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Bin Laden dead Justice has been done: Obama • Qaeda leader buried at sea ABBOT TABAD, Pakistan: Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was shot dead deep inside Pakistan in a night-time helicopter raid by US commandos, ending a decade-long manhunt for the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Bin Laden was shot in the head, then quickly buried at sea, in a stunning finale to a furtive decade on the run. US President Barack Obama yesterday hailed bin Laden’s

conspiracy theories

The mysterious life and death of bin Laden

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

A

t last the Americans say that they have killed bin Laden - the mujahid in Afghanistan in the 80s, the criminal in the 90s and the most wanted terrorist on earth after Sept 11. After years and years of search for the so-called Al-Qaeda leader.

Actually they made us feel he was invincible and a supernatural character. Hundreds of questions were asked during his days - was he for real? Could it be true that a person who looked like a shepherd from the Middle Ages roaming the mountains of Afghanistan mastermind the demolition of the Twin Towers in New York? Was he that brilliant a scientist who had such super hi-tech?

Now that he’s dead, thousands of questions will now be asked. One of them which I’m asking and thousands online are asking too - is it true that he’s dead? I say yes, because President Obama wouldn’t put his reputation at stake, especially since elections are coming soon. And honestly speaking, things in the US are not the same since Obama came to power - the financial crisis which the US is still suffering from, and the failures in Afghanistan and Iraq that’s a burden on their budgets - though I’m not blaming Obama. He unfortunately inherited these disasters.

But it is his responsibility to solve them now.

The second serious question - why wasn’t his body handed over to his family to be buried according to Islamic rites? Even the worst criminal in the US who rapes kids and tortures and kills - when they execute him, they make sure he gets his last religious rites. Or were they so afraid of the man even after his death that they threw him into the deep blue seas?

Were they afraid of making his burial place a shrine for his followers and his fellow ideologists? If it’s true that bin Laden was such an important man and he built an ideology followed by millions around the world, won’t his followers react irrespective if he had been buried on ground or at sea or even cremated?

While he was living, his life and stories were under a lot of doubt; and even in death, he’s shrouded with still more doubts. I’m sure he will be a rich source of inspiration for Hollywood - specially the Spielberg genre - “The creation and the extermination of Frankenstein”, sorry, “Osama”.

By the way guys, I would like to bring to your attention that I was never a fan of bin Laden. On the contrary, regardless whether I believed his stories or not, to me, he tarnished the name of Islam and gave the West enough justification to brand Islam as a religion of terror.

This April 1998 file photo shows exiled Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. (Inset) US President Barack Obama reads his statement to photographers after making a televised statement on the death of bin Laden from the East Room of the White House in Washington Sunday. — AP (See Pages 4, 8, 9 and 13)

WASHINGTON: Waving US flags, thousands flooded to the White House in spontaneous celebrations early yesterday after the death of Osama bin Laden, as the surprise news was welcomed by Americans across the country. Chanting “USA, USA” and punching the air, they began singing the national anthem even before the AlQaeda leader’s killing was confirmed by US President Barack Obama. “We found him.

He killed 3,000 people. It’s justice,” said 19year-old student Jon Garcia, explaining he had come to the White House “to be a part of it. It’s very historic.” “It’s a historic day for America, we have been looking for him for 10 years. It’s justice for families,” added Anna Howell, a 27-year-old teacher.

Online, Twitter users flooded the service hailing the news, with more than 4,000 Tweets per second recorded during Obama’s televised address confirming the Al-Qaeda founder’s death, the social networking site said. American Muslim group the Council on American-Islamic Relations

US embassy hails death KUWAIT: MPs and activists issued mixed reactions over the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden with Islamists indirectly paying tributes to him while liberals welcoming his death and hoping this will end terror. Islamist cleric and activist Sheikh Hamed Al-Ali paid tributes to bin Laden with special poems, called him as the “Lion of Jihad” and described his death as a calamity for the Muslim nation. Islamist Salafist MP Mohammad Hayef cast some doubts about whether bin Laden had been killed, but added that if he is dead, “we only wish Allah’s mercy for any dead Muslim”.

In a press statement, US Ambassador

in Afghanistan against bin Laden’s Taleban protectors and a decade of tumult as the United States then went to war in Iraq.

World leaders welcomed the news but warned that Al-Qaeda’s willingness to wreak havoc was undimmed and that the possibility of reprisal attacks meant vigilance was more important than ever.

Pakistan’s main Taleban faction threatened to attack Pakistan and the US, calling them “the enemies of Islam”. “If he has become a martyr, it is a great victory for us because martyrdom is the aim of all of us,” spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by phone. An Internet outlet for official Al-Qaeda messages accepted its leader’s killing and eulogised him as a “knight” who sacrificed his soul and money to fight the United States, monitoring group SITE said. Hundreds took to the streets in Pakistan’s city of Quetta in the country’s first rally to honour bin Laden, burning a US flag and chanting anti-American slogans.

Obama said he had directed US special forces to attack the heavily-fortified compound after a tip-off that first emerged last August. “A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability,” the president said. “After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.” Bin Laden’s body was buried at sea having been administered Islamic religious rites, US officials said. “We wanted to avoid a situation where it would become a shrine,” one said. The body, which was wrapped in a white sheet and placed in a weighted bag, “was placed on a prepared flatboard... (and) eased into the sea,” a separate senior defence official said.

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Americans erupt in joy

Islamist MPs pay tribute to Laden

By B Izzak

death, saying the “world is safer, it is a better place”, a day after he announced the success of the operation in a dramatic televised address, noting “justice has been done.”

DNA tests confirmed the body was that of bin Laden a senior US official said after the daring raid on the Al-Qaeda leader’s compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad, less than two hours’ drive north of Islamabad. The carnage rained down on New York and Washington by hijacked passenger planes on Sept 11, 2001 set in train a war

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to Kuwait Deborah K Jones said: “Osama bin Laden was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocents - men, women and children - of many faiths, including Islam, and in countries around the world.

The mission’s success is a testament to the patient and painstaking work that has been accomplished by countless intelligence and counter-terrorism professionals across the US government, and consistent with President Obama’s longstanding commitment to take action against bin Laden. The United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam.

We are at war with Al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization that is committed to killing as many innocents as it can.

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(CAIR) hailed the news. “We join our fellow citizens in welcoming the announcement that Osama bin Laden has been eliminated as a threat to our nation and the world,” the Washington-based group said in a statement.

In New York, where some 3,000 people died when Al-Qaeda hijackers crashed two commercial airliners into the the Twin Towers, tourists and New Yorkers descended on Times Square as well as at Ground Zero. “Obama got Osama!” they chanted, in celebrations that started shortly before midnight and continued through into the early hours. “It’s a miracle,” said New Yorker Monica King, 22. “The attacks changed New York and now 10 years later we had our last word,” she added, saying: “Now we want to celebrate.”

Gary Talafuse, visiting from Texas, said Americans “feel a lot of national pride”. “This may not change anything in Al-Qaeda tactics, but after billions of dollars invested, this Continued on Page 14

WASHINGTON: Crowds gather outside the White House early yesterday to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden. — AP

Clerics slam burial at sea CAIRO: Muslim clerics said yesterday that Osama bin Laden’s burial at sea was a violation of Islamic tradition that may further provoke militant calls for revenge attacks against American targets. Although there appears to be some room for debate over the burial - as with many issues within the faith - a wide range of senior Islamic scholars interpreted it as a humiliating disregard for the standard Muslim practice of placing

the body in a grave with the head pointed toward the holy city of Makkah.

Sea burials can be allowed, they said, but only in special cases where the death occurred aboard a ship. Bin Laden’s burial at sea “runs contrary to the principles of Islamic laws, religious values and humanitarian customs,” said Sheikh Ahmed AlTayeb, the grand Imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar mosque, Sunni Islam’s highest seat of

learning.

A radical cleric in Lebanon, Omar Bakri Mohammed, said, “The Americans want to humiliate Muslims through this burial, and I don’t think this is in the interest of the US administration.” A US official said the burial decision was made after concluding that it would have been difficult to find a country willing to accept the remains.

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local

Amir meets academically high achieving children of martyrs KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah yesterday met with a number of the children of Kuwaiti martyrs who have achieved excellent academic results in the past two years.

At the meeting, which was also attended by HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad AlSabah, HH the Amir praised the young people’s

achievements and urged them to continue striving to increase their educational capabilities in order to help safeguard the future of their homeland. Human resources, he stressed, are the cornerstones of any nation’s development.

The chairman of the Kuwaiti Martyrs’ Office’s board of trustees, Jassem Al-Kandari, expressed his gratitude to HH the Amir for his magnani-

Citizenship sold for KD100,000 in fraud case KUWAIT: The Public Prosecution is currently looking into a major naturalization fraud case in which preliminary investigations indicate that three people obtained Kuwaiti citizenship by paying KD100,000 each.

According to credible sources, two Yemeni nationals and a Saudi citizen were sold Kuwaiti passports that were issued by illegal means by two Kuwaiti brothers.

Currently, one of the two forgers was put under arrest, while his brother managed to escape. Meanwhile, the Yemeni national

who was given the forged passport at his home country, was detained while he was trying to make his way into the country.

Further details revealed the fact that the two forgers were not only able to illegally register the benefiters as Kuwaiti citizens in official records, but were able to issue Kuwaiti passports and civil IDs to them.

Furthermore, the illegally naturalized suspects were able to obtain the Amiri gift that was released last February, in addition to labor support allocations. — Al-Qabas

mous gesture, adding that the Martyrs’ Office will continue to provide care for all the martyrs’ children throughout their academic studies.

Later during the event, one of the students, Abrar Ahmad Abdullah Hadi, read out a message of gratitude on behalf of all the academically high-achieving youngsters, presenting two commemorative gifts to HH the Amir to mark the

72 firms charged in ‘fake jobs’ case KUWAIT: The Public Prosecution Service is currently taking legal action against 72 local private sector firms registered with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI) over creating false employment documents for Kuwaiti citizens in order to appear to meet Kuwaitization quotas whilst fraudulently claiming government subsidies.

According to a senior Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP) official, the firms being charged were found conducting illegal operations and fraudulently claiming the government subsidies paid to Kuwaitis for working. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the MSAL official conceded that there are Kuwaitis “who unfortunately would cooperate with companies in such activities.”

The ‘employees’ registered with the companies had no actual jobs there, but were paid salaries, with the subsidies going directly to the firms themselves. The practice is reportedly common among private sector firms wishing to avoid employing Kuwaitis but wanting to get round the Kuwaitization policy, which legally compels all firms to employ a certain percentage of Kuwaiti personnel. Companies suspected of committing offences of this nature are liable for prosecution, and will be required to repay all the fraudulently obtained monies if found guilty. — Al-Qabas

occasion. Hadi has attained a Masters degree, with her thesis focusing on the theme of the killing of prisoners of war and the religious and social implications of such acts, based on the example of Kuwaiti prisoners of war. Another senior official present at yesterday’s meeting was the Deputy Minister for Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah. — KUNA

Kuwait stresses need for greater GCC security cooperation ABU DHABI: A senior official from Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior (MoI) said yesterday that the current meeting of interior ministry undersecretaries from all the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member nations coincides with a regional situation that warrants increased security cooperation amongst GCC member states Speaking at the opening of the final session of the two-day meeting, MoI Undersecretary Lieutenant General Ghazi Al-Omar said that the delegates would be adopting a number of resolutions intended to support GCC security strategies and joint coordination programs.

These strategies and programs aim to bolster cooperation amongst the council’s member nations as part of the relevant policies previously adopted by these states’ leaders, Lt. Gen. Al-Omar added.

The senior MoI official indicated that both the official and unofficial discussions and deliberations taking place amongst the delegates at the meeting reflect their wish to achieve greater harmony and coordination in the security field, particularly in

regard to emergency situations when mutual assistance is warranted. He also expressed hope that the meeting, the 12th such forum, would conclude by passing a number of significant resolutions that will ultimately contribute to ensuring the safety of GCC citizens, particularly with regard to external dangers.

Lt. Gen. Al-Omar also thanked his UAE counterpart, Lt. Gen. Seif Al-Shaafar, along with the GCC General Secretariat for devoting great effort to drafting resolutions to serve the GCC member states’ joint security requirements.

The Kuwaiti delegation attending the event was set to take part in a ministeriallevel meeting later in the day.

Also yesterday, GCC Secretary General Abdullatif Al-Zayani stressed the significance of the upcoming meeting of GCC ministers given current events in the region. The delegates at the meeting will discuss a range of issues, focusing primarily on the regional situation and how best to protect GCC community against negative phenomena. — KUNA

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Local Spotlight

Teenagers and the Internet

LOCAL

Move to promote tolerance towards HIV/AIDS patients UNDP hosts workshop in Kuwait

By Hussain Al-Qatari

By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

I

believe that the subject of teenagers and the internet is an important one to write about; teenagers are, after all, our sons and daughters and we should make time for them no matter what I was a teenager once myself, of course, a long time ago and it was not a pleasant period. I guess the main problem for me as an adolescent was that I was too easily misunderstood. Often it seems as a teenager that the world can’t adjust to see things from your viewpoint or understand how you feel or what you truly want.

What abilities will the adolescents need to safely navigate their way in the world? That, I think, is a big question. Taking full responsibility for their lives is the principal answer. They can only do this, however, if we, their parents, let them do so, putting our trust and faith in their abilities. Supervision is needed, but control is not since the latter means that we are attempting to decide everything for them and, through behaving in this way, we will disrupt their development and endanger their self-esteem, with those risks posing very real dangers to their future wellbeing.

Teenagers look to their parents for guidance, which is entirely normal, since their parents are the only adults who they both love and fear. I always hear complaints from parents about their kids spending too much time online, either playing violent games or, in the girls’ case, chatting or sometimes shopping, leaving limited room for communications with parents. I guess the internet does create some social isolation, especially for teenagers, who don’t want to be bothered by parental nagging or questions over how much time they spend online.

I agree with some of the parents’ concerns. Those who surf the net using false identities can lead kids into problems and even crime, especially among young girls.

The internet is tremendously powerful - but, so long as parents teach their children how to protect their privacy and never to give information to online strangers, however plausible they seem, kids won’t come to any harm through using it. Let your kids know it’s best not to tell things to strangers they meet online since you and they really don’t know who they’re dealing with.

Let them know that the internet is part of the adult world, and if they want to be treated like adults they have to act like them, which means showing responsibility and trustworthiness in their actions, online as elsewhere. The golden rule here is that if they’d be afraid to do something publicly it’s surely not acceptable to do it privately, online or offline.

Ultimately then, I believe that we have to equip our teenagers with the tools to allow them to navigate life’s ocean and reach their destination safely.

KUWAIT: The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) yesterday started a three-day workshop at the Movenpick Hotel Al-Bidaa for representatives of the Kuwaiti media about positively impacting the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. The event, which is being attended by medical professionals and experts, members of the media, and even some clerics who have worked with HIV/AIDS patients, aims to raise awareness of the pandemic and how it can be effectively covered by the media.

The speakers during yesterday’s opening event also focused on the negative impact of stigmatizing HIV-positive individuals, explaining that this is one of the main reasons why individuals who have contracted the virus remain silent about it.

Speaking at the event, activist and regional media counselor for the UNDP Amal Allam noted that the experience of promoting tolerance towards HIV/AIDS patients and helping them cope with the virus has been constructive and satisfactory in the region overall.

“We don’t need to seek help from pro-

fessionals abroad,” he said. “After all, we know our culture and traditions and how they work best. The most important thing, we believe, is not to be judgmental of HIV-positive individuals. Our success has been unprecedented in the region, and we believe that with the right training, the media can make the right impact.”

The first case of HIV/AIDS was diagnosed in the United States in 1981.

Since its discover y, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has killed more than 25 million people. In 2005, around three million people, including

more than 500,000 children, died of associated causes.

Since the end of 2008, over 33 million have been living with the virus, with women making up 50 percent of those infected with it, according to a report published by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in November 2009.

The Middle East has the lowest number of identified HIV/AIDS patients, with around 380,000 people formally diagnosed as suffering from the condition, according to statistics published in 2007.

Central Prison escapee caught

By A Saleh KUWAIT: Ayyad Awwad Al-Rasheedi, who escaped from the Central Prison on Friday afternoon, was arrested early yesterday, according to a Ministry of Interior (MoI) insider.

Speaking exclusively to the Kuwait Times, the insider said that special forces officers were able to detain the suspect inside a Khaitan apartment where he was hiding. Al-Rasheedi has been returned to his cell at the prison and faces further questioning over his escape. A subsequent report confirmed that Al-Rasheedi was apprehended with another person, who has been charged with aiding and abetting him.

Investigations revealed that the fugi-

tive had been moved to the apartment where he was arrested, after leaving the livestock farm in Kabad where he was taken after first escaping. Police found out about his movements after receiving a tip-off from an informant, who also gave them the license plate number of a suspicious vehicle parked near the apartment block.

Al-Rasheedi, a GCC national, was serving a sentence for a drugs-related offense before he managed to escape.

Senior ministry officials have demanded that an extensive investigation be launched into his escape, whilst an inquiry is already underway to discover how he managed to break out initially and whether or not he was aided by other accomplices.

KUWAIT: The prison escpee (center) picured with his accomplice after his arrest yesterday.

KOC hosts tourism expo KUWAIT: The Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) held its sixth annual travel and tourism exhibition, which took place recently at the Sports Federation Center’s

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

Hall in Al-Ahmadi. The event, which was inaugurated by Deputy Managing Director for Administrative and Financial Affairs Khalid Al-Khamees, fea-

tured the involvement of 44 participants including hotels, resorts, airline companies, car renting agencies, as well as telecommunication and internet service pro-

viding companies. Meanwhile, the activity also saw a raffle draw for prizes that included travel tickets and reservations at hotels in and around Kuwait.

New S Korean-built rescue vessel arrives in Kuwait KUWAIT: The Kuwait Fire Ser vice Directorate (KFSD) on Sunday announced the arrival of its new firefighting and rescue vessel, ‘Mujaweb,’ confirming that the boat had arrived at Shuwaikh Port following its voyage from South Korea, where it was constructed.

The KD5 million vessel, built to the most stringent international boatbuilding specifications and housing the latest firefighting and rescue technology, is the newest addition to the KFSD’s fleet.

Colonel Khalid Al-Mekrad, the director of the KFSD’s Marine Rescue Department, said that, at almost 40 meters long by 13 meters wide, the ‘Mujaweb’ is one of the largest firefighting vessels in the world, also revealing

that it has a water pull capacity of 65 tons, along with four giant firefighting pumps and six launchers with a range of 160 meters each.

The vessel is also equipped with distress signaling devices which can transmit as well as receive, thermal cameras for night rescue operations, advanced firefighting and rescue equipment and even a small four-bed hospital unit for treating casualties on board.

The KFSD’s Marine Rescue Department now has 20 boats of various sizes, which are considered amongst the best and most up-to-date such vessels in the region, revealed Col. Al-Mekrad, adding that one of the fleet’s primary functions is to help secure marine navigation in local and regional waters. — KUNA

Kuwaiti inventors honored

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Sabah Al-Ahmad Center for Giftedness and Creativity (SACGC) held an award ceremony yesterday at their premises to celebrate the achievements of the Kuwaiti inventors that won at the 39th Geneva International Convention last month.

Sabah Al-Ahmad Center for Giftedness and Creativity (SACGC) awarded the four inventors: Dr. Turki Al-Dhafiri, Abdelmohsin Al-Moumen, Abdullah Al-Hashash, and Sadeq Qasem with certificates to honor their achievements and results they have achieved last month at the Geneva Convention, scoring the top among fellow inventors across the globe.

SACGC has adopted the Kuwaiti inventors as the first step of the Center’s goals in adopting and supporting the creative and talented Kuwaitis. This will allow them to improve their ability and skills in the fields to become on the international standard.

SACGC General Manager, Dr. Omar Al Banai said, “Our Kuwaiti inventors have made Kuwait very proud, and their outstanding ability to compete at a global level between hundreds of other inventors has shown that Kuwait is home to some of the world s brightest inventors. The achievements we celebrate today are a driving force for SACGC to continue in its vision to find and foster talent and giftedness in Kuwait”.

Geneva International Exhibition for Inventions is the largest and most

renowned competition worldwide, gathering over 780 of the best inventors of individuals, universities, institutions and others from 45 countries every year including more than 1000 inventions. Endorsed by the Swiss government, the competition attracts over 60,000 visitors during five days of the exhibition.

From his side, the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAD) General Manager, Dr. Adnan Shehab Al Deen noted, “The achievements of our Kuwaiti inventors is one of the most remarkable global successes for Kuwait.

With their inventions, our Geneva medalists placed Kuwait at the top of the global list in innovation, talent, giftedness, and creativity. We promise to constantly work with SACGC and provide all the support, tools, and resources to be able to find and foster gifted and talented Kuwaitis across all fields”.

As an initiative by HH the Amir, SACGC sponsors and supports gifted and talented individuals in the community by providing them with a support and mentoring platform that enables them to reach their maximum potential and make them globally competitive in their fields. SACGC fostered and supported three Kuwaiti inventors for the first time as part of its first projects to support individuals in the field of science and technology.

Recently, SACGC signed with the Ministry of Education to establish gifted programs aimed to find and nurture gifted students at the elementary school stage.

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TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

local

Maids’ residency visa change tied to labor market demand

In My View

Osama apparently ‘sleeps with fishes’: Prove it!

Sawsan Kazak

sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

A

s you must have already heard, Osama Bin Laden has been killed. Apparently ‘elite’ American forces had a firefight with the most wanted man on earth yesterday, shooting him in the head and then quickly disposing of the body at sea. I start the sentence with ‘apparently’ because, despite all our advances in technology and the information field, these elite forces were unable to take pictures or video footage of the whole ordeal.

The firefight, in the town of Abbottabad Pakistan, apparently took 40 minutes from beginning to end. What a boring ending to a decade-long chase. We all know Americans to be good at large -scale dramas; remember the Saddam saga? There were the televised doctor’s visits, theatrical courtroom trials and, of course, the final scene, the hanging.

You would think that if you’d just captured and killed the world’s most elusive man you’d want to commemorate the moment. Perhaps a picture of him laying on the ground, or a video of his being ‘buried’ at sea. Didn’t anyone on the US team want to prove to the world the momentous feat that they had accomplished?

I’m not saying that the killing of Osama didn’t happen, but all this secrecy may cause problems down the line. What if people start claiming that the ‘real’ Bin Laden is still alive? Just like Elvis, there might be sightings for decades to come. It might evolve into a large conspiracy, with millions believing that the infamous Al-Qaeda leader is living and still scheming on deadly plots. A simple clear picture or perhaps an identifiable burial site might have cleared up all that confusion. Which brings me to my next question: why did he get ‘buried’ at sea? Was he a sailor prior to becoming the world’s most famous leader of a terrorist group? Doesn’t that kind of Islamic law only apply to those already at sea, and not those who die on land and then get dragged to sea?

Also, Americans are known to shoot first and ask questions later, but maybe the world would have gained more if the man responsible for the September 11 attacks, and apparently many others, was questioned first and shot dead later. But he is dead now and that can’t be changed. What can be done to maybe dispel much of the conspiracy-theorizing that might start building is to let the world have access to the information surrounding the death and those involved in it.

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received the Indian Ambassador Ajai Malhotra, at Seif Palace on Sunday. The meeting was attended by the Minister of the Amiri Diwan, Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah, and others. Ambassador Malhotra leaves Kuwait shortly to take up his new assignment as the Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation.

Reactions vary in Kuwait to Bin Laden’s death

By Nisreen Zahreddine

KUWAIT: Osama Bin Laden, the world’s most wanted fugitive and the one most determinedly pursued by the US for the Sept 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, was killed on Sunday during a confrontation with American troops in a Pakistani town. Announcing Bin Laden’s death in an address broadcast on American television, US President Barrak Obama described it as “the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat terrorism.”

The first reactions to the news in the US came from the people who gathered in streets across the country to celebrate Bin Laden’s death. Some suggested that the celebrations were reminiscent of the 1960s when some Americans celebrated their army ’s victor y in Vietnam.

On this occasion, whether Bin Laden’s death is considered a victory or an end to ten years of prosecution and pursuit, it is over, or at least this is the headline of the most international and local

channels announcing the break ing news. Official reactions in Kuwait are still unclear.

The Kuwait Times also obtained an official reaction from the Philippines Embassy here, with Philippines Ambassador Shulan Primavera calling Bin Laden’s death “ a big blow to terror organizations and individuals engaged in terrorism activities.” The ambassador added, however, that Bin Laden’s death will not be the end of all such activities since the Al-Qaeda leader still has followers and deputies, who will continue with the group’s actions.

From the Kuwaiti perspective, Abdullah Al-Mulla, a political activist and board member of the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said that the issue now is not the death of Bin Laden but ending the concept of terrorism itself. “We must differentiate between terrorist acts carried out under one known person and those done in the name of religion”, he asserted. Al-Mulla urged the United Nations to direct its efforts towards providing

By Suliman Al-Atiqi MA in International Affairs

KUWAIT: Fire-fighters in action after a fire broke out in Farwaniya yesterday.

Fire in Farwaniya, Ahmadi

By Hanan Al Saadoun

By Mohammed Al-Sabti

L

awmakers in Kuwait have the habit of sticking their noses in everything apart from their actual work. While they often address every big or small detail, they fail to do the same with respect to their legislative and monitoring duties.

Their interventions include statements that set the state’s foreign policy, in addition to inquiries about why a certain employee was appointed for a certain post in a certain body. Of course, the subjects that the lawmakers address are all important, but interfering with them is definitely not a part of an MP’s job, or at least not a top priority compared to other tasks.

Daily newspapers always carry statements from MPs addressing every single detail regarding ministries and comments on decisions to transfer an employee from one department to another. It might at first seem that such activities are a part of their monitoring duties, but that’s not the case. If we consider the fact that lawmakers are spending more time making comments than legislating and monitoring, it becomes clear.

Let’s say that there has been a case where a state employee was moved from one sector to another.

It’s not the lawmaker’s job to observe employees’ transfer activities as such cases can be settled through legal actions.

In addition, using a parliamentary post to make statements that reflect the state’s foreign policy is unacceptable, regardless of whether those comments were right or wrong. A lawmaker has the right through the parliament to express his point of view about a certain subject pertaining to foreign affairs, but he does not have the authority to interfere in the state’s official foreign policy.

Another serious issue is that several lawmakers make statements which include judgments based on unconfirmed reports. After considering all these aspects, I believe that MPs need to familiarize themselves with the responsibilities of a lawmaker’s job. — Al-Rai

greater food security, more education and better living standards for the citizens of the poorest societies where poverty, hunger and lack of education lay the groundwork for involvement in criminal acts or terrorism, stressing that desperate poverty and lack of education provide fer tile soil for planting the seeds of terrorism. “We maintain international stability only when we increase the level of education and provide enough food”, he asserted.

Nader Khalek, a banker working in Kuwait and an observer of the Arab political scene, suggested, meanwhile that the US State Department’s actions, ten years after it announced the launch of the ‘War on Terror,’ had still failed to actually solve the problem or eradicate terrorism.

“Al Qaeda still exists and isn’t weak at all; it poses a threat even to extremist Islamic movements such as Hamas in the Gaza Strip,” he stated. Khalek suggested that the principal problem with extremist movements is that they use the religion of Islam as a cover for ter-

rorist acts.

Salem Belal, a young Kuwaiti political activist, was skeptical about the massive cost, in lives and everything else, of the American action, suggesting that from an American perspective it could be argued that “after ten years, including two wars, 919,967 deaths and spending over 1.18 trillion dollars, we managed to kill one person.” Meanwhile, some in Kuwait and elsewhere in the world are skeptical over whether Bin Laden is actually dead at all, given the lack of photographic or other evidence and the speedy disposal of his body at sea.

Ali Aloush a Lebanese journalist working at Lebanon’s Assafir daily newspaper, said that staff at the paper’s foreign affair’s desk remain unconvinced.

On the general reaction of journalists at the paper, he said, “Doubt is the predominant feeling right now.” Some Kuwaiti journalists have also expressed skepticism over events surrounding Bin Laden’s reported death, whilst others hailed it as a positive achievement for the Obama administration.

End of one chapter, Start of another uncertain one

kuwait digest

The duties of lawmakers

KUWAIT: The recently introduced labor legislation which allows domestic workers to change their residency visa status from Article 20 to Article 18 is only applicable if certain criteria are met, with the conditions dependent largely on demand in the local labor market, according to a senior Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) official.

Mansour Al-Mansour, the Assistant Undersecretary for Labor at the MSAL’s Labor Division, stressed that, as well as being concerned with market demand, the new legislation could also only be implemented through coordination between the Ministry of Interior (MoI), the MSAL and other state bodies.

Al-Mansour made his statement during a speech he delivered at a press conference held on Sunday to mark the inauguration of a workshop being held jointly by the MSAL and the International Labor Organization (ILO) on training labor sector inspection staff on the best working techniques to adopt in this area. — Al-Qabas

KUWAIT: A fire broke out in a building in Farwaniya opposite Umm Hani school, early morning yesterday. Seven ambulances were dispatched to the site, and emergency was declared in three medical centers, Sabah, Farwaniya and Farwaniya complex. The state of emergency lasted until late morning. Five expats, two Indians, two Filipinos and an Egyptian got varying degrees of burn. All five were taken to Sabah and Farwaniya hospitals. In the meantime four cases were treated at site as they were suffering from slight injuries or suffocation.

In another incident, a fire in a building under construction east of Ahmadi was reported yesterday noon. Ahmadi, Fahaheel and Shuaiba industrial fire stations, support center and safety unit responded to the call. The fire team managed to put fire under control in a very short time without casualties.

Accidents A 28 year old Egyptian expat broke his right foot while playing in Kuwait University play ground. He was taken to Al Sabah hospital.

In another incident, a Filipino expat was run over by a passing car in Salmiya, near Bushehri crossing, around midnight.

The 48 year old man suffered from broken ribs and was taken to Mubarak Hospital.

Drunk caught Meanwhile, a 67 year old Kuwaiti man was caught drunk in Abdullah Mubarak area between block 1 & 3. He was handed over to the patrols for further inquiry.

Play shooting A shooting in Al Rabia area was reported around 10 pm yesterday. Patrols combed Al Rabia to find, to their surprise,a 9 year old girl carrying an air gun and ‘playing’ firing with it in front of her house. The girl and her father were taken to police station and detained while the gun was confiscated.

Fishermen saved Coast Guards received Sunday evening a report from a Kuwaiti man about the disappearance of two fishermen, both Egyptian nationals, working for him. He said that the last time he communicated with them, they were near Al Zur and they were on board of a 22 feet long boat. As Coast Guards received the report they combed the Mina Al Zura surrounding and finally found the Egyptians with their boat out of order. They were helped to safety.

NEW YORK: On Sunday May 1st at around 10pm, the White House kept the United States and surely the world hostage with an unprecedented announcement that President Obama would address the world on a matter of high importance to national security. The media was on fire with speculation about this ambiguous announcement. As the President briefed Congress and former Presidents Bush and Clinton prior to his national address, the news leaked out that the death of Osama Bin Laden was to be announced, with a jubilant crowd gathering outside the White House minutes before Obama broke the most important news since 9/11, confirming the death of the world’s most wanted man.

Last August, Obama was briefed on a possible lead on Bin Laden hiding in a mansion in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad. The mansion was built in 2005 with extraordinary security features, including walls 12-18 feet high topped with barbed wire. Access was restricted by two security gates. Officials said they had been paying close attention to one of the couriers going in and out who, for some reason, had attracted their attention. Moreover, the residents of the mansion burned all their trash as opposed to just putting it out for collection. The mansion which is valued at around $1 million, had no internet or phone connection, and among the people living there, one matched the size and physical description of Osama Bin Laden.

Last week, Obama determined that he had obtained enough intelligence information to justify action and authorized an operation to capture or kill Bin Laden. On May 1, Obama launched the CIA operation against the mansion (which lasted about 40 minutes) by a small team of Navy Seals. Helicopters dropped the special operatives into the compound and following a firefight Bin Laden was shot in the head (reportedly along with one of his sons), with the operatives immediately taking custody of his body. As the Pakistani state channel ‘GEO’ showed, the mansion was left to burn. The US insisted that Bin Laden would not be extradited and his body would be dealt with in accordance with Islamic tradition. However he was buried at sea, probably to avoid any efforts to recover his remains. This decision will surely feed right into the hands of conspiracy theorists already questioning the authenticity of his death.

Whilst Pakistani military officials are claiming they had prior knowledge of the operation and even assisted in the mission, US officials emphatically deny that the Pakistani military had any prior knowledge of the operation, stating that it was only informed after the operation was complete. Obviously, through its statements, the Pakistani military is trying to preempt criticisms and insinuations about why and how Bin Laden was able to remain there undetected.

The neighborhood in which Bin Laden’s compound is situated is an affluent one, with many retired Pakistani military officials living in the area.

This will, of course, raise many suspicions and questions that Pakistan will have to answer, primarily about his undetected presence. Speculation is already mounting that Bin Laden could not have stayed in a suburban mansion in Pakistan for what appears to be at least a year without some high-profile protection from within the Pakistani military, which is known to go easy on - and in some cases

support - the Taliban in order to serve as a bulwark against a new pro-Indian Afghan regime.

Reactions The US had already put together a contingency plan in the case of Bin Laden’s death or capture. This plan includes the protection of transportation hubs, critical infrastructure and similar facilities. NYC Police Commissioner Ray Keller sent out alerts to all officers instructing heightened alertness and vigilance, especially in iconic locations such as Times Square.

Philadelphia’s Police Chief, meanwhile, has instituted police patrols around local Mosques and Synagogues as a preventative security measure.

More critical than these measures, however, is heightened intelligence gathering.

The US is aware and fears that Bin Laden, who surely must have anticipated his death sooner or later, may have long ago planned symbolic retaliatory operations to be launched upon his death or capture. In other words, his death may serve as a trigger for already-planned attacks to be carried out by sleeper cells in strategic locations. He did, after all, have a decade in which to prepare for this eventuality. There is also a more unpredictable threat. Although levels of support for Bin Laden had waned in recent years, his symbolic presence resonates with sympathizers around the globe. His death might provide a shocking revelation that could spark unguided suicide/terrorist attacks carried out by ‘lone wolf’ attackers or Al-Qaeda affiliated groups.

Afghanistan In Afghanistan, President Karzai spared no time in using the event as a PR opportunity. In a speech almost immediately after the announcement of Bin Laden’s death, he voiced hope that the world would now believe that Afghanistan is not a place where terrorists live, as well as warning that any terrorists should not be hunted down over the homes of women and children, taking another swipe at recent NATO attacks that have accidently killed civilians.

In terms of how this will play out in US politics, two presidents have tried to capture or kill Bin Laden. After being sworn in, Obama instructed his newly-appointed CIA chief, Leon Panetta that the capture or killing of Bin Laden was a top priority. Three years later, the Commander-in-Chief delivered on his promise with a flawless CIA operation carried out without incurring any US casualties or injuries. No matter what develops within the remainder of Obama’s term, this event will play a major role in boosting his approval ratings and securing his reelection.

This was an extremely risky operation as it was conducted in an urban area. With Jimmy Carter’s disastrously failed 1980 operation to rescue the American hostages held for over a year in the US Embassy in Tehran still very much alive in Americans’ memory, Sunday’s operation will serve as an exemplary model of a successful CIA operation, as well as a much-needed American victory, helping to boost credibility after many controversial foreign operations.

Bin Laden founded Al-Qaeda (‘The Base’) in 1988 during the peak of the successful Mujahidin movement that eventually assisted in driving the USSR out of Afghanistan. Fury at the US military presence on Arab soil during and after Gulf War I led him to declaring jihad against the US in 1996. He was also held responsible for the embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 and the “9/11” attacks in 2001.

Although Sunday’s operation was certainly not the end of Al-Qaeda, it was the end of an important chapter - and the start of an uncertain new one.

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local

KUWAIT: Children play with the two Japanese therapeutic robots at Al-Sabah Hospital yesterday.

Japanese robots interact with children at Al-Sabah Hospital Help to improve health

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Two Japanese therapeutic robots named Paro arrived in Kuwait yesterday and visited the children’s sec tion at Al-Sabah Hospital. The two seal-like robots played and interacted with children with different health-related conditions at the Al-Sabah hospital. Robots have superior learning abilities and can easily provide psychological, physical and social assistance to human beings through warm interaction. The robots could recognize English and Japanese commands, although they could not respond verbally. The robots are equipped to react in various ways by making appropriate seal sounds, move their tails when happy, and blink

Factories asked to install waste treatment units KUWAIT: The Environment Public Authority (EPA) has urged food production facilities in Sabhan to ensure that they install treatment units for disposing of liquid industrial waste in order to avoid penalties, which could include their facilities being shut down if they fail to do so.

The latest figures show that Kuwaiti manufacturers currently emit a total of 10,000 gallons of liquid industrial waste per day, said the head of the EPA’s industrial environment department,

Mohammad Al-Enezi, who is also the head of the authority’s inspection unit.

Al-Enezi explained that the EPA is planning to carry out a series of inspections of food factories in Sabhan shortly, adding that any factories which have not installed the necessary treatment units for ‘highly hazardous’ waste will face immediate closure.

The forthcoming series of inspections is part of a large -scale campaign launched by the EPA in 2009 to monitor local factories. —Al-Qabas

Govt considers increasing capital fund KUWAIT: Following the recent rise in oil prices and the surpluses resulting thereafter, the government is considering increasing deductions from the state’s budget to be added to the Future Generations Fund (FGF), informed ministerial sources said.

The sources added that the government tends to make more use of the financial surplus by increasing the FGF deduction to 15 percent over the next

five years instead of the current 10 percent deduction, with the aim of enriching the fund and increasing its revenues to be ready for any contingency.

Further, the sources said that this step was in the right direction towards securing the country against any possible future changes and covering expenditure in case of any deficits such as the ones that occurred during the Iraqi invasion to Kuwait. —Al-Jarida

Census project vital for development: MEW official KUWAIT: Engineer Ali Al-Wazzan, the Assistant Undersecretar y of the Ministr y of Electricity and Water (MEW) for Information Systems and Monitoring, described the census project currently in progress as a national project that deserves to be supported as it would contribute in the development of Kuwait. Al-Jarida reported.

Al-Wazzan also considered the census project as a base of forming new strategies and, then put right long and short term plans into practice. “This will be a great help to decision-makers and planners. It will also ensure a better living standard for individuals, fare distribution of services, provide job opportunities and cre-

ate balance between national and expatriate labor”, he stressed.

Further, Al-Wazzan explained that MEW, for instance, could benefit from the census project in planning its future projects through accurate input data about population density in each area and its need for power generators. “It will also help determine the actual per capita power consumption that will help in conserving power”, he underlined noting that this census is so significant as it coincided with Kuwait’s comprehensive development plan. Al-Wazzan invited all citizens and expatriates to take part in the census for public interest of Kuwait and everybody living in it.

MP inquires about KAC capital KUWAIT: A lawmaker demands that the State Audit Bureau is consulted in regards to privatization procedures of the Kuwait Airways Corporation, mentioning in specific the bases by which the KD220 million capital for the shareholding company was estimated ‘which were not verified in comparison with assets assessment reports’.

In a recent statement to the press, MP Adel Al-Saraawi mentioned clarifications that were made previously by the SAB, in which they explained that they

are not the body which set the projected company’s capital, but that it was estimated by independent bodies. “After observing the estimated capital, the SAB came up with several notes pertaining with the estimation methods by which the capital was allocated”, AlSaraawi said, adding that evaluation results released by various consultative bodies varied between KD198 million and up to KD268 million regarding the capital that should be allocated to the company. —Al-Qabas

Overseas treatment cost dropped KUWAIT: Costs of government-paid overseas treatment missions have dropped by 20%, after the Ministry of Health facilitated for patients of certain cases to receive treatment in Kuwait instead.

“The ministry was able to provide treatment for cases such as infertility and physiotherapy inside Kuwait through cooperation

with other medical bodies”, said Mohammad Al-Azmy, Assistant Undersecretary for Financial Affairs in a recent statement.

Meanwhile, Al-Azmy said that the ministry has already regained nearly half of a KD2 million payment that it discovered to have paid excessively to citizens who were sent for treatment overseas. —Al-Rai

their eyes and move gracefully.

Paro was successfully developed for therapy by the Japanese National I nstitute of Advance Industrial Science and Technology.

“The two ‘Paros’ will be in this hospital for the next four days and will be transferred to other hospitals here,” says Takehito I naba, Japanese Embassy, First Secretary, Cultural Affairs and Public Relations.

“They are here to demonstrate their health and therapeutic functions but they’ll return to Japan after a month. We bring them here to commemorate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties with Kuwait,” Inaba noted.

The two robots will also visit the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) today for a live

demonstration slated at 9:30 am at the medical conference to be hosted by KCCI under the auspices of Kuwait’s Ministry of Health. “It’s been proven in Japan that this robot can help children and adults alike improve their health. There are various testimonials to confirm this and we hope for a positive response from people here towards Paro,” he added.

The seal is developed among other animals to avoid familiarity (prejudging) that would eventually dissuade other patients from interacting with the robot. “Cats and dogs are familiar pet animals and those who are allergic to it will not want to come close to a similar robot. To avoid prejudice, we developed an unfamiliar sea creature,” explained Tak anori

Shibata, a S enior Research Scientist in conversation with the Kuwait Times.

I f the Kuwaiti government decides to acquire robots, they could do so, although some time will be required to program them to respond to Arabic in the same way they respond to English and Japanese commands.

Paro’s research and development began in 1993, but they only started commercial production in 2005. It is now available in many parts of Europe and in the United States. Paro is developed as a substitute to real pet animals which are known to have psychological health benefits. They are also k nown to help patients with dementia deal with their illness in a better manner.

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LOCAL

Man sexually abuses boy in parking lot Teenager arrested at mall KUWAIT: Police are hunting for an elderly, grey-haired man who managed to escape after being caught sexually abusing a 13-yearold boy in the parking lot of a Jahra mall. The suspect abandoned his car and fled on foot when security guards from the mall approached the vehicle after becoming suspicious of the man’s behavior.

The guards took the boy to the local police station, where he told officers that he and the elderly man were simply sitting in the car awaiting the arrival of another person. The mall security guards were adamant, however, that they had witnessed the man sexually abusing the boy before he fled.

The search for the suspect is continuing.

Phase Two of govt’s action program plan begins KUWAIT: Phase Two of the government’s action program plan has begun with the beginning of the new fiscal year of 2011 on April 1, Head of Community Development Department at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor announced yesterday. Sheikha Al-Adwani said that the second phase includes a number of feasible projects that would serve development causes, putting humans’ communication skills atop of them, following the completion of Phase One that was concerned with women’s issues.

The final report of the Community Development Department specified major priorities of Kuwaiti women issues, which were gathered from 12 cultural, social and academic lectures and seminars held for that purpose, she

added. In phase two, the department will print the results of this report for publication in a form of a comprehensive guide that would include six main axes, she pointed out.

She further said that 3,000 copies will be distributed to concerned society figures and heads of public and private government bodies in order for everyone to be informed and well familiarized with the women program’s goals, hence, implementing them accordingly.

The department formed a special team to determine training programs needs for Kuwaiti women based on Phase One’s results, AlAdwani pointed out.

As a result of this team’s output, 720 training opportunities will be provided, all year round, in the fields

of marital guidance and promoting public awareness in order to enhance women’s consciousness of their social rights and duties.

Al-Adwani noted that the department already made the necessary correspondences, on this issue of awareness, with Kuwait University to carry out a field study on the level of Kuwaiti women’s consumer awareness and its effects on women’s social and psychological stability.

She added that the purpose of this field study is to examine the behavioral patterns that control women’s decisions and introduce successful methods of decisionmaking process.

The result of this study will be announced before the end of year 2011. — KUNA

Animal killer A Kuwaiti resident of Qairawan has filed charges against a teenage driver who intentionally ran over his pet dog in a street there. The police were called by bystanders after they saw the young driver hit and intentionally run over the dog. The owner told police that he had imported the dog, a rare pedigree breed, from Germany, adding that it cost him KD5,000.

Sexual harassment A 16-year-old boy was arrested at a mall in Jahra after a number of female shoppers reported that he had laid in wait in a ladies’ bathroom there to sexually harass female customers. The boy was arrested in the bathroom and taken to the local police station to face a number of charges.

Conman caught Police have arrested an Arab conman who swindled a Kuwaiti man out of KD11,000 before fleeing with the money. The fraudster apparently persuaded his victim that they should go into a car sales business together, with the duped citizen handing over the money to buy four vehicles.

The charlatan quickly disappeared with the money, at which point the victim realized he had been duped and went to the police. After the conman was found in Hawally, police checked his ID, discovering that he was also wanted in connection with a previous case in which he swindled another victim out of KD70,000.

Handcuff mystery Detectives are investigating how a Kuwaiti youngster came to be handcuffed to a building fixture in a

Mubarak Al-Kabeer school. A janitor at the school found the boy when he almost tripped over him whilst entering the school. On being released by police and questioned as to who had handcuffed him, the boy gave two conflicting accounts, first telling officers that classmates had done it as a prank and later telling them that his uncle had done it as a punishment for his being a troublemaker. Officers took the youngster to the local police station, where he is being held for questioning, with another investigation underway into whether or not he escaped from a juvenile rehabilitation center.

Drivers brawl Four Asian men were arrested following a brawl involving 20 of them, with the majority being drunk at the time. It was quickly determined that most of those involved in the fracas are employed as bus drivers for a local public transport firm.

Drugs busts Two Kuwaiti men were referred to the General Directorate of Drug Control (GDDC) after they were separately arrested in Ahmadi in possession of a joint total of 38 narcotic tablets.

KJA marks World Press Freedom Day KUWAIT: The Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA) insisted on the importance of preserving the level of press freedom enjoyed in Kuwait which is recognized as the best in the Arab World, and making sure that it is not abused to spread sectarianism. This was made in a statement that K JA released on the

occasion of the World Press Freedom Day that is obser ved today.

Furthermore, KJA reiterated calls for commitment and responsibility towards utilizing the level of freedom of expression in Kuwait, and avoiding abuse of freedom which would damage the image of

democracy and journalism.

Meanwhile, KJA also expressed in their statement “sympathy and support” for the regional campaign launched by the International Federation of Journalists in solidarity with journalists who are covering news of public protests taking place in Arab countries.

Arab communities host festival at Green Island KUWAIT: The Green Island is set to host its annual Arab Communities Festival this Friday May 6, 2011, which will feature the participation of folklore activities from the Kuwaiti, Gulf, Egyptian, Lebanese and Palestinian cultures.

In a statement made to the press, Green Island supervisor Husam Al-Zawawi said that

Husam Al-Zawawi

the event will feature several activities and competitions including contests to select the best traditional dress and best folklore display. AlZawawi also explained that the festival is a part of the Touristic Enterprises Company’s activities to provide services that can be enjoyed by all communities in Kuwait.

KAC to launch 3 weekly flights to Istanbul ISTANBUL: Kuwait Airways (KAC) is set to launch three weekly flights between Kuwait and Istanbul after an agreement was signed yesterday between the Kuwaiti Consulate-General in Istanbul, a delegation of KAC representatives and officials from Istanbul’s Ataturk

International Airport.

Informing KUNA about the new schedule, Sheikh Fahad Salem Al-Sabah, Kuwait’s General Consul in Istanbul and the dean of the diplomatic corps there, explained that the agreement will take effect from June. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Bait Al-Othman, which consists of four houses, will be turned into a museum and will be opened to the public soon.

Bait Al-Othman made historical society HQ KUWAIT: Kuwaiti historic documents scholar and head of the Kuwaiti Heritage Voluntary Team Anwar Al-Rafaei revealed yesterday that Bait Al-Othman, a Kuwaiti historic site, will be made the team’s headquarters. He also announced a correction of an issue date of an approved historic document which stated that the state of Kuwait came into existence in 1613, not 1611.

Scholar Anwar Al-Rafaei said that “we, the Kuwaiti Heritage team, welcome anyone who owns a document or evidence related to Kuwait’s history to hand it to us.”

“Submitted evidences and documents would be checked for validity, historically and scientifically, under the supervision of Kuwait Voluntary Work Center of the Council of Ministers, headed

by Sheikh Amthal Al-Ahmad Al-

Anwar Al-Rafaei Sabah, in cooperation with Kuwait’s Heritage Voluntary team to preserve all inherited antiquities, whether they be tangible or intangible,” Al-Rafaei added.

He also remarked that Kuwait National Council for Culture, Arts

and Letters (KNCCL) allocated Bait Al-Othman, one of the most important heritage places in the country and an embodiment of the history of Kuwaiti architecture in the 40s to the 60s, as a headquarters for Kuwait’s Heritage Voluntary Team.

The heritage team will, then, turn Bait Al-Othman into a general and comprehensive museum for Kuwaiti heritage, he added.

He appealed to all private and public government bodies to contribute with what antiques they have to enrich the museum’s collection.

“We work as one team and we call on all who are interested in Kuwaiti marine and land heritage to join in and contribute with any Kuwaiti historic related documents, papers, books, cards, photos or antiques,” Al-Rafaei noted.

The Kuwaiti Heritage Voluntary

Team included a group of volunteers that have a great experience and knowledge in Kuwait history.

Those volunteers are Saleh AlMesbah, Hani Al-Asossi, Mohammad Kemal, Noah AlAsfour, Essa Al-Loughani, Saleh Al-Muthen, Abdullah Al-Hafez, Ali Rays, Adnan Al-Jalahma and Jamal Al-Refaei.

Two of the houses and the Diwan (men’s gathering place in Gulf culture) of Bait Al-Othman, which consists of four houses, will be turned into museum and will be opened to the public soon.

Al-Raefai added that Bait AlOthman belongs to the late poet and scholar Abdullah Abdullatif AlOthman. The house, which has been preserved by KNCCL, was built in the late 1940s. It is spread over an area of 9454 sq meters and consists of 157 rooms, 16 kitchens and 61 bathrooms. — KUNA

National Guards honor officers KUWAIT: Logistics Support Commander at the National Guards Brig Abdelrahman Faraj Al-Mei’ yesterday honored a number of officers with a badge presented to them by His Highness the Amir and Chief of the Armed Forces Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in appreciation of their dedicated service.

The brigadier made a speech on this occasion in which he stressed that the honoring comes as proof of the leadership’s recognition of and care to support the role of National Guards officers in the homeland’s defense.

The honoring, he noted, is an encouragement to all other officers to serve with devotion and diligence. The honor-

ing ceremony was attended by a number of logistic support commanders and high-ranking officers. — KUNA

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

Misrata under fire; Gaddafi mourns son

World braced for Jihadi backlash Page 9

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Syrian troops bomb Deraa into submission Protests in city of Homs after Deraa falls Israeli military aircraft ‘massing for Iran strike’ TEHRAN: Iranian state television ran a report yesterday saying Israeli military aircraft were massing at a US air base in Iraq for a strike on Iran. Israel said it had no knowledge of such a strike plan, as reported on the website of Iran’s English-language Press TV, and Iraq’s air force commander denied the report. The Pentagon dismissed it as “ridiculous”. Press TV quoted what it said was a source close to the movement of Moqtada Al-Sadr, an Iraqi Shiite cleric who opposes the US presence in Iraq and has close ties to Iran’s leaders. Washington’s ally Israel accuses Tehran of using its declared civilian nuclear reactor program to conceal a plan to develop atomic bombs that would threaten the Jewish state. Israeli leaders

BEIRUT: A Syrian Kurdish protester shows his palms as he shouts anti-Syrian President Bashar Assad slogans during a sit-in in front of the UN house in downtown Beirut yesterday. —AP

AMMAN: Security forces arrested hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators in cities across Syria after taking control of the city of Deraa, cradle of the uprising against President Bashar alAssad’s autocratic rule. Looking for men under 40 years old, security forces broke into houses on Sunday in the old quarter of Deraa that a tank-backed force led by Assad’s brother Maher shelled into submission the day before, witnesses told Reuters by telephone. The state news agency SANA said yesterday army units tracked down “terrorist groups that have terrorized civilians (in Deraa)...and killed 10 of its members and arrested 499 of them”.

SANA quoted an army source as saying that in addition to the 10 dead, security forces also killed five snipers who were shooting at pedestrians. The source told SANA that two members of the

security forces were also killed in clashes. Syrian protesters deny that they have weapons and are using them in the unrest, targeting 48 years of Baath Party domination in Syria and inspired by other popular Arab revolts that have overthrown the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt this year.

Prominent rights campaigners were also arrested in the eastern cities of Qamishli, Raqqa and in suburbs of Damascus, along with scores of ordinary Syrians active in the mass protests demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption.

Syrians kept up protests despite the arrests and violent repression that has resulted in the killing of at least 560 civilians

by Assad’s security forces, human rights groups say. In the central city of Homs, thousands marched on Sunday chanting “downfall of the regime!” In Rastan to the north, a funeral was held for 17

men killed when military intelligence agents fired at a protest on Friday during which the names of 50 resigning members of Assad’s Baath Party were being read out.

Signs of discontent have been also emerging in the majority Sunni Muslim ranks of the army commanded by officers from the minority Alawite sect, to which the Assad family belongs.

Two thousand Kurds in the village of Karbawi near Qamishli attended the funeral of 20-yearold conscript Ahmad Fanar Mustafa. His father accused security forces of killing him for refusing to take part in the repression.

Fanar Mustafa refused to let the governor of the province attend the funeral of his son. “They kill and then they want to march in the funeral of the murdered,” the father was quoted as saying by a witness at the funeral. In Deraa, where the protests first broke out on March 18, a witness said

young men in the old quarter fled to safety in neighboring villages to the west as security forces dragged 450 men under the age of 40 from their homes.

The witness, a trader who ducked Syrian security and crossed into the Jordanian city of Ramtha on Sunday, said the authorities were cleaning Deraa of blood from dozens of youths killed by machinegun fire.

Security forces drove away two trucks with the bodies of 68 civilians killed since Assad sent tanks into Deraa yesterday. “Bullets are their response to the people’s revolt. The security forces who came to Deraa told us ‘Go buy bread from a bakery called Freedom. Let’s see if it feeds you’,” said a prominent lawyer in Deraa who declined to be identified further. Foreign media are banned from Syria, making it harder to confirm accounts of events in the country. — Reuters

have not ruled out military action against Iran.

However, there has been no recent indication of increased tensions and no other information yesterday to corroborate the Iranian television report. An Israeli army spokeswoman said she had no knowledge of any such report and said the military did not comment on operational matters. Iraqi air force commander Staff Lieutenant General Anwar Ahmed rejected the report as “groundless”. “The Al-Asad base (mentioned by Press TV) exists on Iraqi territory.

We can never accept launching any military attack against any of the neighboring countries, whether Iran or any other country, from Iraqi lands,” he said. —Reuters

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I N T E R N AT I O N A L Bin Laden dead

Bin Laden found at luxurious Pakistani home No telephone or Internet; Compound found by tracking Osama’s courier WASHINGTON: US forces finally found Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden not in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan’s border, but in a million-dollar compound in an upscale summer resort a little more

than an hour’s drive from Pakistan’s capital, with his youngest wife, US officials said yesterday. A small US team conducted a helicopter raid on the compound on Sunday afternoon, officials said. After 40 minutes

ABBOTTABAD: This undated aerial handout image shows the Abbottabad compound in Pakistan where American forces killed Osama bin Laden. — AP

of fighting, bin Laden and an adult son, one unidentified woman and two men-identified as the courier and his brother-were dead, officials said.

US forces were led to the fortress-like three-story building after more than four years tracking one of bin Laden’s most trusted couriers, whom US officials said was identified by men captured after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks. “Detainees also identified this man as one of the few Al-Qaeda couriers trusted by bin Laden. They indicated he might be living with or protected by bin Laden,” a senior administration official said in a briefing for reporters. Bin Laden was finally found-more than 9-1/2 years after the 2001 attacks on the United States-after authorities discovered in August 2010 that the courier lived with his brother and their families in an unusual and extremely highsecurity building, officials said.

“When we saw the compound where the brothers lived, we were shocked by what we saw: an extraordinarily unique compound,” a senior administration official said. “The bottom line of our collection and our analysis was that we had high confidence that the compound harbored a high-value terrorist target.

The experts who worked this issue for years assessed that there was a strong probability that the terrorist who was hiding there was Osama bin Laden,” another administration official said.

The home is in Abbotabad, a town about 35 miles north of Islamabad, that is relatively affluent and home to many retired members of Pakistan’s military. The building, about eight times the size of other nearby houses, sat on a large plot of land that was relatively secluded when it was built in 2005.

When it was constructed, it was on the outskirts of

Abbotabad’s center, at the end of a dirt road, but some other homes have been built nearby in the six years since it went up, officials said.

WALLS TOPPED WITH BARBED WIRE Intense security measures included 12- to 18-foot outer walls topped with barbed wire and internal walls that sectioned off different parts of the compound, officials said. Two security gates restricted access, and residents burned their trash, rather than leaving it for collection as did their neighbors, officials said. Few windows of the three-story home faced the outside of the compound, and a terrace had a seven-foot privacy wall, officials said. “It is also noteworthy that the property is valued at approximately $1 million but has no telephone or Internet service connected to it,” an administration official said. “The brothers had no explainable source of wealth.”

US analysts realized that a third family lived there in addition to the two brothers, and the age and makeup of the third family matched those of the relatives-including his youngest wife-they believed would be living with bin Laden. “Everything we saw, the extremely elaborate operational security, the brothers’ background and their behavior and the location of the compound itself was perfectly consistent with what our experts expected bin Laden’s hide-out to look like,” another Obama administration official said. Abbotabad is a popular summer resort, located in a valley surrounded by green hills near Pakistani Kashmir. Islamist militants, particularly those fighting in Indian-controlled Kashmir, used to have training camps near the town. — Reuters

Egyptian surgeon succeeds Osama Zawahiri: The most-wanted man ISLAMABAD: Al-Qaeda number two Ayman AlZawahiri, the Egyptian surgeon considered the real mastermind of the global terror franchise, is now set to succeed Osama bin Laden as the world’s most wanted man. Like his Saudi-born co-conspirator, Zawahiri has been hiding ever since the United States declared its war on terror after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Unlike his late comrade, who President Barack Obama said was killed by US forces in Pakistan, Zawahiri is presumed still at large with organizational skills, cunning and intelligence said to eclipse that of bin Laden.

Reportedly last seen in October 2001 in eastern Afghanistan, close to the Pakistan border, he has released multiple videos from his hiding, calling for war on the West. While bin Laden was seen as AlQaeda’s inspiration, his deputy is believed to be the

real brains that steered operations, including the September 11 attacks, and as a result arguably even more dangerous. The former eye surgeon’s position as bin Laden’s main strategist and mentor earned the 59-year-old a $25 million bounty on his head. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s list of most wanted terrorists said he was also bin Laden’s personal doctor.

As bin Laden withdrew from the public eye after 2004, it was often up to Zawahiri-identifiable by a prominent lump on his forehead-to motivate the group’s followers with a series of hectoring video appearances, jabbing his finger and staring from behind heavy-rimmed glasses. Zawahiri met bin Laden when thousands of Islamist fighters from around the world flooded into Afghanistan during the 1980s “jihad”, or holy war, against Soviet forces.

This undated file photo shows Saudi-born millionaire Osama Bin Laden (center), Ayman AlZawahiri (left), a physician and the founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and Muhammad Atef. — AP

Zawahiri hails from a wealthy Egyptian family. His father was a reputed physician and one of his grandfathers a prayer leader at Cairo’s Al-Azhar institute, the highest authority for Sunni Muslims.

He became involved with Egypt’s radical Muslim community at a young age and was reportedly arrested as young as 15 for being a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, the Arab world’s oldest fundamentalist group. He has published several books and studies on Islamic fundamentalism, which came for many to symbolize the radical Islamist movement. He married in 1979 and trained as a surgeon in Cairo. Zawahiri was jailed for three years in Egypt for militancy and was implicated in the 1981 assassination of president Anwar Sadat and the massacre of foreign tourists at the city of Luxor in 1997.

Facing a death sentence, he left Egypt in the mid1980s initially for Saudi Arabia, but soon he headed for Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar where the resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan was based. He worked as a doctor treating wounded fighters and linked up with Arab Islamist militants who came to take part in the jihad including bin Laden. In the early 1990s Zawahiri is believed to have lived in Europe before linking up again with bin Laden in Sudan or Afghanistan. He was arrested in 1996 in Russia after apparently trying to recruit jihadists for Chechnya. In 1998 he was one of five signatories to bin Laden’s “fatwa” calling for attacks against US civilians and he began appearing regularly at the Al-Qaeda leader’s side. He is listed on the US government’s indictment for the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and he was sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian court a year later. Zawahiri went into hiding after US-led and Afghan Northern Alliance forces toppled the fundamentalist Taleban in late 2001. The Taleban hosted bin Laden and Zawahiri and refused to hand them over after 9/11. The Al-Qaeda leader and his deputy then released a string of videos taunting the United States, often appearing side by side. In one they were shown together strolling on a remote mountainside.—AFP

QUETTA: Supporters of Pakistani religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam rally to condemn the killing of Osama bin Laden in Quetta yesterday. — AP

US must now quit Iraq and Afghanistan: Brotherhood CAIRO: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood called yesterday for US forces to quit Islamic countries now Osama bin Laden is dead, and one Islamist said Al-Qaeda should rethink its tactics which had only made the “enemy” more aggressive. The Brotherhood, which has created a party to contest elections following the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, said the revolutions sweeping the Middle East proved democracy was at home in the region and foreign occupation was no longer needed.

“With bin Laden’s death, one of the reasons for which violence has been practiced in the world has been removed,” said Essam Al-Erian, a senior member of the Brotherhood which renounced violence to achieve change in Egypt decades ago.

Bin Laden, who masterminded the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, was killed by US forces in Pakistan yesterday, ending a worldwide manhunt. Erian addressed the Brotherhood’s call to US President Barack Obama: “It is time for Obama to pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq and end the occupation of US and Western forces around the world that have for so long harmed Muslim countries.” “The revolutions taking place across the Middle East are proof that democracy has a home in the Middle East and we do not need foreign occupation anymore,” Erian said.

The attacks on New York and Washington were followed by two US-led wars, and US and other Western countries have troops based in Afghanistan. US soldiers are due to leave Iraq at the end of 2011 under a security pact with Baghdad, while Washington also has forces based in the Gulf. Other Islamist groups in Egypt, whose thinkers have inspired Islamic movements and activists around the world, have also re-emerged since Mubarak was toppled on Feb 11, including those who once bore arms. Bin Laden’s methods were faulted by a sheikh of Al-Gama’a AlIslamiya, a group of the conservative Salafist school which led an armed rebellion in the 1990s to set up a purist Islamic state in Egypt but which has since renounced such violence.

“He made the enemy more aggressive through his method. He made those who were neutral an enemy and his friends hesitant to support him due to the error in his method,” said Sheikh Assem Abdel-Maged, a member of the advisor y council of Gama’a. “He was a Muslim and we hope that even if he made mistakes in some matters, we hope that God will forgive his mistakes and we hope that his followers and students will review the plan they are working with, regarding the methods that they use.”—Reuters

Top Qaeda leaders PARIS: Osama bin Laden is survived by high-ranking leaders and supporters of his Al-Qaeda militant movement. Here are profiles of the top 10 at large, according to media and Western intelligence.

Ayman Al-Zawahiri Age: 60 Country of origin: Egypt Suspected location: Pakistan Role: Bin Laden’s right-hand man and co-founder of Al-Qaeda. An Egyptian doctor who met bin Laden in Afghanistan where they were fighting the Soviets and went on to help recruit militants and shape the AlQaeda network.

FBI reward for capture: $25 million ❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙

Seif Al-Adel Age: About 50 Country of origin: Egypt Suspected location: Pakistan or Afghanistan Role: Al-Qaeda’s top military leader. Accused of involvement in the attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Like Zawahiri, a former member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad.

FBI reward: $5 million ❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed Age: About 40 Country of origin: Comoros Islands

Suspected location: Somalia Role: Al-Qaeda’s leader in East Africa, a hotbed of Islamist instability.

Like Adel, suspected of the two embassy attacks in Kenya and Tanzania.

Suspected of links to Islamists in volatile Somalia.

FBI reward: $5million ❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙

Anwar Al-Awlaqi Age: 39 Country of origin: United States Suspected location: Yemen Role: US-born Yemeni radical preacher, suspected of being one of the leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and of instigating a string of attacks against the United States.

Reward: not listed by FBI ❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙

Adam Yahiye Gadahn Age: 32 Country of origin: United States Role: Californian convert to Islam, dubbed AlQaeda’s “American spokesman.” Author of numerous online calls for anti-US attacks. Accused by US authori-

ties of treason, “terrorist activities” and supporting AlQaeda.

Reward: $1 million ❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙

Suleiman Abu Ghaith Age: 46 Country of origin: Kuwait Suspected location: Yemen Role: Radical preacher who served as close aide to bin Laden from 2000 in Afghanistan and leading spokesman for Al-Qaeda. Stripped of Kuwaiti citizenship in 2001 for alleged links to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Reward: not listed ❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙

Fahd Mohammed Ahmed Al-Quso Age: 36 Country of origin: Yemen Role: Suspected current leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Wanted by United States for allegedly organising deadly attack against American vessel USS Cole in Gulf of Aden in 2000.

Reward: $5 million ❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙

Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah Age: Late forties Country of origin: Egypt Role: Adel’s suspected number two in Al-Qaeda in East Africa, also accused of role in the Kenya and Tanzania bombings.

Reward: $5 million ❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙

Nazih Abdul-Hamed Nabih al-Ruqi, alias Anas al-Liby Age: 47 Country of origin: Libya Role: Wanted for US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Reward: $5 million ❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙❙

Ali Saeed Bin Ali Al-Hooriyeh Age: 46 Country of origin: Saudi Arabia Role: Wanted for truck bombing of Khobar Towers military housing complex in Saudi Arabia in 1996, which killed 19 US military personnel.

Reward: $5 million

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I N T E R N AT I O N A L Bin Laden dead

Osama bin Laden in his own words

World braced for Jihadi backlash PARIS: Officials, experts and Islamist extremists warned yesterday that the Western powers should brace themselves for revenge attacks by supporters of slain Al-Qaeda kingpin Osama bin Laden. International police agency Interpol alerted national forces to “a heightened terror risk from Al-Qaeda affiliated or Al-Qaeda inspired terrorists as a result of bin Laden’s death.” Several countries announced they were stepping up security measures in the wake of Sunday’s US military operation, in which commandos shot dead bin Laden in an assault on his Pakistani villa hideout.

Britain confirmed it was taking extra precautions at its embassies around the world, and Japan that its military bases were on heightened alert. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “This is a very serious blow to Al-Qaeda but, like any organization that has suffered a serious blow, they will want to show in some way that they are still able to operate.”

Hague’s French counterpart, Alain Juppe, also warned against “excessive optimism” in the wake of the killing, saying: “AlQaeda still exists. There are deputies. There are structures.”

Meanwhile, supporters of bin Laden’s violent campaign took to militant Internet sites to vow revenge. “The lions will remain lions and will continue moving in the footsteps of Osama. O Allah, America will not enjoy safety and security until we live it in Palestine,” one user wrote on the Shumukh Al-Islam forum. “The celebrations are amusing. Cheer all you want infidel, you only have a limited amount of time in this life in which to do it,” another wrote. While some experts said that bin Laden’s death would damage Al-Qaeda’s brand image, and perhaps lead the organization to fracture still further along geographical lines, most predicted attacks would continue.

“The United States will unfortunately suffer, because Jihadists have a tendency to avenge their slain chiefs,” warned Matthieu Guidere, a French academic who specializes in the Arab world.

After the death of the leader of Al-Qaeda’s group in Iraq, Abu Musab Al-Zarkawi, in April 2006, his successor launched a wave of suicide attacks against US and Iraqi targets, Guidere

ISLAMABAD: Selected quotes attributed to Osama bin Laden, whose death was announced

by US President Barack Obama on Sunday.

ORISSA: Indian sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik gives finishing touches to a sand sculpture to mark the killing of Osama bin Laden at the golden sea beach at Puri, Orissa, India yesterday. — AP

noted. And although the figurehead of the operation has died in a plush Pakistani mountain resort and garrison town north of Islamabad, Al-Qaeda militants in the field have long been acting independently. “On a tactical level, the death of bin Laden is not a decisive victory, as for many years he has not been an operational leader and the power has been in the hands of local commanders,” Guidere said.

Jean-Pierre Filiu, a professor at the Sciences-Po school in Paris and author of a book on Al-Qaeda, said bin Laden’s death would accelerate the group’s existing division into separate fighting entities. “His number two, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, is Egyptian and won’t be able to impose his will in a comparable way,” he explained. The group now has a Pakistani “centre” more divorced than before from Arab concerns, an Iraqi

branch identified with the Sunni side in a sectarian war against Shiites and a Yemeni-dominated “Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula”.

In North Africa, “Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb” boasts of its ties to the slain Saudi militant, but was already seen as a largely independent group born out of an existing regional armed Islamist movement. “Osama bin Laden’s leadership was in truth ideological. He was the only one able to unite all the disparate groups around the world,” said anti-terrorist judge Marc Trevidic, saying Al-Qaeda had lost a brand label.

Nevertheless, Frank Faulkner, a senior lecturer in sociology and terrorism studies at the University of Derby in Britain said that revenge attacks were inevitable. “It’s just a case of when and where,” he said. — AFP

Bin Laden’s death makes world ‘safer’

Fresh questions over Pakistan’s loyalties ABBOTTABAD: The killing of Osama bin Laden

by US forces at a palatial villa near the capital raised fresh questions Monday over Pakistan’s loyalties in the war against Al-Qaeda. For years, Western officials believed that the world’s most wanted man, with a $25 million price on his head, was hiding in some of the most impenetrable terrain on earth, in Pakistan’s semiautonomous northwest tribal belt. But instead of lurking in a remote cave-out of reach of intelligence on the ground-bin Laden was found in relative luxury less than two hours’ drive from Islamabad in a town where Pakistan trains some of its finest officers.

An AFP reporter at the scene said the imposing house appears to be a three-storey building surrounded by towering perimeter walls and topped with barbed wire, in a middle-class neighborhood of Abbottabad. “Abbottabad is a garrison city and located near a Pakistani military academy, and people will raise questions how they managed to get there,” said Rahimullah Yusufzai, a prominent expert on militancy. Pakistan and the United States said the operation was conducted by US forces, and although Pakistani military were out in force in Abbottabad on Monday one official said they were only mobilized after the raid.

A senior US administration official said the United States had not notified Pakistani allies about the operation, citing the chief reason as the need to maintain complete secrecy around the covert operation. For four hours after US President Barack Obama announced that bin Laden was dead, Pakistan’s government and military leaders remained silent, before issuing a carefully worded statement from the foreign ministry. It stopped short of confirming that Pakistan was left in the dark ahead of the US ground operation-what Islamabad has repeatedly called a red line-nor how far Pakistan may have cooperated in the raid.

Analysts warn that Pakistan is likely to be exposed to a fresh wave of revenge Islamist militant attacks from Al-Qaeda-linked groups already opposed to the government’s alliance with the United States. Pakistan’s main Taleban

faction threatened to attack Pakistan and the United States if they could confirm that bin Laden was dead. “These people are in fact the enemies of Islam,” spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Although there was no indication the attack was related to bin Laden’s death, a bomb exploded near a mosque in northwest Pakistan on Monday killing a woman and three children.

Asked by AFP about the extent to which Pakistan cooperated in the operation, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said only: “I don’t know the details, I don’t know minute details, but in short we have intelligence cooperation”.

Pakistani-US intelligence cooperation nosedived this year after a CIA contractor was detained for killing two Pakistanis in broad daylight, and US officials have rounded on Pakistan’s alleged double dealing with militants.

Only two weeks ago, Admiral Mike Mullen, the highest ranking officer in the United States armed forces visited Pakistan and accused the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency of having ties with terrorists.

Online publication Stratfor Global Intelligence asked how long Pakistan was aware bin Laden was there and whether the United States withheld the information until the hit was executed, fearing it would be compromised. Just 30 miles from the nerve centre of the government, the leafy town of Abbottabad is a popular day-trip for Western expatriates and Pakistan’s elite escaping into the hills away from the searing heat of summer. Nestled in pinedotted hills and originally built by the British during colonial rule, Abbottabad is a city of one million people and home to the elite Pakistan Military Academy, just 1.5 kilometres from where he was killed.

Yusufzai said that bin Laden’s death was likely to raise pressure on Pakistan and that his killing, when Pakistani leaders had long said he was already dead, was an embarrassment. “It may increase pressure on Islamabad over fears that his number two and other senior Al-Qaeda leaders may also be hiding here,” said the expert. —AFP

ISLAMABAD: Governments and leaders praised the killing of Osama bin Laden as a dramatic success in the war against AlQaeda that would make the world a safer place, but in some parts of the globe worried residents were bracing for revenge.

“The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effor t to defeat Al-Qaeda,” President Barack Obama said in a televised address at the White House. Outside, a raucous crowd gathered to celebrate, singing patriotic songs and chanting US slogans.

The killing of bin Laden was also hailed

by George W Bush, who was US president on September 11, 2001 when airliners hijacked by Al-Qaeda slammed into the Pentagon and the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center-an attack that traumatized the nation and defined the history of the past decade. “This momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001,” Bush said. “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” he said in a statement.

Scores of people also gathered at the Ground Zero site of the twin towers, some waving US flags. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement he hoped the news would “bring some closure and comfort to all those who lost loved ones”.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said bin Laden’s death would “bring great relief to people across the world”. “Osama bin Laden was responsible for the worst terrorist atrocities the world has seen,” Cameron said in a statement. “It is a great success that he has been found and will no longer be able to pursue his campaign of global terror.”

European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said: “We have woken up in a more secure world.” The news was greeted with celebrations in Israel, a country regarded as a bitter enemy by many Muslims who are also outraged by Western backing for it. “This is a resounding triumph for justice, freedom and the values shared by all democratic nations fighting shoulder to shoulder in determination against terrorism,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. A market perception that the death of bin Laden reduced the security risks facing the United States lifted the dollar from a three-year low and raised stock index futures. US crude oil prices also fell, but analysts said any market impact would be short-lived.

THREAT ISN’T OVER Obama noted in his announcement that the death of bin Laden by no means meant the threat from Al- Qaeda was over.

“There’s no doubt that Al-Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us,” he said. “We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad.” In Afghanistan, which US-led forced invaded in 2001 to root out bin Laden and the militant Taleban who sheltered him, President Hamid Karzai called on the Taleban to refrain from fighting.

“The Taleban must learn a lesson from this. The Taleban should refrain from fighting,” Karzai told a news conference. Most analysts agreed that although the killing of such an inspirational figurehead would deal a blow to his followers’ morale, bin Laden had not had any significant practical role in the organization for years. AlQaeda works in a decentralized way so the

direct impact of bin Laden’s death would be limited. While their leaders were proclaiming that the world had become safer, many countries were preparing their citizens for the worst.

The US State Depar tment warned Americans worldwide of “enhanced potential for anti-American violence”.

“Given the uncertainty and volatility of the current situation, US citizens in areas where events could cause anti-American violence are strongly urged to limit their travel outside of their homes and hotels and avoid mass gatherings and demonstrations,” the State Department said in a statement. Australia issued a similar warning. In countries with significant Muslim populations, international schools, embassies and other potential targets were putting extra security measures in place in case of reprisals.

India, whose ties with Pakistan are strained, was one of the more ambivalent countries to the news. India has long accused its neighbor of allowing terrorist groups to operate unhindered on its soil.

A statement from India’s foreign ministry praised the killing of bin Laden as a “victorious milestone”, adding: “The struggle must continue unabated.” But a home ministry statement pointed to the fact that far from hiding in a remote cave, bin Laden was found in a mansion 60 km from Islamabad. This, it said, raised “concern that terrorists belonging to different organizations find sanc tuar y in Pakistan”.— Reuters

•

“America has been hit by Allah at its most vulnerable point, destroying, thank God, its most prestigious buildings.”

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October 7, 2001, after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

“We calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy who would be killed based on the position of the tower.”

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December 13, 2001, in video said by Washington to have been found by US troops in Afghanistan. “Acquiring weapons for the defense of Muslims is a religious duty... If I seek to acquire these weapons, I am carrying out a duty.”

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December 1998, when asked by an interviewer for Time magazine whether he had acquired chemical or nuclear weapons. “The war is between us and the Jews. Any country that steps into the same trench as the Jews has only itself to blame.”

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May 2002, from a video released to several news organizations. “Free men do not forfeit their security, contrary to Bush’s claim that we hate freedom. If so, then let him explain to us why we don’t strike Sweden, for example”.

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October 2004, in a videotape broadcast on Arabic TV channel Al-Jazeera, referring to then US president George W Bush. “Those who want to solve our problems at the UN are hypocrites...

Those who claim to be Arab leaders and whose countries are UN members are infidels.”

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November 2001, from a videotape obtained by Al-Jazeera. “We stress the importance of martyrdom operations against the enemy, these attacks that have scared Americans and Israelis like never before.”

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February 2003, from an audiotape obtained by Al-Jazeera. “We reserve the right to retaliate... against all countries that take part in this unjust war, namely Britain, Spain, Australia, Poland, Japan and Italy.”

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October 2003, from another audiotape obtained by Al-Jazeera, referring to the war in Iraq. “The occupation of Iraq is only a link in the chain of evil of the Zionists and crusaders.”

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January 2004, from an audiotape obtained by Al-Jazeera. “I present a reconciliation initiative... whose essence is our commitment to stop operations against all (European) countries if they promise not to be aggressive towards Muslims or interfere in their affairs.”

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April 2004, from an audio message obtained by the Al-Arabiya TV channel. “These operations are being prepared and you will see them in your heartland when they are ready.”

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January 2006, from an audio message threatening new attacks on the United States, obtained

by Al-Jazeera. “Obama and his administration have sowed new seeds of hatred against America.”

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June, 2009: Bin Laden scorns Obama’s Middle East charm offensive. “Jihad will continue even if I am not around.” Late September 2001, in an interview with a Pakistani newspaper. — AFP

ABBOTTABAD: This frame grab from video shows a section of a room in the interior of the compound where it is believed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden lived in Abbottabad, Pakistan. — AP

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Tourists visit Fukushima despite nuclear fears FUKUSHIMA: On a windy, chilly day near the top of a volcano known as “little Mount Fuji,” the Ryan family of Florida described the fuss at home before they left. “People thought we were crazy,” said Kerry Ryan, 52, of Cape Coral, Fla. “They said we’d come back glowing,” 10-year-old granddaughter Isabelle Ryan added. But the Ryans, who had never before traveled overseas, decided to stick to their destination: Fukushima. The name is now synonymous with the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, which lost power and spewed radiation after a massive tsunami devastated Japan’s northeast coast.

The unfortunate association has been a painful economic consequence of the triple disaster for Fukushima prefecture and Fukushima city, about 40 miles inland from the nuclear plant. Along with the direct economic hit, farmers and businesses face socalled “fuhyo higai,” or damages stemming from the battered reputation of the Fukushima brand. The government has established a mandatory exclusion zone extending 20 kilometers from the nuclear power plant. Some towns beyond the zone have also been asked to evacuate.

The US government advises Americans to avoid travel within 50 miles of the plant.

The prefecture’s once -vibrant tourism industry is hurting. Officials at popular

sightseeing spots say visitor traffic is down by about a half this year during Japan’s Golden Week holiday, which runs through Thursday. “It’s a very difficult time right now,” said Sanae Watanabe, manager of the Jodo Daira visitors center next to Mount Azuma-Kofuji. “Fukushima is known for a different meaning now. But we want to get the word out that there are many places with no problems.”

That’s exactly what the Ryans - all seven of them who made the trip - discovered when they arrived. They were among the holiday visitors defying the trend and spending their yen in Fukushima when the prefecture needs it the most. Any jitters turned to awe at the natural beauty and hospitality of the area, surrounded by dramatic mountain landscapes, fruit orchards and hot springs. “It’s beautiful, it’s amazing,” said Kerry Ryan, whose son Jonathan lives in nearby Aizu Wakamatsu and got married over the weekend.

When the earthquake hit March 11, the family feared they would have to miss his wedding in Japan. But news of the nuclear plant faded from headlines in the US, and the situation appeared to be calmer, said the groom’s father David Ryan, 55. Another couple that refused to stay away was Masako and Seiichi Miatake from Tokyo.

They had made reservations for a Golden

FUKUSHIMA: Chikako Sagawa (right) and her mother Kumiko chat while taking a footbath at Takayu Onsen hot springs in Fukushima, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. — AP Week trip back in February, before the earthquake. They have been vacationing in Fukushima for decades and never considered canceling. “We weren’t sure if it would

be proper to come and enjoy ourselves at a time like this,” said Masako Miatake, 75. “But we really like Fukushima.”

The magnitude -9.0 earthquake and

ensuing tsunami are believed to have caused an estimated $300 billion in damage, and more than 26,000 people are dead or missing. The ripple effects on the economy have been significant. Factory production and consumer spending both fell the most on record in March. Travel agency JTB Corp estimated that domestic travel during Golden Week this year would fall 28 percent. Fukushima recorded more than 56 million visitors in 2009, based on data from 308 top sightseeing locations. A 2008 report by the prefecture estimated that tourism brought in about 243.4 billion yen ($3 billion). The prefecture has yet to project the disaster’s economic impact on tourism.

Yumiko Sato understands why many tourists are staying away. “People don’t have a sense of distance. They just hear Fukushima and think of radiation,” said Sato, who runs a small shop selling traditional wooden dolls in Tsuchiyu Onsen, a hot springs town in Fukushima. Originally from western Japan, she said she too went home for a while amid the nuclear accident to protect her 2-year-old son. She opened the store Friday for the first time since March 11.

Business is about one-third of normal, she said. “We thought business would be in complete ruins,” Sato said. “But it’s not as bad as we thought. At least we’re getting some customers who are buying.” — AP

Bin Laden death will not ‘mute Jihad call’ Online messages call for revenge on Obama, US

TRIPOLI: Mohammed (left) and Seif al-Islam Gaddafi (second left), sons of embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, attend the funeral of their brother Seif al-Arab at the Al-Hani cemetery yesterday after the 29-year-old was killed along with three of the leader’s grandchildren in a NATO airstrike early on Sunday. — AFP

Misrata under fire as Gaddafi mourns son TRIPOLI: Crowds chanting support for Muammar Gaddafi gathered in Tripoli yesterday for the funeral of his son, killed in a NATO airstrike that has raised questions about the West’s role in the uprising against the Libyan leader. Gaddafi’s forces halted their bombardment of the port in the rebel-held city of Misrata after NATO air strikes, but the port remained closed, a rebel spokesman said, thwarting efforts to bring supplies in by sea to the besieged city. NATO planes also struck overnight on positions held by Libyan government forces near the rebel-held town of Zintan.

The developments highlighted the reliance of the faltering rebel movement on military backing from the West. But Saturday’s NATO air raid on a Gaddafi compound, which the government says killed his 29-year-old son Saif Al-Arab and three young grandchildren, added a new twist. The announcement of the deaths triggered attacks by angry crowds on the British and French embassies and the US diplomatic mission in Tripoli, and accusations from the Libyan officials that NATO had been trying to assassinate Gaddafi.

About 2,000 people carrying flags and pictures of Gaddafi turned out for the funeral. They pumped their fists in the air and vowed to avenge the death of Saif al-Arab. “We are all with Gaddafi’s Libya,” read one placard. Saif al-Arab’s coffin, covered in flowers and wrapped in the green flag that has represented Libya since Gaddafi took power in a 1969 coup, was carried through the crowds to the grave at Hani cemetery in the Libyan capital. Gaddafi did not appear to be at the funeral but Saif Al-Islam, the most prominent of his seven sons, attended along with his elder half-brother Mohammed. Saif al-Arab had no children but three of his nieces and nephews, all of them under three years old, were killed in Saturday’s blast, the government says. They were the children of Saif alArab’s siblings Hannibal, Aisha and Mohammed Gaddafi.

EXCEEDING THE MANDATE? Despite denials from Western leaders that the air raid was an assassination attempt on Gaddafi, it has provoked renewed debate on whether the British and French-led strikes are exceeding a United Nations mandate to protect civilians. South Africa, which has led an African peace plan, condemned the attack and said the UN resolution which authorized air strikes did not cover the assassination of individuals.

“The attacks on leaders and officials can only result in the escalation of tensions and conflicts on all sides and make future reconciliation difficult,” it said in a statement. Britain’s Independent newspaper said it was a strategic error and gave the impression that the conflict was

a confrontation between Gaddafi and the West. “They leave the Libyan opposition looking helpless on the sidelines.

That turns an internal revolt against a vicious dictator into another Western military adventure,” it said. The Times, however, said NATO must step up its attacks on command and control centers despite the risks: “This is a war that cannot be allowed to drag on.”

Libya’s Deputy Foreign Minister said Saturday’s attack was the fourth attempt on Gaddafi’s life. NATO jets struck near the state television earlier the same day, as Gaddafi gave what was billed as a live address in which he called for peace. The image flickered with each blast and Gaddafi left abruptly at the end, taking off his microphone and walking out as the camera rolled. News that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been killed

by US special forces in a raid in Pakistan on Monday may also give the Gaddafi camp pause for thought. Libyan officials had no comment on the bin Laden killing but a rebel spokesman said Gaddafi should face the same fate. “We are very happy and we are waiting for the next step. We want the Americans to do the same to Gaddafi,” Colonel Ahmed Bani said in Benghazi.

MISRATA UNDER FIRE Misrata, which has become a bloody symbol of resistance to the leader, was subjected to renewed bombardments early on Monday, but a rebel spokesman said these ceased after NATO air strikes.

“There were strikes by NATO on the outskirts of the city today at around midday (1000 GMT),” the spokesman, called Reda said by telephone. “ The port is still closed. Gaddafi’s forces bombarded it earlier today. The bombardment has now stopped.” Rocket barrages hit the port area on Sunday as an aid ship was trying to unload. Libyan state television said it was shelled to stop NATO from delivering weapons to the insurgents. “Shelling the port is disastrous for us because it will sabotage all the humanitarian aid we are getting,” rebel spokesman Ahmed Hassan said. “God help us if this happens.” An aid ship was still waiting off the coast of Misrata for bombing to stop and mines to be cleared before it tried to deliver supplies and evacuate some 1,000 foreigners and wounded Libyans, the International Organisation for Migration said. “We will wait until today noon,” IOM spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy told Reuters in Geneva. “We are still hoping that things will improve.”

At least one mine was still visible between the ship and the por t, he said. Rights groups say hundreds of people, including many civilians, have been killed in Misrata, about 200 km east of Tripoli. Officials in Tripoli deny targeting civilians, and say they are fighting armed gangs and Al-Qaeda sympathizers. — Reuters

DUBAI: Members of militant Islamist forums said yesterday they prayed the news of Osama bin Laden’s death was not true and hinted at retaliation if it was. President Barack Obama announced US forces had killed bin Laden in a raid on his hideout in Pakistan after a nearly 10-year hunt for the mastermind of the Sept 11 attacks.

“Oh God, please make this news not true...

God curse you Obama,” said one message on an Arabic language forum. “Oh Americans... it is still legal for us to cut your necks.” His killing, in a mansion outside of the Pakistani city of Islamabad, dealt a symbolic blow to the global militant network, although Islamist forum posters said the strike would not change their commitment to fighting Western powers.

“Osama may be killed but his message of Jihad will never die. Brothers and sisters, wait and see, his death will be a blessing in disguise,” said a poster on another Islamist forum. Another forum member pointed to the irony of bin Laden’s location, contrasting with long-time rumors that he was hiding in caves. “So after 10 years of hiding in moun-

tains, he ends up getting killed in a mansion outside of Islamabad. Interesting.” But the prevailing sentiment was one of grief. A poster on the Arabic-language Ansar forum said: “God’s revenge on you, you Roman dog, God’s revenge on you crusaders... this is a tragedy brothers, a tragedy.”

Online forums for militant Islamists have been the key means of passing messages from bin Laden and his second-in-command Ayman Al-Zawahiri, as well as Al-Qaeda’s regional branches, such as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen. “Forums play a role in communications and ideas for AlQaeda followers, similar to the way Facebook and Twitter were used by democracy protesters in the Arab revolutions of 2011. It’s a power ful medium,” said Theodore Karasik, a Dubai-based security analyst for the INEGMA group.

Militants also commonly use the forums to pass tips for making explosives, discuss methods of attacks or voice their opinions on world events. Many said they should not believe news of the death until it was confirmed online by militant news sources. “The

source of news that we trust is that which comes from the mujahideen (holy warrior),” a message on Ansar forum said. “Be patient and don’t spread rumors...we’ve asked this repeatedly, so please do not write anything on the subject.”

Hours later, several of the threads discussing bin Laden’s death had been shutdown. Before a thread on the Islamic Awakening forum was closed, some postings suggested bin Laden’s death should be accepted and a new leader found. “Why can’t people admit he was killed? He is a human being, not a prophet.

Another man will replace his shoes, it’s easy.” Others ridiculed the celebrations in the United States, where crowds cheered and waved flags outside the White House and at New York’s “Ground Zero”, site of the World Trade Center twin towers felled by hijacked airliners on Sept 11, 2001.

“Please let them celebrate, they are celebrating their own end,” said Abu Aziza on the Islamic Awakening forum. “Oh Allah, destroy this nation for their hatred and enmity toward your deen (religion).” — Reuters

Yemeni protesters urged not raise Osama banners 4 soldiers, 2 gunmen killed in clashes in south SANAA: Yemeni activists urged street protesters yesterday not to raise banners of Osama bin Laden to avoid inviting a harsher crackdown on demonstrations seeking democratic change in the al Qaeda leader’s ancestral homeland. Bin Laden was killed in a firefight with US forces in Pakistan on Sunday, ending a nearly 10-year worldwide manhunt for the leader of the global Islamist militant network that orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Tens of thousands of Yemeni protesters have camped out for three months in public squares across the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state to demand the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled autocratically for nearly 33 years and has long been a US ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda.

“We expect Saleh’s regime to work to use Al-Qaeda as evidence to confront the protests demanding his departure, but we will expose attempts like this,” said Meshaal Mujahid, an activist. Another protester said he hoped the death of bin Laden would not detract from the mission of protesters. “We are not working with al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. We have one cause and it is the fall of the regime. This is what matters to us,” said Mohammed Saad, a protester in Sanaa. “To those in the protest squares across the governorates of the republic: Do not get absorbed by the matter of the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden,”

SANAA: An anti-government protestor, center, reacts holding his traditional dagger during a demonstration demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh yesterday. — AP Yemeni protest organizers advised followers in a message on Facebook.

“Do not raise pictures or banners or mention bin Laden, as the (Yemeni) regime is planning now to exploit this issue for its interests,” it added, urging recipients to spread the word.

Western and Gulf allies of Yemen have tried but

so far failed to mediate an end to its political crisis, which they fear could trigger chaos that would give more room for an active Yemenbased regional arm of Al-Qaeda to operate.

Saleh has portrayed himself to Western and Gulf allies as his country’s only effective bulwark against Al-Qaeda. — Reuters

Fatah, Hamas to bury the hatchet RAMALLAH: Palestinian factions will sign a reconciliation deal in Cairo today intended to repair ties between Hamas and Fatah and end a bitter divide between the West Bank and Gaza. The surprise deal, announced last week, comes after 18 months of failed talks and envisions the formation of an interim government of independents that will prepare the way for presidential and legislative elections within a year. It largely maintains the status quo, leaving Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip and the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority ruling the West Bank.

And it does not affect the mechanisms for negotiations

with Israel, though peace talks have been on hold for months now and do not look likely to resume in the near future. The deal will be signed by Fatah’s Azzam Al-Ahmad and Mussa Abu Marzuk, the number two in Hamas’s political bureau, who hashed out the details of the agreement with help from Egyptian officials. It will also be signed by a variety of Palestinian factions, including Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian People’s Party.

A ceremony to mark the signing is scheduled for tomorrow,

and will be attended by Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, who flew in Sunday from Damascus, and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who is due to arrive today.

Abbas last met with Meshaal at the end of April 2007, just six weeks before Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, forcibly ousting Fatah after a bloody confrontation that dramatically worsened the bitter split between the two movements. The ceremony, at which Abbas will speak, will also be attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Arabi, Egyptian intelligence chief General Murad Muwafi and Arab League head Amr Mussa.

Palestinian sources said former

US president Jimmy Carter had also been invited. Abbas and Meshaal are scheduled to meet several times between today and Thursday, and will also hold talks with Egyptian officials about ways to implement the agreement. Among the first tasks to be tackled is the establishment of a higher security council tasked with examining ways to integrate Hamas and Fatah’s rival security forces and creating a “professional” security service.

The accord also calls for the creation of an electoral tribunal and for the release of a number prisoners held by the rival movement in jails in the West Bank and Gaza. —AFP

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Obama courts women voters US president vows relief on gas prices

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said he was seeking ways to provide “immediate relief” for high US gasoline prices as he courted women voters with an appeal on pocketbook issues considered crucial to his re-election bid.

Obama’s appearance on TV talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey’s popular syndicated program gave him a friendly forum to try to reconnect with her nationwide audience dominated by women, a key constituency that helped him win the White House in 2008.

In a segment taped in Chicago on Wednesday and airing on Monday, Obama acknowledged his political fortunes may hinge not only on his handling of economic problems but on what happens with soaring oil prices, which have eroded his popularity.

Obama described as “unbelievable” the current prices at the pump, which have stoked public ire and become a highly charged political issue that Republicans hope to use against him as the 2012 presidential election campaign gets under way.

“There are families across the country who they’ve got to drive 50 miles just to get to their job and they just see that money bleeding away from them,” he said. “We have to think short-term how can we provide people immediate relief.” “Do I have to call the Saudis to see if they can ramp up production? Are we making sure that we are doing everything we can internally to prevent price gouging? Can we eliminate some subsidies that are going to oil companies that are making out like bandits right now?”

But Obama stopped short of offering

remedies beyond those he has already proposed and which analysts see as unlikely to alter the situation soon. The average US price has surged toward $4 a gallon amid M iddle East unrest and a weak dollar.

Obama has called for an end to tax breaks for Big Oil, opened a probe of market speculators and urged world producers to raise output. But he has not tapped strategic reser ves or backed Republican calls for major new domestic drilling.

GENTLE QUESTIONING Winfrey, an Obama friend and supporter regarded as the most influential woman on American television, observed that “when gas prices go up, your polls go down.” “They do,” Obama said. “But what I also have to think about is long term,” he said, citing the need to invest in electric cars, biofuels and high-speed rail. Under gentle questioning punctuated by frequent applause from the studio audience in his adopted hometown, Obama sounded themes that resonate with women voters, including boosting jobs and education, and tried to show he felt their

economic pain. He said he still hopes to restore civility to Washington even as budget battles rage, but when asked to name a Republican he admired, all he came up with was Abraham Lincoln. Obama went to Winfrey’s studio after releasing his full birth certificate in an effort to end what he called a “silly” debate over his citizenship stoked by political opponents.

He has taken a more centrist tone to win back moderate independent voters who helped propel his 2008 victory but, turned off by stubbornly high unemployment and a sluggish economy, abandoned his Democrats in November’s elections. The president was joined on the couch at “The Oprah Winfrey Show” by first lady Michelle Obama, whose approval ratings have remained lofty even as her husband’s have dropped. Winfrey lent her celebrity star power to his 2008 presidential campaign and will likely do so again. Her show- which each day draws millions of viewers, 75 percent of them women-will end its 25-year run later this month. —Reuters

Fatah welcomes bin Laden death Hamas condemns killing RAMALLAH: The killing of Osama bin Laden

by US forces was welcomed yesterday by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority while i t s p ro s p e c t i ve p owe r- s h a r i n g p a r t n e r, Islamist Hamas, deplored his death. “Getting rid of bin Laden is good for the cause of peace worldwide but what counts is to overcome the discourse and the methods-the violent methods-that were created and encouraged by bin Laden and others in the world,” Pa l e s t i n i a n Au t h o r i t y ( PA) s p o k e s m a n Ghassan Khatib said.

Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, called bin Laden a martyr. “We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior,” Haniyeh told reporters. “We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood.” Hamas, classified by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist group over its violence against Israel, is due to sign a unity deal this week in Cairo with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s more secular Fatah movement.

Israel has condemned the agreement, saying it could sabotage any efforts to revive peace talks with the Palestinians. The deal envisages an interim unity government comprised of independents and Palestinian elections later in the year. The Fatah-led PA supports a negotiated peace with Israel to obtain a state in territories the Jewish state captured in a 1967 war. Hamas is officially sworn to Israel’s destruction. Abbas has defended reconciliation with Hamas, saying it reflected a deep-seated Palestinian desire to close a rift with the group that seized Gaza from Fatah forces in 2007. The United States has responded coolly to the unity pact.

MIXED MESSAGES In the West Bank city of Ramallah, the PA’s view on the death of the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks was shared by Ahmed Saleh, a 58-year-old retiree. “The world is better without bin Laden. This has removed a pillar of evil from the world,” he said. “His heinous actions were exploited to allow hostile policies towards the Arabs and Muslims.”

But Umm Mohammed, a veiled woman, said she hoped news of bin Laden’s death was a lie.

“God willing, he will continue to conquer the West,” she said. Palestinians hit the headlines af ter the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, carried out by Al-Qaeda, when a small group were filmed celebrating in East Jerusalem. At the time, there were bigger demonstrations in the Gaza Strip in support of the attacks. Palestinians partly blame their national plight on generations of US support for Israel.

But late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat banned such public displays and voiced sympathy for the dead in the United States. In Gaza, Hamas now faces a challenge from AlQaeda-inspired groups that consider it to be too moderate. One such group was behind last month’s killing of a pro-Palestinian Italian activist in the territor y. Abdel-Qader Abu Shaaban, a 53-year-old Palestinian from Gaza, described bin Laden’s killing as “a very criminal act”. “This is not a victory. If they assassinated bin Laden, there will be others stronger than him: politicians and military people,” he said.—Reuters

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama applauds in the East Room of the White House yesterday after awarding the Medal of Honor posthumously to US Army Private First Class Anthony T. KahoIohanohano for conspicuous gallantry during the Korean War. —AP

Bin Laden’s death a boon for Obama WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama’s order of a risky covert operation to kill Osama bin Laden delivered a huge political payoff as he sets his sights on a second term as America’s commander-in-chief. The elimination of the Al-Qaeda mastermind, which eluded his predecessor George W Bush, may also offer Obama a deep well of political capital and could transform perceptions of his leadership and national security credentials.

Within minutes of news emerging that bin Laden was dead late Sunday night, a huge crowd started gathering at the White House, as people cheered and chanted “USA, USA” while waving US flags in a scene of rare euphoria. The commotion, heard inside the White House, will likely come as a huge morale boost to Obama’s team, after two years of almost constant crises, at home and abroad which have at times threatened to overwhelm his presidency. The death of bin Laden also represented a badly needed illustration that Obama is comfortable and authoritative when wielding US power, and is certain to enhance the president’s authority among fellow leaders on the world stage.

But given the fickle mood swings of modern politics, and continuing challenging economic conditions, even a victory as huge as this one is unlikely to assure Obama’s reelection next year alone. American elections usually turn on the economy, and given the fact that voters feel they have yet to feel any impact from the US recovery, Obama appears to be stuck on dangerous political ground. Only 46 percent of Americans said they approved of Obama’s performance in a CBS/New York Times poll last month, with the sluggish economic rebound the major concern of voters in every opinion survey.

Yet, whatever happens ahead of November 2012, Obama will now be remembered by history as the US leader who got bin Laden, and his legacy was on Sunday significantly enhanced in just a few hours. Details of the daring raid on bin Laden’s fortified compound in Pakistan are still sketchy, but US officials said it involved special forces operating out of helicopters after an intelligence operation that lasted many months. Had the raid have gone wrong, Obama would have been certain to face an avalanche of criticism, that would

have been sure to further hammer his sagging approval ratings and fuel criticisms of his leadership style.

Comparisons with one-term Democratic president Jimmy Carter, who’s political credibility was dented when a helicopter-led raid to rescue hostages from Iran went wrong, would have been irresistible and widespread. In the event, Obama’s allies will now paint him as a shrewd, courageous and decisive leader, who has dispatched America’s public enemy number one.

Democratic congressman Gary Ackerman told CNN that the operation was the “‘mission accomplished’ moment that President Bush only fantasized (about).” “This is one of the biggest deals in the last 100 years. “I think it’s put the president in a political position that makes him the commanderin-chief of an almost flawless mission of monumental proportions that have unbelievable ramifications.”

Republican Congressman Peter King, who has often criticized Obama on national security, also praised the president.”Many things could have gone wrong, and yet, the president had the guts to go forward with it,” he told CNN.“It’s a brilliantly carried out operation. The president of the United States, I salute him for carrying out one of the greatest achievements I believe in American history.” The killing of bin Laden will likely snatch away one of the most potent Republican weapons in the 2012 election-the narrative that Obama is a weak and indecisive leader who is constantly apologizing for his country. It will make it much harder for his potential Republican 2012 opponent to argue that Obama is soft on terrorism, or is a poor commander-in-chief.

Analysts will also be watching to see how the death of bin Laden plays into Obama’s determination to begin bringing American troops home from Afghanistan. The Afghan war is increasingly unpopular, and the death of bin Laden may prompt many voters to wonder exactly why America is set to remain in the country for years to comenow its public enemy number one is gone.

Obama’s personal political fortunes could also be badly impacted, should remnants of Al-Qaeda or other Islamic extremist groups successfully carry out revenge attacks against American interests.—AFP

ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan: A crashed military helicopter is seen near the hideout of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after a ground operation by US Special Forces yesterday. — AFP

Pak town astonished by bin Laden’s death ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan: Residents of the Pakistani town of Abbottabad were jolted from their sleep on Sunday night by the boom of explosions, unaware the hunt for the world’s most wanted man was coming to a bloody end in their sleepy hills. Helicopterborne US forces swooped on a compound on the edge of Abbottabad in the middle of the night and killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who was hiding there, nearly a decade after he masterminded the Sept 11 attacks.

“We rushed to the rooftop and saw flames near that house. We also heard some gunshots,” said Mohammad Idrees, who lives about 400 m from the compound. “Soon after the blast, we saw military vehicles rushing to the site.”

Pakistani soldiers stopped reporters approaching the compound, which they had cordoned off with a red canvas screen. A helicopter covered by a tarpaulin sat in a nearby field. Later, Pakistani soldiers dismantled the aircraft and took it away in pieces on trucks.

US officials earlier said a US helicopter was lost due to a mechanical problem during the operation but that its crew safely evacuated.

Bin Laden’s three-storey residence, called a mansion by US officials, stood fourth in a row of about a dozen houses. A satellite dish could be seen in the compound, which itself was surrounded by high walls. Television pictures from inside the house showed blood stains smeared across a floor next to a large bed. Nearby, a row of medicine was lined up on a shelf and some shirts hung in a cupboard. Pakistani TV stations also showed a picture purportedly of bin Laden shot in the head, his mouth pulled back in a grimace.

Reuters pictures editors determined the image was a fake after discovering a number of inconsistencies in the picture.

Another resident, Nasir Khan, said commandos had encircled the compound as three helicopters hovered overhead. “All of a sudden there was firing towards the helicopters from the ground,” said Khan, who watched the drama unfold from his roof.

“There was intense firing and then I saw one of the helicopters crash.” US officials in Washington said a small US team conducted a helicopter raid on the compound in

Abbottabad, a military garrison town some 60 km north of the capital Islamabad. After 40 minutes of fighting, bin Laden and an adult son, his wife and two men were dead.

US officials said security measures at the compound included outer walls up to 5.5 m tall topped with barbed wire and internal walls that sectioned off different parts of the compound. Fields sprouting green shoots stretched out in front of the compound while hills rose up behind it. Residents said they were astounded to learn bin Laden had been in their midst. One neighbour said an old man had been living in the compound for the past 10 years. “He never mixed much, he kept a low profile,” said the neighbour, Zahoor Ahmed. “It’s hard to believe bin Laden was there. We never saw any extraordinary movements,” said another neighbour, Adress Ahmed.

That bin Laden could be in Abbottabad unknown to authorities “is a bit amazing” says Hamid Gul, a former Pakistani intelligence chief fiercely critical of America’s presence in the region. Aside from the military “there is the local police, the Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence, the ISI, they all had a presence there.” Abbottabad has long been a cool, leafy retreat from the heat of the Pakistan plains. It was founded by a British army officer, James Abbott, in the mid-nineteenth century as the British were pushing the bounds of their Indian empire into the northwestern hills inhabited by Pashtun tribes. Today, the town is home to a Pakistani military academy and its surrounding hills are dotted with summer homes.

Sohaib Athar, whose online profile says he is an IT consultant taking a break from the rat race, sent out a stream of live updates on Twitter about the movement of helicopters and blasts without realising it was a raid on bin Laden. When he learnt who had been killed, he tweeted: “Uh oh, there goes the neighbourhood.” But it might take more to convince many people that bin Laden is dead. One soldier on patrol near the compound said there had been talk before of bin Laden’s death, only for it to be proven untrue.

“It’s not clear if he was killed or not,” the soldier said. — Agencies

This photo provided by France’s air accident investigation agency, the BEA, shows the flight data recorder from the 2009 Air France flight that went down in the mid-Atlantic. —AP

Deep sea search uncovers Air France plane black box PARIS: Deep sea search parties have found one of two flight data recorders from an Air France plane that crashed off the coast of Brazil in 2009, investigators said on Sunday, reviving hopes of understanding what caused the crash. French investigators said in a statement the flight data recorder, or black box, had been hauled up to the deck of a search boat. The Airbus A330-200 plane plunged into the Atlantic off the northeast coast of Brazil en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro in June 2009, killing all 228 passengers and crew on board after the flight hit stormy weather.

Officials from France’s BEA air accident inquiry office said it was too early to say whether the black box, which records data from the plane’s instruments but no voices, would yield any information. “One thing that’s clear is that even if the box does not look damaged on the photograph, we cannot say whether it works until we have opened it up,” a BEA spokeswoman said.

“That requires very precise equipment and the analysis can only start in a Paris laboratory.” She said search robots had already dived back to the Atlantic sea floor to try to find the second black box, which contains voice and sound recordings from the cockpit.

Pictures on BEA’s website of the box before it was pulled to the surface showed an orange cylindrical object half-buried in sand. The structure housing the recorder appeared to be intact and remarkably free of corrosion. The name of its manufacturer-US electronics company Honeywell-was clearly readable on the side as a robot arm was seen plucking the cylinder from the seabed. The discovery came after long searches of a 10,000 square kilometer area of sea floor.

“This new step in the investigation is very significant as it may provide additional information as to the causes of this accident that remain unexplained to this day,” Air FranceKLM Chief Executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said. —Reuters

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Polls set to shake, not sink, Britain’s coalition LONDON: British voters are expected to punish the coalition government parties in local elections on Thursday and reject plans to reform the voting system, but the oneyear-old alliance is expected to survive the fallout. The Conservatives and their smaller Liberal Democrat coalition partners are on different sides of the debate on electoral reform and have exchanged increasingly bitter insults over the past month. The Lib Dems back the adoption of the Alternative Vote (AV) system for elections to parliament and the referendum was the price they extracted for joining the coalition a year ago. The Conservatives want to retain the current first-past-the-post, or simple majority, system.

Failure to secure a change to a voting system seen as more favorable to smaller parties would add to the pressure on Liberal

Democrat leader Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, whose popularity has plunged after policy U-turns in government. Prime Minister David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has described this week as a “moment of difficulty for the coalition”, Britain’s first such government since World War Two. “We will demonstrate that it is possible to continue a strong and effective coalition government in the national interest for five years,” Cameron told the BBC. Political analysts say life will get tougher for the coalition but believe it will survive and stick to its austerity program.

Alastair Newton, senior political analyst with Nomura, said Clegg could face a leadership challenge but expected him to retain his position and the coalition to continue, although with greater internal tensions.

India slams Pakistan as terror ‘sanctuary’ NEW DELHI: India yesterday used the death of Osama bin Laden to denounce rival Pakistan as a terrorist “sanctuary,” as it renewed calls for Islamabad to arrest suspects behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Home Minister P Chidambaram said India noted with “grave concern” that bin Laden had been found hiding in a palatial villa less than two hours’ drive from the Pakistani capital Islamabad. “This fact underlines our concern that terrorists belonging to different organizations find sanctuary in Pakistan,” Chidambaram said.

India has long accused Pakistan of providing shelter and support to militant groups planning attacks on Indian soil and has repeatedly pushed the global community-the United States in particular-to censure Pakistan accordingly. US President Barack Obama said the operation to kill bin Laden was the result of cooperation with Pakistan, but US officials admitted that they had not informed Islamabad before the strike by US forces. Chidambaram chose to focus on India’s belief that perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks continue to be sheltered in Pakistan.

“We once again call upon the government of Pakistan to arrest the persons whose names have been handed over... as well as provide voice samples of certain persons who are suspected to be among the controllers and handlers of the terrorists,” he said. India says the 10 gunmen who attacked multiple targets in Mumbai, killing 166 people, were members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group. India suspended peace talks with its long-time South Asian rival immediately after the attacks.

That dialogue was recently resumed, but India has continued to criticize Pakistan for not doing enough to bring the organizers to justice. Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought three wars since attaining independence in 1947, two over the disputed territory of Kashmir. In a separate statement, Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna said the US success in tracking down and killing bin Laden was an “historic development and victorious milestone” in the global war on terror.

But, in another clear reference to Pakistan, he also stressed the need to root out militant safe havens in South Asia. “Over the years, thousands of innocent lives of men, women and children have been tragically lost at the hands of terrorist groups.

“The world must not let down its united effort to overcome terrorism and eliminate the safe havens and sanctuaries that have been provided to terrorists in our own neighborhood,” Krishna said. The same message was hammered home by Defense Minister AK Antony, who said Pakistan had a long history of denying evidence that it was aiding and abetting militant groups. “This incident establishes that Pakistan has been sheltering terrorists and now the country must take steps against them,” he told reporters after visiting a military post in the desert region of Jaisalmer bordering Pakistan.

Lalit Mansingh, a former ambassador to the United States, said he believed Obama’s mention of Pakistani cooperation was aimed at deflecting any criticism that the US special operation may have infringed Pakistani sovereignty. “The fact is that Pakistan is going to have to answer some uncomfortable questions arising from this, not least of which is how bin Laden was able to hide so close to Islamabad for so long,” Mansingh said. “One suspects he must have had some help from figures in the Pakistani establishment,” he added.— AFP

News

in brief

Floods kill 7 in Sri Lanka COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s government says floods, mudslides and lightning have killed seven people in the southern part of the country. The government’s Disaster Management Center says heavy rains triggered floods and mudslides in the low-lying Ratnapura district, killing five people Sunday. It says two other people died after being struck by lightning. The center said yesterday that floods and mudslides also damaged 294 houses in Ratnapura, which experiences regular flooding. Heavy flooding in January in several parts of the South Asian island nation killed 43 people and affected more than 1 million others.

UAE targets teachers DUBAI: An activist in the United Arab Emirates says authorities cracking down on a small reform movement have dissolved the board of a teachers association after its members signed a petition calling for an elected parliament. The step appears linked to the government’s efforts to silence calls for democratic reforms in the oilrich Gulf nation. Five democracy advocates were arrested last month and the board of a lawyers group was dissolved last week, also for signing the petition. The activist says the decree to dismiss 11 elected members of the independent Teachers Association board and replace them with state-appointed substitutes was signed by a Cabinet minister. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of harassment.

Saudi man beheaded RIYADH: A Saudi man convicted of killing a fellow citizen in the northern Saudi town of Hael has been beheaded by the sword, the interior ministry said yesterday. It said Bejad bin Salem bin Nkhaylan al-Shumari killed compatriot Mohammed bin Merdas bin Saeed Al-Shumari and stole an amount of money from him, said the statement carried by the state news agency SPA. The convict was “killed and crucified... in Hael,” it said. His execution brings to 12 the number of reported beheadings in the ultra-conservative kingdom this year. In 2010, 27 executions were reported, down from 67 in 2009 and 102 in 2008. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under the kingdom’s strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.

“The coalition is unlikely to fall apart simply on the outcome of the May 5 ballots-not least since opinion polls have for some weeks now been pointing firmly to a Labor victory in the event of an early general election,” he said. “However, the increasingly open dissent within coalition party ranks, which we expect to see whatever the result, is bound to cause more friction between the two parties and potentially has a negative impact on policy formulation and implementation on a wide range of issues.”

SLOW GROWTH The referendum on Thursday coincides with local elections in much of England and voting for devolved administrations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The coalition has made it a priority to “front load” spending cuts to tame a budget

deficit running at about 10 percent of national output in the last financial year.

Government departments are cutting spending by about one-fifth over the next four years, with more than 300,000 public sector workers set to lose their jobs.

Against that backdrop and with the economy growing only slowly, the coalition parties each expect to lose hundreds of seats at local level in England, with the Conservatives pointing out that their support was at a high level in 2007 the last time many of these areas voted. Thousands of seats on councils across England are up for grabs, but there are no local elections in the capital, London. Labor leader Ed Miliband, elected last September after his party lost its 13-year grip on power, needs a strong showing to quell dissent after a low-key start. The likely failure by Labor to replace

the independence-seeking Scottish National Party as the largest party in the devolved Scottish parliament would be a setback for Labor in one of its traditional strongholds.

Labour has also been divided on AV, with Miliband backing a change and some senior party figures wanting to retain firstpast-the-post. Irish bookmakers Paddy Power said yesterday it was already paying out on the “No” campaign winning the referendum. However, analysts believe that would not persuade the Liberal Democrats to walk out on their Conservative partners, thereby jeopardizing the deficit-cutting plans. “A defeat for AV is highly unlikely to prompt a Liberal Democrat abandonment of the coalition and by extension, the current fiscal program,” said Ross Walker of RBS. — Reuters

Bin Laden death won’t end US Afghan mission NATO officials reassure Afghans KABUL: US and NATO officials sought to reassure Afghans yesterday that the death of Osama bin Laden will not weaken the international commitment to fighting the Taleban insurgency, even as Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the strike in Pakistan shows that the fight against terrorism should focus more outside his country’s borders. The conflicting statements underscore the confusing nature of the war in Afghanistan, in which Afghans both chafe at the knowledge that international allies operate without checks inside their country and worry that the NATO troops are the only thing keeping Afghanistan from falling back into civil war.

Karzai lauded bin Laden’s death as a serious blow to terrorism. “This is a very important day. Maybe you have already heard on the television or on the radio that American forces have killed Osama bin Laden, delivering him his due punishment,” President Hamid Karzai told an assembly of district government officials in Kabul, prompting the hall to erupt in applause.

It’s unclear what bin Laden’s death will mean for the future of Afghanistan, where about 150,000 NATO troops - most of them American - are embroiled in daily fighting with Taleban insurgents. The Taleban just last week announced the beginning of their spring offensive, after having shown their strength by launching a string of deadly attacks from within government offices, military bases and police compounds.

When he decided to expand the US militar y force in Afghanistan in 2009, President Barack Obama said the goal was to “disrupt, dismantle, and defeat AlQaeda.” Since then, the mission has appeared to vacillate between building up the Afghan state as a way to achieve that end, and winnowing down to small strike forces who just target high-profile terrorist leaders. The US Embassy in Kabul issued a statement reassuring Afghans that they will not abandon Afghanistan now that Osama bin Laden has been eliminated.

“This victory will not mark the end of our effort against terrorism. America’s strong support for the people of Afghanistan will continue as before,” Ambassador Karl Eikenberry said in the statement.

Similarly, NATO said its mission in Afghanistan will continue uninterrupted.

“NATO allies and partners will continue their mission to ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for extremism, but develops in peace and

true.” He offered his appreciation to international and Afghan forces who have lost their lives in the nearly 10-year war in Afghanistan and expressed hope that bin Laden’s death could mean the end of terrorism. But he said now is the time to stop assaults that endanger or harass Afghan civilians. “Stop bombarding Afghan villages and searching Afghan people,” Karzai said.

Karzai did pledge, however, that

BAGRAM: US soldiers and service members watch the cable news coverage of the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on a television at the Bagram air field yesterday. — AP security,” the alliance said. But Karzai also used his speech to again chastise international forces for concentrating so much of their military effort in Afghanistan. Karzai has repeatedly said that more of the focus should be across the border in Pakistan where Al-Qaeda and Taleban leaders reportedly live.

“For years we have said that the fight against terrorism is not in Afghan villages and houses,” said Karzai. “It is in safe havens, and today that was shown to be

Afghanistan stands ready to do its part to help fight terrorists and extremists. “We are with you and we are your allies,” he said, noting that many Afghans had died because of bin Laden’s terror network.

“Osama bin Laden was someone whose hands were dipped in the blood of thousands and thousands of Afghanistan’s children, youth and elders,” Karzai told reporters outside the building where he gave his speech. Some Afghans said they hoped bin Laden’s death would make it

easier for the Taleban - which has long had its fate tied to that of the Al-Qaeda leader to reconcile with the Afghan government.

“I think that now the Taleban will be free to make their own decision, and maybe these peace negotiations will finally have some success. They are also Afghan and we can’t fight with them forever,” said Agha Lalai, a member of the government council for southern Kandahar province. An elderly man in Kandahar city who said he remembered when bin Laden arrived there under the protection of the Taleban said that bin Laden had manipulated the Taleban and hoped that they would now be able to sever ties with Al-Qaeda.

“All the power belonged to bin Laden and Mullah Omar was just a front,” said Ahmad Sarhadi from his home in Kandahar. He was referring to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the reclusive one-eyed leader of the Taleban. Karzai’s former presidential challenger - Abdullah Abdullah said those who were celebrating bin Laden’s demise as the end of Afghanistan’s conflict were speaking very prematurely.

“Now there are multiple terror networks and the Taleban will not give up. They don’t believe in participating in a democratic system, but rather they are hoping to bring it down, so it will not have an impact on reconciliation as such,” Abdullah said.

He did add that he hoped that bin Laden’s death would weaken the Taleban, and therefore improve the prospects for peace by defeating the insurgent group.

In a sign of the complicated struggle in Afghanistan, there were Afghans who said they had revered bin Laden as a defender of Islam. One man, a rickshaw driver in the eastern city of Jalalabad, said that many people there are happy that a major terrorist has been eliminated but also upset about the death of a man that they saw as a holy warrior. “He was like a hero in the Muslim world,” said Sayed Jalal. “His struggle was always against non-Muslims and infidels, and against superpowers.”—AP

Bin Laden death could inflame Afghanistan-Pakistan violence ISLAMABAD: Osama bin Laden’s killing has cost Al-Qaeda its iconic leader, but experts say it will not quash splintered militant networks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where revenge attacks could increase. The Saudi-born mastermind was the world’s most-wanted man with $25 million on his head-but his death is unlikely to crush the group behind the September 11, 2001 attacks and dozens of Islamist militant spin-off networks. “Groups allied with Al-Qaeda are expected to react,” Rahimullah Yusufzai, an expert on tribal affairs said. “They will not let this loss go un-noticed, and their Jihadist allies and Pakistani Taleban will show some reaction by conducting suicide attacks.” His killing by US forces just two hours’ drive from the capital and 1.5 kilometers from an elite military training academy has trapped Pakistan’s military and political establishment between a rock and a hard place. If militants see Pakistan as complicit in the raid it is likely to invite revenge attacks.

Confirming it was not pre-informed would be a humiliating acknowledgement that

GENEVA: Carmen BinLadin, former sister in-law of Osama Bin Laden, talks about him yesterday at a downtown Geneva hotel. — AP

American troops can act with impunity on sovereign soil.

Pakistan was quick to join the US-led war on terror announced by then president George W. Bush in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and has long complained about the devastating cost in terms of human life. More than 4,240 people have been killed in bomb attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda-linked militants since July 2007. More than 2,795 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in fighting since 2004.

Another 8,671 have been wounded.

Pakistan yesterday massively stepped up security in the capital Islamabad, around sensitive diplomatic installations and around the site of the killing in the garrison town of Abbottabad, 50 kilometers away. In Afghanistan, where the 10-year Taleban insurgency has been seen as largely distinct from Al-Qaeda and precise in its aims of bringing down the government, NATO said its mission would continue.

President Hamid Karzai called on Taleban guerrillas to learn a lesson from bin Laden and stop fighting. Violence is at record levels and the militia at the weekend announced the start of the new fighting season. Omar Sharifi, an analyst at the American Institute of Afghan Studies, said other than suffering a psychological blow, Al-Qaeda’s fighting capacity and affiliate networks in the region would remain almost untouched. “There’s strong evidence that Al-Qaeda is active in Afghanistan and in close collaboration with the Taleban... we have a lot of Chechen, Arab and Pakistani fighters associated with Al-Qaeda who have been arrested,” he said.

But experts believe bin Laden had become little more than a guiding light for extreme Islamist cells operating across the globe, pointing to the calculating organisational skills of Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri-still at large and believed to be in Pakistan-as the more important target. US intelligence has described the Egyptian-born Zawahiri, and not bin Laden, as Al-Qaeda’s “intellectual leader” with most of the leaders in Al-Qaeda Egyptian and in his orbit, rather than a Saudi circle sponsored by bin Laden. —AP

MILAN: Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, surrounded by his body guards, waves to supporters after attending a hearing in his Mediatrade trial at Milan’s courthouse yesterday.— AP

Berlusconi blasts magistrates MILAN: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi attacked prosecutors yesterday as he arrived in court for the latest in a series of tax fraud and sex trials that have overshadowed Italy’s political life for months. Berlusconi’s legal battles have dominated the political agenda, prompting government accusations that he is being unfairly targeted by left-wing judges. The opposition says he has been focusing on the cases to the exclusion of all else.

Arriving at the Milan courthouse, Berlusconi welcomed the news that Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden had been killed by US forces, before launching a fresh attack on magistrates he says are trying to destroy his career. “There is something which is not going in the right direction for a democracy to have government leaders humiliated by having to spend hours in court while these important international events are taking place,” he told reporters. He dismissed the charges against him as “pure invention”. The preliminary hearing is one of a related set of tax fraud cases linked to the billionaire prime minister’s media empire.

Berlusconi and a number of others including

his son Pier Silvio Berlusconi are accused of fraud and embezzlement over television rights.

Prosecutors say they were acquired at inflated prices through front companies. Prosecutors say Berlusconi and his associates were able to skim off millions of dollars which they say then went into secret political slush funds. He and the other accused deny all the charges. During the 3-1/2hour hearing, Berlusconi spoke in general terms about the international television rights market and intermediaries’ role in it, Niccolo Ghedini, the prime minister’s lawyer, told reporters.

Berlusconi greeted supporters on leaving the court, saying: “It all went well”. He did not speak to reporters. The atmosphere outside the court was more subdued than at previous hearings, where supporters have staged impromptu demonstrations that turned into mini political rallies. Reporters and police outnumbered the small group of supporters. At previous trials, Berlusconi has unleashed blistering attacks on what he says are leftist magistrates bent on destroying him and bringing down the government. He has vowed to curb their powers as part of a reform of the justice system. —Reuters

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Issues

Will killing Osama kill his movement?

By Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo intelligence officials believe Al-Qaeda will have a hard time recovering from the death of its leader, Osama bin Laden. After all, his heir apparent, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, is a harsh, divisive figure who lacks the charisma and mystique that bin Laden used to hold together Al-Qaeda’s various factions.

Without bin Laden’s iconic figure running Al-Qaeda, intelligence officials believe the group could splinter and weaken.

But if there is one thing Al-Qaeda has proved it is able to do, it is adapt to adversity. Its foot soldiers learned to stay off their cellphones to avoid US wiretaps.

Their technical wizards cooked up cutting edge encryption software that flummoxed American code-breakers.

And a would-be bomber managed to defeat billions of dollars in airline security upgrades with explosives tucked in his underwear.

Bin Laden’s death, by an American bullet to the head in a raid on his fortified Pakistani hideout early Monday, came 15 years after he declared war on the United States and nearly a decade after he carried out the worst attacks on US soil. But the Al-Qaeda network he leaves behind is far different from the one behind the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks.

Today, Al-Qaeda’s core in Pakistan is constantly on the run, hiding from US Predator drones.

Communication is slow. The ability to plan, finance and carry out attacks has been greatly reduced. Al-Qaeda franchises have sprung up in Yemen, Iraq and Algeria, where terrorists fight local grievances under the global banner of jihad. In that regard, bin Laden’s death could be far more damaging psychologically than operationally. Al-Zawahiri has been running Al-Qaeda operations for years as bin Laden cut himself off from the outside world. There were no phone or Internet lines running into his compound. And he used a multi-layered courier system to pass messages. It was old-fashioned and safe but it made taking part in any operation practically impossible.

Bin Laden had been reduced to a figurehead by the time US commandoes eliminated him, counterterrorism experts say. Today, the greatest terrorist threat to the US is considered to be the Al-Qaeda franchise in Yemen, far from Al-Qaeda’s core in Pakistan. The Yemen branch almost took down a US-bound airliner on Christmas 2009 and nearly detonated explosives aboard two US cargo planes last fall. Those operations were carried out without any direct involvement from bin Laden.

Al-Qaeda’s leadership in Yemen has also managed to do what bin Laden never could: adapt the message for Western audiences and package it in English. The terrorist magazine “Inspire,” coaches would-be bombers on how to make explosives. It teaches them that they don’t need to seek training in Pakistan or Yemen, where they could be intercepted by US spies. Rather, they are instructed to become one-man terror cells that pick targets and carry out attacks without any instruction from Al-Qaeda’s core leadership.

Bin Laden was more of a symbol than anything else, said Qaribut Ustad Saeed, a long-time member of the Hezb-e-Islami rebel group led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whom the US has labeled a terrorist. Saeed is currently a member of the Afghan High Peace Council set up to try to negotiate a peace settlement with the Taliban. Bin Laden’s loss will be an inspirational one, rather than an operational one, he said. “Osama bin Laden became a symbol and inspiration for the young Muslim extremists,” he said. But the group has expanded into a worldwide movement that is now bigger than bin Laden,” he said.

Even if the US manages to find and kill Al-Zawahiri, whose last-known sighting was in Peshawar in 2003, it won’t mean the end of Al-Qaeda. Like Hamas and Hezbollah who have seen their leaders eliminated, AlQaeda will probably continue to exist, terrorism experts say. Within hours of bin Laden’s death, for instance, members of groups affiliated with the Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network in Pakistan were already promising that the day-to-day mission on the ground would not change. — AP

US

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Laden leaves a scattered, diffuse Qaeda

By Phil Stewart and William Maclean he killing of Osama bin Laden will deal a big psychological blow to AlQaeda but may have little practical impact on an increasingly decentralised group that has operated tactically without him for years. Nearly a decade after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Al-Qaeda has fragmented into a globally-scattered network of autonomous groups in which bin Laden served as an inspirational figure from the core group’s traditional PakistanAfghanistan base.

Counter-terrorism specialists describe a constantly mutating movement that is harder to hunt than in its turn of the century heyday because it is increasingly diffuse - a multi-ethnic, regionally dispersed and online-influenced hybrid of activists. While this network remains a threat, the core AlQaeda leadership has been weakened by years of US drone strikes in Pakistan. It has not staged a successful attack in the West since London bombings that killed 52 people in 2005.

Al-Qaeda has also been hurt ideologically by uprisings in the Arab world by ordinary people seeking democracy and human rights - notions anathema to bin Laden, who once said democracy was akin to idolatry as it placed man’s desires above God’s. The arm of Al-Qaeda that now poses the biggest threat to the United States is its affiliate in Yemen, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), according to US officials.

Other Al-Qaeda-linked groups have grown in ambition and lethality. “As a matter of leadership of terrorist operations, bin Laden has really not been the main story for some time,” said Paul Pillar, a former senior US intelligence official. “The instigation of most operations has been at the periphery not the center-and by periphery I’m including groups like AQAP but also smaller entities as well.”

It was AQAP that claimed responsibility for a thwarted Christmas Day attack aboard a US airliner in 2009 and an attempt last year to blow up two US-bound cargo planes with toner cartridges packed with explosives. The head of the US National Counterterrorism Center, Michael Leiter, acknowledged to Congress earlier this year that AQAP and its chief English-language preacher Anwar al-Awlaki posed the biggest risk to the United States. Al-Awlaki, a US citizen who left the country in 2001 and joined Al-Qaeda in Yemen, also communicated with a US Army major who in Nov 2009 allegedly went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas that killed 13 and wounded 32. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a failed bombing in New York City’s Times Square a year ago.

“I don’t think there’s any real military significance (to bin Laden’s death),” said Arturo Munoz, a security analyst at RAND Corporation. “The significance is political and psychological and psychologically and politically, there’s a huge significance.” “Bin Laden’s death is a significant victory for the United States. But it is more symbolic than concrete,” said Fawaz Gerges, an Al-Qaeda expert at the London School of Economics.

“The world had already moved beyond bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. Operationally AlQaeda’s command and control had been crippled and their top leaders had either been arrested or killed. “More importantly, Al-Qaeda has lost the struggle for hearts and minds in the Arab world and elsewhere and has had trouble attracting followers and skilled recruits.”

Bin Laden’s ability to evade US capture

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for nearly a decade was a huge embarrassment to the United States, a painful reminder now extinguished by his killing in a firefight in a compound north of Islamabad. Some analysts say that bin Laden’s memory may now inspire followers, who will now see him as a martyr, to take revenge. And the extensive online forums, chat rooms and websites operated

by Al-Qaeda sympathisers will ensure his role as the group’s motivator-in-chief will endure. “As a symbol, as a source of ideology, bin Laden can continue to play those roles dead as well as alive,” Pillar said.

But his departure will add to pressure on morale throughout the network, despite Al-Qaeda’s glorification of martyrdom and a perception that bin Laden died an honourable death in battle. Gerges said it would “take a miracle” for Al-Qaeda to recover ideologically and operationally from bin Laden’s death. Thomas Hegghammer, a specialist on militancy at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, said that over the long term his loss would deepen the group’s disarray.

“It is bad for Al-Qaeda and the jihadi movements. Bin Laden was a symbol of AlQaeda’s longevity and its defiance of the West. Now that symbol is gone.” —Reuters

In this Dec 24, 1998 file photo, Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden speaks to a selected group of reporters in the mountains of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. — AP

Revolts turned Laden into bloody footnote

By Alistair Lyon sama bin Laden, slain by US forces in Pakistan on Sunday, seems curiously irrelevant in an Arab world fired by popular revolt against oppressive leaders. “Bin Laden is just a bad memory,” said Nadim Houry, of Human Rights Watch, in Beirut. “The region has moved way beyond that, with massive broad-based upheavals that are game-changers.” The Al-Qaeda leader’s bloody attacks, especially those of Sept 11, 2001, once resonated among some Arabs who saw them as grim vengeance for perceived indignities heaped upon them by the United States, Israel and their own American-backed leaders.

Bin Laden had dreamed that his global Islamist jihad would inspire Muslims to overthrow pro-Western governments, notably in Saudi Arabia, the homeland which revoked his citizenship. He espoused jihad largely in anger at what he viewed as the occupation of Muslim lands by foreign “infidel” forces - the Russians in Afghanistan, the Americans in Saudi Arabia in the 1990 Gulf crisis, or the Israelis in Palestine.

But Al-Qaeda’s indiscriminate violence never galvanised Arab masses, while his networks came under severe pressure from Arab governments helping Western counter-terrorism efforts.

“Bin Laden’s brand of defiance in the early days probably excited some imaginations, but the senseless acts of violence destroyed any appeal he had,” Houry said. Nowhere was this change of heart more marked than in Iraq, where anger at Muslim casualties inflicted by Al-Qaeda suicide bombings - and the Shiite sectarian backlash they provoked - eventually drove Sunni tribesmen to ally with the Americans.

Popular sympathy for Al-Qaeda also evaporated in Saudi Arabia after a series of indiscriminate attacks in 2003-06. If the ideological appeal of bin Laden and his Egyptian deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who advocated the restoration of an Islamic caliphate, was already fading, the pro-democracy uprisings across the Arab world have further diminished it. “At some stage Arab public opinion looked on bin Laden as a hope to end this kind of discrimination, the West’s way of dealing with Muslim and Arab nations, but now these nations are saying, we will do the change ourselves, we don’t need anyone to speak on our behalf,” said Mahjoob Zweiri, of Qatar University. He said bin Laden’s killing would affect only a few who still believe in his path of maximising pain on the West.

“The majority of Muslim and Arab nations have their own

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choice. They are moving towards modern civil societies,” Zweiri argued. “People believe in gradual change, civil change, they don’t want violence, even against the leaders who crushed them.” Peaceful Arab protests have already toppled autocrats in Egypt and Tunisia and are threatening the leaders of Yemen and Syria, while a popular revolt against Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi has turned into a civil war with Western military intervention.

These dramas appear to have shocked Al-Qaeda almost into silence. Even its most active branch, the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has mounted no big attacks during months of popular unrest against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Martin Indyk, a former US assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, described bin Laden’s death as “a body blow” to Al-Qaeda at a time when its ideology was already being undercut by the popular revolutions in the Arab world.

“Their narrative is that violence and terrorism is the way to redeem Arab dignity and rights. What the people in the streets across the Arab world are doing is redeeming their rights and their dignity through peaceful, non-violent protests - the exact opposite of what Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden have been preaching,” said Indyk, now at the Brookings Institution. “He hasn’t managed to overthrow any government, and they are overthrowing one after the other. I would say that the combination of the two puts Al-Qaeda in real crisis.”

Bin Laden may have become a marginal figure in the Arab world, but the discontent he tapped into still exists. “The underlying reasons why people turn to these kinds of violent, criminal, terroristic movements are still there,” said Beirut-based commentator Rami Khouri, alluding to the “anger and humiliation of people who feel that Western countries, their own Arab leaders or Israel treat them with disdain”.

Nevertheless, he predicted a continued slide in Al-Qaeda’s fortunes, particularly as US troop withdrawals from Iraq and later from Afghanistan remove potent sources of resentment. “The Arab spring is certainly a sign that the overwhelming majority of Arabs, as we have known all along, repudiated bin Laden,” Khouri said. “He and Zawahri tried desperately to get traction among the Arab masses, but it just never worked.

“People who followed him would be those who would form little secret cells and go off to Afghanistan, but the vast majority of people rejected his message. What Arabs want is what they are fighting for now, which is more human rights, dignity and democratic government.” — Reuters

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Islamist MPs pay tribute to Laden Continued from Page 1 Osama bin Laden’s defeat marks the end of one chapter in our effort to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al-Qaeda. It should also serve notice that we will be relentless until that broader effort is complete. We look forward to continuing to cooperate with Kuwait on countering all common threats, including Al-Qaeda.”

MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei said that “although we did not agree with most of bin Laden’s ideas which caused severe damage to Muslims, we think he had good intentions and we ask for mercy on his soul”. MP Khaled Al-Adwah accused the United States of creating and spreading terrorism in the region by supporting Israel. “If the United States is happy and rejoicing over the death of bin Laden for being the head of terrorism, it was America which created and fed terrorism in the Arab and Islamic worlds by its total support to Israel,” he said in a statement. Adwah said the United States must revise its policy and its total backing of Israel if it wants to see an Islamic world free of resistance, violence and hatred.

Liberal MP Aseel Al-Awadhi welcomed bin Laden’s death and said it was an opportunity for the Arab and Muslim nations to regain the Islamic identity that has been

held hostage by extremists and attached to it the accusations of terror and violence before the world.

In another development, Shiite MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan said yesterday that an unidentified person had threatened to kill him, apparently over his position of supporting the Syrian regime against a popular uprising. Duwaisan is the second Shiite MP after MP Hussein Al-Qallaf to receive a death threat in the past few days, apparently for publicly supporting president Bashar AlAssad. Several Shiite MPs strongly condemned the new threat and called on police to act, but MP Hayef said those who receive such threats must go to the authorities.

MP Qallaf said it was regrettable that certain people resort to such backward practices thinking that they will be able to silence free voices, adding that such threats will not stop unless security agencies act decisively. MP Maasouma Al-Mubarak said that security authorities are before an important test from those who are trying to disrupt social peace by resorting to death threats. But Hayef said the death threat announcements are fabricated, adding that “those who receive such threats must report the issue to police instead of inflating it through the media”.

This undated artist rendering handout provided by the CIA shows the Abbottabad compound in Pakistan where American forces in Pakistan killed Osama bin Laden. — AP

Bin Laden dead

Americans erupt in joy Continued from Page 1 is a big loss for Al-Qaeda, and that brings some degree of reward to our efforts,” said the 32-year-old. Even the New York Police Department, usually low key, parked a car in the middle of Times Square and stared talking to people, laughing and posing for photos.

Across the country in Los Angeles, where the news was confirmed shortly before 9:00 pm, a roar of applause could be heard from bars with TV screens on the Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hoolywood. “I’m really happy that this guy is dead because he killed so many people around the world. I’m glad that our nation is safe because of this,” said Cesar Guellory, 25, at the Cabo Cantina bar. Carol Morrinson, 35, said she had voted for Obama. “He’s showing us how strong he can be... Today we can say that we are safe. I’m proud of the United States,” she said.

Even American sports fans erupted in joy at the news.

Fans at the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball game Sunday night began chanting “U-S-A, U-S-A” as the news spread through the Citizens Bank Park stadium. The chant - “U-S-A! U-S-A!” - echoed in Dearborn, Michigan, a heavily Middle Eastern suburb of Detroit, where a small crowd gathered outside City Hall and waved American flags. Across town, some honked their car horns as they drove along the main street where most of the ArabAmerican restaurants and shops are located. At the Arabica Cafe, big-screen TVs that normally show sports were all

turned to news about bin Laden. The manager there, Mohamed Kobeissi, said it was finally justice for the victims.

The Internet, including the Twitter and Facebook social networking websites, were also deluged with reaction to the Al-Qaeda leader’s death, killed by US forces in Pakistan.

“Finally! I can now sleep tonight knowing this. He was hiding for years and was finally caught and killed. I am so happy right now,” said Stewie, on one Yahoo message board.

Back in Washington, what started with a few dozen people had become thousands in a vast celebration in Lafayette Park outside the White House, what by the early hours. “I had friends who lost families in 9/11. I never felt such emotion. In my town we lost a lot of loved one. It’s something they have been waiting for for so long,” said John Kelley, a 19-year-old student from New Jersey. When the news was confirmed “my knees started shaking. I called my best friend. He lost his brother in the 9/11. He was overcome with joy. It’s too good to be true. It’s hard to believe.”

On an overcast morning in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where a hijacked plane apparently meant for Washington crashed in a field after passengers fought back, a few visitors gathered yesterday at the fence-lined overlook that serves as a temporary memorial while a permanent one is built. “I thought of Sept. 11 and the people lost,” said Daniel Pyle, 33, of Shanksville, who stopped at the site on his way to work at a lawn care company. “I wanted to pay homage to the people lost that day. I think this brings a little bit of closure.” — Agencies

Clerics slam burial at sea Continued from Page 1 There was also speculation about worry that a grave site could have become a rallying point for militants.

US President Barack Obama said the remains had been handled in accordance with Islamic custom, which requires speedy burial, and the Pentagon later said the body was placed into the waters of the northern Arabian Sea after adhering to traditional Islamic procedures including washing the corpse aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. “Today religious rights were conducted for the deceased on the deck of the USS Carl-Vinson which is located in the North Arabian Sea,” an official said. “Traditional procedures for Islamic burial were followed. The deceased’s body was washed and then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag. A military officer read prepared religious remarks which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker. After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat-board... (and) eased into the sea.”

But the Lebanese cleric Mohammed called it a “strategic mistake” that was bound to stoke rage. According to Islamic teachings, the highest honor to be

bestowed on the dead is giving the deceased a swift burial, preferably before sunset. Those who die while traveling at sea can have their bodies committed to the bottom of the ocean if they are far off the coast, according to Islamic tradition. “They can say they buried him at sea, but they cannot say they did it according to Islam,” Mohammed AlQubaisi, Dubai’s grand mufti, said about bin Laden’s burial. “If the family does not want him, it’s really simple in Islam: You dig up a grave anywhere, even on a remote island, you say the prayers and that’s it. Sea burials are permissible for Muslims in extraordinary circumstances,” he added. “This is not one of them.”

But Mohammed Qudah, a professor of Islamic law at the University of Jordan, said burying the Saudiborn bin Laden at sea was not forbidden if there was nobody to receive the body and provide a Muslim burial. “The land and the sea belong to God, who is able to protect and raise the dead at the end of times for Judgment Day,” he said.

“It’s neither true nor correct to claim that there was nobody in the Muslim world ready to receive bin Laden’s body.”

Clerics in Iraq, where an offshoot of Al-Qaeda is blamed for the death of thousands of people since 2003, also criticized the US action. One

said it only benefited fish. “If a man dies on a ship that is a long distance from land, then the dead man should be buried at the sea,” said Shiite cleric Ibrahim Al-Jabari. “But if he dies on land, then he should be buried in the ground, not to be thrown into the sea. Otherwise, this would be only inviting fish to a banquet.” The Islamic tradition of a quick burial was the subject of intense debate in Iraq in 2003 when US forces embalmed the bodies of Saddam Hussein’s two sons after they were killed in a firefight. Their bodies were later shown to media. “ What was done by the Americans is forbidden by Islam and might provoke some Muslims,” said another Islamic scholar from Iraq, Abdul-Sattar Al-Janabi, who preaches at Baghdad’s famous Abu Hanifa mosque. “It is not acceptable and it is almost a crime to throw the body of a Muslim man into the sea. The body of bin Laden should have been handed over to his family to look for a country or land to bury him.” Prominent Egyptian Islamic analyst and lawyer Montasser ElZayat said bin Laden’s sea burial was designed to prevent his grave from becoming a shrine. But an option was an unmarked grave. “They don’t want to see him become a symbol, but he is already a symbol in people’s hearts.” — Agencies

Continued from Page 1 Elite troops from the US Navy SEALs carried out the assault, which lasted less than 40 minutes, killing bin Laden with a bullet to the head, another US official told AFP. The SEALs, which stands for Sea, Air, Land, are used for some of the riskiest anti-terrorism missions and were loaned to the CIA for the mission. Footage taken by the US network ABC inside the house showed blood on the floor in one room and broken computers in another, stripped of their hard drives.

Explosions, helicopters clattering overhead and gunfire tore locals from their sleep as they rushed to see what was going on, residents said. “This was a kill operation,” one security official told Reuters, but added: “If he had waved a white flag of surrender he would have been taken alive.”

Ejaz Mahmood, an Abbottabad tailor, said he heard a blast in the early hours and “saw a fireball coming down from the air”. One helicopter in the raid went down due to “mechanical failure” but was blown up by its crew, who left the compound along with the assault force on another chopper, a US official said. Residents were stunned when they switched on their TV sets after daybreak to hear Obama announce that bin Laden had been killed in their home town, which was soon engulfed by a heavy Pakistani security presence. “We heard ambulance sirens and security people shouting. We saw fire and flames coming out,” according to another resident who was too frightened to give his name.

Senior US officials said two brothers believed to be bin Laden’s couriers and one of his adult sons were also killed in the raid, while one of his wives, who was allegedly used as a human shield perished.

John Brennan, Obama’s top counter terrorism adviser, told reporters her body was positioned in a way that “she was being used as a shield”.

But he said it was not clear if she had placed herself in the line of fire, or had been held there as a shield by bin Laden or his son.

Officials said they were stunned when intelligence repor ts first revealed the elaborate security at the compound, with 12-18 foot

(four-to-six metre) high walls topped with barbed wire.

“Everything we saw, the extremely elaborate operational security, the brothers’ background and their behaviour, and the location and the design of the compound itself, was perfectly consistent with what our experts expected bin Laden’s hideout to look like,” one senior US official said.

Until now, bin Laden had always managed to evade US forces, despite a $25 million bounty, and was most often thought to be hiding on the Afghan-Pakistani border.

His presence in Abbottabad - a leafy town that is home to an elite Pakistani military academy - raised new questions about the Islamabad government’s zeal for prosecuting the war on terror.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said “cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound in which he was hiding,” but US officials earlier insisted Islamabad was not informed about the operation in advance. Asked in an AFP interview about the extent of Pakistani cooperation, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said: “I don’t know the details, I don’t know minute details, but in short we have intelligence cooperation.” He described bin Laden’s death as a “great victory”. But leaders in both Afghanistan and India said bin Laden’s discover y so close to Islamabad vindicated their claims of double-dealing by their nucleararmed neighbour.

George W Bush, US president at the time of the 9/11 attacks when about 3,000 people died, said bin Laden’s death was a “victory for America”. “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” he said. In a spontaneous eruption of joy, thousands gathered outside the gates of the White House, cheering, waving US flags and shouting “USA, USA”. Another large crowd gathered at Ground Zero in New York, singing “God Bless America”. Share prices rallied worldwide and the US dollar rose on currency markets.

In contrast to the celebrations in America, on the streets of Saudi Arabia, bin Laden’s native land, there was a mood of disbelief and

sorrow among many. “He would be a loss to all Muslims because he had good qualities. He por trayed Muslims in a good and strong way...

He is the person that left the worldly riches for jihad,” said a man taking a cigarette break outside his office in Riyadh. The government of Saudi Arabia, scene of Al-Qaeda attacks to oust what bin Laden called the “godless” royal family, said it hoped his killing would help the international fight against terrorism and stamp out the “misguided thought” behind it.

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas mourned bin Laden as an “Arab holy warrior”. But many in the Arab world felt his death was long overdue. For many Arabs, inspired by the popular upheavals in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere over the past few months, the news of bin Laden’s death had less significance than it once might have.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon described the killing of bin Laden as a “watershed moment” in the global fight against terrorism.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy congratulated the US for its “tenacity ” in hunting down bin Laden while British Prime Minister David Cameron said his death would bring “great relief” to people worldwide. But the US State Department warned of the potential for reprisals against Americans with CIA director Leon Panetta saying that terrorist groups “almost certainly” would try to avenge bin Laden. Iran meanwhile said bin Laden’s death had removed “any excuse” for the US and its allies to deploy forces in the Middle East under the pretext of fighting terrorism.

Born in Riyadh in 1957, bin Laden was the son of a construction tycoon whose riches enabled the future Al-Qaeda leader to fund Islamic fighters waging war against the Soviet occupiers of Afghanistan in the 1980s. He went on to build a many-tentacled extremist group that earned global prominence by bombing US embassies in East Africa in 1998. But both in 1998 and after 9/11, bin Laden was unrepentant about what he called his divinely ordained mission against the United States and Israel. “Jihad will continue,” he said not long after September 11, 2001. “Even if I am not around.” — Agencies

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Toulon reinstate Henson PARIS: Troubled Wales centre Gavin Henson has been given a second chance by French side Toulon having initially been told to leave following a breach of discipline, the club said yesterday. He was suspended two weeks ago by the club with unconfirmed reports saying Henson had fought with a team mate following a match. “This morning, the president Mourad Boudjellal and his staff at Toulon Rugby Club decided to reinstate Wales centre Gavin Henson into the Toulon squad,” the club said in a statement on their website (www.rctoulon.com).

Henson, who was also released from his contract with Saracens in February after just two months with the London club, joined Toulon on a short-term deal the same month and had hoped to win a longer contract.

Having been out of the game for 18 months due to injury and off-field distractions such as a TV reality dancing show, Henson was battling to show glimpses of the form that made him a key member of Wales’s grand-slam winning teams in 2005 and 2008. —Reuters

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

sp orts

Call for safety improvement

Imran calls on ICC to step up corruption fight KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan has called on the Interntional Cricket Council (ICC) to intensify efforts to stamp out corruption in the sport.

The cricketer turned politician told reporters during a visit to the Moin Khan cricket academy the ICC’s anticorruption and security unit needed to be more productive.

“I think special measures are required like keeping a constant check on assets and accounts of players and giving the ACSU more authority to curb corruption,” Imran said.

Imran’s comments on corruption in cricket come a few days after former

SYDNEY: V8 driver Jason Bright has called for safety improvements in the Australian touring car series after his team mate Karl Reindler was engulfed in flames after a horror crash at the weekend. Reindler, who was rear-ended by a rival after stalling on the start line, managed to scramble out of his car and escaped from the inferno with superficial burns to his hands and face.

“It was a horrible feeling with fire inside the car,” Reindler recalled yesterday. “I could feel my face burning, I couldn’t get the chains (safety harness) off. Luckily the car and suit did what they were supposed to do.”

Reindler paid tribute to the prompt action by pit crews from his own and rival teams at the Barbagallo in Perth, while Bright said the response from the official fire crew had been too slow. “It was pretty scary seeing the mechanics being the guys on the scene and fire crews walking up to the car,” Bright said. — Reuters

Sri Lankan captain Hashan Tillakaratne claimed in a television interview that match-fixing had been going on in his country since 1992.

The Sri Lankan cricket authorities have asked Tillakaratne to produce evidence to back up his claims. Imran said it was very difficult to detect spotfixing instances in matches, insisting other steps were required to meet the challenge of fighting corruption. “It is very hard to detect such things and than find evidence to prove spot fixing has happened in a match,” he said. “But the more these instances are spoken about the more damaging it is to the sport’s credibility.” — Reuters

Marlins beat Reds in NL CINCINNATI: Hanley Ramirez hit his first home run of the season and the Florida Marlins went deep a season-high five times to beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-5 in the National League on Sunday. John Buck homered to snap a seventhinning tie. Greg Dobbs, Mike Stanton and Emilio Bonifacio also connected for the Marlins, who got all their runs from homers. Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips homered for the Reds in a game of long shots.

Reds starter Bronson Arroyo (3-3) allowed a season-worst three home runs in seven innings.

He is 0-3 in 10 career appearances against the Marlins. Ricky Nolasco (3-0) allowed six hits in seven innings while Leo Nunez got two outs for his ninth save in nine tries.

Braves 6, Cardinals 5 In Atlanta, Brooks Conrad recaptured his pinch-hit magic of 2010, driving in the winning run in the ninth inning to give Atlanta victory over St. Louis. Conrad, who had three homers — including two grand slams — and drove in 12 runs as a pinch-hitter last season, hit a bloop single off Ryan Franklin (0-3) to drive in Alex Gonzalez from second base.

Gonzalez, who had a two-run homer in the fifth, opened the ninth with a pop fly off Franklin (0-3) that bounced off shortstop Ryan Theriot’s glove for an error. Gonzalez moved to second on a sacrifice. Jonny Venters (1-0) pitched a perfect ninth for the Braves, who rallied from a 4-0 deficit.

CLEVELAND: Indiansí Shin-Soo Choo (right) scores as Detroit Tigers catcher Alex Avila (left) waits for the ball in the eighth inning of a baseball game. —AP

Indians notch 13th straight home win C LE VE L A ND : Th e s u rp rise -p acket Cleveland Indians fought back for a 5-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers in the American League on Sunday to extend t hei r h om e wi n n i n g st reak to 13 games.

Cleveland’s sixth straight win overall also increased the Tigers’ losing streak to six. The three-game sweep gave the Indians four series sweeps this season, already matching their entire total for 2010.

Michael Brantley singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning. He followed a tying RBI single by Orlando Cabrera by lining a pitch from Joaquin Ben o i t ( 0- 2) to l e f t fiel d, sco ring Shelley Duncan from second base.

Matt LaPorta added a sacrifice fly fo r hi s t h i rd R B I a n d a 5-3 l ead as Cleveland ex tended its best home start in 70 years. The Indians are 13-2 at home for the first time since 1941 and have baseball’s best record at 198.

Angels 6, Rays 5 In St. Petersburg, Los Angeles came from five runs down to beat Tampa Bay. The Angels went ahead 6-5 in the eighth thanks in part to Vernon Wells, who drew a walk from Joel Peralta (11) with Torii Hunter on third. Wells slowed up on Hank Conger’s grounder and forced the second baseman to throw to first for an out. Wells then prolonged a rundown long enough for Hunter to score.

Los Angeles ace Jered Weaver (6-0) was scratched from his scheduled start because of a stomach virus and is expected to start later yesterday.

Athletics 7, Rangers 2 In Oakland, the hosts snapped out of their scoring slump to beat Texas.

Conor Jackson had two hits and two RBIs, leadoff hitter Coco Crisp added two hits in his return to the lineup and Kurt Suzuki had two RBIs to help the A’s score more than six runs for only the four th time this season. They k no c k e d ou t R a n g ers st ar ter M at t Harrison (3-3) in the second inning.

Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez (3-2) got seven strikeouts over 6 2-3 innings to win for the first time in three weeks.

He didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning and allowed only three runners past second base.

Yankees 5, Blue Jays 2 In New York, Curtis Granderson hit a

three-run homer to power New York to victory over Toronto. Mark Teixeira also went deep, Jorge Posada broke out of an 0-for-19 slump and Francisco Cervelli added an RBI groundout in his first game back from the disabled list as the Yankees remained unbeaten in home series this season. Ivan Nova (22) pieced together his second straight positive outing for New York, allowing two runs over 5 1-3 innings. Mariano Rivera worked a perfect ninth inning for his 10th save. Toronto’s Jesse Litsch (2-2) took the loss.

Red Sox 3, Mariners 2 In Boston, Jed Lowrie tripled when Ichiro Suzuki lost his fly ball in the sun, and Carl Crawford singled him home with two outs in the ninth inning to lift Boston over Seattle.

Jamey Wright (0-1) took the loss despite getting his first four batters before Lowrie lof ted one to right, where Suzuki looked helplessly as the ball hit him in the hip. After a second out, Crawford lined one to center to end it . Boston closer Jon ath an Papelbon (1-0) earned the win with a perfect ninth inning. Seattle had won five straight.

Royals 10, Twins 3 In Kansas City, Mike Aviles homered and drove in four runs to help Kansas City beat Minnesota. The Twins have lost six in a row and were swept in a three-game series by the Royals for the first t ime sin ce 1 9 9 8 . M in n esota dropped to 9-18, the worst record in the majors and are nine games below .500 for the first time since finishing the 2000 season.

Aviles, who matched his career high with four RBIs, hit a three-run homer in the eighth. Luke Hochevar (3-3) held the Twins to five hits in 6 1-3 innings.

Twins starter Carl Pavano (2-3) took the loss.

Orioles 6, White Sox 4 I n C hicago, N ic k M ar k ak is h it a three-run double to help Baltimore defeat Chicago. Luke Scott and Mark Reynolds added solo home runs for the Orioles, who have won five of six and will try to complete a four-game sweep Monday.

Baltimore starter Zach Britton (5-1) allowed only one run in six innings, lowering the rook ie’s ERA to 2.63.

Gavin Floyd (3-2) took the loss for Chicago.—AP

Pirates 8, Rockies 4 In Denver, Charlie Morton pitched into the sixth inning to guide Pittsburgh past Colorado.

Morton (3-1) allowed seven hits in 5 1-3 innings.

Garrett Jones had three RBIs while Xavier Paul, Andrew McCutchen, Lyle Overbay and Pedro Alvarez all had two hits for the Pirates, who have four road series wins already, matching their entire 2010 tally.

Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez (0-2) struggled again. He threw three wild pitches, tying a club worst, and his ERA rose to 7.20.

Mets 2, Phillies 1 In Philadelphia, Ronny Paulino had a careerhigh five hits in his first start for the Mets, including a go-ahead double in the 14th inning, as New York beat Philadelphia. Taylor Buchholz (10), one of six Mets pitchers used, pitched two scoreless innings in relief to help New York snap a three-game losing streak.

Kyle Kendrick (1-2), one of six Philadelphia pitchers, allowed four hits in three innings to take the loss. The game took 4 hours, 44 minutes. In the top of the ninth inning, news broke of the death of Osama bin Laden, with fans breaking into patriotic chants.

Nationals 5, Giants 2 In Washington, Jordan Zimmermann (2-4) allowed only two runs over six innings to end his three-game losing streak and lead Washington past San Francisco. Ivan Rodriguez hit a two-run single in the eighth, while Alex Cora had a double, a single and an RBI for the Nationals in his first multihit game of the season. Jayson Werth was 3 for 4.

Drew Storen pitched the ninth for his fifth save in five chances. Giants starter Matt Cain (22) allowed three runs in six innings and threw a costly wild pitch with the bases loaded.

Padres 7, Dodgers 0 In Los Angeles, Dustin Moseley pitched seven shutout innings for his first victory of 2011 as San Diego blanked Los Angeles.

Moseley (1-3) struck out six and allowed just two runners as far as second base. He was winless in five April starts despite a 1.99 ERA, with his teammates getting shut out in each of his first three outings. Brad Hawpe doubled his RBI total for the season with a two-run single. Los Angeles’ Andre Ethier extended his hitting streak to 27 games. It is the second-longest streak by a Dodger since the club relocated in 1958, and is five shy of Willie Davis’ franchise-record 31-game run in 1969. Jon Garland (1-2) gave up three runs in five innings, walking four.

Astros 5, Brewers 0 In Houston, Carlos Lee hit a three-run homer

CINCINNATI: Reds’ Drew Stubbs is struck out by Florida Marlins relief pitcher Leo Nunez in the ninth inning of a baseball game. —AP before being taken to the hospital to have X-rays on his injured ribcage, and Houston downed Milwaukee. Lee’s home run, off Brewers starter Chris Narveson (1-2), came in the sixth and pushed Houston’s lead to 4-0. He was injured in the seventh inning when teammate Angel Sanchez kneed him in the ribs as both were trying to catch a pop-fly double.

Bud Norris (2-1) combined with three relievers to shut out the Brewers. Norris struck out a season-high 11 in his longest outing of the season. He improved to 3-0 in five career starts against Milwaukee.

D’backs 4, Cubs 3 In Phoenix, Ryan Robers homered as Arizona took advantage of some key mistakes by Chicago. JJ Putz got his sixth save of the season in six chances when he induced pinch-hitter Jeff Baker to ground into a game-ending double play with runners at the corners. Daniel Hudson (2-4) pitched seven solid innings, giving up three runs.

The Diamondbacks scored three times in the fourth on a balk, a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch. Cubs starter Casey Coleman (1-2) allowed four runs in five innings.—AP

MLB results/standings Major League Baseball results and standings on Sunday: NY Yankees 5, Toronto 2; Cleveland 5, Detroit 4; Boston 3, Seattle 2; Atlanta 6, St. Louis 5; Washington 5, San Francisco 2; LA Angels 6, Tampa Bay 5; Houston 5, Milwaukee 0; Baltimore 6, Chicago White Sox 4; Kansas City 10, Minnesota 3; Pittsburgh 8, Colorado 4; Oakland 7, Texas 2; San Diego 7, LA Dodgers 0; Arizona 4, Chicago Cubs 3; Florida 9, Cincinnati 5; NY Mets 2, Philadelphia 1 (14 innings).

American League Eastern Division

NY Yankees Tampa Bay Baltimore Toronto Boston

W 16 15 13 13 12

L 9 13 13 15 15

PCT .640 .536 .500 .464 .444

Central Division Cleveland 19 8 .704 Kansas City 15 13 .536 Detroit 12 16 .429 Chicago Sox 10 19 .345 Minnesota 9 18 .333

Texas LA Angels Oakland Seattle

Western Division 16 12 .571 16 12 .571 14 14 .500 13 16 .448

GB 2.5 3.5 4.5 5

4.5 7.5 10 10

2 3.5

Philadelphia Florida Atlanta Washington NY Mets

National League Eastern Division 18 9 .667 17 9 .654 14 15 .483 13 14 .481 12 16 .429

0.5 5 5 6.5

St. Louis Cincinnati Milwaukee Pittsburgh Chicago Cubs Houston

Central Division 16 12 .571 14 14 .500 13 14 .481 13 15 .464 12 15 .444 11 17 .393

2 2.5 3 3.5 5

Colorado LA Dodgers San Francisco Arizona

Western Division 17 9 .654 14 15 .483 13 14 .481 12 15 .444

4.5 4.5 5.5

San Diego

11

7

17

.393

Holyfield hopes to line up championship bout COPENHAGEN: Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield is hoping to line up a world championship fight if he can beat Brian Nielsen in a non-title bout on Saturday.

The 48-year-old Holyfield (43-10-2), who held the world heavyweight title four times, arrived in Denmark on Sunday for the bout at Copenhagen’s concer t hall and said he wouldn’t be fighting if he wasn’t ready.

Holyfield’s latest bout in January against Sherman Williams was ruled a no-contest.

Before that, he knocked out Francois Botha after losses to Nikolay Valuev and Sultan Ibragimov.

“If I win, I am moving to the next level,”

Holyfield said Monday. “I am hoping to get a championship bout with other guys with other belts.

“Back then when I was young, I made a lot mistakes but I had the stamina and all that to overcome. Today, you have less stamina but more focus. Either way you go, if you play with what you have, you win.”

Nielsen (64-2, with 43 KOs) acknowledged that Holyfield is the favorite but promises the fight won’t be a walkover. “I know that he will be really tough to beat, but he won’t meet someone who will throw himself onto the floor before him,” Nielsen said after a training session. “I will fight until I cannot stand up any

longer.”

“I have fought 200 fights and I have never been knocked out, so why should that happen now?” Nielsen, who lost to Mike Tyson in 2001, last fought in 2002 and retired soon after because of a knee injury. The Dane won the lightly regarded IBO title in 1996 when he stopped Tony La Rosa in the second round. He also ended 47-year-old former champion Larry Holmes’ hopes of a winning another belt in a successful title defense a year later. “It’s two old boxers meeting. We are getting older, there’s no doubt about that, “Nielsen said. “It is an old boys fight, but I believe we can give more than some of the youngsters can.”—AP

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TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

S P ORT S

Road jeopardizing Brazil’s only public golf course SAO PAULO: The president of Brazil’s only public golf course is threatening to “lay down kids” in the middle of the fairways to keep government bulldozers from entering the property, constructing a new highway and destroying the course.

As Rio de Janeiro prepares to host the first Olympic golf tournament in more than 100 years, the modest Japeri Golfe Clube — known for social projects that help hundreds of poor children — is in danger of being shut down because of the highway the government says is needed to alleviate traffic in the Rio metropolitan area.

“I’ll lay down kids in the middle of the fairway if needed,” golf course president Vicky Whyte told The Associated Press this week, vowing to protect the course until the end.

The city of Japeri is last in the state’s human development rankings, and the golf school at the course helps more than 100 poor kids — aged 7 to 17 — by

providing them with education, food and clothing, along with golf classes.

Two times a week they spend half a day at the association and have free access to varied classes and activities.

Whyte said there were some 40 kids on a waiting list to participate in the project.

She said the school was key for the future of Brazil’s golf, and that many of the kids who have been with the association are now appearing in Brazil’s junior rankings, becoming players that may end up representing the country when the Olympics finally arrive in 2016.

Whyte will meet with authorities today to try to solve the issue, but she said she was not optimistic about saving the nine-hole golf course. The land where the course is located has been declared a place of “public interest” — giving the state the right to take over the property to build the highway. She said the state even paid reparations to the city of Japeri, where the club is located some 30 miles from Rio de Janeiro.

Whyte said the Japeri Public Golf Association made a deal with the city through a bidding process in 2002 that secured its use of the land for 25 years, with an option to extend the agreement for another 25. The course opened to the public in 2005.

“It seems city officials betrayed us,” Whyte said. “They should have talked to us to try to re-negotiate the deal.” City officials said they couldn’t do anything to stop the state from taking over the land.

The city’s press office said in a statement that the current administration would do everything possible to keep the golf course running. But if nothing can be done to keep the state from destroying the course, Whyte said she wanted authorities to build another course on an adjacent piece of land or pay for the new course to be built.

She said Rio de Janeiro state Governor Sergio Cabral personally promised the course would be rebuilt. The

state’s press office didn’t respond to AP requests for comment.

Whyte said she was ready to take legal action against the city for breaking the land deal and for not forwarding the reparation money to the association.

The planned highway will link five major roads that go through the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, and officials say it is key to improving congested traffic in the region. Six of the course’s nine holes would be destroyed if the highway was built.

Whyte said she would try to keep the social projects that work with poor youth, but it would be hard to keep funding it properly with only three holes and a driving range. “We will take a very serious hit,” said Whyte, who has American parents but was born in Rio. “We won’t end the project overnight, but without the green fee money, it will be hard to pay salaries and keep it going.”

Golf hasn’t been a part of the Olympics since the 1904 games in St. Louis. It was

Watson edges Simpson to clinch Zurich Classic AVONDALE: Bubba Watson overcame a three-stroke deficit over the final eight holes of regulation and beat Webb Simpson in a playoff Sunday in the Zurich Classic for his second PGA Tour victory of the year and third of his career.

“My wife, my caddie and my trainer would say my attitude’s in the right spot,” Watson said. “This week, I won (by) not getting down on bad shots, just staying focused on what I’m supposed to be doing.”

He also had a little luck.

Simpson remained winless on the PGA Tour and was left to wonder what might have been if not for an unusual one-stroke penalty on 15 when his ball moved as he was addressing it on the green, less than a foot from the hole.

“I better limit my comments on that rule, because it’s such a bad rule,” said Simpson, who seemed to think windy conditions, combined with relatively dry, hard greens, caused the ball to move. “When the wind or other natural things affect the golf ball, the player shouldn’t be penalized. ... It was just unfortunate, but Bubba deserves a win, and I’m pretty happy for him.”

Watson, also the winner at Torrey Pines in late January, matched Simpson with a 3-under 69 to finish at 15-under 273 at TPC Louisiana. Both players birdied the 18th on the first extra hole, with Watson making a 12foot putt to force the second playoff.

Watson opened the final playoff hole with a 329-yard drive that narrowly stayed out of the water and landed in a fairway bunker.

He hit his second shot — a 7-iron — 210 yards to the green on the 568-yard, par-5 18th.

Simpson’s second shot landed

AVONDALE: Bubba Watson smiles while posing with the Zurich Classic championship trophy after winning the golf tournament. —AP in a bunker short of the green, near the lip, and he blasted out to 12 feet. After Simpson narrowly missed his birdie putt, Watson made a 3-foot birdie putt for the victory, which earned him $1,152,000 and moved him up from No. 16 to No. 10 in the world.

KJ Choi, the 2002 Zurich winner, shot a 69 to tie for third at 13 under with Jason Dufner (66) and Tommy Gainey (69). Choi was 14 under after 16 holes, but three-

putted for a bogey on the par-3 17th and narrowly missed a birdie putt on 18.

After Watson made his tournament-clinching putt, he hugged his mother, Molly, and wife Angie. In Watson’s estimation, both deserved credit for his latest victory. His mother, who did not attend his previous two wins, asked him to play in the suburban New Orleans tournament so she could so she could drive from Florida to watch him.

“I want to ask mom where else I should play,” said Watson, who had or shared the lead at the end of every round. “Hopefully, it means a lot to her that she got to sweat and cry and do everything that I did and all my emotions that went through 18 holes and the two extra holes.” His wife, meanwhile, has been telling him for a while to work on his composure on the course.

“She told me that I’m playing golf for a living, it’s a dream come true and ... I’ve got to act differently,” Watson said. “If I’m going to support kids and do charity work, (getting angr y on the course) is not a good example.”

The best proof of the 32-year-old Watson’s maturity came when he found water on the par-3 ninth and ended up with a doublebogey.

When Watson’s caddie, Ted Scott, offered a couple words of encouragement, Watson responded, “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m in it.” Watson hooked drives to the left on Nos. 10, 11 and 12, but made par on each, losing only one more stroke when Simpson birdied 10.

Simpson’s bogey on 12 allowed Watson to make up one shot, then he pulled another shot back with a birdie on 13 that he set up with a bold drive over a massive sand trap. Then came Simpson’s penalty on 15, after which Watson shook his head sympathetically before methodically two-putting for par to move into a tie with three holes to go.

Watson, who considers Simpson a good friend, called the penalty, “heartbreaking.” “If I didn’t win, he would have been a nice guy to have win,” Watson added. “We went to a playoff, so one shot is the difference. It’s a sad way to win, but I won.” —AP

voted back into the Games in 2009, and Brazil and the International Golf Federation have been discussing where the course will be built. The event will likely take place on another public course to be constructed in the region where the rest of the games will be played.

Though golf has grown in popularity in Brazil, it remains an elite sport with fewer than 30,000 participants and just over 100 courses, all private and most with high green fees for the public. The Japeri course charges just over $10 for 18 holes on weekdays. Weekend prices are about $30. Japeri city residents can play for free on Mondays and for about $3 the other days.

Officials want to use the Olympic public course to help boost the sport locally and develop it after the games are gone.

Beside the course, organizers also want to build training academies and schools to develop golf professionals. Brazil currently has only one player on the PGA Tour, Alexandre Rocha. —AP

Hjorth wins Avnet Classic MOBILE: Maria Hjorth won the Avnet Classic on Sunday for her fifth LPGA Tour title, capitalizing on Alexis Thompson’s collapse in a failed bid to become the youngest tour winner.

The Swede shot her second straight 5-under 67 to finish at 10-under 278, two strokes ahead of Song-Hee Kim (71) on The Crossings course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Magnolia Grove complex.

The 16-year-old Thompson, tied for the lead with Kim entering the round, had a 78 to drop into a tie for 19th at 1 under. Thompson opened and closed with bogeys and had double bogeys after her ball went into the water on Nos. 14 and 15. Na Yeon Choi (69) and Suzann Pettersen (70) finished three strokes back in joint third.

The veteran Hjorth’s husband Shaun McBride — who normally caddies on the PGA Tour — handled her bag. She had four of her six birdies on holes Nos. 3-7 to quickly move into the lead. Hjorth also won the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship in 2010, and on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail event a few hours north in Prattville in 2007. “I knew I just had to be patient,” Hjorth said.

“My goal going in was trying to get double digits (under par), which is pretty hard to do. I didn’t think it was going to be enough for a win, but it was.” She pocketed $195,000 for the victory. Hjorth watched as Kim’s approach shot on No. 18 went into the bunker, sealing the win.

Kim had an eagle on the par-15 16th hole to move to 8 under.

“I knew she was 10 under through 14 but I didn’t look at the scoreboard after I had an eagle,” Kim said. “I was just kind of playing my game.” It made for a slightly delayed celebration for Hjorth because, as she said, “Miracles happen.”

“She could have holed out her shot,” Hjorth said. “It wasn’t until she hit her second shot that I knew I was going to win the tournament.”

Thompson, meanwhile, should have more chances to become the LPGA’s youngest winner.

She waved in acknowledgment of the

MOBILE: Maria Hjorth holds up her trophy following her victory in the Avnet LPGA Classic golf tournament. —AP gallery’s loud applause heading to the final hole, but walked off with an anguished expression on her face. Her bid for history had taken a sour turn, but she said nerves weren’t to blame.

“I just didn’t hit it very solid,” Thompson said.

“My driver wasn’t that bad but my irons weren’t good. I just wasn’t trusting anything. I don’t know why, because I wasn’t even that nervous surprisingly. “It definitely was (a learning experience). I’m only 16, so I’m just learning every tournament.”

She still has nearly two years to top Marlene Hagge, who was 18 years, 14 days when she won the 18-hole Sarasota Open. Hagge won two 18-hole events at 18. Paula Creamer is the youngest winner of a multi-round event, winning the 2005 Sybase Classic at 18 years, 9 months, 17 days. Hjorth’s advice for Thompson: Focus on the three strong days not the one rough one.

“I just hope that she learns things from it,” Hjorth said. “That’s the important thing. She’s going to be a great player and have a lot of wins and a lot of success.”—AP

NBK Customers win full travel packages to attend UEFA Champions League semi-final KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the best bank in the Middle East, in collaboration with MasterCard International, has announced the four winners of full travel packages to attend the semi-final matches of the UEFA Champions League 2010/2011 which will be held in Spain-Barcelona and Manchester-United Kingdom.

NBK Deputy General Manager- Consumer

Banking Group Abdulla Al Najran Al Tuwaijri said: “The UEFA Champions League is one of the World’s most popular sport events, and NBK is the only bank in Kuwait offering its MasterCard credit card holders a chance to win one of six fully paid packages to see the UEFA Champions League 2010/2011 Finals!

Our card holders will have the opportunity to enjoy the atmosphere of the most exciting

Nawaf Al Shatti receives the prize from Abdulla Al Tuwaijri.

Anas Botaiban receives the prize from Abdulla Al Tuwaijri

matches at the UEFA Champions League in Barcelona and Manchester”.

The winner Nawaf Al Shatti, who won a trip for two to attend the semi-final match of the UEFA Champions League 2010/2011 in Manchester, said that this campaign is one of the most exciting promotions offered by NBK. “I have never imagined being a winner of such a fabulous prize. This is the first time in my life to win such a big prize. I am very pleased to have the chance to attend the match with my wife who is also interested in watching the UEFA finals.”

The winner Anas Botaiban who won a trip for two to attend the semi-final match of the UEFA Champions League 2010/2011 in Manchester said: “unprecedented offers become a usual habit for NBK, with its unyielding and multi-faceted social responsibility approach, to support, foster and promote sporting spirit amongst citizens. I feel that I am really lucky to win this big prize but, moreover, I am luckier to be an NBK customer”.

The prizes consist of four travel packages to the semi-final matches of the UEFA Champions League 2010/2011 which will be held in Spain-Barcelona on May 3rd and in Manchester-UK on May 4th. Each travel package is for two persons and it consists of round trip airline tickets, five star hotel accommodation, and tickets for two persons to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Expit through to finals by beating Apparel T20 Cricket Trophy 2011 KUWAIT: Gulf Consult recently hosted the 2nd semi-final match of the GC Atkins T20 Trophy between Expit vs Apparel Heroes at their Cricket Grounds located in Jleeb Area on 29th April, 2011.

This prestigious league based tournament is the first year it has been sponsored by Atkins. In the best interests of emerging new and emerging teams, the tournament had been designed in a way whereby the twenty participating teams have been divided into four groups playing each other in the first phase of the tournament.

In this second Semi-Final match, Expit beat Apparel Heroes by 9 runs.

After winning to toss Apparel Heroes captain Karam Singh elected to field first. Umar and Faisal who opened the innings for Expit lost early wicket of Umar Salauddin. Faisal Farooq played a steady knock of 62 runs ably supported

by Waqar (33) and Rafaqat (24). Expit posted 186/7 at the end of allotted 20 overs.

I n reply Apparel Heroes star ted

smoothly but kept losing wickets at regular intervals. The match was turning to either side when Umer Salahuddin picked both the set batsmen in his 2 overs.

At the end it was the Expit bowlers, who bowled good line and restricted Apparel Heroes to 168 for the loss of 4 wickets at the end of 20 overs. Expit won the match by 9 runs. Karam from Apparel Heroes remained the top scorer scoring fast buckling 60 runs.

Main Scorers : Karam 60, Nelson 34, Ajish 26* and Shan 16* whereas Expit Bowling contributed by Umar Salauddin 19/2, Qaisar 33/1 and Imran 39/1 Expit will now meet Kiran Int’l in the finals.

This GC tournament is being organized with the full support of Atkins, the prestigious international firm of Consulting Engineers. It is being managed by Naresh Dsouza of Gulf Consult under the able guidance of Jeff de Lange (Chief Executive -Kuwait Cricket) and Asad Baig (Director General of Kuwait Cricket).

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

sports

Power powers to Sao Paulo 300 win

MUMBAI: Kings XI Punjab’s Shaun Marsh bats during the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match against Mumbai Indians. —AP

Mumbai defeat Punjab in IPL MUMBAI: Captain Sachin Tendulkar and inform batsman Ambati Rayudu slammed 51 apiece as Mumbai Indians secured a 23-run win over Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League yesterday to wrest back top spot in the points standings.

Tendulkar and Rayudu were involved in a crucial 95-run stand for the second wicket that helped Mumbai score 159-5 on a docile Wankhede Stadium pitch. Punjab could only manage 136-8 in reply.

For Punjab, Australian batsman Shaun Marsh top-scored with 61 while Paul Valthaty made 33. The win took Mumbai to 12 points from eight games, ahead of the Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals with 11 points from nine matches.

Punjab remained on six from seven. Put in to bat, Mumbai managed a competitive score thanks to the 12-over partnership between Tendulkar and Rayudu. Tendulkar excelled with some clever shots on the on side, smashing a six and three fours off 45 balls. Rayudu relished playing straight down the ground, getting one six and eight fours off 37 deliveries.

West Indian Kieron Pollard smashed two hefty sixes in his 20 off 11 deliveries while Rohit Sharma got 18 off 11. However, Mumbai was stopped from notching a big-

ger total by Australian pace bowler Ryan Harris and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, who bagged two wickets each. “I thought we got a good total in the end,” Tendulkar said.

“We were short by 10-15 runs but made up with some fine fielding.”

In reply, King’s XI Punjab lost captain Adam Gilchrist early on as the left-hander was trapped lbw by off-spinner Harbhajan Singh without scoring.

Valthaty and Marsh played well but the team could not develop any real momentum.

Marsh faced 47 deliveries and hit eight fours in his 10th IPL half-century before trying to force the pace and becoming Sri Lankan pace bowler Lasith Malinga’s second victim.

Harbhajan and Munaf Patel also finished with two wickets each. “We were in the game because the bowlers did well,” Gilchrist said. “But our batting did not produce the goods.” In a late night game yesterday, Delhi Daredevils host Kochi Tuskers.

Scores: Mumbai Indians 159-5 in 20 overs (Sachin Tendulkar 51, Ambati Rayudu 51; Ryan Harris 2-33), def. Kings XI Punjab 1368 in 20 overs (Shaun Marsh 61; Munaf Patel 2-18, Lasith Malinga 2-19). —AP

SAO PAULO: Will Power of Australia overcame a damaged car and a wet track to win IndyCar’s Sao Paulo 300 yesterday, a day after the race was postponed because of heavy rain on the streets of South America’s biggest city.

Graham Rahal was second and Ryan Briscoe third at the 4-kilometer (2.5-mile), 11-turn Anhembi temporary street circuit.

Power, who started from pole position, drove to victor y for Penske after Japan’s Takuma Sato had to pit for fuel with about 10 minutes left. Sato led for 23 laps but finished eighth after his gamble failed.

Power finished 4.672 seconds ahead of Rahal and 7.904 in front of teammate Briscoe. It was his second win in four races this season, giving him the points lead going into the Indy 500 later this month.

Power got his second consecutive win in Sao Paulo despite damage to his car. He lost control exiting a turn early in the race and touched the wall with his left-rear tire. “I bent the rear suspension enough to make the steering wheel quite off to the left,” he said.

“At first I was worried, I thought, ‘Man, this might be tough to drive,’ but then I just put my head down and kept (going). I adjusted to the imbalance in the car and it was fine.” Power said he wasn’t sure if the car was going to make it until the end, but it kept handling well enough to allow him to make his way through the field after pitting early while Sato and others stayed out. “It was an awesome race,” Power said. “There were so many different track conditions. It was a matter of keeping calm and getting past most people without making mistakes.” Power, who has started from pole in all four races this season, dropped to ninth and had to pass four cars at the end to move back to the front.

“We did a mistake-free race, with the right strategy,” the Australian driver said. “My mind was just to slowly pick people off

SAO PAULO: IndyCar driver Will Power of Australia pilots his car in Sao Paulo. —AP without making mistakes. The team informed me of who I was racing and who was having to stop again.” Sato passed Power with his KV Racing car at the first restart to take the lead going into the first chicane.

“Once I got in the lead I was able to control the pace and was saving fuel massively,” Sato said. “In the end our strategy did not work and we should have pitted for fuel during the final caution. It was a shame we did not make it” Former points leader Dario Franchitti recovered from a crash to finish fourth in the race, which ended at the two-hour limit with only 55 of the scheduled 75 laps completed.

“After me making a mistake on the restart ... we came out of this with a fourth-place result, so I’ll take it,” said Franchitti, who now trails Power by 14 points. Rahal’s second-place finish with Chip Ganassi Racing was his best since a third place in Japan in 2009. It came after he spun on the wet

track and lost several positions early in the race.

The race restarted with 14 laps completed after torrential rain on Sunday had made track conditions unsafe, forcing it to be stopped twice and eventually postponed.

Last year’s inaugural Sao Paulo 300 also was affected by severe weather and ended before its scheduled 75 laps. The cars returned to a dry track on Monday but it started raining hard again as soon as the green flag dropped, forcing all cars to immediately go to the pits for wet tires.

Drivers still struggled to stay on track and visibility remained poor because of water spraying from the cars. Ryan Hunter-Reay, who started second, spun out and crashed the back end of his car. He had already damaged a rear wing on Sunday and had to borrow one from teammate Mike Conway to return racing yesterday.

He finished 18th. The first yellow flag came when Sebastien

Bourdais missed a turn and went straight into a tire barrier. Franchitti was one of the many drivers having trouble breaking into the first corner with several others being forced into the runoff area. Danica Patrick, Alex Tagliani, James Jakes and Justin Wilson also had problems on the slick track.

Venezuela’s EJ Viso had a good run on the wet and was up to second before receiving a drive-thru penalty for repeatedly blocking Marco Andretti. Viso dropped to ninth after the penalty and eventually finished 13th, one position ahead of Andretti.

The next four IndyCar races will be on oval tracks, beginning with the 100th running of the Indy 500 on May 29. The race was postponed Sunday after rain created havoc at the start, with several cars crashing and going off the track at the tight first chicane. It was stopped after only nine laps because of poor visibility and slippery track conditions.—AP

Former British heavyweight Cooper age 76 dies LONDON: Former British and European heavyweight boxing champion Henry Cooper, one of his country’s most popular sportsmen, has died at the age of 76, the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) said on Sunday.

Cooper had been ill for some time and died at his son’s house in Surrey, southern England two days short of his 77th birthday.

London-born Cooper was at his peak during the 1960s and is best remembered for a defeat by Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali, in a non-title fight at Wembley in 1963.

He famously sent Clay to the canvas near the end of the fourth round with his trademark left hook, known as “‘Enry’s ‘Ammer”, only for the American to earn more recovery time when trainer Angelo Dundee said Clay’s glove was split. The incident is still a favourite topic of discussion for boxing fans to this day.

Cooper lost when the referee stopped the fight because of his cuts in the fifth

LONDON: A June 18, 1963 photo from files showing Cassius Clay, now Muhammad Ali, being knocked down by Henry Cooper during their boxing match at Wembley, London. —AP

round and he lost to Clay again in a world title fight at Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium in London in 1966, again when cuts forced the referee to step in.

“He was one of the sporting icons, not just for the boxing public but sport in general,” BBBC general secretary Robert Smith told Sky Sports News.

“Ali is possibly the greatest athlete there’s ever been and Henry put up a great performance and just wasn’t quite good enough on both occasions-but he’s not the only one who wasn’t good enough to beat Ali. “For such a small man, he put up some great performances in a world-class context.” “Everyone called him ‘Our Enry’ and he was much loved. He served boxing wonderfully.”

Britain’s current World Boxing Association world heavyweight champion David Haye wrote on Twitter that Cooper was “a true warrior and a great human being”.

After an amateur career that included an appearance in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Henry and his twin brother George, who died last year, both turned professional in 1954.

He lost to Sweden’s former world champion Ingemar Johansson in a European title fight and many of his early defeats were brought about by his susceptibility to cuts.

His two fights against Ali raised his profile, along with another defeat by former world champion Floyd Patterson in 1966, but Cooper’s position in the heart of British sports fans was out of all proportion to his success in the ring.

His 55-fight professional career featured 14 defeats, he was never a world champion and retired in 1971 after another defeat, a somewhat controversial points verdict, by fellow Briton Joe Bugner.

However, Cooper’s bravery and downto-earth, avuncular personality ensured massive popularity during his boxing career and then as a TV pundit and commentator, game show panellist, after-dinner speaker and tireless charity fundraiser.

Twice voted British sports personality of the year, he was awarded an OBE in 1969 and knighted in 2000.—Reuters

SAN JOSE: Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard (center) stops a shot on goal against the San Jose Sharks in the second period in Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Western Conference semifinal. —AP

Lightning, Sharks take lead WASHINGTON: Vincent Lecavalier scored his second goal of the game in overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-2 win over the the top-seeded Washington Capitals on Sunday for a 2-0 lead in the NHL Eastern Conference semifinals. Fifth-seeded Tampa Bay appeared headed for a much simpler victory, leading 2-1 in the third period, but two-time NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin forced the extra period by scoring with 67 seconds left in regulation.

Dwayne Roloson made 35 saves as the Lightning won their fifth consecutive game and fifth straight on the road.

The series now shifts to Tampa for Game 3 today, followed by Game 4 the next night.

Martin St. Louis scored Tampa Bay’s other goal. Brooks Laich scored for Washington in the second period.

Washington’s power play went 0 for 6 and is 0 for 11 in the series.

Sharks 2, Red Wings 1 In San Jose, defensemen Ian White and Niclas Wallin scored their first goals of the postseason as San Jose took a 2-0 lead over Detroit in their Western Conference semifinal series.

White scored on a power play in the first period and Wallin extended the lead early in the third period as the Sharks put together two of their best back-to-back games to jump on top of the Red Wings for the second straight year. The determined Sharks have won 10 of 12 games against Detroit.

San Jose goalie Antti Niemi made 33 saves while opposite number Jimmy Howard was again strong for the Red Wings, making 35 saves, but he got little help from his teammates.

The Red Wings hope to change their fortunes when the series shifts to Detroit for Games 3 and 4 starting Wednesday.

Detroit got a power-play goal from Henrik Zetterberg with 6:02 remaining, but couldn’t net the equalizer.—AP

Germany stun hosts Slovakia BRATISLAVA: Germany followed up their shock defeat of Russia in the world championship opener by stunning hosts Slovakia 4-3 to take top spot in Group A on Sunday.

The Slovaks, reinforced by Chicago’s Marian Hossa and LA Kings Michal Handzus, fought back from 4-0 down in the third period but failed to get the fourth goal to force overtime.

Latvia’s Arturs Kulda was earlier given a three-match ban for a body check which left a Czech opponent with severe concussion and almost certainly out of the rest of the tournament.

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) said Radek Martinek was left motionless on the ice following the challenge in the Czech Republic’s 4-2 win on Saturday. “The video showed Arturs Kulda jumping into the situation, hitting Martinek’s head and neck area,” Jan-Ake Edvinsson, chairman

of the disciplinary panel, told the IIHF’s website (www.iihf.com).

IIHF medical supervisor Beat Villiger said: “The player has suffered a severe concussion and a severe bruise. “The scan showed no further injuries, but there is very little chance that he can play in the championship.”

In Sunday ’s games, title favourites Russia, who lost 2-0 to Germany in their opening match, struggled to a 6-4 win over Slovenia. Although never behind, the Russians were being held 4-4 until the 57th minute when Alexander Radulov’s second goal of the game put them in front and Sergei Zinoviev added another with 38 seconds remaining.

Canada, another of the favorites, thrashed France 9-1 in the eastern Slovak town of Kosice and will now face Switzerland today. In Kosice, Switzerland beat Belarus 4-1 in Group B.—Reuters

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TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

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Unsightly theatrics dim Barca’s brilliance BARCELONA: To be remembered and respected as a truly exceptional team, perhaps the best ever, Barcelona must stamp out the play-acting that tarnishes its oh-so graceful football.

Today against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou would be a good place for its players to let their ball-skills, not unsightly theatrics, do the talking. By rising above what is expected to be an ill-tempered match, Barcelona can redeem itself.

Rolling tumbleweed-like on the pitch in feigned mortal agony or exaggerating the pain of a brush to the face from a rival isn’t just uncool and unmanly, it’s also cheating if designed to get the referee to whip out a yellow or red card.

That means you Dani Alves, Sergio Busquets and Pedro Rodriguez. That Barca trio all looked guilty of making needless drama from admittedly bruising challenges in Barcelona’s 2-0 Champions League semifinal,

first-leg defeat of Madrid last week. A dollop of makeup, lights, cameras, action! and the setting could have been Hollywood, not the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Slow-motion video that aggrieved Madrid posted on its Web site suggested that Pepe may not even have grazed Alves’ right calf with his studs-first tackle that earned him a red card in the 61st minute, altering the course of the match.

Even if there was contact, Alves made the absolute most of it, rolling across the grass like a 4-year-old in gym class.

Perhaps unfairly, the melodramatic way in which Busquets collapsed, clutching his face, from a throat-high slap from Madrid defender Marcelo reminded me of Robert Capa’s famed “Falling Soldier” photo. The black-andwhite image supposedly captured the fatal shooting of a Spanish Civil War rifleman but some Spanish researchers think it may have been faked.

Homegrown stars put Dortmund on map BERLIN: Newly-crowned Germans champions Borussia Dortmund are hoping to keep hold of their homegrown stars after their young guns dominated the season under the guidance of coach Jurgen Klopp.

Dortmund’s 2-0 win over Nuremberg on Saturday handed Borussia their seventh German league title and puts Klopp’s team in the Champions League having led the Bundesliga since October.

Their eight-point lead means they can not be caught with two games left.

In the Ruhr valley city, 100,000 fans partied into the early hours of Sunday morning to celebrate their first title since 2002. But some of the happiest Dortmund fans had been celebrating on the pitch.

Teenage midfielder Mario Goetze, 18, is the son of a professor at Dortmund’s technical university while fellow Germany team-mate Kevin Grosskreutz, 22, is a Borussia fan who was watching from the terraces just two seasons ago.

“It’s an outstanding feeling to achieve this with my club in the city where I was born,” beamed Grosskreutz. “Two years ago, I was still on the south terrace and went as a fan to the away games. This is amazing.” He certainly allowed the success to go to his head.

Having vowed last October to skip the barbers until Dortmund were German champions, Grosskreutz allowed himself to be shaved bald on the pitch in front of 80,000 fans once his side were confirmed title winners.

In just his third season in charge, the team Klopp assembled suddenly came of age with Turkey midfielder Nuri Sahin and rising Germany star Goetze helping produce some eye-catching football.

The results have been impressive as previous champions Bayern Munich were beaten both home and away while only Bayer Leverkusen posed a serious threat to Dortmund’s domination of the league.

The squad was assembled with an annual budget of 35 million euros and

many come from the surroundimng Ruhr valley.

“The title is fully deserved and everyone in Germany, Europe and perhaps even the world can see that,” said Sahin, who also hails from western Germany.

Dortmund’s success has been acknowledged by Germany coach Joachim Loew with a group of rising stars being promoted to the senior national side.

Defenders Mats Hummels and Marcel Schmelzer, plus mdifielders Goetze and Grosskreutz have all played for Germany this season-and have all been handed contract extensions by Borussia until 2014.

The Ruhr valley club are optimistic of keeping their stars for next season after the club’s director of sport Michael Zorc said reports Real Madrid are interested in signing Sahin are unfounded.

“When and if the issue arises, we will concern ourselves with it, but for now, that is not the case,” Zorc told German television channel Sport1.

Klopp, 43, has also been signed up until 2014 and the coach who nearly joined Bayern Munich in 2008 has watched his team mature under his mantra “new start every day”.

Despite seeing their 12-point lead at the start of March slip to just five points towards the end of April, Dortmund kept their nerve and conceded just 19 goals all season and four league defeats.

The challenge will be to defend the title and impress on the Champions League stage while Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa showed plenty of promise with eight goals in 17 games before a foot injury kept him out of the team.

But for now Dortmund’s fans are eager to enjoy their moment. “This is even more beautiful than Kate (Middleton)” joked one fan, drunk on success in reference to Britain’s royal wedding the day before his side won the title. —AFP

Mario Goetze celebrates in this file photo

Pedro for some reason also clutched his left eye socket after a thumping body-check from Alvaro Arbeloa, although Madrid’s video again suggests that the aforementioned eye did not touch the Madrid defender. Capping the dismaying ugliness of it all was the way in which both sides’ players repeatedly harangued and surrounded referee Wolfgang Stark like squawking dolphins around a trainer with a bucket of fish.

Such tactics and behavior should be beneath a team that makes an art-form of kicking and sharing a ball. This blowout of “clasicos” — four Barca-Madrid matches in 18 days — hasn’t been much of a spectacle.

Absorbingly tense but not pleasing to the eye. Fear of losing to their classic rival seems to have suppressed both teams’ drive to win.

Still, Barcelona has won the moral high ground by largely hewing to its philosophy of attack, attack, attack. That has had the corollary effect of making Madrid’s under-

standably defensive tactics and play-blocking physicality look as nasty as a kid trying to tear the wings off a butterfly.

But winning cleanly and honestly is important, too. That’s what Barca manager Pep Guardiola should tell his players before sending them out this night for that place in the Champions League May 28 final at Wembley. Their expected opponents are Manchester United, a team which doesn’t regularly resort to shameful theatrics to trick referees, especially since Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2009 move to Madrid. Hard to imagine United strongmen like Wayne Rooney or defender Rio Ferdinand pretending they’ve been blinded, maimed or otherwise poleaxed by a rival player’s faint touch.

To be fair, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi also isn’t in the habit of making an oversized fuss of the many rough tackles he’s subjected to, which is another of the many reasons to like and admire the Argentine heir to Diego

Maradona. The stain of play-acting lasts for eternity on YouTube. Rivaldo’s Razzie-worthy dive at the 2002 World Cup — when the Brazilian pretended to have been struck in the face by a ball that actually hit his thigh, getting Turkey’s Hakan Unsal sent off — has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Millions have laughed at the young Chilean player who made a fool of himself this year by grabbing the arm of an Ecuador opponent and whacking himself in the face with it.

Barca’s Busquets has also accumulated a big audience with his thespian turn in the Champions League semifinal last year, when he made a mountain of a backward hand to the throat from Inter Milan’s Thiago Motta.

Surely, Barcelona doesn’t want to be cast as a team of whiners and divers. The high quality of its football deserves honest play of the highest order, too. —AP

Preview

Guardiola tells Barca to finish job against Real

SPAIN: Barcelona players attend a training session at the Nou Camp stadium. Barcelona will play against Real Madrid today in a semifinal, 2nd leg Champions League soccer match. —AP BARCELONA: Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola says his team’s weekend defeat

by Real Sociedad was a timely warning ahead of today ’s second leg of their Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid, who they lead 2-0.

Last week they came out on top in a stormy first leg in Madrid that was characterised more by cynical challenges and play-acting than on-pitch excitement.

Billed as a contest between the freeflowing football of Barca and the more direct approach of Real, it turned into a stop-start affair. Pepe, deployed as a defensive midfielder by coach Jose Mourinho, was controversially dismissed after Barcelona full-back Dani Alves over-reacted to a challenge by the Portuguese international. Barcelona’s substitute goalkeeper Jose Pinto had earlier been given a red card for his part in a scuffle at half-time and Mourinho himself was sent to the stands after venting his fury at the referee.

It was an ugly encounter, with both coaches playing their part in the unsavoury spectacle.

In the pre -match press conference Guardiola lost his cool, saying that Mourinho had won the battle of words but that he was ready to meet Real on the pitch. After the match at the Bernabeu, an aggrieved Mourinho suggested that European governing body UEFA favored Barca and even suggested that it was due to their promotion of the humanitarian charity Unicef.

The game’s saving grace was the performance of Lionel Messi, who scored a double, the second being an excellent run where he slalomed through the heart of the Real defence before slotting past keeper Iker Casillas. Barca are now in the driving seat to win a league and Champions League double, with an eight-point lead in La Liga after both they and Real surprisingly lost at the weekend.

“This was a lesson for us showing that nothing has been done yet,” said Guardiola after the 2-1 defeat at Sociedad. “Madrid are

a very good team and they have nothing to lose so we have to keep our heads. We are going to have some tough moments in the game and we will need the support of our fans.” Barca went into their match in relaxed mood, with Real having already lost 3-2 at home to a Real Zaragoza side fighting for their top-flight survival.

Guardiola introduced several youngsters and it was 20-year-old Thiago Alcantara who gave them the lead but Sociedad

say they will go to Camp Nou full of belief despite needing to win by two clear goals to turn the tie around.

“We feel that we can do it and also in the (domestic) league. Until it is mathematically impossible we are not going to give anything up, although we cannot afford to make mistakes like we did against Zaragoza,” said Kaka. Team-mate Gonzalo Higuain added: “After a defeat no-one is happy but we now have to forget this and

SPAIN: (Left to right) Real Madrid’s Brazilian defender Marcelo, defender Raul Albiol, French forward Karim Benzema, German midfielder Mesut Ozil and Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho take part in a training sessionon the eve of the Champions League semi-final second leg football match against Barcelona. —AFP pulled level and then Javier Mascherano conceded a late penalty, from which Sociedad scored the winner.

“It was a difficult match with a number of changes to the team and so I think we did relatively well but in the second half we were not controlled enough in our play,” said Guardiola. The Real players, still angered by the first-leg dismissal of Pepe,

look forward. “The league is almost over but we need to concentrate on the Champions League and we have a side which can reach the final.” Real will be without the suspended Sergio Ramos and Pepe, while German central midfield Sami Khedira is injured. For Barca, attacking midfielder Andres Iniesta and centre-back Carles Puyol are fighting to be fit in time. —AFP

Referee worries and Chelsea give United a ‘massive’ week MANCHESTER: Worries about refereeing decisions and a squad rotation conundrum before a title showdown against Chelsea have transformed Manchester United’s next week from comfortable to “massive”.

United’s defeat by Arsenal and Chelsea’s win over Tottenham Hotspur over the weekend have shaken up the title race with Alex Ferguson’s side only three points ahead of the champions who travel to Old Trafford on Sunday. A Frank Lampard goal for Chelsea which television replays showed had not completely crossed the line and a United appeal for a penalty for Gael Clichy ’s trip on Michael Owen have led to Ferguson voicing fresh concern over refereeing.

“They (Chelsea) got great decisions for them (on Saturday) and they seem to get these decisions at the moment,” said Ferguson, who has already served a five-match touchline ban this season for criticising referees.

“They got one to win the league last season at Old Trafford,” he added, referring to Didier Drogba scoring from an offside position. “So that’s a worry. You go into

a game worrying about these things.”

Victory at Old Trafford would put Chelsea top on goal difference, an almost unimaginable situation for the most ardent Blues fan two months ago when they trailed United by 15 points.

Chelsea benefit from a week’s rest before the game, while United diver t thoughts to Wednesday ’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Schalke 04 where Ferguson must field a strong enough side to defend a 2-0 lead while keeping his top players fresh. “ They ’re two massive games,” Ferguson, who has said he will make changes for the midweek game, told MUTV. While Ferguson is counting on United’s imperious home form to hold up, Chelsea need little reminder that they were the last team to win at Old Trafford more than a year ago.

“As we showed last year by going to Old Trafford and winning a decisive game in the Premier League, there’s no reason why we can’t go there and win again,” local media quoted Chelsea captain John Terry as saying.

“There’s no bigger spur than going to Old Trafford and winning to put ourselves right in the frame for bringing the Premier League trophy back to the Bridge.” Ferguson received his touchline ban for saying he “feared the worst” when he saw Martin Atkinson was refereeing his side’s match at Chelsea in March which ended in victory for the London side and a remarkable turnaround in their fortunes.

Since that 2-1 win, Chelsea have dropped only two points and they are also unbeaten in the league for 10 games.

While their cause was helped by the controversial Lampard goal, United have not been without their own lucky escapes as defender Nemanja Vidic’s hand ball was missed on Sunday when the Serb deflected Theo Walcott’s dangerous cross for a corner.

United defender Patrice Evra refused to dwell on refereeing, saying the main problem against Arsenal was his team’s below-par performance and that as long as they can rediscover their pace and creativity they had nothing to worry about.

“We just need to play the Man United way,” he told MUTV. “We have our destiny in our hands. We have a massive game against Chelsea. If we want to win the title then we have to beat Chelsea-it’s as simple as that. If we don’t beat them then we’ll be in trouble.” —Reuters

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

UEFA Champions League Barcelona v Real Madrid Al Jazeera Sport +3 Al Jazeera Sport +4 Al Jazeera Sport +5 Al Jazeera Sport HD 1

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BRAZIL: Flamengo’s Ronaldinho (center) raises the ‘Taca Rio’ trophy after his team won the Rio de Janeiro state ‘Taca Rio’ final soccer match against Vasco da Gama. — AP

Flamengo grab Carioca championship RIO DE JANEIRO: Ronaldinho won his first title since the 2006 European Champions League with Barcelona when Flamengo beat Vasco da Gama 3-1 on penalties to lift the Carioca championship on Sunday. Flamengo and Vasco drew a poor match 0-0 as Brazil’s state championships wind down, deciders in the Paulista (Sao Paulo) and Gaucho (Rio Grande do Sul) also going to penalties.

“I came back to Brazil for this. After several years without winning titles, to win again in my country is

marvellous,” said Flamengo captain Ronaldinho, who missed his team’s previous two matches through injury.

The Rio state title is the 31-year-old’s second in Brazil after helping Gremio win the Gaucho in 1999 before his move to Paris St Germain at the start of a European career of more than 10 years that ended at AC Milan in January.

In the Gaucho decider in the southern city of Porto Alegre, South American champions

Internacional beat Gremio 4-2 on penalties to earn the right to face their arch-rivals again in a grand two-leg final.

Inter, now coached by their former idol Falcao, went in front in the 23rd minute through Brazil striker Leandro Damiao, but they had Argentine holding midfielder Pablo Guinazu sent off in the 70th and Gremio central defender Junior Vicosa equalised with three minutes left.

In a Paulista semi-final, Palmeiras were in charge

against Corinthians despite having defender Danilo sent off after 23 minutes for a violent foul and coach Luiz Felipe Scolari dismissed to the stands for protesting.

Leandro Amaro put home team Palmeiras ahead at the Pacaembu in the 53rd but Willian equalised 12 minutes later for Corinthians, who won 6-5 on penalties and will meet Santos in the final after they beat Sao Paulo 2-0 on Saturday. The Brazilian championship starts May 21. — Reuters

America win final spot into Mexican quarters

SPAIN: Valencia’s French defender Jeremy Mathieu (right) vies with CA Osasuna’s midfielder Damia Abella (left) during their Spanish League football match. — AFP

Valencia slip to 1-0 defeat MADRID: Valencia’s bid to secure third spot in La Liga and an automatic place in next season’s Champions League suffered a setback when they lost 1-0 at relegation-threatened Osasuna on Sunday.

The defeat in Pamplona and Villarreal’s 2-1 comeback win at home to Getafe left Valencia, thrashed 6-3 at home by Real Madrid last weekend, on 63 points and Villarreal in fourth on 60 with four games left.

“I think today’s result was extremely important for many reasons,” Villarreal coach Juan Carlos Garrido, whose side were thumped 5-1 at Porto in Thursday’s Europa League semi-final first leg, told a news conference.

“Principally for the mental strength that we demonstrated after such a tough game on Thursday,” he added.

“We deserve to play in the Champions League next season and we are fighting for that with all our strength.”

Osasuna secured a potentially cru-

cial three points at their Reyno de Navarra stadium when a speculative 59th-minute strike by Alvaro Cejudo struck Valencia defender Marius Stankevicius on the back and ricocheted into the net.

Valencia had plenty of possession but were unable to convert it into an equaliser and Osasuna held on to climb out of the relegation places.

Leaders Barcelona and secondplaced Real Madrid, who meet in Tuesday’s Champions League semifinal second leg with Barca holding a 2-0 advantage, rested key players and were both beaten on Saturday.

Barca, who have an eight-point lead over their arch-rivals, lost 2-1 at Real Sociedad and Real suffered a 3-2 home reverse to struggling Real Zaragoza.

Sevilla improved their chances of qualifying for next season’s Europa League and climbed back above Atletico Madrid into fifth when a Renato header gave them a 1-0 win at

10-man Almeria earlier on Sunday.

The victory over their Andalusian rivals, who are bottom of the standings and on the verge of relegation, lifted them to 52 points with four games left.

Atletico also have 52 following Saturday’s 1-0 success at Deportivo Coruna but are sixth due to an inferior head-to-head record. Athletic Bilbao are on 51 points and can reclaim fifth spot with a win at eighth-placed Espanyol late yesterday.

Brazilian midfielder Renato netted Sevilla’s winner in the 58th minute at Almeria’s Juegos Mediterraneos stadium, six minutes after Danish defender Michael Jakobsen was shown a straight red card for a wild challenge on Martin Caceres.

Almeria, mired in 20th and last spot, are 12 points behind 17thplaced Deportivo and hanging on in the top flight only by virtue of a superior head-to-head record compared with the Galician side. — Reuters

MEXICO CITY: Matias Vuoso and Angel Reyna scored second-half goals as America defeated Pumas 2-0 on Sunday to grab the final spot for the Mexican Clausura quarterfinals despite playing most of the second half with 10 men.

Vuoso scored from a header in the 59th and Reyna clinched the win in the 90th from a cross by Adolfo Rosinei for America to seal second place in Group 2 and become the sixth seeded team in the quarterfinals.

Also on Sunday, Elias Hernandez scored in the 73rd and 84th minutes as Morelia beat Puebla 2-0. The quarterfinal matches are: Tigres against Chivas, Pumas versus reigning champion Monterrey, Morelia will play America and Atlante will face Cruz Azul. Reyna finished the season as the leading scorer with 13 goals.

“I’m happy for the team because despite playing one man down we kept fighting, closed our mouths and worked hard,” Reyna said. “The scoring title, it’s not mine — it belongs to everybody.” It will a tough week for America, which will play Santos late yesterday in the second leg of the Copa Libertadores. On Thursday, the team will play Morelia at home and will then play Sunday at Estadio Morelos.

The official schedule will be revealed late yesterday by the Mexican football federation.

“It was a tough match and we needed a win,” America goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa said. “We deserve to be in the playoffs and we have a hard challenge coming our way, but everything is coming along.”—AP

MEXICO: America’s Pavel Pardo (top) and Pumas’ Israel Castro go for a header during a Mexican soccer league game. — AP

Title-chasing Marseille held at home, Lyon lose PARIS: Olympique Marseille failed to retake top spot in Ligue 1 after Jung Jo-gook grabbed a 1-1 away draw for struggling Auxerre and Olympique Lyon’s title hopes also suffered a blow on Sunday.

Lille’s 5-0 thrashing of relegated Arles Avignon on Saturday had put pressure on champions Marseille to perform and they capitulated just when victory was looking assured.

With five matches left, Lille lead

Marseille by a point and have a sevenpoint advantage over third-placed Lyon who meekly went down 2-0 at Toulouse and had two players sent off.

Mauro Cetto gave mid-table Toulouse a first-half lead before Lyon left back Aly Cissokho suffered a double calamity, scoring an own goal in the 67th minute when trying to give the ball back to the goalkeeper and then receiving his marching orders.

He was dismissed for a dangerous

tackle five minutes from time with once mighty Lyon already a man down after Brazil’s Michel Bastos was booked twice in a minute for fouls midway through the second period.

In Marseille, forward Mathieu Valbuena calmly netted at the far post on 56 minutes as the hosts finally made their dominance pay but South Korea striker Jung latched on to a long ball over the top to score 13 minutes from the end. — Reuters

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MADRID: Russian Maria Sharapova serves to compatriot Ekaterina Marakova during their match of the Madrid Masters at the Caja Magic sports complex. —AFP

Sharapova advances

Federer puts clay mistakes behind him MADRID: Roger Federer has wiped his clay-court slate clean and was yesterday heading into his start at the Madrid Masters with renewed enthusiasm as he bids to correct the errors which bothered him in his spring debut on the surface a fortnight ago.

The two-time Madrid champion Swiss, seeded third behind Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who is 27-0 for the year to date, admitted to some errors in strategy last month when he lost a Monte Carlo quarter-final to Jurgen Melzer.

After training in Switzerland with another Austrian, Stefan Koubek, Federer pronounced himself fit for a long haul which not only includes the clay-court run through the French Open but also the grass campaign and a Swiss Davis Cup quarter-final to follow Wimbledon.

“I had some wrong decisions against Melzer,” said Federer, who awaits a second-round opponent as Olivier Rochus faces South African Kevin Anderson for the right to meet the 16-time grand slam winner.

“Other than that, I think I’ve had a pretty good season,” said Federer, the winner of one 2011 title in Doha. “I did a lot of work the past few weeks in the gym and on the court, plus fitness training. “I’m getting set for a tough stretch, I have to be ready. Stefan came over and we had a good time. The weather was

perfect, I have no complaints. I’m feeling pretty well.”

Federer did venture the suggestion that the ATP Masters 1000 events might consider returning to the best-of-five-set final format, which has been abandoned in recent seasons to cut down on player workload.

Over the three back-to-back Masters events in 2011 - Indian Wells-Miami, Madrid-Rome and Montreal-Cincinnati - the stress is huge.

And winning two on the trot at this level is well nigh impossible. “It was even tougher before when you had to win six matches and play a best-of-five final. The day off between the two was a travelling day, it was almost impossible,” said Federer, holder of five clay Masters 1000 titles including Madrid over Nadal in 2009.

“Now there is no more best of five and the top eight seed get firstround byes. In some ways, I’d like to see best of five coming back, maybe something will change.”

On court, Gael Monfils led a trio of French players into the second round, with the ninth seed defeating Croatian Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 7-6 (8/6).

Compatriots Michael Llodra hammered American Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-3 while Adrian Mannarino put out Argentine Juan Ignazio Chela 4-6, 64, 6-4. In the women’s draw, Maria

Sharapova beat Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in an all-Russian match yesterday to advance to the third round at the Madrid Open.

The eighth-seeded Sharapova broke Makarova three times and dropped serve only once in the match. “I lost some focus but it was important to let that go and concentrate on taking my opportunities in the third set,” said Sharapova, whose most recent title was at Strasbourg in May 2010.

China’s Li Na survived a late fightback from Spain’s Maria Martinez Sanchez as the Asian ace reached the second round 6-4, 7-6 (8/6).

Li, who ended a five-match losing streak only days ago in Stuttgart, was comfortably in charge up a set and serving for victory when the home player made her move. Martinez Sanchez managed to take the struggle into a tiebreaker, where Li finally restored order with the victory.

It took one hour, 53 minutes, with Li saving five of seven break points. She next plays Iveta Benesova, who defeated fellow Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-3, 6-2.

Russian Alisa K leybanova defeated ninth seed Shahar Peer 63, 6-2 and Italy’s Roberta Vinci followed up her Barcelona title from the weekend with a winning start over Olga Govortsova of Belarus, 64, 6-0.—AFP

Heat scorch Celtics MIAMI: Dwyane Wade scored 38 points and James Jones set a Miami postseason record with 25 points off the bench as the Heat struck first in their Eastern Conference semifinal series by beating the Boston Celtics 99-90 on Sunday.

LeBron James finished with 22 points, six rebounds and five assists for Miami, which led by as many as 19 before a fiery finish that saw plenty of players jawing at each other - more than that in some cases. Paul Pierce was ejected with 7 minutes left, after picking up two technicals in skirmishes with Wade and Jones within a span of 59 seconds. “It’s a big game.

It’s Game 1, at home,” Wade said. “You’ve got to take care of home court. These guys expect this from me. I wasn’t giving it to them in the regular season versus them and I wanted to come out today and be a leader.”

Ray Allen scored 25 points for Boston, which lost for the first time in five games this postseason. Pierce scored 19 and Delonte West finished with 10 for the Celtics, while Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett were held to a combined 14 points on 6-for-19 shooting. Game 2 is

today in Miami. It was physical throughout, with West earning a technical and Jermaine O’Neal picking up a flagrant foul along the way, before things really got hot in the fourth. Pierce took offense with a hard foul by Jones, each getting double-technicals there, and Pierce and Wade — who have a bit of history — renewed acquaintances not long after that. Referee Ed Malloy called both for double-technicals, and Pierce was screaming as he departed.

The Celtics tried to rally. Allen made a 3-pointer to get within 90-82, but Chris Bosh and Wade had Miami’s next two baskets, restoring a double-digit lead that wasn’t again threatened.

Wade averaged 12.8 points on 28 percent shooting against the Celtics in four regular-season matchups, his worst numbers in both categories against any opponent this season. Whatever wasn’t working then, well, it was fixed for Game 1. He had nine field goals and 23 points by halftime — while the entire Boston starting five combined for eight field goals and 21 points in the first 24 minutes. He had a steal to set up Mario

Chalmers’ layup with 0.1 seconds left in the first quarter that put Miami up 20-14, and added a more spectacular buzzerbeater near halftime.

Grizzlies 114, Thunder 101 At Oklahoma City, Zach Randolph had 34 points and 10 rebounds, Marc Gasol added 20 points and 13 boards as the Memphis Grizzlies overpowered the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 114-101 victory in the opening game of the Western Conference semifinals.

“We believe,” Randolph said. “We definitely believe. Our confidence is up high.

I tell the guys we can compete and play with anybody.”

Just as they did in a first-round upset of top-seeded San Antonio, Randolph and Gasol provided enough punch to give eighth-seeded Memphis a road victory in Game 1.

“I think we always try to do that. The thing is that it’s not always possible,” Gasol said. “We always try to come out and execute and play the right way. It’s not always possible. Teams are going to adjust, and they’re going to do something different.—AP

DIFC hosts workshop on regulatory reform, banking Page 22

KSE stocks rise, banking stocks pare early losses Page 24 TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

Chrysler turns first profit since bankruptcy Page 25

New four-door MINI unveiled in Kuwait Page 23 SPRINGFIELD: Construction workers continue building an industrial complex in Springfield, Illinois.

Builders began work on more office buildings, hotels and factories in March, lifting construction spending after three straight monthly declines.—AP

Laden effect muted, Kuwait banks Jump DUBAI: Petrochemical stocks lifted Saudi Arabia’s index yesterday, with more gains seen as upbeat earnings and high oil prices boost sentiment in the world’s top crude exporter.

Most Middle East markets rose and analysts said Osama bin Laden’s death had no bearing on trade. “Bin Laden is dead but the rest of his organization is there and he was not working alone,” said Ashraf Akhnoukh, senior equity sales trader at brokerage CIBC in Cairo.

Regional markets were subdued, with bourses in many global markets closed for a long weekend. “I wouldn’t read too much into today’s movements - we tend

MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS to drift when there are holidays on global markets,” said Matthew Wakeman, EFG-Hermes managing director for cash and equitylinked trading. “We’ve made a good bounce from the lows in the past month and a half and need new positive catalysts.”

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) climbed 0.9 percent and Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co rose 2.5 percent. Petrochemical producers’ margins rise along with oil prices and crude hit a 31-month peak on Friday. “People took advantage of yesterday’s dip to buy back, main-

ly petrochemicals,” said a Riyadhbased trader who asked not to be identified.

Saudi’s index climbed 0.5 percent, its first gain in three days to move within five points of Wednesday’s 14-week high. “As long as the international news flow is positive, Saudi should continue to advance because Q1 numbers were good and oil is above $110,” added the trader.

Dubai Investments Co fell 2.7 percent to a month low after its first-quarter profit tumbled.

Dubai’s index fell for a seventh session in eight, down 2.3 percent

since a deadline to switch to a new delivery versus payment settlement system-the global standard- was extended to May 29.

UAE bourses must move to this system to be upgraded to emerging market status by MSCI. The index compiler will announce the results of its next review in June, so the delay leaves little time for brokers to give their feedback.

“It’s more uncertainty around MSCI - delaying DvP is putting doubts in people’s minds,” added EFG’s Wakeman. “ This doesn’t close the door, but it makes it a less of a positive than it was a week and a half ago.”

Ominvest rose 6 percent to a two-year high after a local news-

paper said discussions to float a bank unit were advanced. The firm owns a 51 percent stake in Oman Arab Bank.

Kuwaiti banks helped the country’s index rise for a 10th session in 12, although volumes were concentrated in small-cap stocks, implying institutions were largely inactive. National Bank of Kuwait and Commercial Bank of Kuwait rose 1.6 and 1.1 percent respectively. The bank index climbed 0.4 percent to a threemonth peak. “Banks are still cheap and if provisions are now done with, they could make a huge jump in earnings,” said a Kuwait trader who asked not to be identified. — Reuters

End trade pact with Bahrain: US group DUBAI: A powerful US-based labor organization is urging Washington to suspend a free trade pact with Bahrain in response to the Gulf nation’s crackdown that includes purging union leaders accused of supporting pro-reform protests, a union leader said yesterday.

The petition by the AFL-CIO seeks to push the United States to make one of its first tangible censures against key ally Bahrain-home of the US Navy’s 5th Fleetfor sweeping attempts to crush an uprising by its Shiite majority demanding greater freedoms.

Washington has urged Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy to seek dialogue with protesters and publicly condemned violence and mass arrests, which include journalists, activists and trade union leaders. But US officials have stopped short of taking more direct action against Bahrain’s rulers.

Suspending the free trade pact-which waives tariffs on industrial and consumer products-would send a strong message to Bahrain’s leaders that “their actions are moving in a very dire direction,” said Jeff Vogt, deputy director of the AFL-CIO’s international department. The five-yearold trade accord with Bahrain is small in economic terms: Bahrain is a midlevel export market for US goods and two-way trade is less than $1.5 billion a year-a fraction of other Gulf neighbors such as Saudi Arabia. But it carries symbolic importance to Bahrain, which has just modest oil and

gas reserves. The pact is just one of 17 such bilateral trade agreements with Washington, which also includes Israel, Jordan and Oman in the Middle East.

Vogt said it’s the first effort by the AFLCIO to halt a free trade deal because of political pressures. “Bahrain’s actions have gone so far beyond the pale,” he said. “We shouldn’t be in this agreement.” US trade officials have up to six months to respond to the appeal, filed late last week in Washington, Vogt said. But the AFL-CIO seeks fast-track review because of the “severity” of the crackdown and Bahrain’s role as a leader in labor rights in the Gulf, where many nations outlaw unions or worker groups, he added. The petition claims that leaders of the General Federation of Bahraini Trade Unions, the umbrella labor group on the island kingdom, have faced detention or dismissals. It said the heads of other worker groups, including teachers and nurses, have faced similar pressures. “If the Bahraini (labor) federation is crushed, it doesn’t bode well for the rest of the Gulf,” Vogt said. More than 30 people have died since the protests began in February by Bahrain’s Shiites, who represent 70 percent of the population but are excluded from top political and security posts.

Last week, four anti-government protesters were convicted of killing two policemen during the uprising and sentenced to death by a military court.—AP

An oil pump works at sunset in the desert oil fields of Sakhir, Bahrain.—AP

Qatar budget surplus falls to 9% of GDP DUBAI: Qatar’s state budget surplus fell to 9.3 percent of quarterly economic output in the third quarter of its 2010/11 fiscal year as spending jumped, exceeding full-year plans, data showed yesterday.

The OPEC member’s surplus dropped to 12.1 billion riyals ($3.3 billion) in OctoberDecember last year from 19.4 billion, or 16.4 percent of gross domestic product in the previous three months, the central bank’s preliminary estimates showed.

Revenue almost doubled to 132.3 billion riyals in October-December from the same

period of the previous year, bringing cumulative income for the first three fiscal quarters to 146 percent of the 2010/11 plan.

Analysts polled by Reuters in March expected the Gulf Arab country, whose economy is powering ahead at a doubledigit clip, to post a surplus of 11.5 percent of GDP in the whole of the fiscal year that ended in March. Qatar plans a 19 percent jump in government spending to a six-year high in the current fiscal year, helped by a recent expansion of its gas industry and robust oil prices. — Reuters

Oil, gold fall on Bin Laden death LONDON/SINGAPORE: The killing of Osama bin Laden cut prices for oil and gold yesterday but analysts warned it was far from the end of the political risk factor that has boosted the cost of the world’s raw materials and energy. War in Libya, unrest across the Middle East and the chance of reprisals after the death of the al-Qaeda leader were still enough to worry oil markets, which have rallied by around quarter this year on supply disruption fears. Oil prices fell more than 3 percent, some $4 a barrel, and gold dropped from record highs. The dollar-dominated commodities were also pushed lower by the greenback’s bounce from three-year lows on the news. “The fall in price should be short-lived,” said Carsten Fritsch, commodity analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. “Talk that the risk premium should ease due to bin Laden’s death is premature. The risk premium is high because of the war in Libya and ongoing unrest in the Middle East and that is unlikely to change,” he added.

Brent crude futures for June fell $4.22 to a low of $121.67 a barrel before climbing back to $124.42 by 1215 GMT. Last month Brent hit a 32-month high above $127. US crude was $1.42 down at $112.51 a barrel. Spot gold fell to nearly $1,540 an ounce after earlier hitting a fresh record high at $1,575.79.

By 1219 GMT it had partially recovered to $1,552.35 an ounce against $1,563.65 late in New York on Friday.

Silver tumbled 10 percent, its steepest fall since late 2008, hit by the dollar, increased margins for futures trading and a technical overhang after a 170 percent rally over the last 12 months to a record high last week.

“Silver is an accident waiting to happen, and it seems like it has incurred ‘bumper’ damage today,” said David Thurtell, an analyst at Citigroup.

Silver was bid at $45.00 an ounce at 1219 GMT, having earlier fallen as low as $43.04. Buoyant global demand also ensured the fall across commodities was limited, analysts said. “I would guess that the elimination of bin Laden will provide at least some temporary relief to the pressure on commodity prices generally,” said David Cohen of Action Economics in Singapore.

“However, I would emphasize that the other key support for oil and other commodities recently has been the underlying growth in global demand.”

Ultra-loose monetary policy and demand for inflation-resistant investments, including oil and gold, have also underpinned the market and will not evaporate after bin Laden’s death. Chicago corn and wheat futures fell about 1 percent yesterday after the death of alQaeda leader. Corn, linked to crude prices though its use in ethanol, also came under additional pressure from forecasts of improved weather in the US Midwest, which raised expectations of progress in this year’s delayed plantings. Chicago Board of Trade front-month May corn fell 1.03 percent to $7.46-1/4 a bushel by 1130 GMT and wheat shed 1.01 percent to 7.61-1/2 a bushel.

Markets across large parts of Asia and much of Europe were closed for May Day and Labour day holidays, reducing the number of market participants and making for volatile trade. — Reuters

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DIFC hosts workshop on regulatory reform, banking Focus on the impact of Basel III on MENA region DUBAI: DIFC, the financial and business gateway between the regional emerging markets and the world, yesterday held an economics workshop on regulatory reform and the banking sector. The event brought together financiers and business leaders to network, share knowledge and discuss the latest trends in risk management, regulatory capital, disclosure and governance.

The workshop focused on the impact of Basel III as a new global regulatory standard for global financial institutions, with the emphasis on its implementation and subsequent effects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Dr Nasser Saidi, Chief Economist and Head of External Relations, DIFC Authority, said: “As the centrepiece for capital regulation to avoid crises, the Basel approach has failed in its first and second formulations. Despite regulations and Basel II, which were in place at the

little alternative forms of non-bank financing. The main challenges facing GCC banks will be to meet liquidity requirements in the absence of money and debt markets and particularly the absence of government securities markets.”

Dr Nasser Saidi identified six areas which the GCC nations need to develop in order to deal with the economic weaknesses of their respective economies: ● Macro-prudential measures to address systemic risks, economic cyclicality derived from oil prices, volatility produced by short-term capital inflows ● Enhanced regulatory and supervisory tools ● Development of local currency money and debt domestic markets ● Collection & dissemination of financial & economic statistics & early warning system ● Liberalisation of Banking & Financial Services in the GCC by estab-

time of the recent financial crisis, banks were overleveraging and their internal risk models significantly underestimated capital needs. The new Basel III regulation aspires to make the banking system safer by redressing many of the flaws that became visible over the past couple of years. Improving the quality and depth of capital and renewing the focus on liquidity management is intended to spur banks to improve their underlying risk-management capabilities.

“Though GCC countries were less affected by the crisis, economic and financial turmoil unveiled the vulnerabilities derived from rapid credit growth and inflows of short-term capital. We saw critical disruption in the real estate and construction sectors, and the GCC’s unhealthy dependence on foreign speculative capital became clear. Basel III has intensified the urgency to develop regional capital markets as the financing of future infrastructure projects is limited with

lishing a “GCC Banking Passport” ● Establishing a GCC College of bank supervisors The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision recently updated their guidelines for banking regulations in response to the global financial crisis.

Basel III proposes new capital, leverage and liquidity standards to strengthen the regulation, supervision and risk management of the banking sector. The updated regulations require banks to hold more and higher quality capital than under current rules.

The workshop addressed a series of topics, including “Regulations, Standards and Financial Crises: A New Paradigm?”, “Basel III and its Impact on the GCC Banking Sector”, “New Philosophy and Architecture of Risk Management”, “Macro Consequences of Regulatory Reforms”, “Corporate Governance” and “Expected Impact of Basel III on the MENA Banking Industry”.

Citibank launches new wealth management centre in Bahrain MANAMA: As part of its ongoing efforts to meet evolving client expectations in the Region, Citibank yesterday opened a Service Centre of EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) International Personal Banking (IPB) business in the Kingdom of Bahrain. IPB offers a bouquet of offshore International Wealth Management products and services targeting sophisticated investors who wish to tap into international investment opportunities, available through the bank ’s offices in London and Jersey, as par t of a balanced portfolio.

Globally, Citibank’s International Personal Bank operates from 14 offices around the world and has over 185,000 customers and nearly $35.5 billion of client assets under management.

Citi International Personal Bank EMEA provides local as well as expatriate clients with a personalized service to help them manage and grow their wealth through long-term wealth advisory planning, savings and investments.

Through dedicated investment experts based in IPB EMEA Bahrain Service Centre, target market clients will now receive a free financial health-check to help build tailored investment portfolios, and will have access to a diverse range of global investment products, multi-currency bank accounts, time deposits and 24/7 internet banking.

These services compliment the

investors who seek one point of contact for their global investment needs. Our globalism, once again, is put to work for the full benefit of our client base”, he added.

Grant Carson, Business Manager of Citi International Personal Bank EMEA said: “Bahrain’s potential and right mix of investor base fits IPB’s unique offer of global investment opportunities and easy access to the international market. We will ensure we put our accumulated wealth of global knowledge at our clients’ disposal, while crafting diverse portfolios that suit their discerning tastes and needs.”

Akash Samaiyar, IPB EMEA Regional Director, MENA added: “Bahrain is an important Service Centre for IPB EMEA offering discerning, affluent customers a wide variety of global Wealth Management products and serv-

bank’s onshore Citigold offering which focuses on providing clients with personalized and comprehensive financial planning solutions and wealth management products to help them preserve and potentially grow their wealth, as part of a comprehensive suite of banking services.

“We chose Bahrain for this offering as part of our continuous investment in the country and due to the suitable regulatory environment that the government provides to the banking and financial sector. We are also keen on providing value added services to our clients in Bahrain and in select countries in the region,” commented Mazin Manna, CEO of Citibank Bahrain.

“Citi International Personal Bank EMEA services are an integral part of our investor offer which caters to the financial aspirations of local investors, while fulfilling the requirements of expatriate

ices. The commitment to the Middle East Region is very strong - last year, IPB EMEA moved its MENA Regional Office from London to the Middle East. We believe in being close to the clients for strong value-addition and superior client experience.

Highly trained, dedicated Relationship Managers based in Bahrain, working together with counterparts based in offshore centres in London and Jersey, will help create this experience for our clients.”

Citi has been in the Middle East for nearly 50 years and currently offers consumer-banking services in the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt. In the Kingdom of Bahrain, Citi opened one of the country’s first Offshore Banking Units (OBUs) in 1970. Today, the bank is currently a major player in Bahrain’s credit card market and a leading provider of Wealth Management and Consumer Credit services.

Toyota refutes radiation concerns on its vehicles manufactured in Japan cerns regarding radiation.

TMC’s Bahrain Representative Office assures its customers that the highest priority has been placed on customer safety and peace of mind and that precedence has been given to measuring the radiation levels of the vehicles.

“As part of our own initiative and with the advice of experts, we have measured the level of radiation in the air and on our vehicles, as well as on parts for overseas assembly and replacement parts, and have found that they are basically the same.”

To ensure complete customer confidence and satisfaction, TMC’s Bahrain Representative Office stated that Toyota will continue to measure radiation levels of the vehicles in the stockyards of three ports in the Nagoya area in Japan before shipment to various countries based on a sampling of 10 vehicles per ship. In addition, only those vehicle parts which the company can confidently consider as safe will be procured from suppliers. “The likelihood of any problem occurring is very minimal but in the event of any issue, we will consider and undertake immediate countermeasures following all guidelines of government authorities and experts. We are confident that vehicles manufactured by Toyota are safe and present no cause for concern to our customers.”

MANAMA: Toyota Motor Corporation’s (TMC) Bahrain Representative Office has announced that Toyota has started random sampling and measuring of the radiation levels of its export vehicles, parts for overseas assembly and service parts for the safety and peace of mind of its customers and other concerned parties.

During the sampling of 30 vehicles, measurements were taken on the surface of the hoods in the center, in one tire house per vehicle and on the inside, in the area in front of each sample vehicle’s steering wheel. The results have revealed that the radiation levels have no impact on human health.

Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) recently announced that atmospheric radiation at the production sites and ports of shipment used by its member companies is not high enough to harm human health. JAMA initiated its own procedures to test the radiation levels of vehicles produced in Japan, having solicited the expertise of an external authority specializing in the field. The Association also said that radiation around vehicles was also significantly lower than the maximum allowable limit recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and it was confident users of vehicles produced in Japan could use such products with no con-

Damas inks repayment deal tion of assets at reasonable market values rather than at distressed sale value.”

Damas said earlier this year that it reached a final agreement with all its lenders and completed the restructuring of its $872 million debt.

An inquiry last year showed that the Abdullah brothers owed the company a total of 614 million dirhams ($167.2 million), which included 256 million dirhams worth of gold that the three brothers had withdrawn from the company.

Damas is primarily involved in the business of trading in gold and gold jewellery, diamond jewellery, pearls, watches, silver and precious stones on a wholesale and retail basis. —Reuters

DUBAI: Jeweller Damas International said yesterday it has signed a repayment agreement with its founding Abdullah brothers and creditors that clears the way for selling certain assets of the founders.

On Sunday, the jeweller extended the payment date for 600 million dirhams ($163.4 million) owed by the Abdullah brothers by another month to May 31.

“The Cascade Agreement provides the legal framework for an orderly liquidation of, and realisation of cash proceeds from the sale of, the assets of the Abdullah Brothers Group,” Damas said in a statement yesterday.

“The agreement allows for the realisa-

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

.2699000 .4540000 .4020000 .3130000 .2860000 .2970000 .0045000 .0020000 .0743470 .7243440 .3810000 .0700000 .7100870 .0045000 .0430000

.2800000 .4630000 .4110000 .3250000 .2960000 .3060000 .0072500 .0035000 .0750950 .7316240 .4010000 .0770000 .7172240 .0072000 .0550000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2738500 .2759500 .4571930 .4606990 .4058730 .4089850 .3151500 .3175670 .2888100 .2910250 .0544270 .0548440 .0455050 .0458540 .2999890 .3022890 .0352710 .0355420 .2239530 .2256710 .0033590 .0033850 .0000000 .0062570 .0000000 .0025250 .0000000 .0032750 .0000000 .0038060 .0745880 .0751600 .7265850 .7321570 .0000000 .3903110 .0730460 .0736060 .7114840 .7169390 .0000000 .0064930

US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co.

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.416 6.196 3.244 2.498 3.883 225.080 35.426 3.764

Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

6.415 9.198 0.271 0.273 GCC COUNTRIES 73.370 75.605 714.690 730.640 74.910

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound - Transfer Yemen Riyal Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

ARAB COUNTRIES 47.250 46.254 1.259 205.720 388.570 182.500 5.940 36.673

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 275.050 Euro 411.470 Sterling Pound 463.460 Canadian dollar 294.170 Turkish lire 181.190 Swiss Franc 322.870 Australian dollar 299.720 US Dollar Buying 273.850

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

GOLD 288.000 145.000 74.000

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 Indian rupees

SELL CASH SELL DRAFT 304.700 303.200 731.650 731.650 3.980 3.770 293.400 291.900 540.400 14.100 55.700 167.800 226.200 47.290 46.279 411.000 409.500 36.110 35.960 6.480 6.205

0.033

388.830 0.185 95.070 3.900 223.800

Sterling Pound US Dollar

318.700 5.800 9.410 74.970 275.100

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 460.200 275.100

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 276.800 292.345 453.255 400.600 308.720 732.607 75.339 76.008 73.783 391.007 46.496 2.506 6.239

Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit Malaysian Ringgit

3.283 3.806 6.397 678.972 3.437 9.341 6.038 3.943 91.033 91.428

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. 714.390 3.260 6.440 75.680 73.450 226.170 44.350 2.500 460.200

GOLD 1,598.720

10 Tola 20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

0.033 0.243 0.243 3.470 390.300 0.186 95.070 47.300 4.320 225.300 1.865 53.700 714.570 3.330 6.590 76.110 73.450 226.170 44.350 2.670 462.200 46.900 320.200 5.800 9.580 198.263 75.070 275.500 1.260

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) 27.00 3.260 6.220 2.515 3.780 6.475 74.975 73.535 731.100 46.280 464.400 0.00003280 3.910 1.550 390.700 5.750 412.400 296.900

Al Mulla Exchange Currency Transfer Rate (Per 1000) US Dollar 274.650 Euro 409.300 Pound Sterling 460.000 Canadian Dollar 291.700 Japanese Yen 3.390 Indian Rupee 6.205 Egyptian Pound 46.255 Sri Lankan Rupee 2.498 Bangladesh Taka 3.745 Philippines Peso 6.430 Pakistan Rupee 3.247 Bahraini Dinar 731.600 UAE Dirham 74.900 Saudi Riyal 73.400 *Rates are subject to change

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business

New four-door MINI unveiled in Kuwait First MINI with all-wheel drive capabilities

Hot-selling 2011 Ford Edge earns IIHS top safety pick KUWAIT: The new 2011 Ford Edge, which offers a suite of innovative safety technologies, is off to a fast start and could gain even more popularity after becoming the latest Ford vehicle to earn a Top Safety Pick rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Ford now has 10 vehicles on the road in the US that have earned Top Safety Picks, which adds to its leading number of top US safety ratings.

“The new Edge is already the most popular midsize crossover and we believe this Top Safety Pick rating will generate even more interest,” said Sue Cischke, Ford group vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering.

To earn a Top Safety Pick, a vehicle must receive a rating of “good” in offset frontal-, side- and rear-impact crash tests and roof strength evaluations, as well as offer electronic stability control.

The Edge, which launched in late 2010, is off to a fast start with Kuwait sales up 51 percent in 2011 through March as consumer feedback and demand continues to grow. In the US, initial demand for the Edge’s driver-aid technologies Edge has been strong. Of the first 101,908 vehicles sold: • 80 percent include rear view camera • 32 percent include BLIS(r) (Blind Spot Information System) with cross-traffic alert Safety and driver-assist features The new Edge comes equipped with technologies to help prevent crashes - from parking lot fender benders to high-speed collisions - by warning drivers of the potential for a crash.

Driver-aid and safety technologies include options such as: • Adaptive cruise control, which slows the vehicle to adapt for traffic conditions and maintain a preset distance between vehicles • Collision warning with brake support, which helps reduce speed, automatically pre-charges brakes, provides a red warning light on the windshield as well as an audible beep to help drivers stop more quickly when the system detects a collision is imminent • BLIS with cross-traffic alert, which helps detect vehicles in blind spots during normal driving, as well as traffic approaching from the sides when reversing out of parking spots • Tire Pressure Monitoring System, which alerts drivers when it senses tire pressure is low • MyKey, which allows parents to limit speed and audio volume in their vehicles and is designed to help parents encourage safe driving habits in their teens “The Edge pioneers the mainstream introduction of crash avoidance technologies with two available classexclusive radar-based features that help detect and warn drivers of potentially dangerous situations,” Cischke said.

Structural safety and crash protection Edge features a solid unibody construction, which provides an energy-absorbing structure to help protect occupants. Bumper-to-bumper flow-through side rails, structural design and A-pillars are designed to move crash energy away from occupants. Nearly half of the stiff shell is composed of high-strength steels, such as boron, for both increased strength and reduced weight.

When a crash becomes unavoidable, Edge relies on an array of airbags to protect occupants. Two front dualstage and two side airbags are joined by a Safety Canopy consisting of side-curtain airbags for front and rear outboard passengers. Personal Safety System(tm) safety belts feature pretensioners and an energy management system with adjustable D-ring height in the first row.

KUWAIT: MINI Countryman, the brand’s fourth family member, was officially unveiled in Kuwait this week. MINI together with Ali Alghanim and Sons, its exclusive importer in the Kuwait, presented its new crossover model as a car to bridge the gap between the classic MINI and a contemporary Sports Activity Vehicle.

Larger and taller than its hatchback sibling, the new MINI Countryman is the first MINI model to feature four doors, four individual seats, optional all-wheel drive and unique MINI Centre Rail, a funky multifunctional guide rail running through the interior. The MINI Countryman also comes in 11 brand new exterior colors, previously unavailable in other MINI models.

MINI celebrated the launch of its new family member at an exclusive ‘MINI Countryman Getaway’ event at Avenues Mall.

An all-star entertainment line-up set the ambiance for the evening, with performances from freestylers and a DJ. Upon arrival, guests were greeted with everything you might need on an afternoon getaway to the beach or an evening wadi bashing. One side of the display mimicked the beach with scenes of sun, sea and sand complete with an interactive Wii surfing game, whilst partygoers in the Wadi Zone experienced the dry and rocky Kuwait desert terrain by night in a virtual test drive.

“Eye-catching, colorful and everything ‘Getaway’, the set up at

the Avenues Mall was the perfect setting to unveil the new MINI Countryman and provide an amazing MINI experience for all,” said Yousef Al Qatami, General Manager at Ali Alghanim & Sons.

“What better way to celebrate the beginning of what’s expected to be yet another successful year than to welcome a new addition to our MINI portfolio. The new MINI Countryman will allow us to bring MINI’s unique personality to a much wider audience as it opens up a whole new segment of customers who appreciate MINI but

require more space and versatility.

We are confident that the new MINI Countryman will do well in Kuwait and build upon our successful 2010 sales results” added Al Qatami.

Providing even greater freedom and space, the new MINI Countryman offers a versatile and comfortable ride every time. Its increased length and the option of all-wheel drive offers the perfect solution for getting around town during the week as well as providing enough room for weekend getaway trips. In fact, the MINI

To peg or not to peg common currency?

GCC Monetary Union - KAMCO REPORT

Al Tijari signs contract with AG Mart to supply POS terminals KUWAIT: The Commercial Bank of Kuwait signed a contract to supply the point of sale machines for the first branch in a series of AG Mart supermarkets chain in Kuwait, which is located in Salmiya on Salem Al Mubarak Street. AG Mart includes all the necessities that families require like food and beverages, clothing and house tools and many different sections. Simon Clements, General Manager of Retail Banking, and Adel Mahdi, Manager of Merchant POS, attended the signing ceremony along with Heba Mohamed, a representative of the owner and general manager of the company in addition to Ahmed Barakat who is the manager of AG Mart.

Clements stated that the Commercial Bank of Kuwait continues its success in attracting prominent names in the local market and offers them high services and additional features on their POS terminals like the e-mail service for the daily transactions that are made through the terminal in addition to second day collection period for all POS transactions including holidays and weekends, It should be noted that the Commercial Bank of Kuwait has the second largest market share in Kuwait of the point of sale machines and is always striving to support the traders and facilitate their business.

‘Dubai was Right,’ says flydubai CEO

Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO of Dubai’s first low cost airline, flydubai.

Countryman has claimed the top 5-star score in the latest Euro NCAP crash test results, making it one of the safest cars on the road.

The car has been designed to ensure highly effective occupant protection for both adults and children in various types of collision.

Inside the MINI Countryman, it’s all about comfort and practicality matched with an innovative style. Combinations in the MINI Countryman’s range also include a host of new interior colors, such as trim strips and upholstery which

enables the customer to create a MINI with a truly unique character.

At the exclusive ‘MINI Countryman Getaway’ event at Avenues Mall, An all-star entertainment line-up set the ambiance for the evening, with performances from freestylers and a DJ. Upon arrival, guests were greeted with everything you might need on an afternoon getaway to the beach or an evening wadi bashing. One side of the display mimicked the beach with scenes of sun, sea and sand complete with an interactive Wii surfing game, whilst partygoers in the Wadi Zone experienced the dry and rocky Kuwait desert terrain by night in a virtual test drive.

“Eye-catching, colorful and everything ‘Getaway’, the set up at the Avenues Mall was the perfect setting to unveil the new MINI Countryman and provide an amazing MINI experience for all,” said Mr Yousef Al Qatami, General Manager at Ali Alghanim & Sons.

“What better way to celebrate the beginning of what’s expected to be yet another successful year than to welcome a new addition to our MINI portfolio. The new MINI Countryman will allow us to bring MINI’s unique personality to a much wider audience as it opens up a whole new segment of customers who appreciate MINI but require more space and versatility.

We are confident that the new MINI Countryman will do well in Kuwait and build upon our successful 2010 sales results” added Al Qatami.

KUWAIT: On the eve of the region’s biggest tourism industry event, Arabian Travel Market, Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO of Dubai’s first low cost airline, flydubai, has paid tribute to those who continued to develop the tourism infrastructure in Dubai during the worst of the global economic crisis.

“Many people doubted Dubai for continuing to spend money on the development of hotels and associated tourism infrastructure at a time when people were cutting back on their travel spend,” said Al Ghaith. “The establishment of Dubai’s first low cost airline, flydubai, at the height of the crisis was questioned by some - but Dubai was right.

“Continued increases in the number of visitors to Dubai and the UAE, and the number of people travelling through Dubai’s airport prove that the continued development of the infrastructure needed to cope with these visitors was the right thing to do. Without that development Dubai would not be in the position it is to capitalise on the increased visitor numbers.

“These additional tourists and business travellers are coming for a variety of reasons, not least the recent turmoil in the region. People are putting Dubai and the UAE at the top of their leisure and business travel wish lists because they are very safe, comfortable and enjoyable destinations with something to offer to all types of travellers.

They are also now an affordable travel

options thanks to the lower fares introduced by flydubai and the UAE’s burgeoning budget hotel market.

“Travel is something that people both need to and enjoy doing. Regional turmoil and economic crises are temporary situations which, over time, are resolved - and when they are, people start to travel again. Dubai has been very smart in continuing to invest to ensure the country is ready to capitalise on the inevitable return to travel,” Al Ghaith added. flydubai’s own figures show that despite starting operations during the worst economic crisis for more than a generation, it was the right thing to do. Fleet growth of almost 120% (end 2010 v end 2009) combined with network growth of 164% (end 2010 v end 2009) show that flydubai is now a force to be reckoned with in the regional air travel market. The airline now operates more than 500 flights per week to 36 destinations, using 16 brand new Boeing 737-800NG aircraft more than half of which are equipped with flydubai’s revolutionary new in-flight entertainment system.But despite such rapid increases in fleet, flights and network, the airline has stayed true to its commitment to ensure a quality, low cost service for passengers. During 2010, flydubai maintained an impressive On Time Performance record of 83% for Departures and 80% for Arrivals. This is one measure of how successful an airline is and these figures ensure flydubai has one of the best records in the industry.

KUWAIT: In establishing a Monetary Union, the GCC countries must decide on the exchange rate regime for the single currency. The countries’ use of a US dollar peg as an external anchor for monetary policy has so far served them well, but rising inflation in recent years has raised the question of whether the dollar peg remains the best policy. The conventional view on the choice of exchange rate regime has been that exchange rate flexibility allows for macroeconomic and financial stability in the face of real domestic shocks or foreign nominal shocks.

Ideally, the exchange rate regime chosen should yield external stability (a balance of payments position that is not likely to give rise to disruptive adjustments in exchange rates), internal stability (low inflation), balance sheet stability (deals with the impact of exchange rate volatility on the net open position of the financial and public sectors), int’l competitiveness (how well the real exchange rate supports external trade), credibility of monetary policy, and low transaction costs.

GCC countries have pursued economic policies consistent with exchange rate pegs. For instance, they have implemented appropriate fiscal policies and have flexible labor and product markets. GCC members have also accumulated significant foreign exchange reserves, underpinning the credibility of the peg and discouraging speculation against their currencies.

All in all, from the standpoint of macroeconomic stability, the dollar peg has worked well in these countries, keeping inflation relatively low and strengthening confidence in the currencies and in the economies more generally.

Given that inflation is an important area where control is still needed in terms of convergence criteria, two main arguments have been used to support alternative exchange rate regimes rather than the US dollar peg regime for the GMU. The first is that GCC countries can pursue domestic goals of inflation and output better if they had monetary policy independence.

The second argument is that imported inflation, owing to a sustained depreciation of the US dollar, could be avoided by abandoning the US dollar peg regime. These arguments have not had sufficient merit in the past owing to the fact that, despite a significant depreciation of the US dollar, inflation in most GCC countries have been subdued except for 2007-2008 and is currently stable at single digit rates.

US Dollar Peg Even though the share of trade between the GCC and the United States is comparatively low, a good case can be made for the GMU to continue pegging to the green back since almost all exports (primarily oil and gas) and a very high proportion of the external assets are US dollar denominated. A dollar peg ensures stability of income flows from abroad and stabilizes fluctuations in financial wealth. The dollar peg provides a strong and easily understood anchor for monetary policy. It is not possible to deviate too much from the US rate of inflation for an extended period of time.

Managed Floating Managed floating is a system of floating exchange rates in which the government or the central bank intervenes to change the direction of the value of the currency through buying and selling of the currency. In most instances, the intervention aspect of a managed float system is meant to act as a buffer against an external economic shock before its effects become truly disruptive to the domestic economy. Letting the single GCC currency float against other currencies would have the advantage of allowing the GCC countries to use monetary policy to stabilize inflation and to promote the growth of the private non-oil economy by allowing the countries to absorb large adverse real shocks more easily than a fixed exchange rate regime. A more flexible exchange rate regime would also allow the countries to absorb large adverse shocks more easily than a fixed exchange rate regime.

Basket Peg Pegging a currency to a ‘Basket’ of currencies, or Special Drawing Rights (SDR), could serve as a cautious move towards a more flexible exchange rate policy. With a basket peg, the main anchor properties of an exchange rate peg could be retained, while at the same time gaining some flexibility to react to negative effects of swings among the value of the major currencies. The volatility of the nominal effective exchange rate would be reduced, benefiting external trade and balance sheet stability. For example, a peg to the SDR would result in lower volatility of oil export receipts relative to the dollar peg.

KUWAIT: Next Generation Company signed an agreement with Istanbul Investment Co to publish a directory in both Arabic and Turkish languages on Turkish industrial products. The directory will consist of more than 800 pages and a CD which will help businessmen learn Turkish language with the help of the electronic copy. The directory will be distributed in all Middle East countries.

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KSE stocks rise, banking stocks pare early losses

Sector-wise Looking at sectoral performance, four out of the eight sectors of the market managed to eke out some gain. Investment index led the pack of advancers with a 0.63 percent climb. Global Investment House bolstered the gains, with its share price ending up by 3.77 percent. In the meantime, two of the smaller sized investment compa-

Kuwait’s crude exports to Japan down 11.9% TOKYO: Kuwait’s crude oil exports to Japan fell 11.9 percent in March from a year earlier to 7.22 million barrels, or 233,000 barrels per day (bpd), for the third consecutive monthly drop, the latest government shows.

Kuwait supplied 6.2 percent of nation’s crude oil in March, compared with 6. 6 percent in the same month of last year and 5.6 percent in February, the Japanese Natural Resources and Energy Agency, a unit of the Ministr y of Economy, Trade and Industry, said in a preliminary report. Japan is Kuwait’s largest oil buyer with accounting for roughly 20 percent of its total crude exports of 1.3-1.5 million bpd at any given time, according the state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).

Japan’s overall imports of crude oil in the reporting month dropped 6.3 percent year-on-year to 117.25 million barrels (3.78 million bpd) for the first decline in two months. Shipments from the

GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Kuwait-listed stocks ended yesterday’s session slightly higher supported by increase seen on select investment stocks. Moreover, banking sector rebounded and erased the previous session’s loss, supporting the index gain.

Global General Index (GGI), market weighted, ended the day up by 0.07 percent, at 206.66 point.

Market capitalization was up for the day at KD33.89bn. On the other hand, KSE Price Index closed at 6,516.6 point, adding 8.30 points (0.13 percent) to its previous close.

During the session, 108 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards advancers as 45 equities advanced versus 24 that retreated.

The performance was accompanied by growing trading activity with most of the trades conducted in the Investment sector. Total volume traded was up by 21.68 percent with 223.58mn shares changing hands at a total value of KD36.30mn (64.60 percent higher compared to the day before). The Investment Sector was the volume leader yesterday, accounting for 41.06 percent of total shares. The Ser vices sector was the value leader, with 34.21 percent of total traded value.

Zain was the most active in terms of values of shares traded during yesterday’s session, with 6.83mn shares exchanged at an aggregate value of KD8.19mn.

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

Middle East fell 4.2 percent to 106.55 million barrels (3.44 million bpd), and accounted for 90.9 percent of the total, up 2.0 percentage points from a year before.

Saudi Arabia remained Japan’s biggest oil supplier, with imports from the kingdom increasing 2.1 percent from a year earlier to 37.26 million barrels (1.20 million bpd), followed by the United Arab Emirates with 28.17 million barrels (909,000 bpd), down 3.9 percent.

Iran ranked third, though its shipments fell 3.8 percent to 13.18 million barrels (425,000 bpd). Qatar became fourth with 13.13 million barrels (424,000 bpd), down 14.9 percent. On April 18, the Kuwaiti government announced that it will donate 5 million bpd of crude oil to Japan to help the country recover from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The donation, equivalent to some $550 million, surpasses Japan’s daily consumption of 4.4 million barrels. — KUNA

Bahrain’s BAPCO sells 100,000 ton naphtha nies made it to the top gainers list.

Housing Finance Company (ISKAN) and Al-Qurain Holding Company ended up by 7.97 percent and 5.56 percent, respectively. Elsewhere, Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) announced that an auction will be held today at 12:30 p.m. on the trading floor, to offload a total of 8,296,724 shares of International Finance Co, which is currently suspended from trading.

Banking stocks also had positive per formance, with the sector ’s index adding 0.59 percent in daily gains. The sector as a whole produced four advancers, versus two decliners. Share price of National Bank of Kuwait appreciated by 1.61 percent, whilst Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait was the top gainer in the

sector, adding 1.56 percent to its share value. Industrial stocks were notable gainers as well. The sector as a whole, presented through Global Industrial Index, added 0.36 percent in gains. Within the sector, Kuwait Metal Pipe Industries & Oil Services Company registered a 4.85 percent climb.

On the other side, the Services Index was the biggest loser, shedding 0.80 percent of its value. The biggest listed Kuwaiti company, Zain ended the day down by 1.67 percent.

Corporate News Shares of Tamdeen Real Estate Company will be traded ex-dividends as of today (May 03, 2011).

The company will distribute a 10

percent cash dividend.

Agility has been awarded a contract by Arabi Enertech, a contracting and trading company in Kuwait, to transfer a 367-ton airplane from Kuwait to Saudi Arabia using road transportation, according to a press release on Sunday. An expert in managing large-scale projects, Agility developed a tailored solution for Arabi Enertech that allows for a successful transport of a training plane which is used for emergency evacuation drills and fire fighting simulations.

The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $120.35 a barrel on Friday, compared with $120.91 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

DUBAI: State-owned Bahrain Petroleum Co (BAPCO) has sold two 50,000 ton cargoes of naphtha for June loading, trade sources said yesterday, in one of its biggest sales since the refinery underwent a major turnaround in February. The company has been in the market since last week and has now completed the sales, four trading sources said. One industry source said Japanese trader Marubeni was the buyer for at least one cargo but this could not be confirmed by other traders.

“We will probably see more sales from BAPCO in the coming weeks as the refinery is back to normal now,” one trader said. One source said the premiums for both cargoes were at $27 a ton to Middle East quotes on free-on-board (FOB) basis.

“There’s only one home for this type of cargoes and that is Asia petrochemicals sector,” one trader said, adding that the price was broadly in line with the market.

“That number doesn’t surprise me at all.”

But another said it was expensive. “FOB premiums are out of control. They are disconnected from cracker or blending mar-

gins,” he said. In Asia, the naphtha crack rose to its highest in nearly four months on Friday while the front-month backwardation widened a dollar.

“Marubeni is quite active in the Indian and Middle Eastern naphtha market,” one trader said. “Also, they might have been caught short in which case any price makes sense,” he said.

The March 11 earthquake disrupted production across Japan’s petrochemical sector, which is slowly restoring production.

The country depends heavily on naphtha imports.

Output at BAPCO fell to 190,000 barrels per day from a full capacity of 260,000 bpd during the outage, which the chief executive of the company described in March as the biggest in the firm’s history.

Traders had said the output was also affected by the violent unrest in the Gulf Arab country, which has seen days of sectarian clashes during March. One industry source said he expected jet fuel sales from BAPCO in June. BAPCO officials were not available for comment. — Reuters

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business

Chrysler turns first profit since bankruptcy DETROIT: Chrysler has turned its first profit since leaving bankruptcy two years ago. The company reported first-quarter net income of $116 million and revenue of $13.1 billion yesterday. The profit is a milestone in Chrysler’s long road back to health after its 2009 bankruptcy. It last reported a net profit in 2006. Chrysler’s return to profitability is also another chapter in the comeback of the Detroit Three automakers. General Motors Co, which also went into bankruptcy in 2009 and took government loans, has reported a string of profitable quarters and held an initial public offering in November.

Ford Motor Co, which didn’t take bailout money but nearly had to file for bankruptcy five years ago, reported its eighth consecutive quarterly profit last week. Several trends put Detroit’s automakers — and Chrysler in particular — back in the black. Sales are rising as the economy improves, and each of the companies has released popular new products. Chrysler’s sales rose 18 percent worldwide in the first three months of the year.

“Chrysler Group’s improved sales and financial performance in the first quarter show that our rejuvenated product lineup is gaining

momentum in the marketplace and resonating with customers,” Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said in a statement.

Momentum is crucial. Chrysler wants to hold an initial public offering later this year or early next, but investors must first see a string of profitable quarters. Chrysler’s new vehicles caught buyers’ eyes in the latest quarter. US sales of the revamped Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV jumped 64 percent, while sales of the Chrysler 200 sedan more than quadrupled over those of its predecessor, the Sebring.

Chrysler said buyers were willing to pay more for its cars and trucks.

Edmunds.com estimates the company lowered incentive spending by nearly $1,000 per vehicle in the quarter. Revenues rose 35 percent.

Chrysler last reported a profitable quarter in 2006, one year before it was sold by Daimler AG to privateequity firm Cerberus Capital Management.

Cerberus didn’t invest the cash needed to weather the worst auto sales decline in more than 25 years, and as a result, Chrysler came close to running out of money at the end of 2008. The US government stepped in, authorizing $10 billion in aid and appointing Marchionne

to run the company after it emerged from bankruptcy protection in June 2009.

The US government remains a part owner of Chrysler, holding an 8.6 percent stake. But Chrysler is tr ying to sever those ties. Last week, the company said it will soon repay $7.5 billion of the bailout from the US and Canadian governments using a new, $3.5 billion bank loan and $1.5 billion credit facility and a $2.5 billion debt offering. The move will save Chrysler millions in interest payments. Its government loans carry an average interest rate of 12 percent and cost the company $1.2 billion in interest last year.

The US government is also expected to recoup some of the bailout money when it sells its stock in the public offering.

Chrysler isn’t out of the woods.

The company still depends on sales of trucks and SUVs, and rising gas prices will likely hurt sales. The company doesn’t currently have a hybrid or a small car that gets 40 miles per gallon, as competitors Hyundai, Ford, General Motors and Toyota do. And some competitors are gaining US market share at a faster rate than Chrysler, including Nissan and Kia. But that’s not keep-

India clears $12 billion S Korean steel plant NEW DELHI: India yesterday gave final clearance to South Korean giant POSCO’s proposed $12 billion steel plant in a deal seen as a test of the country’s openness to foreign investment.

The plant-one of India’s biggest foreign projects since the launch of market reforms in 1991 — has faced fierce opposition from locals in eastern Orissa state campaigning to save farmland and forests.

The environment ministry, which gave permission for the plant to be built in January, had stipulated that the Orissa government should investigate claims by locals who could be forced off their land.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Orissa authorities had dismissed the claims and therefore “final approval is accorded to the state government” to give 1,253 hectares (3,100 acres) of forest to POSCO. Under India’s federal system, “faith and trust in what the state government says is an essential pillar,” Ramesh said, although he noted Orissa’s state government had been “actively canvassing” on behalf of the POSCO proposal.

Indian law stipulates no forest land can be cleared without the approval of people who stake claim to the land.

The POSCO deal, originally announced in 2005, had been keenly watched as a test case for foreign investors eager to enter the fast-growing Asian economy but wary of the potential for environmental concerns to derail their plans.

Giant steelmaker ArcelorMittal, controlled by Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, has also found itself unable to acquire land for a proposed plant in eastern India.

Ramesh said the approval was conditional on POSCO regenerating an equal area of forest in an area decided

by Orissa, as well as paying for the land. The plant had “considerable economic, technological and strategic

significance,” the minister said, adding “at the same time, laws on the environment and forests must be implemented seriously.” Ramesh, who has earned a reputation as a green crusader for blocking investment projects, said yesterday he believed 60 conditions imposed on POSCO would protect the ecology and livelihoods.

Madhuresh Kumar, national organizer for the anti-POSCO National Alliance of People’s Movements, called the government’s decision “deeply unfortunate”.

“The government is neglecting its own committee reports on the project and granting clearance. The decision is completely illegal and unconstitutional,” Kumar said.

Officials at POSCO welcomed the approval. “It has been a long wait for us, but we followed the law of the land diligently, and had the full support of the state government,” Vikash Sharan, spokesman for POSCO India, told AFP. Industrialization has long been championed by the government as a way to drive growth and pull millions out of poverty, but land acquisitions have often created battlegrounds between local groups and companies.

The environment ministry has in recent months delayed or denied permission to several industrial projects, especially in mineral-laden, forest-rich eastern India.

The POSCO approval comes after India saw foreign direct investment decline sharply last year. The country’s central bank blamed that in part on “environment-sensitive policies” that affected investor sentiment. At the same time, Ramesh imposed an additional condition, saying POSCO should not export iron ore from the plant.

India has been seeking to stop firms from exporting raw materials as the local steel industry is rapidly increasing capacity to supply the fast growing economy. — AFP

WASHINGTON: The Chrysler 200C EV concept car at the Washington Auto Show in Washington, DC. US automaker Chrysler posted yesterday its first quarterly profit, totaling some $116 million, since emerging from bankruptcy. — AFP ing some from feeling bullish about its future. Last month, Fiat SpA, which is also run by Marchionne,

gave Chrysler a vote of confidence when it said it will spend $1.3 billion to raise its stake in the

Qatar Airways plans to buy Cargolux stake Airline expects Boeing 787 delivery earlier than scheduled DUBAI: Qatar Airways, one of the Arab world’s largest carriers, expects to sign a deal for a 33percent stake in European all-cargo airline Cargolux in a few weeks, its chief executive said yesterday.

Cargolux, Europe’s largest all-cargo airline, has previously said it was in talks to sell stake to a strategic investor. “We are soon going to sign an agreement with them (Cargolux) ... in a few weeks. We see there are synergies and Qatar Airways would like to expand,” Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker told reporters in Dubai. He did not give a value for the deal.

Abu Dhabi-based rival Etihad Airways tried to buy a 33.7 percent stake in Cargolux in 2005.

At that time reports put the price of the deal at $130 million.

Qatar Airways, half-owned by the Gulf Arab state’s sovereign wealth Qatar Investment Authority, will continue to scout for other deals in the future, the chief executive said.

“We will only be interested in other airlines if they are healthy, well established and will add value to Qatar Airways,” he said. Al Baker was quoted last month as saying the airline was on the lookout for acquisitions this year.

The airline said in December it is planning to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in early 2012 after three consecutive years of profit.

Qatar Airways will list the planned IPO in Qatar

Chief Executive Akbar Al-Baker and abroad, and a London listing was one of the options, Al Baker said yesterday.

The airline expects to post a net profit of over $250 million for its financial year ending

2010-2011, compared with $205 million for the year-ago period, the CEO said.

Qatar Airways sees its fleet size growing to 120 aircraft over the next two years, reaching 110 in 2011 with the expected delivery of 10 aircraft this year as it opens new routes and expands its geographical footprint, the chief executive said. He said the airline, which has been facing delays for the Boeing 787, now has specific dates from the plane maker and expects to take delivery earlier than indicated.

A year ago, it increased its orders from two to six and said it expected to take delivery by September 2011.

Al Baker has heavily criticized Boeing in the past for delay in delivery of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft and has threatened to shift extra business to Europe’s Airbus.

Qatar and other Gulf airlines want new planes delivered quickly to support their plans to make the region an important hub. Qatar, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, is building a new airport with the capacity to accommodate 50 million passengers per year. The funding for 10 aircraft scheduled for 2011 will be done internally and the airline had no plans to raise money through sale of bonds in the near future, Al Baker said. “We are very ok. We like to keep everything in house at the moment,” he said. — Reuters

Halkbank Q1 profit seen dropping 10.4% ISTANBUL: Turkish state-run lender Halkbank is seen posting a 10.4 percent drop in first-quarter net profit due to lower margins as a result of the higher reserve requirements for banks ordered by the central bank.

Unconsolidated net profit at Halkbank, which is 25 percent publicly traded, was seen falling to 461.3 million lira from 515 million lira in the same period a year earlier, according to the average fore-

cast in a Reuters poll of seven analysts. “Starting from the first quarter there has been a decline in operational profit in the banking sector,” said Hakan Aygun, an analyst at AK Investment in Istanbul.

“Profits declined as margins were squashed after higher reserve requirements and because of price pressure on loans amid competition.” Alarmed by the pace of credit growth and a spiraling current account deficit the central

bank adopted an unorthodox policy in December to keep interest rates low and instead aggressively hike banks’ reserve requirements to achieve an overall monetary tightening.

The central bank wants to keep credit growth within a 20 to 25 percent range this year in order to preserve financial stability and help rein in a record high current account deficit, but without raising interest rates, which would

Finnish party deals blow to Portuguese aid hopes HELSINKI: The eurosceptic True Finns party, which may join Finland’s next government, said yesterday it still opposes bailing out Portugal-raising the risk that an EU-led rescue for Lisbon may be disrupted.

The comments, which followed indications that the True Finns might soften their hard line on the stricken euro zone member, was a setback for prime-ministerin-waiting Jyrki Katainen, who is trying to cobble together an agreement on the plan.

Finland’s parliament, unlike others in the euro zone, has the right to vote on European Union requests for bailout funds, opening the possibility that it might block Portugal’s rescue.

The previously obscure True Finns, who came third in elections last month, restated their hostility to helping Lisbon with the current temporary EU bailout fund and to the creation of a permanent European rescue mechanism from 2013. “ We cannot with good conscience suppor t Portugal’s package nor the creation of a permanent bailout mechanism. Neither do we approve the hike of Finland’s guarantees in the temporary stability mechanism,” the party said in a statement.

Portugal became last month the third euro-zone country to seek foreign aid following Greece and Ireland. European Commission and IMF officials are discussing how to help Lisbon.

Katainen, who leads the National Coalition party, had called on leading Finnish politicians to take a stand on Portugal as he tries to form a government.

In last month’s elections, the True Finns narrowly trailed the Social Democrats and National Coalition, the biggest party. Although the True Finns ruled out supporting a Portuguese bailout, they said they were prepared to join talks on forming a coalition government which are due to begin on Tuesday.

American company. That will increase Fiat’s holdings from 30 percent to 46 percent. — AP

The Social Democrats are not anti-EU but they too have been critical of the idea of offering Portugal aid, at least without requiring banks and private investors to bear some of the burden.

An early agreement on Por tugal is crucial as European finance ministers discuss help for Lisbon as soon as in mid-May. Katainen said last Friday that Finland has only a few days to decide whether to back

aid for Portugal. True Finns party leader Timo Soini said on Saturday that helping Portugal might be in Finland’s best interests.

Asked if the party still opposed aid for Lisbon and the European bailout funds, he said: “That is the issue which is being negotiated now-whether it i s p o s s i b l e fo r t h e p r e - e l e c t i o n s t a n c e t o b e changed.” — Reuters

BRUSSELS: European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio (left), speaks with Mario Draghi, Italian President of the Financial Stability Board and Governor of the Bank of Italy, prior to a conference on ‘Strengthening the Foundations of Integrated and Stable Financials Markets’, at the EU Headquarters in Brussels, yesterday. —AFP

fuel a rise in the lira.

Some of the Turkish banks had sought to shore up profits by by cashing in profits on their bond portfolios, but Halkbank does not have such large income from bonds, Aygun said. The central bank moves have hit banking shares. Halkbank shares fell 8.8 percent in the first quar ter, underperforming a 2.4 percent decline in the Istanbul stock exchange. — Reuters

Key WTO panel endorses Vanuatu membership GENEVA: A key World Trade Organization panel yesterday endorsed Vanuatu’s membership bid, paving the way for the Pacific island state’s accession to the global free trade system, officials said.

A working party on Vanuatu, composed of interested WTO member states, wrapped up negotiations during a meeting in Geneva, 16 years after country applied. The deal will now be submitted for formal approval by all 153 members at a special session of the organization’s governing General Council at the end of May, a step that is usually a formality, a WTO spokeswoman added.

The terms then have to be ratified by Vanuatu’s parliament. “There has been approval of accession by the working party which takes us into the final, final phase,” Lamy told journalists after the meeting, underlining the value of integrating one of the world’s least developed countries into the free trade system. “It’s also a sign of confidence for the organization at a time of turbulence for the WTO,” he added, referring to the ailing Doha round of talks on expanding free trade, which are meant to benefit developing nations.

Vanuatu trade minister Sela Molisa welcomed yesterday’s step and said membership “will enhance our economy and contribute to the well being of our region.” Vanuatu’s accession reached the same stage in 2001 but the tiny country asked for more time to consider the terms of its entry. The process was frozen until it was revived in 2008. — AFP

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BUSINESS

Japan passes quake relief Budget; spending to rise Rebuilding may involve more bond issuance, tax hikes TOKYO: Japan’s parliament yesterday passed a $50 billion emergency budget for disaster relief after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, a down payment on what is set to be the country’s biggest public works effort in six decades. The overall cost of damage caused by the world’s costliest natural disaster is estimated at $300 billion and the 4 trillion yen emergency budget will be followed by more reconstruction spending packages. Opposition parties backed the first round of spending to finance work such as clearing rubble in the disaster-stricken northeast and building temporary houses.

But reaching agreement on subsequent packages is likely to be much tougher as funding is expected to involve a mix of tax hikes as well as borrowing in the bond market, a strain for Japan which is already saddled with public debt twice the size of its $5 trillion economy.

“Our basic stance is to come up with revenue sources while broadly reviewing both revenue and spending plans,” Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda told reporters. Noda said he has not decided yet on specifics but that if the government were to issue special bonds to fund reconstruction, they should be managed separately from other debt and repaid using specific revenue sources.

The minister said he hoped to compile the second extra budget as soon as possible but did not give a specific timeframe.

The ruling Democratic Party needs opposition help because it lacks a majority in the upper house, which can block bills including one needed to secure about 40 percent of the revenue to fund the main budget for this financial year. The first extra budget does not resort to fresh bond issuance. But unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who has come under fire for his handling of the crisis, has said Japan may have to issue fresh government bonds to fund further

TOKYO: (From right) Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, bow just after the supplementary budget bill for the fiscal 2011 year was approved, at Parliament’s upper house in Tokyo yesterday. Parliament passed a 4 trillion yen ($48 billion) tsunami recovery budget yesterday, but it will cover only a fraction of the cost of what was the most expensive disaster ever. —AP supplementary budgets.

Growing calls for Kan to resign, from within and outside his party, will make it hard for him to garner enough support to pass a second extra budget.

“If the political wrangling

keeps the government from proceeding with a second extra budget, Kan might have no choice but to promise to call a general election in exchange for its passage,” said Hide Suezawa, chief strategist at SMBC Nikko

Securities.

“Should the second extra budget be delayed to such an extent that the economy worsens further and companies are prompted to shift production overseas, this would further

erode Japan’s ability to finance its debt and thus put upward pressure on long-term rates.”

Kan has said a sizable amount of funds would be needed for a second extra budget, which is expected to be compiled by autumn although in the absence of further details bond investors remain nervous.

Japan does not now face a Greece-style debt crisis since its public debt is held almost entirely by domestic investors.

But players are keeping a close watch on Japan’s fiscal health.

The bulk of the 4.0153 trillion yen spending in the first extra budget-which includes 1.2 trillion yen of infrastructure spending-will be financed through spending cuts in existing programs ranging from foreign aid to pension funds and the forgoing of increases in payout to families with children.

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that followed threw Japan into its deepest crisis since World War Two, leaving around 26,000 dead or missing, and destroying tens of thousands of homes.

The tsunami also crippled a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo causing it to leak radiation and plant’s operator Tokyo Electric Power Co says it could take all year to bring the plant back under control. —Reuters

Greek debt restructuring ‘not part of our strategy’: EU BRUSSELS: EU economic affairs chief Olli Rehn warned yesterday that debt restructuring for Greece is not part of Europe’s strategy and would have “devastating” consequences, one year to t h e d ay a f te r a re s c u e e n a b l e d Greece to avoid default.

“Proponents of debt restructuring seem to ignore the potentially devastating consequences for the country itself (Greece) and the euro area as a whole,” European Union Economic Affairs Commissioner Rehn said. “I repeat it is not part of our strategy,” he told financial policymakers in Brussels a t a co n fe re n ce l o o k i n g a t t h e European Union response to the finanial crisis of the last 30 months.

On May 2, 2010, European Union leaders agreed a 110-billion-euro joint bailout of the Greek government with the International Monetary Fund. A week later, they set up a crisis fund worth a trillion dollars all told, which has since been tapped by Ireland-to the tune of 67.5 billion euros-and negotiations are currently under way with Portugal over a bailout estimated at some 80 billion.

H owe ve r, w i t h t h e re ce s s i o n i n Greece meaning its economy has not p e r fo r m e d a s we l l a s h o p e d a m i d

ATHENS: Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou (center) speaks next to Justice Minister Haris Kastanidis (right) and Michalis Chrisohoidis, Minister of Regional Development and Competitiveness, left, during a news conference in Athens yesterday. —AP huge cuts in public spending, many financial experts are convinced Greece w i l l h ave to re s t r u c t u re i t s p u b l i c d e b t s - p e g g e d l a s t we e k by t h e European Commission at some 330 billion euros.

“Some people argue that the crisis management of the EU with regards to Greece... is vague,” Rehn said. He insisted: “I disagree... The aim of our strategy has been first of all to prevent a repeat cardiac arrest in financial markets,”

TNT’s Q1 profit falls 14% on express woes AMSTERDAM: TNT NV, the Dutch mail and global express company, has reported a 14 percent fall in first quarter profits due to high fuel costs and problems at both its major divisions.

Net profit was 123 million euros ($182 million), compared with 143 million euros in the same period a year earlier. However, revenues rose 4.3 percent to 1.11 billion euros on the back of growth at its loss-making international mail delivery arm, which competes in Germany and more recently in Italy. The overall increase masked continued declines at the core Dutch mail arm, which witnessed another 8.6 percent fall during the first three months.

Because the domestic business is suffering under competition from the likes of Deutsche Post, TNT is to cut around 11,000 jobs, or a third of its mail service employees. It’s also going to ask shareholders later this month to approve a spin-off of its

express arm, which is expected to grow eventually.

TNT said yesterday that mail operating profits on an “underlying” basis — a nonstandard measure that strips out one-off charges and currency effects — fell by 33 percent to §120 million due to falling addressed mail volumes in the Netherlands and higher pension costs. Express operating profits fell by 31 percent to 49 million euros as higher fuel costs and widespread competition hit the business, despite the modest economic recovery in most areas. The underlying figure differs sharply from the actual operating figure at express: the arm reported an actual §79 million euro loss, due to a 120 million euros noncash impairment charge on the value of its Brazilian operations.

The company said corporate customers who are the source of most express mail profits are slowly returning, but profits are still suffer-

ing from natural disasters, high oil prices and operational problems in Brazil. Shares dropped 5.9 percent to 15.65 euros in early Amsterdam trading Though analyst Victor Bareno of SNS Securities said the results were not surprising, given the company had issued a profit warning in April, he said the accompanying text “is not an easy read for management.” He pointed to company remarks that TNT’s European infrastructure remains underutilized; in Asia business started the year weak and has remained flat outside of China; and the Brazil operations may not be turned around before the second half of 2012.

Bareno kept a “hold” recommendation on the stock, as the express division is seen as a likely takeover target for UPS or FedEx — assuming shareholders approve the spinoff as expected at TNT’s annual shareholders’ meeting on May 25. —AP

after the collapse of Lehmann Brothers bank in September 2008.

“Secondly, we have been able to largely contain stress in sovereign financial markets to three more vulnerable nations,” Greece, Ireland and now Portugal. Rehn maintained that a narrow i ng of b ond s p re a d s v i s -a -v i s German borrowing costs for Spain, a major euro-zone economy but one also heavily-indebted and laboring under high unemployment of some 20 percent, meant Spain “is recovering... thanks to determined action” towards fiscal consolidation.

He said that European Commission “analysis shows that the debt-to-GDP ratios have stabilized and are starting to decline,” provided the Greek and Irish EU-IMF loan programs are fully implemented. Rehn said the key going forward lay in euro-zone states having “addressed systemic weaknesses in EU economic governance to prepare for a profound change in the policy-making landscape of the EU.” EU leaders are toiling to agree a revamp of economic policy across borders at a June summit, in a bid to ensure all currency partners act in the interests of the whole not just their own economies. —AFP

TOKYO: A woman wearing a face and neck cover protecting herself from UV exposure and the sandstorm blown to Japan from the Gobi Desert in southern Mongolia and inner Mongolia, China, walks past an electric stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo yesterday. —AP

European, Indian factories heat up as China cools LONDON/MUMBAI: Euro-zone factories ramped up output and prices last month while manufacturers in India also powered ahead, business surveys showed yesterday, keeping two cycles of likely further interest rate hikes on track.

In China, monetary tightening looked to be biting into the economy more deeply than expected as the factory sector there cooled, while data due later from the United States is expected to show factories in the world’s largest economy have eased off the gas too. The Markit Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which records manufacturing activity across all the major euro area economies, rose to 58.0 last month from March’s 57.5.

The index hit a near-11 year high of 59.0 in February.

Frustratingly for policymakers, the bounce was once again driven by Germany, Europe’s largest economy, and France whose growth overshadowed a continued slide to stagnation in Spain and a persistent contraction in Greece.

“Manufacturing activity was once again robust in April in the core northern euro zone economies, led by Germany.

Elsewhere the situation was not so bright,” said Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight.

Earlier figures showed India’s factories expanded in April for the 25th consecutive month and at their strongest pace since November with the PMI rising to 58.0 from 57.9 in March, well above the 50 mark that divides growth from expansion.

Data on Sunday showed China’s official PMI fell to 52.9 in April from 53.4 in March, falling short of market forecasts for a rise to 54 as growth in new orders weakened to an eight-month low. “Overall, the PMI shows there is still a possibility that the Chinese economy may slow down, especially as falling demand growth leads to adjustments in inventories, increasing the possibility of slowing economic growth,” said Zhang Liqun, a government researcher.

“The fall may show that export growth will continue to slow down,” Zhang said in a comment on behalf of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, which compiles the official PMI. The data sends worrying signals to the global economy, which has grown reliant on Chinese demand as a source of growth with the United States, Europe and Japan struggling to recover from the financial crisis.

South Korea’s HSBC Markit manufacturing PMI fell to its lowest level since November last year at 51.69 in April from 52.84 in March. The increase in output is coming at a cost and the euro zone PMI output price index stayed high at 61.0, only nudging down from March’s survey peak of 61.5, which was revised up from a flash reading of 60.7.

Official flash data released on Friday showed consumer prices in the bloc rose 2.8 percent in April, up from March’s 2.7 percent and above expectations for an unchanged reading.

The figures will bolster those policymakers at the European Central Bank who believe the strong recovery in Europe’s core economies calls for more monetary tightening before price rises become entrenched, even while weaker euro zone states remain engulfed in the debt crisis.

The ECB was the first of the world’s big four central banks to raise rates when it upped them by 25 basis points from a record low of 1.0 percent earlier this month but is not seen making its next tightening move until July. “By showing ongoing robust euro zone manufacturing activity and rising price pressures, the purchasing managers’ survey reinforces belief that the ECB will pull the interest rate trigger sooner rather than later,” Archer said.

Indian inflation indicators showed some easing in price pressures but from elevated levels, suggesting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will also hike again, as early as Tuesday, for the ninth time since March 2010.

“The number confirms that growth is not a concern and that the RBI can continue its tightening cycle uninterrupted,” said Leif Eskesen, chief economist for India and ASEAN at HSBC. —Reuters

French car sales fall 11.2% in April: CCFA PARIS: French car sales fell 11.2 percent in April, showing the effects of the end of France’s scrappage scheme, in a dip overshadowed by the 51 percent plunge in Japan’s auto sales after the March 11 earthquake there.

Japanese new vehicle sales in April halved, sinking to the lowest monthly tally on record, as domestic automakers felt the full brunt of the March 11 earthquake that caused unprecedented disruption to car production. In contrast, South Korea’s Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia Motors benefited from Japanese automakers’ woes to post double-digit global sales growth for the month.

In France, car sales rose 4 percent in the first four months of the year, car makers’ association CCFA said in a statement yesterday.

CCFA said 169,453 new passenger cars were registered in April

2011, which had one fewer working days than April 2010. France’s highly successful scrapping incentive scheme ran out in December 2010, but drivers who bought cars as part of the scheme could register them until the end of March 2011.

A CCFA spokesman said: “The big winners of last year with the scrapping scheme are the worst affected by this fall.” Supply problems affecting the sector were not helping, he added: “The auto sector was already having trouble meeting demand, and the Japan problem is only going to make the situation worse.”

Many car makers source electronic components from the region of north-east Japan worst affected by the natural disaster, whose aftermath is disrupting the global auto supply chain.

Car makers have relied on stocks to maintain production, but many have warned there could be prob-

lems in the coming months as suppliers struggle to restart production and sourcing components elsewhere remains a costly and complicated back-up option.

Sales of light utility vehicles fell 6.4 percent in April and rose 4.6 percent in January-April in France.

Renault saw a 19.1 percent drop in group passenger car sales last month, while PSA Peugeot Citroen saw group car sales fall 21.1 percent. Volkswagen, Europe’s largest car maker, saw a 2.1 percent increase in April group passenger car sales in France, while Japan’s Toyota and Nissan sales rose 27.4 percent and 25.6 percent respectively. “The French market is returning to normal (after the scrapping scheme),” said Flavien Neuvy, head of the automobile industry research department at French consumer credit organization Cetelem. —Reuters

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TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

TECHNOLOGY

Earbud pioneer starts over with new business ORLANDO: In 1995, sound engineer Jerry Harvey started his first tour with the rock band Van Halen. He had been mixing sound for St. Louis rock bands playing small gigs in that city’s bars since he was 16, but his big break had come in 1986, after a chance meeting with David Lee Roth led to his first big-arena tour.

But the 1995 Van Halen tour was different for Harvey, for that’s when he made his first set of earbuds — the first in-ear monitors with both high and low outputs in each ear — in the back of a tour bus, using parts intended for hearing aids and pacemakers.

Those earbuds, first made for drummer Alex Van Halen, spawned Ultimate Ears, still the industry leader in customized earbuds for performing artists and audiophiles.

But now Ultimate Ears has a competitor: Apopka, Fla.-based JH Audio, which manufactured and sold about 3,000 customized earbuds last year to customers that include recording and performing artists such as TPain, Lady Gaga and Alicia Keys.

One catch: JH Audio’s full company name is Jerry Harvey Audio LLC. Harvey founded JH Audio in 2009 after a two-year hiatus from the industry. He had founded Ultimate Ears in 1995 in Las Vegas with his then-ex-first-wife Mindy Harvey, after the Van Halen tour. But in 2007, three years after a California-based capital-investment firm took a stake in the company, Harvey was forced out, he said.

“As soon as the investor thought that I was out of ideas, he thought it would be a good time to maximize his position in the company by forcing the founder out,” he said.

A year later, Mindy Harvey and the capital-investment firm sold Ultimate Ears to Logitech International SA, the giant Swiss company known worldwide for its computer peripherals.

Ultimate Ears has changed significantly since then. Before Logitech acquired the company, it sold only high-end, custom earbuds for as much as $1,350 a pair. But its expanded product line now includes models that sell for as little as $20 each.

Philippe Depallens, Logitech’s vice president and general manager for earphones and headsets, says the high-end models are still the company’s focus. “We believe that we have been able to, despite (Jerr y Harvey’s) departure, keep carrying the torch of having the best in-ear monitors on the market,” he said.

Jerry Harvey says he didn’t create the new company for a grudge match with his old one. “They are really good with computer peripherals, if you want a mouse or something like that, but I believe they have lost their way as far as what a professional audio person needs.”

Tim Gideon, lead analyst of audio and video for PC Magazine, reviewed JH Audio’s most-expensive model, the JH 16 Pro ($1,149), last August and compared it with similar Ultimate Ear products. His conclusion: “They both offer very high-quality, custom-molded earphones. ... I think they are about on equal footing.”

Custom earbuds, or in-ear monitors, developed as replacements for the audio speakers that face musicians or singers as they perform during live shows; the speakers amplify just their instrument or voice so they can hear themselves over all the other music and the din of the audience.

For new customers, the purchasing process at JH Audio starts with a trip to an audiologist for ear-canal impressions.

Customers send the impressions to JH Audio, which crafts earbuds to fit each ear canal exactly, to keep out other, unwanted sounds.

Customers can choose the color of the

earbuds and the color of the cords — or can order custom designs. The rapper T-Pain had 12-gauge shotgun shells glued to the outside of his; other sets have been dressed up with diamonds and pearls, though custom artwork is more typical, said Brittany Harvey, Jerry’s second wife and JH Audio’s chief executive officer.

“It’s all about the user experience,” Jerry Harvey noted. “They can be pretty, but when you put them in your head, the experience should be awesome.”

That’s why each set is handcrafted, from assembly of the miniature speaker parts to manually configuring the output devices in the headset to ensure each has JH Audio’s signature sound pattern.

When the Harveys founded JH Audio in March 2009, they set up shop in a hangar at tiny Orlando Apopka Airport with the aim of making high-end earbuds for airplane pilots to replace bulky headphones.

The plan was to have pilots fly to the Apopka airport, get molds of their ear canals, manufacture the earbuds, and send the pilots on their way — all in one day. “ The problem is that there are only 600,000 pilots in America, and not all of those are active,” Jerry Harvey said. “The product was a great product, but it wasn’t profitable. There wasn’t enough volume to keep it going.” The company barely broke even on the venture, but it was able to work out the kinks in the production process now used to manufacture its current product line for musicians and audio enthusiasts, he said.

“We’re strictly a music company now,” he said. “That’s what we do best. There are 600,000 private pilots in America — and there are how many millions of iPods around the world?”

The week JH Audio started selling custom earbuds for music, it received 250 orders. The company has benefited from a

JH Audio manufactures custom-made in-ear headphones in Apopka, Florida. weak US dollar compared with other currencies, given the demand for its products in Asia, its biggest growth sector.

“The custom in-ears have become like Breitling and Rolex watches — it’s a status symbol,” Jerry Harvey said. “That’s why they have all this radical artwork done on them — they want people to know they have custom-molded earpieces.”

Last December, the company moved across town to two small office buildings.

According to Brittany Harvey, the company’s sales last year totaled more than $2 million, a figure she expects to exceed in 2011.

For one thing, the company plans to release in a few weeks a new top-of-the-line product designed by Jerry Harvey.

“It’s kind of reignited his passions; he’s

always coming up with new ideas,” Jaime Harvey, Jerry’s daughter and the business’ chief operating officer, said of the new company. “He wants to put a new product out every other week. We kind of have to bring him down to earth.”

Jerry Harvey has lingering regrets about the way things turned out for him with Ultimate Ears, but one thing his first company did for him: It made him a rock star in the earphone industry. His name is still wellknown by artists and audiophiles, and he credits both the name recognition and his desire to continually innovate for JH Audio’s current success.

“We’re going to be the industry leader. ...

That’s what we strive to be,” Harvey said.

“That’s all we care about.” — MCT

Programmer unknowingly liveblogs Laden operation ‘There goes the neighborhood’-

PHILADELPHIA: Surekha Sidney, a 27-year-old actuary, shops at Trader Joe’s at Center City in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 11, 2011. Sydney said she receives one voice mail for every 10 to 15 texts. It’s from “strangers or my parents,” she said. — MCT

Voice mail? That’s so last century PHILADELPHIA : Are voice mails obsolete? Does anyone even listen to them anymore? With so many easier ways to communicate, leaving a voice mail may be like putting a message in a bottle.

Someone might pick it up — eventually.

Ask any young person. A few days ago at the Trader Joe’s grocery in Center City Philadelphia, Surekha Sydney, 27, estimated that she received one voice mail for every 10 or 15 text messages.

“The only people that leave me voice mails are strangers and my parents,” she said.

A couple of aisles over, Joe Cotsas, a sophomore at Drexel University, said he tells everyone he knows not to leave him voice mails. If he didn’t have to worry about employers calling, he said, he probably wouldn’t have bothered to record a personal greeting. His classmate Justin Deckert concurred. “I think voice mails are actually kind of a hassle,” he said.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project last fall reported that teens were texting five times more often per day than adults. And Nielsen Co. said teens send an average of six texts every hour they’re awake. Texting overall jumped 31 percent in 2010, according to CTIA — The Wireless Association.

This may be why an informal survey of 57 people by The Inquirer found a clear generation gap when it comes to voice mail.

More than half of the 35 respondents younger than 35 said they were in no rush to check their voice mail, listening to it only every few hours or days.

Seventy-six percent of those younger than 35 said they favored texts or emails, while those older than 55 said they preferred phone calls and voice mail.

“I hate checking voice mails,” said one young participant. “Once I accidentally got fired because I missed a voice mail from my boss telling me to come in — got it a week later.”

Checking voice mails often requires a separate phone call, which can be a deterrent. Why waste phone plan minutes if you can just return the missed call? IPhones solve the problem by archiving messages so that they can be

played back with one touch, but many young people still don’t see the point.

Verizon Wireless spokesman Bob Varettoni said his company does not disclose statistics regarding voice-mail usage but noted that text usage had skyrocketed over the last few years, from 9.6 billion texts sent or received by Verizon Wireless customers in the United States during the first quarter of 2006 to 180 billion texts sent in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Parents text now, too, if only to keep in touch with their children.

At 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, Connie Keares, 49, said she had learned to text so she could reach her 17-yearold son, Peter, who sat beside her smiling guiltily.

“If she leaves me a voice mail, sometimes I won’t check it for another few days,” he admitted.

Texting may be efficient, but it doesn’t account for nuance. Keares, for example, often is told that her text messages come across as “really blunt” or “rude” because of their terseness.

Grace Garrity, Keares’ niece, often fights with her long-distance boyfriend over the tone of his messages. “On text message and on Facebook chat, he comes across really, really cold, and, like, distant and kind of mean,” she said, adding that “he doesn’t use emoticons because he thinks they’re stupid.”

Once upon a time, facial expressions and voice inflections could convey congeniality, but now people rely on smiley faces and exclamation points. Consider how these two notes come across: The meeting is at 2. Please be on time.

Or: The meeting is at 2. Please be on time :).

One seems imperious, the other good-natured. Other tensions can arise.

For instance, smartphone users send off rapid-fire e-mails and expect prompt responses in kind. But not everyone has a smartphone.

As tedious as it may seem to some, the safest approach is to ask people how they want to be reached.

Those who are still trying to figure out how to work their cell phones find this all overwhelming. — MCT

CAIRO: A computer programmer, startled by a helicopter clattering above his quiet Pakistani town in the early hours of the morning yesterday, did what any socialmedia addict would do: he began sending messages to the social networking site Twitter.

With his tweets, 33-year-old Sohaib Athar, who moved to the sleepy town of Abbottabad to escape the big city, became in his own words “the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it.” Soon the sole helicopter multiplied into several and gunfire and explosions rocked the air above the town, and Athar’s tweets quickly garnered 14,000 followers as he apparently became the first in the world to

describe the US operation to kill one of the world’s most wanted militants.

His first tweet was innocuous: “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).” The noise alarmed Athar, who had moved to the upscale area of Abbottabad to get away from city life after his wife and child were badly injured in a car accident in the sprawling city of Lahore, according to his blog in July. Nestled in the mountains around 60 miles (95 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Abbottabad is a quiet, leafy town featuring a military academy, the barracks for three army regiments and even its own golf course.

As the operation to kill Osama

Bin Laden unfolded, Athar “liveblogged” what he was hearing in real time, describing windows rattling as bombs exploded. He questioned whose helicopters might be flying overhead. “The few people online at this time of the night are saying one of the copters was not Pakistani,” he tweeted. Athar then said one of the aircraft appeared to have been shot down. Two more helicopters rushed in, he reported.

Throughout the battle, he related the rumors swirling through town: it was a training accident.

Somebody was killed. The aircraft might be a drone. The army was conducting door-to-door searches in the surrounding area. The sound of an airplane could be

heard overhead. Athar did not respond to media requests for comment — he explained in another tweet that a filter he set up to stop his e-mail box from flooding could be culling out requests for interviews.

Soon, however, the rumbling of international events far beyond the confines of this quiet upscale suburb began to dawn on Athar, and he realized what he might be witnessing. “I think the helicopter crash in Abbottabad, Pakistan and the President Obama breaking news address are connected,” he tweeted.

Eight hours and about 35 tweets later, the confirmation came: “Osama Bin Laden killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan,” — AP

Apple sends ripples through tech world Consumer technology companies reporting financial results this week are looking like rowboats bobbing in the wake of Apple Inc.’s supertanker. Close to oblivion in 1997, Apple is now the world’s second-most valuable company, after Exxon Mobil Corp. On April 20, it reported net income of $5.99 billion for the January-to-March period, nearly double that of a year ago. It shipped a record 18.65 million iPhones during the quarter. Its iPad tablet computers are so popular, the company couldn’t make enough.

Apple’s ascendancy has produced many losers and a few winners, as underscored over the past two weeks: Microsoft Corp.: loser.

Apple dethroned Microsoft as the world’s most valuable technology company a year ago. In its mid-fall report, it surpassed Microsoft in quarterly revenue. In the January-March period this year, it surpassed Microsoft in net income, too.

On Thursday, Microsoft reported that revenue from the Windows operating system declined for the second straight quarter because people are buying fewer Windows computers. Some prospective buyers are going to Macs instead — Apple reported that it sold 28 percent more units. Others are going to iPads. Goldman Sachs now believes that more than 30 percent of iPads sold may be replacing PC sales. In the 90s, the trend was the opposite, as Windows PCs were crowding out Macs.

Nokia Corp.: loser.

Nokia said this week that it will slash 7,000 jobs through layoffs and outsourcing. It still sells more phones than anyone else, but it’s losing share to Apple, especially when it comes to smartphones.

Research firm Strategy Analytics also said revenue from Apple’s iPhone sales surpassed that of Nokia’s phones in the January-toMarch period, as iPhones are much more expensive than the average Nokia phone.

That makes Apple the world’s largest phone maker by revenue. To better compete with the iPhone, Nokia is ditching its old Symbian software and adopting Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7. But the transition will take time; the first Windows-powered Nokia phones aren’t expected until late 2011 or early 2012.

Research In Motion Ltd.: loser.

The maker of the BlackBerry is in a predica-

ment that’s similar to Nokia’s. RIM warned Thursday that net income, revenue and unit sales for the quarter ending in May will come in below its previous forecast.

The company’s high-end phones are looking old compared with the iPhone and ones running Google Inc.’s Android software. They aren’t selling as well as the company expected. RIM promised investors that new phones with revamped software will bring sales roaring back in the latter half of the year, but investors are skeptical, sending RIM’s stock down Friday.

HTC Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.: winners, indirectly.

Although all three companies compete with Apple’s iPhone, they are doing well.

Unlike Nokia and RIM, the three are betting on Google’s Android system, which comes the closest to mimicking the look, feel and functions of the iPhone. Motorola Mobility is a

shadow of the old Motorola, once the world’s second-largest maker of phones. But its focus on Android-powered smartphones is showing signs of success. It reported on Thursday a near-doubling of smartphone sales in the first quarter.

HTC of Taiwan has been making smartphones for a decade, and sales are really taking off with the help of Android. On Friday, it reported selling 9.7 million in the first quarter.

For South Korea’s Samsung, smartphone sales were a bright spot in the first quarter as overall phone sales declined and other electronics were weak. The company is embroiled in patent litigation with Apple.

Verizon Wireless: winner.

The No. 1 US cellphone carrier posted a jump in new contract-signing customers — the more profitable kind — after it introduced its version of the iPhone on Feb. 10, which ended AT&T Inc.’s exclusive grip on the device in the US. — AP

NEW YORK: In this April 28, 2011 photo, a customer holds a white iPhone at the Apple store on New York’s Upper West Side. People are turning over personal information to online retailers, social networks and others in growing numbers, even as concerns about privacy mount. — AP

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Years

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

Crude oil chemical linked to heart defect in babies WASHINGTON: Babies who are exposed before birth to ethyl benzene, a toxic component in crude oil, may have a higher risk of developing congenital heart disease, US researchers said Saturday.Another chemical used as an industrial metal degreasing agent, trichloroethylene (TCE), also boosted heart risks, said the research to be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Denver, Colorado. Congenital heart disease occurs when the heart is malformed before birth, and is the most com-

mon of all birth defects. Previous studies have suggested it could be caused by chemicals in the environment. “Congenital heart disease is a major cause of childhood death and life-long health problems,” said D. Gail McCarver, lead author of the study and professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin. “Thus, identifying risk factors contributing to CHD is important to public health.”

Researchers collected stool samples from 135 newborn babies with the heart condition and 432

infants without it. A full 82 percent of all the infants showed exposure to at least one of the 17 solvents measured in the study. White, but not black, infants who showed exposure to ethyl benzene had four times the risk of CHD. Black infants exposed to trichloroethylene showed an eight-fold risk for the heart condition, and white infants with the traces in their stool had a two-fold higher risk, said the findings.

“This is the first report that exposure to ethyl ben-

zene, a compound present in crude oil, was associated with CHD,” McCarver said, noting that more studies are needed to confirm the link.

Some residents of the US Gulf Coast have expressed concern about their health in the aftermath of the BP oil spill last year, though no studies have been completed yet to determine the effects of exposure to the spilled oil. Other sources of ethyl benzene include vehicle exhaust, petrol pump vapors and cigarette smoke. — AFP

Amid ‘war on obesity,’ skeptics warn of stigma ‘Let’s Move’ wins universal praise The images are striking: Overweight boys and girls staring somberly from billboards and online videos, reallife embodiments of the blunt messages alongside. “Chubby kids may not outlive their parents,” for example.

Or: “Big bones didn’t make me this way. Big meals did.” The ads — part of a new “Stop Child Obesity” campaign in Georgia — won some enthusiastic praise for their attention-grabbing tactics. But they also have outraged parents, activists and academics who feel the result is more stigma for an already beleaguered and bullied group of children.

BERLIN: A woman in a wheelchair sits outside the main building of Berlin’s Charite Mitte hospital as health workers in the facility went on strike yesterday. According to a spokeswoman of the Ver.di trade union, about 10,000 employees in technical and medical sectors of the hospital are called to strike. — AFP

Stillbirths tied to secondhand smoke NEW YORK: Pregnant women who live or work with smokers may be at slightly higher risk of having a stillborn baby, giving birth to a slightly smaller baby or having a baby with a smaller head, according to a Canadian study.

Secondhand smoke is thought to expose people to about one percent of the smoke that active smokers inhale, and the study adds to evidence that even passive smoking can harm unborn babies. “ This information is important for women, their families and healthcare providers,” wrote Joan Crane, of Eastern Health in St. John’s, Canada, in the BJOB: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. “Undiluted sidestream smoke contains many harmful chemicals and in greater concentration than cigarette smoke inhaled through a filter.”

Crane and colleagues noted that those chemicals may harm the fetus in a variety of ways-for instance, by restricting blood flow and possibly damaging the placenta.

Using a database of pregnant women from the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, they looked at the rate of stillbirths as well as other birth outcomes, such as head circumference, which has been linked to the later intellectual development of children. Of nearly 12,000 women in the database, 11 percent said they had been exposed to secondhand smoke.

The rate of stillbirth, in which the baby dies during the third trimester of pregnancy, was 0.83 percent in passive smokers and 0.37 percent in women who didn’t

breathe tobacco fumes. This doesn’t prove that smoke itself was the culprit, yet when researchers accounted for other risk factors-including age and the women’s drinking and drug habits-passive smokers still had three times the odds of stillbirths.

In other words, if smoke is indeed to blame, one extra baby would die in the womb for every 117 women exposed.

“This is huge,” said Hamisu Salihu, an expert on stillbirth at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

“We can now inform patients to secondhand smoke means they can lose their baby.” That link had not been firmly established until now, Salihu, who was not involved in the study, told Reuters Health.

The Canadian researchers also found that babies born to passive smokers weighed 54 grams, or nearly 2 ounces, less than babies whose mothers lived and worked in smoke-free places.

And their heads were slightly smaller too, measuring 0.24 centimeters (about 0.1 inch) less on average.

Salihu said head circumference has been associated with IQ, although the link is indirect. “Policy makers should really take this matter seriously. We need to enact laws to protect these babies,” Salihu added.

On a global scale, the most common causes of stillbirth are complications during childbir th, infec tions during pregnancy such as syphilis, health problems such as high blood pressure or diabetes, fetal growth restriction-in which babies fail to grow at the proper rateand birth defects. — Reuters

For older adults, fitness is freedom, experts say NEW YORK: As 70 million-plus baby boomers roll relentlessly into their retirement years, experts say for those 65 and over staying active and fit can spell the difference between independence and frailty.

“It’s all about moving.” said Neal Pire, an exercise physiologist and spokesperson for the American College of Sports Medicine. “The phrase ‘use it or lose it’ works here.”

There is no physiological reason we lose significant muscle mass, strength and mobility as we age, Pire said, other than that we tend to move less.

The good news is it’s never too late to set that body in motion.

“Eighty- and ninety-year olds have demonstrated the ability to gain lean body mass, as well as to improve strength and balance by exercising,” he explained.

“The trick is to start at a place that makes sense and progress slowly.”

By focusing on function, balance and mobility, Pire said popular activities like yoga, Tai Chi and Pilates can enhance the ageing body’s ability to perform the tasks of daily living.

“There is plenty for seniors to pick from in your average health club,” he said.

The Silver Sneakers Fitness Program brings yoga, Pilates, aquatic and cardio circuit classes to older Americans at 10,000 locations in 50 states.

“We have done a lot to educate,” said Stephanie Wong, spokesperson for Silver Sneakers. “Particularly among 70- and 80year olds who have not been members of a gym, it’s a whole new ball game.” Brain booster exercises are also on the menu

for the Silver Sneaker participant, whose average age is 72.

“The longer you can be independent, the more successfully you’re going to age,” Wong said. “If you prevent falling you avoid being transitioned into a senior center. Physical activity promotes brain health. Recent studies support that.”

Wong said the fitness industry in general still is not meeting the needs of the ageing. “There’s such a focus on managing the soaring costs of health care. For a long time we’ve been talking about a preventive approach. Physical activity is at the foundation.”

Dr. Walter Thompson, professor of kinesiology at Georgia State University, wants older people to get active any way they can.

“My dad, who turned 80, still plays golf four times a week,” he said. “Older people who have joint issues or osteoporosis would do very well with water exercises, which are non-weight-bearing.”

Thompson said retirement communities with “wide sidewalks, championship golf courses and bocce courts dotted all over the place” have gotten the message that they need to keep their residents healthy. “What scares me with older folks is their lack of balance,” he said. For a good dose of it, he suggests walking a straight line of 10 to 15 yards (meters) twice a day.

Older people can gain muscle mass, improve cardio vascular health, and certainly lose weight well into their 80s and 90s just by increasing the activities of daily living, Thompson said. — Reuters

“Billboards depicting fat kids are extraordinarily harmful to the very kids they are supposedly tr ying to help,” said the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, which called for the billboards’ removal. The Georgia Children’s Health Alliance, which created the ads, said they were necessary to jar parents of obese kids out of a state of denial that their children had a problem. The furor reflects a broader nationwide phenomenon as states, cities and the White House itself — led by first lady Michelle Obama — expand efforts to curb obesity. For all the public support of these efforts, there’s also a vocal and passionate corps of skeptics and critics worried that widespread discrimination toward the overweight and obese will only increase.

“Stigma is not an effective motivator,” said Rebecca Puhl, a Yale University psychologist who is a leading expert on weight discrimination. “Whether children or adults, if they are teased or stigmatized, they’re much more likely to engage in unhealthy eating and avoidance of physical activity.” Research by Puhl and her colleagues at Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Polic y and Obesity suggests that weight discrimination is pervasive — at schools, in the workplace, in the media, among health care providers. Yet efforts to combat it frequently founder: Only one state, Michigan, outlaws weight discrimination, and the anti-bullying policies proliferating in schools often lack specific content related to teasing of overweight children. The spotlight on obesity intensified last year when Michelle Obama unveiled her national public awareness campaign, “Let’s Move.” Its goal, she said, was to eliminate childhood obesity within a generation by helping parents make better food choices, ser ving healthier food in schools, and encouraging children to exercise more. Many aspects of “Let’s Move” won near-universal praise.

But activists in the fat-acceptance movement and experts who espouse a “health at every size” approach were upset that the campaign encouraged the monitoring of children’s body mass index, or BMI, and thus might contribute to stigmatization of heavier kids.

“The idea of a BMI report card is horrible,” said Paul Ernsberger a professor in the nutrition depar tment at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine in Cleveland. “ To declare we’re going to eliminate childhood obesity — that’s actually a very stigmatizing thing to say,” Ernsberger said.

“The overweight child hears that and thinks, ‘They wish I wasn’t here.”‘ Linda Bacon, a nutrition professor at City College of San Francisco, is the author of “Health At Every Size” — a manifesto for a movement stressing a healthy lifestyle rather than weight control. She said the focus by “Let’s Move” on BMI was of dubious medical value and posed potential problems for kids at all weight levels. “It’s done much more damage than good,” Bacon said. “The larger kids feel bad about themselves, and the thinner kids feel it doesn’t matter whether they exercise or eat well.” Deb Lemire, president of the Association for Size Diversity and Health, credited Michelle Obama with good intentions and commended vari-

ous nutrition-related aspects of “Let’s Move.” But she said the emphasis on weight risked worsening the problems of teasing and bullying. “The message that gets to the kids is, ‘There really is something wrong with me,”‘ said Lemire, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

“We’re saying we love you, we want you to have wonderful lives and be successful, but right now you’re just not good enough.”

The first lady ’s press office declined to respond in detail to the criticism, but defended “Let’s Move.” “There will always be critics, but our approach is comprehensive, nurturing and working, with success already seen across the country,” the office said in an e-mail. There’s no question that “Let’s Move” has broad, highpowered backing, from groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics. Its supporters note that one in three American children are overweight or obese, putting them at higher risk of serious health problems while billions of dollars are spent yearly treating obesity-related conditions.

Dr. Sandra Hassink, who chairs the pediatrics academy’s obesity work group, said she witnesses the toll of weight-based bullying on a daily basis at her clinic at the A.I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del. However, she defended the use of BMI as a screening mechanism. “We know that elevated BMI places you at elevated risk of health problems,” she said. “It’s a screening tool to start a conversation with a child and family about health behavior that will reduce that risk.” Weight loss doesn’t necessarily need to be the overriding goal in every case, she suggested, but it can be a vital part of countering diabetes, liver disease, sleep apnea and other obesity-related problems.

Critics of “Let’s Move” say it could have struck a more positive tone about the diversity of body sizes and the possibility of

being both large and healthy simultaneously. “Regardless of her intentions, the first lady is making things worse,” said San Francisco attorney Sondra Solovay, who teaches and writes about weight-based discrimination. “I invite her to talk to fat adults who have experienced the hatred and discrimination firsthand,” Solovay said, “and ask them how this program would have impacted them as kids.”

Several local and state anti-obesity initiatives also have drawn fire from weight-discrimination watchdogs _ notably Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s recent proposal to levy a $50 fee on state Medicaid recipients who are obese and don’t follow a doctorsupervised slimming regimen.

“This proposal does nothing to improve public health, and only perpetuates fur ther stigma toward thousands of individuals whose quality of life is already reduced because of prejudice,” Puhl wrote in her blog on Medscape.com.

One form of such prejudice is harassment at school. Peggy Howell, spokeswoman for the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, protested when members of Congress recently introduced a bill that addressed bullying based on race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation and religion, but made no mention of body size. “Why are weight and height missing?”

Howell asked. “Multiple studies indicate that fat children are the group being most bullied.” Puhl says too little attention is paid to such bullying. “Youth who are obese cannot conceal their weight — their stigma is very visible,” she said. “And yet their voices are not being heard. They are so vulnerable to victimization, with such devastating consequences.” Indeed, weight-related bullying is being cited by family members as a possible factor in the decision of two 14year-old Minnesota girls to com-

SILVER SPRING: First lady Michelle Obama, background left, and Mexican first lady Margarita Zavala, background right, run with children as they participate in gym activities during their visit to New Hampshire Elementary School in Silver Spring, Md. The school was awarded the USDA’s Healthier US School Challenge Silver Award in 2009. In 2010, Obama unveiled the national public awareness campaign, “Let’s Move.” — AP

mit suicide together on April 16.

Puhl, who has studied weight discrimination for more than a decade, was lead author of a 2007 study of overweight children that concluded their quality of life, due to stigmatization by peers, was comparable to that of people with cancer.

She also has examined how obese people are portrayed in ads, news reports, movies and TV shows. Too often, says Puhl, they are depicted in needlessly negative ways — slouching on a sofa, eating junk food. “We need to be sure we are fighting obesity, not obese people,” she says.

Among other initiatives, the Rudd Center has compiled a gallery of photographs portraying obese individuals “in ways that are positive and non-stereotypical” — strolling outdoors, shopping for fresh produce.

Puhl says her research indicates Americans would support legislation to prohibit weight discrimination, particularly in the workplace. Yet only Michigan and a handful of cities, including San Francisco and Santa Cruz, Calif., have such laws in place.

There’s been little serious discussion in Congress or most legislatures about following Michigan’s example by outlawing weight discrimination at the federal or state level. A bill introduced several times in Massachusetts has failed to advance; a similar proposal died in Nevada’s legislature this year after employers objected.

Michigan’s law, enacted in 1976, has resulted in only a handful of weight-related complaints each year, according to Michigan State University human resources professor Mark Roehling. He says many overweight workers may be hesitant to pursue legal remedies even if they do feel discriminated against.

One of the few high-profile lawsuits in Michigan involves two former waitresses who claim Hooters fired them in 2009 because they weren’t sufficiently slim. Hooters officials say the state law shouldn’t apply because the appearance of their waitresses was a legitimate concern. The case remains unre solved.

Meanwhile, fat-acceptance activists continue to struggle against what they perceive as bias — on matters such as airline seating and seatbelt standards that don’t account for extra-large people.

Marilyn Wann, San Franciscobased author of the book “FAT!SO?,” says she’s proud to call herself fat, and objects to the terms “overweight” and “obese.”

She became an activist partly because she was unable to buy affordable health insurance, and is grateful that the Obamabacked health care overhaul now enables her to get coverage. But she wishes the White House would do more to counter weight bias.

“I had a painful childhood, and it would be worse now because weight stigma has increased,” she said. “It would be amazing if federal government took a stand against weight discrimination.” Hassink, the Delaware pediatrician, said obesity and weight discrimination should both be combatted firmly and compassionately. “ The environment is pretty tough for people struggling with their weight,” Hassink said. “But we need to have the conversation.

We’re all in this together.” — AP

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Newlyweds offered cash to delay having children SATARA: While countries like Japan, Canada and Australia hand out “baby bonuses” to encourage people to have children, couples in one part of India are getting cash to do just the opposite.

Maharashtra state is paying newlyweds a so-called “honeymoon” bonus to delay starting a family, with the twin aims of slowing population growth and improving women’s health.

Rajia Sayad was 20 when she married her husband Shakil in 2007. The couple lives with his parents in Shendurjane village in Satara district, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the state capital, Mumbai.

Money is tight and not always regular. Rajia is an unpaid housewife and Shakil is a musician, earning 200 to 2,500 rupees ($4.40 to $55) a month during the wedding season. His father earns about 3,000 rupees a month selling fruit. The young couple signed up for the scheme soon after they were married. “We didn’t want a child so soon,” she told AFP. “Our circumstances weren’t so good. I was also feeling physically weak and I didn’t want any prob-

lems with the child in the future. That’s why we took the decision.”

Rajia and other women like her were attracted by the offer of 5,000 rupees in cash if they stayed childless for two years after their nuptials. If they hold out for another year, they receive an extra 2,500 rupees. The scheme is voluntary: the only conditions being that the marriage has to be registered with the government and that participants sign a consent form confirming that they are taking part of their own free will. Over the first two years, couples have to attend compulsory counselling and education classes every three months.

The sessions include family planning advice. Free condoms and the oral contraceptive pill are available. Even abortions can be arranged.

India’s population jumped to 1.21 billion in 2011 from 1.02 billion in 2001, according to provisional census figures released last month.

Only China-with 1.34 billion-has more people, but India is set to surpass its Asian rival and neighbour by 2030.

The family remains the cornerstone

of Indian society, particularly in more conservative rural areas, with children seen as a guarantee of future income and support where little or no state help exists. Sanjay Gandhi, son of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, made attempts to control population growth in the 1970s, but his sterilisation scheme was so controversial that no serious nationwide project has been attempted since. Doctors at the state health authority in Pune say four out of every 10 brides in Maharashtra are under 18 — the legal age of marrriage. In Satara district, brides are typically aged 19 and more than 80 percent conceive within a year. Dr Prakash Doke said schemes to encourage later conception were vital because of the impact of childbirth on young women.

“If the age of the girl is less than 18 or less than 20, the chances of maternal mortality and the new-born death rate are very high,” he said. Thirty-one out of every 1,000 children born in Satara district die before their first birthday.

In India as a whole, around 254 women died from pregnancy-related

Caring your beauty

causes out of 100,000 live births in 2008, according to a study published last year in the British medical journal The Lancet.

Local midwife Ratnamala Jaganath Shelar says that changing traditional attitudes is tough.

“The in-laws don’t think that their daughter-in-law is still small, isn’t old enough and her body hasn’t fully developed yet. They don’t like all this (the scheme). They just want a child,” she said. Nearly 4,300 couples, though, have challenged tradition and signed up for the “honeymoon” project since its inception in 2007. Close to 1,200 have completed the programme. Some 150 couples have dropped out. The project is due to end next year but three other districts in Maharahstra are now looking to start their own. The initiative has also attracted interest from Madhya Pradesh in central India and Jharkhand in the east. As for Rajia and Shakil, the couple still plans to have children at some point-ideally a boy and a girl-but only when the time is right. “If you have a child you should be able to take care of it, right?” said Rajia. —AFP

MANIILA: People use a toilet along a pedestrian lane in Manila on April 27, one of the 500 toilets constructed by Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in the country’s capital since 2003. Fastgrowing Asian economies may be flush with money but filthy toilets remain a blight across the region despite rising standards of living, with dire effects on economies and public health. — AFP

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Hope For Japan charity event at KNES (Hawally)

O Kuwait National English School hands over donation to Japanese Embassy

n Saturday, April 16th, Kuwait National English School (Hawally) held its Hope For Japan Charity Event The day included games, rides, and a wide variety of great food and drinks. There was also a talent show organised by students in the secondary department in conjunction with Injaz. The money raised from this year s event is being sent to the Red Cross in Japan to help those in the greatest need following recent natural disasters.

The School Director at Kuwait National English School, Madame Chantal Al Gharabally would like to thank all of the very generous sponsors, especially the Golden Level sponsors The Commercial Bank of Kuwait and Newlook, Landmark Group for their financial support.

The School Director and a group of students from different department went to the Japanese Embassy to give their donations in cash to help Japanese people on the destruction and the humanitarian sufferings caused by the devastating “Tohoku - Pacific” Ocean Earthquake” which hit Japan.

Announcements

Mubarak Al-Khurainej opens art gallery by special needs

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he Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) opened the 1st Annual Art Gallery by Special Needs Students, inaugurated by MP Mubarak Al-Khurainej and organized with Al-Nukhba Volunteer Society. Al-Khurainej noted this event as a great opportunity for those with special needs to showcase their talents alongside healthy studentsí works and excel in their own right.

Al-Khurainej also thanked AlNukhba and GUST for this great collaboration which was great way to create awareness on the matter with those who otherwise might not be aware of it. He said: ìSpecial needs students

have mental and physical capabilities regardless of how limited they are, and also enjoy many talents in many different aspects including art and sports. All they need is someone to support them and help them perform to

Thanima to present legend play Thanima (The Human and Nostalgic Interaction of Malayalees Abroad) is presenting of yet another unique cultural event to the Kuwait cultural spectrum by enacting ballads of the epic Vadakkan Pattukal (Ballads of North Malabar) of medieval Kerala on stage.

‘Oru Vadakkan Veerakatha’, drama scope mega budget full length visual entertainer becomes a reality in the collective effort of Malayalee expatriate community in Kuwait spearheaded by Thanima. The play will be staged at 4.30 pm and 8.30 pm on 20 May at Al-Jeel AlJadeed School Auditorium at Hawally. The drama combines both the legendary spirit of Vadakkan Pattu and the bravery of Kalaripayattu (martial art form of Kerala) and harmonizes with the technical excellence of silver screen. In 18 sets it will be on stage designed by acclaimed Artist Sujathan. Entry will be restricted through passes.

the best of their ability to benefit and service their society as well.î He expressed his belief that any and all doors should be open to them to participate in the numerous activities in society.

Dr. Masoud Asad, Director of Public Affairs at GUST, noted that the university is always in support of special needs students, stressing that they are among the most active, most educated and most intellectual groups in the Kuwaiti society.

GUST always strives to facilitate any limitations on campus for its special needs students for them to enjoy all its facilities. The art gallery was located in the center of campus for all students, staff and faculty to enjoy.

Al Taalib Scholarship 2011 Al Taalib Scholarship is a financial aid scheme for the under privileged school students in Kuwait, sponsored by the Ministry of Awqaf in association with Islam Presentation Committee (IPC), Friday Forum and Pakistan Kuwait Welfare Association. These scholarships were given to the needy students irrespective of their religion or nationality. The process of Al Taalib Scholarship for the current academic year, 2011-12, has begun for all Indian and Pakistani Schools in Kuwait. In order to avail this scholarship, applicants are requested to collect the Application Form from Al Taalib Office located in CAMS, Ahmed Al Jaber Street, Darwaza, Near Warba Insurance Co., Int’l Islamic Charity Organization Building, 2nd Floor, Al Sharq. The duly filled application form shall be submitted to Al Taalib office on or before 10th May 2011 along with all supporting documents specified in the Application Form.

ABCK golf tournament The American Business Council of Kuwait is hosting its 10th annual Golf Tournament at the Sahara Golf Club on Friday, May 13th, 2011. It will be a Texas 4-man scramble and your participation is encouraged.

Registration begins at 7.00am and shotgun at 8.00am.

Event includes breakfast, lunch and raffle prizes. For details contact americanbusinesscouncil@gmail.com before May 10th.

Tulukoota’s Rasamanjari - a superb show

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he beautiful classical dance presented by “Rhythm Scapes” choreographed by Ms Sangeeta Prasad provided a flying start to the “Rasamanjari-2011” celebrations held

by Tulu Koota Kuwait on Friday, April 29, at the American International School, Maidan Hawally. Tulunadu crowd turned out in large numbers to witness the melodious event.

Rasamjari-2011 was inaugurated by lighting of the lamp by Chief Guests for the event Satishchandra Shetty, John Paul Fernandes, Felix D’souza Al Rathath along with Tulu Koota Kuwait Cultural Secretary Ronald D’souza & President Mrs Swarna Shetty, and other managing committee members.

The melodious songs by Sangeeta Jayaram, Jagdish Puttur captivated the audience and the incredible dance performance by children of “ RAK Dance Academy”, “Dhoom Boys”, “The Dancing Divas” was a treat to watch. The comedy skits by Agnello Saldhana, Avil Fernandes & Nassar Group made the

audience break into splits of laughter.

Singer Melwyn D’souza enthralled the audience with his lively song performances. Drums played by Sathish Bannanje revived memories of Tulunadu “ Pilivesha” and attracted the audience to the stage who danced with thrill and joy. Mimicry Artist Sudarshan charmed the viewers with his mimicry.

Aware diwaniya presentation

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he AWARE Center cordially invites you to its diwaniya presentation entitled, “Distinctions between culture and religion,” by By Iman Martin on Tuesday May 3rd, 2011. Scenario: You have just arrived at the Kuwait Int’l Airport and notice the wide array of costumes all around. A local gentleman wearing his traditional long white thobe and red and white checkered headgear and a group of women wearing the traditional long, black abaya, hijab and some with niqab or face veils. If one were to ask the man why he chose to dress as he did, he’d likely respond “It is my culture and traditional dress that dictates my clothing choice”. Yet, if the same question were addressed to the women, they might respond, “It is our religion which dictates the way we dress.” To better understand local practices of both culture and religion, please join us at AWARE. We welcome your questions on the topic on May 3rd, 2011 at 7 pm. For more information, call 25335260/80 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw or e-mail: Htaware.hassan@gmail.com Guided tour WARE Center announces Guided Tour & afternoon tea & sunset photo opportunity on the Balcony of the Dickson House, Friday, May 6, 4:30pm-

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Foot tapping numbers sung by the winners of “Gulf Voice of Mangalore” Vinay Lewis, Gladys Lorrenha and Warren D’Souza were enjoyed by one and all.

Tulukoota Kuwait kids dance performance on the hit number “ Zor ka Zatka Dheerey Se Laga” won the maximum applaud and praises. This beautiful dance number was choreographed by

6:30pm. The Dickson House Cultural Center, as it is now known, once served as the official residence for a series of British Political Agents to Kuwait, with the most famous, Colonel Harold Dickson, who came to Kuwait in 1929 with his wife, Violet and two young children. The house was the scene of momentous occasions in Kuwait’s history and provided accommodation to a multitude of fascinating characters including royalty, statesmen, writers, oil prospectors, rebel leaders and explorers. Reservations required. Contact us on Tel: 2-5335280 - Fax : 2-5335230 E-mail: info@aware.com.kw Working Hours: Sunday to Thursday 9am - 1 pm and 5 pm - 9 pm Aware Arabic course he AWARE management is glad to inform those interested in learning Arabic that Summer 1 Arabic language courses will begin on April 24 and go on till June 2, 2011. AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind. The environment is relaxed and courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community. We cater to teachers, travelers and those working in the private business sector.

Mrs Shobha Bhandary. Suresh Salian enthralled the audience with the hit number “Ondey Ondu Saari”.

Rasamanjari 2011 was coordinated under the leadership of Cultural Secretary Ronald D’souza.

Artists for the event were also honored by presentation of memento.

Tulu Koota Kuwait announced the commencement of “Talent Show-2011” and invited the talented members of various age groups to enthusiastically participate by filling in the forms which will soon be available in Tulu Koota Kuwait website. The beautiful evening came to an end with vote of thanks proposed by General Secretary Harish Kaup. Back stage announcements were perfectly handled by Kripa Gatty & Smitha Manoj Shetty. Compering at the program was beautifully done by Ramesh Bhandary & Shobha Bhandary.

Music for the event was provided by Adrian Gomes, and lighting & sound for the event was provided by Illuminations - Anand D’souza.

Greetings

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Happy 6th birthday to our dear Fouzia Begum.

Best wishes come from father Faiyaz Hussain, grandfather, Fida Hussain, uncle Shahed Hussain, brother Farhan Hussain.

NAFO to present Soorya’s ‘Sangamam’ National Forum Kuwait (NAFO Kuwait) is all set to bringing a spectacular, well conceptualized, a jewel in crown super cultural show ‘Sangamam’ for the art lovers of Kuwait, according to a press release. Indian Ambassador Ajai Malhotra will inaugurate the first of its kind super show, scheduled for the evening of Friday, May 13, 2011 (6.00 PM) at the American International School Auditorium, Maidan-Hawalli.

Voice Kuwait 6th Anniversary Voice Kuwait is celebrating its 6th anniversary “VISWAKALA 2011” on May 20th Friday from 4 pm to 9 pm at Carmel School Khaitan.

Voice Kuwait is giving award to its member’s children who got highest mark in last S.S.L.C. either from Kuwait or from Kerala. The students those are eligible should give attested copy of their mark list to Area conveners or sent copy to voicekuwait2004@gmail.com For more information please contact 66950482,94419371.

Balakalamela on MAY 13 The yearly event “Balakalamela” conducted by Kerala Art Lovers Association (Kala-Kuwait) for the students of all Indian Schools in Kuwait for attaining the Benji Benson EverRolling Trophy has been scheduled for May13th, Friday at Carmel School, Khaithan as informed by the Central Committee of Kala. The items that are included for the competition are Bharthnatyam, Mohiniyattam, Oppana, MargamKali, Folk Dance, Group Dance, Fancy Dress, Mappilapaattu, Monoact, Light Music (Malayalam, Hindi), Group Song (Malayalam, Hindi), Classical Song, Poetry Recitation(English, Hindi, Malayalam), Elocution (Malayalam, English), Essay Writing(English, Malayalam), Story Writing (English, Malayalam), Poetry Writing (English, Malayalam) and Drawing.

Participants are categorized as shown below: L.K.G & U.K.G( Kindergarten) Standard1 - Standard 4 (Sub Juniors) Standard 5 - Standard 8 (Juniors) Standard 9 - Standard 12 (Seniors) Registrations can be done via the respective schools or through Kala Centre. Registration forms can also be downloaded from the official website of Kala, www.kalaonweb.com and the filled forms should be mailed to the email address kalabalakalamela@gmail.com. For the success of the program a reception committee was formed in which K.vinod was selected as General Convenor . Members who are in charge of various Sub Committees are as follows:- Sunil (Program), Bineesh.K.Babu (Registration), Binu Rani Albert(Reception), Sunny Saijesh (Stage), C.Krishnan (Food), Skaria John (Volunteer), K.Chandran (Publicity and Souvenir) and R.Ramesh (Finance) . For more details regarding the program contact 24317875 (Kala Centre), 66180229, 97817100 or 66656642

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Embassy Information EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Embassy encourages all Australians to register their presence in Kuwait through Smartraveller Online (see link below).

Australians who are registered are asked to update their details. The information provided will assist us in contacting you in an emergency. www.smartraveller.gov.au Kuwait citizens can apply for and receive visit visas to Australia online at www.immi.gov.au. This usually takes two working days.

All others visa applications are handled by the Australian Visa Application Centre Tel. 22971110.

Witnessing and certifying documents are by appointment only, please contact the Embassy on 2232 2422. The Australian Embassy is open from 8.00am to 4.00pm, Sunday to Thursday.

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EMBASSY OF BRITAIN The Visa Application Centre (VAC) will be closed on the same dates above. The opening hours of the Visa Application Centre are 0930 - 1630 Application forms remain available online from the UKBAs’ website: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk or from the Visa Application Centre’s website: www.vfs-uk-kw.com.

And also, from the UK Visa Application Centre located at: 4B, First Floor, Al Banwan Building (Burgan Bank Branch Office Building), Al Qibla area, opposite Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City. For any further inquiries, please contact the Visa Application Centre: Website: www.vfs-uk-kw.com E-mail:info@vfs-uk-kw.com Telephone:22971170.

The Consular Section will also be closed on the same dates. For information on the British Embassy services, visit the British Embassy website: www.ukinkuwait.fco.gov.uk ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF GERMANY The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kuwait wishes to announce that as of 1 May 2011, the external service provider Al Qabas Assurex is operating a Visa Application Centre in support of the German Embassy. Short-term visa applications for travels to Germany (e.g. for tourism, visits, business) are to be submitted to the service provider Al Qabas who for your convenience will ensure that all relevant documents are included in your application.

Your personal appearance at the Application Centre is not required. Address of the Visa Application Centre: Al Qabas Assurex Sanabel Tower (Al-Babtain) Mezzanine (M3) opposite Sharq Mall Kuwait 22924444 Fax: 22924442 Further information are available on the following websites: www.kuwait.diplo.de www.qavisa.com ■■■■■■■

BSK students perform Lloyd Weber’s Dreamcoat

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he Middle Department students of The British School of Kuwait recently took to the stage to perform Dreamcoat, based on the musical by Andrew Lloyd Weber. The preview show, to an invited audience, included an invitation to the Beit Abdullah Children’s Hospice who were presented with a cheque raised by the school’s charity committee.

The ensuing two evenings of performance were a magical presentation of this old story where Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers and is eventually rescued by the Pharoah of Egypt. The costumes were truly stunning and the wizardry of the technical aspects gave the 50 students who made up the cast a magnificent spectacle for everyone to enjoy.

Leah Kennedy as Joseph did a fantastic job of developing the character through its many emotions.

Janaki Butterworth was stunning in the role of the singing narrator. The brothers and the chorus were all magnificent but who could forget Michael Youngt as the Elvis impersonating Pharoah? BSK has a proud tradition of staging high quality Musicals, Dramas and Musical Concerts and this fabulous production from a young and inexperienced cast between the ages of 10 and 13 ranked with the best. By placing significant emphasis on the development of the fully rounded student through participation in the Arts BSK has ensured that these young stars will continue to twinkle for many years to come.

NYF meditation

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ithyananda Yoga Foundation (NYF) Kuwait conducted various programs from 6th April to 19th April at “better book house” Salmiya. The course was inaugurated by Mrs Maxine Mellieur by lighting the traditional lamp. Mrs Ali Al-Khazzam welcomed the guest. The courses were guided and thought b Dr Nithyananda A Shetty. The programs involved basic, advanced and chakra meditations, reiki courses 1, 2, 3, & 4, past life regression, future life progression, personal healing individual sessions, pendulum dowsing, cosmic energy intake etc. The purpose of this program was to cure and prevent different physical and mental problems and inner development participants shared their experience and enjoyed the programs.

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.

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 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.

The forms are available on the internet at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IM M5257E.PDF. A guide explaining the process can be found here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/5 256E.PDF. ■■■■■■■

Cultural delegates from Bangladesh visit Kuwait

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group of cultural delegates from Bangladesh visited Kuwait on 3lst April to perform a musical evening. This invitation was arranged by Bangladesh Embassy Kuwait as this two brotherly countries Bangladesh and Kuwait recently signed a cultural memorandum. Senior vice president of Bangladesh Expatriate Business Association (BEBA) Mukai Ali (Luthfur Rahman) and his wife Nasima invited all guests. The party was held at their residence. President of Chittagong Samity in Kuwait (CSK) and Liberal Democratic Forum-LDF (Kuwait Chapter) Haji Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury and Haji Nasima Jafar along with other dignitaries were present among the invited guests. The visiting cultural delegates Kajol Ibrahim (dance director) internationally renewed artist Shamim Ara Nepa, Shibl Mohammed (both director of Nrityanchal dance & music company) Dr Leena Taposi Khan (lecturer dept of music university of Dhaka) Ananya Barua, Abul Hasan Tapan, Miss Shami Yasmin Zinuk, & popular singer Timir Nandi, Amin Rahman, Mohadev Shah with other younger artists joined for the dinner.

The Ambassador of Bangladesh Syed Shahed Reja was highly appreciated for the initiative support and efforts he has given to bring our culture to Kuwait. The party concluded by wishing good luck for the guests.

EMBASSY OF FRANCE On the occasion of public holiday in France, the French Embassy in Kuwait will be closed 1st and Sunday the 8th of May 2011.

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EMBASSY OF GUYANA The Embassy of Guyana, recently established in Kuwait, announces that it is located at Block 3, Street 321, Villa 3, Mubarak Abdullah al Jabar, West Misrhef. The Embassy’s telephone numbers are 2539-7939 and 2539-4336; the fax number is 2539-3448. The Embassy can also be contacted by e-mail at Guyanaembassy.kuwait@gmail.com; its website address is www.guyana.org.

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EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Nigerian embassy has moved its office to Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For enquires please call 25379541. Fax25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.com or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk

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00:45 Untamed And Uncut 01:40 Dogs 101 02:35 The Animals’ Guide To Survival 03:30 Planet Earth 04:25 Maneaters 05:20 Animal Cops Houston 06:10 Cats 101 07:00 Meerkat Manor 07:25 The Really Wild Show 07:50 Natural Born Hunters 08:15 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 08:40 Breed All About It 09:10 Animal Crackers 10:05 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 11:00 Animal Precinct 11:55 Wildlife SOS 12:50 Animal Cops Houston 13:45 RSPCA: Have You Got What It Takes?

14:10 E-Vets: The Interns 14:40 Uakari Secrets Of The English Monkey 15:30 Animal Battlegrounds 16:00 The Really Wild Show 16:30 Natural Born Hunters 17:00 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 17:25 Must Love Cats 18:20 The Animals’ Guide To Survival 19:15 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 20:10 Dogs 101 21:05 Great Savannah Race 22:00 Last Chance Highway 22:55 Squid Invasion 23:50 Amba The Russian Tiger

00:10 01:10 02:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 04:50 05:10 05:35 05:45 06:05 06:25 06:50 07:05 07:25 07:45 08:10 08:20 08:40 09:00 09:25 09:40 10:40 11:25 12:15 12:45 13:15 14:10 15:40 16:30 17:15 17:45 18:15 19:10 20:00 20:45 21:15 21:45 22:40 23:30

00:15 01:55 02:45 04:50 05:15 05:40 07:15 08:05 09:35 10:00

My Family The Weakest Link Freefall Doctors My Family Me Too Tweenies Teletubbies Charlie And Lola Me Too Tweenies Teletubbies Charlie And Lola Me Too Tweenies Teletubbies Charlie And Lola Me Too Tweenies Teletubbies Charlie And Lola My Family The Weakest Link New Tricks Doctors Eastenders Holby City My Family New Tricks The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Holby City New Tricks The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Holby City Conviction My Family

Come Dine With Me Design Rules Come Dine With Me Sweet Baby James Sweet Baby James Daily Cooks Challenge Ching’s Kitchen Colin And Justin’s Home Show Sweet Baby James Antiques Roadshow

10:50 12:55 13:20 14:10 14:55 15:40 18:10 18:35 19:00 19:50 20:35 21:20 22:10 22:35 23:00

Come Dine With Me Sweet Baby James Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic Bargain Hunt Come Dine With Me Sweet Baby James Sweet Baby James Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic Bargain Hunt Come Dine With Me Design Rules Design Rules Cash In The Attic USA

00:00 BBC World News 00:30 World Business Report 00:45 Sport Today 01:00 BBC World News America 01:30 Asia Business Report 01:45 Asia Today 02:00 BBC World News 02:30 Asia Business Report 02:45 Asia Today 03:00 BBC World News 03:30 Asia Business Report 03:45 Asia Today 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 Hardtalk 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 World Business Report 07:45 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 Sport Today 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 World Business Report 10:45 Sport Today 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Hardtalk 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 World Business Report 12:45 Sport Today 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 World Business Report 13:45 Sport Today 14:00 GMT With George Alagiah 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 World Business Report 15:45 Sport Today 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 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World Business Report 22:45 Sport Today 23:00 BBC World News America 23:30 Hardtalk

00:05 Cow And Chicken 00:30 Cramp Twins 00:55 George Of The Jungle 01:20 Adrenalini Brothers 01:45 Eliot Kid 02:10 Ed, Edd N Eddy 02:35 Ben 10: Alien Force 03:00 The Powerpuff Girls 03:15 Chowder 03:40 The Secret Saturdays 04:05 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 04:30 Ben 10: Alien Force 04:55 Best Ed 05:20 Skunk Fu! 05:45 Cramp Twins 06:10 Eliot Kid 06:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 07:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 07:25 Cow And Chicken 07:50 Angelo Rules

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

TV PROGRAMS 08:05 Cartoon Network Dance Club 08:15 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 08:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 09:05 The Secret Saturdays 09:30 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 09:55 The Powerpuff Girls 10:20 Robotboy 10:30 Hero 108 10:55 Ben 10 11:20 Chowder 11:45 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 12:10 Camp Lazlo 12:35 George Of The Jungle 13:00 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 13:25 Codename: Kids Next Door 13:50 Ben 10 14:15 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 14:40 Squirrel Boy 15:05 Eliot Kid 15:35 Ed, Edd N Eddy 16:00 Cow And Chicken 16:25 Chop Socky Chooks 16:50 Skunk Fu! 17:15 Chowder 17:40 Best Ed 18:05 Hero 108 18:30 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 18:55 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 19:20 Ben 10: Alien Force 19:45 The Secret Saturdays 20:10 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 20:35 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes 21:00 The Powerpuff Girls 21:25 Ed, Edd N Eddy 21:50 Cartoon Network Dance Club 22:00 Camp Lazlo 22:25 Hero 108 22:50 Ben 10 23:15 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 23:40 Chowder

00:40 Dirty Jobs 01:35 Gold Rush: Alaska 02:30 Ultimate Survival 03:25 Mega Builders 04:20 Mythbusters 05:15 How It’s Made 05:40 How Stuff’s Made 06:05 Dirty Jobs 07:00 Mega Builders 07:50 American Chopper 08:45 How Stuff’s Made 09:10 How It’s Made 09:40 Mythbusters 10:30 Cake Boss 10:55 Border Security 11:25 Street Customs 2008 12:20 Ultimate Survival 13:15 Mythbusters 14:10 LA Ink 15:05 Dirty Jobs 16:00 Street Customs 2008 16:55 Mythbusters 17:50 Extreme Fishing 18:45 Cake Boss 19:10 Border Security 19:40 Industrial Junkie 20:05 River Monsters 21:00 Stan Lee’s Superhumans 21:55 Girl With The X-Ray Eyes: My Shocking...

22:50 Stunt Junkies 23:20 One Way Out 23:45 Extreme Fishing

00:30 00:55 01:45 02:35 03:25 03:50 04:45 05:40 06:10 07:00 07:55 07:58 08:25

ZOMBIELAND ON OSN ACTION HD

The Gadget Show Nyc: Inside Out Mighty Ships Eco-Tech How Stuff’s Made Junkyard Wars What’s That About?

Patent Bending Nextworld Catch It Keep It Head Rush Sci-Fi Science Weird Connections

08:55 Cosmic Collisions 09:45 The Gadget Show 10:10 The Gadget Show 10:35 The Future Of...

11:25 Mean Green Machines 11:50 Catch It Keep It 12:40 Patent Bending 13:05 Mighty Ships 13:55 Kings Of Construction 14:45 Nyc: Inside Out 15:35 The Gadget Show 16:00 Head Rush 16:03 Sci-Fi Science 16:30 Weird Connections 17:00 Brainiac 17:50 Cosmic Collisions 18:40 Space Pioneer 19:30 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 20:20 Sci-Fi Science 20:45 How Does That Work?

21:10 The Gadget Show 21:35 The Gadget Show 22:00 Space Pioneer 22:50 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 23:40 Building The Future

00:00 00:25 01:15 02:00 02:50 03:35 04:25 05:15 06:00 06:20 06:45 07:05 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:35 09:00 09:25 09:50 10:10 10:35 10:50 11:15 11:35 12:00 12:25 12:45 13:10 13:30 13:55 14:20 14:40 14:47 14:55 15:20 15:40 16:00 16:25 16:45 17:10 17:35 18:45 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 Stitch Replacements Emperors New School Stitch Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Emperors New School Phineas And Ferb Kim Possible Suite Life On Deck Shake It Up Wizards Of Waverly Place Fairly Odd Parents Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Imagination Movers Phineas And Ferb Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Jonas LA Fairly Odd Parents Phineas And Ferb Hannah Montana Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place Suite Life On Deck Have A Laugh Have A Laugh Good Luck Charlie Jonas LA Wizards Of Waverly Place Sonny With A Chance Fish Hooks Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Forever Luck Of The Irish 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

06:00 Kid Vs Kat 06:20 Kick Buttowski 06:40 Pokemon 07:05 Phineas & Ferb 07:30 Phineas And Ferb 07:40 Phineas & Ferb 08:05 American Dragon 08:30 Kick Buttowski 08:50 Next X 2011 Winter Edition (Cema) 09:00 Zeke & Luther 09:25 Zeke & Luther 09:50 I’m In The Band 10:15 The Super Hero Squad Show 10:40 Suite Life On Deck 11:05 Suite Life On Deck 11:30 Pair Of Kings 11:55 Phineas & Ferb 12:20 Phineas & Ferb 12:45 Kid Vs Kat 13:50 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 14:15 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 14:40 Zeke & Luther 15:05 Suite Life On Deck 15:25 Next X 2011 Winter Edition (Cema) 15:35 Kick Buttowski 16:00 I’m In The Band 16:25 Suite Life On Deck 16:50 Zeke & Luther 17:15 Phineas & Ferb 18:30 Escape From Scorpion Island (Cema) 18:55 Pokemon 19:20 American Dragon 19:45 Aaron Stone 20:05 Next X 2011 Winter Edition (Cema) 20:15 Kid Vs Kat 20:40 Phineas & Ferb 21:05 I’m In The Band 21:30 Zeke & Luther 21:50 Phineas And Ferb 22:00 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 22:20 The Super Hero Squad Show

00:25 Kendra 00:55 The Soup 01:25 Cheating Death 03:15 25 Most Stylish 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Extreme Hollywood 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Married To Rock 09:45 Married To Rock 10:15 50 Cutest Child Stars: All Grown Up 12:05 E! News 13:05 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 14:35 15 Most Infamous Child Star Mugshots 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Kourtney And Kim Take New York 17:25 Kourtney And Kim Take New

York 17:55 18:55 19:55 20:55 21:25 21:55 22:25 23:25 23:55 York

E! News Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane E!es Chelsea Lately Holly’s World Kendra E! News Chelsea Lately Kourtney And Kim Take New

00:15 Fantasy Factory 00:40 Mantracker 01:30 World Combat League 02:20 Fantasy Factory 03:10 Aiya TV 04:00 Dr Dange 04:50 Mantracker 05:40 World Combat League 06:30 iEX 2009 08:00 UCI Nissan Mountainbike World Cup 2008 08:25 FIM World Motocross MX3 Championships...

08:50 FIM World Motocross MX3 Championships...

09:15 IFMXF 2010 10:05 Red Bull Empire Of Dirt 10:55 Eds Up 11:45 X-Traordinary 12:35 Fantasy Factory 13:25 Mantracker 14:15 World Combat League 15:05 Eds Up 15:30 Eds Up 15:55 X-Traordinary 16:45 UCI Nissan Mountainbike World Cup 2008 17:10 FIM World Motocross MX3 Championships...

17:35 FIM World Motocross MX3 Championships...

18:00 IFMXF 2010 18:50 Red Bull Empire Of Dirt 19:40 X-Traordinary 20:30 Fantasy Factory 21:20 Dr Danger 21:45 Gumball 3000: 2008 22:10 World Combat League 23:00 Aiya TV 23:50 Fantasy Factory

00:30 Ghost Lab 01:20 A Haunting 02:10 I Was Murdered 03:00 Couples Who Kill 03:50 Dr G: Medical Examiner 04:45 Crime Scene Psychics 05:15 Ghost Lab 06:10 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 07:00 Forensic Detectives 07:50 CSU 08:40 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 09:30 Real Emergency Calls 10:20 Who On Earth Did I Marry?

10:45 I Was Murdered 11:10 FBI Files 12:00 Murder Shift 12:50 Fugitive Strike Force 13:40 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 14:30 Real Emergency Calls 15:20 Who On Earth Did I Marry?

15:45 I Was Murdered 16:10 Forensic Detectives 17:00 CSU 17:50 FBI Files 18:40 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 19:30 Real Emergency Calls 20:20 Murder Shift 21:10 Fugitive Strike Force 22:00 Deadly Women 22:50 The Prosecutors 23:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner

00:00 Market Values 01:00 Departures 02:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 03:00 Long Way Down 04:00 Pressure Cook 04:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 05:00 Food Lovers Guide To Planet 05:30 Exploring The Vine 06:00 Market Values 07:00 Departures 08:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 09:00 Long Way Down 10:00 Pressure Cook 10:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 11:00 Food Lovers Guide To Planet 11:30 Exploring The Vine 12:00 Market Values 13:00 Departures 14:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 15:00 Long Way Down 16:00 Pressure Cook 16:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 17:00 Food Lovers Guide To Planet 17:30 Exploring The Vine 18:00 Market Values 19:00 Departures 20:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 21:00 Long Way Down 22:00 Pressure Cook 22:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 23:00 Food Lovers Guide To Planet 23:30 Exploring The Vine

The

The

The

The

02:00 Bad Boys II-PG15 04:30 Zombieland-18 06:00 Obsessed-PG15 07:45 National Treasure-PG15 10:00 Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life-PG15 12:00 Independence Day-PG15 14:30 National Treasure-PG15 16:45 Star Runners-PG15 18:15 Independence Day-PG15 20:45 Jennifer’s Body-18 22:30 Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassin’s Ball18

01:00 The Wronged Man-PG15 03:00 Adventures Of Power-PG15 05:00 Charlotte Gray-PG15 07:00 Home Run-PG15 09:00 Flying By-PG15 11:00 Batman: Under The Red Hood-PG 13:00 The Wronged Man-PG15 15:00 Lucky Break-PG15

ME AND ORSON WELLES ON OSN CINEMA 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Paper Heart-PG15 Away We Go-PG15 Me And Orson Welles-PG Case 39-18

00:00 State Of The Union 00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 01:30 Family Guy 02:00 Comedy Central Presents 03:00 Just Shoot Me 03:30 30 Rock 04:00 Family Guy 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Malcolm In The Middle 06:00 Yes Dear 06:30 The Drew Carey Show 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 08:30 Dharma And Greg 09:00 Just Shoot Me 09:30 Malcolm In The Middle 10:00 Yes Dear 10:30 Seinfeld 11:00 The Drew Carey Show 11:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:30 Dharma And Greg 13:00 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 13:30 Malcolm In The Middle 14:00 Yes Dear 14:30 30 Rock 15:00 Hot In Cleveland 15:30 The Daily Show Global Edition 16:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 16:30 The Drew Carey Show 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Just Shoot Me 18:30 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 19:00 Seinfeld 19:30 30 Rock 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 The Cleveland Show 22:30 Entourage 23:00 Family Guy 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 Desperate Housewives 01:00 Law And Order: Criminal Intent 02:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 03:00 Covert Affairs 04:00 The View 05:00 Good Morning America 07:00 Commander In Chief 08:00 Emmerdale 08:30 Coronation Street 09:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 10:00 The Martha Stewart Show 11:00 The View 12:00 Desperate Housewives 13:00 Covert Affairs 14:00 Live Good Morning America 16:00 Commander In Chief 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Coronation Street 19:00 Grey’s Anatomy 20:00 Private Practice 21:00 The Glades 22:00 Boardwalk Empire 23:00 Commander In Chief

00:00 Downton Abbey 01:00 C.S.I. 02:00 Law And Order: Criminal Intent 03:00 Desperate Housewives 04:00 Covert Affairs 05:00 The Closer 06:00 Downton Abbey 07:00 The Office 07:30 Coronation Street 08:00 Eureka 09:00 The Closer 10:00 Desperate Housewives 11:00 Covert Affairs 12:00 The Office 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 14:00 Eureka 15:00 Downton Abbey 16:00 The Office 16:30 Coronation Street 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show

18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Smallville Grey’s Anatomy Private Practice The Glades C.S.I. The Closer

01:00 Donnie Brasco-PG15 03:15 Nighthawks-18 05:15 Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground-18 07:15 The Least Of These-PG15 09:00 Virtuality-PG15 11:00 Along Came A Spider-PG15 13:00 The Betrayed-PG15 15:00 Virtuality-PG15 16:45 Face Off-PG15 19:00 The Gene Generation-18 21:00 Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassin’s Ball18 23:00 Juice-18

00:00 Head Over Heels-PG15 02:00 Moon Over Parador-PG15 04:00 One Fine Day-PG15 06:00 Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs-PG 08:00 The Fighting TemptationsPG15 10:00 Married To It-PG15 12:00 Dragnet-PG15 14:00 From Justin To Kelly-PG 16:00 Head Over Heels-PG15 18:00 The Hudsucker Proxy-PG15 20:00 Sweet Home Alabama-PG15 22:00 Go-18

01:00 Explicit Ills-PG15 03:00 Ma Vie N’est Pas Une Comedie Romantique-PG15 05:00 Of Mice And Men-PG15 07:00 Carnera: The Walking Mountain-PG 09:00 Crimes Of The Past-PG15 11:00 Nurse.Fighter.Boy-PG15 13:00 Eva-PG15 15:00 Rudy-PG 17:00 Motherhood-PG15 19:00 Cry Baby-PG15 21:00 Taking Woodstock-18 23:00 The Waterdance-18

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 PG15 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Quills-18 Maneater: Part I-PG15 Maneater: Part II-PG15 Dean Spanley-PG Planet 51-PG G.I. Joe: The Rise Of CobraA Christmas Carol-PG Valentine’s Day-PG15 Planet 51-PG Crazy Heart-PG15 Sweet Home Alabama-PG15 Nine-PG15

00:00 Rolie, Polie, Olie: The MovieFAM 02:00 Winx: Secret Of The Lost Kingdom-PG 04:00 Pocahontas And The Spider Woman-PG 06:00 Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs-FAM 08:15 My Fair Madeline-FAM 10:00 Rolie, Polie, Olie: The MovieFAM 12:00 Young Fisherman-PG 13:45 Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs-FAM 16:00 Sabrina The Teenage Witch: Friends Forever-PG 18:00 Scooby-Doo And The Loch Ness Monster-FAM 20:00 Dark Crystal-PG 22:00 Young Fisherman-PG 23:45 Sabrina The Teenage Witch: Friends Forever-PG

00:00 American Son-PG15 02:00 Nativity!-PG 04:00 Saved!-PG15 06:00 Paper Man-PG15 08:00 Free Willy: Escape From Pirate’s Cove-FAM

10:00 I Spy-PG 12:00 Fantastic Mr. Fox-FAM 14:00 Make It Happen-PG15 16:00 Free Willy: Escape From Pirate’s Cove-FAM 18:00 500 Days Of Summer-PG15 20:00 Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The N.Y. Knicks-PG15 22:00 Tooth Fairy-PG

00:00 Golfing World 01:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 01:30 AFL Highlights 02:30 Futbol Mundial 03:00 Scottish Premier League 05:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 06:00 Weber Cup Bowling 07:00 Snooker 11:00 AFL Highlights 12:00 Trans World Sport 13:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 13:30 Super League 15:30 Golfing World 16:30 NRL Premiership 18:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights 19:00 Snooker 23:00 European PGA Tour Highlights

01:00 Super League 03:00 ICC Cricket World 03:30 Premier League Darts 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 Trans World Sport 09:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 09:30 Super League 11:30 ICC Cricket World 12:00 Spirit of Yachting 12:30 Weber Cup Bowling 13:30 Snooker World Championship 17:30 NRL Full Time 18:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 18:30 AFL Highlights 19:30 Trans World Sport 20:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 21:00 Futbol Mundial 21:30 Super League 23:30 ICC Cricket World

00:00 03:00 07:00 08:00 10:00 10:30 11:30 12:00 13:00 13:30 15:00 16:00 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 22:00

V8 Supercars Championship UFC 129 WWE NXT WWE SmackDown WWE NXT WWE SmackDown City Centre Races Duathlon WWE Bottom Line Superstock Powerboat Series Le Mans Series V8 Supercars Championship UAE National Race Day Series Superstock Powerboat Series Full Throttle City Centre Races V8 Supercars Championship UFC 129

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

Life After People UFO Files Modern Marvels Ice Road Truckers Ancient Discoveries Death Masks Life After People UFO Files Modern Marvels Ice Road Truckers Ancient Discoveries Death Masks Life After People UFO Files Modern Marvels Ice Road Truckers Ancient Discoveries Death Masks The Universe UFO Files Modern Marvels Surviving History Modern Marvels Sliced Sliced Tales Of The Gun

Classifieds TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

Healthy Living

Cool mint Mint has been valued since ancient times for its fresh taste, delightful fragrance and calming qualities.

Not just juleps Â&#x2021; :HOO NQRZQ DV D NH\ LQJUHGLHQW LQ PLQW MXOHS FRFNWDLOV PLQW DOVR EH XVHG WR EUHZ D SOHDVDQW WHD D JRRG GLJHVWLYH DLG Â&#x2021; 3DLUV ZHOO ZLWK FKRFRODWH PDNHV D GHOLJKWIXO MHOO\ RU FKXWQH\ DQG DGGV IUHVKQHVV WR IUXLW VDODGV DQG FROG WRPDWR EDVHG VRXSV Â&#x2021; $ SRSXODU SHUIXPLQJ RLO PLQW OHDYHV FDQ EH XVHG DV DQ DURPDWLF LQ WKH KRPH SHSSHUPLQW RLO FDQ EH XVHG LQ WKH EDWK IRU D VRRWKLQJ VRDN Â&#x2021; $PRQJ LWV KHDOLQJ TXDOLWLHV DUH LWV DELOLW\ WR FDOP WKH GLJHVWLYH V\VWHP FXUE WKH JURZWK RI EDFWHULD Â&#x2021; :KHQ SRVVLEOH XVH IUHVK UDWKHU WKDQ GULHG 6RXUFH :RUOGŇ&#x2039;V +HDOWKLHVW )RRGV 1DWXUDO1HZV FRP *UDSKLF 3DW &DUU

Š 2011 MCT

ACCOMMODATION One bedroom available for Keralite couples or working lady in Abbassiya near Orma restaurant with a family. Contact: 99494671.

(C 3308) 3-5-2011 A Hindu bachelor wants one bachelor/couple to share a complete 2 bedroom furnished ďŹ&#x201A;at near Holy sweet, Abbassiya, minimum rent KD 100. Tel: 66913938. (C 3302) 30-4-2011

SITUATION WANTED Housemaid urgently needed- preferably Sri Lanka,

Indonesian and India. Call 97785326

for live -in maid. Call 65729276, 66104141.

(C 3310)

Accountant Indian (male) 9 years experience (2 years in Kuwait), B.Com, PG in Sociology, accounts up to ďŹ nalization, bank reconciliation, inventory, cash, creditors and debtors management, good knowledge in Tally, Oracle, MS OďŹ&#x192;ce.

Tel: 65990299.

(C 3304)

American family in Salwa needs full time, live -in maid, start immediately.

Must speak English. Call 66838807 after 4pm.

(C 3306)

SITUATION VACANT Driver wanted urgently for a decent Kuwaiti family.

Indians with local experience preferred temporary for 3 months. Please contact 99006777 for immediate appointment. (C 3312) American family looking

MISCELLANEOUS Required 2003 - 2004 model Honda Accord, full option or regular, 4 cylinder, in excellent condition.

Tel: 60005317, 99976051.

30-4-2011 CHANGE OF NAME I, Shavaz, holder of Pakistan Passport No. KH048265, hereby change

my name to Abdul Ahad Fayyaz. (C 3309) 3-5-2011

FOR SALE 2009 model Toyota Corolla, excellent condition, price KD 3450. Tel: 60951195.

(C 3307) SUV Envoy, model 2007, very good condition, price KD 3700. Tel: 66728911.

(C 3311) 3-5-2011 PC Compaq Pentium 4, HD 20 GB, Ram 128 MB (expandable), Windows XP professional with 15â&#x20AC;? LCD Neovo. All in excellent condition, price KD 40 only. Call 60477518 & 99337034.

(C 3305) 1-5-2011

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines RJA JZR THY ETH UAE DHX ETD FDB GFA QTR AFR JZR JZR JZR JZR KAC BAW KAC FCX KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE IRA QTR ABY QTR ETD GFA IRA MEA JZR JZR JZR KAC MSR UAL RJA KAC FDB KAC

Flt 642 267 772 620 853 370 305 67 211 138 6700 529 207 505 555 412 157 416 201 206 302 53 332 352 284 855 605 132 125 6130 301 213 619 404 165 121 549 672 610 982 640 512 57 562

Arrival Flights on Tuesday 3/5/2011 Route AMMAN BEIRUT ISTANBUL ADDIS ABABA DUBAI BAHRAIN ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA PARIS ASSIUT DAMASCUS LUXOR ALEXANDRIA MANILA / BANGKOK LONDON JAKARTA / KUALA LUMPUR BAHRAIN ISLAMABAD MUMBAI DUBAI TRIVANDRUM COCHIN DHAKA DUBAI ISFAHAN DOHA SHARJAH DOHA ABU DHABI BAHRAIN LAR BEIRUT DUBAI BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA DUBAI CAIRO WASHINGTON DC DULLES AMMAN TEHRAN DUBAI AMMAN

Time 0:05 0:35 1:15 1:45 2:25 2:55 2:55 3:10 3:15 3:20 3:25 3:35 3:55 5:50 6:10 6:15 6:30 6:35 7:00 7:15 7:50 7:55 7:55 8:05 8:10 8:25 8:55 9:00 9:10 9:10 9:30 9:35 9:40 10:55 11:10 11:15 11:20 13:15 13:20 13:30 13:35 13:40 13:50 14:20

SVA KAC JZR QTR KAC ETD UAE GFA SVA JZR JZR ABY JZR JZR ALK KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC SIA JAI VOS FDB OMA MEA KAC SYR MLR DHX KLM UAE JZR GFA QTR UAL AIC JZR JZR DLH AXB BBC PIA

500 746 257 134 545 303 857 215 510 777 239 127 213 177 227 104 166 502 542 618 786 674 774 458 572 93 61 647 402 552 341 1405 372 443 859 183 217 136 981 981 135 787 636 389 45 205

JEDDAH ABU DHABI / DAMMAM BEIRUT DOHA ALEXANDRIA ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN RIYADH JEDDAH AMMAN SHARJAH DEIREZZOR DUBAI COLOMBO / DUBAI LONDON PARIS / ROME BEIRUT CAIRO DOHA JEDDAH DUBAI RIYADH SINGAPORE / ABU DHABI MUMBAI KANDAHAR / DUBAI DUBAI MUSCAT BEIRUT DAMASCUS DAMASCUS COLOMBO / DUBAI BAHRAIN AMSTERDAM DUBAI DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA BAHRAIN CHENNAI / AHMEDABAD BAHRAIN RIYADH FRANKFURT KOZHIKODE / MANGALORE DHAKA / BAHRAIN LAHORE / PESHAWER

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

Airlines DLH AIC PIA THY ETH UAE FDB DHX ETD JZR QTR AFR JZR RJA GFA JZR BAW KAC FDB KAC KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY IRA QTR ETD GFA IRA QTR KAC MEA KAC JZR JZR JZR KAC KAC JZR MSR RJA

Flt 637 976 240 773 620 854 68 371 306 548 139 6700 164 643 212 120 156 545 54 671 745 256 511 561 101 856 126 604 133 302 214 618 6131 165 405 541 776 212 238 501 785 176 611 641

Departure Flights on Tuesday 3/5/2011 Route FRANKFURT GOA / CHENNAI SIALKOT ISTANBUL BAHRAIN / ADDIS ABABA DUBAI DUBAI BAHRAIN ABU DHABI ALEXANDRIA DOHA DUBAI / HONG KONG DUBAI AMMAN BAHRAIN BAHRAIN LONDON ALEXANDRIA DUBAI DUBAI DAMMAM / ABU DHABI BEIRUT TEHRAN AMMAN LONDON / NEW YORK DUBAI SHARJAH ISFAHAN DOHA ABU DHABI BAHRAIN LAR DOHA ROME / PARIS BEIRUT CAIRO JEDDAH DEIREZZOR AMMAN BEIRUT JEDDAH DUBAI CAIRO AMMAN

Time 0:40 0:50 1:10 2:15 2:30 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:05 4:20 5:00 5:10 6:55 7:00 7:10 8:20 8:25 8:35 8:40 9:00 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:15 9:30 9:40 9:50 9:55 10:00 10:15 10:20 10:40 10:40 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:00 12:05 12:10 13:00 13:30 13:40 14:20 14:30

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

FDB UAL KAC KAC KAC SVA KAC QTR VOS JZR ETD UAE GFA ABY JZR SVA JZR JZR ALK KAC KAC JAI FDB JZR KAC KAC OMA MEA SIA SYR MLR DHX KLM JZR UAE GFA KAC FCX QTR KAC KAC JZR JZR KAC UAL

58 982 551 673 617 501 773 135 82 182 304 858 216 128 266 511 786 134 228 283 361 571 62 528 343 351 648 403 457 342 1405 373 443 206 860 218 381 102 137 301 205 502 554 411 981

DUBAI BAHRAIN DAMASCUS DUBAI DOHA JEDDAH RIYADH DOHA BAGHDAD DUBAI ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN SHARJAH BEIRUT RIYADH RIYADH BAHRAIN DUBAI / COLOMBO DHAKA COLOMBO MUMBAI DUBAI ASSIUT CHENNAI COCHIN MUSCAT BEIRUT ABU DHABI / SINGAPORE DAMASCUS COLOMBO BAHRAIN BAHRAIN / AMSTERDAM DAMASCUS DUBAI BAHRAIN DELHI BAHRAIN DOHA MUMBAI ISLAMABAD LUXOR ALEXANDRIA BANGKOK / MANILA WASHINGTON DC DULLES

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

34

star CROSSWORD 306

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

s

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) Whether you are working in a place of business or at home, your attention is in getting things completed. If you find yourself working within a group today, you will be productive. You expect praise for your good works but this may not come on your time schedule so—do not push. Emotions and feelings of those around you may be very clear allowing you to know what is expected of your energies and your time. If you have things you want to accomplish that might be a separate interest from the people you are with—set reasonable time limits before obligating yourself to new projects. This is a good time to use your writing skills as you can communicate with real originality. Learning ways to release the restlessness is beneficial to your health.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You waste few words when you describe or give instructions.

You could be in a hurry, so if someone has a lot of difficulty in understanding what you want, be wise with your response. You have a natural sense of organization and come across as disciplined and careful, perhaps a little too sober.

An inner vision, coupled with the ability to see the big picture, may find you working as a go-between with others. You could even have a special gift for spanning the generation gap, bringing older and younger spirits together. A love of animals, children, older people and the needy, is a lifelong trait that is visible today. It is easy for you to work with people in authority. There are opportunities for outdoor activity with friends this afternoon.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. An enclosed space.

4. Of or relating to a directionless magnitude.

10. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.

13. 100 pyas equal 1 kyat.

14. Small genus of succulent annual herbs found on sandy shores of North America and Europe.

15. An ugly evil-looking old woman.

16. The sense organ for hearing and equilibrium.

17. Italian violin maker in Cremona.

19. V-shaped sleeve badge indicating military rank and service.

22. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

25. Formerly a term of respect for important white Europeans in colonial India.

29. A particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography).

33. A translucent mineral consisting of hydrated silica of variable color.

34. A light strong brittle gray toxic bivalent metallic element.

35. The (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb.

36. East Indian tree bearing a profusion of intense vermilion velvet-textured blooms and yielding a yellow dye.

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

41. Perennial herb of East India to Polynesia and Australia cultivated for its large edible root yielding Otaheite arrowroot starch.

42. A sharp narrow ridge found in rugged mountains.

44. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

46. A doctor's degree in religion.

47. Voluntary contributions to aid the poor.

49. Submerged aquatic plant having narrow leaves and small flowers.

51. A small pellet fired from an air rifle or BB gun.

53. Omnivorous mammal of Central and South America.

55. Bottle that has a narrow neck.

58. Of or relating to a member of the Buddhist people inhabiting the Mekong river in Laos and Thailand.

60. An agency of the United Nations responsible for programs to aid education and the health of children and mothers in developing countries.

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

63. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

64. The fine downy hair covering a human fetus.

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

66. The cry made by sheep.

67. One of the evil spirits of traditional Jewish and Christian belief.

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

DOWN 1. A detailed description of design criteria for a piece of work.

2. An Indian nursemaid who looks after children.

3. The work of caring for or attending to someone or something.

4. Scarabaeid beetle considered divine by ancient Egyptians.

5. Fabric dyed with splotches of green and brown and black and tan.

6. A Kwa language spoken in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

7. Provided with artificial light.

8. American prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942).

9. A rare heavy polyvalent metallic element that resembles manganese chemically and is used in some alloys.

10. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

11. Danish philologist whose work on Old Norse pioneered in the field of comparative linguistics (1787-1832).

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

18. A region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo.

20. A garment that covers the head and face.

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

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

24. Any plant of the genus Reseda.

26. South American armadillo with three bands of bony plates.

27. Australian shrubs and small trees with evergreen usually spiny leaves and dense clusters of showy flowers.

28. (used as a combining form) Recent or new.

30. A reproach for some lapse or misdeed.

31. A town in north central Oklahoma.

32. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

37. Cast again.

38. Fabric dyed with splotches of green and brown and black and tan.

39. Panic grass.

40. As thin and soft as chiffon.

43. Considerate and solicitous care.

45. A metric unit of volume or capacity equal to 10 liters.

48. The capital and largest city of Yemen.

49. An associate degree in nursing.

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

52. A small cake leavened with yeast.

54. Prong on a fork or pitchfork.

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

57. God of love and erotic desire.

59. South American wood sorrel cultivated for its edible tubers.

61. An inflated feeling of pride in your superiority to others.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Opportunities may go against your own sense of security and you may feel it is best not to take chances. This is a tough call when it comes to business and some compromise is perhaps the best way to a workable solution. Your career, practical vision and skills are of central importance to you now. You feel there is a waste of time if there is no organization and your actions are deliberate in this area of your life. Your reputation and image are a source of concern and you do everything you can to make them solid. You appear perhaps more charming and refined than usual this evening as people gather to celebrate or just simply gather together away from the workplace. Putting your best foot forward may take on a greater importance this evening.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

Your work or career is in real harmony with the rest of your life.

Much can be accomplished. You could gain from subordinates or young people just now as information or help is available for whatever you want to complete. You make your way through ideas, concepts and you have a good ability to communicate and express them to others. Reading or attending a lecture on law, politics, education, travel or religion may be part of your day; which is productive. Your creative side is showing this afternoon when you help a friend decorate or update an old look. Your home environment, friends and surroundings in general become simplified and receive encouragement. Things may seem almost magical in the way they work out in your favor.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Self-sacrifice and an understanding attitude on your part could have far-reaching effects on your own life-path and career during this time. You have improved your working abilities and higher-ups are taking note.

This may mean that you are working more efficiently with others and this helps you to achieve bigger and more encompassing goals. Outer circumstances are favorable and it should be easy for you to push forward with regard to developing your career. You will have no problem moving up the professional ladder. Now is the time when personal insight into your most secret and psychological self may be possible. There is the possibility of new visions or sudden insights into your self-image or into your beliefs and dreams.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Your idea of where you want to be in this life and where you really are with your goals are very close. You are progressing well with your goals and will want to set some new goals soon. Do not be afraid that present goals will be forgotten as you begin to look into toward the future—they will soon be realized. This is a time of good fortune—when things open up in a very natural way for you. Situations are within your reach and it is easy to see which path is the one for you to take. Opportunities to improve and enlarge your friendships are available to you now. You may find yourself wanting to do almost anything today. This is a good time to project your image. Give yourself more credit for the original ways you handle family matters.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Investigating and examining results and statistics find you at your mental best. Your analytical abilities are at a high point. This can be an expansive, creative and successful time—a time you will look back on with pride and fondness. You are your warm, loyal and generous self today and others follow your example as you deal with the public and interact with others in the workplace. Your need for admiration and appreciation will certainly be met as you entertain and visit with friends this afternoon. Others could seek you out for your psychological insight and understanding. This could be a time to make changes in your environment. Any work toward creating a balance in your life will be beneficial. Good vibes are present all week long.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You will make practical decisions concerning group issues this Tuesday. A supervisor or higher-up is listening to your intelligent summations about how things should be run. You have a natural sense of what the public wants. You are always making new discoveries. Clear decisions affecting others are requested and triumphant. You have a great appreciation of how your life is going and this afternoon you will later be able to enjoy the company of a good friend. You will both enjoy talking about what each of you have accomplished. Perhaps you will even be evaluating and reassessing your plans for the future. Life, like a good painting, has to be looked at occasionally to really appreciate the true essence. Friends may visit this evening.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

Yesterday’s Solution

Go with the flow today. Trust in your own instincts. Your ideas are just as good, if not better, than someone else’s ideas.

Take a chance—try out your new ideas—you will have a feeling of accomplishment. Perhaps you are improving or updating a piece of technical equipment or some new computer software. Your perseverance pays off, particularly when you stop occasionally for a break or two—all work and no play, etc. A person that you were close to in the past may contact you this afternoon. An earnest effort in letting go of hard feelings can free you to move forward. This person has something special to offer you. This is a day of good surprises, opportunities, money and romance. A new game fills your evening hours.

Money, money, money—it seems to occupy your mind much of this day. You could be applying for a loan or looking to purchase a vehicle or home and there is almost a feeling of static electricity in the air. Easy does it, meaning, have more confidence. If you really need this new item to make your life work better, it will be yours! Be aware, however, that time and process may not meet with your own idea of how things should move along. Do not let these thoughts occupy your time—you will want to be attentive to your work. You are valued for your ability to make practical decisions and you could find yourself representing co-workers in sensitive issues. Clear decisions affecting others could be made by higher-ups as a result of your input.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You will be extremely busy today. There will be many times where you will have to supply a solution to a particular problem. Be prepared to work hard. This is not a great time to attempt to plan a noon break with friends as you may find yourself less conversational. It would be good to walk or visit a pet or music store, if possible. Transferring your concentration to a light-hearted arena would do wonders for your energy level and enthusiasm as you return to the work expectations. Take care to examine all aspects of your work or dealings today—it could lead to success! A long-awaited dialogue with an older person may take place later. You enjoy keeping up-to-date with the news regarding your friends, relatives or neighborhood events.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

This is a time for creativity when it comes to your professional abilities. You could be speaking for your company or lecturing today. A sudden loss in business could occur, through no fault of your own, and you may want to wade through some paperwork to discover the reason. This will eventually smooth itself out but it is good to do the investigative work to avoid any repeat mystery of lost business or at least to understand the normality of the event. This may also be a time that unexpected monetary gifts appear out of the blue. You have a lot of energy for improving your surroundings or life situations and you are very motivated to improve. This evening is a good time to just relax and absorb the day’s events.

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

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 Jazeera Airways Jet Airways FlyDubai 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 177 22924455 22414400 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 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 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)

Dr Anil Thomas

3729596/3729581 22641071/2

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

Dr. Adnan Ebil

22639939

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Mousa Khadada

22666300

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

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. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291 22666288

Rheumatologists:

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

Dentists

Internists, Chest & Heart

25339330

25655535

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

General Surgeons

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677

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

36

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

lifestyle G o s s i p

Frankie

Mel B’s

Sandford refuse s to take advice

husband won’t be her birthing partner

he Saturdays singer - wh o is now romancing soccer player Wayne Bri dge following the demise of her two-year relationship with McFly bassist Dougie Po ynter - says people com e to her if they want an ho nest opinion on their situ ation, but she prefers to learn from her own mistakes. She said: “All my friends say they come to me when they want to hear how it is. “Personally, I like the truth. I will say it to learn my own lessons. And when people are like, ‘He’s a bad guy, he’s a player’, I don’t list en. “Every player eventu ally meets someone who ma kes them stop messing around. Everyone deser ves a chance.” Despite he r views, Frankie loves cat ching up with her band mates - Vanessa White, Rochelle Wiseman, Una Healy and Mollie King and admits they discus s everything in their lives.

She told more! magazin e: “We’re all so loud. Mollie is the loudest when we go out - and she doesn ’t eve about everything. Mainly n drink. “We talk just a load of crap. “In the morning, you kind of think, ‘That made sen se last night but it doesn’t now.’” —Bangshowbiz

T

he former Spice Girls singer is currently expecting her third child and the 35-year-old star - who also has daughters Phoenix, 12, and Angel, four, from previous relationships and is stepmother to husband Stephen Belafonte’s daughter Giselle, six - but doesn’t think her spouse would cope well in the delivery room. She told new! magazine: “Will he be my birthing partner? Oh God no, he’s going to be horrendous.

“I mentioned to him that at some point we’re going to pack our overnight bag and he literally went white. “So I instantly had a flash forward that he’s going to be all over the place and I’ just going to be sitting there breathing and doing what I need to do and laughing at him pacing.” Mel also insisted she doesn’t want to have a natural birth without pain relief after one of her previous experiences made her realize how difficult it would be. She said: “It’s all about the drugs. I’ve experienced not having pain medication - not by choice but because my pain medication wore off - so I’ve experienced the hard corners of it.”

T

Kylie Minogue’s special musical set for release soon he ‘Spinning Around’ hitmaker has previously revealed she was planning a stage production based on her music and career, and now her long-term creative collaborator and stylist William Baker says it will be the next thing they do together. He said: “We’re both working on the Kylie musical, using all her songs, which will hopefully be done next year some time. I can’t wait!” Kylie has previously admitted she is terrified of theatre critics’ response to her planned stage show, which she hopes will open in London’s West End. She said: “It’s definitely happening. We’ve brought a scriptwriter in and are working on a few synopses .”And the critics ... music critics are one thing but theatre critics are something else. I suppose if it doesn’t work then that’s it - it’s a closed book. “I think it will be here (in London).”

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Khloe

Kardashian ’s husband makes her f eel ‘perfect ’ ism for her lite has received critic he 26-year-old socia her spouse, basketball star but fluctuating weight, ing about the lped her stop worry he s ha , om Od r ma La e for her. She ais pr of l ful s e he is alway way she looks becaus rt of my self-confidence now. He’s pa t or gain weight, said: “Lamar’s a huge letely. “If I lose weigh changed my life comp every single day. “I’m so lucky to rfect he makes me feel pe kes me feel good. validates me and ma have someone who and I never had rfect in my own skin He’s made me feel pe what the outside t no , am I me for who am and that that before. He loves day how beautiful I ery ev me ls tel e “H e. looks lik es accepting praise ence.” While she lov makes a huge differ her siblings with o enjoys showering from Lamar, Khloe als make them feel good about themer to little sisters. I compliments in ord so protective of my “I’m d: de ad e Sh . too selves g them I love them ssage every day tellin t.’ “I think it’s send them a text me ou d beautiful inside an you love. “I like and saying, ‘You’re so le op pe e things to the e their bodies important to vocaliz y ls. I love that the lov gir nt de nfi co e y’r that the important.” and feel pretty. It’s so

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n a m k c a Hugh J k when

or w s t e g y onl hair s w o r g he

sn’t look “cool” he ‘X Men’ actor insists he doe n and claims ave enough when he is clean-sh up on set with w sho to him ask ays directors alw h is, there’s trut e “Th : a few days of stubble. He said haven’t had I re whe vie mo any in rarely been a role y face. “Every bab a of to have facial hair as I have a bit k a fourthin ‘I , says ctor dire the set time I turn up on shoot I to pho ry eve day growth would be good!’ And don’t shave ng sayi d han ore bef go on I get a call apparently. “It’s an because I don’t look cool enough old star turned ear42-y The ” . ard occupational haz musical vie mo down the role of Billy Flynn in young for the too felt he e aus bec ‘Chicago’ in 2002 n he saw whe n isio part, but later regretted his dec e. He om bec to on t wen film how successful the too was I e aus bec o’ added: “I turned down ‘Chicag ed. “I’d play e Ger ard Rich ch whi t, young for the par musical and this one always wanted to do a movie my career. I thought I in y earl ly tive came along rela one line where he was too young as there was this about 30! I thought, was I and kid’ all said, ‘I’ve seen it It didn’t make sense ?’

‘How am I going to sell this line all the Oscars win to on t wen it r to me. “A year late s with a bit of hap per t and I remember thinking tha ” . ked wor e hav ld make-up it cou

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Charlie

Sheen’s divorc e

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he couple - who married in 2008 and have twoyear-old twin sons, Bob and Max, together have officially ended their union, with former real estate agent Brooke being granted $55,000-amonth in child support on top of a lump sum of $757,698.70 and another $1 million for her share of their marital home. According to gossip website TMZ, the former ‘Two and a Half Men’ actor - who also has two daughters, Sam, seven, and five-yearold Lola, with ex-wife Denise Richards, as well as a grown-up daughter, Cassandra, from a previous relationship - will keep the family home in Los Angeles. The documents also state: “Under no circumstances shall the child support paid by Charlie for Bob and Max be less than the child support paid

by Charlie to Denise Richards for Sam and Lola.” The news comes after Charlie, 45, lost his custody battle against Brooke. The troubled star had hoped to win primary legal and physical custody of Bob and Max after Brooke refused to take a drug test last month and entered rehab but had his plea rejected by judge Hank Goldberg at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles. The decision maintained the situation decided in court on March 10, which sees Brooke have majority custody of Bob and Max while Sheen will be allowed to spend time with them every other weekend from Saturday morning until Sunday evening for the first two months. For the following two months, he will have the children every other weekend from Saturday morning to Monday morning. After that - provided both he and Brooke stay alcohol and drug free - he will have them an additional Wednesday morning through to Thursday morning.

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TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

lifestyle

Amsterdam’s famed canal belt gets its own museum

In this photo, Waterbury Arts Magnet School student Shakye Gaskins (left) plays Herald Lommis and Timothy Floyd (right) plays the role of Bynum Walker during a dress rehearsal of August Wilson’s play ‘Joe Turner’s Come and Goneî’ in Waterbury, Conn. — AP

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High school play seizes power from the N-Word

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o way, Larry Ward thought to himself, emotions boiling. There is no way that my grandson should have anything to do with that word. For Ward, born 65 years ago in this small Connecticut city, the epithet conjured memories best left buried: racism inflicted on his grandfather down South, humiliations his mother endured before migrating to Waterbury, violence from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Birmingham, Alabama, to Boston, Massachusetts. “There’s too much history behind the word. Lynching, killing,” Ward said.

Then he learned that his grandson, 13-year-old Latrell Powell, was appearing in a Waterbury Arts Magnet School play that repeatedly used the hated word. And Ward informed Latrell that he was going down to the Board of Education meeting to let authorities know just how strongly he felt.

Ward was far from alone. The district superintendent wanted to cancel the play. Latrell’s parents had major objections. The school board meeting was full of people who wanted the word to disappear. But “nigger” is no ordinary word.

It is the essence of black pain, yet many African-Americans use it with pride, like a hard-won privilege. The word is undeniably racist and there have been widespread efforts to eliminate it from the black vernacular, yet it refuses to die. And so it was that one month after the school board meeting, Ward sat enthralled in a downtown theater as Latrell and 10 other students performed “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” by the revered African-American playwright August Wilson.

Waterbury was not the only place struggling with the word. As the city debated last February, a much-criticized new edition of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was arriving in stores nationwide with all 219 instances of the word changed to “slave.” A white high school basketball coach in Ohio was suspended after players said he used the word with the team. A former Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, TV reporter was suing the station that let him go for using the word in a news meeting.

It seems the United States is in a new N-word era, a noman’s land where the rules are unclear. When lines are blurred, people get hurt. Yet if there’s one group unscathed by the word, it’s young African-Americans, blissfully immune from this particular history. In Waterbury, these young people seized the power of the word.

In Latin, a root of the English language, the color black is “niger.” In 1619, when the Jamestown settler John Rolfe recorded the arrival of the first boatload of African captives in America, he described them as “negars.” Over time, the word developed into an instrument of white supremacy. Yet black people have long used it, too, and not necessarily in the way some blacks now use it as a synonym for “dude.” Set in 1911 in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, boardinghouse for blacks, “Joe Turner” is a searing exploration of the time when children of former slaves fled the countryside for big cities, searching for what Wilson describes as “a new identity as free men of definite and sincere worth.” Black characters in the play use the

word to describe other blacks who are still trapped in a slavelike mentality or condition. “These niggers coming up here with that old backward country style of living,” boardinghouse owner Seth Holley says a few minutes into the play. “It’s hard enough now without all that ignorant kind of acting.”

Eighteen-year-old Toure Richardson, who played the role of Seth Holly, is not the type to casually use the word in real life, even though he hears other young people, even elementaryschool kids, say it all the time. Speaking the epithet in the play felt “risky,” Richardson said. He worried that older people in the audience might be wounded.

“The word has more power over the older generation than younger people,” he said. “Young people use it as slang or to say hello, and you can tell they’re not hurt by it, because they keep using the word. But if you say it to someone in their 50s or older, it’s like wow, did you just use that word? Do you even know what you’re saying?” “People died for that word,” said Latrell Powell, who played the neighborhood boy Reuben Scott. “It really means a lot.” “It will always have some sort of power,” he said. “The N-word can be replaced, but people will always use it because it has a stronger and higher meaning.”

That power is real for Dr David Snead, Waterbury’s school superintendent. Growing up black in a white Detroit neighborhood in the 1960s, he literally fought people who described him with the epithet. As he marched for civil rights as a college student in Alabama, white racists spat the word at him. “It reminds me of too much pain, agony,” Snead said. So when Snead heard about plans for the play, he decided almost by instinct to cancel it. Ward agreed. “I don’t have a hatred bone in my body. I respect all people,” he said. “But I’m very emotional about what my grandfather had to go through, what my mother had to go through. They had to humble themselves, never look white people in the eye, say yes sir and no sir, because if they didn’t they could get killed.”

“That affected me,” Ward said. Yet the student actors were convinced Superintendent Snead had made a mistake. They already were deep into rehearsals, living century-old lives, exploring their terrible yet fiercely hopeful reality.

Supported by their director and principal, both of them white, the students set out to convince the adults that “Joe Turner” could actually defuse the power of the word. Snead agreed to reconsider, and a school board meeting was called to let everyone state their case. Latrell did not go with his grandfather. “There was too much emotion in the air,” he said.

“My grandfather was very serious. I didn’t want to anger him. I understood his point very clearly.” At the meeting, many people were concerned with rampant use of the word in casual conversation. Ward, for example, remembered hearing a young Hispanic co-worker repeatedly use it a few years back.

“This anger came up,” Ward said. “You don’t know how much I wanted to punch him in his mouth.” Richardson’s heart was pounding in his chest as he spoke to the crowd. “This play has a message of freedom, of upliftment, of understanding

other points of view,” he said. “That word doesn’t have power unless you give it that power,” the young man told his elders.

“If you hear it and automatically flash back or have a moment in your heart, guess what? You just gave it that power. It can have little power if you let it, or great power if you let it. It’s all on you.” Timothy Floyd, who played Bynum Walker, recalled feeling unsettled, “because both sides were trying to do the same thing. We’re trying to educate our black youth as well.

This play is just another means of doing that.” “Young people today don’t know the root of the word,” said Floyd, 18. “They only know, ‘My brother uses it with his friends ... it came from (the rapper) Tupac.”‘ In the end, the passion and commitment of the actors won over the adults. They decided to let the play go forward, provided there was a discussion with the audience about the word after each performance.

“We’re never too far from hurt,” Snead said later. “Hurt is real to us; it shapes the present.” Before the play became an issue, Snead never wanted to hear the word again. Now he has decided that it’s acceptable in certain artistic or historical situations. “This was what you call a teaching moment,” he said. “You don’t have very many like that, especially for a whole community.”

The final curtain fell on “Joe Turner” after the tormented traveler Herald Loomis cathartically freed himself from memories of “niggers swimming in a sea of cotton.” On this February night, the audience of several hundred people rose in a lengthy standing ovation. Ward’s emotions were bubbling again, this time with pride and joy. “The play was phenomenal,” he said. “Listening to my grandson, to the way these kids presented themselves at the meeting, I had a change of heart.”

He cringed only at one point, when a white character, a traveling peddler, discussed his skill at finding missing “Nigras.” “I used to hear Caucasian people use that same dialect,” Ward said. The white actor who played the peddler, 18-year-old Jonathan Creem, thought the controversy over the word showed that “maybe we are not that ready for change.” But it was still one of the greatest experiences of his life. “Maybe,” the teenager said, “we can use words to try and make a difference.” Richardson, too, was profoundly affected by the performance. His character spoke the word more than any other actor that night.

“I felt as though I was using it for the right reasons,” he said.

“I felt right about using it in its historical context.” He also felt that black people should let go of their pain. “Yes, we should,” he said. “If you hold onto it, it can lead to bitterness, bitterness turns to sickness, sickness turns to disease. It’s not a good thing. If you don’t realize how much we’ve grown as a nation of all races to where we are now, you’re missing out. You’re holding on to what was, and you’re not moving forward, and that’s not healthy for anybody. “Yes we went through it, but here’s the positive outcome of what came before. History is history. You don’t want to forget it, but you want to let go of the pain and move forward.” —AP

Unearthed treasure includes royal bling

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trove of medieval jewelry and other precious objects found by a man working in his backyard includes pieces made for a royal court and may be worth as much as 100,000 euros ($150,000) government experts said yesterday. The officials from Austria’s department of national antiquities and the Academy of Sciences said they were only at the beginning of their investigation into the provenance and other details of the find.

“We have in front of us high-end products (made) for the highest consumer class of Central Europe” of the Middle Ages, academy member Thomas Kuehtreiber told reporters as security guards lifted a black velvet cloth from a glass case to reveal some of the rarer pieces. The Federal Office for Memorials said the trove consists of more than 200 rings, brooches, ornate belt buckles, gold-plated silver plates and other pieces or fragments, many encrusted with pearls, fossilized coral and other ornaments. It says the objects are about 650 years old and weigh about 6.6 pounds (3 kilograms). Some of the more stunning objects on display yesterday includ-

ed a delicately formed brooch adorned with pearls and coral and a ring inlaid with an amethyst-like semiprecious stone.

A media statement said the find was tentatively valued at tens of thousands of euros.

Employees with the memorials office told The Associated Press they could be worth as much as 100,000 euros or nearly $150,000.

They asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to media.

The memorials office said the man, who did not want to be identified, came across the objects in 2007 while digging in his back yard in the town of Wiener Neustadt, south of Vienna to expand a small pond. But he did not report it to authorities until after rediscovering the dirt-encrusted objects in a basement box while packing up after selling his house two years ago. Officials presenting the pieces did not say when the finder first came to them with the ancient trove. They said that investigations into the find had only begun and could last up to four years.

They speculated that the objects could have been plunder from a conflict or owned by a trader who had buried it for safety ahead

of approaching potential customers to make a deal. The location of the find lies on an important medieval trading route that ran between Poland and Italy, they said. “We will probably never find an answer” to the treasure’s origins, said Nikolaus Hofer of the memorial office.— AP

Visitors look at part of a buried treasure exhibited at Austria’s department of national antiquities in Vienna, Austria, yesterday. — AP

msterdam’s famed 17th century canal district, a major tourist draw which was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List last year, now boasts its own museum. “The history of the canals had never been told,” said Piet van Winden, the head of the “Grachtenhuis” private museum which has just opened to the public. “They are probably the best conceived urban extension project in the world,” he said. “Here, we set the scene, we explain the how and why,” he told AFP. “Our goal is to be a sort of gateway to the splendor of the canals. It’s then up to each visitor to discover them on foot, by bicycle or by boat.”

An estimated three million foreign tourists flock to the so-called “Venice of the North” to visit its protected canal belt, which is home to 8,000 monuments and will mark its 4OOth anniversary in 2013. The four curved canals-the Singel, the Herengracht, the Keizergracht and the Prinsengracht-are a remnant of the Dutch Golden Age when this metropolis led the world in art, trade and architecture. Fourteen kilometers (8.7 miles) long in total, and crossed by 80 bridges, they form a concentric belt around the city centre, including its famous red light district.

Their total surface area is 160 hectares, measuring 3.5 kilometres from east to west. The new canal museum, located at 386 Herengracht (the “Canal of Burghers”) in the former house of a banker who helped finance the United States’ War of Independence, pays tribute to what is a masterpiece of hydraulic and urban planning. An audio tour complete with multimedia presentations takes roughly 30 minutes. “The story is told in an informal manner, not as a lecture,” according to van Winden. The main protagonists (mayor, engineer or architect) can be heard debating while amending or erasing plans projected on a table until completion of the end result: four symmetric canals girding the medieval town.

“They thought of everything,” van Winden enthused, citing “the defense of the town, its supply network, transports, hygiene, aesthetics and costs.” In another museum room, panoramic screens highlight the high points of Amsterdam life associated with the canals, including the “Gay Pride” and the incessant ballet of tourboats .

“The canal belt is not a commuter town,” said Paul Spies, author of “The Canals of Amsterdam”. “People live, work here. There’s pollution but people live with it because they are proud to live here.” Along the canals, more than 6,000 brick houses, three or four stories high, have been classified historical monuments.

“There is unity in terms of structure and beauty but each house is different,” according to Spies, who lauded “the remarkable execution” of the canal belts and its habitat. “It’s solid. they pulled out all the stops,” he added. “The whole thing is unique as it has been exceptionally well preserved.” — AFP

Actress Barbara Eden attends the 16th Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books - Day 2 at USC on May 1, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. — AFP

Children in US, Canada to perform simultaneously

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hildren at more than 1,700 schools, from New Orleans to the wilds of British Columbia, will unite in music, when for a single moment across time zones they will all perform the same song.

Singers, violinists, drummers and other young music makers will launch into “I Wanna Play,” a song by country music star Aaron Tippin, at 1 pm.

The seventh annual “Music Monday” is orchestrated to applaud the benefits of music education, from cultivating acceptance of others to increasing hand-eye coordination, said sponsors National Association of Music Merchants and the Coalition of Music Education.

From young special needs crooners to polished conservatory musicians, “Music Monday” will include musicians of all levels, said coalition executive director Ingrid Whyte. “‘Music Monday’ gives everyone an opportunity to be heard.” said Whyte. “It allows them to be part of something big.” An estimated 650,000 students in 65 school districts in the United States and 1,679 in Canada signed on for the event. When the clock strikes 1 p.m. EDT, choir members will open their mouths to sing, trombonists will grab their slides and blow and music will fill school auditoriums coast to coast.

For low-income youth in particular, playing music pays off in more ways than music appreciation, including reducing bullying and boosting attendance, said social worker Giselle Friedmann, who created a drumming program for Los Angeles public schools. In the drumming program, teachers lead students who drum on their desks and repeat: “I accept you. You accept me.

And that’s the way it will be.” A UCLA study of the program found group drumming relieved anxiety, stress and defiance, according to findings published in March in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. — Reuters

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A Mardi Gras Indian in full costume parades through the Fairgrounds at the Louisiana Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Sunday, May 1, 2011. — AP photos

Members of the Haitian band DJA-Rara perform as they march through the fairgrounds at the Louisiana Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Sunday, May 1, 2011.

New Orleans, Haiti share cultural history at fest

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t’s no coincidence that the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has taken the earthquake-ravaged country of Haiti under its wing. The city and the country share more than just a love of music and culture. They share history and are both survivors, said Richard Morse, lead singer and founder of the Haitian mizik rasin band RAM. “I like to say New Orleans and Haiti are twin sisters separated at birth,” said Morse who recounted a bit of history behind the Louisiana Purchase during an interview. Morse said both Haiti and New Orleans were once part of the same French Colony, but in 1803, Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States after a successful black slave revolt on what is now Haiti caused him to lose the land for his empire.

After his defeat, experts say Napoleon saw holding onto Louisiana as a liability and sold the land to the US for $15 million.

Morse’s band is scheduled to play on the second weekend of the festival and is among several featured as part of this year’s event. Wyclef Jean performed on the fest’s opening day, while the reigning queen of Haitian songs, Emeline Michel, took the stage at Congo Square on Saturday. Others scheduled to perform include Tabou Combo,

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Djakout (hash)1, and Ti-Coca & Wanga-Neges.

Michael Callahan, of Portland, Ore., moved to the rhythms of Boukman Eksperyans on Sunday.

“I’m loving them,” he said of the band. “I love the dancing, the beat, everything. Did you hear what he just said? He said, ‘We have to change the system.’ Man that’s powerful. I love the politics of the music. It’s beautiful.” On Sunday, the DJA-RaRa band paraded through the Fair Grounds Race Course drawing spectators along the route to the festival’s Haitian Pavilion where they put on a show. “They are contagious aren’t they,” said Sabel Gipson, of New Orleans. “Their spirit and sentiment is so similar to New Orleans’ own second-lines.

They so represent the culture and spirit of not only Haitians, but also the African diaspora.” Gipson, who danced and moved throughout the performance, said the festival’s decision to promote the Haitian culture “is the best thing it’s done in the last few decades.” “They’re also promoting social awareness and global awareness and showing the world that they’re thinking outside their locale,” she said.

Jeff Jacobs, of San Francisco, enjoyed the performance with his wife, Ghia. “They’re very authentic, high energy and lots of fun,” he said of the group. “I

uammar Gaddafi pumping petrol into a winged camel, Gaddafi with the tail of a snake and a forked tongue, Gaddafi as Dracula. The flamboyant Libyan strongman is fuelling a flourishing cartoon caricature scene in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. Those are just a few of the themes produced by a group of young artists who reached not for their guns but for their colored pens and spray cans when Libya’s revolution kicked off in mid-February. One of them paid for it with his life, gunned down by secret police. The group now goes by the name of their dead colleague, Qais Al-Halali, and continues its work from a ramshackle office in a makeshift media centre next to the rebel headquarters on the city’s seafront.

“We draw caricatures here and then distribute them around the city. We give them to people to show at demonstrations or hang on walls,” said Akram Al-Bruki, 32, who uses the moniker Kimo to sign his work. Bruki took out two commemorative posters of Halali, one showing a picture of his fresh-faced late colleague, the other showing the bruised and bloodied head of a dead man.

“He got a message to stop,” delivered by Gaddafi’s forces before they were chased out of the eastern city. “But he didn’t stop. When we started doing this we swore that no-one would stop us.” The secret police finally caught up with Halali in late March, shooting him dead as he drove up to a checkpoint, said Bruki. Bruki and his three colleagues vowed afterwards to step up their production to

like that they get the audience involved.”

Asked about the festival’s decision to spotlight Haiti, Jacobs said, “It’s definitely an opportunity to provide insight into the Haitian culture.” Lynn Selby lived in Haiti when the deadly earthquake struck in 2010. “I look at that year as a lost year,” she recalled.

“I was pulled from the rubble after my house collapsed on me.” Selby, who is pursuing a doctorate in social anthropology, said the Haitian culture is one of “strength and resilience.” “I find it amazing that they still find the space to be loving and kind to each other despite everything that’s happened,” she said. “That’s the spirit that’s conveyed through these kinds of performances.” Didier Civil, a paper mache artist from Jakmel, Haiti, who now lives in New York, said his festival experience so far has been “one of a kind.” “It’s definitely a good opportunity for Haitians to show their talents and to show their works to the world,” he said. — AP

play their part in trying to bring about the downfall of the man who had ruled their country since before they were born.

“We didn’t go to the front. We fight with pictures and words,” said Ahmed Ahreb, 33, who writes captions and speech bubbles for the cartoons his friends make. The walls of their office and of the whole media centre were jammed with their pictures and nearby buildings are

A Libyan man walks past caricatures of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at a media accreditation centre in Benghazi on April 30, 2011.

Anders Osborne performs.

daubed with graffiti and grotesque depictions of Gaddafi.

On the wall behind Bruki was a picture of Hosni Mubarak, the ex-president of Egypt who was ousted in a popular uprising in February, presenting a tray of drinks to Gaddafi.

“Take some Red Bull to help you fly,” says the speech bubble above the Egyptian. “I’m not the kind who flies. I’m going to stay,” replies the Libyan. Bruki said that the eccentric Gaddafi, with his jowly face, bushy hair, colorful clothes

A cartoon depicting an opposition supporter splitting the head of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi hangs from a wall at a media accreditation centre in Benghazi on April 30, 2011. — AFP

and penchant for glamorous female bodyguards, was an easy target for satire. He pointed to his own favorite caricature on a wall in the media centre corridor.

“Gaddafi Cats” was the slogan above a drawing of the strongman snuggled up between two buxom women bodyguards in green army uniforms and red berets. Bruki produced a folder with several drawings he had just finished, which he said were being sent to Egypt to figure in an exhibition there before going on to another show in Qatar.

He also proudly took out his mobile phone to display a photo of himself spray-painting a cartoon of the leader he hates on the wall of an army barracks in central Benghazi. “It was really dangerous to do this at the time because the secret police were in the streets,” he said.He said he was convinced his group’s work not only boosted morale in rebel-held areas but that it also unnerved Gaddafi, whose forces control the western half of the country. “Gaddafi definitely sees them and they make him nervous. Many journalists have come here and filmed us or wrote articles about us, and he will see that on the television,” he said. — AFP

A visitor takes pictures of graffiti portraying Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. — AFP photos

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welcome sense of optimism pervaded the 10th annual Tribeca Film Festival. After several years of gloomy prospects for independent film, filmmakers and audiences seemed buoyed by the hope of new technologies leading viewers to worthy movies. “The field has been completely leveled,” said writer-director Edward Burns at the closing night screening of his “The Newlyweds.” “It is a good time to be a filmmaker.” Burns’ proclamation unthinkable only recently - was largely because, as he boasted, he made “The Newlyweds” for just $9,000. He was able to because of a cheap but still highly professional-grade camera (and, surely, product placement dollars from most of Tribeca’s prominent sponsors).

A scene is shown from the Swedish equestrian film ‘She Monkeys,’ showing at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

— AP photos

Several of the films at the festival were to be released by Tribeca Film on video-on-demand, a platform many hope will help resuscitate independent films, many of which have struggled to find release after the shuttering of many distributors and

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hen Kelly Price was nominated for a Grammy last December, the R&B nod caught many people off guard. Up until that point, Price hadn’t released an R&B album since 2003’s “Priceless.” In fact, when she delivered the contemporary gospel album “This Is Who I Am” three years after that, most people assumed the soulful singer had chosen a new career path. “It’s never been a secret that I’m a preacher’s kid,” says Price from her Los Angeles home. “Gospel will forever be a part of my life; that’s why I sing the way I sing. But I never said I was leaving R&B.” Now, the artist known for belting out such hits as “Friend of Mine,” “As We Lay” and “Heartbreak Hotel” is adding an exclamation point to that declaration with the May 3 release of her sixth album “Kelly.” Its anthemic opening track “Tired” caught Grammy voters’ attention. (Alas, she lost to Fantasia).

Not only does the project plant Price squarely back into the R&B scene, it’s helped the singer achieve her first top 40 hit on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 11 years: second single “Not My Daddy,” featuring Mint Condition frontman Stokley Williams. Price and her manager, husband Jeffery Rolle, began dressing the stage for her return three years ago when they relocated from Atlanta to Los Angeles. After the 2006 release of “This Is Who I Am,” Price continued performing, averaging between 200 and 250 dates per year. But the urge to return to writing-she had composed songs for R. Kelly, Wynonna Judd, Ronald Isley and Faith Evans, among others-and expand into film and TV began to take hold. That’s when her attorney suggested she move to LA. Shortly after the move, Price reconnected with producer Warryn Campbell, who first worked with her in the late ‘90s. They went the indie route and launched the comeback plan with “Tired” and then “Not My Daddy.” The compelling ballad expresses a frequently overlooked message: Don’t forget to let love into your relationship.

An accompanying video was directed by actress Regina

Singer and musician Joe Don Rooney of the band Rascal Flatts performs. — AP photos

the narrowing of studio interests. Business, too, seemed on the uptick when - following healthy buying at the Sundance Film Festival - several films found distribution in the first few days of the festival.

Among them was “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” a documentary on master sushi chef Jiro Ono and culinary perfectionism acquired by Magnolia Pictures. It was one of several highly enjoyable films from the festival. Here are a handful of other highlights: “BOMBAY BEACH”: Arguably the hit of the festival, Israeli-born director Alma Har’el’s lyrical debut was the unanimous jury choice for best documentary feature. It’s a beautifully stylized film about stray characters living in the California desert by the Salton Sea, a small community in a forgotten, postapocalyptic landscape. Shot largely at sundown and with a soundtrack of Bob Dylan and Beirut, the film takes on a dreamlike quality. Many fictional films try to portray dignity in rural decay, but the authentically poetic “Bombay Beach” is the real deal.

“THE GUARD”: Tribeca has had a curious Irish connection. Two of the best films to come out of the festival in recent years were from Ireland: the absurd comedy “Zonad” and Conor McPherson’s cathartic ghost story “The Eclipse.” “The Guard,” which earlier premiered at Sundance and will be released later this year, was written and directed by John Michael McDonaugh, who shares the darkly comic sensibility of his playwright brother, Martin McDonaugh.

Brendan Gleeson stars as a thoroughly politically incorrect police officer in Galway. He proudly calls himself “the last of the independents.” When a drug smuggling case brings over an FBI agent (Don Cheadle), the two spark an irresistible chemistry.

“DESPICABLE DICK AND RIGHTEOUS RICHARD”: The aging, Midwestern rascal Dick Kuchera has been on a decades-long path of 12-step program recovery. He tries to cloak a lifetime of lying and selfishness in psycho-babble, rarely convincing

King. Married since she was 19 and celebrating her 19th anniversary this year, Price says “Not My Daddy” came to her as she was cleaning the house. “It stems from the experience of being in a long-term relationship and how easy that dynamic can change when kids come into the picture.”

Price’s “I’m every woman” outlook stands at the heart of the other tracks on “Kelly.” Having overcome her own share of issues-from body image and teen pregnancy to family tensions (both her mother and late mother-in-law were stricken with breast cancer) — Price tackles everything from self-forgiveness (“I’m Sorry”) and empowerment (“The Rain”) to addictive relationships (“HimAholic”). She even gets into party mode (“And U Don’t Stop”).

“I’m grown; that’s what this record says,” Price says.

“I’ve made a whole lot of mistakes and dumb decisions but I’m not beating myself up over it. There’s a lot of resolve here but happiness as well. I’ve come of age doing what I know how to do: soothing myself through music and hopefully helping someone else.” Projects on tap include a summer tour with Dave Hollister and Angie Stone, a TV pilot, a clothing line, an audio version of her 2005 book “Inscriptions of My Heart,” a cook book and her ongoing philanthropic work on behalf of breast cancer. In the meantime, Price is slated to perform at the 2011 Essence Music Festival in July and is busy collaborating on new songs for the likes of Dave Hollister, Toni Braxton and Keke Wyatt. “I don’t get much sleep these days,” Price says. “But that’s OK. Everything is lining up. My prayers are being answered.”

In addition to Campbell and Williams, the singer/songwriter collaborated with songwriter/producers Shep Crawford and Jazz Nixon, who are also longtime colleagues and friends. Another longtime industry relationship recently blossomed into a new co-management arrangement for Price. Rolle is now co-managing his wife’s career with Devyne Stephens, who heads Atlanta-

In this image released by the Tribeca Film Festival, a scene is shown from the film, ‘Bombay Beach,’ showing at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. anyone of his earnestness. Joshua Neal’s documentary on Kuchera is an unforgettable character study.

Kuchera is locked on the make-amends step and one wonders if he’ll ever get out: Each day brings another round of sins to atone for. Most movies tell stories of change, but “Despicable Dick” is one of utter, human stasis. “THE TRIP”: The meta narratives of Michael Winterbottom are so layered that you’d expect them to result in confusion rather than laughter. But Winterbottom’s “The Trip” was the funniest film of Tribeca. It’s a kind of follow up to the director’s 2005 comedy, “Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story,” which depicted a film production trying to adapt Laurence Sterne’s famous novel. There were a few scenes of brilliantly rhythmic exchanges between British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, each playing exaggerated versions of their selves. “The Trip,” which ran as a TV miniseries in the UK, simply continues their banter, here on a road trip of haute cuisine in northern England. It opens in the US on June 10. If the prospect of dueling Michael Cain impressions isn’t enticing, what is?

“CATCHING HELL“: An Alex Gibney documentary is one of the most reliable things at Tribeca.

He has previously showcased films such as “My Trip To Al-Qaeda” and the Oscar-winning “Taxi to the Dark Side.” This year, he finds an equally harrowing but less severe story of injustice on the baseball diamond or more accurately, just adjacent to it. “Catching Hell,” a film originally made for ESPN’s “30 for 30” series that will be broadcast later this year, is about the scapegoating of Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman, who was made a villain for his minor role in a 2003 playoff game. Gibney’s film, though, is more about mob mentality, which can rage even over a little bloop hit down the leftfield foul line. — AP

based Upfront Megatainment. Its roster includes Akon, Kelly Rowland, Dave Hollister and Upfront/SRC newcomer Majic Massey. “I’ve managed Kelly from day one,” says Rolle, who’ll still handle day-to-day responsibilities. “But now I don’t have to do everything. In Devyne, I found someone who believes in Kelly like I do and someone who works just as hard as she does.”

Kelly Price

Price’s sixth album also represents a career rebirth. In addition to partnering with producer Warryn Campbell’s My Block Records, Price has hired a new co-manager, Devyne Stephens of Upfront Megatainment, as she eyes several brand-building ventures. In short, the is back with a whole new do-it-my-way attitude, ready to claim, in Campbell’s words, “that big shot to show what she can really do. She’s never had that look, in my opinion. But everybody needs to know how great and talented she is as a singer and as an amazing writer.”— Reuters

Singer Carrie Underwood performs at the Stagecoach Music Festival in Coachella, California on Sunday, May 1, 2011.

J

anet Jackson, Bill Clinton and Brooke Shields will be the stars at this year’s Life Ball, Vienna’s colorful AIDS charity event, on May 21, organizers said yesterday. Former US President Clinton, a regular guest, will return for the ball’s 19th edition, which will commemorate 30 years since the discovery of the AIDS virus, HIV. Other notable guests will include UNAIDS chief Michel Sidibe and actress Shields, with musical interludes by singers Jackson and Natasha Bedingfield, and violinist Nigel Kennedy.

The evening will begin with a gala dinner at the Imperial Palace sponsored by Austrian President Heinz Fischer, followed by an extravagant red carpet fashion show and party at Vienna’s neo-gothic City Hall. The Canadian designer duo Dsquared2 — Dean und Dan Caten-are behind this year’s fashion show, memorably held on a red-ribbon catwalk in past years.

The Life Ball-one of the biggest AIDS charity events in the world, attracting some 40,000 revellers every year-raised over 1.5 million euros ($1.9 million) for international and national HIV and AIDS projects last year. In November, UNAIDS and AIDS LIFE, the organisation of Life Ball co-founder Gery Keszler, announced they had joined forces to raise funds and awareness about the disease. Past guests of the Life Ball have included singer Katy Perry and actresses Sharon Stone and Whoopi Goldberg. — AFP

Fans react as musicians perform at the Stagecoach Music Festival.

Gaddafi caricature flourishes in Benghazi

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TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2011

A handout photo shows a diver looking at five reef sharks off the coast of the Pacific island nation of Palau. — AFP

‘Million-dollar sharks’ boon to eco-tourism A

single reef shark can be worth nearly two million dollars in tourism revenue over its lifetime, according to a study released yesterday by researchers in Australia. The analysis from the Pacific island nation of Palau shows that sharks-hunted worldwide for their fins, a Chinese delicacy-are worth many times more to some local economies alive than dead. “Sharks can literally be a ‘million-dollar’ species and a significant economic driver,” said lead author Mark Meekan, a scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

“Our study shows that these animals can contribute far more as a tourism resource than as a catch target,” he said in a statement.

Sharks have reigned at the top of the ocean food chain for hundreds of millions of years. But because they mature slowly and produce few offspring, the consummate marine predators have proven vulnerable to industrial-scale fishing. Tens of millions of the coastal and open-water sharks are harvested every year to supply a burgeoning appetite for meat and especially shark-fin soup. The researchers

found that the annual value to the Palau tourism industry of an individual reef shark at one of the country’s major scuba-diving sites is 179,000 dollars (121,000 euros) a year, or about 1.9 million dollars (1.3 million euros) over the animal’s lifetime. Shark diving accounts for about eight percent of the tiny country’s GDP and 14 percent of its business tax base. It also generates more than a million dollars annually in salaries. In 2009, Palau became the first country in the world to declare all of its territorial waters to be a shark sanctuary,

followed last year by Picture shows a Blue Corner shark with jack escort off Honduras and The the coast of the Pacific island nation of Palau. — AFP Maldives. animals for their benefit to the ocean and The US state of Hawaii, the territories their value to a country’s financial wellof Guam and the Northern Marianas, and being.” About a third of open-water the Republic of the Marshall Islands have sharks face extinction, according to the all banned the possession, sale or distriInternational Union for the Conservation bution of shark fins. “Shark tourism can of Nature (IUCN). Regional studies have be a viable economic engine,” said Matt shown that when shark populations Rand, a shark expert at the Washingtoncrash the impact cascades down through based Pew Environment Group, which the food chain, often in unpredictable commissioned the research. “This study and deleterious ways. —AFP provides a compelling case that can convince more countries to embrace these

Great autumn style at H&M E

legance is a theme we haven’t seen in fashion for some time.

But with simplicity, modernity and heaps of fashion style, it’s hard to sum up this autumn’s women’s collection at H&M with a better word. This is the season for cool confidence in distinguished and well composed browns, camel, burgundies and cream. 70’s style influence is essential with longer lengths and wide trousers that look great with chic blouses and comfy knits. Perfect leather accessories and a quirky hat complete the look.

“I’m particularly fond of this collection because it s so easy to wear, so grown-up yet totally of the moment and with such great fashion attitude. Most pieces are fashion classics updated with a new silhouette, shape or simply new styling, says H&M’s Head of Design Ann-Sofie Johansson.

Sharp, urban looks for men at H&M for autumn Men’s fashion for autumn continues its focus on simplicity and

function. This means it’s important to be creative with material, color combinations and styling. It’s about creating your own personal style, matching seasonal fashion musts with classic favorites. A heavy knit collar or rustic parka over a classic suit adds attitude, a two tone blazer over a white shirt feels new, and a bright down jacket is a great alternative to the classic overcoat even for the city. Accessories are perfect style boosters; like driving-gloves, cognac leather belt or boots, a narrow tie or a hat.

Clean and sharp is the look for men this autumn, updated with seasonal colors, materials and key pieces. It’s also important that the wardrobe works in a simple and efficient way, which is why design longevity is particularly important at H&M’s men’s department. This season’s collection is about indispensible fashion essentials and about creating your own look, says Andreas Lowenstam, Design responsible at H&M Man.

Modern dance blooms at Beirut ‘Arab Spring’

C

Ann-Sofie Johansson

H&M’s new designer clothing line is pictured. Elegance is a theme we havenít seen in fashion for some time. But with simplicity, modernity and heaps of fashion style, H&M looks set to make a new style statement. — Photos by Joseph Shagra

ontemporary dancers are finding their feet in the Arab world, as the art form renowned for freedom of expression blossoms at a time of regional upheaval. “Over the past few years, Arab contemporary dance has been blossoming,” said Omar Rajeh, organizer of the just-ended Beirut International Platform of Dance (BIPOD), which hosted over 20 choreographers in the Lebanese capital. The A dancer performs in the Beirut International just-ended, two-week festi- Platform of Dance . — AFP val included performances by dance heavyweights such as the United States’ lives of Arab citizens, such as freedom,” William Forsythe, Belgian Alain Platel and said Rajeh, who did a masters in dance British-born Akram Khan. studies at Britain’s University of Surrey It also featured around 20 choreograand heads Lebanon’s Maqamat Dance phers from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Theatre. “Contemporary dance has a lot Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco, Egypt and to do with the individual, with the rejecthe occupied Palestinian territory of the tion of existing systems and structures, West Bank. In a region where traditional the rejection of regimes,” he added. group folk dances or oriental belly-dancMost shows touched on themes speing remain wildly popular-and where the cific to Arab societies while remaining word “raqqasa” (dancer) can carry pejora- mindful to avoid cliches about the tive connotations in Arabic-more and region. Mohammed Shafik of Egypt capmore people are turning to contempotured the spirit of Arab cities before the rary dance for its freedom of movement time of the revolution-once apathetic, and expression. Since 2009, BIPOD has but also hopeful-in a piece called “The also hosted the Arab Dance Platform, Smell of the City.” And in “The Sleepers” which allows contemporary choreograby Iraq’s Anmar Taha, victims of conflict phers from this largely conservative part and torture are blindfolded as they squat of the world to showcase their work. and move about the stage with minimal And this year, Arab choreographers body gestures, evoking images of the had already echoed the spirit of the revsilent suffering of the body. olutions that erupted well into their Taha’s dance troupe, Iraqi Bodies, is preparations for the seventh edition of based in Sweden as violence in his the festival. “This year’s performances... homeland prevents him from working echo issues that are at the heart of the there. —AFP