San Jose this year as he struggled all match with his groundstrokes and was unable to win it with his powerful serve.

That serve kept Querrey in the match early, as he went 11 straight points on his serve with Lacko unable to get a single return in play. But the Slovak was able to take the opening set to a tiebreaker and got an early advantage on a double fault by Querrey. Lacko squandered two set points before earning a third with a forehand winner down the line. He won the set when Querrey hit a forehand into the net.

Querrey lost his first service game of the second set before breaking right back. Lacko then broke serve again to take a 4-2 lead and held his final two games to win his first match in San Jose.

“In the second set he started to have problems with his first serve,” Lacko said. “He started to miss a lot and his second serve is not that good. It’s easy to get into the rally and I am better in the rallies.”

Lacko held his final two games to win his first match in San Jose and get his first top 20 win ever.

“It’s a good feeling because it proves to me that I’m able to beat guys like this,” Lacko said. “I played a couple of matches this year, last year against guys like Sam is, top 20, top 10 players. I played good matches. I got chances but I never finished the match. I lost too many close matches.” The losses by Malisse and Becker left no seeded players remaining in that quarter of the draw.

That could open up a chance for James Blake, who is playing in his first tournament in four months after being hampered by knee and shoulder injuries. Blake will take on Raonic in the second round yesterday, while Donald Young faces Richard Berankis. —AP

Kirilenko falls as Peng advances PATTAYA:Third-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia squandered three match points in losing to Kazakh qualifier Galina Voskoboeva 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the second round of the Pattaya Open yesterday.

Sixth-seeded Peng Shuai of China defeated Elena Baltacha of Britain 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 in 1 hour, 51 minutes, marking the third time in five years Peng made it into at least the quarterfinals in Pattaya.

She will face the winner between top-seeded Vera Zvonareva and local player Nungnadda Wannasuk.

Kirilenko led 6-1, 5-2 and served for the match at 5-4,

40-0 but let her nerves get the better of her. She built a 3-1 lead in the third set and failed again to capitalize on the opportunity.

It was the second premature exit from Pattaya for the Russian, who as the second seed in 2007 was knocked out in the first round.

“I wasn’t in the match at all until I was down 3-0 in the second set,” Voskoboeva said. “But I started to play better from then. When you are down match point at 45, 0-40 , you need luck as well. But I didn’t think about that. I just played point by point.”—AP

ROTTERDAM: Marin Cilic competes against Jurgen Melzer at the ABN AMRO Tennis Tournament. — AFP

Tsonga wins French clash ROTTERDAM: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won an all-French match yesterday to book the first of the quarter-final places at the ATP Rotterdam Open as he defeated compatriot Michael Llodra 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Llodra, the 2008 champion, has now lost all three of his matches with 2008 Australian open finalist Tsonga.

The French winner, who has put together back-to-back wins for the first time in a month, will next play either fourth-seeded Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych or Russian qualifier Dmitry Tursunov.

“It was a tough match,” said Tsonga, working to lift a ranking which has sunk to 18th after falling from the Top ten due to inactivity due to injury in the second half of 2010.

“Mika is one of the best players on this (indoor) surface. I started well but he played better than me in the first set. I was happy to get the win, it was pretty difficult.

“My two previous wins gave me the confidence going in, but I also played well. In the quarter-finals, I can just play my game. I’ve been getting better with

each match this year.”

Tsonga is recovering from a bizarre end to his Australian Open campaign, squandering a two-sets-toone lead against Alexandr Dolgopolov and collapsing in the last two sets against the young Ukrainian in the third round.

Two more Frenchman squared off at the Ahoy complex, with Benoit Paire putting out Gilles Simon 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in just over 90 minutes. Spain’s Feliciano Lopez beat German Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4.

Two-time losing Australian Open finalist Andy Murray was making his start this week later against Marcos Baghdatis.

Murray is looking to restore confidence after losing in straight sets just over a week ago in the Melbourne title match against Novak Djokovic a year after also going out in a trophy bid at the hands of Roger Federer.

But Cypriot Baghdatis will be out to destroy that dream of the only man to ever lose three Grand Slam finals in straights sets after winning two of three career meetings with the fifth-ranked Scot. — AFP

Haussler takes second straight win in Qatar MESAIEED: Australian Heinrich Haussler won the third stage of the Tour of Qatar yesterday to take the race leader’s jersey from Belgium’s former three-time winner Tom Boonen. Haussler’s second consecutive win on the race came after Boonen, the winner of stage one, suffered a puncture in the final 40km of the 150.5km race from Al Wakra to Mesaieed in the south of Doha.

Having joined a breakaway group of around 20 riders, Haussler put his “great” legs to optimal use in a bunch sprint where he beat HTC-Highroad’s Mark Renshaw, who was second, and Italian Daniele Bennati, third.

“My legs are feeling great. I really feel in top form this week even though I’m nowhere near peak fitness,” said Haussler, who will be aiming to peak for the MilanSanRemo one-day classic next month and the Tour of Flanders in April.

Haussler now has a four-second lead on fellow

Australian Renshaw, and 15sec on Bennait, in the race’s general classification ahead of Thursday’s fourth stage over 153.5km from West Bay Lagoon to Al Kharaitiyat.

In keeping with tradition, the tough wind conditions proved to be a decisive factor with the peloton being split into several groups.

Haussler, however, also capitalised on Boonen’s misfortune after the Belgian flatted 40km from the finish line and failed to rejoin the lead group.

“By the time I got a wheel change I was 15 to 20 seconds behind them and with the wind, and the fact there was a lot of strong riders in the group, it was impossible to get back on,” said Boonen.

“What made it worse was the fact that when I punctured, the group accelerated.” Boonen finally arrived in 46th place to slip nearly three minutes down the overall standings. — AFP

DOHA: Cyclists compete during the 150.5 km third stage run from Al Wakra to Mesaieed during the 2011 Tour of Qatar cycling race. — AFP

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sp orts

Heat top Pacers, Grizzlies win MIAMI: LeBron James had 41 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists,and Chris Bosh added 19 points as the Miami Heat rallied from 14 points down to beat the Indiana Pacers 117-112 on Tuesday for their seventh straight victory.

Dwyane Wade scored 17 and Mario Chalmers added 16 for Miami, which moved five games ahead of second-place Atlanta in the Southeast Division. The Heat also got within a half-game of idle Boston for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

Roy Hibbert scored 20 points and added 10 rebounds for Indiana, which fell to 4-1 under interim coach Frank Vogel. Danny Granger scored 19 and Tyler Hansbrough added 18 for the Pacers.

DOHA: In this file photo dated Thursday Dec.16, 2010, showing FIFA President Sepp Blatter (right) being welcomed by AFC president Mohammed bin Hammam upon his arrival in Doha, Qatar. —AP

Zidane says backing Qatar bid wasn’t for money PARIS: Zinedine Zidane insists his decision to back Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid was motivated by a pledge to help football spread its roots in the Middle East, rather than the promise of money.

In an interview with sports daily L’Equipe yesterday, the former France star who inspired his country to the 1998 World Cup title denied suggestions he received huge sums of money to promote the bid.

“After studying Qatar’s project, I wanted to do it and I will tell you why. But first off all I want to touch upon something: money,” Zidane said. “Ten, 11, 12, 13 million euros was mentioned. I will say it clearly: that’s a load of rubbish. It wasn’t even a third of these sums.”

Qatar surprised many obser vers when it beat competition from the United States, Australia, South Korea and Japan to host the prestigious FIFA tournament. Zidane acknowledges that he did get paid but says he did not benefit personally.

“It is a lot of money. But this money is distributed by the Zidane foundation (for charity),” he said. “I didn’t do it for money.

When I stopped playing football (in 2006), Qatar approached me and wanted me to play there. (I was offered) a blank check, I could have written whatever sum I wanted. (But) I didn’t want to go and play in Qatar.” However, Zidane said he gave his word to help in the future.

“I said to these people from Qatar: ‘One day I hope I can help you in a proj-

ect that’s beneficial for the future of sport, (and) football in particular,”‘ Zidane said. “For example, the redistribution of stadiums to developing countries.

People will tell me ‘Qatar is tiny’ but through Qatar it’s the whole of the Middle East that’s concerned.”

Qatar’s bid secured the backing of Zidane, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, former Netherlands defender Ronald de Boer and Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola. “Why shouldn’t they have the right to organize a World Cup?” Zidane said.

Zidane also gave his backing to France’s successful bid to host the 2016 European Championships _ but is bitterly angry at the team’s players for going on strike at the last World Cup. The whole squad refused to train in protest after striker Nicolas Anelka was sent home for insulting former coach Raymond Domenech. “I don’t think they yet realize what they did,” Zidane said. “For them it was nothing major, when in fact it was serious.” Several players received bans, with former captain Patrice Evra handed a five-game suspension. Politicians have lined up to bash France’s players, with sports minister Chantal Jouanno among those saying Evra should never play for France again. Zidane, who starred for Real Madrid and also guided France to Euro 2000 victory furing his playing career, disagrees. “They made a mistake, they’ve paid for it,” he said. “Everyone has the right to a second chance.”—AP

IndyCar to drop Japanese race INDIANAPOLIS: IndyCar will not return to Japan to race at Twin Ring Motegi after this September, the US-based racing series announced yesterday, ending 14 years of openwheel races at the Honda facility.

This year’s event will be staged September 18 at the 1.5-mile oval north of Tokyo as the 15th of 16 races on the 2011 IndyCar schedule, a late-season spot that IndyCar officials said was an issue in the decision to drop the race.

“As IndyCar and the IndyCar Series continue to evaluate their long term plans, we must look to build the sport and its viewership,” IndyCar commercial president Terry Angstadt said.

“We believe it is important that the final few events on our schedule give us the oppor tunity to be broadcast live during times that maximize our (US) viewing audience as we build up to the championship.

“We will continue to meet with promoters domestically and inter-

nationally that want to pursue an IndyCar Series event.”

The Japan race’s departure will leave the Sao Paulo Indy 300 in Brazil, staged in May, as IndyCar’s lone race outside North America.

“We’ve enjoyed a great run at Twin Ring Motegi,” said Angstadt.

“While our businesses move in different directions, we will keep the door open for future events at the track.”

Twin Ring Motegi hosted a Champ-Car event from 1998 through 2002 and in 2003 became the first IndyCar race staged beyond US borders. In 2007, Danica Patrick became the first woman to win a major open-wheel racing series event when she captured the 200lap race at the Japanese track, her only IndyCar career triumph so far.

Brazil’s Helio Castroneves will try to defend his title and capture his third victor y at Motegi in September. The three -time Indianapolis 500 winner is a fourtime pole sitter in Japan. —AFP

Grizzlies 105, Thunder 101 At Oklahoma City, Zach Randolph had 31 points and 14 rebounds, and Tony Allen scored a season-high 27 while harassing NBA scoring leader Kevin Durant as Memphis beat Oklahoma City.

Durant had 31 points and 11 rebounds, but got off just one shot in overtime and also had a key turnover in the final 20 seconds with the Thunder down by three. Russell Westbrook added 21 points and 11 assists but also tied his season-high with eight turnovers for Oklahoma City, which lost for the first time in six overtime games this season.

Spurs 100, Pistons 89 At Auburn Hills, Michigan, Tony Parker had 19 points and seven assists as San Antonio held off Detroit. DeJuan Blair added 18 points and 12 rebounds for San Antonio, which improved its NBA-best record to 43-8.

Manu Ginobili scored 13 points for the Spurs, and Tim Duncan contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds. Will Bynum scored 12 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter for Detroit.

Blair’s double-double was his second in a row and seventh since Jan. 1.

Magic 101, Clippers 85 At Orlando, Florida, Dwight Howard had 22 points and 20 rebounds, and Jameer Nelson added 17 points, including going 4 for 5 from 3-point range, as Orlando used a second-half surge to get past Los Angeles Clippers.

Howard recorded his fifth 20-20 game this season. Baron Davis led the Clippers with a season-high 25 points, Ike Diogu added 18 and Blake Griffin had 10 points and 12 rebounds.

T’wolves 112, Rockets 108 At Houston, Kevin Love set a Minnesota record with his 38th consecutive double-double, scoring 20 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.

Love passed Kevin Garnett (2006) for the team’s double-double record. Love’s streak is now the longest since Moses Malone had 44 in a row during the 1982-83 season with Philadelphia. Utah’s John Stockton also had a 37-game streak of double-doubles in 1989.

Wayne Ellington added 18 points for the Timberwolves, who snapped a 13-game losing streak to the Rockets dating to January 2007. Minnesota played without starters F Michael Beasley (sprained left ankle) and C Darko Milicic (strained left hip flexor).

ORLANDO: Magic’s Dwight Howard (12) gets tangled up with Los Angeles Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan (left) and Ryan Gomes (right) while going up for a shot during the second half of an NBA basketball game. —AP Kevin Martin and Courtney Lee scored 23 points apiece for the Rockets, who were outrebounded 51-31.

76ers 117, Hawks 83 At Atlanta, Elton Brand scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half as Philadelphia jumped out to a 20-point lead in the opening period and cruised to a win over Atlanta. Louis Williams had 20 points to lead six Philadelphia scorers in double figures. Thaddeus Young and Jodie Meeks each had 16.

Josh Smith, the only Atlanta player to log at least 30 minutes, had 16 points. Damien Wilkins had 12 points and Marvin Williams

had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Bucks 92, Raptors 74 At Milwaukee, John Salmons returned to the starting lineup for the first time in three weeks and scored 17 points to lead Milwaukee past Toronto.

Corey Maggette added 16 points and nine rebounds for Milwaukee, which snapped its four-game losing streak. Toronto lost its 10th straight road game. Andrea Bargnani scored 23 points and DeMar DeRozan Finished with 18 points and seven rebounds for the Raptors, who were seeking consecutive victories for the first time since Dec. 3. —AP

NBA results/standings NBA results and standings on Tuesday. Philadelphia 117, Atlanta 83; Orlando 101, LA Clippers 85; San Antonio 100, Detroit 89; Miami 117, Indiana 112; Milwaukee 92, Toronto 74; Memphis 105, Oklahoma City 101 (OT); Minnesota 112, Houston 108. (OT denotes overtime win) Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT Boston 38 13 .745 NY Knicks 26 24 .520 Philadelphia 24 27 .471 New Jersey 15 37 .288 Toronto 14 38 .269 Central Division Chicago 34 16 .680 Indiana 21 28 .429 Milwaukee 20 30 .400 Detroit 19 33 .365 Cleveland 8 44 .154 Southeast Division Miami 38 14 .731 Atlanta 33 19 .635 Orlando 33 20 .623 Charlotte 22 29 .431 Washington 13 37 .260

GB 11.5 14 23.5 24.5 12.5 14 16 27 5 5.5 15.5 24

Western Conference Northwest Division Oklahoma City 33 18 .647 Utah 31 22 .585 Denver 30 22 .577 Portland 28 24 .538 Minnesota 13 39 .250

3 3.5 5.5 20.5

Pacific Division 36 16 .692 24 25 .490 22 28 .440 19 32 .373 12 36 .250

10.5 13 16.5 22

Southwest Division San Antonio 43 8 .843 Dallas 36 15 .706 New Orleans 32 21 .604 Memphis 28 26 .519 Houston 25 29 .463

7 12 16.5 19.5

LA Lakers Phoenix Golden State LA Clippers Sacramento

Ex-Liverpool owners in court seeking damages LONDON: The bitter court battle over the sale of Liverpool football club resumed yesterday with the former American co-owners pursuing a 1 billion pound ($1.6 billion) damages claim for what they branded a “giant swindle.”

The case in London comes as Liverpool’s fortunes on the pitch have been revived for the first time since Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. were forced to sell the club against their will to the owners of the Boston Red Sox in October.

Lawyers for Hicks and Gillett need the approval of the High Court judge to pursue damages against the Royal Bank of Scotland and three then-club directors who approved the 300 million-pound (then $476 million) sale to New England Sports Ventures.

In October, Hicks and Gillett had to withdraw a temporary restraining order blocking the sale, which they had obtained in a Texas court, to avoid being declared in contempt of the London court.

“There is no settled decision by us to sue in England or abroad,” Paul Girolami, representing Hicks and Gillett, told London’s High Court yesterday.

Hicks has claimed “the British Establishment” conspired to sell the club for less than half of what it was worth to NESV,

which is led by Red Sox owner John Henry.

Hicks and Gillett were not in cour t Wednesday... The case centers around whether three English board members had the power to overrule them and approve the sale to Henry’s ownership group.

Hicks and Gillett were forced to put the club up for sale in April after struggling to meet the repayments resulting from their 2007 leveraged takeover. Debts had reached around 285 million pounds at the time of the sale and Hicks and Gillett want damages for the losses they incurred as a result of the

NESV buyout. RBS, which held the bulk of Liverpool’s debt, and former chairman Martin Broughton are countersuing to try to stop Hicks and Gillett from continuing their pursuit of damages. Liverpool was facing relegation at the time of the sale in October after the team’s worst start to a season in around 50 years.

But the 18-time English champions, who fired manager Roy Hodgson and replaced him with Kenny Dalglish, have now won four consecutive matches and are in sixth place in the Premier League. —AP

Match-fixing on the rise, 24 countries affected — expert BERLIN: Some 24 European countries have been affected by match-fixing and up to 100 games have been manipulated in the past five months alone, said a betting watchdog official yesterday.

Speaking as an expert witness at a match-fixing trial in Bochum, Germany, Sportradar CEO Carsten Koerl said matchfixing was on the rise given the financial incentives involved.

“Manipulations are increasing,” said Koerl, whose company tracks betting patterns and works with FIFA and UEFA. “In

the past five months we assume that between 70 and 100 games in Europe were manipulated.”

He said, however, that given the tens of thousands of games being played each year the number of affected matches represented only a very small percentage.

“There is a clear development in this (betting activity) given that nowadays there are many more possibilities to earn money from this,” Koerl said. He did not say which countries were involved or what leagues were affected.

Four suspects are on trial after a 2009 German police operation unearthed a European match-fixing ring with more than 200 suspected members who fixed or tried to fix around 200 matches across the continent, including three in the Champions League.

European soccer’s governing body UEFA at the time had called it the biggest betting scandal in Europe. Initial estimates had put the illegal gains at about 10 million euros but court officials said the figure was just “the tip of the iceberg.” —Reuters

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Ibrahim Al-Muhana and co-driver Osama Al-Sanad compete during day two of the Hael International Rally in Hael Nufud desert. —AFP

Del Potro sends Gabashvili packing

Woods insists game on upswing despite rough start

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Ponting to play through pain at World Cup Page 17

GERMANY: Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic kiss- GERMANY: Austria’s Hannes Reichelt es his bronze medal.—AP bites his silver medal he won in the men’s super-G race.—AP

GERMANY: Italy’s Christof Innerhofer speeds down the course on his way to win the men’s super-G, at the Alpine World Skiing Championships. —AP

Innerhofer bags super-G crown GERMANY: Christof Innerhofer swept away years of frustration and came through with a risky run down a treacherous, bumpy course yesterday to beat the favorites and win the men’s super-G at the world championships for his first major title.

The Italian has only one World Cup victory to date — a downhill in Bormio in December 2008 — but he beat Hannes Reichelt of Austria by a massive .60 seconds, finishing in 1 minute, 38.31 seconds.

“These races come only once every two years so I knew I had to go all out today,” Innerhofer said. “You can’t make any sort of calculations. The course is incredible and exhausting but I managed to keep things under control.”

Reichelt, who won the final super-G race before the worlds on Saturday, clocked 1:38.91 for second. Overall World Cup leader Ivica Kostelic of Croatia finished third in 1:39.03. Defending champion Didier Cuche of Switzerland missed the podium and finished fourth, while Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway failed to finish. Bode Miller of the United States, the Olympic silver medalist, lost a pole early in a spectacular run and had to settle for 12th after slowing down at the bottom of the Kandahar course. But his run inspired Innerhofer.

“I saw Bode Miller and I told myself that’s how I had to race, too,” Innerhofer said. “Simply give your best, then you can’t reproach yourself at the finish.”

Although his World Cup career includes only three other third-place finishes, Innerhofer had indicated his potential by coming close to winning medals at the last two major events.

At 26, Innerhofer has been seen as one of the leaders in a fairly young Italian speed team for several seasons, although he has been slowed by injuries. He missed the podium at the world championships two years ago by finishing .05 seconds behind bronze medalist Svindal.

And he was sixth at the Winter Olympics last year, only .08 seconds away from the bronze.

While he comes from the Germanspeaking Alto Adige region, Innerhofer has a very Italian character, and is one of the most outgoing members of the team. He jumped onto the top of the podium during the victory celebration.

“What I’m most pleased about is that I was able to attack from top to bottom, which is something I haven’t been able to do very often this season. When I crossed the line and looked at the scoreboard I didn’t believe it at first. I had to look again to be sure,” he said.

“This is the dream for any athlete, and for me to get my first super-G win at the worlds is unbelievable. I can’t believe it.

Already for a few days I’ve been telling myself, ‘Christof, you’ve got to risk everything in this race, because you don’t have anything to lose. You’ve got to risk, risk, risk, otherwise you’re going to be angry with yourself.”‘ Reichelt said he was surprised with his second-place finish.

“Normally, these are not my conditions,” Reichelt said. “I thought I’d skied a lousy race. The uneven, icy piste was extremely difficult, at some points it was really twilight. I got tired quickly and I could hardly stay upright at the end.”

Miller clipped a gate with his arm and lost a pole, but continued at fast pace and was nearly a full second ahead of the previous 10 racers before him.

He lost his balance coming out of a bend at the bottom, however, slowed down and came across the line at a leisurely pace. He was still ahead of many top-ranked skiers in 12th place. “I tried to push on the top but I hooked my arm pretty hard,” Miller said. “I made the recovery but then I lost my balance. I skied like I wanted on the top. But it’s a matter of finishing without making mistakes.”

Miller, who said skiing without the pole didn’t seem to make too much of a difference, would likely have broken into the top 10 if he had not stood up at the bottom. “It was difficult. It was challenging. But that’s how it should be. It’s the world championships. It’s a pretty tame hill. It’s really basic,” Miller said.

“But today it was bumpy enough and fast enough to make it challenging. You see a lot of guys having problems and if you see Innerhofer skiing, he really deserves to win here. He was one of the few guys really pushing and really taking some risk.” Erik Guay of Canada, who won the super-G race and the World Cup title in the event on the same slope last year, also failed to finish.

Kostelic finished second to Guay in that race and surprised himself with another podium finish. “Super-G is not really my event. But this slope seems good for me,” said Kostelic, who has had to overcome a series of injuries in his career.

“I raced all out, but it’s a brutal course.

It’s not very healthy for my knees and back.” Ted Ligety of the United States, who went off the course, said running early was more difficult. “A couple of turns you get some sun,” Ligety said. “Just in general it’s in the shade all the way down and that makes it tough when it’s that bumpy.”—AP

New kid and old hand make winning debuts

GROZNY: Dutch soccer coach Ruud Gullit (right) shows a shirt reading Gullit in Cyrillic, as he meets with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov (left) in Chechnya’s provincial capital, Grozny. —AP

Gullit on Chechen mission GROZNY: Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit landed in the Chechen capital yesterday to the cheers of hundreds of Terek Grozny supporters, promising to make his new side the next darling of Europe.

The two-time world footballer of the year draped a green Chechen republic scarf around his neck and smiled broadly as fans chanted his name and performed traditional Caucasus dances around the football icon. “I have already had a chance to work at the club and now I know-it has no weaknesses,” the Sport Express website quoted Gullit as saying on landing. “These are good football players who you can work with and achieve your goals.”

Gullit last month admitted being “stunned” to be named the manager of a squad that only returned to Grozny in 2008 after a 15-year absence caused by two brutal wars. But the small Caucasus side with only one Russian Cup to its credit has secured a place in the Russian premier league and is now hoping to ride Gullit’s coattails to success in European competition. The former Dutch team captain met the republic’s authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov-an avid sports fan who personally lured Gullit to Chechnya-and took a brief tour of a city that remains tense.

Kadyrov praised Gullit for being a “real man” who knew no fear and was not worried by Chechnya’s dubious security reputation. “Men should never be afraid of a thing. A man only knows fear when he loses his honour and dignity,” the chief of

Chechnya told Sport Express.

“He has made a decision and that shows that he is a real man,” said Kadyrov. Terek Grozny was formed in 1958 but then simply vanished when war came to Chechnya in the 1990s and did not play again until 2001. It finished in 12th place last year-two places above the relegation zone and 35 points behind champions Zenit Saint Petersburg. Sports observers say that Terek has a youthful and talented side that could quickly climb the table if Gullit brings international experience to the team.

Still, Grozny’s persistent security worries left many observers shocked by the move.

The Chechen capital was reportedly rocked by four small explosions late Tuesday and early Wednesday that injured several Russian servicemen. Gullit told a Russian sports daily last month that he would “only be coming to Grozny for the matches” and spending the rest of his time at a team training base about 200 kilometres (120 miles) west of the Chechen capital.

Asked if he was afraid of being in Grozny on Wednesday, Gullit flatly said “no”. “The stereotypes about the Caucasus do not match what is really happening here,” Gullit said. The 1987 European player of the year is one of the most successful players in Dutch football. He was part of the scintillating Dutch side that won the 1988 European championships and was one of the brightest stars of the superstar-laden AC Milan side that won the 1989 and 1990 Champions League titles. —AFP

JOHANNESBURG: A new kid and an old hand on the African coaching block were celebrating yesterday after debut victories in friendly matches.

Serb Goran Stevanovic got his Ghana career off to a perfect start as the four-time African champions turned up the heat during the second half to thrash Togo 4-1 in Belgian city Antwerp.

Frenchman Henri Michel, coaching in Africa for 17 years with mixed results, guided 2012 Africa Cup of Nations co-hosts Equatorial Guinea to a 2-0 victory against fellow minnows Chad in capital Malabo.

Ivory Coast edged Mali 1-0 in southern French town Valence as African teams took advantage of FIFA friendly dates to fine tune ahead of Cup of Nations qualifiers late next month.

Another 13 fixtures are scheduled for later Wednesday with Samuel Eto’o-led Cameroon away to Macedonia, depleted Nigeria facing Sierra Leone in Lagos and 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa tackling Kenya in Rustenburg.

Former Partizan Belgrade coach Stevanovic has a hard act to follow as compatriot Milovan Rajevac took the ‘Black Stars’ to the 2010 Cup of Nations final and the last eight of the World Cup six months later. “There is a lot of pressure but that is normal for a national team coach. Ghana have been doing well and I realise what is expected of me. Matching what has been achieved will not suffice,” he admitted.

The Serb wants the ‘Black Stars’ to lift the Cup of Nations trophy in Gabon next February and the first step was whipping the modest Togolese through goals from Dominic Adiyiah, John Mensah, Samuel Inkoom and a Serge Akakpo own goal.

Amewou Komlan levelled for the ‘Sparrowhawks’ by converting an early second half penalty, but it was one-way traffic toward the Togo penalty area after that. Michel is used to handling ‘big guns’ having coached Cameroon, Morocco, Tunisia and Ivory Coast plus leading clubs Raja Casablanca of Morocco, Zamalek of Egypt and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa. Equatorial Guinea are ranked only 44 of 52 African football countries and represent the greatest challenge for a 63-year-old who steered France to third place at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Nigeria-born Daniel Ekedo scored from the penalty spot seven minutes after half-time in Malabo and an Abbas Maigue own goal on 74 minutes sealed the fate of the Chadians, who lie six places higher on the rankings. Former African Footballer of the Year Didier Drogba wore the orange of Ivory Coast for the first time since Francois Zahoui replaced Sven-Goran Eriksson as coach last August and set up the decisive thirdminute goal. The Chelsea striker controlled a lofted pass from midfield and held off two Malians to find Gervinho, who pushed the ball across the penalty area for Didier Ya Konan to net with a sweetly struck shot. Played in a subdued, chilly atmosphere, the match rarely rose above the ordinary and Mali came closest to levelling in first-half stoppage time when Mamadou Semassa had a softly awarded penalty blocked by Gerard Gnanhouan.—AFP

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Siemens, Aramco ink procurement pact

Years

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Britain’s LSE in deal to buy Toronto exchange Page 26

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

KSE stocks face pressure

Page 24

Gapcorp, KFH-Bahrain on fast lane Page 23

BANGALORE: Indian Air Force Jaguar aircraft fly in formation during the Aero India 2011 inauguration ceremony at the Yelhanka Air Force station in Bangalore yesterday. Global aeronautical companies laid out their stalls in one of the world’s hottest aviation markets, looking for a share of billions of dollars in Indian military and civilian contracts.—AFP (See Page 25)

Egypt CB warns ready to step in again Pound stable; Traders holding back from market CAIRO: Egypt’s central bank warned yesterday that it was prepared to intervene directly in the currency market again after purchases on Tuesday strengthened the pound by more than 1 percent.

The Egyptian pound has been falling steadily since political protests broke out on Jan 25, and traders and strategists expect more losses. UBS analysts put the potential decline at as much as 25 percent within a month.

“We will intervene when we see the market is not orderly. If it is not, we will use our tools,” Deputy Governor Hisham Ramez said by telephone, adding that the market so far yesterday had been quiet and orderly.

He said the central bank was concerned that the market be based on “real supply and demand”.

“Yesterday the market was more speculative, so we came in,” Ramez said. The intervention boosted the currency as much as 1.4 percent after it briefly hit a six-year low.

Yesterday, the pound closed at 5.8775 to the dollar, only marginally weaker than 5.876 at Tuesday ’s close. Dealers said traders were

Qatar sees risks in mixing Islamic, conventional banks DUBAI/DOHA: The Qatar central bank said it saw higher risks from conventional lenders operating Islamic units, clarifying a recent ruling which asked commercial banks in the Gulf state to close their sharia-compliant operations. Qatar’s central bank earlier in the week asked conventional lenders to close down their Islamic operations amid worries of overlap between the two, in a surprise move that boosted shares of Islamic lenders in the country. The central bank issued a circular over the weekend providing few specifics on the move and had conventional banks such as HSBC saying it would seek clarification on the ruling.

“The directives issued recently ... are based on issues related to supervision and monitoring as well as monetary policy,” the central bank said in a statement carried by state news agency QNA. The central bank said mixing Islamic and conventional banking could lead to difficulties in financial reporting, adding that the authority was working towards creating separate capital adequacy rules for Islamic lenders in Qatar. The order is effective immediately but gave lenders a grace period until Dec. 31 to comply with the new rules. —Reuters

holding back yesterday after the intervention caught many players out. “There is very small volume and very small amounts,” said a currency dealer at a Cairo-based bank. “I think the banks are being cautious until real activity starts.”

One trader estimated that volume on the interbank currency market on Wednesday had fallen to about $300 million from $1.6-1.7 billion on Sunday and $1 billion on Monday before the intervention.

Traders put volume in normal times at $300-400 million. “People are a bit scared so far,” said a dealer at a second bank.

Egypt’s banks and treasuries reopened on Sunday after having shut their doors for a week, and traders said the intervention seemed designed both to deter speculators and to restore confidence before the stock market reopens next week. The fate of the pound could also play a big role in determining the extent to which shares are hurt by the crisis.

Analysts have warned of a renewed sell-off by spooked investors once trading resumes on the stock exchange after a two-

week closure. The benchmark index plunged by 16 percent in the two days the exchange was operating after anti-government protests erupted on Jan. 25.

Egypt’s financial regulator said the stock exchange will suspend trade for a half hour if its broad 100share index declines by 5 percent after it reopens, and even longer if it falls by 10 percent. Asked if he was concerned about the resumption of share trading, Ramez said: “I think we passed through the toughest time when we saw the bank closure.” Traders said the central bank had intervened without dipping into foreign reserves, and one trader estimated the size of the intervention at “not less than $1 billion and not more than $1.6 billion.” “ This will make people think twice before taking positions on the dollar,” the trader said.

A currency dealer in London said non-deliverable forwards were still better bid than offered yesterday.

“Banks and corporates are trying to hedge their exposures, and everybody is waiting to see what Sunday will bring, when outflows are expected,” he said.—Reuters

US job growth, inflation still too low: Bernanke WASHINGTON: US unemployment remains too high for policymakers’ comfort despite signs of strength in the economic recovery, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said yesterday.

In testimony to the US House of Representatives’ Budget Committee that largely echoed a speech he delivered last week, Bernanke also warned about the dangers of unsustainable budget deficits.

He cited a number of encouraging hints from the labor market, including a drop in the jobless rate to 9 percent in January from 9.8 percent in November-the biggest two-month drop since 1958. At the same time, Bernanke expressed concern at the still-anemic pace of hiring. “ The job market has improved only slowly,” he said, noting the economy had only made up just over 1 million of the more than 8 million jobs lost during the deepest recession in generations.

“This gain was barely sufficient to accommodate the inflow of recent graduates and other new entrants into the labor force and, therefore, not enough to significantly erode the wide margin of slack that remains in our labor mar-

ket.” Bernanke said inflation remains quite low in the United States, a tough message to deliver amid headlines of rising food and commodity costs across the globe.

He also said expectations of future inflation had remained “stable,” suggesting little worry a inflationary psychology was building despite rising gasoline costs.

“Inflation is expected to persist below the levels that Federal Reserve policymakers have judged to be consistent” with their mandate, Bernanke repeated. Bernanke was sure to be peppered with questions on both Fed policy and the budget by a Republican-led Congress that has become increasingly impatient with the Fed. Preemptively, the Fed chairman had much the same message that he has offered repeatedly: either legislators bring the budget under control or the markets will force them into it. “Creditors would never be willing to lend to a government with debt, relative to national income, that is rising without limit,” he said. If unheeded, the adjustment could “come as a rapid and painful response to a looming or actual fiscal crisis.” — Reuters

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SIEMENS, ARAMCO INK PROCUREMENT PACT STRATEGIC AGREEMENT TO BOOST COOPERATION

Adel Al-Munifi

EQUATE hosts KNPC delegation KUWAIT: EQUATE Petrochemical Company said sustaining strong partnerships with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and its Subsidiaries (KCompanies) and investing into core business foundations is a major priority.

During a visit to EQUATE by a number of Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) technical staff, EQUATE Senior Executive for Corporate Communications & Client Affairs Adel AlMunifi said, “Kuwait’s growth in the petrochemical industry relies heavily on the continuous support and cooperation of KNPC and other K-Companies being the feedstock suppliers to EQUATE.” Al-Munifi noted, “While EQUATE’s products form over 80% of Kuwait’s nonoil exports, the petrochemical industry in Kuwait still remains relatively small compared to the Gulf petrochemical industry.”

Al-Munifi added, “The expected global growth of the industry over the next decade is very positive. Growth will be predominantly driven by high demands across Asia and the Indian subcontinent as those markets continue to expand at a rate of 5-9% exceeding the average world gross domestic product (GDP)

growth of 3%. We must continue to seek initiatives to increase our capacity and invest into strengthening our market position.”

“Hosting the KNPC delegation and other similar industry participants is part of EQUATE’s ongoing strategy and efforts to add value to the petrochemical industry in Kuwait,” stressed Al-Munifi.

During the visit, technical presentations on information technology in business applications were given by EQUATE employees. At the end of the visit, KNPC delegation expressed appreciation to EQUATE for the openness and proactive support extended during the visit.

Established in 1995, EQUATE is an international joint venture between Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). Commencing production in 1997, EQUATE is the single operator of a fully integrated world-scale manufacturing facility producing over 5 million tons annually of high-quality petrochemical products which are marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

KUWAIT: Siemens and Saudi Aramco, one of the world’s largest oil companies headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, have signed a corporate procurement agreement (CPA). This corporate-level agreement will strengthen the cooperation between the two companies. In addition, a sub-procurement agreement grants Saudi Aramco improved access to Siemens Oil and Gas Division’s rotating equipment and services. This will lead to more cost efficiency for both companies due to reduced project times.

“We have worked closely with Saudi Aramco to better understand its needs and requirements,” said Tom Blades, CEO of the Siemens Oil and Gas Division. “This corporate procurement agreement with Saudi Aramco demonstrates our commitment to the kingdom. At the same time Saudi Aramco will have even better access to Siemens¥ global service and manufacturing network.”

Munir Rafie, Saudi Aramco Vice President of Materials Supply, said: “We are delighted to conclude this wide ranging agreement with Siemens. Over many years, Siemens has made a very important contribution in supporting the efficient production of oil and gas in the

dirhams just in the final quarter.

The operational profitability of Aldar’s hospitality assets, comprising a chain of luxury hotels on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, are well below book value, analysts said. Nomura estimates that its hotel assets will continue to generate losses of 1 billion dirhams this year.

“Aldar must still carry and finance the high depreciating hotel portfolio, where occupancies remain low and will likely continue to generate losses in 2011,” Chet Riley, MENA real estate analyst said in a research note. He said Aldar continues to run operational losses, with a large portion of this attached to the low yielding, high depreciating operational assets.

“Hotel occupancy rates are still low with the racing week still being the only key event on Yas Island,” said Abbas. — Reuters

Kingdom, with a good record of investing in the local economy.”

The agreement will enable Saudi Aramco to take advantage of the rotating equipment portfolio of Siemens Oil and Gas Division. Initially for a period for seven years, the CPA will cover

low-emissions gas turbines with a capacity of up to 50 megawatts (MW) for a wide range of applications, high-efficiency steam turbines with ratings up to 200 MW, and compressors and blowers. Shop and field services and spare parts are

also included in the CPA. Siemens has been present in Saudi Arabia for almost 75 years.

Since 1976, Siemens has been a joint venture partner of E.A. Juffali & Bros. Today, Siemens has over 1,800 employees in Saudi Arabia.

DOW CHEMICAL LAUNCHES ITS NEW OFFICE IN KUWAIT

UAE’s Aldar Properties may see more provisions DUBAI: A record write-off of assets may not end woes of indebted developer Aldar Properties, as the company may see further impairments, analysts said yesterday. Aldar, which booked 11.3 billion dirhams ($3.1 billion) in impairments and fair value losses last year, may still have assets that are overvalued while some unsold property could also see losses in the coming years. “We do not rule out further impairment charges on Aldar’s balance sheet,” said Jad Abbas, real estate analyst at EFG-Hermes. Shares of Aldar, the builder of the Yas Marina Formula One Circuit, dropped 3.2 percent, as investors reacted to a 12.7 billion dirham loss reported for 2010.

The developer’s fourth quarter loss was calculated at $3 billion, its highest quarterly loss ever, as the company took impairments of 10.8 billion

Tom Blades, CEO Siemens Oil Gas (left) and Munir Rafie, Saudi Aramco Vice President of Materials Supply.

Company Appoints Jamel Attal as MD KUWAIT: Dow Chemical yesterday announced the opening of its new office in Kuwait. Headed by Jamel Attal, Dow’s newly appointed Managing Director in Kuwait, the new office emphasizes the critical significance of its investments and partnerships in the country.

Dow’s office in Kuwait will drive the company’s business partnerships across the country, while working to enhance the existing partnerships, and nourish the company’s investments in the petrochemical sector which led to establishing six leading joint ventures.

“The debut of Dow’s office in Kuwait is yet another milestone that demonstrates our unwavering commitment towards our existing partnerships and investments in Kuwait,” said Markus Wildi, Vice President of Corporate

Jamel Attal

Markus Wildi

Development in Kuwait and President, Dow Middle East. “We are excited to launch our office in Kuwait to commemorate our successful history which spans 15 years. Jamel has been with Dow

for over 22 years and brings excellent commercial experience and ability to drive Dow’s business on the ground, and to build on our relationships with the community, joint ventures, and business part-

ners.” Dow Chemical has been in Kuwait for 15 years through EQUATE Petrochemical Company, a successful joint venture with Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) of Kuwait.

Following one successful milestone after another, Dow and PIC are now partners in six mutually beneficial joint ventures in Kuwait among which are EQUATE, MEGlobal, and The Kuwait Olefins Company.

As the largest foreign investor, and the largest private employer of Kuwaiti nationals through its joint ventures in the petrochemicals industry in Kuwait, Dow has consistently promoted economic development and prosperity.

Historically, Dow’s strong existing asset base, technology position and market presence bring several advantages to its partnerships and joint ventures.

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2740000 .2840000 .4450000 .4540000 .3775000 .3850000 .2890000 .2980000 .2790000 .2880000 .2800000 .2880000 .0045000 .0075000 .0020000 .0035000 .0755660 .0763260 .7362210 .7436200 .3900000 .4100000 .0710000 .0780000 .7217320 .7289860 .0045000 .0072000 .0480000 .0570000 CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2783500 .2804500 GB Pound/KD .4470040 .4504870 Euro .3798090 .3826740 Swiss francs .2888800 .2910590 Canadian dollars .2798610 .2819730 Danish Kroner .0509460 .0513310 Swedish Kroner .0433040 .0436310 Australian dlr .2820940 .2842220 Hong Kong dlr .0357520 .0360220 Singapore dlr .2184170 .2200640 Japanese yen .0033750 .0034000 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 .0062320 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 .0025380 Pakistan rupee .0000000 .0033030 Bangladesh taka .0000000 .0039780 UAE dirhams .0758030 .0763750 Bahraini dinars .7385250 .7440970 Jordanian dinar .0000000 .3966760 Saudi Riyal/KD .0742460 .0748070 Omani riyals .7231750 .7286310 Philippine Peso .0000000 .0064920

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co.

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.410 6.151 3.275 2.515 3.864 219.870 35.934

Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

3.856 6.421 9.103 0.271 0.273 GCC COUNTRIES Saudi Riyal 74.591 Qatari Riyal 76.877 Omani Riyal 726.720 Bahraini Dinar 742.940 UAE Dirham 76.171 ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 50.500 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 47.559 Yemen Riyal 1.310 Tunisian Dinar 198.640 Jordanian Dinar 395.110 Lebanese Lira 185.600 Syrian Lier 6.080 Morocco Dirham 34.743 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 279.680 Euro 383.160 Sterling Pound 450.840 Canadian dollar 282.510 Turkish lire 177.630 Swiss Franc 291.940 Australian dollar 283.400 US Dollar Buying 278.995 GOLD 20 Gram 260.000 10 Gram 132.000 5 Gram 68.000

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar

SELL CASH 287.000 743.590 4.220 284.800 549.100 14.100 52.100 167.800 50.420 386.000 36.610

SELL DRAFT 285.500 743.590 3.870 283.300

220.500 47.721 383.500 36.460

Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal 10 Tola Sterling Pound US Dollar

6.400 0.033 0.262 0.251 3.490 396.800 0.189 95.020 46.500 4.380 219.500 1.902 49.900 726.270 3.340 6.570 77.340 74.650 220.530 41.470 2.713 453.300 43.000 294.000 6.100 9.470 198.263 76.290 280.000 1.350 GOLD 1,415.780 TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 451.300 279.600

6.170 0.032

395.200 0.188 95.020 3.870 218.000

726.090 3.290 6.455 76.910 74.650 220.530 41.470 2.515 451.300 292.500 6.100 9.300 76.190 279.000

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees

Selling Rate 279.500 283.320 449.995 383.835 289.670 739.765 76.075 76.749 74.503 394.826 47.712 2.516 6.174

Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

3.287 3.872 6.441 685.606 3.487 9.185 6.196 3.941 91.922

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Nepali rupee Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Canadian Dollars

Rate per 1000 (Tran) 279.550 3.290 6.180 2.525 3.870 6.480 76.185 74.740 743.000 47.555 455.500 0.00003280 3.910 1.550 397.100 5.750 387.100 287.800

Al Mulla Exchange Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

Transfer Rate (Per 1000) 279.150 384.000 451.000 282.900 3.415 6.153 46.550 2.515 3.825 6.432 3.280 743.550 76.100 74.550

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BUSINESS Geneva airport unveils mobile passenger terminal GENEVA: Geneva’s international airport, often swamped in winter by skiers heading for the Alpine slopes, yesterday unveiled what officials said was the world’s first mobile passenger terminal.

The tent-style construction, with checkin desks and computers for self-registrat i o n , w a s c o n c e i ve d a n d b u i l t b y a n Au s t r i a n c o m p a ny, T MT M a n a g e m e n t GmbH, for both large and small airports with temporary capacity problems.

“The terminal can be used not only to handle surges of passengers, but also to back up airports hit by natural disasters and when major sports events are held in a catchment area,” TMT managing director Thomas Melcher said.

Geneva’s airport is a major hub for the British-based budget airline Easyjet and Swiss, part of Lufthansa. Many big international carriers like British Airways and Air France-KLM also have several daily flights.

The airport’s director, Robert Deillon, said the mobile terminal would be used through the winter, and later during expansion work.

“We have been looking for something like this for years,” he told a news conference.

TMT officials said the terminal was conceived as a flexible structure with arrival and departure modules that could be adapted and expanded to function as satellites.

It can be installed and dismantled within a week and be moved to other locations, they added. — Reuters

GAPCORP, KFH-BAHRAIN ON FAST LANE WITH EXTENDED WARRANTY AGREEMENT GAPCORP to provide Third Party Administration KUWAIT: GAPCORP, recognized regionally as the largest international and local extended warranty provider, has signed an agreement with Kuwait Finance House - Bahrain [KFH-Bahrain], a leading provider of Islamic commercial and investment banking services, to offer Third Party Administration and Claims Handling for Extended Warranty.

With the agreement, the Extended Warranty on all vehicles financed by KFHBahrain will come with 5 years warranty and will cover all mechanical and electrical components thus enhancing the residual value of the vehicle.

In his comments on the agreement, Martin Warburton, Group General Manager and Vice-Chairman of GAPCORP, said: “Reinforcing our increased presence across the Middle East, we are extremely happy to announce our agreement with KFH-Bahrain on TPA and Claims Handling.

GAPCORP aims to offer the best services to our customers, thus reinforcing our commitment to their needs in line with the market demands. Through this agreement, we remain committed to providing the end-buyers with a better resale value.”

Talking about the agreement, Khalid Rafea, Executive Manager and Head of Banking Group at KFH-Bahrain, said: “We have always believed in introducing unique products and services to our customers and our agreement with GAP-

CORP is part of our endeavor to work closely with world-class companies for the benefit of our clients. GAPCORP has a thorough understanding of the regional markets and we are happy to announce this major milestone with them.”

GAPCORP, a global leader in extended warranty products, provides a basket of products and services in each of the GCC markets, Europe, South East Asia and the Americas. The Extended Warranty will be a duplicate of the manufacturers’ warran-

ty for electrical and mechanical components and will cover the vehicles during the most crucial time required - after the expiry of the original manufacturers’ warranty.

Kuwait Finance House-Bahrain is a leading provider of Islamic commercial and investment bank ing ser vices.

Established in 2002 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait Finance House (Kuwait) — an industry leader for more than 30 years-KFH-Bahrain specializes

in developing and bringing to market the highest quality Sharia-compliant banking and investment products and services.

GAPCORP also offers the F&I platform scheme - a mechanism that provides auto dealers with a platform to manage the needs of their customers by creating a one-stop-shop for the consumer at the time of purchasing a vehicle.

GAPCORP already have a joint venture with Zuellig Group - one of the largest privately-held companies in South East Asia covering Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia under Asia Warranty Services and in the Gulf Council Countries under GAPGULF and in Europe through its European arm, the UK-based Euro Warranty.

GAPCORP subsidiary Latin American Extended Services has a joint venture with Mexican conglomerate Qualitas Insurance and Mexbrit and in North America.

The company is also a global implementer for value added products such as Extended Warranty, GAP products and Road Side Assistance. Apart from KFH, GapCorp has a comprehensive client list such as BMW Financial Services, Nissan and Infiniti, DAIMLER (Mercedes) in KSA, VW Financial Services, Lexus, Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Orix Leasing, KIA and Hyundai, and many more.

Gaddafi offers loans to flex global muscle $2 billion handed out to dozens of govts TRIPOLI: Libya has handed out more than $2 billion in loans to dozens of governments across the globe, according to an internal document that shows the oil exporter’s diplomatic ambitions and its struggles to recover its debts.

Libya’s foreign lending also shines a light on its attempts, before it emerged from decades of international isolation six years ago, to goad Washington by lending to US foes such as Nicaragua, Cuba and the former Yugoslavia. “This was a period when ... (Libyan leader Muammar) Gaddafi was looking for anything that could upset the apple cart,” said Dirk Vandewalle, a Libya scholar at Dartmouth College in the United States.

The document, drafted by Libya’s

foreign ministry and presented to the Peoples Congresses, or grassroots lawmaking bodies, says Libya has provided loans to around 40 countries worth a total of $2.197 billion. As of the end of 2009, Libya had been paid back $1.302 billion, leaving an outstanding balance, when interest is included, of $3.231 billion, it said.

The biggest debtor mentioned in the document is Libya’s neighbor Sudan with an outstanding balance of $1.287 billion, part of Sudan’s debilitating external debt of almost $40 billion. “We are seeking to have (all of Sudan’s) ... loans forgiven because we believe that both governments, the Government of Sudan and the would-be Government of South Sudan, would not be in a posi-

tion to repay these loans in the near future,” Marial Awour, the junior minister of finance, told Reuters. Sudan’s south is on course to secede from the mainly Muslim north after a referendum on independence.

Other big debtors are Ethiopia, which owes $249 million and Mozambique, with $211 million to pay back, according to a copy of the document obtained by Reuters.

Many of the loans are interest-free, especially those to African and Arab countries. But much of the lending is further afield. The document, which does not detail when the loans were made, lists credit provided to Poland, Hungary, the former Yugoslavia, Pakistan, Cuba and Nicaragua, which now owes Libya $302.12 million. — Reuters

Samsung Mobile achieves record breaking results KUWAIT: Samsung Electronics, a leading mobile phone and telecommunication equipment provider, recently revealed outstanding global financial results for mobile phones in the fourth quarter of 2010. Samsung’s telecommunications businesses - Mobile Communications and Telecommunications Systems - registered a record quarterly operating profit of $1.29 billion for the period, up 38 percent year-on-year. Samsung Mobile registered the fourth quarter revenue at $10.86 billion, compared with $9.12 billion for same period of 2009. Samsung Mobile continued its outstanding performance for 2010 by finishing the year strongly with an operating profit of $3.86 billion on sales of $36.9 billion for its telecommunications businesses.

Samsung achieved global revenue of $37.56 billion on a consolidated basis for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2010, a 7-percent increase year-on-year. For the quarter, the company posted consolidated net income of $3.06 billion, a 13-percent increase year-on-year. Consolidated operating profit for the quarter was $2.7billion. In its earnings guidance disclosed on January 7, Samsung estimated fourth-quarter consolidated revenues would reach approximately $36.7 billion with an operating profit of $2.69 billion.

On a regional level, Samsung’s Gulf region recorded about an average of 20 percent market shares in UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

The rollouts of Galaxy S and Wave smartphones in the region were the primary drivers of continued sales growth and boosted the mobile phone division’s fourth quarter turn-over growth by 60 percent. In the Gulf region, 2011 will be the year we focus more on matching all our customers’ requirements and continue launching mobile phones that offer different operating systems, the latest technologies and the best designs for our consumers.

Samsung’s Mobile business anticipates a positive growth in the region as more consumers are expected to transition to smartphones in 2011as the ultimate experience aligns with their personal needs and demands.

“We accomplished our fourth quarter goals in the Middle East due to the rising demand of smartphones in emerging markets. Due to our diverse product mix of mass-market smartphones and touch-screen feature phones, we were able to register a solid sales growth for 2010,” commented Young Woo Jun, Mobile Phone Sales and Marketing Director of Samsung Gulf Electronics.

NBK Executive Management in a group photo with new recruits

NBK raised national workforce by more than 17% in 2010 KUWAIT: The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the best bank in the Middle East, increased the size of its national workforce by more than 17% during 2010.

NBK hired 234 Kuwaitis of both genders in 2010, as part of its commitment to providing distinctive career opportunities to ambitious young citizens, and to maintaining its leading position as one of the

largest employers in the private sector.

NBK Group CEO Ibrahim Dabdoub, Deputy Group CEO Isam Al-Sager and NBK CEO- Kuwait Shaikha Al-Bahar, along with a number of NBK executive management, met with the group of young Kuwaitis who recently joined the bank.

In addition, NBK Academy organ-

ized more than 174 training courses for staff from various departments, within the framework of its policy to develop the competencies and capabilities of its human resources and refine their skills.

NBK stressed that it would continue its efforts to provide distinctive career opportunities for Kuwaitis in 2011, as part of its ongoing commitment to Kuwaitization.

Investment Dar’s Restructuring plan update Bumper-to-Bumper signs deal with Al-Qusoor Al-Wataniya Car Trading In a step that resonated through the fleet market in Kuwait, Bumper-to-Bumper has recently finalized and signed a deal with Al-Qusoor Al-Wataniya Car Trading Company, member of Al-Qusoor Al-Wataniya Group, a fleet and vehicle rental provider that deals primarily with the governmental sector, establishing Bumper-toBumper as the exclusive service provider to the companyís vehicle fleet. As a result of this understanding, Bumper-to-Bumper, the leading vehicle quick service provider in Kuwait will be offering its exceptional services to a total of 562 vehicles including mechanical, electrical, lube, body shop, washing and detailing services.

Known as the ultimate quick service destination for all vehicle makes in Kuwait, Bumper-to-Bumper offer its outstanding Quick Lube services that are performed through a comprehensive courtesy check list that entirely adopts international standards. Check points include brake fluid level, clutch fluid level, gear oil level, tire pressure and condition, power steering oil level, coolant level, windshield washer level, wiper blades and arms, shock absorbers condition, drive shaft condition, battery electrolyte level and cleaning the air filter.

In addition, Bumper-to-Bumper also caters to all car makes in Kuwait through its Quick Service division that provides the best service quality in engine and transmission diagnostics, engine tune up, automatic transmission, AC & electrical systems, brakes, steering alignment as well as tire and wheel balancing. Furthermore, Bumper-to-Bumper offer other exceptional services such as the state-of-the-art paint & body shop for full body repairs and detailing services as well as the automatic car wash facility in Shuwaikh outlet.

The synergy that exists between Bumper-to-Bumper and companiesí commercial needs, increases its level of commitment towards other fleet customers.

KUWAIT: The Investment Dar KSCC (“ TID or “the Company”) and The Coordinating Committee of the Banks and Investors of The Investment Dar KSCC. (“ The Committee”) are pleased to issue the following joint announcement in relation to TID’s ongoing restructuring.

Following feedback from Banks and Investors on the illustrative Enhanced Supplementary Plan (“ESP”) circulated by the Committee on the 21 January 2011 and further close and constructive discussion with the Company relating to revision of the terms of the illustrative ESP, the Board of TID has yesterday issued a resolution approving the terms of the revised ESP which offers substantive enhancements to the Supplemental Plan submitted to the Special Circuit Court under the Financial Stability Law. The ESP ’s revised facilities retain enhanced versions of both the 3 year Senior Facility and the Junior Profit Participation Facility (“PPF”) outlined in the Company’s Supplemental Plan but now also include an additional equity component.

The size of the Senior Facility has been increased by KD 55m to KD 405m with an annual senior profit payment in cash increased from 2% to 5% and a PIK (“Payment in kind”) element of 6% per annum payable in years 34. This means that the all-in profit rate on the Senior Facility has increased from an annualised rate of 10% to 11%. The tenor of

the PPF has been reduced from 8 years to 6 years, which will lead to earlier repayment of the Banks and Investors of a fur ther KD600m.

The ESP effectively converts part of the Banks’ and Investors’ debt claims on the Company into equity in TID. TID’s shareholders will have the oppor tunity to reclaim part of this equity if debt repayments are honored in full.

Under the ESP, 10% of TID’s shares will be passed to the Banks and Investors as part of the restructuring package. In addition, up to KD 20m in fresh equity will be injected by TID’s shareholders in the first twelve months of the plan.

The plan includes several new important provisions in relation to corporate governance.

We are targeting a completion date before 30 June 2011, subject to legal documentation and the necessary approvals. Adnan AlMusallam, Chairman of the Investment Dar commented: “We are grateful to the former and current Committees and their advisers for their hard work in refining the ESP and the constructive approach they have taken in the negotiations relating to the terms. The Board has today issued a resolution approving the terms of the ESP under which the Company will endeavor to make full payment with profit in a 6 year period. The Board strongly believes that the ESP represents a workable solution to the Company’s restructuring and is in

the best interests of all TID’s stakeholders. We will continue to work closely with the Committee on the necessary steps to deliver the agreed commercial solution and jointly believe that the quick implementation of the ESP would be to the benefit of both the Banks and the Company’s shareholders.”

A spokesperson for the Committee added: “ We are pleased to have been able to make strong progress in a short period of time following the reconstitution of the Committee.

We note the Board resolution to proceed with the terms of the ESP and acknowledge the assistance of TID’s Management in the formulation of the ESP. We believe the ESP is in line with the agreed principles of the restructuring process, in which the terms and structure align the interests of all stakeholders, comply with the recently announced Central Bank of Kuwait ratios, are capable of receiving the approval of the Court and improve overall returns for banks on their exposure. We look forward to further discussions with the Banks and Investors at meetings in Kuwait and Dubai on 21st and 22nd February “ The Committee hosted a conference call with TID’s Banks and Investors yesterday to outline the terms of the ESP and to provide further context and explanations, ahead of the Special Circuit Cour t hearing on 10 February 2011.

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KSE stocks face pressure

LONDON: Brent crude oil rose back over $100 yesterday after data a day earlier showed a drop in US stockpiles and supported by the unrest in Egypt.

Analysts said the rise was likely to be capped by China’s rate hike on Tuesday and ahead of the release of US government weekly oil data yesterday which may record high crude stockpiles at the delivery point for US crude.

Brent traded 65 cents higher at $100.57, after closing at $99.92 on Tuesday. US crude futures rose 40 cents to $87.34 by 1210 GMT. Brent crude traded at a record high premium of $13.39 a barrel to US crude.

“Brent is still reflecting the market concern about Egypt and the Suez Canal,” said Tony Nunan, assistant general manager with Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo. “Oil supply to Europe via the canal would have more impact than to the US.” The canal was operating normally on Tuesday despite strike action by 3,000 workers in companies owned by the Suez Canal authorities in Ismailia and Suez over pay and conditions.

GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Kuwait’s equities ended yesterday’s session on a mixed note.

The volume is light so far in February in the absence of news that cheer up investor sentiment.

Elsewhere, sources revealed that the General Director of Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) Hamid Al-Saif requested authorities to resolve the issue of some companies which, contrary to their purposes listed in their Article of Association, practice the sale and purchase of listed shares. AlSaif suggested the closure of such accounts, and prevention of opening new accounts for those companies or other companies, according to an earlier decision to limit such practices to investment companies, banks, funds and companies that include in their principal activities purchase and sale of shares.

Spanish builder Obrascon Huarte Lain (OHL) has won its first contract in Kuwait with a 645.5 million euro ($873 million) order to build a viaduct in the country’s capital. OHL holds 48 percent of the winning consortium for the contract, part of the government’s program to improve traffic flows in the city of Kuwait, OHL said.

Global General Index (GGI) closed 0.67 points down(0.30 percent),at 218.76 point as the market capitalization dropped reaching KD35.56mn. On the other hand, Kuwait Stock Exchange Price Index closed in the green zone adding 5.90 points (0.09 percent) from its value and closed at 6,758.8 point.

Market Breadth During the session, 112 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards decliners as 42 equities advanced versus 28 that retreated. Trading activity remained thin with only 93.72mn shares changing hands at a total value of KWD23.56mn.

The Real Estate Sector was the volume leader yesterday accounting for 25.07 percent of total shares and the Banking Sector was the value leader, with 51.77 percent of total traded value.

Company-wise, Mena Holding Company was the most actively traded stock during the day, with 14.98mn shares exchanged at a total value of KD1.57mn. The scrip closed down by 3.77 percent at KD0.102.

In terms of top gainers, First Dubai For Real Estate Development Co was the biggest gainer for the day, adding 7.69 percent and closed at KD0.035. On the other hand, AlSafat TEC Holding Co came in as the biggest decliner, dropping by 6.41 percent and closed at KD0.037.

On a sector-by-sector basis, Non Kuwaiti Index paced the losses, dropping by 1.36 percent as meas-

ured by Global Non Kuwaiti Index.

Egypt Kuwait Holding Co. announced its 2010 earnings which came out positive, with its net profits posting 7.79 percent increase YoY. However, that was not enough to cheer investors’ moods. The scrip closed down by 3.85 percent at KD0.375. It’s obvious that Egypt turmoil is still negatively affecting the stock price.

Banking stocks were also a notable loser for the day, Global Banking Index shed 0.63 percent to close at 364.17 points. National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) shed 1.41 percent to close at KD1.400, whilst Burgan Bank gained 1.85 percent to close at KD0.550.

Corporate News Combined Group Contracting Co reported that the Central Tenders

Brent crude over $100, record premium to US

Committee posted on its website that the company won tender No KU/KUCB/C 0800-10-11. Under this contract, the KSE-listed company will build the Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Education in Sabah Al-Salem Campus, Kuwait. The KD119.94mn worth of tender will last 42 months, given that CGC will carry out 40 percent of this project. Kuwait Syrian Holding Co made a clarification about the news published in a local gazette yesterday about the provisional seizure of a Syria-based land plot which is owned by a listed investment company.

Oil News The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $96.12 a barrel on Tuesday, compared with $96.02 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

Olivier Jakob with Petromatrix said weekly data from the industry group American Petroleum Institute (API), which showed a surprise decline in US crude inventories on Tuesday, was pushing oil prices higher.

Analysts with Mizuho Corporate Bank said a rise in oil prices was likely to be limited by the long-term impact on oil demand from China’s two rate hikes in a month.

“Caution about a slowdown in demand in China due to the rate hikes is strong. It is difficult to see development, where the oil market would keep on targeting higher prices aggressively,” the bank said in its daily note.

The US government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) data due out at 1530 GMT will be closely watched. Analysts in a Reuters poll forecast the opposite to the API data.

A Reuters market poll predicted the EIA will report a 2.4 million barrel rise in US crude stocks in the week to Feb 4.

Crude stocks at the delivery point at Cushing, Oklahoma, may surge to a record high. —Reuters

Saudi inflation slows to 9-month low in Jan JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation rate slowed to a nine-month low of 5.3 percent in January, pulled down by tumbling food prices, but price pressures could continue in the first quarter, the central bank said yesterday.

Annual inflation in the biggest Arab economy and the world’s top oil exporter eased from 5.4 percent in December to its lowest level since April 2010, data from the Central Department of Statistics showed. On a month-on-month basis, inflation stood at 0.1 percent in January, unchanged from December.

But the kingdom’s central bank said in its quarterly report that there was “the possibility of continued inflationary pres-

sures in the first quarter.” It gave no forecast for the quarter or 2011. Consumer prices are expected to climb higher this year, lifted by soaring global food prices.

“Given commodity prices globally are rising, that should give into the headline figure for inflation in the later months, most likely the second half of the year,” said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi in Riyadh.

The sharp declines in Saudi food prices were offset by a rise in rental costs, which went up 0.8 percent in January, but analysts expected prices to ease towards the end of the year. “Monthly rental inflation tends to be higher in the first half of the year. —Reuters

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business

Aviation giants scrap for contracts at India airshow

BANGALORE: India's Defense Minister A.K. Antony waves from inside the cockpit of an aircraft after inaugurating the Aero India 2011 exposition in Bangalore yesterday. Aero India 2011 has drawn 675 firms and around 40 official delegations from 45 countries to the southern city of Bangalore, India's aeronautical capital.— AFP

BANGALORE: Global aeronautical companies laid out their stalls yesterday in one of the world's hottest aviation markets, looking for a share of billions of dollars in Indian military and civilian contracts.

Aero India 2011 has drawn 675 firms and around 40 official delegations from 45 countries to the southern city of Bangalore, India's aeronautical capital.

The five-day airshow comes less than a month after Indian budget carrier Indigo agreed a $15.6-billion order for 180 A320 passenger aircraft with Europe's Airbus Industries.

Airbus rival Boeing Co. was among the heavyweights in a particularly strong US corporate contingent at the air show, which coincided with a visit to India by US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. "We are seeing explosive growth in India's civil aviation sector.

India will be requiring more aircraft in the future, and US companies can provide fuel-efficient technologies which would help reduce fares in the countr y," Locke said in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Seattle-based Boeing Co. predicted Indian airlines could spend $130 billion dollars in the next two decades on acquisitions. "We estimate India's annu-

al passenger growth at 15 percent in the next five years will be the highest in the whole world," said Dinesh Keskar, president of Boeing's India subsidiary.

As well as the civilian aviation market, global manufacturers are greedily eyeing a raft of military contracts being offered as par t of an ambitious upgrade of the Indian air force.

"Today, India's aerospace sector has emerged as the fastest growing in the world," Defense Minister A K Antony said in a speech to open the air show.

"We are open to joint ventures, publicprivate partnerships and licensed production under transfer of technology."

Antony added that India's current defense expenditure -- 2.5 percent of GDP was "bound to increase over the next two decades". Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin Corp. and three other Western firms are all in the running for a $12 billion deal to sell 126 fighter jets to India. The much-awaited contract could to be finalized in July.

"Defense budgets across the world are flat while in India on the other hand it is growing," said Mark Kronenberg, vice president in Boeing's defense unit.

"It (India) is an extremely important destination for us." Stephen Estill, an executive with Sikorsky said the US-

Weber not candidate for ECB president Withdrawal surprises markets FRANKFURT/BERLIN: Bundesbank chief Axel Weber will not be a candidate to succeed Jean-Claude Trichet as president of the European Central Bank when the Frenchman's term expires in October, European sources told Reuters yesterday.

Weber, a hardline inflation-fighter who heads Germany's central bank, had been seen as the leading contender to replace Trichet. His withdrawal from the race for Europe's top monetary policy job surprised markets, sending the euro down against the dollar.

"Weber's ECB candidacy is no longer on the agenda," one of the European sources said.

Earlier, sources in European financial centres had told Reuters that the Bundesbank planned to issue a statement about Weber's professional future later yesterday, but the German central bank later denied that.

Bundesbank sources told Reuters that Weber had indicated he was not interested in a second term at the Bundesbank and that he saw no reason to issue a statement on the matter. His Bundesbank term runs until April 2012.

The German finance ministry declined to comment. Deutsche Bank also declined to comment on rumours Weber could move to a new post at Germany's largest commercial bank, but a source familiar with the matter said this was very unlikely.

The euro-zone's political leaders, who will collectively choose Trichet's successor, are also embroiled in negotiations on a compre-

Governor of Germany's central bank (Bundesbank) Axel Weber taking part in a discussion on the euro currency during an Economic Forum in Berlin.— AFP hensive new package of measures to address the region's sovereign debt crisis.

Berlin has repeatedly denied that the ECB presidency, which has been held by Dutchman Wim Duisenberg and Trichet since the central bank was established in 1998, would be part of the bargaining over the package, which is expected to be finalized at a March 24-25 European Union summit.

TUI AG sees Egypt/Tunisia hit of up to 37m euro FRANKFURT: TUI AG expects to post a full-year profit by offering more holidays elsewhere to offset the impac t of unrest in Egypt and Tunisia that could wipe up to 37 million euros ($50.5 million) off quarterly earnings.

"What we can see from our bookings is that we are still well on track, so obviously people are using the opportunity to rebook," TUI AG's Chief Financial Officer Horst Baier said on a conference call. "I do not see a negative impact on the overall booking trend." Travel companies such as TUI- owner of Europe's biggest tour operator TUI Travel -and Thomas Cook have cancelled holidays from some countries to Egypt after mass protests in major cities including Cairo and Alexandria.

TUI's German tourism arm said on Tuesday it had cancelled all trips to Egypt and Tunisia through the end of February and was offering customers free rebookings, which it hopes will avert a slump in demand.

Baier's optimism echoed comments

by Thomas Cook, which said this week it hoped to offset a hit of up to 20 million pounds ($32 million) by offering more holidays to other destinations such as Greece and Spain.

About 12.5 million tourists visited Egypt in 2009, bringing revenue of $10.8 billion, and other countries are now set to pick up some of the slack.

A senior tourism industry official told Reuters this week Greece could see double-digit growth in visitor arrivals this year. Spain is also likely to pick up more business as tour

operators rush to offer alternatives for customers seeking winter sun.

"We hope to see a stabilization in Nor th Africa over the coming months," TUI's Baier said.

TUI said it still sees a slight increase in full fiscal-year operating profit and expects to post a net profit for the year. Analysts on average expect TUI to report a net profit of 204 million euros for the twelve months through the end of September and a 0.04 euro per share dividend, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. "We do not expect a massive negative impact from this unrest for TUI in 2011, even though (it) ... might turn to some extra costs in the second quar ter," Sylvia Quandt Research analyst Stefan Kick said, affirming his "buy" recommendation on TUI's stock.

Shares of TUI were up 1.5 percent at 10.60 euros by 0909 GMT, while the German mid-cap index was up 0.2 percent. The shares have gained 57 percent over the past year on hopes TUI will raise cash by floating par t of container shipping unit Hapag-Lloyd. Baier said yesterday he would not rule out a possible initial public offering before the European summer.

TUI AG reported an underlying loss before interest, tax and amortization (EBITA) of 119.6 million euros for the three months to the end of December, bang in line with the average estimate in a Reuters poll of banks and brokerages. Tour operators usually make a loss in this traditionally quiet quarter.— Reuters

Weber, 53, irritated some of Germany's partners including France last year when he came out publicly against the ECB's program to buy the bonds of indebted euro-zone states.

His opposition to the program reinforced the view in other European capitals that his strict adherence to monetary orthodoxy might become a problem as the 17-nation

euro zone struggles to emerge from the deepest crisis in its 12-year existence.

"I think it's been clear for some time that Weber was too abrasive a character for the role of ECB President," said James Nixon, an economist at Societe Generale.

"If Weber had been president he would have been a very hawkish president, but now I expect we will have a character that is more of a committee player."

The choice of who succeeds Trichet is expected to be decided primarily between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy over the next few months. Economists noted that Weber's withdrawal did not necessarily mean a German would not get the post.

Klaus Regling, head of the European Financial Stability Facility, the euro zone's bailout fund, is viewed as a second German option although he said in November he was not interested.

Weber's chief rival for the post has long been seen to be Italian central bank head Mario Draghi, who as chairman of the Financial Stability Board has been in charge of coordinating global financial regulation since the 2008-09 crisis.

Other names that have been mentioned include Bank of Finland Governor Erkki Liikanen, a former European Commissioner and a monetary policy moderate; Ewald Nowotny, Austria's central bank chief; and Yves Mersch from Luxembourg, who is the longest serving member of the ECB's governing council. — Reuters

based helicopter-maker was competing for a $800 million project to sell 16 anti-submarine helicopters to the Indian navy.

Trials are likely to begin in April, he said. India's military spending grew from $12 billion in 2000-2001 to nearly $33 billion in 2010-2011, according to government figures.

International consultancy firm KPMG estimates Delhi will hand out military contracts worth $112 billion by 2016. The Bangalore show will witness the first public flight of India's homegrown fighter jet, the Tejas, which has taken around 25 years to develop and only recently received operational clearance.

The single-seater, supersonic tactical jet was hyped as a milestone in India's bid to reduce its dependency on military imports, but Antony stressed that self-reliance remained something of a pipedream.

Given the troubled security scenario in South Asia, "we cannot wait till technology is developed in India," Antony said. "We will be in danger and so we will have to import from outside. We will source from Russia, the US and others, and there will be a level playing field for all," he added. — AFP

Greek exporters turn to Arab world for markets NICOSIA: With their domestic market reeling from a bruising debt crisis, Greek companies are looking again to the Arab world for new trading partners, with Cyprus serving as their springboard to the region.

This week, representatives of more than 70 Greek agricultural, pharmaceutical and construction businesses met with their counterparts from Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon during a two-day event in Nicosia called the EU-Arab Countries Bridge Greek Business Delegation.

Dozens of Cypriot companies were on hand as well, sniffing out alternative markets as they grapple with weakening consumer demand on the island, an EU member state since May 2004.

"Greece has strong historic links to the Arab world, but more recently we have turned to the European Union," Greek Foreign Minister Spyros Kouvelis explained.

"We must now renew our relationship with this very important market, especially since this region can also be a source of investment," he said, referring to how Greece is looking for private investors for its ports, airports, postal service and public lottery.

Greece has traditionally been happy to meet its own internal demand, with exports contributing only seven percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), according to data from the Greek International Business Association (SEVE). That is far below the EU average of 20 percent-and even then, less than 10 percent of Greek exports went to Arab markets. Greece is keen to reverse that state of affairs, and indeed exports have gone up since last July, but so far the biggest hurdle is proving to be red tape.

"It takes years to set up a company in Greece," where mobility of both labor and capital are low, said Saleh Jallad of Consolidated Contractors, a Lebanese construction firm based in Athens and trading across the Arab world. "Last month, one of my friends wanted to come and invest $70 million (51.2 million euros) and he couldn't even get a visa because of terrorism fears," said Jallad, a Palestinian who has lived in Greece for 30 years.

"Greece was more open (to the Arab world) before it joined the European Union," he added. George Kepenos, who runs a mill in the Peloponnese, said: "Previously, we were lazy. We rested on the laurels of our domestic market." "The crisis has made us look overseas," he said, adding that he met some "very interesting business partners" at the Nicosia conference but was disappointed that several Egyptian businesses cancelled their visit. —AFP

PSA Peugeot Citroen shifts back into profitability PARIS: French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen said yesterday that it had earned 1.13 million euros ($1.54 billion) in net profit last year following two years of losses.

"We are pleased to announce a substantial recovery in profitability in 2010 for all our businesses," Chairman of the Managing Board Philippe Varin said in a statement.

Revenues grew by 15.8 percent to 56.06 billion euros, driven by the success of new models, "cash-for-clunkers" schemes in several countries, and growth in China which took sales to a record 3.6 million vehicles. The company's Chinese joint venture Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile contributed 159 million euros to net earnings.

"Whilst 2011 is likely to remain challenging in European markets, our global development should continue with the second joint venture in China and our project to enter the Indian market," said Varin. The company said plans are "under way" to enter the Indian market and manufacture a mid-sized sedan there. While the European market is expected to remain flat in 2011, the company said it expects the market in China to grow by 10 percent in China, four percent in Latin America and 15 percent in Russia.

"Automotive recurring operating income is expected to be ahead in 2011," after coming in at 621 million euros in 2010, said Varin. Free cash flow is also expected to remain positive.

The company plans to reimburse in February and April the remaining two billion euros of the three-billion-euro loan it received from the French state during the economic crisis. It repaid one billion euros in September. Shortly before midday PSA Peugeot Citroen's shares were down nearly three percent at 30.27 euros on a market down 0.16 percent. — AFP

MIAMI: Cans of Coca-Cola Zero are shown at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead. Fla. Coca-Cola Co's fourth-quarter net income more than tripled yesterday, helped by an acquisition and volume growth in developed countries. —AP

IMF to review Serbia’s $3.9 billion loan BELGRADE: An International Monetary Fund delegation has arrived in Serbia for the final review of a 2.9 billion euros ($3.9 billion) standby loan deal as the country tries to cope with high inflation and the threat of widespread strikes.

The seventh and last review of the package approved by the IMF in 2009 is expected to focus on the worrying economic trends in the Balkan country, including an inflation rate that has soared to over 10 percent -- some four percentage points above the official target.

A partial freeze in wages in the state sector imposed by the IMF as a measure to curb public spending has led to strikes by teachers, policemen and health officials who are all demanding higher salaries.

The parties forming Serbia's pro-Western government are under intense pressure to boost their popularity -- and prevent populist nationalists to return to power in next year's elections -- by complying to the strikers' demands. However, the IMF's representative in Serbia, Bogdan Lissovolik, insist-

ed that the government must curb public wages over the long term, adding that the country needs "politically painful reforms" to overcome the crisis.

He told Belgrade's Economic Institute monthly bulletin that the government needs to downsize the public sector and restructure large and inefficient state-run companies. Serbia has taken nearly 1.5 billion euros from the approved sum to boost foreign currency reserves and stabilize its currency. It is not clear if it will seek another deal with the IMF when the current one expires in April. —AP

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business

Japan’s debt, deficit not sustainable: IMF Moody’s warns on debt, urges fiscal reform TOKYO: Japan's outstanding debt and fiscal deficit "are not sustainable", the IMF warned yesterday, adding that Tokyo must tackle the issues if it wants to avoid future trouble.

The comments by IMF deputy managing director Naoyuki Shinohara come after Standard & Poor's last month lowered the country's credit rating and accused the government of not having a clear plan to reduce the debt mountain.

"If you look at Japan's outstanding debts and fiscal deficits, I think they are not sustainable over the medium- and longterm," Shinohara told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar in Tokyo.

"If (Japan) leaves the fiscal situation as it is, it could leave the source of trouble for

the future," he said.

"It is important to make a national consensus at the earliest possible time and form a concrete agreement on how to achieve fiscal rehabilitation."

He added, however, that "we don't think serious problems will occur imminently," citing Japan's huge pool of savings.

Last month Standard & Poor's cut Japan's credit rating one notch to "AA-" from "AA", saying the government lacked a "coherent strategy" to reduce the highest debt proportional to GDP of any developed nation.

Moody's Investors Service warned yesterday that a lack of success on fiscal reform would have a negative impact on Japan's credit rating, adding pressure on the government to produce a credible plan

to curb public debt.

The warning follows Standard & Poor's downgrade of its rating on Japanese debt last month, its first cut in nine years that exposed the country's dire financial condition to closer market scrutiny.

Moody's Investors Service yesterday affirmed its sovereign rating for Japan at Aa2 with a stable outlook, saying it signified a very low probability of default. But Tom Byrne, senior vice president and regional credit officer at Moody's, told Reuters that Japan could not achieve its goal of a primary budget balance with economic growth alone and fiscal reforms were also needed.

A rapidly ageing population, entrenched deflation and a feeble econo-

my have made it hard for lawmakers to curb borrowing, with years of pump priming creating a debt load that is on course to exceed 200 percent of GDP. Nearly a third of government spending is being swallowed by a social security system catering to a rapidly greying society, Standard & Poor's warned, with that ratio set to rise as Japan continues to age, unless reforms are implemented. Prime Minister Naoto Kan's centre-left government has prioritized social security reform and an overhaul of the tax system, but the opposition has refused to begin talks over the issue. The government has been able to fund its growing fiscal gap by raising money in the domestic market and its ability to do so is seen as sustainable for now, with

banks and pension schemes holding around 95 percent of the debt.

But analysts say pressures will increase as the population ages and dips into savings in retirement.

An analyst at Moody's Investor Services warned yesterday that any failure to get proposed tax reforms through the country's parliament this year may fuel downgrade concerns. If Tokyo fails to pass the reform bills, "we would view that as a credit negative development," Thomas Byrne, credit officer for Asia and the Middle East in Moody's sovereign risk unit, told reporters, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Moody's Investor Services has a Aa2 rating and stable outlook on Japan's sovereign debt. — Agencies

Nissan lifts forecasts as overseas push pays off YOKOHAMA: Nissan Motor Co raised its annual forecasts as its big drive into emerging markets pays off, helping it post a smaller decline in quarterly profits than domestic rivals.

Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn has aggressively pushed Japan's No 2 automaker into fast-growing markets such as China, India and Russia, and is credited for raising its profile as an ecofriendly brand with the launch of the Leaf, the world's first mass-volume elec-

tric vehicle, in December.

Nissan has been a standout particularly in China, where a lineup of small cars that qualified for tax incentives fuelled a 36 percent sales growth last year. It was also among the few brands to grow in the tepid European market helped by the new Juke crossover and the older Qashqai SUV. While Nissan also boosted its share in the United States, analysts said it would face tougher competition this

YOKOHAMA: Nissan's zero-emission electric car, Leaf, is applauded during a news conference at the Japanese automaker's headquarters in Yokohama.—AP

year from rivals such as Honda , which has two mass-volume models, the Civic and CR-V, due for an overhaul.

"If you're looking at earnings and the state of things now, (my pick is) Honda," said Toshiro Yoshinaga, an analyst at Aizawa Securities. "But if you're looking for the car maker with the most longerterm promise, it is Nissan," he added, citing its stated goal to lead in the zeroemission vehicle field.

For the year to March 31, Nissan, owned 43 percent by France's Renault SA , raised its operating profit forecast to 535 billion yen ($6.50 billion) from 485 billion yen, matching the projection in a survey of 26 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It lifted its global sales forecast by 65,000 units to 4.165 million vehicles for the year, mainly on better-than-expected sales in China in the last quarter.

October-December quarterly profit fell 15 percent to 114 billion yen, also smack in line with an average estimate of 113.9 billion yen in a Reuters poll of eight analysts, hit by a stronger yen and sliding Japanese demand. Net profit jumped 78 percent to 80.07 billion yen.

Nissan's profits made in China are counted at the operating level, unlike those of Toyota Motor Corp and Honda, because it reports under Japanese accounting rules. Nissan's shares have gained 12 percent over the past three months, trailing Toyota and Honda's shares Before the results were announced, Nissan's shares ended up 2.5 percent at 893 yen.—Reuters

German exports rise by 18.5% in 2010 BERLIN: German exports rose 0.5 percent on the month in December, rounding out a year of strong growth that saw an overall increase of 18.5 percent, official data showed yesterday.

Germany, which has Europe's biggest economy, exported goods and services worth §81.7 billion ($111.3 billion) in December, the Federal Statistical Office said. For the whole of 2010, exports totaled 951.9 billion euros.

Export growth has been fueled by strong demand from emerging economies for German products, including cars and industrial machinery.

For the whole of 2010, Germany's exports to countries outside the European Union surged by 26 percent to 381.2 billion euros, while exports to other nations in the 17-nation eurozone increased by a less stellar 12.7 percent to 386.2 billion euros.

The increase in exports last year kickstarted the German economy, which bounced back to grow by 3.6 percent -its fastest pace since reunification two decades ago. Exports have bounced back from an 18.4 percent drop in 2009

that saw Germany lose its crown as the world's leading exporter to China -- a title Beijing is expected to keep. Over recent months, strengthening domestic demand also has bolstered the recovery.

December's monthly export increase was the second 0.5 percent rise in a row, a healthy performance but much slower than the rates seen earlier last year. A slowdown in export growth was widely expected, "but this does not mark the end of the export success story," said Alexander Koch, an economist at UniCredit in Munich. An improved outlook for some euro-zone and central European countries has bolstered German manufacturers' export expectations, Koch said.

"The preconditions for a continuation of the broad-based upswing remain intact," despite the effects of harsh winter weather that affected construction in December, he added.

Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said that "our upswing stands firmly on two legs: foreign trade and domestic demand." That's a point German politicians have been keen to stress following

criticism in recent months of the country's large trade surplus.

Imports dropped by more than 17 percent in 2009 compared with the previous year. Last year, they expanded by 20 percent to §797.6 billion, a slightly faster growth rate than that of exports.

Even so, Germany's foreign trade surplus for 2010 was up to §154.3 billion from the previous year's §138.7 billion.

In December, imports were down 2.3 percent on the month at §69.8 billion.

Underlining the optimistic outlook, Germany's Chambers of Industry and Commerce yesterday forecast economic growth this year of 3 percent. That's up from the 2.4 percent the group forecast in October and above the government's official prediction of 2.3 percent.

A survey of some 28,000 firms by the group showed that 46 percent reported improving export expectations and only 5 percent expect to export less.

Meanwhile, 44 percent assessed their current business situation as good and another 46 percent as satisfactory in the survey, conducted in December and January. — AP

HANNOVER: A worker cleans components in the hub of a wind generator while at a trade show in Hannover, northern Germany. Official data show that German exports were up 0.5 percent on the month in December, rounding out a year of strong growth that saw an overall increase of 18.5%.—AP

TMX Group, which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange, and the London Stock Exchange announced yesterday they are merging to create one of the world’s largest stock exchanges. — AP

Britain’s LSE in deal to buy Toronto exchange LSE shareholders to own 55% of new group, TMX 45% LONDON: The London Stock Exchange is to buy Canada's TMX stock exchange operator to create the world's fourthlargest trading centre and claw back some of the market share it has lost in recent years.

Shares in the LSE, first established in 1698, jumped 9 percent as markets welcomed the all-share deal. It values the Toronto group at about $3.2 billion and gives the new company a market value of 4.3 billion pounds ($6.9 billion) based on Tuesday's prices. "The deal looks like a defensive looking merger of equals driven by competitive pressures ... and geographical constraints i.e. the need to attract more international business," said Oriel Securities in a research note.

Under the helm of Xavier Rolet, the LSE is fighting to win back market share lost to upstart rivals, after Europe opened markets in 2007, challenging incumbent stock exchanges that had long been protected behind national boundaries.

The LSE's share of UK equity trading so far this month has been 54.9 per-

cent, compared with 96.3 percent in February 2008, according to Thomson Reuters data, while new entrants like BATS and Chi-X are rapidly gaining clout.

The deal would also create the world's biggest center for trading mining and energy shares if it overcomes likely political opposition in Canada.

Shareholders in TMX Group will receive 2.9963 LSE shares for each TMX share they hold, the companies said yesterday, and LSE shareholders will end up owning 55 percent of the combined group, to be headed up by Rolet from London.

TMX finance chief Michael Ptasznik will be chief financial officer of the new group, based in Toronto.

Rolet was confident that Canada regulators would approve the deal.

Foreign takeovers there have become a sensitive political issue ever since the government blocked BHP Billiton's $39 billion bid for Potash Corp. The value of the mining and energy stocks that will dominate the combined exchange has has surged along with the boom in

commodity prices.

"We are creating the world's largest listings venue for the commodities, energy and natural resources sectors, as well as the premium market for small, mid-size and growth companies," Rolet said in a statement.

The newly created group would be the world's fourth-largest in terms of value traded-the most meaningful benchmark in terms of revenue generated-and the second-largest in terms of total listed market capitalization.

The deal comes as the Singapore Exchange plans a $7.8 billion acquisition of Australian stock exchange operator ASX -- another major centre for mining stocks-in a deal that has run into strong opposition in Australia.

It is a marked change of strategy from the days when Rolet's predecessor Clara Furse spent much of her tenure-from 2001 to 2009 -- fighting off hostile takeovers. Deutsche Boerse, Euronext and Nasdaq all looked at acquiring the LSE in deals that would have made it part of one of the world's top trading groups. — Reuters

China to spur rice output as drought shrivels wheat BEIJING: China called yesterday for higher rice output to offset damage to its wheat crop in the drought-stricken north and pledged $1 billion in spending to battle a problem the UN warned could be "very serious".

The drought affecting large swathes of northern China is the worst in six decades in many areas and has left key grain-growing regions with no real rainfall in more than three months.

At a meeting on Wednesday chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, the government decided to allocate funds to pay rice-growers higher prices for their grain in a bid to spur production, said a statement by the State Council, or Cabinet. The statement did not say how much of the 6.7 billion yuan in anti-drought spending would be earmarked specifically for that purpose.

Other spending would go toward diverting water to affected areas, constructing emergency wells and irrigation facilities, and other measures to combat the dry spell.

The State Council warned the situation could worsen, saying rainfall across northern China for the foreseeable future would remain "persistently below normal levels and major rivers will continue to be generally dry."

China has a state policy of grain selfsufficiency and any move to purchase wheat overseas-which some see as increasingly likely-could impact world

BEIJING: A man walks past the window to a real estate office advertising property for sale, in Beijing yesterday. Some 20% of the city's registered residents will be unable to buy new apartment this year after a new round of policy tightening comes into effect.—AFP commodity markets.

Wheat is generally grown in the north, while rice is primarily cultivated in the wetter south.

Concerns about the impact of the drought sent wheat prices on the Zhengzhou commodity exchange in central China up nearly across the board yesterday, the exchange said.

The State Council said "grain costs

will continue to rise". The dilemma could not have come at a worse time for the government, which is struggling to cap soaring prices of food and other key goods. On Tuesday, the central bank announced the third interest rate hike in four months, one of a series of macro-economic levers it has pulled to tame inflation-which has a history of sparking unrest in China. — AFP

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TECHNOLOGY

For Communist Cuba, more Internet, greater risk HAVANA: A massive submarine fiber optic cable rolled ashore Cuba on Tuesday from Venezuela to bring better Internet connections, though most Cubans will still have only limited access to the Web. The French ship “Ile de Batz” arrived at Siboney beach, Santiago de Cuba province, 870 km southeast of Havana, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Ramon Linares told a computing conference. Valued at $70 million and considered one of the most ambitious projects between socialist oil-rich Venezuela and cash-strapped Cuba, the cable laying began on Jan 22.

The cable was run 1,600 km from Camuri, in northern Venezuela, before reaching its destination. A welcoming reception for the vessel was scheduled for yesterday. When the submarine

cable is operational in July, it is expected to allow a connection of up to 640 gigabytes a second.

That means download speeds 3,000 faster than what Cuba has now, thanks to a cable being hailed as a boon for telephone and Internet service in the Caribbean nation.

But another deputy minister of information, Jorge Luis Perdomo, said Monday that Cubans would not have immediate access to the services provided by the cable because the communist island first needs heavy investment in infrastructure and technology. Such claims have fueled outrage by critics who charge that access is being restricted for reasons of political control just as the Caribbean nation seems to be at the dawn of a new Internet age.

Perdomo denied there was any political ele-

ment to access, even as he said social media would continue to be used - as now - only in academic settings and certain professional situations such as by journalists and doctors. “There is no political obstacle,” he insisted. The cable is not a “magic wand,” Perdomo continued, arguing that the government needs to invest in infrastructure before opening unlimited Internet access to all Cubans at some unspecified point in the future.

And with the development coming just as Egypt struggles with the revolutionary impact of social media on political stability, the Americas’ only one-party Communist regime could find itself in suddenly stormier seas. Indeed in recent years, Cuba has become a battleground for blogging dissidents and counter-blogging pro-gov-

ernment detractors. Just in the past few days, a 50-minute video was posted in which a purported Interior Ministry official is seen charging the United States with fomenting Internet- and social media-based based dissent.

The government says that 1.6 million Cubans have access to the Internet out of 11.2 million.

While they can surf at hotels with cards paid for in hard currency, it is not an option for many at seven dollars an hour. Cubans make an average 20 dollars a month. “It would be logical for this cable to give high speed service and make service cheaper for all Cubans, because we cannot afford it,” explained construction worker Yenier Garcia, 36, standing in line at a government Internet use site to send an email to a friend in Sweden. — AFP

Nokia ‘on a burning platform,’ CEO warns Elop plans to sack half of Nokia’s management

YOKOHAMA: A model displays the new style digital camera “GC-PX1”, produced

by Victor Company of Japan (JVC) at a camera trade show in Yokohama yesterday.

The new digital camera can shoot high-speed 60 frames per second of still photographs and shoot up to 300 frames per second slow-motion VGA movies. — AFP

HELSINKI: The world’s top mobile phone maker Nokia is “standing on a burning platform” surrounded by a “blazing fire” of competition, new company head Stephen Elop says in a dramatic call for radical change.

In an internal memo obtained by AFP yesterday, Elop’s memo paints a picture of a desperate man who must make the drastic move of plunging into icy waters in order to save himself.

The company must now make a similar radical choice, he warned.

“We too, are standing on a ‘burning platform,’ and we must decide how we are going to change our behaviour,” Elop said.

The memo is a scathing indictment of Nokia’s “non-competitive” operating system Symbian, a lack of accountability and leadership, painfully slow product delivery, a lack of internal collaboration and a general “series of misses.” The Finnish company was once the industry’s top dog, with a 40 percent share of the mobile device market as recently as second quarter of 2008 but it has been on the slide ever since, falling to 31 percent in fourth quarter 2010.

Although Nokia refused to officially comment on internal communications, a company source told AFP the memo was genuine and was sent to employees last week.

With this brutally honest appraisal of the company’s woes, Elop appeared to be setting the scene for a spectacular shake-up,

which he is expected to unveil on Friday at a strategy and financial briefing in London.

“When we share the new strategy on February 11, it will be a huge effort to transform our company,” he said.

Ahead of the big day, there has been a flurry of rumours about what to expect, including a repor t by German weekly WirtschaftsWoche that Elop plans to sack half of Nokia’s management. The Federation of Professional and Managerial Staff and the Union of Professional Engineers meanwhile said they would be watching developments closely.

Analysts agree that Elop must address on Friday where the company stands on the crucial issue of mobile phone operating platforms.

The world is being carved up between users of Apple’s proprietar y platform, Google’s open-source Android and Nokia’s Symbian, which Elop has said has a good future.

“What we have seen is that Android and Apple have been very effective in taking market share and the big leader, Nokia, has not been able to convince end users that Symbian is as good as Android or Apple’s iOS,” Magnus Rehle of Greenwich Consulting told AFP. “ This means we’re going to have to decide how we either build, catalyse or join an ecosystem,” Elop said, referring to the

Egypt activists winning cyber war CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak’s supporters took their battle against anti-government protesters to cyberspace but their voices were drowned out by an army of tech-savvy activists willing to wage keyboard war.

Anti-regime street protests had for years been stifled by Egypt’s powerful security apparatus but, much to everyone’s surprise, it only took a few clicks to launch the biggest ever challenge to Mubarak’s 30-year presidency.

After a groundbreaking uprising in Tunisia last month forced president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee after 23 years in power, Egyptian activists quickly mobilised prodemocracy protests through Facebook pages and Twitter messages.

On Tuesday, the protests were energised by the release of 30-year-old Google marketing executive and formerly anonymous founder of one of the online protest sites, Wael Ghonim, after 12 days in detention.

But the educated and technically skilled

activists were faced with a brief, yet fierce, challenge by Mubarak supporters.

Facebook pages calling for the protestsincluding by the pro-democracy April 6 Movement and Khaled Said Facebook pagewere flooded with angry posts condemning the anti-regime demonstrations.

The new wave of pro-regime posts accused the cyber-rebels of being foreign spies, agents or merely unpatriotic.

“You who support April 6 and Khaled Said, I’m sure you are supported by Zionists, or Hamas or Hezbollah,” Ahmed Shekoo wrote on the Khaled Said page, named after an Egyptian man who died after a police beating in Alexandria.

Mubarak supporters used aggression, expletives, scare tactics or emotional appeals to get their message across.

“I can’t believe what you’re doing to the man, after all the president is the symbol of Egypt, and he served the country for 30 years,” said one woman.

CAIRO: Egyptian cyberactivist and executive at Google Wael Ghonim speaks with the press at Cairo’s Tahrir square yesterday, following his release late on February 7 after being held blindfolded by the Egyptian security service for 12 days. — AFP

Another calling herself “Ana Nana” even invited Mubarak to seek refuge in her “modest home,” and others branded protesters “sons of whores trying to destabilise the country.”

The intensity of the online battles seemed to mirror the fierceness of battles waged on the streets, leading some activists to believe they were targeted as part of an organised government campaign.

Wednesday and Thursday last week saw bloody clashes in Cairo between supporters and foes of the 82-year-old president that left 11 people dead and scores more injured.

“There were so many online comments denouncing the demonstrators, so many insults, but after Friday, they decreased,” said Salah Mohammed, a protester affiliated to the opposition Muslim Brotherhood who tracks online activity.

“They create lots of fake accounts and then they start joining the anti-Mubarak groups and start saying nonsense,” said Ahmed Zahran, a protest organiser and cyberactivist.

“Their comments are usually very aggressive which exposes them quickly,” he told AFP. A spokesman for Mubarak’s National Democratic Party denied the existence of a centralised campaign.

“There are several Facebook pages created by the youth of the party, who are active on other websites in trying to convey our message,” Tarek al-Rifai said.

“It is not a centralised campaign, but a spontaneous effort by the youth.

“Sometimes the youth have a different style than the older ones,” he told AFP. But for every pro-Mubarak comment, there would be dozens of counter arguments.

“Every time someone posted something against the protests, we quickly organised ourselves to reply,” Ibrahim, an Egyptian computer engineer and cyberactivist, told AFP. On January 28, Egypt’s four main Internet service providers cut off access to their customers in a bid to break the momentum of the demonstrations. It was restored five days later after the ban attracted global condemnation.

Around 23 million Egyptians have either regular or occasional access to the Internet, according to official figures, more than a quarter of the population.

The shutdown in Egypt was the most comprehensive official electronic blackout of its kind that cost the country $18 million per day, experts said.

Facebook, which has about five million active users in the country, expressed concern at the shutdown.

But Google and Twitter went considerably further, jointly creating a tool to allow Egyptians to bypass the Internet closure and post messages to Twitter by making telephone calls. — AFP

key competitors who have been eating away Nokia’s market share.

This comment sparked a flurry of speculation that Nokia could be considering teaming up with an existing platform, such as Android or even Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.

“It could either be a very bad marriage or a marriage of two players that have not been very effective alone,” Rehle commented.

As for teaming up with Android, Pohjola Bank analyst Hannu Rauhala said that would be a serious dent to the Nokia brand, effectively relegating the company to a manufacturer of Android phones.

“Google steers Google’s operating system and it will always look like Google’s,” he said.

Elop said in the memo that he did not doubt Nokia’s “brilliant sources of innovation” but the problem was in bringing these innovations to the market-a criticism made by analysts for years.

“Symbian3 came one quarter late and we’re still waiting for the first software updates even though the products have been on the markets for four months now,” Nordea Bank analyst Sami Sarkamies said.

“If you look from the outside, too little seems to come out of the company a n d i t ’s c o m i n g o u t t o o s l o w l y,” Sarkamies added. — AFP

Facebook readies room to grow, Google eyes LA MENLO PARK: Seven-year-old director of global real estate, offered a Facebook is already fast outgrowing its more metropolitan analogy for the company’s new home at a briefing with Silicon Valley abode.

The world’s largest social network reporters at Menlo Park City Hall on will shift its corporate headquarters Tuesday, noting that the various parts starting this summer to a 57-acre cam- of the campus were connected by a pus with 1 million square feet of office courtyard.

“That’s how space in Menlo we plan to look Park, California, at this, like an making its securban street, or ond move in less an urban setting. than two years.

We think this is The move, going to be kind which will see of the glue that Facebook swap holds the buildits Palo Alto ings and people address for a together,” he home base in a said. Speaking to largely undevelreporters after oped area near the briefing, the entrance to Tenanes said the a busy Bay Area new campus will bridge, will give provide plenty the company of important much-needed amenities, room to grow, including a fiteven if the new ness center, a location lacks basketball court, some of the an auditorium glamour of othFacebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. and two cafes. er corporate real Fa c e b o o k ’s estate deals.

Google Inc, which is increasingly move was announced the same day vying with Facebook for engineering that Web arch-foe Google said it had talent, announced on Tuesday that it leased a Frank Gehry-designed office had leased an iconic building for its building a stone’s throw from the sunstaff in Santa Monica. Google’s head- speckled beaches of Santa Monica, quarters is in Mountain View, California. near Los Angeles.

Facebook executives said the company, Google leased the iconic former which turned seven on Friday, is seek- headquarters of the Chiat/Day advertising the space beyond its nearby Palo ing agency-whose giant binocularsAlto base to contain its explosive shaped facade is a fixture of travel expansion. guide books-in Venice, California, to The company has seen its payroll house part of its own envisioned swell by about 50 percent annually in expansion, with 6,000 people set to join past years to about 2,000 now, a pace it the company’s payroll this year. expects to sustain in coming years. Its Competition for talent is heating up new Menlo Park location can house in the tech industry, as Facebook and about 3,600 people, executives said. Google try to attract prized engineers Facebook leased the campus-the for- and product managers with stock mer headquarters of Sun Microsystems options and perks including free meals. which Oracle Corp took over in 2010 — Facebook said it has leased the former and will begin moving in June or July.

The site, a cluster of nine blockish build- Sun headquarters for 15 years, with an ings and wide, open spaces wedged option to buy the property in five years. between the freeway and the San Facebook also purchased a 22-acre Francisco Bay, is known locally as “Sun tract of land, formerly owned by Quentin” for what insiders say is a pass- General Motors, adjacent to its new ing resemblance to the state prison 50 campus, providing further room for miles north. John Tenanes, Facebook’s future growth. — Reuters

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health & science

Obama quits smoking, but will it last?

‘I constantly struggle with it’ WASHINGTON: A large majority of smokers who try to kick the habit are back puffing away within six months, so President Barack Obama is ahead of the game. He hasn’t had a cigarette in almost a year, first lady Michelle Obama said Tuesday. Asked whether he had conquered a nicotine habit he picked up as a teenager, she said: “Yes, he has. It’s been almost a year.” Mrs Obama offered no details on exactly when or how he did it.

But is his relationship with nicotine really over? About 46 million people, or one in five adults, smoke, and brain research shows that nicotine is powerfully addictive. Three-fourths of smokers who try to stop fall off the wagon within six months, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Smokers will tell you it often takes repeated attempts to quit long term. Obama, who has one of the world’s most stressful jobs and recently has been grappling with political instability in Egypt, a

close US ally, has walked this tobacco road before. He announced in February 2008, during his presidential campaign, that he was quitting smoking - again.

“He’s always wanted to stop,” Mrs Obama said Tuesday. She said he wants to be able to look daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, 9, in the eye and deny that he smokes should they ask.

The issue of Obama’s smoking last surfaced in December, when White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about it and said he had “not seen or witnessed evidence of any smoking in probably nine months.” That timeline would put Obama’s final cigarette puffs in March of last year. At the time, Gibbs stopped short of asserting that Obama had quit completely. The White House offered no details Tuesday, in keeping with its practice of trying to keep Obama’s habit out of the spotlight.

Obama last addressed the question in June 2009. Before signing a tough anti-smoking

NEW ORLEANS: In this Sept. 8, 2010 file photo, first lady Michelle Obama runs a 40-yard sprint as she participates in the Let’s Move! Campaign and the NFL’s Play 60 Campaign festivities with area youth, to promote exercise and fight childhood obesity, in New Orleans. —AP

law designed to keep millions of teens from getting hooked, Obama ruefully admitted that he had spent his adult life trying to give up cigarettes. At a news conference the following day he copped to sneaking an occasional puff. “I constantly struggle with it,” the president said. “Have I fallen off the wagon sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No.” Obama said he didn’t smoke in front of his kids or other family and had declared himself “95 percent cured.” But he also acknowledged times “where I mess up.” “Once you’ve gone down this path, then it’s something you continually struggle with,” he said.

Obama has said that he used to light up about five times a day but that stress sometimes drove him to smoke more often. He promised his wife he’d quit if she agreed he should run for president. “I hate it,” Michelle Obama told CBS’ “60 Minutes” early in the campaign. “That’s why he doesn’t do it anymore, I’m proud to say. I outed him - I’m the one who outed him on the smoking.” She said one of her requirements for entering the race was that “he couldn’t be a smoking president.” Based on her comments Tuesday, he is no longer that. The first lady said she was proud of her husband but had not pressed for details. “When somebody’s doing the right thing I don’t mess with them,” Mrs Obama said.

Obama has used nicotine gum in his quest to quit smoking. “I’ve been chewing Nicorette strenuously,” he said in 2007. The White House physician urged him last year to continue his “smoking cessation efforts” - the use of nicotine gum. During the presidential campaign, aides filled their pockets with the gum to help Obama control his urges. He occasionally bummed cigarettes from staff, while making sure to emphasize that he was trying to quit for good. US smoking rates have dropped dramatically since 1964, when the first surgeon general’s report declared tobacco deadly, but progress has stalled in the past decade.

The government had hoped to push the rate to 12 percent by last year, but the goal has been missed and pushed off to 2020.

Gibbs said Tuesday that a few White House aides, including trip director Marvin Nicholson, also had quit smoking. He suggested the president may have benefited from that, too. “When somebody decides to quit smoking, to try to overcome the physical addiction that they have, they do it not just because they want to but because others want them to and because others around them give them the type of encouragement that they need to break what is, what is a tough habit to break,” Gibbs said during his regular media briefing after being told of the first lady’s comments. —AP

Fear, social change drive down Zimbabwe HIV rates LONDON: Fear of infection and mass social change have driven a huge decline in HIV rates in Zimbabwe, offering important lessons on how to fight the AIDS epidemic in the rest of Africa, scientists said on Tuesday.

In a study in the journal PLoS Medicine, British researchers said Zimbabwe’s epidemic was one of the biggest in the world until the rate of people infected with HIV almost halved, from 29 percent of the population in 1997 to 16 percent in 2007.

Their findings show that Zimbabweans have primarily been motivated to change their sexual behaviour because of increased awareness about AIDS deaths which heightened their fears of catching the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes it.

“The HIV epidemic is still very large, with more than one in 10 adults infected today,”

said Timothy Hallett of Imperial College, London, who worked on the study.

“We hope that Zimbabwe and other countries in southern Africa can learn from these lessons and strengthen programs to drive infections down even further.”

Latest data from the United Nations show that an estimated 33.3 million people worldwide are infected with HIV and the majority of those live in sub-Saharan Africa.

The virus can be controlled with cocktails of drugs, but there is no cure and nearly 30 million people have died of HIV-related causes since the disease first emerged in the 1980s. Simon Gregson, also from Imperial College, and a senior investigator on the study, said that given continuing high HIV/AIDS infection rates in many subSaharan African countries, it was important

to understand why the disease had taken a such a dramatic downturn in Zimbabwe.

“Very few other countries around the world have seen reductions in HIV infection, and of all African nations, Zimbabwe was thought least likely to see such a turnaround,” he said.

AIDS experts say that while there have been dramatic gains in the availability AIDS drugs in poor countries in recent years, the fight against the disease-which is most often transmitted via sex-will never be won unless prevention efforts can be made more effective. The United Nations AIDS programme said last year that young people in Africa were starting to lead a “revolution” in HIV prevention and driving down rates of the disease by having safer sex and fewer sexual partners. —Reuters

This product image courtesy of Leggett & Platt shows their Dual King Prodigy power foundation. Each partner has a separate mattress and can choose its firmness and each mattress can be raised and lowered independently. —AP

Separate beds or blankets can help couples sleep When we were newlyweds, my husband and I heard a lot of mildly naughty jokes about sleeping together. But for us, sleeping together — that is, actual sleeping — was no laughing matter.

John snored, I twitched. He stayed up late, I got up early. He liked a cold room with the blankets untucked, I wanted the blankets tucked in to keep me warm. Neither of us was getting much good rest.

We were not alone: Lots of couples have sleep habits that keep each other awake. The Better Sleep Council, funded by the mattress industry, surveyed 1,000 Americans in 2007 and found 1 in 3 repor ting that their par tner ’s sleep habits affected their own sleep.

But, say designers and therapists, there are plenty of creative solutions to such problems.

“I’m a hopeless romantic,” said Beverly Hills, California, designer Christopher Grubb, who likes helping clients enjoy sleeping in the same room. Snoring, he says, is a common problem among his clients, and one found relief with an anti-snoring pillow from Sona, one of several companies that offer pillows designed to help prevent snoring by keeping the sleeper ’s air way open.

Grubb also suggests sheets with a high thread count to maximize comfort, a mid-weight comforter to balance different temperature preferences, and beds that cater to partners’ different needs.

Sometimes, that can mean two mattresses, side by side. For example, Leggett & Platt offers a bed base called the Prodigy. Imagine two hospital beds side by side, each of which can be raised and lowered independently, plus a massage feature that can be used as a silent alarm in the morning. Each partner has a separate mattress and can choose its firmness.

Going to this extra effort is worth it, says Tina B. Tessina, a psychotherapist who blogs as Dr. Romance, and is the author of “Money, Sex and Kids: Stop Fighting about the Three Things That Ca n R u i n Yo u r M a r r i a g e” (Ad a m s Media, 2008).

“Sleeping apart can contribute to the disconnect that plagues many relationships. It just makes it easier to avoid each other, when what’s really needed is connection and contact,” Tessina said.

Barbara Bar tlein, a clinical psychotherapist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and author of “75 Things To Improve Your Marriage Without Your Spouse Even Knowing” (Trade Paper Press, 2010), said

that sleep is important but so is the connection from sleeping together.

“The key is you must also take the time for physical closeness and intimacy.

Many couples start the night together and then move apart if one person is moving, snoring, etc. One of the advantages of sleeping together is you have the opportunity for bedroom talk. This is the especially intimate talk that couples do in the dark that no one else ever hears,” Bartlein said. Don’t be afraid of unusual solutions if they work for you.

Leta Hamilton gets her togetherness by sleeping in a king-size bed with her infant and toddler while her husband sleeps on the floor. Hamilton, host of the Internet radio show “ The Way of the Toddler Hour,” said her husband, James, prefers sleeping on hard surfaces and likes sleeping by himself, but their arrangement keeps him in the same room with the rest of the family.

“We like the time we spend together as a family before going to bed. It’s special,” said Hamilton, of Sammamish, Washington. “All of this may sound very weird, but every night I lay in bed and think how lucky I am.” Little things like blankets and alarm clocks also can make a difference.

Lissa Coffey, lifestyle spokesperson for the Better Sleep Council, said she and her husband prefer different temperatures and sleep schedules. She has a single electric blanket on her side of the bed so she can be toasty warm, while he prefers to sleep cooler. Coffey sleeps later, so her husband uses a soothing alarm that doesn’t disturb her in the morning.

What worked for us?

First we both sought help from the University of Michigan Sleep Disorders Clinic.

Doctors found John’s snoring wasn’t just bothering me; it was keeping him from getting quality sleep. So they fitted him with a mouthpiece to open his throat. My study confirmed what John already knew: I wiggled dozens of times an hour all night long. The doctors offered medication also used to prevent seizures, but since my movement wasn’t harming my sleep, we opted for a nonmedical solution.

We put two twin mattresses on a k ing-size frame with a tiny space between them. We get those pillow talk moments, and I can twitch all night without disturbing hubby ’s sleep.

Which might be why these restless newlyweds have made it to 10 years of marriage. —AP

Stigma hampers Afghanistan’s fight against AIDS KABUL: Through a blue gate, they come for treatment in the early morning, faces wrapped in scarves against the cold. For now it’s a trickle, but their numbers are rising.

“I try to keep it secret, especially from my mother,” said a 26-year-old HIV patient at a foreign-run clinic in the Afghan capital, Kabul. “If she knew I had HIV, she would die.”

Shrouded in ignorance and taboo, HIV and AIDS have crept up almost unnoticed to join the long list of misfor tunes visited on Afghanistan over the past several decades.

Officially, there are 636 cases in a population of about 30 million people. Health experts say the real figure is far higher, and growing.

Set alongside an almost decadeold war, desperate poverty and a government dependent on military and financial aid to reach beyond its cities, the fight against HIV and AIDS struggles to compete for the country’s meagre resources.

Social stigma in a deeply conservative Muslim country has driven

the disease underground and is complicating efforts to coordinate a response.

“Most U.N. agencies would say the number is in the thousands rather than the hundreds,” said Olivier Vandecasteele of Medecins Du Monde, which began anti-retroviral treatment in Kabul in 2009.

Harsheth Virk , an exper t in HIV/AIDS prevention and care at the U.N. O ffice on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Kabul, said: “You have these pockets where it could potentially be explosive.”

Studies suggest Afghanistan currently has a “concentrated HIV/AIDS epidemic”-concentrated within a growing population of injecting drug users.

The countr y ’s drug problem is well known.

The source of 90 percent of the global supply of opium used to make heroin, Afghanistan has around 1 million drug users.

Of those, an estimated 20,000 inject, and 80 percent of them share needles, many huddled in squalor

under bridges or in abandoned buildings until they are rounded up and jailed or moved on by police.

The HIV sufferer, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said he believes he contracted the virus when sharing needles in Iran.

His account is a common one.

A majority of people registered as HIV positive in Afghanistan have lived abroad, mainly in neighbouring Pakistan or Iran where rates of drug addiction are also high.

Most are homeless and jobless, part of a huge population of displaced people since the Soviet occupation of the 1980s, the civil war and Taliban rule that followed.

Few have access to testing, and those who do face being shunned by a deeply religious society that largely associates AIDS with sexual promiscuity and homosexualityboth taboo.

“One of the biggest challenges we have is that people believe HIV is found only among those who have ‘immoral ’ relationships,” said Dr Fahim Paigham, head of

Afghanistan’s National AIDS Control Programme.

Paigham runs the programme out of a sparse por t-a- cabin in the grounds of the Ministry of Health, a naked light-bulb and a photograph of President Hamid Karzai above his desk. The inauspicious surroundings speak to the challenge of funding.

Most comes from foreign donors such as the World Bank, which has spent $10 million over the past three years to fight HIV and AIDS. “It’s not enough,” said Virk, “and it’s obviously very difficult to get donor interest in this because there are so many other issues.”

Health experts say they struggle to convince government officials in charge of prisons or counter-narcotics that they are not encouraging promiscuity or drug use by distributing condoms and clean needles.

A pilot project launched last year to provide methadone to drug users, taken orally as a substitute for injecting heroin, faces problems in securing supplies. “ There have been a few hic-

cups,” said Virk.

Prisoners are particularly vulnerable, crammed into over-crowded jails where drug use is rampant and access to clean needles and condoms limited.

One aid worker, who asked not to be identified, told the story of six prisoners, all drug users, who were transferred from a jail in western Farah province, bordering Iran, to Kabul in 2010. Once in the capital, they were tested for HIV, and all six were positive.

Health experts stress there are few cases of HIV within the sex industr y or among truck drivers, often another high-risk group.

But studies suggest sex workers in Afghanistan know little about HIV, rarely use condoms and are unlikely to be tested for the disease.

“You know about the customs and culture of our country,” said Dr Tariq Suliman, director of the Nejat Centre for drug rehabilitation and HIV/AIDS awareness. “ The people a r e n’ t r e a d y t o t a l k a b o u t t h i s issue.” —Reuters

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H E A LT H

S Asia faces rising incidence of heart disease Risk factors must be addressed HONG KONG: South Asia is facing a health crisis, with rising rates of heart disease, diab e t e s a n d o b e s i t y, a n d p a t i e n t s f a c i n g impoverishment as they pay for treatment out of their own pockets, the World Bank said yesterday. Although the region is growing economically and people are generally living longer lives, the poor have had little benefit from improved conditions, healthier nutrition, rising incomes or access to good healthcare, the Bank said in a report. The repor t, which covered Bangladesh, India, N e p a l, Pa k i s t a n , A fg h a n i s t a n , M a l d i ve s, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, said South Asians suffer their first heart attacks at 53, six years earlier than people anywhere else. Heart disease is now the leading cause of death for South Asians aged 15 to 69. Such non-communicable diseases, measured by disability and early death, account for 55 percent of

the region’s total disease burden. The rest come from infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and mother and child health and nutrition issues.

“This unfair burden is especially harsh on poor people, who, after heart attacks, face life -long major illnesses, have to pay for most of their care out of their savings or by s e l l i n g t h e i r p o s s e s s i o n s, a n d t h e n f i n d themselves caught in a poverty trap where they can’t get better and they can’t work,” said co-author Michael Engelgau, a World Bank senior public health specialist.

The repor t cited a study in India, published last year, that found some non-communicable diseases left sufferers unable to work for 50 to 70 days. Owing to poor nutrition, low birth weight is common among the poor and a key risk factor for non-communicable diseases in adults. Multiple risk factors

often apply, with sufferers also subject to obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and glucose, according to the report.

T h e re p o r t u r g e d a l l e i g h t c o u n t r i e s t o address risk factors that could be modified and explore regional approaches to reduce tobacco use and persuade people to adopt healthier diets. It said a failure to adopt a common approach on smok ing could be detrimental as the tobacco industry “tends to target its marketing efforts at countries with fewer restrictions and where tobacco is taxed less and is easier to buy”. “Marketing from countries with fewer restrictions can therefore affect neighbouring countries with more restrictive policies. Also, countries with low cigarette prices relative to their neighbours increase the incidence of smuggling.”

Smoking is responsible for one in five deaths among men in India. — Reuters

PHNOM PENH: A doctor (R) checksa child’s health at a school camp after villagers evacuated from their home near the Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, some 500 kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh yesterday. — AFP

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GUST MBA class completes course at Grenoble University, France

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he Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) MBA class organized and successfully completed an Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management (MGMT 561) class at Grenoble University’s Graduate School of Business in France which taught the students the core principles entrepreneurship.

Through this course, the 26 GUST graduate students were introduced to the specific techniques on how to be a successful entrepreneur. They were first lectured on the philosophies of how to create “new idea innovation” and its “strategic positioning.” The students were taught the various types of research and analysis that an entrepreneur would need to conduct to ensure the success of an endeavor, such as: Assessment Elements, Market Research, Competitive Analysis, Risk Analysis and Financial Analysis.

The students received some hands on experience on how to conduct both business models and business plans through funding basics, business plan preparation and guideline introductions. Many other vital topics were introduced including: e-marketing management, virtual communication as well as all the new trends in technology to support entrepreneurship This was a unique opportunity for the students to experience a more practical approach to education and have the chance to defend their cases before a professional jury selected from key industries in Grenoble. A trip does not drift by without some extra-curricular activities, the students got a whiff of some French dishes which they made themselves and had the opportunity to visit prominent companies and social events including a weekend in Paris with visits to the Eiffel Tower and Versailles Palace and some even went as far as EuroDisney.

DAR Al FUNOON

Dia Al-Azzawi: Retrospective is a complete monograph highlighting the artist’s oeuvre, displaying over 200 color plates of his art from the 1960s to his most recent paintings. It includes essays, in English and Arabic, by Dr. Nada M. Shabout, As’ad Orabi, Buland AlHaidari and Nadine Descendre. It also includes an extensive bibliography, listing over 140 titles on AlAzzawi, exhibitions list, and rare photographs from the artist’s personal archive.

Parviz Tanavoli: Monograph is the most extensive catalogue raisonne on the artist to date, including over 250 color plates displaying his sculptures from the early 1960s to his most recent work. In English and Arabic, this publication includes essays by academics and personal accounts by the artist’s friends and family, as well as passages from Tanavoli’s memoirs.

LAHD GALLERY, LONDON, UK

Shurooq Amin will exhibit in London at the Lahd Gallery (92 Heath Street, NW3 1DP) on the 3rd of March 2011. The solo show will comprise the newest series by the Kuwaiti artist, entitled The Bullet Series. The painting pose various controversial religious and political questions, with each painting being shot with a rifle and a Hornet bullet. Each bullet represents the artist’s physical and kinetic connection to the painting, and symbolizes the murder of human rights, and freedom of speech and choice. The two central works in the show are “My Country is 111W and “Take Me To Heaven”.

GALLERY TILAL

Labour India Chairman on visit

Greetings

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You’re as cute as a bug So precious to hug A darling child Who’s nice to be near.

So.. hope turning one Is happy and fun And takes you along To a second great year Happy birthday princess LujaYn Loving wishes from mother Farhana Saad and father Saad Afzal.

ounder Chairman of Labour India Public School and Junior College, Marangattupilly & Labour India International Gurukulam School, Vagamon. Shri George Kulangara is on a short visit to Kuwait.

Labour India is the vision of George Kulangara, a dream of his urge to mould globally competent students. An amalgamation of spiritual, mental, intellectual and physical development of the students is the aim of Labour India Public School. V.J. George Kulangara, a great visionary, with charismatic personality believes that each student has immense potential to excel, though in various fields, and all they need to do is to identify and bring it out.

This is what’s encouraged in Labour India. The uniqueness of the institution lies in the fact that the ancient ‘Gurukula’ system of education is adopted & merged with the modern techniques. He heads another school Labour India International Gurukulam School, Vagamon. This is set in the serene atmosphere of Vagamon, a fully residential school.

Labour India Public School has attained 100 % Results in CBSE Board Exams last year despite giving admissions without any entrance test. Labour India bagged the CBSE National Athletic Championship the ninth consecutive time. George Kulangara’s social concern & commitment forced him to travel all over Kerala with his students, collected water from the rivers, tested it at highly reputed Labs and submitted a detailed report to the State & Central Governments, as well as Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court, highlighting the urgency for immediate corrective actions to contain ongoing contamination of river waters throughout Kerala. Another project initiated by George Kulangara recently was ‘Kerala Plastic Waste Collection Campaign’; led by him and accompanied by his 22 Shishyas/students, they covered a distance of 2250 km (from Trivandrum to Kasargod) to campaign for this noble cause.

The academic year began with a work of charity. A house was constructed for a poor man with the help of liberal donations from students It’s a school where equal importance is given to extra curricular activities along with the curricular development. The Labour India family organizes parents as well as grand parents’ fest to seek blessings. Hence an overall development of students is ensured. Social, intellectual, traditional and cultural awareness are created among the students George Kulangara is in Kuwait to participate in the annual ‘Parents Meet’.

Mahmoud Ashkanani has taken a plunge into various schools of Art. From impressionism, expressive, abstract and onwards. Ashkanani says, “I do not belong to a particular Art School in my work, I glide between absolute abstract to symbolic abstract where I find myself more”. In this exhibition he presents “Human Interaction” which unfolded from the human need to interact on this “Global Village” called earth eliminating distances and borders. Geometry over shadows his work transforming any scene into lines, curves, triangles and squares which results in a rhythmic reflection of bodies and shapes. Using his free-style mixed with acrylic and oil tubes to emphasize certain areas.

Mahmoud introduces us to a new land of Art. Ebrahim Habib. A perfectionist who climbed the ladder of Art starting mainly with available collection of portrait. Gradually he moved to the Rulers of Kuwait ornamentations and capturing history using water colors Artists here explore a number of topical, socloand later Ebrahim found his strength in calligraphy political issues that analyze how argument [tradition] on wood blocks. Creating the most elegant between shifts over time in response to the changing conditions calligraphy. Acrylic ornamentation and gold leaves. Mastering all schools of calligraphy allows Ebrahim to be volatile and creative.

He incorporates Quran Verses and prayers to his work creating Artwrok hard to resist.

AL SADU HOUSE

Ever since 1990 when Lubna and Bettina met In Washington, DC, they both discovered they had a love for craftsmanship and the value of objects that were triggered by a conversation over a bead magazine In 2003 that led to the creation of LB o J’zazz in 2005.

Creating beaded objects of adornment, offering raw materials and most importantly sharing a passion and love for beads.

SULTAN GALLERY

Wedding Anniversary

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appy 2nd wedding anniversary to Titty Cheriyan and Ann Varghese. You two with two years together have spread too much happiness. May it multiply two-fold in the years to come!

With strokes of love from Johnarts Kalabhavan!

Belated birthday wishes to Sneha Sashikumar who celebrated her 9th birthday on 8th February. Best wishes come from your parents and your loved ones.

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ssem Ghareeb Mutawa’a and Nurhan Adel celebrated their engagement recently in a ceremony attended by family and friends.

IMA youth wing sports day

I The spirit of romance this Valentine’s at Swiss-Belhotel Plaza

ENGAGEMENTS

Artists here explore a number of topical, socialpolitical issues that analyze how argument [tradition] shifts over time in response to the changing conditions of market and state [flux]. How was Kuwait culturally affected by a financial grown spurt with the discovery of petroleum? Is the country’s social and cultural development up to par with the Dinar? What is art to a society like Kuwait?

wiss-Belhotel Plaza Kuwait is strategically located in the heart of Kuwait City at Fahed Al Salem Street, with an access to the popular Al Muthanna shopping mall. The facilities and services that Swiss-Belhotel Plaza Kuwait offers to its guests are simply incredible and vary from a simple Shisha to cuisines from all over the world.

Swiss-Belhotel Plaza Kuwait ballroom can accommodate up to 250 persons with a choice of 3 restaurants: ‘Al Dallah’ serving International Buffets, ‘Bait AlKuwait’ specializing in Kuwaiti & fresh Sea food & ‘The CafÈ’ where you can find a variety of light snacks & hot/cold beverages.

In addition to the two major national celebrations of the 50th independence and the 20th libration, Swiss Belhotel celebrates Valentines and invites couples and group of friends and families to experience the

romance of the moments and enjoy the generous offer and the amazing atmosphere. Ali Haddad GM of Swiss Belhotel declares: “From February 12 till 19 couple would enjoy a 2 night accommodations along with buffet

MA YOUTH WING will hold a one day Sports Event on 18th Feb. Winners will take home exciting prizes. Cricket, Volleyball & Tug of war will be part of the event. For registration kindly call the below numbers 66031736, 60634301, 97214743 or Visit www.imayouthwing.org for more information.

KIFF to organize Indian Schools 7 a-side football tournament

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uwait Indian Football Federation (KIFF) are pleased to announce the Indian schools one day 7 a side football tournament, to be held on 27th February 2011 (Public Holiday) at MOH ground, Shuwaikh starting at 7 am. The draw of the tournament will be held on Friday, 18th February 2011 at MOH ground, Shuwaikh at 9 am. Following school have confirmed their participation, Carmel School Kheitan, Al Wataniya Indian Private School Fahaheel, Al Rashed Indian School Salmiya, Indian Community School Salmiya/Kheitan, Indian Central chool Abbasiya, Indian Public School Salmiya, Al Amal Indian School Salmiya, Indian Educational School Abbasiya, and United Indian School Abbasiya. Any Indian Schools still not confirmed their participation are kindly requested to do so on or before 16th February 2011. For further details of the tournament kindly call Fidelis Fernandes (66583537) or Bernardo Fernandes (94060018).

Write to us dinner and breakfast” he added “On February 14 you can share the special moments over a lavish seafood buffet dinner with drinks and live saxophone.

Marvelous extra 20% discounts await couples married for 10 years, 30% discount for 15 years, and 50% discount for 25 years.

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

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Embassy Information EMBASSY OF BANGLADESH The Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Kuwait has taken up an initiative to update the database of Bangladesh nationals residing in the State of Kuwait. For inclusion in the database all the Bangladesh nationals are requested to collect the Registration Form from the Labour Wing of the Embassy. The forms can also be collected sending request to bdoot@kems.net e-mail address.

The filled-in forms can also be submitted by hand, by email or by fax (number 2491-3204).

Broome - Head coach under 15 girls Basketball the Kuwait English School.

Outstanding season for KES girls

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t has been a very good season this year for the under 15 girls squad who have progressed exceptionally well from last year. Under the guidance of a new coach and with the influx of new talent in the team all started to work hard during pre season in order to prepare for The Kuwait English School (KES) challenge for the title.

Things got off to a great start with a crushing victory over The Gulf English School 62 - 2 which was closely followed by victories over local rivals The New English School and The English School of Fahaheel (ESF). Defeat unfortunately came at the hands of reigning champions The British School of Kuwait (BSK) but KES had now

cemented their place as runners up in the league qualifying for the semi-finals.

KES then met The English Academy (TEA) in their final game of the season and the girls produced the performance of the season by any team in the league annihilating TEA 86 - 0, this was the biggest defeat of any team all season and the only shut-out produced by any team all season also, a marvellous achievement.

With KES finishing 2nd in the league this secured a home tie against ESF in the semi-finals. KES were now playing some outstanding basketball and managed to sweep ESF aside to progress to the final show piece against BSK to be held at The

Love is in the Air at Safir Hotels and Resorts

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orget about the roses and go beyond the traditional boxes of chocolate! On this Valentine’s Day, find real romance at Safir Hotels & Residences in Fintas, Safir Marina Hotel and Safir International Hotel offering a wide array of sensuous experiences that will surprise and delight lovers, families and friends!

Luxuriate in a premium experience at the new Safir Hotel and Residences in Fintas and surprise your sweetheart to an occasion to remember. The recently inaugurated Al Roshinah fine dining Kuwaiti restaurant offers couples authentic flavors of Kuwait from the past and present in a simple, original and authentic atmosphere. The hotel’s casual dining destination, the Chit Chat cafÈ restaurant is serving the special “Eat as Much as You Can!” menu of appetizing delectable food selections. While, at Flavors Restaurant with its international dishes you will celebrate a relaxing and warm Valentine dinner. For the most romantic hotel’s escape, spoil your loved ones at the Sky Lounge offering a tempting menu with panoramic views over the glittering blues of the Arabian Gulf.

Impress with the romantic atmosphere at the Safir Marina Hotel and enjoy with your loved ones a scrumptious

Valentine experience. Fine dining combined to great hospitality at the Atlantis Restaurant with its marvelous views on the sparkling waters of the Arabian Gulf.

Valentine’s special include an indulgent five course prix fixe crafted for this unique occasion to entice the senses, an array of quenching drinks with one man show music and red flowers. For a luxurious couples’ experience, the hotel has tailored special Valentine room packages inclusive of a complimentary breakfast and dinner for two to celebrate the most romantic occasion of the year.

Treat your loved ones to a signature Valentine’s Day at Safir International Hotel and spend timeless romantic moments. The hotel invites couples to dine in style at the decorated Sea Breeze Restaurant with its convivial ambiance, mouthwatering dinner buffet and romantic music. Special gifts will be also offered to the couples. Valentine’s beautiful moments are also celebrated with the all time famous strawberry Mille-Feuille, heart shaped cakes and red roses all available at the Espresso Lounge at the heart of the lobby! In-house guests will also enjoy their stay with an exceptional upgraded room service dinner and special room amenities.

English Academy.

KES approached the game with resumed enthusiasm following the first meeting in the season of the two teams in which KES had learnt a lot about their rivals. KES started the game brightly and hustled BSK all over the court and were leading the game at the end of the first quarter. Another great quarter for KES followed and at the half way point the game was tightly poised at 9 - 8. Unfortunately as the game progressed through the third and fourth quarters KES fell victim to the referee’s wrath as three of the starting five players needed to be replaced due to foul regulations. This left a depleted KES team who bravely battled strongly but unfortu-

nately came up short at the final whistle.

Overall it has been a much improved season for the KES girls, finishing 2nd in the league as opposed to 4th last season.

They also reached the final and finished as runners-up overall as opposed to losing at the semi-final stage last year. All the girls have improved their skills greatly with some outstanding performances from Shatha Al-Huneidi and Dana Al Khayat under the expert leadership skills of captain Lina Najem and as a collective unit they have been amazing all season, Mr Broome could not have been prouder of their performances. Congratulations on a great season and here’s to finishing just one step higher next year.

British Council to bring jazz to Kuwait for 50/20 celebrations

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s part of a series of events to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Kuwait’s independence and the 20th Anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait after the first Gulf War, the British Council will bring the Arun Ghosh Quintet to Kuwait for two live music performances on 17th & 18th February, in partnership with The English School and The Avenues.

The Arun Ghosh Quintet will come to Kuwait from their participation in the British Jazz Showcase - ‘Best of British Jazz’ at the Network Jazz Gardens, Dubai Jazz Festival (8th - 15th February 2011), a British Council initiative in partnership with the Dubai Jazz Festival.

Arun’s Indo-Jazz Group plays original music of South Asian origin with a contemporary jazz attitude. The band delighted the Southbank Centre at their debut gig at the London Jazz Festival in November 2007 and has since lit up the British jazz scene with intense and cathartic performances at clubs, festivals and melas in London and throughout the United Kingdom.

Denise Waddingham, Assistant Director of the British Council said: ‘This is a wonderful and rare opportunity to see contemporary British jazz in Kuwait. Arun is an exceptional clarinettist and hearing him and his band will be a real privilege.

This is a very special month for Kuwait

and we are delighted to bring some performers over from the UK to participate in the celebrations’.

Arun Ghosh’s Quintet has had excellent press reviews in the UK, for example: “An evening of music-making at once no-nonsense, thrilling and beautiful.”

(The Daily Telegraph). “Extraordinary charisma and musicianship and a consistently riveting compositional skill” (Jazzwise) John Allcott, Headmaster of The English School, said: ‘I am delighted that The English School Kuwait is able to host this prestigious event and particularly so in our new Performing Arts Centre’.

The Management of The Avenues said: ‘We are pleased to be hosting a music concert organised by the British Council, affirming our keenness to hold such musical events from time to time to provide entertainment and cultural activities for the mall’s visitors.’

Performances will take place at The Performing Arts Centre, The English School, Mousaed Al-Azmi Street, Block 12, Salmiya on Thursday 17th February at 7.30pm (gates open 6.45pm) and at The Avenues, Phase 2 (outside Dean & Deluca) on Friday 18th February at 1.30pm. Entry for both performances is free, although places for the 17th February performance are limited and entry is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Future Eye Theatre celebrates anniversary

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he first anniversary celebration of Future Eye Theatre, Kuwait turned out to be a memorable event for theatre lovers in Kuwait with the ensemble presenting a variety of unique theatre-based programs.

‘Kaliyarangu,’ held at the Indian Central School auditorium on Friday, became a platform for total theatre performances such as drama, folkloric presentation, music and dance.

Future Eye’s new production ‘Hattamalanadinappuram’ a play written by Badal Sarkar and directed by Surjith Gopinath, provided a new theatre experience to theatre lovers. Actors Biju Samuel, P D Poulose, K.V. Pradeesh Kumar, Praveen Aduthila, Suby George, Dilip Naderi, Mukundan Edavana, Ambika Mukundan and Sajeev K Peter did justice to their respective roles. Also the children’s play ‘Aananthapuriyile Odakuzhal Vidwan,’ presented by the Little Future Eye Ensemble, directed by Sajeev K Peter and choreographed

by Shirley Elizabeth Thomas, drew wide applause from the audience. A theatre sketch on Macbeth performed by George Mathew and Divya George offered a rare glimpse of Shakespearean theatre to the spectators.

Another attraction of the event was a folkloric presentation by Sunil K Cherian and team. Mono act by Divya Rajeev was also quite impressive. Chandramohan Kannur as ‘chakyar’ did a wonderful job as the program presenter. Earlier, noted theatre personality Surjith Gopinath inaugurated the event by lighting the traditional lamp. Future Eye Theatre president Sajeev K Peter gave an overview of the group’s objectives. Advisor Joy Joseph delivered the felicitation speech while vice-president and program committee convener Shemej Kumar K. K welcomed the gathering. General Secretary K.V Pradeesh Kumar presented the annual report and treasurer Biju Samuel proposed a vote of thanks. Rajeshwari Subbaraman anchored the inaugural function.

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah.

Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca.

The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday.

Canada offers a registration service for all Canadians travelling or living abroad. This service is provided so that Consular Officials can contact and assist Canadians in an emergency in a foreign country, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or inform Canadians of a family emergency at home. The Embassy of Canada encourages all Canadian Citizens to register online through the Government of Canada Travel Website at www.voyage.gc.ca.

The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.UAE.gc.ca.

Effective January 15, 2011, the only Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) application form that will be accepted by CIC is the Application for Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside of Canada [IMM 5257] form. All previous Temporary Resident Visa application forms will no longer be accepted by CIC and instead will be returned to applicants. Should old applications be submitted prior to January 15, 2011 they will continue to be processed. To ensure that the most recent version of the Temporary Resident Visa application form is being utilized, applicants should refer to the CIC website.

As of January 15, 2011, forms are to be filled in electronically. The forms are available on the internet at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM5257E.PDF. A guide explaining the process can be found here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guide s/5256E.PDF. EMBASSY OF INDIA The Embassy of India has fur ther 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 India

would like to inform that application forms for passport/visa services and labor contracts that are on its website, www.indembkwt.org, have been upgraded to include the facility for online data entry. Affidavit forms on the embassy website have had this facility since May 6, 2009. ●●●

The Embassy of India will remain closed on Wednesday, February 16, 2011 on account of “Milad-un-Nabi”.

Embassy of The Netherlands The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands welcomes Dutch citizens living in Kuwait to register with the Embassy. This registration service is provided so that the Embassy can contact and assist Dutch citizens in case of an emergency, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or inform Dutch citizens in case of a family emergency in the Netherlands.

Registration forms are available online at: www.mfa.nl/kwe.

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TV PROGRAMS 00:00 01:00 03:00 04:00 D-List 05:00 06:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 Idol) 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

The Ellen Degeneres Show Good Morning America Sons Of Anarchy Kathy Griffin: My Life On The Strong Medicine Good Morning America Happy Town Happy Town The Ellen Degeneres Show Survivor: Nicaragua American Idol Best And Worst (American Burn Notice Live Good Morning America Law And Order The Ellen Degeneres Show Strong Medicine American Idol Law And Order Supernatural Rescue Me

00:50 Untamed And Uncut 01:45 Jungle 02:40 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 03:35 World Wild Vet 04:30 League Of Monkeys 05:25 Into The Dragon’s Lair 06:20 Untamed And Uncut 07:10 Must Love Cats 08:00 Meerkat Manor 08:25 Night 08:50 Pandamonium 09:40 Breed All About It 10:10 Animal Crackers 10:35 Animal Crackers 11:05 Jungle 12:00 Animal Precinct 12:55 Wildlife Sos 13:20 Wildlife Sos 13:50 Animal Cops Phoenix 14:45 Rspca: On The Frontline 15:10 E-Vets: The Interns 15:40 Baby Panda’s First Year 16:30 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 17:30 Night 18:00 Breed All About It 18:25 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 19:20 World Wild Vet 20:15 Escape To Chimp Eden 20:40 Snake Crusader With Bruce George 21:10 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 22:05 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz 23:00 Pit Bulls And Parolees 23:55 I Shouldn’t Be Alive

00:30 01:00 01:30 02:30 03:20 03:50 04:20 04:40 05:00 05:20 05:40 05:50 05:55 06:10 06:30 06:50 07:10 07:20 07:25 07:40 08:00 08:20 08:40 08:50 08:55 09:10 09:30 09:50 10:10 10:20 10:25

My Family Last Of The Summer Wine The Weakest Link Casualty Eastenders Last Of The Summer Wine Doctor Who Confidential Balamory Tweenies Fimbles The Large Family Spot’s Musical Adventures Charlie And Lola Balamory Tweenies Fimbles The Large Family Spot’s Musical Adventures Charlie And Lola Balamory Tweenies Fimbles The Large Family Spot’s Musical Adventures Charlie And Lola Balamory Tweenies Fimbles The Large Family Spot’s Musical Adventures Charlie And Lola

10:40 11:10 11:40 12:40 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:20 15:50 16:25 17:10 18:15 18:45 19:15 20:10 20:55 21:45 22:15 22:45 23:40

Last Of The Summer Wine Last Of The Summer Wine The Weakest Link Robin Hood Doctors Eastenders Casualty Last Of The Summer Wine Last Of The Summer Wine Robin Hood The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Casualty Robin Hood The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Casualty Himalaya With Michael Palin

00:00 00:45 01:35 02:00 02:25 03:10 04:00 04:45 05:30 06:15 07:05 08:10 08:40 09:10 09:35 10:00 10:50 11:40 12:00 12:25 13:20 14:05 14:30 14:55 16:55 17:40 18:30 19:15 20:00 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:25 23:10 23:35

Design Star Superhomes Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Fantasy Homes By The Sea The Home Show Cash In The Attic Cash In The Attic Design Star Superhomes Antiques Roadshow Daily Cooks Challenge Daily Cooks Challenge 10 Years Younger 10 Years Younger Antiques Roadshow Fantasy Homes By The Sea 10 Years Younger 10 Years Younger Antiques Roadshow Fantasy Homes By The Sea Glamour Puds Glamour Puds Daily Cooks Challenge Fantasy Homes By The Sea The Home Show Cash In The Attic Design Star Superhomes Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Fantasy Homes By The Sea Bargain Hunt Sweet Baby James Sweet Baby James

00:00 BBC World News 00:30 Hardtalk 01:00 Business Edition With Tanya Beckett 01:30 Asia Business Report 01:45 Sport Today 02:00 BBC World News 02:30 Asia Business Report 02:45 Asia Today 03:00 BBC World News America 04:00 BBC World News 04:30 Asia Business Report 04:45 Asia Today 05:00 BBC World News 05:30 Asia Business Report 05:45 Asia Today 06:00 BBC World News 06:30 Asia Business Report 06:45 Asia Today 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 Hardtalk 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 World Business Report 10:45 Sport Today 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 World Business Report 11:45 Sport Today 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 Hardtalk 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 World Business Report

13:45 Sport Today 14:00 BBC World News 14:30 World Business Report 14:45 Sport Today 15:00 GMT With George Alagiah 15:30 GMT With George Alagiah 16:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 BBC World News 18:30 Hardtalk 19:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:30 World Business Report 20:45 Sport Today 21:00 BBC World News 21:30 World Business Report 21:45 Sport Today 22:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 23:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 23:30 World Business Report 23:45 Sport Today

00:00 00:25 00:50 01:15 01:35 02:00 02:25 02:50 03:15 03:40 04:05 04:35 05:00 05:25 05:50 06:15 06:45 07:10 07:35 08:00 08:20 08:45 09:10 09:35 10:00 10:20 10:45 11:05 11:30 11:55 12:20 12:45 13:10 13:40 14:05 14:30 14:55 15:20 15:45 16:10 16:35 17:00 17:30 17:55 18:20 18:45 19:10 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:15 23:40

00:15 00:40 01:05 01:30 01:55 02:20 02:45 03:10 03:35

The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Help! It’s The Hair Bear Bunch Popeye Tom And Jerry Top Cat Yogi’s Treasure Hunt Droopy: Master Detective King Arthur’s Disasters Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Flintstones Hong Kong Phooey A Pup Named Scooby-Doo The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Looney Tunes Popeye Classics Help! It’s The Hair Bear Bunch Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo Dastardly And Muttley Tom And Jerry Kids Top Cat Pink Panther And Pals The Scooby Doo Show The Addams Family Tom And Jerry The Garfield Show Looney Tunes The Jetsons King Arthur’s Disasters The Flintstones Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo Popeye Wacky Races Yogi’s Treasure Hunt The Scooby Doo Show Tom And Jerry Looney Tunes Duck Dodgers Top Cat Scooby Doo Where Are You! Dexter’s Laboratory Johnny Bravo The Scooby Doo Show Tom And Jerry Top Cat Dastardly And Muttley Wacky Races The Scooby Doo Show The Addams Family The Garfield Show Duck Dodgers Pink Panther And Pals Tom And Jerry The Jetsons Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo The Flintstones Looney Tunes Tom And Jerry Kids

Bakugan Battle Brawlers Chowder Cow And Chicken Cramp Twins George Of The Jungle Adrenalini Brothers Eliot Kid Ed, Edd N Eddy Ben 10: Alien Force

04:00 The Powerpuff Girls 04:15 Chowder 04:40 The Secret Saturdays 05:05 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 05:30 Ben 10: Alien Force 05:55 Best Ed 06:20 Skunk Fu! 06:45 Cramp Twins 07:10 Eliot Kid 07:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 08:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 08:25 Cow And Chicken 08:50 Best Ed 09:15 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 09:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 10:05 The Secret Saturdays 10:30 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 10:55 The Powerpuff Girls 11:20 Robotboy 11:30 The Life And Times Of Juniper Lee 11:55 Ben 10 12:20 Chowder 12:45 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 13:10 Camp Lazlo 13:35 George Of The Jungle 14:00 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 14:25 Codename: Kids Next Door 14:50 Ben 10 15:15 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 15:40 Squirrel Boy 16:05 Eliot Kid 16:35 Casper’s Scare School 17:00 Cow And Chicken 17:25 Chop Socky Chooks 17:50 Skunk Fu! 18:15 Chowder 18:40 Best Ed 19:05 Hero 108 19:30 Total Drama World Tour 19:55 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 20:20 Ben 10: Alien Force 20:45 The Secret Saturdays 21:10 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 21:35 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes 22:00 The Powerpuff Girls 22:25 Ed, Edd N Eddy 22:50 Robotboy 23:00 Camp Lazlo 23:25 Hero 108 23:50 Ben 10

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

Midnight Cowboy-18 Endgame-PG15 Hamlet-PG15 Call Of The North-PG Eva-PG15 From Mexico With Love-PG15 Einstein And Eddington-PG15 Stevie-PG15 Shadows In The Sun-PG15 Man In The Chair-PG15 The Wrestler-18 Cold Mountain-18

00:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson 01:00 Backstory 01:30 World Sport 02:00 World Report 04:00 World Business Today 05:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 06:00 Anderson Cooper 360 07:00 World Sport 07:30 Talk Asia 08:00 World Report 08:30 Backstory 09:00 World Report 11:00 World Sport 11:30 Cnngo 11:45 Future Cities 12:00 World Business Today 13:00 World One 14:00 World Sport 14:30 Open Court 15:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 16:00 News Stream 17:00 World Business Today 18:00 International Desk 19:00 The Brief 19:30 World Sport 20:00 Prism 21:00 International Desk 21:30 Open Court 22:00 Quest Means Business 23:00 Piers Morgan Tonight

00:40 Overhaulin’ 01:35 Dirty Jobs 02:30 Time Warp 03:00 Time Warp 03:25 X-Machines 04:20 Mythbusters 05:15 How Do They Do It? 05:40 How It’s Made 06:05 Dirty Jobs 07:00 X-Machines 07:50 American Chopper 08:45 How Do They Do It? 09:10 How It’s Made 09:40 Mythbusters 10:30 Cake Boss 10:55 Border Security 11:25 Overhaulin’ 12:20 Ultimate Survival 13:15 Mythbusters 14:10 Miami Ink 15:05 Dirty Jobs 16:00 Overhaulin’ 16:55 Deadliest Catch 17:50 Mythbusters 18:45 Cake Boss 19:10 Border Security 19:40 Deconstruction 20:05 How Do They Do It? 20:35 How It’s Made 21:00 Destroyed In Seconds 21:30 Destroyed In Seconds 21:55 Aircrash Unsolved: The Mystery Of...

22:50 Surviving Disaster 23:45 Secrets Of Interrogation

School Of Rock on Show Movies

00:40 01:30 01:55 02:45 03:35 04:25 04:50 05:45

Kings Of Construction The Gadget Show Nextworld How Stuff Works What’s That About?

Cool Stuff And How It Works Thunder Races Brainiac

06:40 Patent Bending 07:10 Engineered 08:00 Scrappy Races 08:55 Mission Critical: Hubble 09:50 How Stuff Works 10:45 Stuntdawgs 11:10 The Gadget Show 11:40 What’s That About?

12:30 Cool Stuff And How It Works 12:55 Scrappy Races 13:45 Patent Bending 14:15 How Stuff Works 15:05 Human Body: Ultimate Machine 15:55 Savage Planet 16:20 Nextworld 17:10 Kings Of Construction 18:00 The Gadget Show 18:25 Cool Stuff And How It Works 18:50 Brainiac 19:40 Ldrs (Large Dangerous Rocket Ships) 20:30 Science Of The Movies 21:20 How It’s Made 21:45 The Gadget Show 22:10 Could It Happen Here?

23:00 Ldrs (Large Dangerous Rocket Ships) 23:50 Science Of The Movies

00:00 00:25 00:50 01:15 01:35 02:00 02:25 02:50 03:15 03:35 04:00 04:25 04:50 05:15 05:35 06:00 06:20 06:45 07:05 07:27 07:30 07:50 08:15 08:35 09:00 09:25 09:50 10:10 10:35 10:50 11:15 11:35 12:00 12:25 12:42 12:45 13:10 13:30 13:55 14:20 14:40 14:55 15:20 15:40 16:00 16:25 16:45 17:08 17:10 17:37 17:40 18:00 18:25 18:43 18:45 19:10 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:12 21:15 21:35 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:15 23:35

Kim Possible Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents Stitch Stitch Replacements Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents Stitch Stitch Replacements Replacements Emperors New School Emperors New School Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Fairly Odd Parents Sonny With A Chance Have A Laugh Kim Possible Wizards Of Waverly Place Stitch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Imagination Movers Special Agent Oso Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse A Kind Of Magic Jonas La Fairly Odd Parents Have A Laugh Phineas And Ferb Hannah Montana Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place Jake And Blake Have A Laugh A Kind Of Magic Fairly Odd Parents Kim Possible Hannah Montana Forever Sonny With A Chance Good Luck Charlie Have A Laugh Jake And Blake Have A Laugh Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Have A Laugh Phineas And Ferb Jonas La Wizards Of Waverly Place Sonny With A Chance Jake And Blake Hannah Montana Have A Laugh Phineas And Ferb Fairly Odd Parents Replacements Hannah Montana Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place Jonas

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

Programmes Start At 7:00am Kid vs Kat Kick Buttowski Pokemon Phineas And Ferb Kick Buttowski American Dragon Have A Laugh Zeke And Luther I’m In The Band The Super Hero Squad Show Suite Life On Deck Escape From Scorpion Island Have A Laugh Phineas And Ferb Kid vs Kat The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody Zeke And Luther Suite Life On Deck Have A Laugh Kick Buttowski I’m In The Band Suite Life On Deck Zeke And Luther Phineas And Ferb Escape From Scorpion Island Pokemon American Dragon Aaron Stone Have A Laugh Kid vs Kat Phineas And Ferb I’m In The Band Have A Laugh The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody The Super Hero Squad Show

00:15 Kendra 00:40 Then And Now 01:05 Then And Now 01:30 E!es 02:20 THS 03:15 Extreme Hollywood 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Battle Of The Hollywood Hotties 05:30 Streets Of Hollywood 06:00 THS 07:45 Behind The Scenes 08:35 E! News

Old Dogs on Super Movies 09:25 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 09:50 Kimora’s Home Movies 10:15 E!es 12:00 E! News 12:50 Fashion Police 13:15 Extreme Close-Up 13:40 Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami 14:05 Kendra 14:30 THS 15:25 THS 16:15 Behind The Scenes 17:10 Married To Rock 17:35 Married To Rock 18:00 E! News 18:50 Extreme Close-Up 19:15 Extreme Close-Up 19:40 E!es 20:30 Fashion Police 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:20 Kendra 21:45 Kendra 22:10 E! News 23:00 Chelsea Lately 23:25 Kendra 23:50 Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami

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

01:10 02:55 04:45 06:20 Clyde 07:50 10:10 12:15 13:45 15:25 16:55 18:40 20:30 22:00 23:35

10:30 Rita Rocks 11:00 Coach 11:30 Yes, Dear 12:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 13:00 Just Shoot Me 13:30 Coach 14:00 Yes, Dear 14:30 Community 15:00 Rita Rocks 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 The Drew Carey Show 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Just Shoot Me 18:30 According To Jim 19:00 30 Rock 19:30 Community 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Eastbound And Down 22:30 Hung 23:00 South Park 23:30 30 Rock

Autopsy: Most Shocking The Haunted A Haunting Deadly Women Solved Autopsy: Most Shocking Ghosthunters The Haunted Mystery Diagnosis Forensic Detectives On The Run Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Real Emergency Calls Fbi Case Files Fbi Files Murder Shift Extreme Forensics Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Fbi Case Files Forensic Detectives On The Run Fbi Files Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Murder Shift Extreme Forensics I Almost Got Away With It Forensic Justice

Liebestraum Semi-Tough Dead On Sight Teenage Bonnie And Klepto Avanti The 60’s Mosquito Squadron Ruby Jean And Joe A Dog’s Breakfast Tennessee Nights Brannigan Foxy Brown Bucktown, U.S.A. Dead Of Winter

00:00 Community 00:30 Just Shoot Me 01:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 03:00 Family Guy 03:30 Party Down 04:00 South Park 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Coach 06:00 Yes, Dear 06:30 The Drew Carey Show 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Just Shoot Me 08:30 Coach 09:00 Yes, Dear 09:30 The Drew Carey Show 10:00 According To Jim

00:00 Road Trip: Beer Pong-18 02:00 American Teen-PG15 04:00 School Of Rock-PG15 06:00 In The Electric Mist-PG15 08:00 Legally Blondes-PG 09:30 Che Part One: The ArgentinePG15 11:45 Che Part Two: Guerilla-PG15 14:00 Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel-FAM 16:00 Legally Blondes-PG 17:45 You Don’t Know Jack-PG15 20:00 Ghosts Of Girlfriends PastPG15 22:00 Killshot-18

01:00 The Rock-PG15 03:15 Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans-18 04:45 The Hills Run Red-18 06:15 The Abyss (Extended Version)PG15 09:00 The Snow Walker-PG15 11:00 New Town Killers-PG15 13:00 Star Runners-PG15 15:00 The Snow Walker-PG15 17:00 Gran Torino-PG15 19:00 Battle In Seattle-18 21:00 Bitch Slap-18 23:00 Hell Ride-R

00:00 Bride Wars-PG15 02:00 Going Berserk-PG15 04:00 Moon Over Parador-PG15 06:00 G-Force-PG 08:00 The Perfect Score-PG15 10:00 Cop And A Half-PG15 12:00 Imagine That-PG 14:00 Swing Vote-PG15 16:00 Bride Wars-PG15 18:00 Wild Child-PG15 20:00 Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back-18 22:00 Miss March-18

00:00 Tutenstein: Clash Of The Pharaohs-PG 02:00 Christopher Columbus-PG 04:00 Super 7-PG 06:00 Hotel For Dogs-FAM 08:00 Casper Haunted ChristmasFAM 10:00 Christopher Columbus-PG 12:00 Superman/Batman: Public Enemies-PG 14:00 Super 7-PG 16:00 Monster’s Inc-FAM 18:00 Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs-FAM 20:00 Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home-FAM 22:00 Superman/Batman: Public Enemies-PG

00:30 Pool World Cup 01:30 Scottish FA Cup 03:30 Anglo Welsh Cup 05:30 Brazil League Highlights 06:00 Futbol Mundial 06:30 Extreme Sailing Series 07:00 Scottish FA Cup 11:00 Asia Pacific Iron Man 12:00 World Hockey 12:30 Pool World Cup 13:30 ICC Cricket World 14:00 Trans World Sport 15:00 Anglo Welsh Cup 17:00 Futbol Mundial 17:30 European Tour Weekly 18:00 Live Dubai Int’l Horse Racing Carnival 22:00 ICC Cricket World 22:30 World Hockey 23:00 Futbol Mundial 23:30 European Tour Weekly

00:00 European Tour Weekly 00:30 PGA European Tour Highlights 01:30 Extreme Sailing Series 02:00 Dubai Int’l Horse Racing Carnival 06:00 Trans World Sport 07:00 European Tour Weekly 07:30 European PGA Tour Highlights 08:30 World Hockey 09:00 Extreme Sailing Series 09:30 Brazil League Highlights 10:00 Trans World Sport 11:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 12:00 European Tour Weekly 12:30 Live PGA European Tour 16:30 Futbol Mundial 17:00 World Hockey 17:30 Brazil League Highlights 18:00 Total Rugby 18:30 European Tour Weekly 19:00 PGA European Tour 23:30 Dubai Int’l Horse Racing Carnival

00:00 03:00 04:30 05:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 17:30 18:00 20:00 21:00 22:00

UFC 126 FIA GT1 World Championship FIM World Cup UFC Unleashed WWE Smackdown WWE Bottom Line Full Throttle FIA GT1 World Championship WWE Vintage Collection WWE Bottom Line WWE SmackDown FIA GT1 World Championship FIM World Cup UAE National Race Day Series WWE NXT UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC 126

01:45 03:15 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Five Minutes Of Heaven-PG15 Disco-PG The Dust Factory-PG15 Santa Buddies-PG Car Babes-PG15 Disco-PG 2012: Startling New Secret-PG Delgo-FAM Car Babes-PG15 Old Dogs-PG Saw VI-PG15 Harry Brown-18

00:50 The Hunger-18 02:25 The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse-PG 05:00 Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia-18 06:50 Screening Room, The - Film Piracy-PG 07:15 The Screening Room - Film Restoration-PG 08:00 The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse-PG 10:30 Anna Christie-PG 12:00 Bad Day At Black Rock-PG 13:20 Interrupted Melody-FAM 15:05 The Journey-FAM

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Classifieds THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

Years

The year of the rabbit: Feb. 3 is the first day of the Chinese (lunar) calendar — a major holiday where friends and family gather for a reunion dinner and celebration. Red clothing is worn to ward away evil spirits and bad fortune.

“I don’t have any invites, but hopefully this will get me in.”

— Chris Colfer, holding up his Golden Globe award, when asked about his party plans for the rest of the night. Colfer won for supporting actor in a TV series, www.latimes.com.

— www.holidaysmart.com

A giant leap for frogs

After crafting 89 caps for premature babies, children undergoing chemotherapy and the homeless, the third- and fourth-graders in Susie Brown’s class are a close-knit bunch.

The 24 students at Valencia Elementary School in Aptos, Calif., are the most recent recruits of Knitting for Neighbors, a group that’s given away hundreds of hand-knitted hats, scarves, baby blankets and afghans during the past four years.

The young crafters devoted more than 400 hours to the community service project, knitting while their teacher reads aloud, on the playground at recess and at home instead of watching TV. “I see (the knitting project) as a metaphor for weaving ourselves together as a class,” Brown said.

“And it works. You see them helping each other. ... At one point, they were spontaneously giving each other shoulder rubs. ... It’s a cultural change in their point of view. They see what it is to be a close-knit group, pardon the pun.”

Brown already had started teaching her class to knit when the mother of one of her students told Melanie Larson, a friend from church, about the lessons.

Larson is the founder of Knitting for Neighbors, which is based at her church, Christ Lutheran Church of Aptos.

Larson went to talk to the students early this fall, and ended up working with them on the project.

She supplied yarn, and since some

Service project weaves classroom spirit for third- and fourth-graders

BY DONNA JONES Santa Cruz Sentinel

Teacher Susie Brown admires the work of a student who made 17 hats for Knitting for Neighbors, a non-profit group that’s given away hundreds of hand-knitted items.

were having trouble with the needles, knitting looms. The project took off.

By the start of December, dozens of hats hung from a clothesline strung across the classroom.

“The kids just jumped on it,” Brown said. “Every time a child

made a hat, they felt like a celebrity.

They felt proud of themselves.”

Larson said her mother taught her to knit as a teenager, but she dropped the hobby after she left for college. Then, while serving as a volunteer for CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates, a 7year-old girl she was working with asked her to teach her the skill.

Once knitting again, Larson was hooked. She only needed a purpose. Her idea of knitting for people in need captured the imagination of fellow congregation members and the group was born.

During the past year, Knitting for Neighbors has given away 150 hats, 26 scarfs, 14 afghans, six baby blankets and 102 newborn caps. The group also has given away 65 stuffed bears, purchased at the Dollar Tree but upgraded with hand-knitted jackets and caps.

“I know there are a lot of knitters out there who have run out of people to give projects to,” Larson said, adding it’s not necessary to join the group to participate. The group will pass on donations, she said.

The group, which has nonprofit status through the church, also could use donations of yarn or cash.

“It’s thrilling to see this grow,” she said. “It connects me to people all over Santa Cruz (Calif.), and working in classrooms with the children is just as rewarding.”

To contribute to Knitting for Neighbors, e-mail Larson at tklarson@comcast.net.

A worldwide hunt for amphibians has brought about the rediscovery of six long-lost frog species in Haiti.

Last fall, scientists set out on a global search for lost amphibians. Frog experts Robin Moore and Blair Hedges led the hunt in Haiti. When the team arrived in October, they had one main goal: to find the La Selle grass frog, last seen in 1985. After spending a week exploring the country’s cloud forests, they didn’t end up finding the creature. But they didn’t leave empty handed either. The expedition turned up six other long-lost frog species. Before now, no one had seen the rare amphibians for two decades.

“It was incredible. We went looking for one missing species and found a treasure trove of others. That, to me, represents a welcome dose of resilience and hope for the people and wildlife of Haiti,” Moore said in a statement.

La Selle Grass Frog: Last seen in 1985, this frog was the original target of Moore and Hedges’ expedition, but it eluded the scientists.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLAIR HEDGES

FROGS OF HAITI RE-DISCOVERED Among the team’s rediscoveries are these six critically endangered species, most of which haven’t been seen since 1991: Hispaniolan Ventriloquial Frog: This frog gets its name from its unique call, which it projects like a ventriloquist. By throwing its voice, the frog confuses predators.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ROBIN MOORE

Mozart's Frog: Its call resembles musical notes on an audio spectrogram — a process of converting sound to an image.

La Hotte Glanded Frog: Known for its striking blue sapphire-colored eyes — a highly unusual trait among amphibians.

Macaya Breast-spot Frog: One of the smallest frogs in the world; adults are the size of a green grape.

Hispaniolan Crowned Frog: Prior to this expedition, it was thought fewer than 10 individual frogs still existed. A row of bumps on the back of this frog’s head resemble a crown.

P H OTO S C O U RT E S Y O F M E L A N I E L A R S O N / M C T

Third- and fourth-graders at Valencia Elementary School in Aptos, Calif., knit hats to donate as a part of Knitting for Neighbors, a nonprofit group. The class created 89 hats for premature babies, children undergoing chemotherapy and the homeless.

Macaya Burrowing Frog: Last seen in 1996, this frog is known for its big jet-black eyes and bright orange markings on its legs. It lays eggs in underground chambers, where they hatch directly into froglets. © 2011 Time Inc. All Rights Reserved.

TIME FOR KIDS and Timeforkids.com are registered trademarks of Time Inc.

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FLIGHT SCHEDULE FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161 In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines KLM JZR JZR WAN WAN THY UAE QTR DHX KAC GFA FDB ETD ETH JZR FCX BAW KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR IRA ETD GFA JZR JZR MEA KNE KAC JZR KAC JZR MSR FDB MSR SYR UAL RBG SVA KAC KNE KAC JZR QTR

Arrival Flights on Thursday 10/2/2011 Flt Route 447 AMSTERDAM / BAHRAIN 267 BEIRUT 205 DAMASCUS 646 VIENNA / BEIRUT 306 CAIRO 772 ISTANBUL 853 DUBAI 138 DOHA 370 BAHRAIN 544 CAIRO 211 BAHRAIN 67 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 620 ADDIS ABABA / BAHRAIN 503 LUXOR 201 DOHA 157 LONDON 412 MANILA / BANGKOK 204 LAHORE 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 332 TRIVANDRUM 676 DUBAI 362 COLOMBO 855 DUBAI 123 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 605 ISFAHAN 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 121 BAHRAIN 165 DUBAI 404 BEIRUT 701 RIYADH 772 RIYADH 561 SOHAG 672 DUBAI 555 ALEXANDRIA 610 CAIRO 57 DUBAI 621 ASSIUT 341 DAMASCUS 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 3557 ALEXANDRIA 500 JEDDAH 552 DAMASCUS 745 JEDDAH 284 DHAKA 257 BEIRUT 134 DOHA

Time 0:10 0:45 0:45 1:45 1:50 2:15 2:35 2:45 2:55 3:00 3:05 3:05 3:10 3:40 4:00 6:15 6:40 6:45 7:35 7:45 7:55 8:05 8:10 8:20 8:30 9:05 9:05 9:15 9:30 9:35 11:10 11:20 11:55 12:20 12:40 13:00 13:25 13:30 13:45 13:50 13:55 14:00 14:10 14:15 14:30 14:40 14:50 14:55 15:00 15:00

KAC WAN WAN MLR ETD UAE KAC GFA SVA RJA JZR KAC JZR ABY ALK JZR KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC RBG KAC KAC IRA WAN SIA VOS FDB OMA JAI JZR MSR DHX WAN GFA MEA JZR QTR KLM UAE KAC KAC IAC MSR JZR JZR UAL AXB DLH RJA PIA

546 402 304 403 303 857 118 215 510 800 777 562 239 127 227 177 542 618 785 614 674 3125 104 774 617 642 458 93 61 647 572 357 618 372 104 217 402 201 136 445 859 178 502 981 606 185 135 981 389 636 802 205

ALEXANDRIA BEIRUT CAIRO COLOMBO / DUBAI ABU DHABI DUBAI NEW YORK BAHRAIN RIYADH AMMAN JEDDAH AMMAN AMMAN SHARJAH COLOMBO / DUBAI DUBAI CAIRO DOHA JEDDAH BAHRAIN DUBAI SOHAG LONDON RIYADH AHWAZ VIENNA SINGAPORE / ABU DHABI KANDAHAR / DUBAI DUBAI MUSCAT MUMBAI MASHAD ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN BEIRUT DAMASCUS DOHA AMSTERDAM DUBAI GENEVA / FRANKFURT BEIRUT CHENNAI / AHMEDABAD / HYDERABAD LUXOR DUBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN KOZHIKODE / MANGALORE FRANKFURT AMMAN LAHORE

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

Airlines AXB UAL IAC PIA KLM DLH KAC THY FDB UAE ETD ETH QTR DHX JZR JZR JZR GFA JZR FDB WAN KAC BAW JZR KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR IRA ETD GFA WAN KAC KAC JZR JZR KAC MEA KNE KAC JZR JZR FDB MSR MSR RBG

Depatrure Flights on Thursday 10/2/2011 Flt Route 394 COCHIN / KOZHIKODE 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 576 GOA / CHENNAI 216 KARACHI 447 AMSTERDAM 637 FRANKFURT 283 DHAKA 773 ISTANBUL 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 306 ABU DHABI 620 ADDIS ABABA 139 DOHA 371 BAHRAIN 560 SOHAG 554 ALEXANDRIA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 120 BAHRAIN 54 DUBAI 641 VIENNA 545 ALEXANDRIA 156 LONDON 256 BEIRUT 671 DUBAI 256 BEIRUT 551 DAMASCUS 771 RIYADH 101 LONDON / NEW YORK 856 DUBAI 124 SHARJAH 133 DOHA 606 MASHAD 302 ABU DHABI 214 BAHRAIN 401 BEIRUT 165 ROME / PARIS 541 CAIRO 776 JEDDAH 238 AMMAN 561 AMMAN 405 BEIRUT 704 MEDINAH 785 JEDDAH 176 DUBAI 356 MASHAD 58 DUBAI 611 CAIRO 622 ASSIUT 3126 SOHAG

Time 0:40 0:45 0:50 1:10 1:25 1:30 2:40 3:15 3:45 3:50 4:00 4:25 4:55 5:45 5:55 6:30 6:55 7:15 8:20 8:25 8:40 8:50 8:55 9:00 9:00 9:00 9:10 9:20 9:35 9:40 9:45 10:00 10:15 10:20 10:20 10:25 11:45 12:00 12:00 12:10 12:25 12:55 13:10 13:40 13:50 14:15 14:35 14:45 14:50 14:55

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

SYR KAC UAL KAC KNE SVA JZR KAC KAC KAC QTR WAN MLR ETD VOS GFA UAE RJA JZR ABY SVA JZR ALK KAC JZR RBG KAC IRA FDB KAC OMA JAI SIA MSR KAC DHX KAC GFA MEA JZR FCX QTR KLM KAC UAE KAC JZR MSR JZR KAC KAC

342 673 982 617 746 505 200 501 613 773 135 103 404 304 82 216 858 801 184 128 511 266 228 285 134 3558 361 616 62 351 648 571 457 619 543 373 677 218 403 206 102 137 445 301 860 205 502 607 222 415 411

DAMASCUS DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA JEDDAH JEDDAH DAMASCUS BEIRUT BAHRAIN RIYADH DOHA DUBAI DUBAI / COLOMBO ABU DHABI BAGHDAD BAHRAIN DUBAI AMMAN DUBAI SHARJAH RIYADH BEIRUT DUBAI / COLOMBO CHITTAGONG BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA COLOMBO AHWAZ DUBAI COCHIN MUSCAT MUMBAI ABU DHABI / SINGAPORE ALEXANDRIA CAIRO BAHRAIN DUBAI / MUSCAT BAHRAIN BEIRUT DAMASCUS BAHRAIN DOHA BAHRAIN / AMSTERDAM MUMBAI DUBAI ISLAMABAD LUXOR LUXOR ALEPPO KUALA LUMPUR / JAKARTA BANGKOK / MANILA

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

34

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

s ta rs CROSSWORD 225

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) Be mindful not appear too independent today. Every person deserves a listening ear—if not for the positive aspects, then for awareness. You are an advanced spiritual person and when you listen and give advice to others it may take a while before the kindness you have exhibited is returned. Do not press your problems on others—go to a person of spiritual title or your very own higher power. Writing yourself a letter and including your quandary will very often eliminate a lot of worry time. Your life may take on a kind of mystical quality at the emotional and instinctive levels. You are learning to listen to that small voice inside of you. Dreams and illusions, forgiveness and understanding human frailties are the things that arouse deep feelings.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Opportunity knocks today and you respond quickly. Authority figures notice your success at being productive as well as your enthusiasm. Make it a point to notice changes you can make around the workplace that will call for very little attention. You could be most persuasive with others and eloquent in speech and communication; you only need a few words. The situation is a natural for self-expression after others become interested in what you have to say. It may soon be time to become tougher in the financial areas of your life—secure a firm future. Concentrate on paying off some of those long-term bills. You may understand now how to proceed with plans and decisions concerning your life situation. Your intuition is accurate; stop and listen.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. A master’s degree in business.

4. An enzyme secreted in the digestive tract that catalyzes the breakdown of fats into individual fatty acids that can be absorbed into the bloodstream.

10. A rapid bustling commotion.

13. An awkward stupid person.

14. Any member of Athapaskan tribes that migrated to the southwestern desert (from Arizona to Texas and south into Mexico).

15. The most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on.

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

17. Butter creamed with white wine and shallots and parsley.

19. Covered with paving material.

22. An associate degree in nursing.

23. Squash bugs.

25. An ugly evil-looking old woman.

27. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.

30. Being ten more than one hundred ninety.

31. Jordan’s port.

34. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

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

37. (folklore) A small grotesque supernatural creature that makes trouble for human beings.

41. A public promotion of some product or service.

42. Inspired by a feeling of fearful wonderment or reverence.

44. American prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942).

47. The second month of the Hindu calendar.

49. A large fleet.

53. Type genus of the Alaudidae.

56. A genus of Ploceidae.

59. The bill in a restaurant.

60. An anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions.

61. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunk and fruit that resembles a gourd and has an edible pulp called monkey bread.

63. A sweetened beverage of diluted fruit juice.

64. A nucleic acid that transmits genetic information from DNA to the cytoplasm.

65. Any of various spiny trees or shrubs of the genus Acacia.

66. A coenzyme derived from the B vitamin nicotinic acid.

DOWN 1. Ditch dug as a fortification and usually filled with water.

2. A small cake leavened with yeast.

3. (old-fashioned) At or from or to a great distance.

4. Hungarian choreographer who developed Labanotation (18791958).

5. A medicinal drug used to evoke vomiting (especially in cases of drug overdose or poisoning).

6. (in golf) The standard number of strokes set for each hole on a golf course, or for the entire course.

7. The capital and largest city of Ghana with a deep-water port.

8. Lacking self-confidence.

9. The branch of engineering science that studies the uses of electricity and the equipment for power generation and distribution and the control of machines and communication.

10. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.

11. Fallow deer.

12. A strategically located monarchy on the southern and eastern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula.

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

20. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.

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

24. A white trivalent metallic element.

26. Light informal conversation for social occasions.

28. The sound made by a cat (or any sound resembling this).

29. A French abbot.

32. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

33. An officer who acts as military assistant to a more senior officer.

35. Being two more than forty.

38. An amino acid that is found in the central nervous system.

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

40. The basic unit of money in Bangladesh.

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

45. West Indian tree having racemes of fragrant white flowers and yielding a durable timber and resinous juice.

46. A landlocked principality in the Himalayas northeast of India.

48. East Indian tree yielding a resin used medicinally and burned as incense.

50. Water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere.

51. Designer drug designed to have the effects of amphetamines (it floods the brain with serotonin) but to avoid the drug laws.

52. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

54. An informal term for a father.

55. In bed.

57. A state of southwestern India.

58. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

62. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Challenges are likely today—and they are not all bad. You have the problem-solving knowledge that will help you to gain the speed needed to reach a deadline or avoid a calamity. You have special abilities that will help you accomplish your goals. During your noon break, spend some time in the library or walk around the block to diffuse any frustrations. The afternoon is much smoother with regard to accomplishments. You realize you have grown when you see how much less time you are willing to spend in a negative situation—congratulations!

Situations will unfold and can be understood easily. Someone proves to be very understanding today. You will want to take an attitude of gratitude this evening so that you can leave any problems from work, at work.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

Your intuition is tuned in and ready to be helpful. Your life takes on a kind of spiritual growth at the emotional and instinctive levels now. Dreams, forgiveness and the understanding of human weaknesses arouse deep feelings. The past and the future seem to come together in order to bring about a healing. This could mean that two or more people or cities or countries that have disagreed in the past have now found ways to agree. Through helping a friend, you will be helping yourself and the healing continues. Financial questions may need to be answered this evening. Someone could be taking advantage of you and you will want to make that person aware that you know what is taking place. Your loved one expresses deep appreciation of you.

Leo (July 23-August 22) A puzzling happening in the workplace has a way of peaking your interest this morning. Putting two and two together without saying much, you may be able to decipher or uncover the puzzle. Quiet and discreet conversation may open new doors of opportunity. There is a chance to become more involved in electronics today. Neighbors will enjoy your company this afternoon.

Community activities or special interest groups offer enjoyable experiences this evening. Your love relationship can blossom when you share your hopes and your dreams with each other—plan for your futures together. This is a rewarding day. Keep looking to your higher self for answers and advice and you will be pleased by your progress. Home is where you find your heart.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Although much can be accomplished today, an energetic person could test your concentration this morning. You might as well stop and answer questions or help guide someone with whatever they need; then you will be able to get back to your own work. By the noon hour, a feeling of being rushed or stressed will pass. Take time to smell the flowers during your noon break.

Later this evening you can put your feet up and relax. A man named John Ruskin once said, ?The highest reward for man?s toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.? Work, respect, status and achievement are central goals for you as a new phase begins in your life. Indulge yourself in a favorite hobby this evening or just enjoy your surroundings.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You enjoy a supportive partner and your close family members.

After a good breakfast, most any problem today will find an easy solution through your insight. This is a positive time to obtain a loan, take a vacation, start a diet or begin a business of your own. New beginnings are important now and getting serious about taking care of yourself with regard to mind and body is of interest to you as well. Forgiveness and letting go of past grievances is a key to peace-ofmind. There is a greater recognition of your psychic and spiritual growth as well as the ability to listen to that small inner voice that guides you. Time is passing and you are sensing the importance in getting serious with plans you have for a secure future. A networking opportunity is successful tonight.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) The weather may slow you down. You may not be able to locate some of the people you need to see today and this may be due to difficult weather. E-mail, cell phones and fax machines could be quite handy at this time. The process of getting things accomplished seems slow, but is of short duration. Requests from higher-ups will eventually find good results. Dig in and do your own work and expect a better afternoon. You will discover some mistakes today that seem to be consistently made by someone who is not in the office just now. You will be able to correct and make note of these mistakes for later changes. Guard against lazy bookkeeping so that auditing will not be slowed. It is important that you find your inner energy at this time.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

Yesterday’s Solution

Work routine is exasperating and you are not alone. Although you may not want to continue to be a cog in a wheel so to speak, you take on an attitude of good sportsmanship. A joint financial venture is bound for success; don’t let an unconvinced associate discourage you. Ideas and interaction with authority figures will get more attention this afternoon. Your management and directional abilities are in high focus and someone is watching. Working with—rather than against—the flow should be easy to do. Lovers, children and other people or things dear to your heart are emphasized this evening. A relaxed attitude with the family creates a good bonding time. There is talk of selling or buying property and you see a long financial drought ending.

Yesterday’s Solution

Yester

Forgiveness and understanding human weakness may arouse deep feelings. The past and the future combine and the stumbling blocks between people dissolve. This is a key to understanding and it brings about a greater psychic and spiritual sensitivity for you now. Your own inner need for change and growth may be threatened by someone older or by circumstances. You are able to put things on hold in order to get a better grasp on the real truth. There could be some underhanded or devious goings-on behind the scenes at work today and you will be wise to avoid being in the path of this development. You have lots of energy to accomplish your own goals. Keep up the good work and maintain good health by eating high protein, low fat foods.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Your energies are high through the eighteenth of this month for anything you want to accomplish. New ideas and technology are knocking at your door and you are ready. You may even take it upon yourself to teach others about the new technologies—certainly, there should be a fee for your time.

There is a feeling that nothing is impossible. You are at your most practical when it comes to dealing and working with others—you know just what to do. Within the family unit, you could see changes for the positive in the way that others look to you for answers; you are pleased. A blind date or a new friend this evening may prove to be the most enjoyable time you have had in a while. There is plenty of laughter and sharing.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

Now is the best time to settle down and work side-by-side with others. Group meetings or department meetings may become necessary in order to create a smooth running business. This is one day where all efforts seem to work together for the better of the whole. It could be that some incentives have been added and a new competition adds that extra push needed for success to be realized. Actions can speak louder than words and your positive actions can be as attractive as honey is to flies! A young person is impressed by your ability to work through difficulties quickly—you find the truth of a matter and have practical answers.

Keep your eye on the personal goals of love and happiness with your special love— give away a pat on the back.

A

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

Years

i n f o r m at i o n FIRE BRIGADE

112

Al-Madena

22418714

Al-Shohada’a

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

24812000

Al-Jahra

25610011

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha’a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

Clinics Rabiya

4732263

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

24892674

Al-Omariya

24719048

N.Kheitan

24710044

Fintas

3900322

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988

PHARMACIES

AIRLINES

ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Hawally

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Kuwait Airways Wataniya Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air Turkish Airlines Aeroflot

22433377 24379900 177 22924455 22423888 22425747 22434940 22420002/9 22418064/5/6 22433388 22425635 22430224 22425566 22438184 22424444 22421578 22421516 22426306 22423073 22422493 22421044 22414427 22416474 22452977/8 22417901/ 2433141 22456700 22412284/5 22453820/1 22404838/9

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120

Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist 25340300

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada) Dentists Dr Anil Thomas

3729596/3729581 22641071/2

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Salem soso

22618787

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Neurologists

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil

22639939

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Mousa Khadada

22666300

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

Gastrologists

25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees 25655535

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

General Surgeons

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antiga Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands

0093 00355 00213 00376 00244 001264 001268 0054 00374 0061 0043 001242 00973 00880 001246 00375 0032 00501 00229 001441 00975 00591 00387 00267 0055 00673 00359 00226 00257 00855 00237 001 00238 001345

Central African Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Cyprus (Northern) Czech Republic Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England (UK) Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia

00236 00235 0056 0086 0057 00269 00242 00682 00506 00385 0053 00357 0090392 00420 0045 00246 00253 001767 001809 00593 0020 00503 0044 00240 00291 00372 00251 00500 00298 00679 00358 0033 00594 00689

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Years

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

lifestyle G o s s i p

Kuniswas

bullied at school ila Kunis was bullied at school for her looks.

The stunning ‘Black Swan’ actress hated her big eyes and lips when she was younger after being taunted by her classmates but says she is now happy she has finally grown into her strong features.

She said: “I was always the smallest in my class. I’ve learned it wasn’t a bad thing to be picked on because when you’re little it seems awful like it’s the end of the world. “I grew into my face . I had a very funny looking face when I was little. I had like big eyes, big lips, big ears. But when I was little I was constantly being made fun of for having big eyes and that was awful. I used to come home crying: ‘Why do I have big eyes?’ And my parents were like: ‘You’re crazy!’”

However being bullied at school has not put Mila off education forever and the 27year-old beauty is now planning to follow in her ‘Black Swan’ co-star Natalie Portman’s footsteps and attend university. She told Britain’s OK! magazine: “I will go to university one day. I wanted to, it’s just I chose a career from an early age.

Who’s to say I made the right decision? I don’t know. Time will tell.”

Khloe Kardashian taunted over weight

M

Hurleymeets Warne?s parents lizabeth Hurley has met Shane Warne’s parents.

The model-and actress - who rekindled her romance with the Australian cricketer last month - was introduced to Shane’s mother and father, Keith and Bridgette, at his Melbourne home . The meeting seemed to go well as Brigitte was spotted with a huge smile on her face as she left her son’s home, suggesting she approved of his new girlfriend. Elizabeth - who parted ways with Shane in December after it emerged the sportsman had been sending lewd text messages to another woman while he was romancing the 45year-old star - flew into Melbourne two days ago to be reunited with her lover after spending a couple of weeks apart. While Elizabeth has been introduced to Shane’s parents, the ‘Austin Powers...’ actress is keen for Shane to meet a very important individual in her life her pet parrot Ping Pong. Addressing the sportsman, she wrote on her twitter page: “@warne888 Ping Pong would love to peck you-you’d be her first blonde. (sic)” Shane believes he will bond well with the bird - who is actually female - and laughed off the ‘Bedazzled’ star’s comment. He tweeted in response: “I think ping pong would like me so he wouldn’t peck me. “I think i want to hear more about ping pong ! Is he sweet ? Has he spoken yet or still sussing you out and pecking u ? (sic)” Elizabeth - who has eight-year-old son Damian with former boyfriend Steve Bing - announced in December she had split from husband Arun Nayar “several months ago” after she was romantically linked with Shane, who she first met last July.

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Moss?s

is inspired by party girl

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Damon

would

up about the date for their respective hen parties.

The two stars were planning to hold their bashes to celebrate their final days as single ladies on the same night, but Lily decided to rearrange her plans so Kate could go ahead with her celebration. A source told the Daily Star newspaper: “Kate and Lily both originally wanted the same weekend to celebrate, the last weekend in May. Luckily, the girls thought it was funny and typical of their planning.

“They’ve been friends for a while and obviously have stacks of mutual pals so both were anxious that their special nights didn’t coincide. “Lily offered to rearrange her plans around Kate and they both had a real laugh about it.”

Getty?s father has died he 36-year-old actor - who recently reunited with his wife Rosetta Millington following a temporary split and a brief relationship with Sienna Miller - confirmed his father John Paul Getty III passed away in his mansion in Buckinghamshire, South East England, on Saturday at the age of 54. Despite being left paralyzed, almost blind and unable to speak following a severe stroke in 1981, Balthazar explained the oil tycoon - who was a father of two and grandfather of six - always lived life to the full. In a statement released by the ‘Brothers and Sisters’ star, he said: “He never let his handicap keep him from living life to the fullest and he was an inspiration to all of us. He taught us how to live our lives and overcome obstacles and extreme adversity and we shall miss him dearly.” John Paul’s life was marked by him being kidnapped in Rome at the age of 16, which eventually resulted in his multi-millionaire family having to pay a $2.2 million ransom when his captors sent them his severed ear in the post after the Gettys originally refused to concede to their demands.

He was then found in Italy five months after he had originally been captured. Despite attempting to join the family business, John Paul was left traumatized by his kidnapping and became an alcoholic and drug addict.

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elena Bonham Carter was always clockwatching on the set of ‘The King’s Speech’. The actress - who has been nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as the Queen Mother in the movie - was making her costars laugh during the shoot because she was constantly looking at her watch as she wanted filming to be over.

Colin Firth - who plays Helena’s on-screen husband, stammering British monarch King George VI - said: “It’s a tribute to Helena’s brilliance that she came across as a supportive wife - most of the time when I was doing an agonized stammering scene and was off camera, she’d be looking at her watch.”

Helena, 44, previously revealed she was pushed into the role by the film’s director Tom Hooper and can never remember saying yes as she was so busy working on other film projects, including ‘Harry Potter’. She said: “To be honest, I never actually said yes to this part.

“Tom Hooper is such a phenomenon of relentless passion and determination he just wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”

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never sell? out a director

he actor-and-screenwriter says once he has agreed to appear in a movie or has hired a filmmaker for the project he could never get rid of them, even if he didn’t think it was working out, because he’d already committed to the project. He told Men’s Health magazine: “My movies being really good or watchable always depends on everybody being really good, not just me. I’m particularly sensitive about making sure we secure the best possible people in each role because I am not somebody who can overcome if we don’t. “And then, for me, once I make that commitment, I never will sell the director out on that project. You cannot change horses midrace. Even if your horse is losing, you ride the horse as hard and as fast as you can. If there was a mistake made, it was made in your initial decision to work with that person.” Matt - who is currently starring in thriller ‘The Adjustment Bureau’ alongside Emily Blunt - also revealed he and writing partner Ben Affleck never take offence when their ideas are criticized by the other person. He said: “When one of us comes up with an absolutely a horrible idea, which happens all the time, the other person, without batting an eyelash, says ‘That’s a terrible idea.’ And neither of us has our feelings hurt, and we just kind of move on.” —Bang Showbiz

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always clock-watching on film set

engagement ring

ate Moss’s engagement ring is inspired by legendary 1920s party girl Zelda Fitzgerald. The supermodel’s fiance Jamie Hince reportedly spent months trying to find an original diamond ring worn by Zelda - the wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald who was famous for her hedonistic lifestyle and died in 1948 - but in the end had to resort to having a copy made. The 37-year-old catwalk beauty - who was spotted wearing the band at a London concert this week - especially loves the ring because of its connection to her and Jamie’s favorite book ‘The Beautiful And The Damned’, which was written by Zelda’s husband. A source told The Sun newspaper: “Jamie went to great lengths to bowl Kate over with the ring. It couldn’t be any old sparkler, and he knows how fascinated she is by Zelda.” It has also been revealed that Kate may choose to wed her Kills rocker fiance in Paris, France, where the Fitzgeralds lived and have a 1920s theme. The source added: “The big ‘kapow’ moment between them happened in Paris. They see it as their place.

“She knows Zelda spent a lot of time there and, in the spirit of the ring, Kate is talking about having the whole wedding themed around the 1920s. She wants a vintage gown and that will avoid offending anyone by picking one particular designer.” Meanwhile, Kate and her friend Lily Allen - who is engaged to her partner Sam Cooper - reportedly had a mix-

hloe Kardashian claims she gets called the “fat” Kardashian sister. The 26-yearold socialite says she has been the victim of cruel taunts ever since she and her siblings Kim and Kourtney found fame on their reality TV show ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’, but she has learnt to deal with the jibes. In a joint interview with Kourtney, Khloe said: “I’m the ugly sister. I’m the fat one.

I’m the transvestite. I have had those mean things said about me at least twice a day for the last five years. It’s horrible, you know? But I can brush that stuff off.” Despite the criticism fame has brought her, the brunette star insists she loves being a reality TV star and is an avid watcher of the genre - especially ‘The Real Housewives...’ shows. Khloe - who also appears in the series ‘Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami’ - added: “I love reality TV. I’m addicted to the weirdness. I don’t care what city it’s in, I just love the ‘Real Housewives...’ shows.”

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

Years

lifestyle Music and Movies

Lohan

Justin Bieber arrives at the premiere of “Justin Bieber: Never say Never”.—AFP

to be charged with grand theft over necklace

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Osiris Guinea, 8, center, and her sister Katherinne, 13, right, wait for Justin Bieber to arrive at the premiere of the documentary film “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” in Los Angeles.—AP

‘Beliebers’ fill downtown LA for Bieber premiere

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he city got a bad case of Bieber fever on Tuesday, when hundreds of Justin Bieber fans - along with his famous friends Miley Cyrus, Will Smith, Usher and Selena Gomez-filled the LA Live complex for the premiere of the teen pop star’s first movie, “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.” The mostly ‘tween and teen crowd, many in homemade T-shirts proclaiming themselves to be Bieber’s No 1 fan, packed the LA Live plaza hours ahead of the screening, hoping for a star sighting.

“We just wanted to see if we could get a glimpse of Justin,” said 15-year-old Hanna Hamersley, who wore a purple hand-painted Tshirt, a homemade Justin Bieber headband and purple “Never Say Never” 3-D glasses. Part concert film and part biopic, “Never Say Never” tells the story of Bieber’s rise from a small-town street performer to a bona fide pop sensation with hit songs, a best-selling book and more than seven million followers on Twitter.

It shows a young Bieber pounding away on the drums and busking on the streets of Ontario, Canada, before rising to fame through YouTube and Twitter, and eventually performing at Madison Square Garden. “It was the greatest movie ever,” said 13year-old Hanna Zeile. “I would watch it over and over.” Indeed, Hanna and her two friends said they planned to see the movie

again yesterday and tomorrow, when it opens nationwide.

Twelve-year-old Bella Garcia said she planned to see the movie at least twice more. “I loved all the baby videos and footage of him as a kid,” Bella said. “He had no music lessons as a kid. That really inspired me.” Sisters Megan and Emily Bratta also appreciated seeing Bieber’s childhood home videos and deep musical roots. Their mom, Gayla, said she was unexpectedly taken with the young musician. “I was very impressed,” she said. “I didn’t know he had such raw, true talent.” Bieber’s fans-who call themselves “Beliebers” — play a big role in “Never Say Never.” They’re shown throughout the film in their T-shirts, singing along with his songs and crying from sheer joy at seeing him in person. Fans in the theater screamed and waved glow sticks during the 3-D concert footage, just like fans at his actual concerts. (Movie-bound parents: Bring earplugs.) “I’m so happy I have such amazing fans,” Bieber said as he introduced the film. “Tonight isn’t even about me. It’s about spreading the message that anything is possible.”—AP

rosecutors said Tuesday they plan to charge Lindsa y Lohan with felony grand theft of a $2,500 neckl ace reported stolen from a jewelry store last month-the most serious count the actress has faced in more than three years of trouble with the law. District Attor ney’s spoke swom an Jane Robis on said the charg e was filed yeste rday.

Loha n, 24, was in court for an arraignmen t ysterd ay aftern oon.

Los Angeles police said Feb 2 that Lohan was under investigation for takin g a neckl ace from a Venice store later identified as Kamofie and Co Dete ctive s obtai ned a search warrant to try to retrieve the item from Lohan’s home, but it was turned in to a police station before any search was made.

Polic e said they had no update on the case Tuesday and did not say whether the actress had made arrangements to turn herself in at court or at a police station. Robison said bail would be decided by a judge. A phone mess age to Loha n’s attor ney, Shaw n Chap man Holle y, was not imme diate ly retur ned.

Holle y has previ ously denie d any wrongdoing by Lohan.

“We vehemently deny these allegations and, if charges are filed, we will fight them in court , not in the press,” Holle y said in a statem ent released Saturday. Arrested twice in 2007, Lohan was charged with drunken driving and drug possession, but (File) Lindsay Lohan both were misdemeanors. The “Mean Girls” star has been attends the Los jailed three times in that case, but has been grant ed a Angeles Lakers New quick release due to jail overcrowding and a requir ement York Knicks NBA that bail be set on misdemeanor cases. basketball game in Lohan remains on probation for drunken driving, and a Los Angeles. —AP judge has threatened to throw her in jail if she runs into trouble again. Prosecutors in Riverside County have been considering whether to press charges against Lohan for a December altercation with a worker from the Betty Ford Center, where she was being treated. The treatm ent, her fifth rehab session, came after she admitted failing a drug test shortly after being granted early release from another treatment program. Lohan’s court struggles and treatment have taken a serious toll on the former Disne y star’s career. Her role as porn star Linda Lovelace in a biopic was recast last year while Lohan was at Betty Ford and no repla ceme nt proje cts have been anno unced.

She had been due in court on Feb. 25 for a probation status hearing and a judge had said he would be willing to loosen the terms of her probation if she remained out of trouble.—AP

Law, Miller split up for second time

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ienna Miller’s spokeswoman says the actress and Jude Law have split up for a second time. Publicist Tori Cook said yesterday that 29-year-old Miller and the 38-year-old “Sherlock Holmes” star are no longer in a relationship.

The couple met on the set of “Alfie” in 2003 and later became engaged, but separated after Law admitted a fling with his children’s nanny in 2005. They resumed their relationship in 2009 and had been living together in London. Law has three children with his ex-wife, actress and designer Sadie Frost. He also fathered a child in 2009 during a brief relationship with model Samantha Burke.—AP

File photo shows Jude Law with his co-star and girlfriend Sienna Miller arriving at the world premiere of their latest film, “Alfie,” in London.—AP

Image shows Meryl Streep is transformed for her role as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher complete with the Iron Lady’s trademark hairdo. —AP

Meryl Streep daunted at prospect of Thatcher role

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scar winner Meryl Streep has undergone a dramatic transformation for her role as former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in a forthcoming biopic about her life called “The Iron Lady.” Streep has adopted Thatcher’s trademark bouffant hairstyle, ruby-red lipstick and pearl earrings for her part in the film about Britain’s longest continuously serving premier of the 20th century. “The prospect of exploring the swathe cut through history by this remarkable woman is a daunting and exciting challenge,” said Streep, in a statement from the film’s producers. “I am trying to approach the role with as much zeal, fervour and attention to detail as the real Lady Thatcher possesses-I can only hope my stamina will begin to approach her own.” The movie, due for release later this year, reunites Streep, 61, with “Mamma Mia!” director Phyllida Lloyd and also stars veteran British actor Jim Broadbent as Thatcher’s husband Denis.

Other members of the cast include Richard E Grant and comedian John Sessions. The script for the film, which began shooting at the end of January, covers a broad sweep of Thatcher’s career. Pathe, which is producing the movie with Film4 and the UK Film Council, said it is about “a woman who smashed through the barriers of gender and class to be heard in a male-dominated world.” Thatcher, whose nickname gives the film its title, is the only woman ever to be British prime minister. At the head of Conservative governments from 1979 to 1990, she oversaw a transformation of the British economy but crushed the trade unions and took. Britain into a brief war to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentinean forces. The increasingly frail ex-leader, who is now 85, has suffered a series of minor strokes since leaving office and was told by doctors to quit public speaking in 2002. She spent two weeks in hospital late last year after being admitted with flu. —AFP

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File image shows Ricky Martin on the “Today” show in New York.—AP

File image shows Kristin Chenoweth at the VH1 Save the Music Foundation 2010 Gala.—AP

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

lifestyle F a s h i o n

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Honeysuckle was chosen as the color of the year by the Pantone Color Institute, a leading color-forecasting company, and is bound to trickle down to home furnishings and decor, especially in the spring.—MCT

ive your home a fresh look with great deals on interior design and decorating books on STLshopper.com The “it” color of the moment is a visual pick-me-up. Retailers are hoping that honeysuckle, a bright reddish-pink, speaks to consumers’ desire for an uplifting message in unsteady times. It was chosen as the color of the year by the Pantone Color Institute, a leading color-forecasting company, and is bound to trickle down to home furnishings and decor, especially in the spring. “We’ve been through a really tough year, and with the economy slowly coming back, we need a little honeysuckle in our lives,” said Phil Tracey, decorator for HomeGoods. “It’s almost like a spring awakening. It’s a cheerful and happy color.”

Every year brings a new favored color palette, and last year was dominated by a ubiquitous turquoise blue, which was meant to offer a soothing escape from the global economic troubles. There is a psychology to color choices, and this pink is a more optimistic response to challenges, according to Pantone’s description. It “emboldens us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor,” color industry site says.

We’re not going to advocate a complete color scheme change simply because a new hue is crowned. But, if the color of the moment appeals to your personal taste, catches your eye and makes you feel good, then, by all means, flirt with it. It’s not every year that you’ll find a honeysuckle sofa or welldesigned hot pink arm chair, which can be like adding a jolt of electricity to a room.

Over time, a living space may start to feel stagnant or boring. That’s when it is time to add a fresh pop of color to breathe life into a room. And such a

bright pink can be either bold and big or toned down against a backdrop of neutrals. Deb DiBelio, the merchandising manager for Rowe Furniture, says she likes to see honeysuckle layered with taupes, charcoals or coppery browns. It works well in striped fabrics or floral prints, she said.

“It can be used with a butter color or white to make it look very clean,” DiBelio said. “I, personally, find that color touches me on a very visceral level and it elevates my mood.” Todd Johnson, an account executive at Design Within Reach in the Central West End, said he imagines this shade of pink used in accessories and complementing a room with neutral walls and colors.

“It’s less of a commitment. If you’re doing a whole honeysuckle sofa, you’re really going to have to love that color.” He would pair the color with sage green and white. He would also envision honeysuckle popping in a pattern of stripes. “I do things in threes,” he said. “A little touch of color in a piece of art or a pillow, a side chair or a piece in the entryway. I don’t like to saturate a room with it.” Tracey said shoppers will find shades of this reddish-pink in area rugs, vases, chairs, comforters, dinnerware and sofa throws. He would add it to a space with dark or bright yellows or varying tones of cream. “You want to make it stand out and not compete with the other colors,” he said.

Dress like a princess with Middleton dress

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ull of fun and surprises, the Paule Ka woman has never been so playful - expressing herself in a collection that vacillates between structural strictness and humorous fabrics, with colours and shapes that come together to create optical effects. She is as radical and she is audacious. Serge Cajfinger has designed this season’s fashions like a construction game. The result is a mischievous wardrobe - one that might belong to Polly Magoo, fan of the sixties who, after a detour via the eighties, ended up immersed in the futuristic colours and fabrics of the 21st century. This technical virtuosity confirms the vocation of the “fashion laboratory” that is the Paule Ka studio.

Versatile Silhouettes. Each model in the collection comes with two faces. The initial structure modulates to create surprises via foldaway features. Bow collars tuck into slots. Pockets become accessories, a cloak turns into a trompe l’úil; a scarf into a skirt. Flounces are upside down.

Sleeveless dresses cover long skirts. Coats reveal what they choose to reveal. Bolero jackets are not what you think. In short, shapes innovate and the way they are put together is astounding, right down to the shoes, whose heels fit into weightless soles, playing with our sense of perception.

Playful Colours. From the pale blue of a bubble coat to the dazzling red feathers of a trapeze dress, Paule Ka colours are also here to play games with our senses. Acid greens clash with

cosmetic nudes and signature black rubs up against vivid oranges and yellows, like touches of highlighter.

Sporty Trapeze. An allusion to Paule Ka’s very first collection, launched twenty three years ago, the trapeze is the star of this collection. Cloaks, coats, skirts and dresses follow the company shape whilst slumming it up with sportswear dress code. Quadrilateral shapes team up with polo shirts with huge collar tabs, buttoned vests and razor-sharp pants.

Mischievous Fabrics. Textures cannot escape the recreational intentions of the season.

Articulated armour-dresses made up of pieces of technical cadi. Daringly transparent voile backs.

Graphic, teasing lace, whose spots echo domino and confetti prints. Modernist neoprene against retro feathers, inflexible cadi against diaphanous organza. End of bets... The chips are down!

A Reiss employee poses with a dress similar to the one worn by Kate Middleton in her official engagement photographs with Prince William, at a store in central London, on February 3, 2011.—AFP

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he dress Kate Middleton wore in her official engagement photo with Prince William is now available to the public. Designed by Reiss, the “Nannette” dress was purchased last year by Middleton at the company’s London store. Reiss decided to re-release the dress this week to brisk sales.

Lyndon Mackenzie, general manager of the company’s Soho store in New York City, said the dress is flying off the racks and will be sold out by

week’s end. While Middleton’s engagement photo dress is creating a lot of buzz, Mackenzie hopes the future princess chooses Reiss for the big day.

He said he believes that dress is “going to be something very timeless and classic. Very sophisticated.” The couple will marry on April 29 at Westminster Abbey. — AP

Models wear designs by Annie 50 during Montreal Fashion Week, in Montreal, Canada, on Tuesday.

— AP photos

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

lifestyle T r a v e l

The rubber-stamp mark invites you to follow the journey. — MCT photos

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athy Williamson was over in the Pigeon Forge area in early December and stopped into a Harry & David store in Sevierville, Tenn., to buy candy. The change she received from the clerk was correct, but she noticed something odd about one of the singles given her. Someone had used a red felt-tip to circle the bill’s serial number, to draw a heart around the series number, and to write “Currency tracking study” on the dollar’s left edge. And to the left of the first president’s head, there was a blue stamp mark that read, “Track me at www.wheresgeorge.com.”

So after she returned home to Charlotte, she visited that website and learned the dollar had been registered in eastern Tennessee five days and 22 hours before and now had gone 122 miles-at 28 miles per day. Welcome to Where’s George-a project that seems part “Where’s Waldo” (paper-based hunting activity), part “Flat Stanley” (tracking where a particular object is physically moving) and is fully wired.

People enter the serial numbers of a bill, mark the currency and wait to see whether the paper money turns up elsewhere: Someone else can go to the site, punch in the serial number, and learn where it has been. At the site’s home page, live blurbs pop up from around America that note things like: Casper, WY 1st hit It came from an LWML Mites donation at church.

Or this: Huntsville, AL 1st hit Got this bill as part of a tip for delivering pizzas.

Good condition.

Consider it artificial traveling: You may not be going anywhere. But

the contents of your wallet are.

The site’s “George’s Top 10” page lists some remarkable migrations of money, ranging from singles to $100 bills: • A dollar bill entered on wheresgeorge.com in Dayton, Ohio, in 2002 has logged 15 “hits” over 4,191 miles-most recently in 2005 in Rudyard, Mich, after turning up in places from Utah to Florida.

• A $100 bill migrated from Downey, Calif., to Blackburn, England, and was last spotted in Weaverville, Calif., 538 miles from where it started out.

• A $5 bill launched from Jefferson, Md., turned up a year and 171 days later in Aurora, Colo, after stops in Jamestown, NC, Florida, Texas and Ontario.

It’s likely that some bills registered with the site made their way to Gottingen, Germany, home of the illustrious Max-Planck Institute: In 2006, Dirk Brockmann, an American theoretical physicist working there, used wheresgeorge.com in “The Scaling Laws of Human Travel”an acclaimed study that used patterns of money migration as a tool to create models for the spread of epidemics.

“It wasn’t about germs on the bills themselves,” says Hank Eskin.

“Brockmann used dollar bills as a proxy for how people move around.

Paper money travels with people, so it’s a good substitute for how people travel and how diseases spread as a result of that.” Eskin, 46, is the Boston-based Internet consultant who started wheresgeorge.com a dozen years ago to track currency. “I don’t collect it,” he said in a phone interview this month. “It’s more about the technology.”

His site has become more than that to casual and die-hard fans (called “georgers”) who have logged more than 200 million bills into the wheresgeorge.com database. “Something like 60,000 bills are entered every day,” Eskin says. This is despite the lengthy user guide-

lines and “frequently asked questions” text at wheresgeorge.com.

Some of the verbiage stems from Eskin’s desire to track where money naturally flows. He doesn’t want people to mail or tote money to exotic locales just to achieve “George’s Top 10” status.

Other fine print says the site does not encourage the defacement of money: The Secret Service paid Eskin a visit in 2000. “I was also selling rubber wheresgeorge.com stamps, and they said I basically can’t do that. The law says you can’t advertise on currency, and that’s what they were concerned about. I haven’t heard from them since.” Making and using your own little rubber stamp for this is OK, by the way: That’s considered marking bills, not defacing them.

How to do it 1. Go to www.wheresgeorge.com.

2. Fill out the registration form (it’s free).

3. To check the money in your billfold: Click the “I found a Where’s George Bill” box (even if you’re not sure if it’s entered). Type the serial number and your ZIP code.

4. To launch a bill: Click the “I want to enter and track...” box. Fill out the “Enter a bill” form. If you don’t have a stamp, just write “www.wheresgeorge.com” in ink in the margin of the bill. — MCT

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he giant prawn, the vast shoe and the caribou need just a little push to get them started down the hill, but seconds later they pick up speed and the crowd goes wild as they hurtle past. The soap box derby, in which competitors young and old race their outlandish homemade buggies or go-carts, is a sure-fire crowd-pleaser every year at Quebec’s winter carnival. The motorless vehicles must have four wheels, and these days the riders are required to wear seatbelts and helmets, but apart from that just about anything goes.

Many opt for complex drag car type designs, others prefer simplicityjust a box on wheels, but it could be quick. For some, it is more about aesthetics, a galleon with masts and sails may be less aerodynamic but it is visually spectacular.

First the carts have to be pushed up the narrow, cobblestone lanes of old Quebec City to reach the hilltop at Cote de la Fabrique for the start of the race. 2011 marked the 15th year of the derby and enthusiastic crowds flanked the hill, protected by railings, as competitors vied for glory in their gravity racers. The categories-one for under 16s, the other for adult children- rewarded creativity as well as speed.

Cash prizes were awarded by a jury for the quickest and the wackiest carts. “We encourage original race car designs,” carnival president Jean-Francois Cote explained.

The race was short-a mere seconds from start to finish-and the joy it afforded the hundreds of spectators fleeting, but some have been preparing for months for the big day. “We worked on it for a year,” Francis Sirois, a young volunteer at the Quebec Patro Roc-Amadour Catholic leisure centre, told AFP. “I was afraid of sleeping in this morning. We absolutely didn’t want to miss the race.” The world’s largest winter carnival, now in its 57th year, attracts annually 750,000 visitors from all over the world, according to organizers. It runs to February 13.

They don’t just come for the soap box derby. There are dogsled rides, sleigh rides, sugar shacks, skating, sliding, snow rafting, music, an Arctic spa, ice sculptures and even an ice palace. One highlight is a canoe race across the Saint Lawrence seaway. A South Korean allfemale team competed in the event this year for the first time but turned back mid-way, judging the crossing-around ice floes-to be too dangerous. Another event sees players attached to long metal poles across a field, allowing them to move only sideways, and only as a group, like a giant table soccer match.

The soap box derby is undoubtedly among the biggest attractions. With some contraptions reaching speeds of up to 15 kilometers per hour (nine miles per hour), safety is paramount, and each cart is checked first to ensure it is functioning properly. “We turn the steering wheel to make sure that wheels turn and we test the brakesthat’s very important,” a race official told AFP. While there were no accidents this year, a few of the 31 racers did experience some technical problems. The shoe car, for instance, won a prize for original design, but came in nearly last in the race as it limped across the finish line all out of step.—AFP

File photo of a snow sculpture in Quebec City during the annual Quebec Winter Carnival. — AFP

Josiane Devlaeminck serves Belgian fries to customers.

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he warm smell of fries attracted a steady stream of customers to a box-shaped chip stand on a chilly winter afternoon near the famous Atomium monument in Brussels. Belgians are willing to wait in long lines at their favorite outdoor chip shacks, but the rickety stall at the foot of the 102-metre-tall (334 feet) steel landmark is an increasingly rare sight in the country famous for its crispy fries. Fewer than 1,500 are scattered around the country today, after thousands were driven out in the past two decades by stringent European health rules and aesthetics-conscious municipalities which see the greasy stalls as eyesores.

At a time of political uncertainty, with a feud between Flemish and French-speaking parties raising fears of a breakup of Belgium, some Belgians have used online petitions and pressure on town halls to defend this symbol of national identity, what francophones call “Belgitude”. “The chip stall is a mini-Belgium, the mirror image of Belgians,” said Bernard Lefevre, president of the National Union of Chip-makers, who has fought to convince town halls about the importance of keeping this institution alive. They are called “fritkot” in Flanders and “baraque a frite” in Wallonia, but they look the same everywhere: rectangular stalls serving large portions of fries stuffed in a tight paper cone for just 2.20 euros ($3).

Tatiana Henry, a Belgian student who lives with her Peruvian boyfriend in California, brought him to the Atomium chip stand to give him an authentic taste of her home country. “I love it. It’s basically Belgian,” Henry said. “You don’t find this in America,” said her boyfriend, Neil Vilchez, who followed the local custom by dipping his fries in mayonnaise, the sauce of choice this side of the world.

‘Belgian’ fries, not ‘French fries’ Boasting that they invented chips, Belgians are quick to correct Americans who call them “French fries”. “When American tourists order from us, we tell them, ‘they’re not French fries! They’re Belgian fries,” said Josiane Devlaeminck, 60, who works at the Atomium fritkot. There is an art to making and serving Belgian fries.

An authentic chip stall will cut fresh potatoes by hand into precise slices, fry them once in beef fat at 140 degrees C (284 degrees F), and a second time at 160 degrees, giving them a crunchy outer layer with a soft and moist burst of flavor inside. Like an origami expert, the chip-maker then tightly folds several pieces of paper into a cone to serve the goods. Belgian lore has it that fries were invented in the 18th century by river fishermen who decided to slice potatoes and fry them up when they were unable to fish in the winter.

It was American, Canadian and British soldiers stationed near the Yser river during World War I who began to call them “French fries” because the people in the area spoke French. The first chip stalls began to appear in the mid-19th century, Lefevre said, noting that this ironically coincided with the birth of Belgium as a nation in 1830. Fritkots were originally caravans that would move around the

country, stopping at fairs. Today the wheels are gone and they are permanently parked in front of churches, on sidewalks or in town squares. People consider them part of Belgian life and charm, a place to mingle and discuss sports and politics. “It’s a place to meet people. We see Flemings, Walloons, everybody gathers at the chip stand,” said Mustapha Lahmidi, a 55-year-old buying chips for his wife at a “baraque a frites” on a sidewalk in the capital’s Saint-Gilles neighborhood.

But many municipalities see them as a blight in historic town squares. An online petition and Facebook campaign helped Thierry Van Geyt, the owner of a popular “baraque a frite” at Flagey Square, keep his lease but he was forced to build a new stall in order to stay in business. “It’s true that my old fritkot was not very pleasing to the eye,” said the 49-year-old former hair dresser and equestrian instructor, who built a slick new stall to replaced his graffiti-strewn shack. “The health controls are demanding,” he said. “It’s as if everything must resemble McDonald’s.” The Flemish town of Eeklo tried to evict the two fritkots from the central square a few years go as part of an urban renewal plan but ran into fierce opposition from the population. In the end, the town relented on condition that the fritkots refurbish, but only one was willing to pay the price and the other one closed up shop in 2007. “We were very surprised that the public reacted so angrily,” said Mayor Ken Loete, who received 800 emails from supporters of the fritkots. “This is something sacred. If we do this before elections we don’t win.” — AFP

Josiane Devlaeminck prepares Belgian fries.—AFP

Lifestyle

Law, Miller split up for second

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

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One way is to give a “seeded” greeting card.—MCT

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re you stumped for a Valentine’s Day gift idea? Do you hate the idea of giving someone you love even more ‘stuff’? Be a bit different this year and Do Your Part to pick some waste-free gifts that your special someone will truly love. I’ll start with the staples of any Valentine’s Day-the card and the flowers. There are easy ways to make these traditional items more personal and a lot less wasteful.

One way is to give a ‘seeded’ greeting card. These cards actually have flower seeds embedded in the paper.

Your loved one can plant the entire card and then watch your love bloom. A potted blooming plant like tulip bulbs, are a greener alternative to cut flowers that travel thousands of miles from warmer cli-

mates. Plus it will last a whole lot longer! If you’re sweetie has her heart set on a bunch of cut flowers look for ones with the Veriflora logo or the Fair Trade logo to ensure they were sustainably grown and the workers treated fairly.

Gifts for a personal service are another thoughtful way to say ‘I love you.’ Who wouldn’t love a massage, a manicure, or a fresh new hairdo?

You could also make your own coupon offering a personal service that your Valentine will love like a foot rub or help cleaning. If jewelry is a must for you, then you’ll have to check out some of the incredible pieces being crafted from recycled materials. You can find necklaces, earrings, and bracelets made from all sorts of reused materials-every-

thing from recycled glass to colorful magazine pages. These pieces aren’t hard to find, either. I’ve provided links to some of my favorites at DoYourPart.com/Columns. Lastly, there are the gifts that create wonderful memories. Tickets to a show or a concert are always good bets. And the gift of dance lessons or a romantic picnic for two is sure to please your partner. Remember, not every gift has to come in a box.

Do Your Part this Valentine’s Day to do something that takes a little thought and leaves behind a whole lot less trash. And show the planet a little love too. — MCT

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n Pakistan, as militant Islamists wage war on anything smacking of Western culture, “metrosexual” man is quietly on the rise. Confounding expectations in a country where most street scenes are filled with men wearing the traditional shalwar kameez, a simple cotton tunic, male grooming salons are springing up in the main cities. Despite Pakistan’s dire economy and widespread poverty, rich urbanites have more disposable cash than ever and are now spending it on their image, says Hassan Kilde Bajwa, of Synergy advertising agency.

Bajwa says the rise of the metrosexual, or “metropolitan heterosexual” man, is a result of a liberalized banking sector and a massive explosion of media in a country that 15 years ago had just two television channels and no FM radio. “Now people have a much greater disposable income because of all the banking reforms we’ve had over the past 10, 15 years where all of a sudden we have people being able to take loans, which was not a possibility in Pakistan before. “And the other major influence is the fact that we now have a flourishing media industry,” says the 30-year-old associate creative director.

“When you’re bombarded with all these new ideas, your consumption increases.” Bajwa says advertising campaigns have rushed in to play to the desire for an improved image, pushing Western beauty trends among men.

“Now you see more and more products, personal hygiene products, being targeted at men, which is something quite new. Metrosexuality is definitely on the up in Pakistan,” he says. Hair transplants are one sign of the trend. In the eastern city of Lahore, Pakistan’s cultural capital, surgeon Ahmad Chaudhry says his hair transplant business is booming, with clients up by one third last year. The past five years has seen a trebling of profits, says the 40year-old doctor, sporting a thick head of hair and speaking as he performs one of his daily surgeries while his bald client calmly watches television.

“It’s due to awareness we have created by advertising and good references,” says Chaudhry, adding that business would be even better without the security threats throughout the terrorism-hit country. “Business is growing more and more but when there’s political instability or some explosions then there’s a down. People are afraid to travel to Lahore or even to Pakistan.”

His waiting room is covered in posters of satisfied clients and their glowing references, including a former federal minister and Test cricketer. Chaudhry’s client Azhar Amin, 43, is sitting in the surgery chair with his legs outstretched as the surgeon cuts away a section of his scalp under local anesthetic. “I wanted it for cosmetic reasons and to improve my confidence,” says Amin, who paid $1,350 for each of two five-hour procedures. “Baldness is a weakness so after the hair transplant I will be more cosmetically acceptable and confident.

I saw it on the Internet and then decided to have it done.” Beauty treatments traditionally associated with female pampering, such as facials and manicures, are also increasingly popular among Pakistani men. Michael Kanaan, a Lebanese salon owner in Islamabad, has worked in Pakistan for five years and watched the trend grow.

“They’re catching up with the (Western) fashion. Everyone wants to look good, everyone wants to feel good about themselves when it comes to their hair and nails,” Kanaan says, attributing the trend to increased travel abroad.

Businessman and provincial politician Yousuf Ayub Khan, goes to Michael K salon every three months for a facial.

His voter base is in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a conservative region rife with Islamic militancy. But Khan says male pampering is surprisingly socially acceptable, even among the tribal cultures of the lawless border region, where traditional dyes such as henna are popular for dying hair and beards. “It’s a very traditional conservative society in Pakistan, but traditionally it’s not a problem over here if you tell someone you’ve been to a salon, and had a facial or pedicure, noone will laugh at you,” he says.

But advertising man Bajwa cautions there is a limit to this trend-few Pakistanis are likely at this stage to adopt famed English footballer David Beckham’s penchant for sarong skirts and piercings. “One thing that still isn’t acceptable, even among metrosexuals, is accessories. It’s a very common thing for men in Europe to wear a wristband or something, the Beckham thing,” says Bajwa. “That’s not something you ever see in Pakistan. Earrings, in fact piercings anywhere, socially is unacceptable. It’s still a social taboo.” — AFP A Pakistani beautician applies a facial makeup on male customers at a beauty salon in Karachi on January 22, 2011.

—AFP photos

A woman walks past graffiti on shopkeepers’ shutters.—AFP

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hopkeepers in the Spanish capital have invited graffiti artists to paint the steel shutters protecting their stores to prevent them from being defaced by crude or obscene scribblings. Over 130 graffiti artists from across Europe, including Bristol and Milan, decorated 140 shutters on Sunday in Madrid’s central Malasana neighborhood, which has long been the heart of the city’s countercultural scene. Since painting over another graffiti artists’ artwork is considered a serious insult by street artists, the shopkeepers believe they will no longer find their shutters covered with ugly, and sometimes obscene, drawings that can be expensive to remove.

“I really like it,” said Marcela Orquera as she admired the painting of a large blue star inside a red ball outlined in yellow on the shutter of her Internet cafe. “If you leave the shutter clean, they will paint on it. They respect each others’ work so this way they will leave it the way it is,” the 31-year-old Argentinean added. Some of the drawings are linked to the shop’s activity, like the black silhouette of a chef tossing pizza dough against a red backdrop on the shutter of a pizzeria-but in most cases there is no connection.

The shutter of a bicycle shop depicts a young girl in a red dress skipping with barbed wire in front of a tank and a helicopter-reminiscent of the works of celebrated British graffiti artist Banksy. Others depict blue monsters, a girl washing herself in a pail and Mexican wrestlers in colorful costumes that leave only their nose, mouth and eyes exposed.

Organizers hope the initiative, which has the backing of the local residents’ association, will transform the neighborhood into an “outdoor urban art gallery”. Shops can have their shutters repainted every 80 days. “We like graffiti, what we reject are the indiscriminate scribblings that no one

authorizes that make the neighborhood ugly,” said the president of the local residents’ association, Isabel Rodriguez. The quarter was the heart of the “movida madrilena”, the explosion of creativity in fashion, theatre, movies and nightlife which took place in the late 1970s and the 1980s after the death of dictator Francisco Franco.

The area still retains an alternative feel like London’s Camden Town and New York’s East Village, with its hemp shops, independent clothing stores and bars that send customers spilling out into the street.

“This is the perfect neighborhood for this, it adds to its unique character,” said Carlos Reverte, a 21-year-old student at a local art school as he sat with friends at a cafe terrace during a break from classes. Graffiti artists have also greeted the project with enthusiasm. “The initiative seems like a good idea, it uses the entire neighborhood like a gigantic canvas and gives exposure to all those people who enjoy making art and expressing their emotions,” said the duo of graffiti artists that go by the nickname Totemjau who painted the girl skipping with barbed wire. The two artists said they have already received e-mails from shopkeepers in other neighborhoods who want them to paint their shutters as well. “We do not earn a living with this, we just want to express an opinion through images and this seems like the best way,” they added in an email.—AFP