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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

MP: Constitution protected Kuwait from Arab Spring

Shelling kills 13 in Yemen

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Syria bloodbath Arab League meets in Cairo today

BEIRUT: Syrian security forces fired on anti-government protests yesterday and conducted sweeping raids during violence that killed at least 16 people, activists said. With more than 250 Syrians killed in less than two weeks, November is shaping up to be one of the bloodiest months yet in a dramatic escalation of the conflict around Syria’s 8-month-old uprising. There have been growing signs that some protesters are taking up arms to protect themselves, along with reports of intense battles between soldiers and army defectors. The bloodshed came as Human Rights Watch accused the regime of possible crimes against humanity in the crackdown that the UN estimates has killed at least 3,500 since the uprising began in mid-March.

The Arab League is to meet at its Cairo headquarters today to discuss the failure by President Bashar Assad’s regime to abide by a deal to stop the violence. Damascus agreed to the Arab Leaguebrokered plan last week, but the violence only accelerated as regime troops launched an assault to crush resistance in Syria’s third-largest city, Homs.

New York-based Human Rights Watched urged the 22-member league to suspend Syria’s membership. “The Arab League needs to tell President Assad that violating their agreement has consequences, and that it now supports (UN) Security Council action to end the carnage,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

Yesterday saw a repeat of the cycle that has characterized Syria’s results - mass protests after weekly Muslim prayers in areas around the country, met with swift and deadly crackdowns by security forces. At the same time, security forces raided homes in Homs, hunting for activists.

In addition to ongoing military operations in Homs, activists said fierce clashes were taking place Friday in the northern town of Khan Shaikhoun near the Turkish border between the military and gunmen believed to be army defectors.

The two main Syrian activist groups reported at least 16 deaths, 10 of them in Homs. The deaths were the latest in a particularly bloody month so far. —AP

Iran ‘mystery man’ in nuke spotlight VIENNA: The shadowy military man believed to be at the heart of Iran’s disputed nuclear activities likely lives under tight security and in secrecy to shield him against any assassins and keep him beyond the reach of UN sleuths, nuclear experts say.

A UN nuclear watchdog report this week identified Mohsen Fakhrizadeh as a key figure in suspected Iranian activities to develop the technology and skills needed for nuclear weapons and suggested he may still play a role in such efforts.

Fakhrizadeh, reportedly a senior officer in the Islamic state’s elite Revolutionary Guards, was the only Iranian official named in a detailed annex of the report, which said Tehran appeared to have worked on designing a nuclear weapon.

“He is viewed as extremely important,” said US-based proliferation expert David Albright, referring to assessments of Western intelligence officials. —Reuters

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GOTEBORG: Eleven wedding couples leave the cathedral altar in Goteborg, Sweden at 11 am yesterday after their vows. The eleven couples chose 11 November (11.11.11) as wedding date due to the symbolic ‘value’ of the date. —AP (See Page 27)

in the

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Iraq slams Kuwait’s port protection force

By A. Saleh KUWAIT: The Iraqi government has condemned rumors that Kuwait intends to form a special military force solely to protect the controversial Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port, warning that such a move would accelerate tensions between the two countries. Salam Al-Qoraishi, the advisor to the Iraqi Prime

Minister, told Iraqi media on Thursday that the creation of such a military force, which rumor suggests would be stationed on Boubyan Island, would increase the problems and tensions between the neighboring nations. “The Iraqi government is waiting for the right time to announce its stance on the port that Kuwait has already begun building,” said Al-Qoraishi, stressing that the Iraqi authorities are keen to resolve the matter through dialogue rather than any other means.

Saudi pilgrim slain

by Kuwaiti buried KUWAIT: The Saudi man recently killed by a young Kuwaiti pilgrim taking part in the annual Hajj pilgrimage was recently buried at Al-Masjid Al-Haram, the mosque in holy Makkah surrounding the holy Kaaba. According to security insiders, the burial was authorized after the Saudi prosecutor finished questioning the killer before referring him for trial. The Saudi victim, who was reportedly a drug addict, apparently started a fight with the Kuwaiti man, who fatally stabbed him.

LOCAL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

FM leaves for Cairo today KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah leaves for Cairo today (Saturday) as head of the Kuwaiti delegation attending the emergency meeting of the Arab League Council at ministerial level to discuss the latest developments in Syria.

The minister will be accompanied by a number of Foreign Ministry officials. — KUNA

Kuwaiti youth dies in gruesome accident Hunt on for Farwaniya muggers KUWAIT: A 22-year-old Kuwaiti man died in a gruesome accident on the Fourth Ring Road heading towards Jahra early yesterday morning. Police received a report at 4:00 am, informing them that the young man had been driving at high speed when his car smashed into a trailer, decapitating him instantly. The body was removed for autopsy.

MP: Constitution protected Kuwait from Arab Spring Barrak greets Amir, Crown Prince

By A Saleh KUWAIT: “At a time when Kuwait is celebrating the 49th anniversary of its constitution, we can all see how our constitution has protected Kuwait from the waves of the Arab Spring sweeping the Arab world”, said MP Ahmed Al-Saadoun yesterday. Al-Saadoun asserted that Kuwaitis ought to be proud of their constitution and reject all attempts to manipulate it recalling how many time the government tried doing so in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Commenting on the same issue, MP Adel Al-Sahrawi criticized what he described as the attempts to revise or amend Kuwait’s constitution noting that the current one was good enough to take the country into a prosperous future. “Our constitution is our safety valve against any threats,” he stressed urging everybody to respect it and to resist any calls to change or amend it. “Followers of our political development can clearly realize that some ruling family members look forward to assuming leading positions and that this ambition is sometimes manifested in the form of unconstitutional conflicts”, he added.

Another lawmaker, Musallam Al-Barrak congratulated His Highnesses the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah as well as the Kuwaiti people, on the 49th anniversary of the Kuwaiti Constitution, saying, “The joy and pride we feel on this happy occasion are only spoiled by the presence of a government

that is the biggest abuser of the constitution.” Al-Barrak lamented the recurring negative situations in which he said “corruption has reached the legislature’s bone-marrow,” describing some MPs as becoming more like tools in others’ hands rather than protecting the people’s interests.

On a separate issue, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah is due to arrive back in Kuwait today after spending the Eid vacation abroad, according to an informed source, who said that the premier would preside over tomorrow’s weekly Cabinet meeting to discuss the government’s stance on Monday’s session of the parliamentary education committee on teachers’ and students’ demands.

Meanwhile, the Popular Action Bloc (PAB) is scheduled to hold a meeting tomorrow to prepare for Tuesday’s parliamentary session scheduled to discuss the grilling motion filed by its members, Ahmed Al-Saadoun and Abdulrahman Al-Anjari, which had been referred to the constitutional court.

A PAB insider said that the bloc’s members are sure that the motion will be removed from the session agenda due to allegations that it is unconstitutional. The insider also suggested that even the most optimistic feel that the voting pattern on the grilling motion will be 26 in favor, whilst the majority will support the ruling of unconstitutionality, which would mean the motion being overruled.

“The PAB will withdraw from Tuesday’s session if the motion is discarded and the Prime Minister does not take the podium,” insider asserted.

Second MoI officer arrested Another senior Ministry of Interior (MoI) official has been arrested, this time on charges of assaulting a fellow officer and driving whilst drunk. The incident began after police were called to a location in the Capital area where a citizen had reported a car being driven erratically and swerving wildly across the road. On arriving at the scene, the officers spotted the car and approached the driver, who was found to be a police captain. He reportedly verbally and physically assaulted one of the officers whilst he was being detained.

An investigation into the incident is continuing.

Vice crackdowns Two Indonesian prostitutes and their Syrian pimp were arrested on a Hawally street. Police officers apparently approached their vehicle after spotting it being driven erratically, finding the Syrian man at the wheel and the two female passengers heavily drunk. After checking the two women’s records, the officers determined that they had both been reported missing previously. On being questioned at the police station, they admitted that the Syrian man had taken them to “customers’” apartments where they would dance and do “other work,” paying them both KD100 each per day. All three were referred to the relevant authorities.

Meanwhile, a total of 100 men and women of various nationalities were arrested in a series of raids on apartments in Hawally which were being used for prostitution. The raids took part on the direct orders of the Ministry of Interior Assistant Undersecretary, with informants pinpointing which apartments were being illicitly used for these activities. A number of the detainees are being charged with using the apartments for prostitution and other illegal activities, whilst others have been released after signing official undertakings not to visit any such venues in Kuwait in the future.

Hunt on for Farwaniya muggers An investigation is underway into a robbery in the Farwaniya area, in which two thugs wearing sports gear robbed an Asian man and his wife of KD145 in cash and a mobile phone. The male victim told officers at the local police station that he and his wife had been walking through an empty part of the area when they were approached by the two men, both of whom were clad in sports gear, apparently in an attempt to give the impression to passersby that they were simply out jogging. One of the thugs pulled out a knife, demanding that the man and his wife hand over all their money and valuables, with the man, fearful for his wife’s safety, handing over all the cash he had and his mobile phone. After grabbing those, the callous duo fled the scene. — Al-Anba

Municipality raids KUWAIT: Municipality inspectors supported by police conducted a number of raids on unauthorized butchers and slaughterhouses’ premises during the Eid Al-Adha holiday, as well as arresting a number of street vendors.

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Hajjis, holidaymakers return home Third hectic day at Kuwait airport

KUWAIT: Kuwait International Airport (KIA) saw a third consecutive day of hectic activity yesterday as returning Hajj pilgrims and holidaymakers thronged the arrivals hall with crowds of Hajjis’ relatives turning out to greet their returning loved ones.

Officials at the airport were on high alert to ensure the

smooth transition of returning pilgrims and holidaymakers, as well as departing passengers and prevent any logjam of travelers.

Essam Al-Zamel, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) Director of Operations, revealed that a total of 24,276 passengers aboard 113 flights, 18 of them

solely for Hajj pilgrimage, had arrived at the airport between the start of Eid and Thursday evening, with onequarter or 6,000 of these being Hajjis returning from Saudi Arabia. The photos show the pilgrims being received by their relatives on their arrival at the Kuwait International Airport. — Photos by Foud Al-Shaikh

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Barrak vows to keep his cards close to his chest MPs not to release copy of grilling motion KUWAIT: The three Kuwaiti opposition MPs who have filed the latest grilling motion against the country’s premier, which is scheduled to be debated in parliament this coming Tuesday, November 15, are refusing to let anyone else have a copy of the grilling motion before that date.

This refusal has caused further tensions with the government, which intends to submit the grilling motion to the parliamentary legislative committee for examination prior to the parliamentary debate. Speaking on Thursday, MP Musallam Al-Barrak flatly rejected the idea of allowing anyone else to see a copy of the grilling motion filed by himself and fellow lawmakers Dr. Faisal Al-Mislem and Khalid Al-Tahous prior to Tuesday’s parliamentary debate, although he added that the three MPs are studying options, including

Eastern promise in China KUWAIT: Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund is taking significant steps toward increasing its presence in China, establishing a representative office in Beijing with the aim of capitalizing on the Asian giant’s rapid economic progress and rising demand for energy.

The outlook for regional expansion this year by the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) was further boosted this month by official figures which showed the country’s revenues had surged by 40 percent in the first half of 2011, with higher oil prices and output driving the growth.

Fahad Al-Shatti, the chief representative of the Kuwait Investment Beijing Representative Office (KIRO), told Kuwaiti media that the investment body believes growth in China will remain steady over the next few decades.

“The Chinese economy is growing in a stable and sustainable way, which is in line with KIA’s long-term investment horizon,” he told the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), adding that the KIA’s investment in the country had grown to $10bn, up from $2bn a decade ago.

The KIRO headquarters building, located in Beijing’s business district, was inaugurated in early October with senior Chinese and foreign businessmen and diplomats attending.

Al-Shatti told regional media that KIRO’s first priority will be to increase its investments in China in order to begin trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, adding that Kuwaiti exports of oil and crude products to China reached $10bn annually in 2010, compared to $400m in 2004.

The Kuwaiti Ambassador to China, Mohammad AlThuwaikh, said that the opening was “clear evidence of the keenness of the two friendly countries’ leadership, governments and people to strengthen bilateral cooperation.”

He continued, “It is inevitable for the KIA to gain a foothold here, given that China has witnessed the rapid economic growth with a stable environment, a high standard of living and diversity.”

Following the opening of the Beijing office, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Finance revealed on October 27 that the state’s income between April and September was $50.8bn, a 40 percent rise on the $36.3bn in the same period of the last fiscal year. Kuwait is estimated to hold some 10% of proven global crude reserves, while the KIA has assets worth more than $300bn according to the ministry’s figures. In 2010, China’s demand for energy exceeded that of any other country for the first time, even surpassing the consumption of the US, with BP’s 2011 ‘Statistical Review of World Energy’ showing that the country was consuming a full 20.3 percent of the world’s total production.

China’s economy is expected to grow by 9.5 percent this year and 9 percent next year, according to IMF estimates.

— Oxford Business Group

delaying this grilling motion in order to give a chance for a second motion. He added that this would further unsettle the government.

Al-Barrak insisted that even the National Assembly Council does not have the power to remove any grilling motions from the parliamentary agenda, adding that it cannot be referred to the legislative committee except in one exceptional circumstance, i.e. if it is found to be unconstitutional, as happened once before in 1976. He was adamant that no person has the power to prevent any MP from exercising his right to submit an interpolation, adding that the subject of the grilling motion should comply with the formal requirements by coming to the grilling podium. Following the grilling, said Al-Barrak, the parliament will vote on a no-confidence motion. — Al-Anba

Accused MoI official rearrested KUWAIT: The senior Ministry of Interior (MoI) official accused of assaulting a woman whilst in a drunken rage has been rearrested at the orders of interior minister Sheikh Ahmad AlHumoud Al-Sabah.

The officer, Colonel Shukri Al-Najjar, the Deputy Director of the Special Forces Unit, had been released after being taken into custody following the incident as confusion reigned concerning the details of the case.

After other MoI officials conducted an investigation into the case, submitting the resulting report to the minister, how-

ever, Col. Al-Najjar was rearrested, with ministry insiders suggesting that he is unlikely to be released again until the Public Prosecutor has examined the case and spoken with court officials, which could take place tomorrow.

Col. Al-Najjar was reportedly arrested in his office, with the insider suggesting that the detention is a punishment for his behavior, which is felt to be discreditable for an officer of his rank and position. The insider added that there has still been no case filed by the young woman who the senior MoI officer is accused of assault— Al-Qabas

KUWAIT: In the presence of the Egyptian Ambassador to Kuwait, Abdul Kareem Sulaiman, the outgoing military attache at the Egyptian embassy and the Dean of the military attaches to Kuwait, Colonel Ashraf Barakat recently hosted a special reception to welcome his successor Colonel Nader Saleh. The ceremony was attended by diplomats and members of the media. —Photos by Joseph Shagra

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KUWAIT: The Kuwait municipal authorities beefed up their efforts to crack down on illegal practices with the task force removing irregularities in Al-Andalus area last week.

Pictures show some of the instances of illegal activities. — Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh

Students’ health insurance in UK effective from Nov 1 Final date for submission Dec 15

Dr. Yaqoub Al-Tammar

LONDON: A health insurance deal offering coverage for Kuwaiti students residing in the UK came into effect on November 1, said a diplomat from the Kuwait Embassy diplomat here yesterday.

The head of the embassy’s health bureau, Dr. Yaqoub Al-Tammar, told KUNA that the deal signed with BUPA Health Assurance Limited would benefit all Kuwaiti students who submit the necessary documents, adding that the final deadline for the submission of these documents would be December 15 this year. Students should register their names with the Kuwaiti Cultural Office and provide the necessary documents, including their visas, as shown on the cultural office’s website.

The students will be informed on BUPA’s website how to set about obtaining treatment in accordance

with their insurance coverage, explained Dr. Al-Tammar, adding that more information on the process will be made available during a seminar to be held by the UK branch of the National Union of Kuwaiti Students (NUKS) shortly.

The deal with BUPA will cover all medical expenses at private hospitals and clinics, apart from cosmetic surgery, treatment for infertility or obstetric treatment, he explained.

Dr. Al-Tammar added that this package will not apply to students in Eire, who will receive medical insurance from another provider. Kuwaiti health minister Dr. Helal Al-Sayer agreed the health insurance deal in July this year with BUPA, with the coverage for the 2,000 Kuwaiti students currently studying in the UK expected to cost around £1.9 million (KD835,800). — KUNA

Kuwait mourns demise of actor Al-Mansour KUWAIT: The Ministry of Information yesterday issued a statement announcing the sad demise of pioneering Kuwait actor Mansour Al-Mansour, who passed away on Wednesday in Algeria where he was participating in an Arab theater event.

The statement revealed that Al-Mansour would be laid to rest at 9:00 AM local time today at the Sulaibikhat cemetery, with the ministry lauding his long and illustrious career, which began on Kuwait radio in 1961 before moving into acting and theater work. The ministry also expressed its condolences to Al-Mansour’s family on their loss. — KUNA

ALGIERS: Kuwaiti actor Mansour Al-Mansour’s relatives in Algeria with the Kuwait Ambassador .— KUNA

The late Kuwaiti actor Mansour Al-Mansour (left) with the Kuwait Ambassador to Algeria (file). —KUNA

China refinery to help market Kuwaiti oil GUANGZHOU, China: The Chinese-Kuwaiti oil refinery project in this Asian nation will secure rapid refining and marketing of the Gulf nation’s crude oil, said Kuwait’s Consul General to Guangzhou, Abdulwahab Al-Saqer yesterday.

The senior diplomat made the statement to KUNA on the sidelines of a meeting with the Director of the Zhanjiang Foreign Affairs Bureau Ms. Peng Khoi, who handed him an invitation to attend the planned ceremony for laying the cornerstone of the Chinese-Kuwaiti oil and petrochemical complex venture in the city.

Al-Saqer praised the efforts of the administration of the city of Zhanjiang, the Chinese Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, which he pointed out have been working closely together for six years, resulting in the largest joint energy investment project in Asia.

The refinery will secure rapid marketing of refined Kuwaiti crude oil on the Asian markets, he explained, adding that the facility, with a refining capacity of 15 million tons per year, can also produce one million tons of ethylene annually. — KUNA

720 Kuwaitis classed as super-rich: Report KUWAIT: According to a new report, 720 Kuwaitis own a collective total of $122 billion, meaning the country has the third highest number of ultra-high net worth (UHNW) individuals in the Middle East, with the super-rich making up 16 percent of the Kuwaiti population.

The report, issued by the Singapore-based ‘Wealth X’ consultancy firm, indicates that Saudi Arabia has the highest number of millionaires in the Middle East, with 1,225 individuals holding joint wealth of $227 billion, while the UAE, where 775 people hold joint capital of $116 billion, comes a close second, whilst Qatar and Israel come in in fourth and fifth places respectively.

According to the new findings, this means that the Middle East is now home to a total of 4,490 UHNW individuals, compared to 26,960 in the USA and 54,325 in Europe. — Al-Qabas

LOCAL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Eid holidaymakers party at Mesilla Beach KUWAIT: Event organizers at the Mesilla Beach recreational area arranged a variety of enjoyable family activities during the Eid holidays, including sports, arts-related and culture-oriented events. A number of Kuwaiti celebrities, including artists and musicians, helped in making the activities enjoyable and entertaining, whilst the children and

adults also had an opportunity to participate in talent contests, winning great prizes. Large crowds of people also enjoyed the big beach barbeques held there during the break, exchanging Eid greetings and having a good time.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Turkish quake death toll increases to 22

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Shelling kills 13 in Yemen Three children, three women among the dead

SANAA: A Yemeni woman covers her mouth with her hand painted in the colors of the national flag during to a protest against the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh in the capital Sanaa, yesterday. Forces loyal to Yemeni President Abdullah Saleh shelled the country’s second largest city Taez yesterday. — AFP TAIZ: At least 13 people were killed in heavy fighting in the Yemeni city of Taiz yesterday, a day after a UN envoy began a new mission to push President Ali Abdullah Saleh to quit under a Gulf peace plan. Witnesses and medical staff said at least 30 people were also injured in the fighting between Saleh’s Republican Guards and opposition tribesmen in Yemen’s third largest city, a hotbed of antiSaleh protests some 200 km south of Sanaa.

An eight-year-old girl was killed and her mother was critically wounded in further shelling on al-Hasab neighborhood in the western part of the city, hospital officials said, raising to three the number of children killed in the clashes.

Three women also died in the shelling of the Al-Rawda and Zaid Al-Moshki districts as well as Freedom Square, where demonstra-

tors demanding an end to Saleh’s 33-year rule gather for Muslim noon prayers every Friday.

Saleh’s forces later shelled the al-Rawda Hospital, where victims of earlier fighting had been taken, killing one patient and wounding five people. They said patients had to be rushed for safety into the basement after the shells damaged the third and fourth floor.

“The hospital was hit by nine shells, and the third and fourth floors have been damaged,” one witness in Taiz told Reuters. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter which shares a long and porous border with Yemen, is worried violence in Yemen may strengthen AlQaeda militants based there who have launched attacks in the past on US and Saudi targets.

In the capital Sanaa, tens of thousands of anti-Saleh protesters attended prayers on a

main road. Some demanded the president be tried for what they called his crimes against the Yemeni people. Separate prayers were held by thousands of Saleh supporters in the capital. There were no reports of violence in Sanaa. The fighting in Taiz started on Thursday after gunmen shot and critically wounded a soldier stationed at a government building. This was followed by the killing of a pro-Saleh tribal leader and the wounding of one of his bodyguards. UN envoy Jamal Benomar arrived in Sanaa on Thursday to encourage “an inclusive transition process that meets the needs and aspirations of all Yemenis”, a spokesman said.

REPORTING TO UN Martin Nesirky, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said Benomar

would report back to Ban, who is to inform the UN Security Council about the implementation of a resolution adopted last month that called on Saleh to accept a Gulf-brokered plan under which he would step down. A statement issued

by Saleh’s ruling General People’s Congress said they were edging closer to an agreement with the opposition alliance on a deal to end violence. “The agreement, in its preliminary draft, is a mechanism with a timetable for the Gulf initiative and the UN Security Council,” the statement said. “Its essence leads to a peaceful transfer of power and early presidential elections,” it added, noting the accord also calls for setting up a national unity government and a return of the army to barracks. Saleh, who has clung to office despite pressure at home and abroad, has repeatedly wriggled out of signing the deal. — Reuters

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Liberia seeking reconciliation after election MONROVIA: Liberia’s opposition leader Winston Tubman said yesterday that he was willing to work with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf after disputed polls left the war-scarred nation more divided than ever.

Africa’s first female president was confirmed the victor Thursday, a foregone conclusion after Tubman pulled out of Tuesday’s run-off vote and urged his supporters to boycott the polls over fears the process was rigged.

Election observers found the poll was free and fair, but lamented low voter turnout as many heeded the boycott call or stayed away fearing violence after police opened fire on opposition protesters at a rally on the eve of the poll. Tubman repeated his earlier stance that his party would not recognise the results but was “prepared to heal the wounds of this country and to unite our country.”

“Since Mrs Sirleaf will now claim she is the president and is recognised by the international community, we have to find a way to work with her and I believe it is not beyond our ability to find a way for that to happen.” The National Elections Commission announced that with results tallied from 86.6 percent of polling stations, Sirleaf had won 90.8 percent of votes cast and Tubman nine percent. Only 37.4 percent of the country’s 1.8 million registered voters cast their ballots. “I think the real telling thing is the low turnout,” Tubman told AFP and French radio in an interview in his garden yesterday. “We have shown that this party doesn’t have the support. ... What they couldn’t conceal were the empty polling stations.”

Nobel Peace Prize co-winner Sirleaf insists her reelection was legitimate, but she faces a tough second term with her nation more divided than ever after the tainted election process. She has extended a hand of friendship to opposition parties, saying she hoped to put together an inclusive government as she had when she was elected in 2005, just two years after the end of a brutal 14-year conflict. “I will reach out to all the presidential candidates,” Sirleaf told reporters in Monrovia.

Tubman, lying in a hammock on his verandah as rain poured outside, said his party was “not for sale”, while recognising that he would have to work with the president for the sake of the country. He said he was trying to convince the youth in his party that peace is the most important thing for Liberia, and not personal ambition. “A lot of our young people want to be on the streets now, it is taking a lot for us to try and restrain them,” he said.

The poll had been billed as a chance for the warscarred nation to cement its fragile democracy and hard-won peace eight years after the end of a long and savage conflict which left some 250,000 people dead.

Local newspaper headlines read “Ellen Triumphs” and “Ellen leads by wild margin” while editorials reflected on the need for reconciliation. — AFP

MONROVIA: Young people sit against the wall of a home marked with graffiti reading CDC, the acronym by which the opposition political party is known, in the opposition stronghold neighborhood of West Point, in Monrovia, Liberia yesterday. — AP

Turkish quake death toll increases to 22 Number of victims buried in rubble still unknown VAN: The death toll from the second earthquake to hit eastern Turkey in about two weeks rose to 22 yesterday as several rescue teams clawed through heaps of concrete to search for two journalists believed trapped in the rubble of a collapsed hotel.

Colleagues of the two reporters from Turkey’s Dogan news agency were among dozens of people anxiously waiting for news outside the wreckage of the Bayram Hotel, one of the two hotels that fell apart when the 5.7-magnitude quake hit the eastern city of Van late Wednesday. “In our profession we always come across disasters,” Dogan agency’s general manager, Ugur Cebeci, told The Associated Press as he watched rescuers in red overalls search through the debris of the once five-story hotel. “But we are grappling with helplessness here.”

Journalists and relief workers - who had rushed to the region in the aftermath of a more powerful earthquake that hit the region on Oct 23 - themselves became victims when the hotel, weakened by the earlier temblor, collapsed Wednesday. The fatalities include a Japanese relief worker who had come to distribute aid to quake survivors.

Rescuers pulled out 10 bodies from the wreckage of the Bayram Hotel as well as the low-budget Aslan Hotel yesterday, raising the death toll to 22, according to Turkey’s disaster management authority. The dead include at least eight employees of a construction company who were in Van to assemble temporary housing units for

survivors in nearby villages. It was not known yesterday how many people remained buried in the rubble of the two collapsed hotels. “We are not able to hear any voices,” said Disaster management official Askit Dayi. “But still we are removing layers of concrete in

caked building, said Bulent Gunduz of the Siemens private rescue team. “We can see all escape routes and fire stairs,” said Gunduz. “The emergency floor plan has become like a compass for us.”

Yesterday, Turkey notified coun-

VAN: Turkish rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed hotel in Van, Turkey, yesterday. — AP a way as if there are survivors.” He said the search efforts at both sites could end by midnight. Recep Salci of the rescue group Akut told NTV television that freezing temperatures at night were also posing a threat to any possible survivors.

Rescue teams were using an emergency evacuation plan to determine possible escape routes within the pan-

Freedom of expression continues to dwindle in Egypt: UN rights body GENEVA: The UN human rights body warned yesterday that the space for freedom of expression was shrinking in Egypt, pointing to two cases where civil society and activists were taken to task for speaking out. “We have been closely following events in Egypt since the ousting of former president Mubarak and are concerned about what appears to be a diminishing public space for freedom of expression and association,” said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “The military trial and jailing of blogger and activist Alaa Abdel Fatah, after his criticism of security forces’ handling of protests last month, is one such example of an egregious breach of the right to freedom of expression,” he added.

The blogger was remanded and accused of inciting violence during the October 9 demonstration by Coptic Christians in Egypt’s capital. Activists said the young man was detained as he refused to undergo questioning by the military prosecution on the grounds that the military itself was implicated in the case. Colville also noted that a restrictive law has been evoked to investigate human rights groups and their funding sources.

“Civil society organizations and human rights activists, whose courage and non-violent protest brought about the change of regime in Egypt, must be guaranteed space for open debate, even if it means that the interim authorities are harshly criticized in public fora,” he said. “To this end, we call for the release of Alaa Abdel Fateh and all others who have been imprisoned for exercising their fundamental rights to free speech and association,” added the spokesman. — AFP

tries offering help to deal with the new quake that it would accept tents and prefabricated homes to house survivors through the winter. Angry residents protested in Van, accusing authorities of failing to properly inspect the buildings following the Oct. 23 quake that killed more than 600 people. Police responded with pepper spray. —AP

Gaddafi’s son Saadi in Niger on humanitarian asylum: President PRETORIA: Niger has decided to grant Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saadi asylum for humanitarian reasons, President Mahamadou Issoufou said yesterday, adding that his brother Seif al-Islam is not in the country. “We have agreed on agreed on granting asylum on Saadi Gaddafi for humanitarian reasons,” Issoufou told a news conference at the end of a two-day visit to South Africa. “Seif al-Islam is not in Niger. I would have to consider what to do if he comes,” he said. “We will deal with issues in terms of law and democracy and international agreements.”

Saadi Gaddafi, 38, fled Libya across its southern frontier to Niger in August during the fall of Tripoli that ended his authoritarian father’s 42year regime. Libya’s new leadership wants Saadi Gaddafi to stand trial for crimes allegedly committed while heading the country’s football federation.

Niger’s Prime Minister Brigi Rafini said in September that there was “no question” of extraditing Saadi, at least until he could be assured of a fair trial in Libya. Seif al-Islam, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court in relation to crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the crackdown against Libyan protests. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Poet sworn in as Irish president Higgins eyes ‘presidency of transformation’

PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy (center) stands with unidentified children of soldiers killed on duty, at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe yesterday. Sarkozy paid homage to French forces killed in World War I and other conflicts as he led Armistice Day commemorations yesterday. — AP

ETA willing to disarm, wants prisoners freed SAN SEBASTIAN: Basque separatist group ETA said yesterday it may disarm but wants its prisoners freed, issuing the demand just nine days before Spain’s general elections. It was the first public comment

by ETA since it announced on October 20 the end of a 40-year campaign of bombing and shooting to create a Basque homeland, blamed for 829 deaths. Spain’s ruling Socialists and the conservative opposition Popular Party, widely expected to win the November 20 election in a landslide, have both ruled out negotiating with ETA. They demand instead that ETA surrender its weapons and disband without conditions or recompense. Two spokesmen for ETA, listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and United States, issued the new proposal in an interview with Basque daily Gara, which often acts as an ETA mouthpiece. ETA is “willing to discuss” surrendering arms but it demands in exchange the release of its roughly 700 members held in prisons in Spain and France, one of the spokesmen said.

“The process must lead to the return to their homes of all Basque prisoners,” said one of the spokesmen, who were not identified and appeared in photos wearing black berets and white masks. “Can anyone imagine peace with prisons in Spain and France full of Basque political prisoners? Any other option can only be understood on the basis of vengeance and individual political interests, not on the desire to build a closed and lasting solution.” ETA, which seeks to carve out a homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France, also appealed for a “greater adhesion” to the political project of leftwing Basque separatists. The ETA comments were seen as an attempt to boost pro-Basque independence coalition Amaiur, which aims to enter the national parliament in Madrid by winning seats in the general election. Basque separatist parties performed strongly in local elections in May, becoming the second-strongest political force in the Basque region and taking control of major cities such as San Sebastian.

Even before ETA declared an end to violence, pollsters were predicting Amaiur would win up to four seats in Spain’s national parliament, which would be a historic first. ETA also renewed its appeal for talks with the Spanish and French governments. Neither France nor Spain has formally responded to the call for dialogue with ETA. Spain’s government welcomed ETA’s declaration last month that it was giving up violence but said it would not soften its stance on the group before the general elections.

Popular Party leder Mariano Rajoy has flatly ruled out negotiating with ETA if in government. ETA called on him to act “with responsibility”. “Given this historical conjuncture, those who have a high probability of becoming the head of the government must act with responsibility, and we can suppose that Rajoy understands this,” one of the spokesmen said. Despite their declarations, the party that wins November 20 elections will likely negotiate with ETA, said Gorka Landaburu, director of magazine Cambio 16 and a Basque expert who in 2001 was wounded by a letter bomb sent by the outfit. “When a government is given the opportunity to finish off a terrorist organization, it will take it,” he said. Weakened by a series of arrests of its members, ETA has not carried out an attack on Spanish soil since August 2009.— AFP

DUBLIN: Michael D Higgins was sworn in as Ireland’s new president yesterday, with the 70-year-old poet and intellectual vowing to heal the country’s economic and social wounds. In a service at Dublin Castle filled with prayer and song, the veteran politician said it was “time to turn to an older wisdom” in rebuilding Ireland’s battered economy.

He called for the creation of a republic founded on community spirit instead of individual materialism. During his sevenyear term in the largely ceremonial role, he pledged to help repair the damage caused

by Ireland’s financial crisis which led the EU member state to seek an international bailout last November.

Dignitaries filled Dublin Castle’s splendid Saint Patrick’s Hall for the showpiece ceremony, which culminated in Higgins signing the declaration of office and receiving the seal. His two immediate predecessors, Mary Robinson and the outgoing Mary McAleese, sat behind him, with Prime Minister Enda Kenny to his right. In a speech alternating between English and Irish, Higgins said his would be a presidency of “transformation.”

Ireland needed to close a chapter “that has left us fragile as an economy, but most of all wounded as a society, with unacceptable levels of unemployment, mortgage insecurity, collapsing property values and many broken expectations,” he said. The republic must turn the corner on “that which has failed, that which was not the best version of ourselves as a people, and open a new chapter based on a different version of our Irishness.”

Higgins said “egotism based on purely material considerations” had been the source of Ireland’s economic and social woes. “Now it is time to turn to an older wisdom that, while respecting material comfort

and security as a basic right of all, also recognises that many of the most valuable things in life cannot be measured. “We Irish are a creative, resourceful, talented and warm people, with a firm sense of common decency and justice,” he said, vowing to build “an Ireland we all feel part of, an Ireland we all feel proud of”.

Higgins set out his vision for a rejuvenated Ireland against a backdrop of gradual recovery from a deep recession-growth is expected to be 1.0 percent this year, rising to 1.6 percent in 2012, according to official data. Walking slowly but purposefully, Higgins is still recovering from a serious knee injury suffered during a fact-finding

mission in Colombia last year. Higgins became the ninth president of Ireland after repeating the declaration of office read aloud in Irish by Chief Justice Susan Denham and signing it.

Kenny called Higgins “a noble man of quiet virtue”. “His authenticity as poet, philosopher, patriot and politician... will resonate across this country and around the world”, including with the 70 million-strong Irish diaspora, he said. He also paid tribute to McAleese, whose 14 years in office saw the cementing of the Northern Irish peace process and reconciliation with Britain, culminating in Queen Elizabeth II’s historic visit in May.— AFP

DUBLIN: New Irish President Michael Higgins (left) receives his seal of office from Irish Chief Justice Susan Denham during the swearing-in ceremony at Dublin Castle yesterday. — AFP

Girl ratio ‘suffers’ in sex selective abortions TIRANA: “It’s another girl,” Roza said to the doctor, tears streaming down her pale face. “I cannot keep it, doctor, I already have three daughters,” she implored. The tiny, 28-year-old woman whose hair is already streaked with grey is more than four months pregnant-beyond the nation’s legal abortion limit-but says she is ready to risk her life to make sure this baby is not born. It is an all too frequent scene in Albania where the Council of Europe, the continent’s 47-member state democracy and rights watchdog, warns that sex selective abortions have led to boys outnumbering girls 112 to 100 — out of sync with the biological standard sex ratio at birth of 104-106 males to every 100 females.

Sex selective abortions-and in earlier times infanticide-have been cited as an indicator for skewed sex ratios in some Asian nations where tradition prefers sons.

United Nations figures show China, India and Vietnam have the biggest imbalance, but the Council of Europe warns that the practice has spread to Europe-and has singled out Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. “Traditionally Albanian families have favored boys over girls for two main reasons: the inheritance of the family

name and the prospect of boys growing up to become breadwinners,” a 2005 report by the UN Development Program (UNDP) said. “It is a mentality that has remained,” said Aferdita Onuzi, a noted anthropologist here. “In certain regions a girl is sometimes seen as a heavy burden.”

It is also a personal nightmare for women like Roza. “Last time, my husband almost killed me, he became violent when he found out that I could not give him a son, and my mother-in-law also,” the young woman said. Her husband erupted in fury when he heard another girl was on its way, threatening to chase his wife and daughters from his home. “Are you sure?” he screamed at the doctor. “In our family we have only boys.” Albania legalized abortion on the eve of the communist regime’s fall in the 1990s. It is allowed until the 12th week of pregnancy. After that, “therapeutic” abortions can only be performed if three different doctors have assessed a case and given the go-ahead.

While sex selection as a reason for abortion is expressly forbidden, there are no specific sanctions for breaching the law, local rights groups said. Since 2002, the availability of fetal sex screening has made it a frequent method for choosing

the sex of one’s child, according to these sources. At only some 15 euros ($20), an ultrasound is within the reach of most budgets. And abortions, which cost around 150 euros in a private clinic, are much cheaper than going through an in vitro fertilization process to sort sperm to ensure a male, which can run into thousands of euros. Last month, the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution stating that prenatal sex selection has reached “worrying proportions” in Albania.

World health agencies warn such imbalances can not only affect marriage and fertility patterns but could cause unrest among young men unable to find partners. The Council called on members Albania, as well as the former communist states of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, to investigate the reasons behind what it called their skewed sex ratios and to monitor birth rates to collect reliable date on the issue. Tirana, however, rejects the Council’s figures. The country, which hopes to become a candidate country for the European Union, says that average data for the period 1998-2010 shows 99.99 females were born for every 100 maleswithin the biological norms.—AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Russians ‘condemn’ Putin’s job swap plan MOSCOW: Russian strongman Vladimir Putin’s plan to swap jobs with President Dmitry Medvedev has weakened his standing and alienated scores of voters ahead of key polls, the author of a new study said yesterday. On September 24, Prime Minister Putin, who already served as president between 2000 and 2008, announced a plan to reclaim his old Kremlin job in March presidential polls, with Medvedev agreeing to step aside after just one term in office and become prime minister. The country’s new power scheme was immediately dubbed a “castling” by official media and experts after the move in chess when the king changes places with the rook.

“The castling has made a gloomy impression on the Russian people,” sociologist Sergei Belanovsky, who is research director at the Moscow-based Centre for Strategic Research think tank, told AFP. “The way the power has been transferred has been condemned,” Belanovsky said, noting a recurring question coming up in his focus groups was: “Are we living under a monarchy?” A study co-authored by Belanovsky and released Thursday said Putin had been steadily losing supporters over the past months, and his job swap announcement was expected to deal a further blow to his approval ratings.

Before the historic September 24 announcement the ruling tandem had

catered to Russia’s opposite social poles, the study said, with Putin seen as the leader of average Russians and his younger protege Medvedev drawing support from the urban middle class and the elite. The two men “have complemented each other, masking an accumulating conflict of interests of these poles,” said the study, adding that the castling, by proving that Medvedev was not an independent figure, had become a liability for the tandem’s image.

“As the result of the castling, the tandem’s image losses are irreversible because support lost by Medvedev is not being transferred to Putin and weakens the total political foundation of the tandem,” the study said. “Such a

decision creates additional risks for the political system,” it said. Putin himself is unable to appeal to both his traditional supporters and Medvedev’s backers, and he must also deal with the ageing of his political brand, the study said. In the absence of alternatives, Putin’s supporters are becoming increasingly disengaged from politics, said the research, noting that Russia is seeing the emergence of “angry anti-voters.” That development is also highlighted by a fresh crop of cynical political jokes and visual gags comparing the influential prime minister to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, who ruled over the Soviet Union for 18 years until his death in 1982, the study said. —AFP

Papademos sworn in, heads Greek cabinet of stalwarts Powerbroker Finance Minister Venizelos stays in post

KIEV: This picture shows Ukraine’s former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko looking on at the beginning of her court hearing. — AFP

Ukraine charges Tymoshenko with embezzlement KIEV: Ukraine has charged jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko with a number of financial crimes, the tax office said yesterday, further denting Kiev’s hopes of joining the European Union. “Yulia Tymoshenko was charged with organizing the concealment of hard currency earnings of more than $165 million, embezzling budget funds and tax evasion totalling 47 million hryvnas (around $5.86 million),” the tax office said in a statement. It said the authorities had pressed charges against the flamboyant 2004 Orange Revolution leader on Thursday, although it only released the information yesterday.

Tymoshenko now faces going on trial on a number of fresh charges while already serving a seven-year sentence for abuse of power in an October verdict that shocked the West and dealt a blow to Ukraine’s dream of joining the EU. On Monday, Tymoshenko’s lawyer, Sergiy Vlasenko, said that several criminal probes had been reopened, calling the new investigations “absurd” and aimed at “eliminating Tymoshenko from politics” ahead of 2012 parliamentary polls. The probes all relate to Tymoshenko’s role as head of energy firm United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU), then the country’s largest power company, in the 1990s.

The latest charges come after the Ukrainian Security Service on October 13 said it had opened a new criminal case against the fiery opposition leader, on suspicion of embezzling $405 million of funds in cooperation with a top government member. The probes are separate to the charges of abuse of power on which Tymoshenko was jailed for seven years last month. In that case she was convicted of sustaining massive losses to the budget in a 2009 gas deal with Russia. The court said the deal that Tymoshenko signed with Russia’s then president Vladimir Putin resulted in losses of 1.5 billion hryvnas ($187 million) for state energy firm Naftogaz. As well as the prison term, she has also been ordered to pay back the financial losses in full.

She has appealed against her conviction, insisting the harsh sentence was ordered by her arch-foe President Viktor Yanukovych who defeated her and other figureheads of the 2004 Orange Revolution in the 2010 presidential election. Tymoshenko has suffered from health problems in the three months since her arrest, and her lawyer said yesterday she had asked investigators not to question her on the latest charges because of back pain that left her unable to walk. —AFP

ATHENS: Greece’s new unity government headed by Lucas Papademos took office yesterday to save the debt-stricken nation from bankruptcy after a historic powersharing deal struck between warring parties. Papademos, 64, a former vice-president of the European Central Bank, will lead a transition government which will have to ratify a crucial 130-billion-euro ($178 billion) international bailout and pave the way for new elections. “The new government of cooperation will do the best it can possibly do to address the country’s problems,” the new interim PM said during a meeting with outgoing prime minister George Papandreou.

“I believe that with cooperation from all, this is what the new government of wider cooperation highlights, and with unity, we will achieve the results (desired),” he said. Papademos was welcomed with relief in a country exhausted by two years of austerity and exasperated by political squabbling over cutbacks demanded by its global creditors, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, 54, kept his post in the incoming team which includes a former EU commissioner and several far-right lawmakers, a first since democracy was restored in 1974 after the fall of an army dictatorship.

Ex-EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas, 70, takes over the foreign ministry under a power-sharing deal between the socialist Pasok party, the conservative New Democracy and the nationalist Laos party. Twelve members of the outgoing socialist administration retained their posts, while the conservatives were also given the defence ministry, which will be run by ex-Athens mayor and former career diplomat Dimitris Avramopoulos, 58. The nationalists received the infrastructure ministry and three junior ministry positions. The new infrastructure minister, 47-year-old Makis Voridis, is a trained lawyer who formerly headed the Hellenic Front, a fledgling party with close links to the National Front movement in France.

The new far-right deputy development minister in charge of shipping, 39-year-old Adonis Georgiadis, until recently ran a publishing house whose editions include an anti-Semitic pamphlet and books on ancient Greek history. The Athens stock

exchange, flat since the morning, closed 0.86 percent down. The swearing-in ceremony was delayed by two hours owing to last-minute negotiations between the three coalition partners, reports said. The new government’s first job will be to persuade the European Union and International Monetary Fund to disburse an eight-billion-euro slice of aid from a 2010 bailout deal that is needed by December 15 before state coffers run dry.

Then it must force through painful austerity measures exacted as the price for a sec-

course will not be easy.” In a telegram to the new premier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel Papademos said that Berlin would “stand by” Athens as it grapples with its debt crisis. The European Commission has warned that Greece has no hope of climbing out of recession next year, tipping a 2.8 percent contraction.

Papademos’s appointment took four days of talks between the top two parties the outgoing socialist Pasok and opposition conservative New Democracy-after the embattled Papandreou pledged on

ATHENS: Lucas Papademos (right) swears in as Greece’s new prime minister during a ceremony at the Presidential Palace yesterday. — AFP ond EU rescue package which gives Athens 100 billion euros in loans, the same amount in debt reduction and a further 30 billion in guarantees. Also tasked with holding early elections as soon as the EU deal is ratified by parliament, the new administration can count on the support of 254 deputies in the 300-seat parliament. Papademos, who played a crucial role in Greece’s entry into the eurozone nearly a decade ago, emphasised its benefits after weeks of speculation that Greece’s problems could force it out of the 17-nation currency club. “The Greek economy is facing huge problems despite the enormous efforts made... Greece is at a crucial crossroads,” he said after being named prime minister on Thursday. “The

Sunday to step down.

Papandreou’s position as prime minister had become untenable after he shocked his European partners with a call last month for a referendum on the bailout deal. He was admonished by EU leaders at the G20 summit and returned home to a party revolt. There was also simmering anger towards two years of austerity policies-which Papandreou’s successor is bound to continue-with protesters even disrupting nationwide parades last month in honour of Greece’s wartime resistance.

The last unity government in Greece in 1989 was also headed by an eminent economy expert, former bank of Greece governor Xenophon Zolotas, and only lasted three months. — AFP

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Paterno gone, but questions at Penn State still remain McQueary possibly protected by whistleblower status

OAKLAND: An Occupy Oakland protestor sits beside candles at the scene of a shooting Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011. — AP

Man fatally shot near Occupy Oakland camp OAKLAND: A man was shot and killed Thursday just outside the Oakland encampment that anti-Wall Street protesters have occupied for the last month, causing a scream-filled commotion in the City Hall plaza where the camp stands and turning a planned anniversary celebration into a somber, candlelit memorial. With opinions about Occupy Oakland and its effect on the city having become more divided in recent days, supporters and opponents immediately reacted to the homicide - the city’s 101st this year. Camp organizers said the attack was unrelated to their activities, while city and business leaders, cited the death as proof that the camp itself either bred crime or drained law enforcement resources from other parts of the Oakland.

Mayor Jean Quan, who has been criticized by residents on both sides for issuing mixed signals about the local government’s willingness to tolerate the camp, issued a statement Thursday providing a clear eviction notice.

“Tonight’s incident underscores the reason why the encampment must end. The risks are too great,” Quan said. “We need to return (police) resources to addressing violence throughout the city. It’s time for the encampment to end. Camping is a tactic, not a solution.” For their part, protest leaders said the shooting involved outsiders and was only connected to their ongoing protest of US financial institutions to the extent that poverty breeds violence. “This one heinous immoral crime should not overshadow all of the good deeds, positive energy and the overall goals that the movement is attempting to establish,” Khalid Shakur, 43, who has a tent in the encampment, said.

“Murders happen on these city streets all of the time and the difference with a murder happening on a city street and at Occupy Oakland, you have a mass group of people who care about life and want peace.”

Police Chief Howard Jordan said a preliminary investigation suggests the shooting resulted from a fight between two groups of men at or near the Occupy Oakland camp on a plaza in front of City Hall.

During the altercation, one of the men pulled out a gun and fired several rounds into a crowd on the plaza’s edge, Jordan said. One of the bullets struck the victim, who was pronounced dead at a hospital, he said. Investigators do not yet know if the men in the fight were associated with Occupy Oakland, but they are looking into reports that some protest participants tried to break up the altercation, Jordan said. No suspects have been identified, said Jordan, who asked people participating in the protest who may have taken photographs or video that captured the shooting to contact authorities. Thursday’s shooting at the site of the debated camp comes a day after a group of Oakland city and business leaders held a news conference demanding the removal of the encampment, saying it has hurt downtown businesses and has continued to pose safety concerns.

Councilman Larry Reid said that even if the men involved in the slaying were not regular participants in Occupy Oakland, the large crowds and attention the protest has drawn also has invited weapons and brawls. The camp, which has about 180 tents, sits in the middle of the plaza and is ringed by a transit station and ground-floor shops.

“We did have a shooting (near the plaza) once before, a couple shootings around some nightclubs but not right here in front of City Hall because this is attracting a totally different element to our downtown area,” Reid said. “This is a public space, and people have a right to enjoy it.” Shake Anderson, an Occupy Oakland organizer who has slept at the camp since it was erected exactly a month ago, said the man who was shot could not be associated with the protest because he did not recognize him. Just before the shooting, a group of strangers ran into the encampment as if they were looking for someone, Anderson said. — AP

STATE COLLEGE: The most tumultuous week Penn State has ever endured is drawing to a close. Questions, however, still linger. Gov. Tom Corbett was on hand yesterday to help the board of trustees navigate a course through the turmoil from a child sex-abuse scandal that has engulfed the state’s largest university and led to the firing of the university’s legendary coach Joe Paterno. Corbett, an exofficio member of the board, participated in yesterday’s regularly scheduled trustees meeting, where a committee was set to be appointed to investigate the “circumstances” that led to the indictments of former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, as well as two university officials. It’s the first time the board has met publicly since forcing out Paterno and president Graham Spanier amid the unfolding child sex abuse scandal.

Paterno and Spanier were fired Wednesday night, four days after a grand jury report charged Sandusky with a series of sexual assaults stretching back to the late 1990s. The grand jury report alleges Sandusky assaulted eight boys - including one he allegedly raped in the university’s football facility shower. Much of the alleged inappropriate contact with seven victims happened on Penn State’s campus, where Sandusky maintained an office as an emeritus professor following his retirement. Authorities said Sandusky met many of his alleged victims through The Second Mile, a charity he founded to help at-risk youth. The indictment also charged the school’s athletic director and a vice president with perjury and failure to report the assaults. “Certainly every Pennsylvanian who has any knowledge of this case, who has read the grand jury report, feels a sense of regret and a sorrow to also see careers end,” Corbett said after arriving on campus Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Tom Bradley was introduced as interim head coach, marking the first time in almost a half-century the Nittany Lions have been guided by anyone other than Paterno. “We’re obviously in a very unprecedented situation,” said Bradley, who was Paterno’s lead assistant for the last 11 seasons. “I have to find a way to restore the confidence.” The committee has no timetable. And no shortage

of questions to answer - from how much Paterno actually knew to the future of his staff, including assistant coach Mike McQueary, who told Paterno but not police about seeing Sandusky in a shower with a young boy in 2002. “We intend to be as responsible as we can and make whatever changes are necessary,” board vice chair John Surma said. McQueary,

PENNSYLVVANIA: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett makes remarks during a news conference after a Penn State Board of Trustees meeting Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011. — AP now the team’s wide receivers coach, won’t be present for the final home game of the season today against Nebraska because of what the university said were “multiple threats.”

Elsewhere, in forums online, and in comments on other websites, others called for McQueary to be fired, but the assistant coach could be protected as a whistleblower. Gerald J. Williams, a partner at a Philadelphia law firm, said Pennsylvania law is broad in protecting a

person who reports wrongdoing, as long as that person is part of a governmental or quasi -governmental institution, of which Penn State would be one. That protection includes any kind of adverse employment action - such as being fired, demoted, ostracized or punished - although a court, ultimately, would determine whether the person is protected if they bring a claim, Williams said. The penalty on an employer can include monetary damages, attorneys’ fees and reinstatement of the employee, he said. Sandusky, Paterno’s onetime heir apparent, has been charged with molesting eight boys over 15 years. Athletic director Tim Curley and university vice president Gary Schultz have been charged with perjury and failure to report the 2002 assault to police, as required by state law.

All three maintain their innocence.

Paterno is not a target of the criminal investigation, having fulfilled his legal requirement by reporting what McQueary told him to Curley and Schultz. But the state police commissioner called Paterno’s failure to contact police or follow up on the incident a lapse in “moral responsibility.” Paterno has acknowledged that he should have done more but has not said why he didn’t go to the police, nor has he said whether he was aware of any earlier alleged assaults.

Aside from a few brief comments outside his house and two statements, Paterno has not spoken publicly since Sandusky was indicted. McQueary told the grand jury that he saw Sandusky sodomizing a boy of about 10 in the showers at the Penn State football building in March 2002. McQueary later told Paterno, Curley and Schultz what he’d seen, according to the grand jury report. Curley and Schultz as well as Paterno - testified that they were told that Sandusky behaved inappropriately in that 2002 incident, but not to the extent of McQueary’s graphic account to the grand jury. McQueary has not spoken publicly. His mother, Anne, said Thursday they have been advised not to comment.

Then 28, McQueary was “distraught” after witnessing the alleged 2002 assault, according to the indictment. Yet it appears he may have continued to participate in fundraising events with Sandusky including one held less than a month later.—AP

Veteran shoots self at Vermont encampment BURLINGTON: Police said preliminary investigations show a 35-year-old military veteran fatally shot himself in the head Thursday at an Occupy Wall Street encampment in Vermont’s largest city. Burlington police said the name of the Chittenden County resident is being withheld because his family has not been fully notified.

The man shot himself inside a tent in City Hall Park on Thursday afternoon. Mike Noble, a spokesman for the Fletcher Allen Health Care hospital in Burlington, confirmed that the man had died. Noble said he could

provide no other details. In a statement issued late Thursday, Occupy Burlington said, “We mourn the loss of a great friend tonight, while discovering an ever-deeper resolve to stand with our most vulnerable citizens.”

Protesters at the Occupy encampment say the man was a victim of inadequate mental health services being offered to veterans. “This person has clearly needed more help than we were capable of giving him here at this park,” said Emily Reynolds, a University of Vermont student and a leader in the local Occupy movement. If gov-

ernment provided better mental health services, she said, “this probably wouldn’t have happened.” Deputy Chief Andi Higbee told reporters the shooting raised questions about whether the protest would be allowed to continue. “Our responsibility is to keep the public safe.

When there is a discharge of a firearm in a public place like this it’s good cause to be concerned, greatly concerned,” Higbee said. The encampment has been in the park since Oct. 28. The city had threatened to evict the protesters because the park is closed from midnight until

6 a.m., but city officials made special accommodation for the protesters.

Almost two dozen tents have remained in the park, and the number of protesters has varied. The first Occupy encampment sprang up in New York in September, and the movement has since spread to cities around the country and world. Protesters object to corporate influence on politics and what they call an unequal distribution of wealth. Burlington is a community of just under 40,000 people on the shores of Lake Champlain known for its leftleaning politics. — AP

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Clinton declares ‘America’s Pacific century’ Clinton raps Beijing on Tibet, dissidents HONOLULU: With the United States facing a multipronged challenge from China, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared on Thursday that the 21st century will be “America’s Pacific century” and said the region’s problems require US leadership.

While stressing that the Obama administration will seek improved ties with China, Clinton used a speech ahead of an Asia-Pacific summit here to dissuade Beijing and others from thinking the United States is ceding its traditional role in the Pacific.

“There are challenges facing the AsiaPacific right now that demand America’s leadership, from ensuring freedom of navigation in the South China Sea to countering North Korea’s provocations and proliferation activities to promoting balanced and inclusive economic growth,” she said.

Clinton’s remarks, in a speech at the East-West Center, were part of a campaign by President Barack Obama to “pivot” US foreign policy to focus more intensely on Asia after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. “It is becoming increasingly clear that, in the 21st century,

the world’s strategic and economic center of gravity will be the AsiaPacific, from the Indian subcontinent to western shores of the Americas,” she said. “One of the most important tasks of American statecraft over the next decade will be to lock in a substantially increased investment-diplomatic, economic, strategic, and otherwise-in this region,” Clinton told students and scholars at the East-West Center, a Honolulu think tank.

While saying China and the United States needed to cooperate to stimulate global economic growth, Clinton delivered criticisms of Beijing’s human rights policies that were certain to anger China’s leaders. “We are alarmed by recent incidents in Tibet of young people lighting themselves on fire in desperate acts of protest, as well as the continued house arrest of the Chinese lawyer Chen Guangcheng,” Clinton said, referring to recent cases in China. At least nine people have set fire to themselves in Tibetan parts of China in recent months in protests against Chinese rule. Protests over the long detention of blind legal activist Chen has led to beatings of dozens of activists.

Ad in AG’s race taints jury pool: Lawyer JACKSON: The lawyer for a man accused of killing a Catholic priest says his client can’t get a fair trial in Mississippi because a campaign commercial in the state attorney general’s race said he murdered the cleric in cold blood. Brian Alexander represents Jeremy Wayne Manieri, who is charged in the July 11 death of the Rev. Ed Everitt of Hammond, La. Authorities say the Louisiana priest was robbed and fatally shot at a beach house in Waveland, Miss. Manieri allegedly told authorities he shot the priest after passing out drunk and high and waking up to find Everitt harassing him. A commercial for Attorney General Jim Hood shows a picture of Manieri while a voice says Hood’s campaign opponent, former judge Steve Simpson, let a “child molester” out of jail and he later “murdered a 70-year-old priest in cold blood.”

Hood, the incumbent Democrat, defeated Republican Simpson in Tuesday’s election after a bitter campaign.

Alexander, a Bay St. Louis attorney, said the Hood commercial tainted the prospective jury pool in Mississippi because viewers were “instructed by the Attorney General that Jeremy Manieri is a cold-blooded murderer when he has yet to even be indicted on any charge, much less murder.” “It’s a clear violation of his oath as attorney general, as an elected public official and as a member of the Mississippi Bar,” Alexander said in telephone interview Thursday. “He has all but ensured that my client cannot receive a fair trial in the state of Mississippi. He has not only eroded the presumption of innocence - attendant to all those who stand accused - he destroyed it.”

Hood’s office referred questions to his campaign manager, Jonathan Compretta. Compretta said the ad was paid for by Hood’s campaign but refused to discuss publically it beyond a written statement. “This ad did not name the defendant and merely stated facts from media reports,” Compretta said. “If the defendant wants a change of venue, then he should file his motion before the court at the proper time instead of trying his case in the media. He is manipulating members of the media in an attempt to get more pretrial publicity to bolster his case.” Alexander responded that it was Hood’s campaign that brought pretrial attention to the case for political gain. — AP

Clinton said Washington aimed to forge in the Asia-Pacific region in this century a network similar to the transatlantic network of institutions and relationships that the United States and its allies in Europe built in the 20th century. “Today, there is a need for a more dynamic and durable transpacific system-a more mature security and economic architecture that will promote security, prosperity, and universal values; resolve differences among nations; foster trust and accountability; and encourage effective cooperation on the scale that today’s challenges demand,” she said.

ECONOMICS ‘FRONT AND CENTER’ While bolstering security and political ties, the United States would make economic issues “front and center” in relationships in the region, pushing to open markets for trade and investment, Clinton said. “To accomplish these goals, we must create a rules-based order-one that is open, free, transparent, and fair,” she said. While insisting the United States was not trying to “constrain” China, Clinton sent a message to regional

allies that Washington would be a counterbalance to Beijing’s economic and military clout and would demand it play by trade rules. “US firms want fair opportunities to export to China’s markets and a level playing field for competition,” she said in a speech shortly after Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived.

Chinese firms want to be able to buy more high-tech products from the United States, make more investments here, and be accorded the same terms of access that market economies enjoy,” she said. Clinton said the United States and China needed to cooperate to ensure “strong, sustained, and balanced future global growth” and to improve opportunities for the two countries’ businesses to compete in each other’s markets. “We are working with China to end unfair discrimination against US and other foreign companies or against their innovative technologies, remove competition-distorting preferences, allow its currency to appreciate more rapidly, and end measures that disadvantage or pirate foreign intellectual property,” she said. — Reuters

As Cain and Perry scramble, Gingrich seeks an opening WASHNGTON: Mitt Romney chugged ahead Thursday as the conservativefueled drive to deny him the Republican presidential nomination reached a difficult new phase: Oncesurging rivals Rick Perry and Herman Cain scrambled to control serious damage, while an old face sought new ways to exploit their problems.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich could emerge as the newest hope for conservative activists who doubt Romney’s commitment to their priorities. But Gingrich trails Romney and others in organizing in key states such as Iowa. And he will have to prove that his long and sometimes troubled political history can withstand closer scrutiny.

Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Perry rearranged his schedule Thursday to try to mitigate a disastrous debate moment, in which he could not remember the third federal agency he has vowed to abolish. Perry canceled a Tennessee fundraiser to appear on several TV networks and the David Letterman show, pledging to stay in the race. He repeatedly said he “stepped in it” at the Wednesday night debate but declared in an interview, “This ain’t a day for quitting nothing.” For Cain, the former pizza company executive, it was day 11 of trying to get beyond sexual harassment accusations leveled against him by four women, two of whom received cash settlements from a trade association Cain once headed.

Facing voters for the first time since

the allegations emerged, Cain met with tea party groups in Michigan, hoping the friendly settings would preserve the lofty perch he enjoyed in GOP polls two weeks ago.

“How you beat Obama? Beat him with a Cain!” he told one supporter at a crowded diner in Ypsilanti. The crowd cheered. He is airing his first TV ad in Iowa, and he has hired a new lawyer who is warning women they

MICHIGAN: Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, accompanied by his wife Ann, speaks at the American Polish Cultural Center in Troy, Michigan, on Thursday. — AP

will be scrutinized for any charges made against the candidate. Late Thursday word came that attempts to organize a joint news conference with the four women alleging Cain harassed them had fallen apart. Joel Bennett, the attorney for Karen Kraushaar, said his client had decided not to hold the news conference “unless and until the other women come forward and wish to participate.” Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who recently filmed a TV ad in Iowa, blasted President Barack Obama’s Iran policy in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece Thursday. His supporters quietly reveled in the good fortune of Perry’s and Cain’s woes.

With the Iowa caucus set for Jan. 3, and the New Hampshire primary a week after that, Romney is looking strong, but he’s hardly home free.

Many conservatives still resent his past support of legalized abortion and gay rights, and his requirement that all Massachusetts residents obtain health insurance.

But they have failed to coalesce around a single alternative. Rep. Michele Bachmann briefly topped the polls, followed by Perry and then Cain.

It’s unclear whether Cain can hold his position. Some Iowa Republicans hope former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who emphasizes social conservative issues such as abortion and gay rights, can make a move. He has visited all 99 Iowa counties and aired radio commercials. — AP

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INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei vows to challenge tax bill BEIJING: Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said yesterday he will fight a huge tax bill the government has ordered him to pay, and will use money collected from supporters to lodge an appeal. Ai, who disappeared into police custody for 81 days earlier this year and was ordered to pay 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) in back taxes after his release, needs to pay the bill by Tuesday. But the artist, best known for his role in designing Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadium, said he will contest the order and will use funds donated by supporters as a guarantee to make an appeal-a step required by Chinese law. “We never said we will pay the tax bill,” Ai told AFP yesterday.

Ai said he had planned to use his mother’s home as

collateral for the appeal, but that will “take much longer” than anticipated to organize so he had decided to use money from his supporters. The 54-year-old has denied any wrongdoing and insists the government is trying to silence him and his vocal human rights activism. The drive to donate to Ai has gathered momentum since beginning last Friday, with supporters coming from as far afield as Hainan island in the south, 3,000 kilometers away, to give money. Supporters have been sending Ai money through Internet and bank transfers, while some have even resorted to throwing cash over the walls into his courtyard home, including banknotes folded into paper planes.

Total donations had reached 6.7 million yuan, Liu Yanping, who works with Ai, said on her Twitter account on Thursday. Ai, whose artworks have sold worldwidesome reportedly for hundreds of thousands of dollarshas acknowledged previously that he does not need the financial support. “What I need is the ethical support of everybody. I don’t need the money,” he said. He has vowed to pay back the money to his donors, some of whom are prominent activists. Ai’s activism has incensed the government in the past. He has organized independent investigations into the collapse of schools in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and into a 2010 fire at a Shanghai high-rise that killed dozens. — AFP

Flood-ravaged Thailand prays to water goddess Spending on water festival plummets amid crisis

DENPASAR: An Australian teenager covers his face as he is escorted by bodyguards after his trial at Denpasar court in Denpasar on the island of Bali yesterday. An Australian teenager, 14, was sentenced to three months in jail by prosecutors yesterday on alleged drug possession in the Kuta area has brought the island into the spotlight again after a number of headline making arrests the past few years. — AFP

Prosecutors seek 3 month Bali jail term for drug teen DENPASAR: Indonesian prosecutors yesterday recommended a threemonth jail sentence for an Australian teenage boy charged with drug possession on the resort island of Bali. The 14year-old boy was facing a maximum sentence of six years’ imprisonment after being caught in Bali last month with nearly seven grams of marijuana while on holiday with his parents. “We demand the defendant spend three months in prison, less than the usual sentence time. We have taken into consideration that he is a child and that his behavior can change,” prosecutor I Gusti Putu Gede Atmaja said after the closed-door hearing.

Under articles 127 and 128 of Indonesia’s narcotics law, if the boy as a

minor has a documented history of drug use, he could escape a prison term altogether and undergo rehabilitation instead. “We have asked for the boy to be excused under article 127 and 128, all our evidence and witnesses support that. We hope the judge will rule fairly,” the boy’s lawyer Muhammad Rifan said.

The defense has provided the court with a letter from an Australian doctor describing the boy as a drug user, and a local psychologist who has examined the boy since he was arrested more than a month ago supported the argument. The boy has been detained since October 4, when police arrested him in the tourist district of Kuta. The judge’s verdict is scheduled for November 25, Rifan said. — AFP

US to base Marines in Darwin SYDNEY: US President Barack Obama will use a visit to Australia next week to announce that America will station Marines in Darwin, ministers indicated yesterday, in a sign of heightened concern about China. The Sydney Morning Herald said that the new permanent military presence had been under consideration for some years as Washington looks to boost its Pacific Command, and senior Australian politicians did not deny the plan. The US currently has only a limited deployment in longstanding ally Australia, including the Pine Gap Joint Defence Facility spy station near Alice Springs, and the move represents a potentially significant geo-strategic shift. “It is important to wait for the pres-

ident to visit Australia and for him and the prime minister to confirm what further defence cooperation arrangements we may have planned,” said Australia’s Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd. He added: “It has always made national security sense to have a strong security alliance with America.”

Pentagon spokesman George Little declined comment, saying only: “Australia is an American friend and ally, and we will continue to work together to foster even stronger military ties with one another.” Obama arrives on Wednesday, visiting the capital Canberra before becoming the first US president to travel to Darwin in the north. —AFP

BANGKOK: Each year as the monsoon draws to an end, Thais thank the water goddess for sustaining life.

But with deadly floods now plaguing the kingdom, many feel she has been a little too generous of late. The centuries-old Loi Krathong festival is usually an occasion for celebration with ornately-decorated traditional banana-leaf lanterns set adrift in rivers, canals and lakes under the night sky. This year it is a reminder of the kingdom’s bitter-sweet relationship with water, which has left more than 500 people dead and wreaked havoc in the worst flooding to befall the nation in half a century.

The festival, which also aims to seek forgiveness for polluting the precious resource, comes as questions mount over successive governments’ management of water development and urban planning. “I apologized to the goddess of water, thanked her for giving us water to use and wished all the bad luck to go away,” said Usanee Krapukthong, who launched her lantern on a lake in a Bangkok park on Thursday. “I wished my house and also the whole country would be dry,” said the 37year-old expectant mother.

“Normally I do it at a river, but this year I escaped the floods to come here.”

Her home has been submerged by more than one metre (three feet) of water for the past two weeks, like many others in badly-hit districts in the north and west of the Thai capital. Unlike Usanee, however, many residents have refused to evacuate despite the risk of disease associated with the polluted floodwater. The authorities in the capital city of 12 million asked people not to launch their lanterns in canals and streets that have been transformed into rivers, to avoid blocking drains and adding to the rubbish problem.

Many-though not all-heeded their call.

“This year, I’m not floating my krathongs on the rivers or canals because I don’t want to block them up. It’s better to do it on ponds or lakes like here,” said Teerapong Meeiam, 33. Some Thais chose to write their wish on a virtual lantern

on the Internet. Others opted for lakes in the city’s parks, which stayed open late for the occasion, “to preserve beautiful Thai tradition ... and float away our suffering,” according to Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra. Despite the brave faces, it was a much more subdued affair this year. “The atmosphere is kind of downbeat-people seem to be focused on the floods. But we have to understand the victims too,” said Bangkok resident Sittipan Ampan, 19.

Luxury hotels along the city’s swollen main Chao Phraya cancelled their gala dinners and firework displays for the festival, traditionally held under the full moon of the 12th lunar month. “People are worried about whether their homes will be flooded or when the floods will recede, and what’s next,” said a worker at one of the city’s hotels, which have seen a slump in tourist arrivals.

Vendors of the lanterns, typically made from hard bread, wood or plastic, decorated with candles and flowers, are also having a bad year. “This year is not very good. They aren’t many people here,” said Lamai Kiewsa-Ard. “I lost my job because of the floods so I’m trying to earn some money.”

According to the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, spending on the Loi Krathong festival was expected to fall by about one-sixth this year to 8.1billion baht ($270 million), the lowest in four years. “In recent years it has become a hugely commercial festival,” said Olivier Evrard, an anthropologist at the French public research institute IRD in Bangkok. But Loi Krathong, which fuses animist, Hindu and Buddhist tradition, is about more than just money. “According to popular belief, the krathong is also a way to wash away all wrongs, to purify oneself,” Evrard added. Loi Krathong is almost as important to Thai culture as the Songkran water festival which marks the start of the Buddhist new year in April, when people call for the onset of the rains after the dry season. “This year, Thais find it impossible to celebrate, which risks adding to the trauma they are enduring,” said Evrard.

On the tranquil lake in Lumphini Park, located in the heart of Bangkok, still untouched by the slowly advancing floodwaters, hundreds of Thais looked on with an air of disappointment as many of the lanterns drifted back to shore. “It’s OK, we still have next year,” said Sittipan. — AFP

BANGKOK: Thai girl Sawanya Seesura prays before releasing a traditional Krathong float into a pool during the Loy Kratong festival in Bangkok.

Every year when the moon is full and the rainy season draws to an end, Thailand’s waterways fill with millions of floating lotus-shaped lanterns a symbolic, centuries-old gesture once meant to placate to the country’s goddess of water. — AP

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INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

US soldier who led Afghan killings gets life sentence Described as ‘savage’ by army Major

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani girl Kolthoum Basheer, 8, queues with other women and children for a ration of rice during a donated food distribution at the Beri Iman, a shrine of famous Sufi Saint Beri Imam, in Islamabad, Pakistan, yesterday. — AP

Ex-minister in dock as Indian graft trial opens NEW DELHI: A former Indian government minister went on trial amid chaotic scenes yesterday, accused of playing a central role in a massive corruption scandal over the allocation of mobile phone licenses. A. Raja, who was telecom minister from 2007 to 2010, is the key figure in a case that has rocked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s administration and helped make corruption one of the country’s hottest political issues. The sale of second-generation (2G) licences at far below their commercial rate to selected companies could have cost the treasury up to $40 billion in lost revenue, according to the public auditor.

Raja, wearing a white shirt, appeared alongside the other 13 defendants from the senior ranks of telecom companies and the bureaucracy who face charges including criminal breach of trust, bribery, forgery and cheating. Proceedings began with lawyers arguing that the tiny courtroom chosen for one of the biggest trials in recent years was unsuitable, as defendants’ family members, journalists and an army of lawyers crammed into the small space.

“We can’t hear what the witnesses are saying,” complained defense lawyer Majeed Memon. “The administrators of the court should do something about providing better ventilation and seating facilities.”How can you conduct such an important trial in such a shabby manner?” he told the court. After hearing the complaints, the judge called the first prosecution witness, Anand Subramaniam from Reliance Capital, part of the group owned by billionaire Anil Ambani.

Subramaniam was grilled by the prosecution lawyers for close to four hours before the second witness A.N. Sethuraman, the group president of Reliance, was called for questioning.

Raja appeared cheerful and relaxed throughout, occasionally smiling while chatting with his co-defendants. The prosecution is likely to focus on accusations that when allocating the licenses Raja favored Swan Telecom, alleged to be a front for Ambani’s Reliance group, and another company called Unitech Wireless.”We will focus on the incorporation (of Swan), and then on the events that unfolded in the department of telecommunication. In the later stages, the trial will focus on beneficiaries of the scam,” a prosecution source told AFP. Raja, a member of the DMK, a key regional party in the Congress party-led coalition, is suspected of rigging rules over the sale of 2G mobile licenses in 2008 to favor some firms in return for kickbacks.

Others accused of wrongdoing include Kanimozhi-an MP known by one name who is the daughter of DMK chief M Karunanidhi-plus senior telecom executives and government officials. Kanimozhi, seated next to her husband in the court room, was seen flipping through the pages of a book titled “Judicial Activism in India”. Raja, 48, a former law student, was denied bail when he was arrested in February and has spent the last nine months in Delhi’s Tihar jail along with several other suspects. The trial, being held at a CBI special court in New Delhi, is expected to be a lengthy affair due to the complexity of the case, the number of accused and India’s extremely slow legal system. The accused all deny any wrongdoing. They face a maximum sentence of life in jail if found guilty. The case, one of the biggest in independent India’s history, has led to intense pressure on Singh and many observers believe the trial could expose leading politicians and businessmen to damaging revelations. — AFP

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD: The ringleader of a rogue US army unit responsible for the “thrill kills” of Afghan civilians was jailed for life yesterday, after a military jury convicted him of three murders. A five-member military panel found Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs guilty at the end of a week-long court martial, and said he should serve at least 10 years behind bars before being eligible for parole. Gibbs was convicted on 15 counts in all, including three of premeditated murder for his role in three killings in southern Afghanistan between January and May last year.

The prosecution portrayed Gibbs as the leader of the rogue unit, which also harvested body parts from the victims as macabre war trophies. Three members of the unit had already plead guilty in a scandal that has threatened embarrassment for the US military on the scale of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse in Iraq, a scandal exposed in 2004. Each of the murder convictions carried a minimum life sentence and the prosecution said Gibbs should be refused parole, turning the disgraced soldier’s description of the Afghan civilians as “savages” back on him.”There is the savage,” said Major Dre LeBlanc, pointing at Gibbs. “Sergeant Gibbs is the savage.”

But for the defense, attorney Phil Stackhouse asked that the jury bear in mind Gibbs’ wife Chelsy and young son Calvin Jr. when considering a sentence, noting that Gibbs received credit for 547 days of time served. In closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutor Major Robert Stelle dismissed Gibbs’s claims that he was responding to legitimate attack when the team killed the Afghans.

“This is a case about betrayal, the ultimate betrayal. (Gibbs) betrayed his folk, he betrayed his unit, and with the flag of his nation emblazoned across his chest, thousands of miles from home, he betrayed his nation,” Stelle said. He was

accused of setting up the killings, planting weapons on the dead civilians’ bodies to make it look like they were fighters, and then removing fingers and teeth to show off to colleagues.

Gibbs’s court-martial started last week, and in an unexpected appearance yesterday he claimed his unit was engaged in genuine combat-while admitting that he took fingers and teeth from the corpses.

“In my mind, it was like keeping the antlers off a deer you’d shoot... You have to come to terms with the things you’re doing,” he said. The military prosecutor dismissed those claims during a closing argument lasting more than an hour at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Seattle, home to the US army’s 5th

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD: US Army Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, seated at lower left, is shown in this courtroom sketch as his attorney Phil Stackhouse stands at center, and military Judge Lt. Col. Kwasi Hawks listens, at top left, in this file photo. — AP

Mother, daughter shot dead in Afghanistan GHAZNI: A mother and daughter were killed in their home in eastern Afghanistan yesterday by armed men who apparently accused them of “immoral activities,” officials and neighbors said.

The two attackers burst into the home of the widow and her daughter in Ghazni city at around 4:00 am and shot them dead, said Ghazni provincial police chief Zilawar Zahid.

The killings are the latest to highlight the dangers which many women in Afghanistan face 10 years after a US-led invasion ousted the Taleban’s harsh regime which enforced repressive policies against women.

“They were killed inside their house,” said Zahid. “An investigation is under way to find out why they were killed and Afghan police have arrested two men in connection with the case.”

Stryker Brigade. “Selling the engagement as legitimate was part of the plan,” said Stelle, calling Gibbs’s stories “fundamentally implausible.”

Gibbs’s lawyer countered by attacking the credibility of Private Jeremy Morlock and two other members of the kill team, who received lighter sentences by pleading guilty and agreeing to testify against Gibbs. In addition to attacking Morlock’s statements, defense attorney Stackhouse spent more than two hours pointing out discrepancies in the evidence in an attempt to sway the military jury. But Stelle called the idea that Morlock and the other kill team members were willing to plead guilty to murder in an effort to foist blame onto Gibbs as “patently ridiculous.” — AFP

He denied media reports that the women were stoned to death. A man who lived near the women, Mohammad Jan, said the women had been “accused of adultery and immoral activities.” Women’s rights have improved in some parts of Afghanistan since the Taliban were forced out of power, but many still face violence, particularly in areas where the militant Islamists remain powerful such as Ghazni.

The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission logged 1,026 cases of violence against women in the second quarter of 2011 compared to 2,700 cases for the whole of 2010.

And 87 percent of Afghan women have experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence, or forced marriage, according to figures quoted in a report by the charity Oxfam last month. — AFP

India’s top court ‘shocked’ by Pakistanis held in jail NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court expressed shock yesterday that more than 250 Pakistanis were being held in Indian jails without ever having faced trial, with at least one behind bars since 1965. The court, hearing a public interest case filed by a member of the public, ordered the central government to file a comprehensive report explaining the detentions.

“It’s shocking that over 254 Pakistani nationals are languishing in jails without a trial,” said Supreme Court judge RN Lodha.

The inmates are being held in the northwestern state of Jammu and Kashmir, with many thought to be people arrested after unwittingly crossing the disputed border in the area, the court heard. Four are women. It is thought that there may be inmates held without trial in other states too. The prime ministers of India and Pakistan said Thursday they expected to open a “new chapter” in their fractious relationship after talks at a regional summit in the Maldives. — AFP

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US urges Asia to help save global economy

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

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Spain’s feeble recovery falls flat before election

NAPLES: Demonstrators hold a banner reading “No to a government of technicians” yesterday during a rally called “Occupy Napoli” (Occupy Naples), referring to the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York. — AFP

Global market tensions ease Progress in Italy, Greece on debt sends stocks up

ROME: Global market tensions eased yesterday as Italian lawmakers gave initial approval to a package of key economic reforms that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has set as the precondition for his resignation. The wide-ranging measures including privatizations and boosting competition in the labor market were adopted by the Senate and will now go before the Chamber of Deputies, or lower house, for a vote expected today. Italy has rushed to pass the measures after a parliamentary revolt forced Berlusconi to announce his imminent resignation, sparking unprecedented turmoil on the markets with investors afraid his departure could leave Italy in limbo. Greece meanwhile was set to usher in a new government whose leader, former European Central Bank deputy chief Lucas Papademos, has already rushed to reassure European Union and International

Monetary Fund creditors.

The swearing-in ceremony in Athens was expected at 1400 GMT. Italian borrowing costs fell to 6.602 percent ahead of the vote-well below the 7.0-percent threshold breached earlier in the week-while the difference between French and German bond rates also narrowed sharply. The head of the eurozone crisis fund however called on Italy to act swiftly to calm the markets, adding his voice to a global chorus of concern about the prospect of prolonged upheaval in the eurozone’s third largest economy. “Italy doesn’t have much time to reassure the markets,” Klaus Regling, head of the newly-formed European Financial Stability Facility, said in a newspaper interview. “The country needs a functioning government as soon as possible.” Former EU commissioner Mario Monti, a 68-yearold economist supported by the markets,

has emerged as Berlusconi’s most likely replacement at the head of a transition government but the nomination is still far from a done deal. The main opposition Democratic Party backs Monti but parts of Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition and the small opposition Italy of Values party want President Giorgio Napolitano to dissolve parliament and call early elections.

Analysts warn an election campaign nowmore than a year before the next parliamentary vote is expected in 2013 — could plunge Italy further into financial chaos and that its giant debt makes the country “too big to bail”.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was due to speak later yesterday with Napolitano, who spoke to President Barack Obama on Thursday and is playing a key behind-the-scenes role in steering the postBerlusconi political course. Also later yes-

terday, Napolitano was scheduled to meet with European Union President Herman Van Rompuy, who will then have dinner with Berlusconi. Jitters about Italy’s 1.9-trillion-euro ($2.6-trillion) public debt and anaemic growth rate has pushed up bond rates to alarming levels well above 7.0 percent this week-fueling fears of a debt blowup within months. International investors remained relatively cautious yesterday.

“The potential for further negative developments in Europe is keeping people cautious,” Shannon Briggs, vice president at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, a US-based wealth management firm, told Dow Jones Newswires. Foreign exchange trader Moneycorp said: “If investors are presented with a matching pair of technocrats in charge of Greece and Italy there could be a relief rally for the euro, if only a short-lived one.” —AFP

BUSINESS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

India industrial output growth hits 2-year low Car sales in October fall 24%

MUMBAI: A sign at the closed Kingfisher Airlines booking counter at the city airport is pictured yesterday. — AFP

India’s Kingfisher Airlines in turmoil MUMBAI: Shares in India’s Kingfisher Airlines fell more than 19 percent to a record low yesterday after a string of flight cancellations heaped further problems on the debt-ridden carrier. Investors exited the stock as fears over its long-term survival were raised, forcing the loss-making airline to deny suggestions that it might be shut down.

“The question does not arise,” Kingfisher’s chief executive Sanjay Agarwal told the Press Trust of India news agency late Thursday. Analysts agreed, but warned that the airline was still “very critical” and that only a quick cash infusion and restructuring of operations would revive its fortunes.

Kingfisher, India’s second-biggest airline with an 18.8-percent market share, announced on Tuesday that it was cancelling at least 50 flights a day every day until November 19. But the Times of India newspaper said yesterday that cancellations were more widespread and only 269 of Kingfisher’s scheduled 418 daily flights operated on Thursday. India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation has now called on the airline to explain the widespread cancellations, which it said were carried out without prior consultation.

A Kingfisher spokesman declined to comment on the report or the company’s response to the government, but said that before this week’s announcement of cancellations, the airline operated 340 flights a day. Shares in the carrier dropped 19.1 percent to 17.55 rupees in early trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange but recovered slightly to 19.05 rupees, still down 12.2 percent in afternoon trade.

“The situation is very critical,” said Kapil Kaul, from the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation in New Delhi. “We’re in the peak period for travel and they’re having to cancel 30 to 40 percent of flights,” he told AFP. “It’s pretty clear why: their aircraft are grounded and they’re trying to reconfigure their fleet. The fact is that the airline urgently needs cash.” The CAPA assessed that Bangalore-based Kingfisher needed close to $400-500 million in cash. The airline has debts of $1.2 billion and is in talks with bankers to reduce its high interest changes. Unable to raise funds in the debt or equity markets, some reports speculated yesterday that the group would have to turn to the government for a bailout. “I don’t think they will fold,” Kaul said, adding that fresh funding was vital. Meanwhile, the Economic Times business daily yesterday said that some international leasing firms were looking to take back aircraft loaned to the airline because of defaults on payments.—AFP

NEW DELHI: India’s industrial output growth skidded to a two-year low in September, data showed yesterday, as a string of interest rate rises took their toll on Asia’s third-largest economy. The country’s 1.9 percent industrial expansion in September undershot market forecasts of a 3.5 percent jump and added to a gloomy picture of an economy that is losing traction due to 13 interest rate hikes since March 2010. “There’s a clear slowdown, definitely monetary policy is biting,” DK Joshi, chief economist at leading Indian credit rating agency Crisil, told AFP. The sluggish output figures, the weakest since September 2009, also undercut hopes that emerging markets such as India can power global growth as Europe and the United States struggle.

Earlier this week, neighboring China reported industrial output rose 13.2 percent year-on-year in the first 10 months of 2011, slower than the 14.2 percent growth recorded in the first nine months of the year. India’s manufacturing production rose 2.1 percent in September, but output of capital goods such as factory equipment-a key pointer to future activity as well as consumer goods and mines all shrank. “We are concerned that the pace of growth in the economy has gone down,” senior government economic planning advisor Montek Singh Ahluwalia said. The weak figures buttressed expectations that India’s hawkish central bank would pause in hiking rates to combat inflation even though it remains stubbornly high at nearly 10 percent, analysts said.

The bank signaled that last month’s quarterpoint rate rise could be the last for 2011 and that worries about growth would assume greater prominence. The Reserve Bank of India’s anti-inflation battle has been one of the most aggressive globally, but has had little obvious impact.

Yesterday, food inflation fell nearly half a percentage point from the previous week but still stood at a hefty 11.81 percent for the week. Overall inflation, measured monthly, stands at 9.72 percent with some analysts expecting a slight rise when figures are released next week.

Even with high inflation, “with the global economic scenario also deteriorating, the central bank should not only pause but begin to reverse its interest hikes,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry, which lobbies on behalf of companies.

Banerjee warned about the impact of the rate rises on investment and demand but economists said the central bank was unlikely to start unwinding the rate hikes.

“With inflation still elevated and susceptible to upside risks, the central bank is not about to cut rates and will keep them at current levels for an extended period of time,” said HSBC chief India economist Leif Eskesen. The Reserve Bank has revised its estimates for economic growth for this financial year to March 2012 to 7.6 percent, down from an earlier 8.0 percent, saying the economy is “clearly seeing slowing growth.”

But many economists estimate growth could

be seven percent or even lower. The string of rate rises has weakened consumer demand during the ongoing festive season across a range of sectors, from cars to property, as loans become costlier while inflation erodes incomes. The latest figures cap a string of data showing the economy losing ground. Car sales in October fell nearly 24 percent, the most in close to 11 years, while October’s annual export growth was the slowest in two years. The weakening economy has put pressure on federal finances with doubts mounting about the government’s ability to meet its goal of containing the fiscal deficit to 4.6 percent of gross domestic product as tax revenues fall. The central bank made it clear reducing inflation was its top priority and “if growth had to moderate that was the price,” Brian Jackson, senior emerging markets strategist at Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong, told AFP. “Now, in general, a slowdown is going on,” he said. — AFP

HALOL: In this photograph, Indian laborers work in the paint shop of a production line at the General Motors India (GMI) manufacturing plant. — AFP

European banks’ crash diet redraws lending landscape LONDON: Europe’s banks could ditch up to 3 trillion euros of loans to raise capital ratios and meet new rules, blasting a hole in the financial landscape that rivals as diverse as Japanese banks, Islamic financiers and pension funds are coming forward to fill. The biggest shake-up will be in areas like project finance, shipping finance, aviation and infrastructure as banks cut their risk-weighted assets (RWAs) and rethink client relationships. “Since the summer more banks that are challenged by funding costs and profitability are getting more choosy,” a senior loans banker said. “The easiest way for banks to shrink assets is not to roll over loans for customers every time they refinance.”

Regulators have stepped up pressure on banks to improve their capital ratios, which they can do by increasing the equity they hold or by shrinking their asset base. A bank with 250 billion euros of RWAs that wants to increase its capital ratio to 9 percent from 7 percent can raise 5 billion euros of equity or sell 50 billion of risk-weighted assets. At current depressed valuations there is little appetite to raise capital. “Potentially we could see shrinkage of 1 to 3 trillion euros as banks deleverage to avoid rights issues,” said Simon Samuels, analyst at Barclays Capital. —Reuters

Qatar, Emirates set for big orders DUBAI: Qatar Airways, Dubai’s Emirates and Kuwaiti lessor Alafco could place hefty aircraft orders at the Dubai Airshow starting tomorrow, industry sources said. Qatar Airways is expected to place a $6.5-billion order for 50 fuel-saving A320neo jets and five A380s from Airbus, while Emirates is negotiating to place an order for at least 30 and possibly as many as 50 Boeing 777 long-range aircraft worth $8.5 billion to $14.5 billion, the sources said.

The sources stressed that the deals were still being finalized and there was no guarantee they would be completed in time for the show. They said the final Emirates deal may also depend on the outcome of ongoing financing talks which have been complicated by the decision of several European banks to scale back their exposure to aircraft financing due to the euro zone debt crisis. Boeing has taken orders for 132 of its 777s this year, and company executives, including the head of its Commercial Airplanes unit Jim Albaugh, have said the airline is on track to

set a record number of 777 orders for one year. Emirates is already a major customer for the 777 and is due to receive the 1,000th aircraft which Boeing began building this week. It has ordered a total of 89 777s since the aircraft was launched in the 1990s and has 41 aircraft on the Boeing order book waiting to be delivered.

The latest model of 777 has a list price of just under $300 million. The order tally at the airshow is expected to include an enhanced deal by Alafco to buy A320neo aircraft, the sources added. Airbus, Boeing and the gulf airlines declined to comment, while Alafco’s chairman Ahmed al-Zabin reiterated that the company was in talks with Airbus to improve on its order for 30 A320neo planes placed at the Paris airshow earlier this year.

The airshow takes place against a backdrop of economic turmoil in Europe and doubts over global economic growth. The industry is keen to demonstrate its resilience in the face of these headwinds and a stubbornly high oil price. — Reuters

BUSINESS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Iran calls for OPEC cuts Arab members unlikely to agree

QUINCY: Gas prices are displayed at a Mobil station in Massachusetts. — AP

Exxon signs Kurd deals LONDON/BAGHDAD: Exxon Mobil has signed oil and gas exploration deals with Iraq’s Kurdistan, an adviser to the Kurdish government said yesterday, despite warnings from Baghdad that the move could jeopardise a major oilfield project. A senior Iraqi oil official said the central government had been aware that Exxon was in talks to explore in the Kurdish region and had warned that any deal with the KRG could result in the termination of its deal to develop the giant West Qurna field. Baghdad and the government of the semiautonomous northern Kurdish region have longstanding disputes over northern oilfields. Baghdad deems contracts between the KRG and foreign oil companies to be illegal. “The KRG has for the last few months been in discussions with a number of major oil companies.

This resulted in the recent signing by Exxon Mobil of contracts to explore in six blocks,” KRG adviser Michael Howard said. He did not disclose details of the contracts or the locations of the blocks. AbdulMahdy Al-Ameedi, director of the Iraqi oil ministry’s contracts and licensing directorate, said the government had sent three letters to Exxon Mobil last month.

“All three letters were clear,” Ameedi told Reuters. “The signing of any contract with the Kurdistan Regional Government without the approval and the knowledge of the Iraqi central government and the oil ministry will be considered illegal.” Ameedi said he could not confirm that Exxon had signed the contracts.

Exxon, with Royal Dutch Shell, clinched a 20-year deal in 2009 to develop West Qurna Phase One, an 8.7-billion-barrel field in southern Iraq, beating Russian, French and Chinese rivals. “The company, according to Iraqi law, could be disqualified from having any contracts or any work with the oil ministry and it could result in the cancellation of the West Qurna Phase One contract, (with Exxon) to bear all the legal consequences of their action,” Ameedi said. “West Qurna Phase One contract terms are very clear, and a clause in the service contract says if the company violates Iraqi laws then its contract could be terminated,” he said. “Any deal between the Kurdish region and Exxon Mobil would be a clear violation of the West Qurna contract.”

Exxon Mobil declined to comment.

Hydrocarbon law Richard Savage, an analyst at Mirabaud Securities, said the deal “appears to mark a shift in attitude amongst the supermajors who had previously avoided the region for fear of unsettling Baghdad....”

“In our view, the entry of ExxonMobil into Kurdistan, if confirmed, constitutes a major endorsement of the hydrocarbon potential of the region and, more importantly, suggests that the current political deadlock surrounding the passing of the Iraq Petroleum Law (and PSC/export issues) is moving closer to an amicable resolution as far as the Kurds are concerned,” he said.— Reuters

TEHRAN/LONDON: OPEC president Iran threw down the gauntlet to the Gulf Arab oil producers yesterday, asking them to reduce output back to preLibya crisis volumes, making agreement on output policy at OPEC’s December meeting more difficult.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, source of more than a third of the world’s oil, meets on Dec 14 in Vienna, six months after its last gathering collapsed in acrimony and without a deal.

In June, Iran successfully opposed a move led by top exporter Saudi Arabia to raise OPEC quotas to meet a shortfall in supplies from Libya. Saudi and its Gulf OPEC allies raised production anyway after the meeting-a move criticized by price hawk Iran. “We will ask the countries that increased their production when Libya stopped production to change the level of production to the previous level,” the Iranian oil ministry’s SHANA website quoted new oil minister Rostam Qasemi as saying.

A cut in supplies to May’s levels would entail removing some 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from OPEC production, a move unlikely to find support among the Gulf Arab OPEC members while oil prices remain well above $100 a barrel. “I don’t see any need for OPEC

to adjust production,” a delegate from a core OPEC member said. “The market still needs it,” the delegate said, referring to the increased output from the Gulf Arab members.

Christophe Barret, oil analyst at Credit Agricole in London, also thought the prospect of OPEC and Saudi Arabian output curbs unlikely. “With prices at current levels there is absolutely no reason for OPEC to cut and I’m sure that Saudi Arabia would be very happy to see prices coming down from where they are,” he said. Iran’s call for supply cuts may also make agreement on a new OPEC production target more difficult. Failure to do so could be damaging for the group should it need to curb supplies in 2012 in the event of a serious weakening of the world economy.

OPEC in December 2008 set a target for 11 members, all excluding Iraq, to pump 24.84 million bpd. They are pumping more than 2 million bpd more than this, and OPEC officials have said that target is no longer valid.

Gradual process of cutbacks Gulf OPEC delegates have said they will reduce output to make way for a recovery in Libyan supplies when it happens, although this will probably be a gradual process extending into 2012.

OPEC supply has fallen slightly in the last two months as reduced output from Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Angola offset a further rise in Libya, according to the latest Reuters survey published on Oct 31. But output remains higher than it was in May, when Libyan output had slowed to a trickle. Total OPEC production in October was 29.59 million bpd, 490,000 bpd higher than 29.1 million bpd in May, according to Reuters estimates.

Brent crude was steady just below $114 a barrel yesterday, after sharp gains in the previous session and Qasemi said prices around or above $100 were “appropriate”.

“The current situation of oil is relatively fair but as a producer we prefer that the price is better than its current level,” he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. OPEC’s Gulf Arab members are typically its most moderate on prices because they do not want high energy costs to restrict economic growth and long-term demand for their main source of export revenue. One Gulf Arab official told Reuters in September a price of $90 was “high” and those producers were unlikely to reduce supplies to prop up oil prices unless crude fell below $90 for a sustained period. — Reuters

Starbucks to open juice bars in 2012 ARKANSAS: Starbucks Corp plans to start a chain of juice bars starting next year, venturing into territory staked out

by Jamba Inc, in its biggest-ever expansion beyond coffee. The world’s largest coffee chain, which has made no secret of its ambitions to expand beyond its staple business, said on Thursday it bought juice company Evolution Fresh for $30 million in cash. Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz hopes buying Evolution Fresh, whose products are sold by a handful of retailers, including Whole Foods Market Inc, will give the company a meaningful foothold in the estimated $50 billion health food market. The first juice bars will open on the US West Coast around the middle of next year, but the company would not say how many were planned. The chain’s name has not been revealed and it was not clear whether Starbucks’ familiar Mermaid logo — which recently dropped the word “coffee” from its design- would be displayed in the stores, which also will sell food.

The CEO said the moves announced Thursday were the first of many things the company planned for the so-called health and wellness market. Starbucks is getting into a fragmented market with intensifying competition and potentially lower margins than those enjoyed by its coffee shops. Jamba, a publicly held juice and smoothie chain, has struggled in recent years. Revenues have slid as companies such as Starbucks and McDonald’s Corp introduced competing products.

Schultz said Jamba suffered after it moved toward a more commodity business and away from what popular inde-

pendents do well. He argued that some successful independent juice bar operators have annual sales of well over $1 million per outlet. Analysts said that is far higher than a typical Jamba store and a bit less than an average US Starbucks cafe. “We think we can build a major business,” Schultz told reporters on a conference call. Setting up a regional or even nationwide chain could prove costly and take the company further away from its core competency, analysts said.

“It has interesting potential, but I don’t know if has the broad appeal that coffee has,” said Bob Goldin, executive vice president at food service consultancy Technomic. But “Starbucks is smart enough that, if it’s something that doesn’t work, they can pull the plug pretty quickly,” Morningstar analyst RJ Hottovy

said. Schultz said demand is coming from people who choose fresh fruit and vegetable drinks as meal replacements, as well as from individuals watching their weight or attempting to bolster their health with dietary “cleanses.” New York City’s Liquiteria juice bar, for example, says its pressed juices “detoxify and rejuvenate.”

Seattle-based Starbucks wants to sell a broader range of branded products through its own cafes, grocery stores and other retail outlets-including juices from Evolution Fresh.

Starbucks took control of its business selling packaged coffee, tea and readyto-drink beverages earlier this year and has had success getting its products in more desirable spots on grocery store shelves, Hottovy said.— Reuters

LONDON: A French supporter of the Occupy London Stock Exchange movement who gave her name as Estelle de Marseille, juggles outside a branch of the Starbucks coffee chain. — AP

BUSINESS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Thailand’s ‘Teflon tourism’ industry to weather floods Crisis drastically affects economy

TOKYO: International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde (right) shakes hands with Shozaburo Jimi, Japan’s State Minister for Financial Services prior to their talks at Jimi’s office yesterday. — AFP

IMF chief Lagarde set to visit hawaii TOKYO: The head of the International Monetary Fund arrived in Tokyo yesterday, where she will meet Japan’s finance minister and the central bank chief for talks likely to be dominated

by Europe’s debt crisis. IMF chief Christine Lagarde, on a trip that has also taken her to Russia and China, is scheduled to meet Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi today and hold a news conference in Tokyo before flying to Hawaii for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Azumi said yesterday that Japan, the second-biggest stakeholder in the IMF after the United States, hopes Lagarde will explain how the organisation plans to address the deepening sovereign debt crisis in Europe, Kyodo news reported.

Azumi said he “would like to exchange views over the European situations over the past week”, particularly noting events in Italy. Lagarde is expected to meet Bank of Japan governor Masaaki Shirakawa and financial services minister Shozaburo Jimi late yesterday. In Beijing, Lagarde called for greater political clarity in Athens and Rome after an alarming rise in Italy’s borrowing costs heightened fears that it could be the next euro state to suffer a debt blow-up.

Lagarde, a former French finance minister, has warned that Asian economies were not immune to the crisis, saying the world risked a “downward spiral” if it did not pull together to tackle the problem. Japan has so far purchased almost three billion euros ($4.1 billion) in bonds issued in four auctions by the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the continent’s bailout fund, since the beginning of the year. Europe has been discussing establishing a special purpose investment vehicle to persuade China and other potential contributors to sign up, and is exploring the possibility of linking it to the IMF. — AFP

BANGKOK: The tuk tuk drivers outside the Holiday Inn in Bangkok’s still-dry downtown sit idle, calling to passers-by in hopes that someone, anyone will climb in for a ride in their colorful pedicabs. Fares are hard to come by as the floodwaters creeping ever deeper into the Thai capital have washed the streets of tourists. Trying times like these are nothing new for those in Thailand’s all important tourism industry, and with each new calamity come dire predictions that the kingdom’s image and its allure to foreign tourists may be irreparably harmed. But each time it recovers and its beaches, jungles, spas and urban malls are soon swarming with visitors again.

Call it “Thailand’s Teflon tourism industry,” said Imtiaz Muqbil, the executive editor of Travel Impact Newswire, which writes about tourism in Asia. The past decade has seen Thai tourism - which accounts for about 6 percent of the economy and employs more 2 million workers rocked by crisis after crisis. Among the disasters: The SARS epidemic, a tsunami, a military coup, the occupation by antigovernment protesters of the capital’s two airports and multiple rounds of deadly street fighting. The most recent violence, in April and May last year, ended with nearly 100 people killed and several landmark Bangkok buildings set ablaze, but Thailand had a record 16 million international visitors in 2010, showing how quickly tourism can bounce back - even from frightening images of mayhem broadcast worldwide.

The country’s worst flooding in half a century, which began in July and has steadily worsened through an epic monsoon season, has killed more than 500 people nationwide and left everyone from street vendors to restaurant owners to hoteliers saying business in Bangkok is down.

“This is high season now and a lot of tourists have just disappeared,” said tuk tuk driver Thongdee Thongrin. His business has been cut in half since sections of northern and western Bangkok began to flood two weeks ago. But as a whole Thailand seems to once again be weathering the latest storm, with tourists still coming but skipping Bangkok and heading south to beach resorts like Phuket and Pattaya or north to Chiang Mai, all of which have been spared flooding. “The public and private sectors have been hit by so many crisis over the years that they

are really good at managing it and have the responses worked out to a T,” Muqbil said. “In Boy Scout terminology, they are perpetually prepared and ready with the response and recovery drill the moment it is necessary.”

International tourist arrivals at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok’s international gateway, were up 6.7 percent in October over last year, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Arrivals at Phuket’s airport were up 28.5 percent for the same period.

Most international airlines were still operating normally to Bangkok, while domestic airlines have been adding flights due to strong demand from people heading to other parts of the country not

Muang airport gave the impression that both of Bangkok’s airports were closed.

“Frankly it’s all down to the old expression: If it bleeds it leads. In this case, if it leaks it leads,” he said.

While many key tourist sites and downtown areas are still dry, vast parts of the northern and western outskirts have been turned into inland lakes, submerged by fetid floodwaters that have led to calls for the evacuation of 12 of the city’s 50 districts. Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor Suraphon Svetasreni said his agency was working hard to get the word out that Thailand was still very much open for business. He said he hoped the disaster would affect international arrivals by only 2 percent. While specific numbers are yet

BANGKOK: A tuk tuk, or auto rickshaw, overtakes a woman rowing a raft in floodwaters in Bangkok Yai district yesterday. —AP affected by the flooding, said Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. The floods will obviously have some effect on tourism, but the recovery will be quick perhaps as short as a month, said Martin J. Craigs, CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association. “Resilience is built into the DNA of Thai tourism,” he said.

Craigs and several others in the industry mentioned that some of the “disaster movie” images going out to the world were not an entirely accurate reflection of the situation on the ground. He said photos of planes sitting in floodwaters at Don

to be calculated, the floods “have affected the number of bookings in Bangkok for sure,” said Sakkarin Thorsawai, the director of the Thai Hotels Association. Joey Tulyanond, owner of the Old Bangkok Inn and the soon to open Bangkok Tree House hotel, said “maybe about 80 percent of our guests have canceled even though neither of our properties has seen a single drop of floodwater.” At Soul Food Mahanakorn in Bangkok’s trendy Thong Lor neighborhood, owner Jarrett Wrisley said he felt lucky to still have a restaurant that was dry and operating when so many others in Thailand had lost everything. —AFP

China says October bank lending up 25% BEIJING: New loans issued by Chinese banks rose almost 25 percent in October from the previous month, official data showed yesterday, after Beijing ordered banks to boost lending to cash-strapped small businesses.

China’s state-owned banks gave out 586.8 billion yuan ($92.5 billion) in new loans last month, compared with 470 billion yuan in September, the central bank said in a statement. The value of new loans beat analyst forecasts of 500 billion yuan, Dow Jones Newswires said, and came after authorities ordered lenders to increase support for small businesses amid concerns about an explosion in underground lending.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission said last month banks should ensure that the growth of loans for small businesses keeps pace with overall lending and to “boost support” for borrowers of less than five million yuan. Bank of AmericaMerrill Lynch economist Lu Ting said the “surprisingly strong” data suggested authorities had started to ease credit controls faster than expected. “In particular, we think the new loan supply to railway projects and small and medium-sized enterprises could be a major driver,” Lu said in a research report.

Many private bosses have been forced to

borrow money at high interest rates from informal lenders after being rejected by major banks who favour other state-controlled enterprises whose debts are implicitly guaranteed by the government. But the disappearance of more than 90 entrepreneurs in the eastern city of Wenzhou over high debts has fuelled concerns that the flourishing informal lending market could collapse and destabilise China’s financial system.

Officials also worry that a surge in bankruptcies could trigger widespread job losses, especially in the key manufacturing sector, and lead to social unrest in the country of more than 1.3 billion people. The broadest

measure of money supply, M2, was up 12.9 percent year-on-year at the end of October, slightly slower than the 13.0 percent growth recorded in September, the central bank said. Policymakers have been pulling on a variety of levers such as hiking interest rates and tightening lending restrictions to rein in soaring property prices and inflation, which Beijing worries could trigger social unrest.

But signs of a slowdown in China and growing turmoil in Europe and the United States has fuelled speculation that officials will start to ease credit restrictions in the coming months to spur the world’s second-largest economy. —AFP

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BUSINESS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Spain’s feeble recovery falls flat before election Economic growth at zero from previous quarter

ARTEIXO: Mannequins are pictured in a Zara pilot store at the headquarters of Spain’s Inditex group in this photo. — AFP

As Spain battles crisis, Zara shifts gaze abroad ARTEIXO: As Spain’s politicians spar over how to escape a painful economic crisis, major exporters like fashion titan Inditex and its smash Zara brand are finding riches elsewhere. Welfare cuts and a staggering 21.52-percent unemployment rate have angered Spanish voters, who are expected to topple the Socialist government in November 20 elections. But the grim economic landscape also has prompted a sharp focus on exports, reaping rewards for some of the leading corporations. Inditex’s Zara brand is a prime example. In the heart of Galicia, 300 young designers at Zara are at work: it rarely takes more than three weeks from the first mark of their pencils to the moment the clothes are on the rack in shops on the other side of the world.

In this green, hilly northwestern region of Spain, the small town of Arteixo, population 30,000, is home to the headquarters and 11 factories at the heart of world leading textile group Inditex. The empire was created 40 years ago by Amancio Ortega, son of a railwayman, who became the richest man in Spain with a private fortune estimated to be the seventh biggest in the world. On the first floor of the glass building, salespeople and designers of about 30 different nationalities work together in a huge, mostly white open office space.

The calm is deceptive: sales staff have phones glued to their ears, in constant contact with Zara’s 1,800 outlets, a major slice of the Inditex network of 5,000 stores. As the crisis batters Spain, the low-price brand, which brings in two-thirds of group sales, has its eyes fixed abroad. A total 96-97 percent of new store openings are abroad, said Inditex communications director Jesus Echevarria. Only one quarter of group sales now come from Spain. It is a sign of a bigger trend: Spanish firms are looking for their salvation beyond the country’s borders and, according to analysts, exports are staving off a Spanish recession.

The latest example was a Spanish consortium winning a major high-speed railway contract to take pilgrims to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Zara entered the market in South Africa on Thursday, the 80th country in a network that is in constant touch with the Galicia headquarters. “Every day, the stores send information, firstly with a sales analysis, what the customer bought and what he decided not to buy, what colour, what material he did not like,” Echevarria said. That information can lead to an increase or immediate halt to a production line.

“But there is also a qualitative input, because the shop managers have a very important relationship with the customer and they know why he did not like this jacket or that dress,” he added. “With that information, the design teams get to work and make constant changes” to the designs they are working on. Amancio Ortega, 75, often sits at a table in the centre. A few steps away, the first patterns are tested on models, then approval is given to one of the factories which cut the pieces of cloth before sending them to a multitude of clothing workshops in Galicia and Portugal. To stay flexible, the group produces 50 percent of its clothes in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Even the 34 percent made in Asia must pass through Arteixo for a final ironing and quality control. From the design of a piece of clothing to being placed on the rack, it takes two weeks for shops in Europe, and three weeks for the shops at the furthest end of the network. Each store is re-supplied every three days. — AFP

MADRID: Spain’s feeble economic recovery petered out in the third quarter of 2011, official figures showed yesterday, stoking recession fears just nine days before a general election.

Economic growth fell to zero from the previous quarter, when activity was already weak with growth at just 0.2 percent, said a preliminary estimate by the National Statistics Institute. The economy expanded just 0.8 percent in the third quarter when compared to output in the same period last year, the report said.

It was bleak news for the Socialist government, which faces a predicted drubbing at the hands of the opposition conservative Popular Party in November 20 elections. The government is refusing to alter its seemingly optimistic forecast for 1.3 percent growth in 2011. The latest figures spell tough times ahead for Spain, which is fighting to preserve growth even as it slashes spending to curb its budget deficit and avoid joining Greece and Italy in the eurozone debt crisis.

Only exports, including tourism, kept Spain’s economy out of the red as consumers kept a tight hold on their wallets in the latest quarter. “External demand continues to show an elevated contribution to growth, which is partially offset by the negative contribution of domestic demand,” the statistics institute said.

Both the Bank of Spain and the New York-based credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s are predicting Spanish economic growth in 2011 of 0.8 percent, far below the government’s target. Analysts at Spanish bank BBVA warned in a report this week that Spain

is increasingly likely to fall into a recession with economic output likely to shrink in the final quarter of this year.

“The Spanish economy is stagnating and the probability of it entering into recession is increasing,” it said. “During the last three months, the uncertainty regarding the perspectives for the global economy have increased, which has had a negative effect on the expected recovery of the Spanish economy.”

The probability that the economy will return to recession-broadly defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth-has been raised by a growing number of financial institutions.

Goldman Sachs forecasts that the econ-

MADRID: A worker passes by a store with a special offer selling household items for only 1 euro yesterday. — AP

Zambia doubles royalties to fund big 2012 budget LUSAKA: Zambia’s new government unveiled an expansive 2012 budget yesterday, with big increases in social spending and farming subsidies to be paid for by a rise in mineral royalties and a debut $500 million Eurobond. In the first budget since September’s election upset, Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda put flesh on the bones of new President Michael Sata’s promises to spread the benefits of strong growth in Africa’s biggest copper producer.

Overall spending would rise to 27.7 trillion kwacha ($5.5 billion), or 26.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), from 21 percent in 2011, Chikwanda said.

Domestic borrowing for the year would amount to 1.3 percent of GDP and foreign financing would be 3.0 percent, giving an overall deficit of 4.3 percent of GDP, Chikwanda said. Foreign grant aid would amount to less than 2 percent of GDP. Analysts said the budget certainly qualified as “pro-poor”, although the extra spending did not mean the southern African nation was loading up on debt. “Even though the budget outlined slightly more spending than had been anticipated, it’s still taking place against a backdrop of

omy will shrink 0.2 percent during the fourth quarter and by another 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012, with French bank Natixis putting the contraction at 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent.

The Spanish economy fell into recession during the second half of 2008 as the global financial meltdown compounded the collapse of a labor-intensive property bubble.

It stabilized in 2010 but has remained weak this year. Spain has promised to reduce its annual public deficit from 9.3 percent of GDP last year to 6.0 percent this year, 4.4 percent in 2012 and 3.0 percent, the European Union ceiling, in 2013. — AFP

increased revenue collection, and an effort to raise more meaningful receipts from previously undertaxed sectors,” said Razia Khan, head of Africa research at Standard Chartered in London.

Most of the extra spending would go on 45 percent and 27 percent increases for health and education respectively, and a 38 percent boost for a farming subsidy program that has underpinned nearly a decade of 6 percent-plus annual growth. “The Patriotic Front (PF) won the 2011 election because it listened to the needs of the people at all levels,” Chikwanda said in his budget speech.

“Now that we are in government, we have not and will never distance ourselves from the people.”

Mining royalties PF leader Sata, a gruff populist who spent 10 years as opposition leader in the southern African nation, has caused slight nervousness among foreign investors, not least for his vitriolic criticism of Chinese mining firms. However, he toned down his rhetoric in the latter stages of campaigning, and since coming to office has been at pains to build a working relationship with a sector that accounts for more than 70 percent of all foreign exchange earnings. — Reuters

BP wins $15bn court reprieve in Russia MOSCOW: BP salvaged a rare victory in Russia yesterday over its failed Arctic tie-up with Rosneft when a court rejected a $15billion claim that threatened its ties with the country, the world’s biggest energy producer. The Siberian court ruling does not immediately end all threats hanging over the British major because the Russian side of its TNK-BP local partnership is still pursuing action in Stockholm. But the decision was hailed by BP as an important signal to foreign investors who will rely on Russia’s court system to ensure fair access once the country is formally accepted into the World Trade Organization next month.

“We are pleased with the court’s decision to reject the groundless claims against BP and two TNK-BP Holding board members,” BP Russia chief Jeremy Huck said in a statement.

“I also believe that today’s decision is a positive contribution to the investment climate in Russia,” Huck said. The firm also reaffirmed its long-term commitment to Russia despite recent court problems and uneasy relations with its local billionaire partners. The messy court case revolves around a $16-billion share swap and joint northern sea oil exploration alliance that initially made BP the first major through the door to Russia’s vast riches of Arctic oil. — AP

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Business SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Unemployment aid hits 7-month low WASHINGTON: The outlook for American jobs and trade looked a little brighter Thursday, despite growing uncertainty overseas. The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week fell to a seasonally adjusted 390,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s the fewest since April. The US trade deficit narrowed to $43.1 billion in September, its lowest point of the year, the Commerce Department said. Foreign sales of American-made autos, airplanes and heavy machinery pushed exports to an all-time high.

The data suggest layoffs are easing and the economy grew slightly better over the summer than the government had estimated a month ago. Stocks rose sharply Thursday, one day after the market tumbled nearly 400 points over concerns that Europe’s debt cri-

sis could worsen. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 113 points, or 1 percent, to close at 11,894.

The reports “are modestly strong relative to expectations - encouraging confidence that the economy is gaining a bit of momentum,” said Pierre Ellis, an analyst at Decision Economics. Weekly applications for unemployment benefits have declined in three of the past four weeks, the Labor Department said. The fourweek average, a less volatile measure, fell to 400,000, also the lowest point since April. The downward trend in applications suggests businesses are laying off fewer workers. Still, applications need to consistently drop below 375,000 to signal sustained job gains. They haven’t been at that level since February.

“The labor market is still weak and quite stagnant but there are hopeful signs of some modest improve-

ment,” said Steve Wood, chief economist at Insight Economics. In September, exports increased 1.4 percent to a record $180.4 billion, reflecting a big increase in shipments of US made autos and auto parts, the Commerce Department said. Imports were up a smaller 0.4 percent to $223.5 billion. Oil imports slowed after huge gains earlier in the year.

The deficit has narrowed for the last three months.

Paul Dales, senior US economist at Capital Economics, said the lower trade deficit in September could boost growth in the July-September quarter to an annual rate of 2.8 percent, up from the government’s initial estimate of 2.5 percent. Still, Europe’s debt crisis could push that region into a recession next year, which could reduce demand for American exports and slow US growth.—AP

US urges Asia to help save global economy Obama eyes hitching economy to Asian growth HONOLULU: The United States urged Asia to do more to stimulate growth to offset the eurozone crisis, ahead of a summit in which Washington is seeking to shape the rules for the emerging Pacific region. Police sealed off Honolulu’s usually laid-back Waikiki Beach as Chinese President Hu Jintao became the latest leader to arrive for the weekend summit that will be led by US President Barack Obama, a Hawaii native. US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, chairing talks on Thursday of finance ministers from the APEC bloc, said that the meeting was dominated by how to make growth more balanced and sustainable, given the crisis in Europe.

“Asian economies will need to do more to stimulate domestic demand growth both so they are less vulnerable to slowdowns, such as the situation in Europe, and so they can continue to contribute to global growth,” he said.

The 21 members of APEC, or the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation forum, account for about 40 percent of the world’s population, more than 50 percent of its gross domestic product and 44 percent of global trade. “While APEC economies are the most vulnerable to a global slowdown, they can also play

the greatest role in contributing to the global recovery and establishing the foundations of strong, sustainable, and balanced future growth,” Geithner said.

Europe warned Thursday that the debt crisis was dragging the region towards a new recession, as Greece chose a new prime minister to try to pull it back from the brink of financial disaster and Italy lurched into crisis. In Honolulu, where Obama hopes this weekend to unveil the broad outlines of a landmark trade pact, there were signs of tensions between the United States and the Asia-Pacific’s emerging power, China. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, previewing the US message for the summit of the 21-member APEC forum, said the region stands at a “pivot point” as it becomes “the world’s strategic and economic center of gravity.”

After noting that the post-World War II institutions between the United States and Europe had paid “remarkable dividends,” Clinton said the time had come for “a more dynamic and durable trans-Pacific system.” Clinton insisted that the United States welcomed a “thriving China,” saying it was not in either country’s interest for Washington to try to contain the rising

HONOLULU: US Trade Represtentative Ron Kirk (right) greets Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba prior to their meeting at the Hawaii Convention Centre in Honolulu during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. — AFP

Asian power. But the top US diplomat, who later held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, also voiced concern about Beijing’s record both on human rights and the economy. “We are alarmed by recent incidents in Tibet of young people lighting themselves on fire in desperate acts of protest as well as the continued house arrest of the Chinese lawyer Chen Guangcheng,” she said.

“We continue to call on China to embrace a different path.” Obama tomorrow is expected to announce a tentative free trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with eight other nations-Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is seriously considering bringing the world’s third largest economy into the talks, a step that would move the onceobscure pact closer to becoming an Asia-wide trade deal.

Obama, who arrived late yesterday, hopes that such trade deals will ramp up US exports and create badly needed jobs, his top priority as he seeks re-election next year. Business organizations from across the Asia-Pacific region expressed strong support for the TPP as an “economic growth catalyst” and pressed for negotiations to be concluded in the first half of 2012. The group, which included the Asia-Pacific Chamber of Commerce and a number of national federations and business coalitions, urged TPP leaders “to set an ambitious timetable for completion of these talks.”

Critics point out that the TPP pact includes communist Vietnam and say that the agreement’s details are vague.

The pact has sparked opposition among farmers in Japan and the United States who fear growing competition. China is not part of the TPP and on Monday questioned US goals for the summit, including the reduction of tariffs on green goods within the APEC bloc. “It seems that the current goals put out by the US side are too ambitious and beyond the reach of developing economies,” assistant foreign minister Wu Hailong said. — AFP

SAN FRANCISCO: Demonstrators from the 350 group hold signs as they stand on an original Keith Haring statue. — AP

US delays massive oil pipeline from Canada WASHINGTON: The Obama administration said Thursday it is delaying a decision on a massive oil pipeline until it can study new potential routes that would avoid environmentally sensitiveareas of Nebraska. The decision probably will put off final action on the pipeline until after next year’s US elections. The announcement by the State Department means Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. will have to figure out a way to move the proposed Keystone XL pipeline around the Nebraska Sandhills region and Ogallala aquifer, which supplies water to eight states. The State Department said it will require an environmental review of the new section, which is expected to be completed in early 2013. President Barack Obama said the 1,700-mile pipeline could affect the health and safety of the American people as well as the environment.

“We should take the time to ensure that all questions are properly addressed and all the potential impacts are properly understood,” Obama said in a statement. The decision on whether to approve the $7 billion pipeline “should be guided by an open, transparent process that is informed by the best available science and the voices of the American people,” Obama said. TransCanada Corp. is seeking to build a 36-inch pipeline to carry oil derived from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. The pipeline would travel through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma before reaching Texas. The heavily contested

project has become a political trap for Obama, who risks angering environmental supporters if he approves the pipeline and could face criticism from labor and business groups for thwarting job creation if he rejects it.

Some liberal donors have threatened to cut off contributions to Obama’s re-election campaign if he were to approve the pipeline. The project has become a focal point for environmental groups, which say it would bring “dirty oil” that requires huge amounts of energy to extract. They also worry that the pipeline could cause an ecological disaster in case of a spill.

Thousands of protesters gathered across from the White House on Sunday to oppose the pipeline, and celebrities including “Seinfeld” actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus have made videos urging Obama to reject the pipeline.

The State Department has authority over the project because it crosses a US border. Environmental activist Bill McKibben, who led protests against the pipeline and was arrested in a demonstration this year, said on Twitter that the protests had an effect on the Obama administration.

“A done deal has come spectacularly undone!” he wrote. The Keystone XL pipeline would carry as much as 700,000 barrels of oil a day, doubling the capacity of an existing pipeline operated by TransCanada in the upper Midwestern United States. Supporters say the pipeline to Texas could reduce significantly US dependence on Middle Eastern oil while providing thousands of jobs. —AP

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South Indian super stars lip-sync to singer Sudeep Page 24

Thousands in Asia exchange vows on lucky 11-11-11 Page 27

A model presents a creation by French designer Philippe Guilet during a fashion event called “100%.RO” at the French embassy headquarters in Bucharest onThursday.—AFP

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Clooney considered killing himself T

he ‘Ides of March’ actor injured himself while filming spy thriller ‘Syriana’ in 2005, and he was so racked with pain as a result of the spinal condition that he thought about ending his life. He told Rolling Stone magazine: “I started to think, ‘I may have to do something drastic about this’. “I was in a hospital bed unable to move, having these headaches where it feels like you’re having a stroke. “You don’t want to leave a mess, so go in the garage, go in the car, start the engine. I was in a place where I was trying to figure out how to survive.” The 50-year-old actor - who is dating former wrestler Stacy Keibler - also spoke about losing his virginity “too young” at the age of 16, and admitted he thinks he had his first orgasm when he was “six or seven” years old. He told said: “I was young, very young, too young. “I believe it [my first orgasm] was while climbing a rope when I was six or seven years old. I mean, nothing came out, but all the other elements were there. I remember getting to the top of the rope, hanging off the rope, and going, ‘Oh, my God, this feels great!’ “

having a curvy figure

Gene Simmons says

married life is ‘terrific’

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he KISS bass player tied the knot with Shannon Tweed, his partner of 28 years, last month and he is enjoying every moment of being a husband so far. Speaking at the Orange Amplification Classic Rock Roll of Honour 2011 - which he presented - at The Roundhouse in London on Wednesday night, he told BANG Showbiz: “Married life is terrific, my kids are my proof and if they are any indication then I’ve done the right thing. It’s been great and it was without doubt the right choice.” The 62year-old rocker - who attended the event with his wife and their two children, Nick, 22, and 19-year-old Sophie Alexandra - joked his family will be going on a KISS cruise in 2012 after the band got 3,000 of their loyal fans together earlier this year and took them on a trip through the Bahamas. Gene - who claims to have bedded 4,800 women - added: “We have already booked another KISS cruise for the fans next year and we’re also going to do a family cruise if they want to do it?”

Jaime Pressly’s

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he ‘Contagion’ actress is famed for her hour-glass figure and is very confident about her body after learning over the years what clothes suit her shape. She told InStyle magazine: “I’m lucky to go in and out at the right places, proportionately - that’s something I inherited from my mother. I enjoy my shape and my curves. At the same time, you have to know how to dress. If you are hippy, then pleats off the waist? Forget it! You absolutely cannot wear them. It’s about knowing how to work with the right fabric.” Kate - who has two children, Mia, 11, her daughter with first husband Jim Threapleton, and seven-year-old Joe, her son with estranged spouse Sam Mendes - insists it is important to think about the whole look when deciding on an outfit. The 35year-actress - who is believed to be dating Sir Richard Branson’s nephew Ned Rocknroll - said: “Recently, I wore a simple, black Victoria Beckham column dress with long sleeves and small, gold belt detailing on the front. I knew that a curly hairdo would have gone completely against the dress, so went for a high sculpted ponytail, with a little bit of height in the front. It pulled the whole look together.”

divorce finalized

Kate Winslet ‘enjoys’

T

he former ‘My Name Is Earl’ star’s marriage to Simran Singh was dissolved, ten months after she filed papers at the Los Angeles Superior Court citing “irreconcilable differences” for their split.

The couple - who were married for 16 months before splitting in December 2010 - have no children together but Jaime has a threeyear-old son, Dezi, with former fiance DJ Eric Calvo. The 33-year-old actress has been ordered to pay an “equalization payment” of $45,000 to her ex husband and Simran will keep all the household furniture, jewellery, clothing, personal effects currently in his possession, a 2007 BMW 750LI, bank accounts in his name and the businesses Simran Singh, Singh, Singh & Trauben, Malianteo and Shots After Dark. He will also retain a Miami Beach residence as part of the arrangement.

Meanwhile, Jaime is entitled to keep all the household furniture, jewellery, clothing and personal effects, a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country car, any bank accounts in her name, the business known as J’aime Productions, any “celebrity goodwill” associated with her name and their home in Sherman Oaks, California.

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Hemsworth finds Cyrus cutest with steak sauce on her chin T

he 21-year-old actor likes to take his pop star girlfriend for a hearty meal when they get together, as he finds the way she eats her steak a turn on. He told Who magazine: “There is this place in Nashville called Steak and Shake, which is pretty much the best food, ever. That is our secret, sexy place to go “When I look over at her when she’s biting into a steak sandwich and there is some steak sauce dripping down her chin, there is nothing cuter than that.” Liam admits he has had to cut down on the steaks and fatty foods himself recently for his part as Gale in futuristic sci-fi film ‘The Hunger Games’. He said: “Everyone’s pretty hungry, so I wanted to look a little hungry. My brother said to me before I started shooting something about me putting on weight.

“Basically his point was that it was called ‘Hunger Games’, not ‘Eating Games’. That was a wake-up call. I was like, ‘Are you calling me fat or something?’”

Perry thinks Brand will make a great dad Bieber

treated Gomez to $1,100 a night suite in Paris

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he ‘One That Got Away’ singer - who married the British funnyman last October - says the couple are keen to start a family and knows Russell will step up to the responsibilities of parenthood. She said: “I would love to have children. I think that’s one of the reasons you get married. Especially to the person that you marry. You think, that person is going to be a good partner, a good parent. “But I’m not sure it’s yet. We’ll see, ya know.” Katy also says the number of children she has will depend on how much pain she experiences when she gives birth to her first child. She told TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres: “If it doesn’t hurt the first time. I’ll keep popping them out.” Katy has made no secret of her desire to become a mother and has said her children would always come before her career. She said: “I want to have kids! I’m totally fine with saying that. I think some people are worried it’s going to ruin their career, but I want to live a full life.”

T

he ‘Baby’ star was in the French capital this week to promote his new Christmas album and he and Selena stayed in the Paris Arc de Triomphe hotel for the four nights they were there.

An insider told Hollywoodlife.com: “Justin and Selena stayed in the most beautiful penthouse suite overlooking the Eiffel Tower. This was the perfect suite for them because it is so romantic.” Another source at the hotel said both very charming guests and always well mannered while at the hotel. The source said: “They never left the room when they returned to it and didn’t bother with room service, but the times they were seen together they were always extremely polite and very cordial to the staff.” As well as taking her shopping at Louis Vuitton, 17-year-old Justin also treated Selena to a romantic meal at the exclusive L’Avenue restaurant, where customers said they held hands throughout their meal, kissed, and were seemingly unconcerned about other diners watching them.

Justin’s promotional tour now takes him to Germany.

Anna Friel wants a child with Rhys Ifans T

he ‘Pushing Daisies’ actress - who has sixyear-old daughter Gracie with former partner David Thewlis - has been dating the Welsh actor for nine months and “really” wants to expand her family further. She said: “I really want more children. Gracie is my little mate as well as my daughter. And she’s so caring and loving. I always tell her, ‘You’re my angel from heaven.’ I’m big on manners so she can’t have anything without saying please or thank you. “I love being a mummy and I’m a good one.” However, Anna, 35, is unsure whether she will find it easy to conceive as she was warned before having Gracie she may have difficulties getting pregnant. She told Marie Claire magazine: “It was a total surprise, doctors had

said it would be difficult to get pregnant because I had endometriosis. Well, it wasn’t.

One time we were a bit naughty and then I became pregnant. “Whether that will happen as easily again, I don’t know. Things could be different now I’m older.” Anna admits her relationship with Rhys - who previously dated Sienna Miller - is “very, very serious” and she is always thinking about the future with him. She said: “Of course I do [still think about forever]. With Rhys, certainly, things are very, very serious. “But because we’ve been through so much, it’s not been that frivolous ‘woo-hoo’ type of love. We’ve had to be really adult about things. “Rhys has never been in a position where he’s had to take on somebody else’s child. That isn’t for everybody.” —Bang Showbiz

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South Indian super stars lip-sync to singer Sudeep this month Sunil Cherian

M

ammootty, Mohanlal and Jayaram, the three stalwarts of Malayalam cinema will sing to the deep-sweet voice of melody singer Sudeepkumar in their films released this month. “It’s a rare honor for a singer like me to have all these films being released one after the other”, said Sudeep who was in Kuwait to take part in St Gregorios Harvest Festival held yesterday at Al-Jaleel School, Hawally.

The singer who has a bunch of hit songs in his career is in the music industry since late 1980s with films like Thalolam and Daya, but became popular with the song ‘enthetee’ sung for superstar Mohanlal in the chartbuster Shikkar, last year.

This time Sudeep sings for Mohanlal in a Gulf related Priyadarshan-film ‘Arabiyum Ottakavum..’ composed by singer MG Sreekumar. Shikkar also has a Gulf experience, Sudeep said. The compos-

ing of the songs was done in Sharjah since the producer is based in that city. Sudeep who used to assist music director M Jayachandran was asked to accompany him to Sharjah for the Shikkar songs. “It was an incredible experience to witness how these songs are born, first by composing a catchy tune and then lyrics to follow it”, said Sudeep. The Shikkar songs were penned by late Gireesh Puthanchery.

Yesterday, for the Harvest program, Sudeep was accompanied by upcoming singers Antony and Mrudula and renowned keyboardist Poly.

Sudeep, a law graduate and a music student since he was 11 came to Kuwait directly after a stage program in Mangalore and is now going back to the busy worlds of stage shows and playback singing.

He never pursued law after his debut as a playback singer in (his hometown Aleppy based) Vinayan’s film Oomappenninum... “Music is my law”, Sudeep said.

Oscars bring back Ninth time for Crystal to host Academy Awards Billy Crystal

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LAS VEGAS: Franco DeVita poses with his two Grammys for Best Long Form Music Video backstage during the 12th annual Latin Grammy Awards at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino Event Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on Thursday.—AFP

Jackson doctor Murray admits ‘stupid’ mistakes before death

C

onrad Murray, the doctor convicted of Michael Jackson’s manslaughter, admitted in comments broadcast Thursday that he made mistakes on the day of the pop icon’s death but denied criminal culpability.

Murray recalled how he went into the room next to Jackson’s bedroom to make telephone calls while the star lay dying-and justified not telling police about having given him propofol, as “I did not think it was important.” The doctor’s previously unheard comments were made to British journalist Steve Hewlett and aired on Channel 4 immediately before the showing of a controversial documentary charting the singer’s demise. Murray, 58, claimed Jackson had requested “milk”-his slang term for propofol-at 10:40 am on June 25, 2009, to help him sleep after a restless night. In accounting for the one hour and 40 minutes between administering the drug and emergency services being called, Murray said he had sat with Jackson, checking his vital signs until he believed the effects had worn off, before moving to the adjacent room at 11:20 am. —AFP

scar organizers on Thursday brought back funnyman Billy Crystal to host the film awards after recent days of turmoil that led to the departure of one producer and his handpicked emcee Eddie Murphy. Crystal, who has hosted the widelywatched Hollywood telecast eight times previously, announced his new job on Twitter with a post: “Am doing the Oscars so the young woman in the pharmacy will stop asking my name when I pick up prescriptions. Looking forward to the show.”

Tom Sherak, president of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that puts on the Oscars, called Crystal “a comic legend and Oscar icon.” “I’m thrilled to welcome Billy back to the Oscar stage,” Sherak said. The announcement follows days of drama at the academy after producer Brett Ratner last week used the gay slur “fags” at a screening of his movie “Tower Heist,” which stars Murphy.

His use of the word raised howls from gay rights groups and academy members. He apologized publicly on Monday, but his contrition failed to stem the firestorm. He resigned one day later. Murphy, who had been lured by Ratner to host the Oscar telecast, followed his boss out the door on Wednesday. The academy responded by hiring “A Beautiful Mind” producer and Hollywood veteran Brian Grazer to replace Ratner, leaving the choice of a host to him. “Like so many others, I’ve been eager to see Billy host again. It’s very gratifying that he agreed to do it with (co-producer Don Mischer) and me at the helm.”

Crystal, 63, first hosted the show in 1990 when “Driving Miss Daisy” was named the year’s best movie, and the awards program was still easily topping 40 million viewers, making it the second-most watched US TV program annually behind professional football’s Super Bowl. The comedian went on to host three more consecutive years, dropped out for two, then returned in 1997 and 1998 when “Titanic” was voted by academy members as the top movie and 57 million people tuned in. He last hosted the show in 2004. The comedian has been among Oscar watchers’ favorite hosts over the years and it seems like every year when hosts disappoint, as did James Franco last year, there

have been calls for Crystal to return.

But even before Crystal posted his tweet-as speculation mounted that he would return-some Hollywood watchers were questioning whether he could connect with younger movie fans and TV watchers who, in recent years, have had more entertainment options than ever. Viewership of the Oscar telecast has fallen below the 40 million mark in five of the past six years, rising above it in 2010 when 3D action-adventure “Avatar” was among the most nominated movies.

When “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won best movie, the audience topped 43 million.

But Sherak does not think Crystal is too old to host.

When asked that question by showbusiness website TheWrap, he answered “No. Bob Hope did the Oscars in his sixties.” In fact, Hope was the quintessential Oscar host for 19 ceremonies, and an entertainer who, like Crystal, could not only tell jokes, but could sing and put on a top variety act. The upcoming Oscars for the movies of 2011 will take place on February 26, 2012. —Reuters

In this March 22, 2011 file photo, Billy Crystal arrives at the premiere of the HBO documentary film “His Way” in Los Angeles.

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Sandler’s proudly lowbrow ‘Jack and Jill’

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n Judd Apatow’s “Funny People,” Adam Sandler played a middle-age comedian whose career was built on a series of popular but absurdly low-brow movies. The movies are trotted out in faux trailers: “Redux,” in which he plays a 6month-old baby; “My Best Friend Is a Robot,” with Owen Wilson as the robot; and, most memorably, “Mer-man,” where Sandler plays a masculine mermaid. If you slid “Jack and Jill” into that lineup, no one would even blink. The film, in which Sandler plays both sides of male-female identical twins, feels like a joke trailer stretched into a feature film.

That isn’t necessarily contrary to the aims of “Jack and Jill,” a gleefully stupid movie much more in line with Sandler’s earlier comedies than his later, more adventurous movies. It’s directed

by Sandler’s longtime filmmaking partner Dennis Dugan, who directed one of those early Sandler movies (“Happy Gilmore”) as well as more recent failures such as last year’s “Grown Ups” and the much more interesting and funny “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.”

In “Jack and Jill,” Sandler plays Jack Sadelstein, a TV commercial producer, married to Erin (Katie Holmes) with two children (Rohan Chand, Elodie Tougne). Thanksgiving brings an unwelcome visit from his twin sister Jill (Sandler). Sandler plays Jill as he might have for a “Saturday Night Live” sketch, and Jill is less a real character than a walking punch line. She has a thick Bronx accent, a masculine physique and is completely out of touch. Sandler plays her more like an older Jewish mother than a 43-year-old.

Jack is aggressively mean to his sister, whose visit, much to his chagrin, keeps being extended.

Jill proves useful, though, because she’s surprisingly fetching to a handful of men, most notably Al Pacino. That’s convenient for Jack, whose trying to get Pacino to act in a Dunkin’ Donuts ad.

Pacino, who plays himself in a surprisingly large part, is, one fears, going the Robert De Niro route here, using his esteemed reputation to parody himself. With ga-ga eyes, he chases relentlessly after Jill, who is largely unimpressed.

It must be said: Pacino is good in the film and gets most of the laughs. His total commitment to character applies even in a movie such as this, where he’s lovesick for a Sandler in drag. Comedy has always been part of Pacino’s range. Still, when Pacino finally cuts the hip-hop-style commercial and afterward tells Jack, “Burn this,” I’m inclined to agree. For fans of Sandler’s sillier movies, “Jack and Jill” (which Sandler co-wrote with Steve Koren, from a story by Ben Zook) will likely provide something satisfyingly adolescent and cartoonish. There are all the kinds of things you’d expect: fart jokes, poor filmmaking (a scene at a Lakers game, obviously shot on a green screen, is unusually shoddy); and cameos from the usual crowd (David Spade, Tim Meadows, Norm MacDonald) and a few less predictable ones (Johnny Depp, John McEnroe, Regis Philbin, Shaquille O’Neal). But the unapologetically idiotic “Jack and Jill” comes off like the last 15 years of comedy didn’t happen. Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Paul Rudd and many others have made comedy smarter and wittier, while being just as irreverent. Comedy moved on from the mid1990s, and it’s time Sandler did, too.

“Jack and Jill” even gives fart jokes a bad name. —AP

Masked revelers parade at the start of the carnival in the western German city of Cologne yesterday. Carnival goers mainly in the Rhine region traditionally celebrate the launch of the festivities at 11 minutes past 11 o’clock. —AFP

‘Warrior’ director’s secret agenda he kept from studio G

avin O’Connor had a secret agenda for “Warrior.” The writer-director knew that Lionsgate liked the film. “They said they wanted to make the movie at my first sit-down,” O’Connor said at a Q&A following a presentation of the film at TheWrap’s Awards Season Screening Series Wednesday night at the Landmark Theater. But here’s what the studio didn’t know: “I didn’t want to use movie stars for the two roles.” Instead, he had his eye on a couple of little-known actors from overseas.

Lionsgate knowing that would have raised a problem, O’Connor said. The studio’s “whole business model does not apply to this movie because you can’t sell it overseas” without stars, he told the capacity crowd. But there’s a bit of irony to the ending of O’Connor’s tale. As it turned out, the littleknown actors he snuck under the fence were

Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton-now among the most in-demand stars in Hollywood. And O’Connor had a big name in his pocket-his neighbor Nick Nolte was his choice for a supporting role.

Nolte also joined the post-screening discussion, hosted by TheWrap’s Brent Lang.

“Warrior” is about two estranged brothers, Tommy and Brendan Conlon, who end up reuniting while pummeling each other in a mixed martial arts competition. Nolte plays their father, a recovering alcoholic and former boxer. Despite the violent content, it’s a tender movie that started with O’Connor’s idea about two brothers on a collision course.

“I wanted one brother to die-to die at the hands of his brother-so he can be reborn,” O’Connor said. “It’s biblical, and it’s Greek.”

O’Connor provided a glance into the making of the movie- and into casting Hardy. He said

that he knew he wanted Hardy for the part, but that Hardy told him he’s not good at auditioning. The director told Hardy, “there’s no way I can get you in this movie without auditioning.”

So he suggested the actor come to his house, where they could rehearse the audition and make sure it worked out. “He showed up on a Sunday night,” O’Connor said. “At midnight, there was a knock at my door and he lived with me for five days. He did! He never left. And it was actually great because I got to know him.” Nolte chortled.

“Tom Hardy can audition,” he said. “Believe me, he can audition.” Nolte said he played a similar trick on Paul Mazursky, his director in “Down and Out in Beverly Hills.” Mazursky visited the actor at his home, where Nolte insisted that the two read the script. Out loud.

— (TheWrap.com)

Cheap Trick plans Chicago eatery, museum T

he band Cheap Trick plans to open a rock ‘n’ roll-themed eatery and museum in a Chicago neighborhood that was once home to the city’s most famous and influential blues and R&B record labels. Dave Frey, Cheap Trick’s manager, told Reuters on Thursday the band hopes to be an anchor tenant in an entertainment district being created on the stretch of South Michigan Avenue, where Chess, Brunswick and Vee-Jay Records were headquartered during their heyday and musicians from Aretha Franklin to Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones recorded.

Frey said the band’s proposed project-ten-

tatively called Cheap Trick Chicago-would include a radio station, a performance space and an instrument museum, as well as a restaurant. Additional details will be released once financing is completed, Frey said. The neighborhood, located between the city’s massive McCormick Place convention center and its busy downtown, boasts a number of formerly opulent but now vacant auto showrooms from the golden age of U.S. car making.

Local official Bob Fioretti has long believed the district, which saw some condominium conversions before the real estate market declined, would be better suited for nightclubs

and other commercial uses. Although often referred to as the city’s Motor Row District, the area is best known as the center of Chicago’s influential recording industry during the 1950s and 1960s.

Legends including Franklin, Berry, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Etta James, Koko Taylor and Buddy Guy all recorded at area studios, and bands like the Stones and the Yardbirds made pilgrimages here when they visited the city. Cheap Trick was founded in the early 1970s in Rockford, Illinois, about 60 miles west of Chicago. Its biggest hits include “Surrender” and “I Want You to Want Me.” —Reuters

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A woman watches creations by designer Jean-Paul Goude at the Arts Decoratifs museum in Paris, Thursday.

Paris retrospective

celebrates ad man Goude

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or Jean-Paul Goude, the days of false modesty are over: The extravagant French illustrator, photographer and ad man best known internationally for his TV spots for Chanel’s Egoiste and Coco perfumes - says he now finally considers himself an artist. A new retrospective at Paris’ Arts Decoratifs museum shores up that conclusion. With hundreds of drawings, sketches, photo collages, videos and installations that include a life-size steam engine made of wood, “Goudemalion” traces the evolution of his exuberant style over the past six decades. The show plunges visitors into Goude’s very particular creative universe which - peopled with long, lean uber-women - is no less compelling than those of many who have long worn the mantle of “artist.”

“Before, I was falsely modest, (always saying) ‘I’m but a humble artisan’ and so-forth in hope that everyone would say, ‘No, no, no.

You’re an artist,’” Goude told reporters in an interview ahead of the exhibition’s inauguration today. “Now, I’m sick of waiting, and I proclaim it myself.”

The exhibit “is a way of proving to people that the work I do is not just about advertising. It’s a body of work that was nourished, in a way, by ads,” he said. “When you do an ad campaign, you have big budgets you wouldn’t have otherwise, and I’ve taken advantage of that throughout my career.”

One of the side-effects of Goude’s longtime emphasis on commercial work is that although his name might not ring a bell, much of his work is instantly iconic. Any visitor to Paris is bound to recall the wacky, sexy, extravagant posters for the Galeries Lafayette department store that have plastered the metro here for over a decade. And who could forget the image of Grace Jones, wrapped in strategically placed bands and balancing on one leg, from the cover of her 1990 album, “Island Life”? And what about the perfume commercials with the building-full of hysterical beauties maniacally opening and slamming French doors as they shout “egoiste,” or the feather-clad Vanessa Paradis swinging on her birdcage perch?

Born in 1940 to a French father and American mother who had once been a moderately well-known dancer on Broadway, Goude was raised on a steady diet of Hollywood musicals - and those movies’ sunny optimism and kitschy aesthetic are still palpable in his work today. The retrospective opens with some promising childhood doodlings, including watercolors of cowboys and

Indians that Goude painted at age 7 and some racier teenage sketches that already hinted at one of Goude’s most enduring theme: the mixing and matching of cultures, ethnicities and identities.

Commissioned by then-President Francois Mitterrand to reimagine the 1989 military parade commemorating the bicentennial of the French revolution, Goude delivered a fetching but motley crew made up of battalions of Chinese break dancers, Soviet revolutionary guards, headscarf clad North African women spinning on giant mechanized ballgowns and the Florida A&M marching band. (The life-size locomotive which is the exhibition’s cen-

A creation by designer Jean-Paul Goude and used in 1989 for the French Revolution bicentenial is seen at the Arts Decoratifs museum in Paris Thursday.

Portraits of Grace Jones by photographer Jean-Paul Goude are seen at the Arts Decoratifs museum in Paris Thursday. —AP photos terpiece was a prop in the parade.)

Photos from Goude’s New York years - he was the artistic director of Esquire magazine from 1969-1982 - celebrate the ethnic diversity of the city, where blacks, Hispanics and whites of Irish and Italian descent came together in mixed-up urban tribes. Then there are Goude’s recurring rifts on shifting races or genders, like

the 1982 photo of Grace Jones with milky white skin and a shock of orange hair, or the 2008 collage of supermodel Laetitia Casta as a man, complete with a platinum crewcut and convincing five o’clock shadow.

Though you don’t have to dig too deep to hit on the political implications of such images, Goude insists his work is purely aesthetic, focusing exclusively on “beauty, on balance and on shapes.

“Politics can prevent me from doing my work, but my work is not political,” he insisted.

Goude added he was “stunned” that some have interpreted his work as racist. Such critics, he said, “turn everything inside-out and tear everything apart” to support their thesis. “It’s really terrible for me.” While it may be hard to see how Goude’s exuberant celebrations of multiculturalism could come off as racist, the hypothesis that he might have a wee issue with women is an easier case to make: Almost none of Goude’s muses - an impressive series of drop-dead gorgeous women including Jones, a North African beauty, and his current wife, the so-called Queen of Seoul - escape a photo session un-retouched. —AP

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Thousands in Asia exchange vows on

lucky 11-11-11 T

housands of Asians jammed wedding halls or joined matchmaking groups yesterday in hopes of finding love on what some saw as the most auspicious day in a century. The 11th day of the 11th month has been celebrated as Singles Day in China since the early 1990s, but this year it is being called Super Singles Day because the year also ends in 11. In Shanghai, more than 3,200 couples registered to get married on Nov. 11 compared to about 500 on an average day, said Sheng Qing, a worker at the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.

The celebration will carry over today,

when 10,000 singles are to converge on a huge ‘matchmaking emporium’ in the city.

The official Xinhua News Agency said there was a surge in weddings and matchmaking events in other cities as well. In Malaysia, about 1,000 ethnic Chinese couples exchanged vows at temples and clan association halls. Some even lined up to ensure they could start their married life at 11 a.m. sharp.

‘The numbers rhyme with one husband, one wife and one soul in Chinese and signify a marriage that will last a lifetime,’ said nurse Pua Kim Giok, 25, who tied the knot with engineer Lee Chin Siong, 27. They were

Newlywed couples swear in during a mass wedding ceremony at the Hokkien Association building in Klang, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia yesterday. Over 300 brides and grooms attended the ceremony to mark the unique date of 11-11-11.

This combo photo shows four Indonesian Muslim couples posing for pictures during their wedding ceremony that took place at 11 o’clock in the morning yesterday in four different places in Indonesia. — AFP

among 460 couples who were married at the popular Thean Hou Temple in Kuala Lumpur.

The emphasis on love and getting married is a change from when Singles Day began in the early 1990s at Chinese universities, where students decided to hold parties to mark 11-11, which represents ‘bare sticks,’ a term for bachelors in Chinese.

High housing prices, a focus on jobs and the growing independence of young women mean many Chinese are getting married later in life. The average age now is 28.83 for men and 26.51 for women, according to the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau. ‘It’s just diffi-

cult for men to afford the housing prices nowadays, and traditionally in China that is the responsibility of the man his family. I feel a lot of pressure from this,’ said Zheng An, a 26-year-old company employee in Shanghai.

But for many young people, pressure from parents to get married remains strong.

‘My parents’ favorite TV shows are now the matchmaking programs,’ said Zou Yun, 30, an office manager at an advertisement company. Associated Press writer Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and news assistant Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report.— AP

11-11-11 brings hopes of good luck F

rom China to New York, place your bets! Tie the knot! Make a wish! Yesterday marked the 11th day of the 11th month of 2011. Around the world, people celebrated the triple convergence of 11s with a splash.

Some 1,000 ethnic Chinese couples exchanged vows across Malaysia on a date viewed as auspicious and romantic. In China, a special “1111” train started at 11:11 a.m. on the No. 11 line in Shanghai.

“The numbers rhyme with one husband, one wife and one soul in Chinese and signifies a marriage that would last a lifetime,” said nurse Pua Kim Giok, 25, who tied the knot with engineer Lee Chin Siong, 27. They were among 460 couples who got married at the popular Thean Hou Temple in Kuala Lumpur.

Not everyone was smiling, however.

Egypt’s antiquities authority closed the largest of the Great Pyramid of Giza following rumors that groups would

try to hold spiritual ceremonies on the site at 11:11. The authority’s head Mustafa Amin said in a statement yesterday that the pyramid of Khufu, also known as Cheops, would be closed until today morning for “necessary maintenance.” The closure followed a string of unconfirmed reports in local media that unknown groups would try to hold “Jewish” or “Masonic” rites on the site.

Amin said all reports of planned ceremonies at the site were “completely lacking in truth.” The statement did not say whether the rest of the pyramid complex, one of Egypt’s biggest tourist attractions, would be closed to visitors.

In the US, the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., was planning drawings every 11 minutes for up to $1,111.

In Las Vegas, Clark County Clerk Diana Alba got ready for an onslaught of weddings. She was expecting the number of couples to surpass the

crowd on 08/08/08 and equal the throng on 10/10/10. It may not, however, reach the turnout seen on July 7, 2007 - a date that consists of three lucky sevens. “That was like the granddaddy of all dates,” Alba said.

Bryan Savage of Oklahoma City was among those tying the knot on 11-11.

He said the number 11 is meaningful to him and his fiancee, Tara Melton, because his birthday is in November and they met in November. “It’s just kind of cool and we didn’t really want Valentine’s Day or a holiday, but we just wanted something memorable,” he said.

Plus, he said, it will be easier to remember his anniversary. In Des Moines, Iowa, Dr Ross Valone, an obstetrician-gynecologist, will refund any fees he collects from delivering babies yesterday. In Bellevue, Wash., Jason Brown will open his new grocery store at 11:11 am. Vikki MacKinnon, a

numerologist in Calgary, Ontario, said she expected the day to be a “cosmic wake-up call.” “Eleven is a number of illumination and enlightenment, a number of insight, blinding flashes of the obvious, and a number of transformation,” she said.

The Chinese have always had a fascination with number sequences. And in a country where ages of first marriages are creeping upward, the 11/11/11 date represents six “bare sticks,” a term for bachelors in Chinese.

And there are now more of them, with housing prices, focus on jobs and growing independence of young women meaning people are getting married later. “It’s just difficult for men to afford the housing prices nowadays, and traditionally in China that is the responsibility of the man his family. I feel a lot of pressure from this,” said Zheng An, a 26-year-old employee at a solar company in Shanghai. — AP

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Doubts on protecting heritage for mystical

This picture taken on October 6, 2011 shows South Africa’s Lake Fundudzi among the foothills of the Soutpansberg mountains, in the northern province of Limpopo.—AFP

T

he Venda people have for generations protected South Africa’s Lake Fundudzi, a sacred royal burial ground believed to be the home of an albino python and a mermaid-like creature. Legends of the lake are told in hushed tones by surrounding villagers, who want to shield the secrets of their enchanted water from the prying eyes of outsiders. Now South Africa wants to declare Lake Fundudzi a National Heritage Site, but the move to grant it government protection has been met with uncertainty and suspicion here.

The lake is hidden among the foothills of the Soutpansberg mountains, in the northern province of Limpopo, near the Kruger National Park. It’s a symbol of mystic African traditional beliefs that connect the past with the present. In the early 20th century, Venda chiefs were cremated and their ashes scattered in the lake. An annual ritual is performed to appease their spirits.

Venda tribes have resisted development proposals aimed at attracting tourism around the lake, while daring explorers who attempted to tamper with it tragically lost their lives.

The South African Heritage Resources Agency said it was aware of the emotions and sensitivity around the custodianship of the lake and was consulting with traditional leaders regarding the heritage process. “We expect people to raise objections, or show support. The consultation process will include a wide range of people,” the agency’s spokeswoman Portia Varamalamula told AFP. “Nothing will be taken away and the site will

enjoy being legally protected from unlawful activities as well as opening doors for tourism developments,” she added.

If successful, the lake will join other prominent sites like Nelson Mandela’s home in Soweto, the Union Buildings in Pretoria which is the seat of government, and Blood River battlefield where a Zulu army defeated the British.

‘We want to keep it sacred’- Those places are among South Africa’s most-visited historic sites, and the Venda fear a surge of tourism to the lake could destroy what they want to protect. “I believe having the lake protected by the heritage council will expose it to the world and the country at large,” said Mulalo Nemavhandu, director of Kara Heritage Institute, which researches African traditions.

“Very little information has been documented about the lake. What is known about it is mainly through oral history passed down from generation to generation,” Nemavhandu. So far the lake has been safeguarded by traditional beliefs and hair-raising legends linked to it.

One story holds that a white sheep mysteriously appears on the water, and just as suddenly vanishes.

Outsiders who have tried to do water sports have all drowned, the villagers say.

Access to the legendary lake is by an unkempt dirt terrain cutting through villages, which becomes dangerously slippery at the first sight of raindrops, a stark testimony to the sorry state of development in the area.

A man who belongs to the Venda tribe poses on October 6, 2011 in Tshiavha as South Africa’s Lake Fundudzi is pictured in the background. —AFP Tourists seeking off the beaten track adventure stand at a hilltop viewing point, just to gawk at it down below.

Visitors are hardly allowed to get near it.

“Making it a heritage site would be a shot in the arm for local cultural tourism,” said Nemavhandu. But tourism is what Tshibwana Ramalongo, an elder from Netshiavha clan is opposed to, fearing commercial activity would undermine its historic significance. “It is a special place where our great kings and royals are buried. Sacred rituals are performed there,” he said gazing at the lake. —AFP

Reality TV show lifts veil on Muslim Americans

I

t’s been a decade since the September 11 attacks and many Americans still don’t know quite what to make of their 2.75 million Muslim compatriots. Could a reality TV series help? “All-American Muslim,” which premieres tomorrow on the TLC cable channel, lifts the veil on five Arab American families in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan and finds their lives are, in many ways, not so unAmerican at all. There’s the Amen family, whose outspoken tattooed daughter Shadia is engaged to an Irish American from Chicago who accepts her family’s request to convert to Islam on the eve of their wedding-and upsets

his Catholic mother.

Newlywed twenty-somethings Nader and Nawal Aoude embrace teamwork like a newage couple as they prepare for the birth of their first child, even as they adhere to a devout Islamic lifestyle. Nina Bazzy is a glamorous blond party planner on a collision course with both her traditional-minded parents and the wider community over her bold plan to open her own trendy nightclub.

Mike Jaafar upholds the law as Dearborn’s deputy chief sheriff, while his wife Angela tries to keep their four high-strung children in line in one of those big suburban houses that

signifies the American dream. And the patriarch of the Zaban family, Fouad “Haj Walker” Zaban, is as passionate about his religious obligations as he is about leading the high school football team he coaches to the Michigan state championship.

“It seemed like a really, really good opportunity to dispel some of these misconceptions that we’ve been dealing with all our lives,” Shadia Amen told AFP on Thursday, explaining why she agreed to do the show. “We’re not here to represent Islam. We’re just five American families who happen to be Muslim.”

All five families live in Dearborn, an industrial

city of 100,000 that may be better known for North America’s biggest mosque than for being the home of the Ford Motor Company.

Three-quarters of Dearborn’s residents are of Arab heritage. Many trace their roots to Lebanon-the Amens hail from the Bekaa Valley-and all felt the chill of suspicion after the September 11 attacks in 2001. That chill lingers.

Earlier this year, a Public Religion Research Institute survey indicated that nearly one in two Americans felt uncomfortable at the sight of women in burqas or a group of men praying to Allah in an airport. —AFP

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Elizabeth Taylor jewels on display

Picture provided yesterday by Christie’s auction house show “The Taj Mahal Diamond,” a heart-shaped diamond believed to have been a gift to the great emperor Shah Jahan (1592-1666) and offered

by Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor at her 40th birthday.

‘La Peregrina,’ a unique pear-shaped pearl of the 16th century that became part of the crown jewels of Spain and was brought by Richard Burton in 1969 at an auction.

This picture provided by Christie’s auction house show ‘The Richard Burton Ruby and Diamond Ring,’ a ruby and diamond ring of 8.24 carats offered by Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor. —AFP photos

From Bamako to Cape Town at Paris Photo fair T

wenty years ago, a retired Malian portrait photographer called Seydou Keita sat at home in Bamako, quietly tinkering with his motorbike, when a Paris art dealer came knocking on his door. Today, a decade after his death, Keita is perhaps Africa’s most revered photographer, and his stylish studio snaps are a highlight of this year’s Paris Photo fair, which opened Thursday with a focus on the continent. Art dealer Andre Magnin, one of 117 international exhibitors taking part in the four-day event in Paris’ Grand Palais, tracked Keita down after stumbling upon an anonymous portrait in a New York photo exhibition in 1991.

“At Bamako airport I showed the picture to my taxi driver, who took me to the only photo studio he knew,” Magnin recalled. “The photographer there immediately recognized it as Keita’s work.”

By then in his 70s, Keita had been retired for years when Magnin turned up on his doorstep.

Together they dug out his archives, a precious record of the shifts in Malian society from the 1940s to 1960s, and offered them up to the world in a hit exhibit in Paris in 1994.

For his studio shots, Keita would lend his models hats, coats, jewellery, even bulky transistor radios, the preserve of the middle classeswidening his market to humbler folk who could suddenly pay to look wealthy for a day. “Seydou Keita is considered one of the great masters of the portrait, and yet he had never read a book in his life,” Magnin said. “The positioning of the hands, the way the models looked: he invented it

all from scratch.”

Meanwhile the first studio Magnin had stopped by, it turned out, belonged to a young man called Malick Sidibe-who is today acknowledged as another of the biggest names in African photography. And with photos that sell for 1,200 to 6,000 euros (1,600 to 8,000 dollars) a shot, Malick Sidibe provides a living for thousands back home, in the town of Bougouni south of Bamako, donating new farm machines and even a bus route, Magnin says.

Apartheid’s fall brought new energy-Both Malians are among 44 African artists on show at Paris Photo, displayed by South African galleries and a dozen from Europe, and in a special exhibit staged by the New York- and Germany-based Walther Collection. With the end of apartheid in South Africa in 1991, the decade marked a watershed for photography in the country and beyond. “Work shot under the regime suddenly came out into the open,” explained Julian Frydman, the director of Paris Photo. “And from then on photographers were free to tackle new areas like gender, identity and territorial questions.”

South Africa’s Zanele Muholi, for instance, spotlights gay rights with two striking portraits of a statuesque black man in red heels, one in a little black dress, the other naked save for a traditional beaded belt and collar, against a parched, dusty backdrop. Paris Photo is also hosting a guest exhibit from the Bamako Meetings photography fair, which opened on November 1 in

the Malian city and which has showcased African work to an international audience since 1994.

“African photography today is rarely just about aesthetics,” said Laura Serani, co-artistic director of the Meetings. “Emerging African photographers have a great creative energy, and often a strong sense of commitment.”

Much of the work on show in Paris has a documentary slant to it. At times the reality on display is harrowing, as with South Africa’s Pieter Hugo who chronicles conditions in a rubbish dump in the Ghanaian capital Accra, where scores of people pick apart electronic waste from the West, poisoning themselves in the process. But more often the work portrays Africans at home and at play, from the wild nights of 1970s Kinshasa, shot by the night owl Depara, to the popcoloured street styles snapped by South Africa’s Nontsikelelo Veleko.

South Africa’s Michael Zubotsky captures the everyday of Johannesburg’s black middle classes, with a cityscape shot through the net curtains of a high-rise apartment, or two sisters playing in the family kitchen. And the Nigerian J.D Okhai Ojeikere spent 30 years criss-crossing his country on bicycle, photographing women’s braided hairstyles, each captioned with an elaborate title from the “Pineapple Kiko” to the “Roundabout”. “There are hairstyles here that take 48 hours to complete, which are worn once in a lifetime,” explained Magnin. “He wanted to record it all. It is both about anthropology and aesthetics.”— AFP

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TECHNOLOGY

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Adobe backs off on Flash for mobile browsers NEW YORK: Adobe Systems Inc. is pulling its Flash software for Web video and games from the browsers of mobile devices, though Flash will still work on mobile apps and on the Web browsers of regular computers.

The move is a win for Apple Inc., which has famously banned Flash from working on the iPhone and the iPad. Adobe said, however, that the about-face is about giving people what they want. “I wouldn’t say we lost to Apple. I’d say we listened to customers,” Adobe’s chief financial officer, Mark Garrett, said in an interview at the company’s meeting with analysts in New York.

The popularity of Apple’s mobile devices and its steadfast opposition to Flash has pushed into the public eye what has been a largely technical conversation about the behind-the-scenes workings of Web displays and apps. In April 2010, Apple founder Steve Jobs wrote a lengthy diatribe criticizing Flash for being too buggy, battery-draining and PC-focused to work on the iPhone and the iPad. It was an explanation of the company’s long-standing ban of the technology from its mobile operating systems.

“Flash was created during the PC era -for PCs and mice.

Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile

era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards - all areas where Flash falls short,” Jobs wrote in his essay. In a blog post Wednesday, an Adobe vice president, Danny Winokur, said that Adobe will increase investment in HTML5, the latest version of the programming standard that websites are built on.

“HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively,” Winokur said in the blog post. “This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms.”

Less than two months ago, Winokur, who serves as vice president and general manager of interactive development, told The Associated Press that Adobe was equally focused on both Flash and HTML5. But even with Wednesday’s retreat, Adobe stressed that the technology is not going away, and that it’ll continue to be available on PCs and on mobile apps.

Still, it seems that Jobs was on to something. Adobe is shifting resources to HTML5, a technology that its engineers have been active in developing. Flash, though, is just one of Adobe’s many product offerings. The company does not break out how much business the technology brings

in. Overshadowed by the Flash concession, Adobe also outlined a big realignment of its business model to focus on digital content and marketing. Until now, Adobe has been best known for its software tools for creating digital content - Photoshop for photo editing, Illustrator for illustrations and the Web design software Dreamweaver. Now, Adobe says it wants to help businesses not just create content but market it and make money from it.

The company is also shifting its software offerings to a subscription model. Instead of charging $1,300 to $2,600 upfront for its Creative Suite software package, Adobe will offer it for a monthly subscription fee starting at $49. The idea is that a lower upfront cost will make the products more appealing to a wider group of designers, Web developers and others who use them.

As part of its business realignment, Adobe said Tuesday that it is laying off 750 workers, or about 7 percent of its work force. The San Jose, Calif.-based company wouldn’t break out how many of the job cuts, if any, are related to Flash. Adobe’s stock fell $2.34, or 7.7 percent, to close Wednesday at $28.08 as investors seemed to focus on the Adobe’s lowered revenue forecast for 2012 as a result of the business model shift. — AP

iPhone 4S debuts in15 new markets iPhone 4S a record-breaker for Apple

SEOUL: A clerk waits for customers next to the banner of the Apple’s iPhone 4S in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday. — AP

Twitter must give user info in WikiLeaks probe FALLS CHURCH: A federal judge sided with government attorneys investigating the disclosure of classified documents on WikiLeaks, and upheld a ruling that the website Twitter must turn over certain account information to prosecutors.

Lawyers for three Twitter account holders, all of whom have some connection to WikiLeaks, had argued that forcing Twitter to cooperate with the investigation by turning over the data amounts to an invasion of privacy and chills Twitter users’ free speech rights. But in a 60-page ruling, US District Judge Liam O’Grady in Alexandria, Va., affirmed an opinion issued in March by a federal magistrate that the government’s tactics were permissible. Prosecutors have said federal law specifically allows them to seek account information and say it is a routine investigative tool. The law in questionthe Stored Communications Act - allows prosecutors to obtain certain electronic data without a search warrant or a demonstration of probable cause.

Instead, the government must only show that it has a reasonable belief that the records it seeks are relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation.

The court order does not seek the content of the users’ tweets, but instead seeks the IP addresses associated with the accounts. Lawyers for the Twitter users,

including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, say the government can use those IP addresses as a sort of virtual tracking device to pin down the specific computer used by an account holder and with it the user’s physical location.

O’Grady’s order also allows the government to keep secret any similar orders it sought from other social media sites.

The Twitter users’ lawyers have speculated that other websites were targeted with similar orders.

“The government shouldn’t be allowed to get information about individuals’ Internet communications without a warrant, and it certainly shouldn’t be able to do it in secret,” said Aden Fine, a lawyer for the ACLU who represents one of the three petitioners, Icelandic parliament member Birgitta Jonsdottir.

In a statement, Jonsdottir said, “With this decision, the court is telling all users of online tools hosted in the US that the US government will have secret access to their data. People around the world will take note. ... I am very disappointed in today’s ruling because it is a huge backward step for the United States’ legacy of freedom of expression and the right to privacy.” The US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where the case was heard, declined comment on the ruling.—AP

HONG KONG: Apple’s new iPhone 4S made glitzy and chaotic debuts in three new Asian markets yesterday, with customers and profiteers queuing for up to a week to get their hands on the popular gadget.

Thousands of people thronged Apple’s new harbourside store in the southern Chinese city of Hong Kong as staff cheered and clapped, while midnight launches in South Korea and New Zealand featured celebrities and sports stars.

Top South Korean mobile operator SK Telecom put the iPhone 4S on sale at midnight for 100 enthusiasts who had placed pre-orders, with the country’s most popular actor Wonbin and actress Shin Min-A counting down to the time.

Hip-hop musicians performed at the event at the company’s headquarters. Korea Telecom laid on comedian Choi Hyo-Jong and offered drinks and a prize quiz to 100 people awaiting its own launch at 8:00 am.

Die-hard fans had been keenly awaiting an upgrade to the earlier iPhone 4 long before the 4S was unveiled on October 4. “I’ve been waiting for the iPhone4S for over an year, and I didn’t hesitate when I heard the news that it will be sold in Korea,” said Lee Jae-Kwang, 31, the first in line for the phone at SK Telecom.

The latest version of Apple’s “must-have” accessory was due to roll out in 12 other markets from Europe to Latin America later in the day. The celebratory atmosphere was soured in Hong Kong by the presence of dozens of aggressive profiteers and professional queuers who established a grey market outside the store almost as soon as the phones went on sale at 7:00 am.

“I have collected about 198 phones since this morning from my

HONGKONG: A man displays a new iPhone 4S after he bought it outside an Apple Store in Hong Kong yesterday. Apple began selling new iPhone 4S in Hong Kong yesterday. — AP queuers,” said mobile phone dealer Ken Wong, adding he paid the queuers around $70 each for their efforts. He said the phones were for his “friends and customers”. “The response on the iPhone 4S has been overwhelming,” he added. Regular customer Xu Yaojun came from Xiamen in China with his wife and eight-year-old daughter, who skipped school for the occasion. He arrived at 10:00 am but staff told him there were only enough phones in stock for people who had waited in the queue, which was about 1,500strong when the store opened its doors. “The staff told me the phones are all sold out... I can’t wait for the official release in (mainland) China, that’s why I’m here,” the 33-year-old businessman said. He said he would have to pay extra to buy an iPhone 4S on the grey market.

The launch was more laid back in New Zealand, where about 100 people showed up for the midnight launch in Auckland. Telecom Corp. laid on pizza and entertainment, and All Black rugby star Dan Carter

manned the sales desk.

The iPhone 4S is already a recordbreaker for an Apple product, with more than a million sales in the first 24 hours of pre-orders when it first went on sale last month, shortly after the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

The latest in the iPhone series boasts faster speeds, a voice-controlled assistant called Siri and an improved camera. New Zealander Jonathan Mosen, who is blind, queued for six hours to ensure he got his hands on the phone, saying its voice recognition technology was a boon for the visually impaired.

“It’s the only cellphone you can take out of the box and it is usable by a blind person,” he told Fairfax Media.

Apple plans to make the iPhone 4S available in more than 70 countries by the end of the year. The buyer frenzy comes despite software bugs that have caused some iPhone 4S owners to report lower than expected battery life, and reports that the Siri software may not cope well with foreign accents. —AFP

technology SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Twitter must give user info in WikiLeaks probe FALLS CHURCH: A federal judge sided with government attorneys investigating the disclosure of classified documents on WikiLeaks, and upheld a ruling that the website Twitter must turn over certain account information to prosecutors.

Lawyers for three Twitter account holders, all of whom have some connection to WikiLeaks, had argued that forcing Twitter to cooperate with the investigation by turning over the data amounts to an invasion of privacy and chills Twitter users’ free speech rights. But in a 60-page ruling, US District Judge Liam O’Grady in Alexandria, Va., affirmed an opinion issued in March by a federal magistrate that the government’s tactics were permissible.

Prosecutors have said federal law specifically allows them to seek

account information and say it is a routine investigative tool. The law in questionthe Stored Communications Act - allows prosecutors to obtain certain electronic data without a search warrant or a demonstration of probable cause.

Instead, the government must only show that it has a reasonable belief that the records it seeks are relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation.

The court order does not seek the content of the users’ tweets, but instead seeks the IP addresses associated with the accounts. Lawyers for the Twitter users, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, say the government can use those IP addresses as a sort of virtual tracking device to pin down the specific computer used by an account holder and

with it the user’s physical location.

O’Grady’s order also allows the government to keep secret any similar orders it sought from other social media sites. The Twitter users’ lawyers have speculated that other websites were targeted with similar orders.

“The government shouldn’t be allowed to get information about individuals’ Internet communications without a warrant, and it certainly shouldn’t be able to do it in secret,” said Aden Fine, a lawyer for the ACLU who represents one of the three petitioners, Icelandic parliament member Birgitta Jonsdottir.

In a statement, Jonsdottir said, “With this decision, the court is telling all users of online tools hosted in the US that the US government will have secret access to their data.

People around the world will take note. ... I am very disappointed in today’s ruling because it is a huge backward step for the United States’ legacy of freedom of expression and the right to privacy.” The US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where the case was heard, declined comment on the ruling.

The original order issued in December 2010 at prosecutors’ request also sought Twitter account information from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is being held in military confinement amid allegations that he leaked classified documents about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to WikiLeaks. Neither Assange nor Manning was a party in the lawsuit challenging the legality of the Twitter order. — AP

Motorola revives Razr name with smartphone ‘Droid Razr is a hot phone’

BEIJING: In this file photo taken Aug. 1, 2008, a Chinese police officer patrols beside the new technology highspeed CRH3 train in the new Beijing South Railway Station in Beijing, China. — AP

Cable firms to offer $9.95 broadband for poor homes NEW YORK: Cable companies said that they will offer Internet service for $9.95 per month to homes with children that are eligible for free school lunches. The offer will start next summer and is part of an initiative the Federal Communications Commission cobbled together to get more US homes connected to broadband.

One third, or about 35 million homes, don’t have broadband. That affects people’s ability to educate themselves and find and apply for jobs, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said. “The broadband adoption gap in the US is very large, and the costs of digital exclusion are high and getting higher,” Genachowski said.

The initiative, called Connect-to-Compete, also includes Microsoft Corp., which pledges to sell PCs with its Office software suite for $250 to low-income families. A firm called Redemtech is offering to sell refurbished computers for $150, including shipping.

For those who can’t afford those prices, Morgan Stanley is pledging to develop a microfinance lending program for community-based financial institutions.

People are still signing up for broadband, but growth has slowed in recent years. For those who still haven’t signed up, cost is a minor factor. Most say they’re simply not interested or don’t need it, according to a report by the Commerce Department based on Census Bureau data from last year.

To help address the lack of interest and computer skills, Best Buy Co., Microsoft and nonprofits such as America’s Promise Alliance and United Way are promising to support the initiative with training. All major cable companies are standing behind the $9.95 offer, which will be valid for two years. The price doesn’t include taxes, but the companies are pledging to charge nothing for installation or modem rental. — AP

SAN FRANCISCO: With its super-slim, stylish frame, Motorola’s Razr phone became incredibly popular in 2004 - a smash hit that Motorola hasn’t been able to replicate. Now, many years later, the company is trying to recapture some of that magic by ushering the Razr into the smartphone age.

The new Droid Razr, available yesterday through Verizon Wireless for $300 with a two-year service contract, echoes the svelte form and good looks of its ancestor.

It has many great features, including a big touch screen and the ability to use Verizon’s high-speed 4G LTE network for zippy Web surfing. It also has Motorola’s MotoCast service for wirelessly streaming and downloading content stored on your computer.

Yet I couldn’t get much time to enjoy the phone because using it with LTE quickly wore down the battery.

And while the phone runs the latest version of Google Inc.’s Android software that is available for smartphones, shoppers may be tempted to wait.

Verizon will soon offer Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, which will come with an even newer version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich. The Droid Razr is expected to get that update, too, but not until next year.

Don’t get me wrong, though: The Droid Razr is a hot phone. Gazing at it for the first time, I had the same thought as I did when I first laid eyes on the now- ancient Razr phone: How the heck did Motorola make the phone that thin? Except for a chunk at the top that houses the rear camera, flash and an external speaker, the Droid Razr is slimmer than any other smartphone. It’s just a third of an inch thick. It’s light, too, at 4.5 ounces.

It makes other smartphones Apple’s iPhone included - look chubby by comparison. Its back is covered in

diagonal gray and black lines composed of Kevlar fiber, which is meant to increase the phone’s strength.

Another perk, though one that’s not visible: The phone has a water-repellent coating both inside and outside that is meant to shield it from damage caused by the occasional spill.

The phone is speedy overall, owing to its dual-core processor and 1 gigabyte of memory. I had no problem streaming tunes while I bounced between IM’ing friends, checking up on gossip sites and using Google Maps to find a good restaurant near my office.

The Motorola Droid Razr smartphone The Droid Razr boasts a 4.3-inch display, which is too big to fit too comfortably in my hand, but plenty large for watching videos and checking out websites. It isn’t the highestresolution screen you’ll find on a smartphone, but colors looked bright and images were crisp.

The screen also works well as a viewfinder for the Razr’s 8-megapixel camera. The camera snaps photos pretty quickly. I was able to capture sharp shots in bright and low light.

The phone has a big battery that promises 12.5 hours of talk time. To keep the phone slim, the battery is built-in and cannot be easily replaced.

And, as expected, it won’t last long if you’re on Verizon’s faster data network: Using a combination of LTE and Verizon’s slower 3G network to surf the Web, stream an episode of “The Office,” download apps and stream music from Pandora, I only had 15 percent battery life left after two anda-half hours. — AP

TV listings SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

21:05 21:30 21:55 22:20 22:45 23:00 23:25 23:50

00:50 Monster Bug Wars 01:45 Animal Cops Houston 02:40 Planet Earth 03:35 Whale Wars 04:30 Monster Bug Wars 05:25 Dogs 101 06:20 Animal Cops Houston 07:10 World Wild Vet 08:00 Monkey Life 08:25 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 09:15 Breed All About It 09:40 The Really Wild Show 10:10 Growing Up...

11:05 Project Puppy 11:30 Monkey Life 12:00 Crocodile Hunter 12:55 America’s Cutest Pet 13:50 Your Pet Wants This 14:45 Your Pet Wants This, Too! 15:40 World’s Ugliest Dog Competition 16:35 Into The Pride 17:30 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz 18:25 Austin Stevens Adventures 19:20 Mutant Planet 20:15 League Of Monkeys 21:10 Dogs 101: Specials 22:05 Killer Sharks: The Attacks Of Black...

23:00 Monster Bug Wars 23:55 Lion Feeding Frenzy

00:00 00:30 01:00 01:30 02:05 02:55 03:40 04:00 04:40 04:50 05:00 05:15 05:20 05:40 06:00 06:10 06:20 06:35 06:40 07:00 07:10 07:30 07:40 07:50 08:05 08:10 08:30 08:40 09:00 09:10 09:20 09:35 09:50 10:10 10:20 10:45 11:15 11:45 12:35 13:20 15:20 15:55 16:40 17:30 18:15 19:00 19:30 20:20 21:10 21:55 22:25 23:00 23:30

00:45 02:25 03:15 04:05 04:55 05:45 06:35 07:20 08:00 10:30 11:20 12:05 12:35

After You’ve Gone Him & Her Beautiful People Beautiful People Afterlife Doctor Who Doctor Who Confidential 2 Point 4 Children 3rd & Bird: set 01 Bobinogs Boogie Beebies: Set 4 Spot’s Musical Adventures Me Too: Set 1 Fimbles: Set 2 3rd & Bird: set 01 Bobinogs Boogie Beebies: Set 4 Spot’s Musical Adventures Me Too: Set 1 Charlie & Lola: Set 2 Fimbles: Set 2 3rd & Bird: set 01 Bobinogs Boogie Beebies: Set 4 Spot’s Musical Adventures Me Too: Set 1 Charlie & Lola: Set 2 Fimbles: Set 2 3rd & Bird: set 01 Bobinogs Boogie Beebies: Set 4 Spot’s Musical Adventures Me Too: Set 1 Charlie & Lola: Set 2 Fimbles: Set 2 2 Point 4 Children 2 Point 4 Children Ray Mears Goes Walkabout Doctor Who Eastenders: set 253 After You’ve Gone The Weakest Link: S10: Set 2 Ray Mears Goes Walkabout Doctor Who The Weakest Link: S11: Set 02 After You’ve Gone Holby City: Set 1 Holby City: Set 1 Doctor Who As Time Goes By Last of the Summer Wine Gavin & Stacey Blackadder The Third

Gok’s Fashion Fix What Not To Wear Holmes On Homes Gok’s Fashion Fix Gok’s Fashion Fix What Not To Wear Holmes On Homes Daily Cooks Challenge Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds Daily Cooks Challenge Daily Cooks Challenge

Chowder Courage The Cowardly Dog Cow & Chicken Best Ed I Am Weasel Ben 10 Bakugan Battle Brawlers The Secret Saturdays

00:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson 01:00 Backstory 01:30 World Sport 02:00 The Situation Room 03:00 World Report 04:00 Anderson Cooper 360 05:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 06:00 Quest Means Business 06:45 CNN Marketplace Africa 07:00 World Sport 07:30 Inside Africa 08:00 World Report 08:30 Backstory 09:00 World Report 09:15 CNN Marketplace Africa 09:30 The Gateway 09:45 Future Cities 10:00 World Report 10:15 CNN Marketplace Middle East 10:30 Open Court 11:00 World Sport 11:30 Cnngo 12:00 Talk Asia 12:30 African Voices 13:00 Inside Africa 13:30 The Gateway 13:45 Future Cities 14:00 World Report 14:30 World Sport 15:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 16:00 World Report 16:30 Cnngo 17:00 World’s Untold Stories 17:30 The CNN Freedom Project 18:00 International Desk 18:30 African Voices 19:00 Open Court 19:30 World Sport 20:00 Talk Asia 20:30 Inside Africa 21:00 International Desk 21:30 The Gateway 21:45 Future Cities 22:00 World Report 22:30 Cnngo 23:00 Piers Morgan Tonight

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS ON OSN ACTION HD 16:30 20:25 21:15 22:55

Daily Cooks Challenge Antiques Roadshow What Not To Wear Gok’s Fashion Fix

00:00 00:30 01:00 01:30 01:40 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:10 03:30 04:00 04:30 05:00 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:10 10:30 11:00 11:10 11:30 12:00 12:10 13:00 13:10 13:30 14:00 14:10 14:30 15:00

BBC World News America World Football Focus BBC World News Sport Today Weekend World BBC World News America Horizons BBC World News Weekend World The Bottom Line BBC World News Horizons BBC World News Working Lives BBC World News BBC World News BBC World News Fast Track BBC World News Middle East Business Report BBC World News Click BBC World News Weekend World The Bottom Line BBC World News World Football Focus Working Lives BBC World News BBC World News BBC World News The Health Show Newsnight BBC World News Weekend World Our World BBC World News

15:30 16:00 16:15 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:10 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:10 21:30 22:00 22:15 22:30 23:00 23:10 23:30

Spirit Of Yachting BBC World News Sport Today Fast Track BBC World News Dateline London BBC World News World Features Horizons BBC World News Click BBC World News Final Score BBC World News World Features BBC World News BBC World News Sport Today Fast Track BBC World News The Health Show Spirit Of Yachting

00:15 Samurai Jack 00:40 Megas XLR 01:05 Robotboy 01:30 Squirrel Boy 01:55 George Of The Jungle 02:20 Cramp Twins 02:45 Chop Socky Chooks 03:10 Best Ed 03:35 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 04:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 04:25 Generator Rex 04:50 Adventure Time 05:15 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 05:40 Chowder 05:55 Powerpuff Girls 06:30 Ed, Edd n Eddy 06:55 I Am Weasel

07:20 Squirrel Boy 07:45 Cow & Chicken 08:00 The Life & Times Of Juniper Lee 08:04 Cow & Chicken 08:25 Powerpuff Girls 08:50 Cartoon Network Dance Club 09:05 Eliot Kid 09:30 Chowder 09:55 The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy 10:20 Adventure Time 10:45 The Amazing World Of Gumball 10:55 Cow & Chicken 11:30 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 11:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 12:20 Generator Rex 12:45 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 13:10 Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders 13:35 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 14:00 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes 14:25 Robotboy 14:50 I Am Weasel 15:15 Best Ed 15:40 Chowder 16:05 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 16:30 Courage The Cowardly Dog 16:55 Cow & Chicken 17:20 Adventure Time 17:45 Codename: Kids Next Door 18:10 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 18:35 Generator Rex 19:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 19:25 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 19:50 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 20:15 Adventure Time 20:40 The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy

00:15 00:40 01:35 02:30 03:25 04:20 05:15 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:15 08:45 Junior 09:40 10:30 11:25 12:20 12:45 15:05 17:20 18:15 19:10 20:05 21:00 21:55 22:50 23:45

Swamp Brothers Man vs Fish With Matt Watson Overhaulin’ Dirty Jobs Ultimate Survival Mythbusters How It’s Made How Do They Do It? Dirty Jobs Ultimate Biker Challenge South Beach Classics Wheeler Dealers Fifth Gear American Chopper: Senior vs James May’s Man Lab Mythbusters Science Of The Movies How It’s Made Scrappers Border Security Mythbusters Extreme Fishing River Monsters Ultimate Survival Dual Survival Deadliest Catch One Man Army River Monsters

00:40 The Gadget Show 01:05 The Tech Show 01:35 Mighty Ships 02:25 Green Wheels 02:50 Build It Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg 03:40 Brainiac 04:35 The Gadget Show 05:25 How Stuff’s Made 05:50 Mighty Ships 06:40 Stuntdawgs 07:10 The Future Of...

08:00 Nasa’s Greatest Missions

08:55 Head Rush 08:58 Sci-Fi Science 09:25 Weird Connections 09:55 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 10:45 Moon Machines 11:35 Nextworld 15:45 Head Rush 15:48 Sci-Fi Science 16:15 Weird Connections 16:45 Bang Goes The Theory 17:10 The Gadget Show 18:00 Things That Move 18:50 How The Universe Works 19:40 Da Vinci’s Machines 20:30 Prototype This 21:20 Nasa’s Greatest Missions 22:10 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 23:00 Da Vinci’s Machines 23:50 Prototype This

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Style Star 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 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 10:15 Bridalplasty 12:05 E! News 13:05 E!es 14:05 Giuliana & Bill 15:00 Ice Loves Coco 15:55 Dirty Soap 16:55 Style Star 17:25 Fashion Police 17:55 E! News 18:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 20:55 The Soup 21:25 Kendra 21:55 Kendra 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 The Soup

00:15 Who On Earth Did I Marry?

00:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner 01:30 Ghost Lab 02:15 Crime Scene Psychics 03:05 Stalked: Someone’s Watching 03:30 I Was Murdered 03:50 Who On Earth Did I Marry?

04:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner 05:25 Crime Scene Psychics 06:15 Ghost Lab 07:10 Mystery ER 08:00 Forensic Detectives 08:45 Murder Shift 09:35 Mystery Diagnosis 10:20 Real Emergency Calls 11:05 Disappeared 11:50 FBI Files 12:40 Murder Shift 13:25 On The Case With Paula Zahn 14:15 The Will: Family Secrets Revealed 15:00 Mystery Diagnosis 15:50 Real Emergency Calls 16:35 Disappeared 17:20 Forensic Detectives 18:10 Murder Shift 19:00 FBI Files 19:45 Real Emergency Calls 20:10 Mystery Diagnosis 20:55 Street Patrol 21:20 On The Case With Paula Zahn 22:10 The Will: Family Secrets Revealed 23:00 The Haunted 23:50 Ghost Lab

00:00 Departures 01:00 On The Camino De Santiago 02:00 Treks In A Wild World 02:30 Bluelist Australia 03:00 Amazing Adventures of A Nobody 03:30 Amazing Adventures Of A Nobody 04:00 Around The World For Free 05:00 A World Apart 06:00 Departures 07:00 On The Camino De Santiago 08:00 Treks In A Wild World 08:30 Bluelist Australia 09:00 Amazing Adventures of A Nobody

TV listings SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011 09:30 Amazing Adventures Of A Nobody 10:00 Around The World For Free 11:00 A World Apart 12:00 Departures 13:00 Word of Mouth 13:30 Pressure Cook 14:00 Cooking The World 15:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 16:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 18:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 19:00 Word of Mouth 19:30 Pressure Cook 20:00 Cooking The World 21:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 22:00 Don’t Tell My Mother

00:00 Dorothy Mills-PG15 02:00 Gothika-18 04:00 Midnight Meat Train-18 06:00 From Paris With Love-PG15 08:00 Triassic Attack-PG15 10:00 The Thirteenth Floor-18 12:00 The Fast And The Furious-PG15 14:00 Triassic Attack-PG15 16:00 The Damned United-PG15 18:00 The Fast And The Furious-PG15 20:00 Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassin’s Ball18 22:00 The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day-18

00:00 Going The Distance-18 02:15 Lost Boys: The Thirst-18 04:15 MacHEADS-PG15 05:45 My Name Is Khan-PG15 09:00 Emotional Arithmetic-PG15 11:00 The Boys Are Back-PG 13:00 Winx: Secret Of The Lost Kingdom-PG 15:00 Three Investigators-PG15 17:00 Freestyle (2010)-PG15 18:45 Nine-PG15 21:00 I Am Number Four-PG15 23:00 Of Gods And Men-18

10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Friday Night Lights The View The X Factor (US) Glee The Invisible Man Survivor: South Pacific Live Good Morning America The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street C.S.I. The Killing C.S.I. Miami Top Gear (UK) Detroit 1-8-7

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

The Closer Friday Night Lights No Ordinary Family The X Factor (US) Glee Survivor: South Pacific The Closer The Simpsons White Collar Friday Night Lights The X Factor (US) Glee The Simpsons White Collar The Closer Outsourced Coronation Street White Collar C.S.I. The Killing C.S.I. Miami Top Gear (UK) The Good Guys

05:00 07:00 09:00 10:45 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

They Wait-PG15 The Karate Kid II-PG Arctic Predator-PG15 Sherlock Holmes-PG15 The Karate Kid III-PG Arctic Predator-PG15 S.W.A.T.: Firefight-PG15 Tupac: Resurrection-18 Fatal Secrets-PG15 Bram Stoker’s Dracula-18

00:00 Mean Girls-PG15 02:00 The Ramen Girl-PG15 04:00 One Hot Summer-PG15 06:00 Frank Mcklusky, C.I.-PG15 08:00 Post Grad-PG15 10:00 Cats & Dogs-PG 12:00 Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement-FAM 14:00 Bubble Boy-PG15 16:00 Mean Girls-PG15 18:00 I Love You Beth Cooper-PG15 20:00 Without A Paddle-PG15 22:00 Pete Smalls Is Dead-18

01:00 Combien Tu M’aimes-18 02:45 The Thomas Crown Affair-PG15 04:45 The Remains Of The Day-PG15 07:00 Leaving Normal-PG15 09:00 Secret Origin: The Story Of DC Comics-PG 10:45 The Remains Of The Day-PG15 13:00 Lost In Yonkers-PG 15:00 Leaving Normal-PG15 17:00 The Mirror Has Two Faces-PG15 19:00 An Education-PG15 21:00 The Open Road-PG15 23:00 I Dreamed Of Africa-18

01:00 Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels-18 03:00 Menace II Society-18

01:00 Peter And Vandy-18 03:00 Nativity!-PG 05:00 The SpongeBob SquarePants

Movie-PG 07:00 The Last Airbender-PG 09:00 The Blind Side-PG15 11:30 Coco Before Chanel-PG15 13:30 9-PG 15:00 Like Mike-PG 16:45 The Blind Side-PG15 19:00 Dinner For Schmucks-PG15 21:00 Jane Eyre-PG15 23:00 Youth In Revolt-18

00:15 Tom Tom & Nana-FAM 01:45 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie-PG 03:45 102 Dalmatians-PG 06:00 Stuart Little 2-FAM 08:00 Legend Of Sleeping Beauty-PG 10:00 Barbie: Princess Charm SchoolPG15 12:00 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie-PG 14:00 The Spy Next Door-PG 16:00 Toy Story 3-FAM 18:00 Barbie: Princess Charm SchoolPG15 20:00 Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Jr.-PG 22:00 The Spy Next Door-PG

00:00 WWE Tough Enough 01:00 WWE SmackDown 03:00 WWE Bottom Line 04:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 05:00 Le Mans Cup Review 06:00 Live Le Mans 12:00 WWE Vintage Collection 13:00 WWE SmackDown 15:00 WWE Tough Enough 16:00 Premier League Snooker 19:30 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 20:30 Futbol Mundial 21:00 Live Rugby League Four Nations 23:00 WWE SmackDown

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 South Park 02:00 Family Guy 02:30 Entourage 03:30 The Office 04:00 According To Jim 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Dharma And Greg 06:00 Weird Science 06:30 Just Shoot Me 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 According To Jim 09:00 Dharma And Greg 09:30 Hot In Cleveland 10:00 Community 10:30 Just Shoot Me 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Weird Science 12:30 According To Jim 13:30 Dharma And Greg 14:00 Just Shoot Me 14:30 Hot In Cleveland 15:00 Community 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Weird Science 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Melissa And Joey 18:30 Mr. Sunshine 19:00 Community 19:30 Hot In Cleveland 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:00 South Park 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 09:00

The X Factor (US) Survivor: South Pacific Friday Night Lights Glee The Invisible Man Good Morning America Detroit 1-8-7 Tower Prep The Ellen DeGeneres Show

MY NAME IS KHAN ON OSN CINEMA

00:00 00:30 04:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:30 10:30 11:00 11:30 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 20:00 21:00 23:00 23:30

ICC Cricket World Premier League Snooker European Challenge Cup Trans World Sport ICC Cricket World Live V8 Supercars European Challenge Cup ICC Cricket World Futbol Mundial Premier League Snooker Trans World Sport Total Rugby ICC Cricket World World Hockey Futbol Mundial European Challenge Cup Trans World Sport Live Rugby League 4 Nations ICC Cricket World Futbol Mundial

00:00 00:30 01:00 03:00 05:00 06:00 11:00 11:30 13:30 14:00 16:00 21:30 22:30 23:00

European Tour Weekly Total Rugby European Challenge Cup European Challenge Cup Golfing World Live European PGA Tour Asian Tour Golf European Challenge Cup Total Rugby European Challenge Cup European PGA Tour Trans World Sports Futbol Mundial Live Darts

00:00 WWE Tough Enough 01:00 WWE SmackDown 03:00 WWE Bottom Line 04:00 UFC Total Ultimate Fighter Season 05:00 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup 06:00 Live Le Mans 12:00 WWE Vintage Collection 13:00 WWE SmackDown 15:00 WWE Tough Enough 16:00 V8 Supercars 17:00 Le Mans Cup 23:00 UFC Total Ultimate Fighter Season

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00

Battles B.C. IRT: Deadliest Roads Engineering An Empire Chasing Mummies Ancients Behaving Badly Clash Of The Gods Battles B.C. IRT: Deadliest Roads Engineering An Empire Chasing Mummies Ancients Behaving Badly Clash Of The Gods Battles B.C. IRT: Deadliest Roads Engineering An Empire Chasing Mummies Ancients Behaving Badly Clash Of The Gods Battles B.C. IRT: Deadliest Roads Dead Men’s Secrets Cities Of The Underworld Reagan

00:00 00:25 01:15 02:00 02:50 03:35 04:25 05:15 06:00 06:25 06:45 07:10 07:30 Fairies 08:00 08:25 08:50 09:15 09:40 10:05 10:30 12:00

Kim Possible Fairly Odd Parents Stitch Replacements Emperor’s New School Stitch Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Jungle Junction Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Adventures Of Disney Suite Life On Deck My Babysitter’s A Vampire Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up Fish Hooks Wizards Of Waverly Place Cadet Kelly So Random

12:25 12:50 13:40 14:00 14:25 14:50 15:15 15:35 15:55 Cody 16:20 Cody 16:45 17:10 17:30 18:00 18:20 18:45 19:10 20:35 20:55 21:25 21:50 22:15 22:40 23:05 Cody 23:30 23:55

Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie Fish Hooks Wizards Of Waverly Place Stitch Shake It Up Fish Hooks So Random The Suite Life Of Zack And

00:05 00:30 00:55 01:20 01:45 02:10 02:35 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:00 04:25 04:50 05:15 05:35 06:00 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:15 07:30 07:55 08:00 08:25 08:50 09:15 09:40 09:55 10:20 10:45 11:10 11:35 12:00 12:30 12:55 13:20 13:45 14:05 14:30 14:50 15:15 15:40 16:05 16:30 16:55 17:20 17:45 18:10 18:35 18:55 19:20 19:30 21:00 21:30 21:50 22:05 22:40 23:05 23:30

The Garfield Show Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Droopy: Master Detective The Flintstones Johnny Bravo Duck Dodgers King Arthur’s Disasters The Scooby Doo Show Popeye Classics Tom & Jerry Popeye The Jetsons The Flintstones Looney Tunes Pink Panther & Pals Tex Avery Duck Dodgers The Garfield Show New Yogi Bear Show Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Paddington Bear Gerald McBoing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Jelly Jamm Puppy In My Pocket Help! It’s The Hair Bear Bunch Yogi’s Treasure Hunt The Garfield Show Pink Panther And Pals Looney Tunes The Scooby Doo Show Tom & Jerry Top Cat Popeye New Yogi Bear Show Tex Avery The Addams Family Droopy & Dripple The Flintstones The Garfield Show Duck Dodgers Wacky Races Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo Dastardly And Muttley The Jetsons Wacky Races Scooby Doo Where Are You! Popeye Classics Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear Top Cat Dastardly And Muttley Tom & Jerry Wacky Races The Scooby Doo Show Tom & Jerry Johnny Bravo

The Suite Life Of Zack And My Babysitter’s A Vampire Wizards Of Waverly Place Sonny With A Chance Good Luck Charlie Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Cheetah Girls So Random Wizards Of Waverly Place My Babysitter’s A Vampire Good Luck Charlie Suite Life On Deck Sonny With A Chance The Suite Life Of Zack And Hannah Montana Kim Possible

00:55 Mr. Ricco 02:30 Lust For Life-FAM 04:30 Never So Few-PG 06:30 Fury-PG 08:00 Bhowani Junction-PG 09:50 Edward, My Son-PG 11:40 Gone With The Wind-PG 15:15 TCM Presents Under...-U 16:00 Easter Parade-FAM 17:40 The Happy Years-FAM 19:30 Ziegfeld Girl-FAM 21:40 Pick A Star-FAM 23:00 The Year Of Living Dangerously-PG

WHAT’S ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Halloween at KNES

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uwait National English School in Hawally, hosted a Halloween party on October 31, 2011. The children enjoyed their day with many activities and took the opportunity to express themselves. Kuwait National English School believes that imagination, creativity and social responsibility are fundamentals in the building of good character. The children of all ages were

able to show these qualities as the school filled up with princesses, Sultans, Policemen, Superheroes, lions and many other self creations. The children also used the event to raise money for the Kuwait Humane Society and we are ever grateful for our supportive parents in this successful endeavor!

AWARE announcements

Announcements

he Aware management is glad to inform you that Winter 1 Arabic language courses will begin on November 20, 2011 until January 12, 2012. 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. Arabic classes at the AWARE Center are unique because students are provided with the chance to practice their Arabic through various social activities that aim at bringing Arabs and Westerners together.

Presentation he Kuwait Textile Arts Association under the auspices of AlSadu House cordially invites you to a presentation by Dr Linda Graves Fouke on Maya Weavings and Textiles from Guatemala at 7 pm on Tuesday, November 15. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

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• • • • •

AWARE Arabic courses highlight: Introductory to Level 4 Arabic language basics Better prepare you for speaking, reading and writing Arabic Combine language learning with cultural insights Taught in multi-nationality group settings Provide opportunities to interact with Western expatriates and native Kuwaitis/Arabs. For more information or registration, call 25335260/80 ext 105/104/0 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw.”

Aware Center tour Aware Centre is organizing a tour on Saturday, November 12 for a rewarding, spiritual and informative experience. This is a tour of one of Kuwait’s most famous landmarks. The Grand Mosque is an important landmark of Kuwait. This tour begins with all interested individuals meeting at the Grand Mosque at 9:15 am. Tour starts at 9:30 am. Dress code is conservative, cameras allowed. Please note, women are kindly requested to wear long and loose fitting clothing and may take a scarf for covering their hair or otherwise will be provided one by the grand mosque.

Christmas Carol Concert

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he Ahmadi Music Group will be holding a fantastic Christmas Carol Concert on December 9-10, 2011 in which Santa will be making an appearance, and the children can get involved with singing, waving jingle bells, etc. Guaranteed Christmas fun for the whole family! The event will be held at New English School (NES) at 5 pm both days with an adult show at 7:30 pm on both days.

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St Andrews Ball 2011 he Kuwait Calendonians are pleased to invite you to the St Andrews Ball 2011 to be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Thursday, December 1 from 7:30 pm. Invites will be available after Eid.

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Talent hunt esal Media Team is organizing a new concept competition for little talents in Kuwait. This competition is for children ages 6-12 years who have excellent talents in singing, dancing, drawing, etc. All interested little talents are welcome to participate. To sign-up, just visit their website and register your child.

The final announcements will be published in a short event at Discovery Mall with famous singers and actors in Kuwait. For more information: 9754-7705.

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Annual Holiday bazaar

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ring the family and enjoy a festive day of shopping on Friday November 18, 2011, 10:30 am - 9 pm at The Salwa Sabah Al-Ahmed Theater and Hall, Gulf Road entrance just after the Hard Rock Cafe before Marina Santa from 11 am-2 pm and 5-7 pm.

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

I

nternational Women’s Group Kuwait will hold its meeting tomorrow, at the Radisson Blu Boubiyan Room.

Doors open at 9:30 am with the program commencing at 10:00 am prompt. We hope you will join us in welcoming Mohammed Jasim Al-Bhubaib, General Manager & Partner of Melenzane Restaurant and Catering. Dhubaib is also a professional chef who trained in France. He will be speaking to us about Italian cuisine and the sourcing of produce in Kuwait. We look forward to seeing all of you at this very special meeting.

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WHAT’S ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Art gallery

F

igurative abstract and translucent acrylic colors form the subject of the art exhibition by Shyma’s Ashkanani. The opening reception will be held on November 14, 2011 at 7 pm and the exhibition hours from November 1524 are between 10:00 am to 2:00 pm and 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

New Kimono Fashion Show ‘Tenkuu’

T

he Embassy of Japan in cooperation with the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters will host New “Kimono” show “Tenkuu”. The fashion group “Be Japon” will present a number of new style Kimonos which are known for their fantastic colors, design, texture, and sewing accompanied with Japanese music and dance. The whole collection is inspired by the fantastic and the old Kimono during Meiji and

Taisho periods. The group tries to promote the art of recycling through their re-make Kimonos works. “Be Japon” is non-profit organization. It was established in 1989 to be concerned with fashion. The group tries to interact with other countries’ cultures and people taking into consideration the entity of each culture through such fashion show. This show is a good opportunity to get in touch with Japanese culture, heart and soul. It

comes among other cultural activities to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relation between Japan and Kuwait.

The new “Kimono” show “Tenkuu” is on Nov 14, 2011 at 7:30 pm (invitees only) and Nov 15, 2011 at 7:30 pm (public) at Abdul Aziz Hussein Cultural Center Theater (Mishref). All the events are admission free.

For inquiries, please contact Japanese Embassy 25309400.

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health SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Most US smokers want to quit: US health agency CHICAGO: Nearly 70 percent of US adults who smoke say they want to quit, and more than half have tried in the past year, but only about six percent succeeded, US health officials said on Thursday.

Overall, about 20 percent of US adults, or about 45.3 million people, still smoke, while 48.3 percent of smokers have been advised by their doctors to quit, acccording to the USCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.

Smoking rates in the country are falling, but CDC officials are worried by signs that the pace of decline has slowed and are ramping up efforts to help smokers who want to quit. According to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, only 32 percent of smokers who want to quit used any smoking cessation

aid, such as nicotine patches or counseling. “There is significant room for improving in this area. Use of these treatments can double or triple success rates,” Dr. Timothy McAfee, director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health told a news briefing.

McAfee said education was also a big factor in a smoker’s success at quitting.

The study found that only 3.2 percent of those with less than a high school education who tried to quit succeeded, while 11.4 percent of those with a college degree who tried to quit succeeded.

There was also a big gap among blacks between their desire to quit and their success rate, he said. McAfee said blacks had the highest interest among any group in intention to quit smoking, but

they had the lowest success rate, at 3.3 percent. They were least likely to use counseling or medication.

He said one possible reason is that blacks are three times more likely than whites to use cigarettes flavored with menthol, which masks the burn of smoking. Among black smokers, 76.7 percent said they smoked menthol cigarettes, compared with 23.6 percent of whites. A recent report by the Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee to the US Food and Drug Administration found that menthol flavoring in cigarettes decreases the likelihood of successful quitting.

The CDC study also found that having health insurance was a big factor in a person’s ability to successfully quit

smoking, as it meant they were more likely to be counseled by a doctor and to get reimbursed for nicotine patches or other aids. According to the study, the uninsured had the lowest success rate of just 3.6 percent, while those with private insurance had a higher rate of 7.8 percent and people with military insurance had a success rate of over 9 percent.

Despite slowing quit rates, the study shows that many smokers want to kick the habit. McAfee noted that just five years ago, some health policymakers feared that aggressive anti-smoking campaigns could just harden the resolve of smokers to stick to their cigarettes.

“What this study shows is quite the opposite,” he said. “It was reassuring to us.”—Reuters

Hit reset on cancer screening methods: ‘Tests not perfect’

US warns retailers over cigarette sales to kids

WASHINGTON: It turns out that catching cancer early isn’t always as important as we thought. Some tumors are too slow-growing to ever threaten your life. Some are so aggressive that finding them early doesn’t make much difference.

And today’s treatments are much better for those somewhere in the middle. Those complexities are changing the longtime mantra that cancer screening will save your life. In reality, it depends on the type of cancer, the test and who gets checked when.

“We can find cancer early. We can reduce the burden of the disease. But along the way, we’re learning our tests are not as perfect as we’d like,” says the American Cancer Society’s Dr Len Lichtenfeld, a longtime screening proponent.

“We’re learning that we’re now finding cancer that would in fact never cause harm.” Now cancer specialists are struggling to find a new balance: to quit over-promising the power of early detection and to help people understand that the tests themselves have risks - while not scaring away those who really need it.

Least controversial are cervical and colorectal cancer screenings. They can spot pre-cancerous growths that are fairly easy to remove, although even some of those tests can be used too frequently. More serious questions surround other cancers - like which men, if any, should get a PSA blood test to check for prostate cancer, and whether women should start mammograms in their 40s or wait until they’re 50. Also in question is whether doctors will be able to head off another looming controversy: Just which smokers and ex-smokers should get a pricey CT scan that can detect lung cancer but also is prone to false alarms? A recent study found the scans could save some lives. But guidelines aren’t due out until early next year that would decide who is at enough risk to outweigh the test’s potential harm - such as a risky, invasive biopsy to tell if a suspicious spot is cancer or just an old smoking scar.

Yet already people like 80-year-old Fred Voss of Sunderland, Md., are seeking out the tests. “It was a big relief, and it gave me something to watch,” says Voss, who participated in the CT study but wanted to get tested again to make sure nothing had changed. Today, guidelines for how to handle some of the most common cancer screenings conflict. And, they’re written for the average patient when many people may need a more customized decision, says Dr. Jeanne Mandelblatt of Georgetown University. She has studied breast cancer risk for a government panel that recommends most women not begin screening for the disease until age 50. Consider this, she says: The average woman has a 3 percent lifetime risk of dying of breast cancer, a low risk for a disease that women find so scary. But the chances of getting breast cancer do gradually increase with age and other circumstances. So if you’re 40 and have several risk factors - like dense breasts and close relatives with the disease - then you have the same risk as an average 50-year-old, not an average 40-year-old, and might consider earlier mammograms, Mandelblatt says. —AP

Authorities send 1,200 warning letters WASHINGTON: US health authorities said Thursday they had sent 1,200 warning letters to leading retailers, including top stores CVS, Walgreen, Wal-Mart and Rite Aid, for unlawfully selling cigarettes to children. The letters came after Food and Drug Administration inspectors carried out more than 27,500 compliance checks and began inspecting US tobacco product manufacturers in October-the first time such facilities have ever been inspected by a federal public health agency.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama, who has struggled to kick a long-standing smoking habit, was “committed to protecting children from cigarettes” and to stop youngsters from ever smoking. The FDA letters

followed “an aggressive inspection campaign and remind retailers of their legal responsibility to protect our children” under 18, he added.

“Most retail store owners follow the law and don’t sell cigarettes to kids, but we’re reminding those who don’t that they have a responsibility to follow the law and that there are serious consequences if they fail to do so,” Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on the official White House blog. She stressed that “keeping tobacco out of the hands of minors can have a huge impact on our nation’s health now and in the future,” noting that 20 percent of US high school students smoke.

“We know our campaign against tobacco is a ‘winnable battle,’” she added.

Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States, where about 3,450 youths aged 12-17 smoke their first cigarette each day, and an estimated 850 of them become daily smokers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The news of the warning letters also came just days after a federal judge blocked the Obama administration’s bid to place graphic warning labels on cigarette packs, ruling the move would violate the US Constitution’s free speech protections. Hinting at an appeal of the court decision, Carney said: “We are confident that Big Tobacco’s attempts to stop these warnings from going forward will ultimately fail.”— AFP

SAINT LOUIS: In this file photo provided Jan 25, 2011, by the Saint Louis Zoo, a black rhinoceros calf born at the zoo on Jan 14 stays close to his mother, Kati Rain, at the Saint Louis Zoo. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature said Thursday that the Western Black Rhino of Africa, a species related to these black rhinos, is officially extinct. —AP

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health SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

‘Rock snot’ fear means salmon for native tribes MONTPELIER: Fear that an invasive algae species known as “rock snot” might have contaminated a Vermont fish hatchery has prompted the US Fish and Wildlife Service to donate thousands of Atlantic salmon to native American tribes in the Northeast to prevent a possible spread of the specimen. On Thursday, the Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon Commission voted unanimously to remove the salmon from the federal Bethel Fish Hatchery, clean them and donate them to the tribes so the facility can be closed and cleaned.

The algae, believed to be transported by anglers moving from one body of water to another, pose no threat to human health.

But rock snot can overwhelm cold water lakes and streams and biologists fear the Vermont hatchery could be contaminated with the algae because it is known to be present in the White River, the waterway that damaged the hatchery during the August flooding. “These are very valuable fish. Traditionally they would be used to further the efforts of restoration of Atlantic salmon to the Connecticut River basin,” Bill Hyatt, the director of the Connecticut Bureau of Natural Resources and the chairman of the Connecticut River salmon commission, said Thursday.

“Unfortunately, with the contamination of didymo at the facility, it makes it totally impossible to use the fish in that manner.”

The hatchery also contains about 434,000 lake trout destined for lakes Ontario and Erie. A separate decision about whether those fish can be safely released without spreading rock snot, or whether they will have to be disposed of, is expected later this month. The Atlantic salmon at the Bethel hatchery are part of a Fish and Wildlife Service program that is working to restore the species to its traditional habitat along the Connecticut River.

Historically, the fish hatch in the tributaries and young salmon swim downstream into the Atlantic Ocean, where they remain for several years before returning to the streams where they were hatched to spawn. The salmon habitat on many of those rivers was destroyed by European settlers who built power dams that prevented the fish from reaching their spawning grounds. Over the last 10 to 15 years didymo has been found across North America. It is thought to be transported on fishing gear. A number of states, including Vermont, have outlawed felt-soled fishing waders thought to be easy carriers of the algae. Rock snot was first found in the Connecticut River in Vermont and New Hampshire in 2007 just south of the Canadian border. Since then, it’s been found in various locations across the region.

Since the hatchery was inundated with water from the river known to contain didymo, the experts want to make sure the water used to carry the fish to the locations where they are stocked do not spread the algae.

The fish have to be removed from the hatchery before it can be cleaned. About 3,000 salmon, some as large as five pounds, will be given to the Native American tribes. Another 3,400 smaller salmon, about six inches, will be released into parts of the Connecticut River basin where didymo is known to be present so there is no threat of new contamination. Thousands more were washed into the White River by the flood waters. Once the fish have been removed from the hatchery, technicians will then scrub the hatchery’s fish tanks and other equipment as part of efforts to repair the facility that was damaged by the floodwaters.

It could take up to two years to repair the hatchery, said Bill Archambault, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s assistant regional director for fisheries. Archambault said testing is under way to make sure no didymo is in the water that would be used to carry the 434,000 lake trout - about 8 inches long - for early stocking in lakes Ontario and Erie. The decision about the lake trout in the hatchery will be made by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

Meanwhile, Fred Corey of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs around Presque Isle, Maine, said his tribe expects to receive 120 salmon that will be used as part of a Nov. 20 ceremony to mark the 20-year-anniversary of the tribe’s formal recognition by the federal government. Corey said that before European settlement, salmon was a staple of the tribe. About 1,000 people from the tribe and other groups from the US and Canada are expected for the celebration. The salmon will be served along with moose meat, fiddlehead ferns and other traditional foods. “Any time a resource like that is utilized the tribe expresses respect for the fish that gave its life to provide food,” said. Without the donation of the salmon from the federal government, it’s doubtful the tribe would have been able to afford salmon for the celebration.

“It would have been very challenging and part of it would be the cost,” Corey said. “Our tribe is very low-income. We don’t have a lot of resources.”—AP

STOCKBRIDGE: In this July 27, 2007 file photo Mary Russ, executive director of the White River Partnership, holds a rock covered with the aquatic algae Didymosphenia geminata — known as didymo, or rock snot — in the White River in Stockbridge, Vt. —AP

Chance of Russia Mars probe rescue ‘very small’ Mission control fails to obtain data MOSCOW: The chances of rescuing a Russian probe that is stuck in an Earth orbit after failing to set out on its planned mission for Mars are very small, the Interfax news agency reported yesterday. Mission control failed overnight even to obtain data from the PhobosGrunt probe, which was launched earlier this week in what Moscow had hoped would be a triumphant return to inter-planetary exploration, it said.

“Overnight, several attempts were made to obtain telemetric information from the probe. They all ended with zero result,” Interfax quoted a source in

the Russian space sector as saying.

“The probability of saving the probe is very, very small,” added the source, who was not identified. Nonetheless, attempts to make contact with the probe would continue yesterday, also using Earthbased facilities operated by NASA and the European Space Agency, the source added. Russia’s space agency have said scientists have a window of only a few days to reprogram the probe in a bid to send it on its route to Mars. If this does not happen, it risks falling back to Earth. If the rescue attempts fail, the slowly descending probe could fall early next

month, a space industry source told the RIA Novosti news agency, amid varying predictions including for late this month.

“I think the probe will definitely not fall to Earth earlier than December 3,” the source said, adding the probe was losing height only gradually. The mission went awry after launch Wednesday when the five-billion-ruble ($165 million) probe’s engine failed to fire, leaving it orbiting the Earth rather than starting its journey towards the red planet. The probe had the unprecedented mission to land on the Martian moon Phobos and bring a sample of its rock back to Earth.— AFP

Mars explorers will include women WASHINGTON: Men walked on the Moon, but women will be among the pioneering explorers who someday step foot on Mars, said a gathering of top female space experts this week. Plenty has changed since Neil Armstrong and 11 male successors left their footprints on the Moon from 1969 to 1972, but lingering stereotypes still harm young girls and not enough women reach the upper levels of planetary science, they said. Some of the leading women at NASA, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX and other organizations came together for a two-day meeting in the nation’s capital to discuss their work, how they made it and how the next generation can, too. “We should tell more girls that this is not a male world,” said organizer Artemis Westenberg, president of the education and lobbying group Explore Mars.

Of the 350 women in the United States

with doctorates in planetary science, only 39 are employed at NASA, according to Susan Niebur, a US space agency mission consultant and founder of Women in Planetary Science. “I wonder, where are the other women and what amazing science explorations might they have proposed?” she said. “We are still losing a lot of women in the pipeline.”

Some women have made it onto the management teams of recent Mars projects, but in small numbers, according to an analysis presented by Linda Billings, a research professor at George Washington University. For instance, the management of the 1997 Mars Pathfinder project had seven men and one woman; the 2004 Mars Exploration Rover project had two women and eight men; and two women are among 13 male “key team members” of the Mars Science Laboratory set to launch later this

month. Those who have made it have faced obstacles, ranging from trying to maneuver in spacesuits designed for men who are six feet (1.8 meter) tall to facing blunt cultural biases about the role of women. Astronaut Cady Coleman, a veteran of two shuttle missions who has lived aboard the International Space Station with male colleagues for six months, shared her frustration at constantly being asked, by media and others, if she missed her family back on Earth.

“People would say ‘How does it feel to be away from your son during all this time?’

And part of me wants to say, ‘Do you ask the guys these questions?’ Because they actually don’t, and it is wrong for two reasons: “One, the guys miss their kids and their spouses just as much; and two, we are doing this because we think the work that we do is important.” —AP

CLASSIFIEDS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation available in new Riggae with Indian family in two bedroom flat C-A/C building.

Contact: 66545906. (C 3731) 12-11-2011

Sharing accommodation available for a single family with a family in two bedroom, hall, two toilet in Abbassiya, opp United Indian School.

Call: 99170268. (C 3730) 10-11-2011

information SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 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 JZR KLM JZR JZR ETH JZR THY PIA UAE QTR OMA DHX MSR FDB ETD MEA GFA THY THY DHX MEA JZR JZR FCX KAC BAW KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR FDB ETD GFA JZR IRC IRM MSR JZR KAC GFA MSR MEA FDB MSR UAL VOS QTR KNE SVA RJA KAC KAC JZR JZR LMU QTR KNE KAC JZR IRC ETD JZR KAC SYR CLX GFA

Arrival Flights on Saturday 12/11/2011 Flt Route 185 DUBAI 447 AMSTERDAM/BAHRAIN 539 CAIRO 481 SABIHA 620 ADDIS ABABA 553 ALEXANDRIA 772 ISTANBUL 239 SIALKOT 853 DUBAI 138 DOHA 641 MUSCAT 370 BAHRAIN 612 CAIRO 67 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 406 BEIRUT 211 BAHRAIN 5502 ISTANBUL 770 ISTANBUL 170 BAHRAIN 406 BEIRUT 503 LUXOR 555 ALEXANDRIA 403 DOHA 416 JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR 157 LONDON 412 MANILA/BANGKOK 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 352 COCHIN 382 DELHI 302 MUMBAI 531 ASSIUT 284 DHAKA 362 COLOMBO 344 CHENNAI 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 165 DUBAI 6807 SHIRAZ 5066 MASHAD 610 CAIRO 201 DAMASCUS 672 DUBAI 219 BAHRAIN 621 ASSIUT 410 BEIRUT 57 DUBAI 606 LUXOR 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 93 KANDAHAR/DUBAI 140 DOHA 745 JEDDAH 500 JEDDAH 640 AMMAN 562 AMMAN 786 JEDDAH 257 BEIRUT 241 AMMAN 611 ALEXANDRIA 134 DOHA 839 JEDDAH/MEDINAH 1550 SOHAG 535 CAIRO 6791 MASHAD 303 ABU DHABI 357 MASHAD 118 NEW YORK 341 DAMASCUS 792 LUXEMBOURG 215 BAHRAIN

Time 0:20 0:30 0:50 0:55 1:45 1:50 2:15 2:20 2:35 2:40 2:50 2:55 3:00 3:05 3:10 3:10 3:15 3:30 4:50 5:15 5:20 5:55 6:00 6:15 6:25 6:40 6:45 7:40 7:45 7:50 7:50 7:55 8:00 8:15 8:20 8:25 8:30 9:00 9:05 9:20 9:35 9:55 11:20 12:35 12:40 12:55 13:00 13:20 13:25 13:30 13:45 13:50 13:55 14:05 14:15 14:20 14:25 14:30 14:40 14:45 14:50 15:00 15:05 15:10 15:25 16:15 16:20 16:25 16:30 16:50 16:50 16:55 17:00 17:15 17:15

SVA ABY JZR RBG KAC ALK FDB KAC KAC QTR JZR KAC IRA KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC FDB JAI OMA AIC MSR DHX KAC MEA GFA QTR UAE JZR KLM KAC JZR JZR UAL AXB FDB BBC DLH

510 127 777 3561 550 227 63 502 542 6130 125 618 607 674 178 104 774 790 61 572 647 975 618 372 788 402 217 136 859 135 445 614 513 239 981 393 8067 43 636

RIYADH SHARJAH JEDDAH ALEXANDRIA SHARM EL SHEIKH COLOMBO/DUBAI DUBAI BEIRUT CAIRO DOHA BAHRAIN DOHA MASHAD DUBAI GENEVA/FRANKFURT LONDON RIYADH MEDINAH DUBAI MUMBAI MUSCAT CHENNAI/GOA ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN JEDDAH BEIRUT BAHRAIN DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN AMSTERDAM BAHRAIN SHARM EL SHEIKH AMMAN BAHRAIN KOZHIKODE/COCHIN DUBAI DHAKA FRANKFURT

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

Airlines PIA UAL AIC JZR DLH KLM ETH THY PIA FDB UAE OMA DHX MSR ETD MEA THY QTR THY MEA JZR GFA JZR FDB BAW KAC JZR JZR KAC KAC JZR KAC UAE ABY KAC

Departure Flights on Saturday 12/11/2011 Flt Route 216 KARACHI 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 976 GOA/CHENNAI 530 ASSIUT 637 FRANKFURT 447 AMSTERDAM 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 240 SIALKOT/ISLAMABAD 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 642 MUSCAT 371 BAHRAIN 613 CAIRO 306 ABU DHABI 409 BEIRUT 5503 ISTANBUL 139 DOHA 771 ISTANBUL 407 BEIRUT 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 200 DAMASCUS 54 DUBAI 156 LONDON 671 DUBAI 256 BEIRUT 534 CAIRO 561 AMMAN 785 JEDDAH 240 AMMAN 101 LONDON/NEW YORK 856 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 1549 SOHAG

Time 0:30 0:45 0:50 1:15 1:20 1:45 2:45 3:15 3:30 3:45 3:50 3:55 3:55 4:00 4:00 4:10 4:30 4:55 5:50 6:20 6:55 7:00 7:30 8:25 8:40 9:00 9:00 9:15 9:20 9:25 9:35 9:35 9:40 9:45 10:00

FDB QTR ETD GFA JZR KAC KAC KAC JZR KAC IRC MSR IRM GFA MSR MEA FDB MSR KAC KNE UAL KAC RJA KAC JZR LMU SVA KAC JZR KAC QTR KAC KNE JZR IRC ETD JZR QTR SYR VOS GFA ABY RBG SVA CLX JZR KAC JZR ALK FDB JZR KAC IRA QTR FDB KAC DHX KAC JAI OMA MSR KAC DHX KAC MEA GFA FCX KAC QTR KAC JZR UAE KAC KLM JZR JZR KAC

56 133 302 214 356 165 549 541 776 501 6808 611 5065 220 622 411 58 607 673 746 982 789 641 617 124 612 505 787 512 773 141 153 840 238 6792 304 538 135 342 82 216 128 3563 511 792 266 613 134 228 64 184 283 616 6131 62 331 171 351 571 648 619 543 373 675 403 218 102 381 137 301 554 860 205 445 268 528 411

DUBAI DOHA ABU DHABI BAHRAIN MASHAD ROME/PARIS SHARM EL SHEIKH CAIRO JEDDAH BEIRUT SHIRAZ CAIRO MASHAD BAHRAIN ASSIUT BEIRUT DUBAI LUXOR DUBAI JEDDAH BAHRAIN MEDINAH AMMAN DOHA BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH JEDDAH SHARM EL SHEIKH RIYADH DOHA ISTANBUL JEDDAH AMMAN MASHAD ABU DHABI CAIRO DOHA DAMASCUS BAGHDAD BAHRAIN SHARJAH ASSIUT RIYADH HONG KONG BEIRUT BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DUBAI/COLOMBO DUBAI DUBAI DHAKA AHWAZ DOHA DUBAI TRIVANDRUM BAHRAIN COCHIN MUMBAI MUSCAT ALEXANDRIA CAIRO BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DELHI DOHA MUMBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI ISLAMABAD BAHRAIN/AMSTERDAM BEIRUT ASSIUT BANGKOK/MANILA

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

10:05 10:10 10:20 10:40 10:50 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:15 13:00 13:35 13:55 14:15 14:20 14:30 14:45 14:50 14:55 15:05 15:10 15:20 15:30 15:35 15:50 15:50 15:55 16:00 16:05 16:05 16:25 16:30 16:35 17:05 17:15 17:30 17:35 17:40 17:45 18:00 18:00 18:15 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:45 18:45 19:00 19:05 19:10 19:20 19:55 20:15 20:20 20:30 20:40 21:00 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:45 21:55 22:00 22:10 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:45 22:50 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:35 23:55

To Yester

Word Sleuth Solution

Yesterday始s Solution

C R O S S W O R D

4 9 5

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

ACROSS

1. Large African antelope having a head with horns like an ox and a long tufted tail.

4. A member of an American Indian peoples of NE South America and the Lesser Antilles.

9. Someone who copies the words or behavior of another.

13. An associate degree in applied science.

14. (Hindu) A manner of sitting (as in the practice of Yoga).

15. Unwillingness to do something contrary to your custom.

16. A detailed description of design criteria for a piece of work.

17. Having or showing a tender and considerate and helpful nature.

18. Cement consisting of a sticky substance that is used as an adhesive.

19. A number of sheets of paper fastened together along one edge.

20. A potent estrogen used in medicine and in feed for livestock and poultry.

21. A port city in southwestern Turkey on the Gulf of Antalya.

24. A shoe with a wedge heel.

26. The United Nations agency concerned with civil aviation.

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

32. Alternatively, a member of the family Nymphaeaceae.

36. (Jungian psychology) The inner self (not the external persona) that is in touch with the unconscious.

39. An extinct Italic language of ancient southern Italy.

40. Minute blackish gregarious flies destructive to mushrooms and seedlings.

41. (British) Your grandmother.

42. The lower house of the parliament of the Republic of Ireland.

43. 1/1000 gram.

46. Resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects.

49. The mission in San Antonio where in 1836 Mexican forces under Santa Anna besieged and massacred American rebels who were fighting to make Texas independent of Mexico.

52. United States writer of hard-boiled detective fiction (1894-1961).

57. A summary that repeats the substance of a longer discussion.

59. The cry made by sheep.

60. A religious belief of African origin involving witchcraft and sorcery.

61. A Hebrew prophet in the Old Testament who opposed the worship of idols.

63. (of securities) Not quoted on a stock exchange.

64. Someone who is morally reprehensible.

65. West Indian tree having racemes of fragrant white flowers and yielding a durable timber and resinous juice.

66. Remaining after all deductions.

DOWN 1. A short labored intake of breath with the mouth open.

2. Plant with an elongated head of broad stalked leaves resembling celery.

3. Employed in accomplishing something.

4. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

5. Turned or twisted toward one side.

6. The amount a salary is increased.

7. A hotel providing overnight lodging for travelers.

8. A member of an agricultural people of southern India.

9. Primitive chlorophyll-containing mainly aquatic eukaryotic organisms lacking true stems and roots and leaves.

10. The place where people vote.

11. Small ornamental ladies' bag for small articles.

12. Fertility goddess in ancient Greek mythology.

22. English theoretical physicist who applied relativity theory to quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter and the positron

(1902-1984).

23. A crude uncouth ill-bred person lacking culture or refinement.

25. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

27. A rotating disk shaped to convert circular into linear motion.

28. A French abbot.

30. A form of magnetic resonance imaging of the brain that registers blood flow to functioning areas of the brain.

31. An official language of the Republic of South Africa.

33. A unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour.

34. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

35. A former copper coin of Pakistan.

37. Mild form of diabetes mellitus that develops gradually in adults.

38. A plant hormone promoting elongation of stems and roots.

44. Fleshy spore-bearing inner mass of e.g. a puffball or stinkhorn.

45. A benevolent aspect of Devi.

47. Largest crested screamer.

48. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.

50. Harsh or corrosive in tone.

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

52. Military action involving the use of electromagnetic energy to determine or exploit or reduce or prevent hostile use of the electromagnetic spectrum.

53. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

54. Very dark black.

55. United States poet and critic (1899-1979).

56. Consideration in dealing with others and avoiding giving offence.

58. A unit of length equal to one thousandth of an inch.

62. A white soft metallic element that tarnishes readily.

Yesterday始s Solution

SPORTS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Experienced Leuluai says Kiwis must improve HULL: Thomas Leuluai may not like being one of the old men in the New Zealand team but the half-back knows he will need to call on all of his experience when the Kiwis take on England in today’s decisive Four Nations clash.

At only 26 it would appear harsh to label Leuluai a veteran but in a New Zealand touring party that includes seven debutants the only Super League-based player has had to take on more leadership responsibilities. And that experience is certain to be put to the test at Hull’s KC Stadium this weekend when they take on an England side that impressed despite falling to a 36-20 defeat to Australia at Wembley.

And with a place in the final against Australia up for grabs Leuluai admits his side will need to improve on their performances in defeating Wales and falling to the Kangaroos if they are to defend their Four Nations crown.

“We definitely have more improvements in us from the second half (against Wales). We lacked a bit of intensity and made some silly errors,” said Leuluai, who is in line to make his 30th Test appearance today which would move him ahead of his father James, who played 29 Tests for the

Kiwis from 1979-1986.

“Most of the boys I’ve known for a while but there’s not too many my age anymore, they’re all younger than me so I feel like a granddad. “I think we have seven debutants on the tour which is great for the team but we need to make sure we improve to have a chance to win this thing.”

Kiwi head coach Stephen Kearney, who used to call the KC Stadium home during his final season as a player in Super League with Hull, has delayed announcing his team possibly until the day of the game.

But apart from Penrith Panther Sam McKendry missing with a broken jaw suffered against Wales, Kearney has a full strength squad to draw from. Meanwhile England head coach Steve McNamara has a few concerns in the forwards with Canterbury Bulldogs-bound James Graham, Jamie Peacock and Wests Tigers Gareth Ellis all battling to prove themselves ahead of today.

But winger Ryan Hall, who blitzed Australia with two tries in a virtuoso individual display at Wembley, has issued a rallying cry to his teammates ahead of the encounter. “This is the strongest squad we’ve had for a

number of years now and it’s not just me who thinks that.

We’ve got to treat the game against New Zealand like it’s a semi-final in the playoffs,” said the Leeds Rhino.

“We’ve come a long way in twelve months and we showed in patches last week against Australia how good we are and that they are beatable.” In the other clash Australia take on Wales in Wrexham safe in the knowledge that their passage through to the final at Elland Road on November 19 is already secured.

But head coach Tim Sheens does have a couple of selection headaches with Melbourne Storm full-back Billy Slater out for the rest of the tournament with a broken collarbone and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagle centre Tony Williams suspended after his high tackle last weekend.

Wests Tiger Robbie Farah has also returned home after his mother was diagnosed with a serious illness but Sheens, who looks set to rest captain Darren Lockyer, is confident his squad have the required versatility to cope.

“None of my centres are right centres, they all play on the left,” he said. “I’m happy with the way the boys are performing in different positions.”— AFP

NHL results/standings NHL results and standings on Thursday: Boston 6, Edmonton 3; Chicago 6, Columbus 3; Toronto 3, St. Louis 2 (SO); Florida 5, Winnipeg 2; Colorado 4, NY Islanders 3 (OT); Montreal 3, Phoenix 2 (OT); Vancouver 3, Los Angeles 2; San Jose 3, Minnesota 1.

Pittsburgh NY Rangers Philadelphia New Jersey NY Islanders

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF GA 9 3 3 45 34 8 3 3 38 31 8 4 3 57 46 7 5 1 33 36 4 6 3 28 39

Toronto Buffalo Ottawa Boston Montreal

10 9 7 7 6

PTS 21 19 19 15 11

Northeast Division 5 1 49 5 0 42 8 1 47 7 0 46 7 2 38

53 33 58 33 41

21 18 15 14 14

Southeast Division 4 3 44 4 0 50 5 2 46 7 3 37 8 3 42

Florida Washington Tampa Bay Carolina Winnipeg

8 9 8 5 5

39 38 47 50 56

19 18 18 13 13

Chicago Nashville Detroit St. Louis Columbus

Western Conference Central Division 9 4 3 52 48 8 5 2 42 40 7 5 1 34 31 7 7 1 37 38 2 12 1 34 59

21 18 15 15 5

Edmonton Minnesota Vancouver Colorado Calgary

9 8 8 8 6

Northwest Division 4 2 36 29 4 3 34 29 7 1 48 46 7 1 46 50 7 1 30 35

20 19 17 17 13

Dallas San Jose Phoenix Los Angeles Anaheim

11 9 7 7 5

Pacific Division 3 0 45 4 1 44 4 3 40 6 3 36 7 3 29

22 19 17 17 13

33 36 39 38 44

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

WINNIPEG: Kyle Wellwood #13 of the Winnipeg Jets battles with Marco Sturm #16 of the Florida Panthers against the boards in NHL action at the MTS Centre on November 10 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. — AFP

Bruins put skids on Oilers in 6-3 victory Smyth scores two goals for Oilers

BOSTON: Stanley Cup champions Boston powered their way to a fourth consecutive win on Thursday with a 6-3 victory over the high-flying Edmonton Oilers at TD Garden. The Bruins, who got off to a slow start this season and slipped to last place in the Eastern Conference at one point, scored twice in each period to improve their record to 7-7-0.

Edmonton have not qualified for the playoffs since the 2005-06 season but currently lead the Northwest division and are third in the Western Conference. Johnny Boychuk and Jordan Caron scored 1:44 apart in the first period to give the Bruins a 2-0 advantage but the lead was short-lived,

Edmonton responding with two goals in 29 seconds after calling a timeout.

Veteran Ryan Smyth scored with a tip-in at 12:02 and rookie Ryan NugentHopkins snapped a shot through the legs of Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask to make it 2-2 going into the second period. “I thought we showed good character coming back after the time out. We got ourselves back into it, then we got put back on our heels again,” said Smyth. “We can’t do that against a team like this.

“They were the Stanley Cup champions last year, they know what to do to shut down teams.” Brad Marchand redirected Joe Corvo’s shot on a power play for the first of his two goals ending a

nine-game goal drought and putting the Bruins ahead again.

Tyler Seguin restored Boston’s twogoal lead less than three minutes later.

“It felt a lot longer than that. It was getting frustrating there,” said Marchand.

“You want to produce. “It was a little easier because we were still winning a bit. But you do want to help the team and you feel like you’re letting them down when you’re not doing your job out there, so it’s nice to get a couple.”

Edmonton’s Smyth scored his second on a power play to narrow the lead with less than five minutes remaining but goals by Milan Lucic and Marchand 44 seconds apart sealed the win for Boston. — Reuters

SPORTS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Trainers say fighters grow from work, not doping LAS VEGAS: Trainers for Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez say hard work and fitness, not performance-enhancing drugs, have allowed their fights to add muscle and power as they move up in weight classes.

Doping has been an issue for both fighters in today’s welterweight fight between Filipino icon Pacquiao, with world titles in a record eight weight classes, and Mexico’s Marquez, who seeks a world crown in his fourth division.

Unbeaten US star Floyd Mayweather failed to make a deal for a megafight with Pacquiao in part because he wanted more extensive blood tests than usual, issuing taunts that prompted “PacMan” to file a slander lawsuit.

Marquez’s bulking up for the fight came

under greater scrutiny after Twitter notes from Victor Conte, the central figure in the BALCO steroid scandal, revealed that Marquez’s strength and conditioning coach is Angel Heredia.

Heredia admitted providing performance-enhancing substances to Trevor Graham, the former coach of disgraced dope cheats Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery as well as other former US athletics stars.

“There are different ways to get a fighter very strong. We’ve done it the right way,” Ignacio Beristain, Marquez’s trainer, said through a translator. “I don’t see why somebody should doubt we have done it the right way.” Marquez denies his bigger bulk has come through banned substances and has said he will take random blood or urine

tests to prove he is not a dope cheat. “I have done a clean preparation for this fight like always,” Marquez said through a translator. “I will take any test any time. That’s why anti-doping exams exist.

“It’s a shame all the work I’ve done has been trashed.” Beristain said Thursday that his man received no help from banned substances, but was aided by nutrition and technique guidance from Heredia.

“I’m grateful for what he did with my fighter. I got a great guy who is strong,” Beristain said.

“Juan would never do anything wrong.

If he came to Juan with something, I know he wouldn’t take it. I know Juan well enough to know that. “Mexican fighters don’t take that stuff. They know better. We teach them what that stuff can do to their

bodies.” Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, said his camp had enough of such taunts from Mayweather to ever think of tossing such charges at Marquez. “I’m so tired of that bulls—-,” Roach said. “You get a fighter in shape and make him work hard and (some people think) there must be something fishy about that. I don’t want to do that to them.”

As for someone with doping links like Heredia working with Marquez, Roach was unmoved. “He was a rat,” Roach said.

“But I don’t care about that.” Pacquiao, 53-3 with two drawn and 38 knockouts, will defend his World Boxing Organization welterweight crown against Marquez, 53-5 with one drawn and 39 knockouts. “I’ve got two clean fighters,” promoter Bob Arum said. — AFP

Giants meet 49ers in clash of first-place teams LOS ANGELES: The New York Giants and the San Francisco 49ers are two of the biggest surprises at the halfway point of the season in the National Football League. The 49ers (7-1), who have a comfortable lead in the NFC West, and the NFC East-leading Giants (6-2) meet tomorrow in a mid-season clash. “We just feel like this is a team, it’s not individual play no more,” said tackle Ricky Jean Francois of San Francisco, who can move closer to clinching a division title before the end of the month by extending their longest winning streak in 14 years.

The Giants have failed to make it to the post-season each of the last two seasons.

They are two games ahead of the secondplaced Dallas Cowboys and three ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles, who were expected to dominate the division. But that has not happened and the Giants bolstered their status as viable contenders for a division title by beating the New England Patriots 24-20 last week, as quarterback Eli Manning hit tight end Jake Ballard for a one-yard touchdown pass with 15 seconds left in the game. While New York’s rise has been unexpected, the 49ers surprisingly have the NFL’s second-best record under first-year coach Jim Harbaugh. San Francisco have finished at or below .500 in each of the past eight years. “A lot of people doubted us, a lot of people put us out because we didn’t have an offseason, we had a whole new staff, we’re going to be lost and running around with our heads cut off,” Francois said.

“But with the dedication and all the time

everybody put aside to build it we weren’t going to have no lacking.” The 49ers have the league’s top-ranked run defense, yielding 70.8 yards per game and 61.3 over the last three games.

In another key tomorrow matchup, the New York Jets meet their rivals the New England Patriots. It has been four weeks since the Jets lost to the Patriots, and subsequently had their postseason hopes called into question. Jets coach Rex Ryan would love nothing more than to give the Patriots a similar experience.

The now red-hot Jets have a chance at MetLife Stadium to send the struggling Patriots to their first three-game losing skid in nine years. The Jets are 4-0 at home this season. “Both teams are going to be humming for this one, no question,” Ryan said.

“You can sugarcoat it all you want, but they know they need it and we know we need it.

Both teams are going to be hungry.”

In the Monday night game, the Green Bay Packers will try to keep their perfect record intact by tightening up on the defensive end when they host the Minnesota Vikings.

“We’re 8-0. We’ve earned it,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “But we have expectations and the level of play that not only the individual expects of himself but what we expect of each position, each unit.” Despite returning two interceptions for touchdowns last Sunday, the Packers conceded its most points of the season and almost blew a 21-point lead in a 45-38 win over the Chargers in San Diego. —AFP

SAN DIEGO: Oakland Raiders wide receiver Denarius Moore (17) scores a second-quarter touchdown past San Diego Chargers safety Eric Weddle (32) in an NFL football game Thursday, in San Diego. — AP

ABU DHABI: McLaren Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton drives at the Yas Marina circuit yesterday in Abu Dhabi during the second practice session of the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix. —AFP

Hamilton on top after opening day Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ABU DHABI: Lewis Hamilton topped the times in yesterday’s incident-packed second free practice session ahead of tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the McLaren driver outpacing his nearest rival and team-mate Jenson Button by two-tenths of a second. The two Englishmen dominated the day with Button fastest in the morning and second-quickest in the afternoon when Hamilton delivered a lap in one minute and 39.586 to set the pace.

For Hamilton, it was a welcome return to something like his best form after a roller-coaster season of problems on and off the circuit. Double drivers’ champion German Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari both crashed into the barriers at Turn One during the session. They were unhurt.

The double-shunt by the two double-champions made life easy for the McLaren team in the closing stages after they had demonstrated their speed and consistency ahead of tomorrow’s 55-laps race at the Yas Marina Circuit. Alonso wound up third fastest on a day when Ferrari suffered a troubled morning, but showed signs of recovery, with his team-mate Brazilian Felipe Massa fourth.

Australian Mark Webber was fifth quickest for the Red Bull team ahead of Vettel with Michael Schumacher, 42, seventh for Mercedes, with fellow-German Adrian Sutil of Force India in eighth.

British rookie Paul Di Resta was ninth in the second

Force India car and Japanese Kamui Kobayashi 10th for Sauber as the session ended with a full moon rising over the circuit at the end of the day-night session. The session began as the sun began to sink, creating a twilight practice ahead of tomorrow’s race, with the two Red Bull men taking command immediately. Vettel was fastest first and then Webber outpaced him only for the German to regain the ascendancy.

Soon after this, with only 20 minutes gone, Alonso signalled the start of Ferrari’s recovery from a troubled morning by going top and then becoming the first driver to break through the 1:40 barrier.

But as he increased in speed and performance, several other men found their limits on a slippery-looking track as seven-time champion Schumacher spun off three times in his Mercedes and both Webber and Vettel endured similar off-track action.

The McLarens, having looked full of potential and pace in the morning, when Button topped the times, came out and took control around midway through the 90-minute session. Button first, and then Hamilton, went fastest.

Vettel then slewed off the circuit and hit the barriers heavily at Turn One in his Red Bull, climbing out unhurt.

A few minutes later, Alonso did much the same in his Ferrari. Both cars were only slightly damaged and Vettel was repaired in time to rejoin the fray for the closing minutes. —AFP

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sports SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

SEA Games: Fireworks and lasers open games PALEMBANG: The Southeast Asian Games opened yesterday with organisers hoping a spectacular fireworks and laser show would go some way to banishing the bad publicity swirling around the competition.

The opening ceremony in the South Sumatran city of Palembang thrilled the crowd as Indonesia sought to move on from the graft allegations, delayed construction and poor planning that have dogged the build-up. In Palembang, 500 kilometres (300 miles) from co-host city Jakarta, an AFP photographer earlier saw frantic work to complete roads and landscaping around the Games complex, with the bulk of the events beginning today. But with the eyes of the region watching, Indonesians were keen to see their $60 million investment in the competition rewarded with success. “I’m so happy,” said 19-year-old Eva Noviyanty a steward watching the ceremony on big screens in central Jakarta.

“People will see how beautiful Indonesia is. I think the problems are over. There were some human errors before, but now we can enjoy the sports.” The competition has been dominated by a corruption scandal and a funding row between the government and Games organisers Inasoc, which nearly saw them walk out a few weeks before the start.

But Inasoc director Ratna Irsana Marhaendra said the building delays caused by the funding shortfall have been resolved and the event will surprise the critics and delight athletes from the 11 nations vying for medals. “There are many rumours and a lot of bad news going around at the minute,” she told AFP. “It’s frustrating but I’m very optimistic everything is under control. All of the venues in Jakarta are fine and in Palembang they are ready on time for the competition.” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was the guest of honour at the opening ceremony-which was briefly interrupted by a sudden downpour.

Thousands flocked to the newly constructed Jakabaring Stadium to see choreographed performances by hundreds of dancers, fireworks and a light show by the team behind the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony display. Meanwhile, the medal hunt began in earnest on Friday with Indonesia’s Eka Octarorianus claiming a brace-in the men’s 1,000-metre sprint canoe single and double.

The nation’s strongly-fancied football team also notched up a 2-0 win over Singapore, continuing their good form after a 6-0 demolition of Cambodia early in the week. Indonesia was awarded the Games in 2006, but the government has faced criticism for failing to release cash to Inasoc to build venues, which caused an embarrassing delay to the athletes’ village in Palembang.

In an echo of India’s graft-hit Commonwealth Games last year, the ruling party’s treasurer allegedly pocketed $3 million in bribes from a firm seeking tenders, and then fled to Colombia with the spoils.

An editorial in English-language daily The Jakarta Post Friday lamented the shambolic build-up, branding it an “embarrassment”, made worse as Indonesia has hosted the competition four times-the last in 1997.

As the opening ceremony approached, the capital was bedecked with posters plugging the Games, with inflatables of the two mascots-Komodo dragons dressed in traditional batik shirts-installed at roundabouts.

Banners proclaiming “Indonesia Can Do it!” hung from bridges above the city’s notoriously gridlocked roads, while cheery volunteers swarmed the centre of the city handing out flyers for events. Teams, dressed in distinctive national colours, filled major hotels, their minds on medal glory, while dozens of reporters from the competing nations descended on the media zonewhich opened a week late.

There were concerns the capital’s roads will be made impassable by the 12,000 athletes, officials and staff expected, as well as thousands of spectators. —AFP

PALEMBANG: The Philippine delegation march during the opening ceremony of the 26th SEA Games (Southeast Asian games) in Palembang, Sumatra province yesterday. — AFP

Morrison casts spell over Singapore Open Mickelson struggles to make weekend cut SINGAPORE: Scrabble-loving Englishman James Morrison extended his surprise lead over a field packed with major-winners in the Barclays Singapore Open’s rain-curtailed second round yesterday. The unheralded 26-year-old from Weybridge was standing on the 15th fairway when thunderclaps and heavy rain forced a threehour delay, but he returned to complete a three-under-par round of 68, including a peach of a birdie on 18. Morrison held the clubhouse lead on 12-under-par 130 as a who’s who of golf jostled to survive the cut in the second round, which will be completed early today after darkness ended play at around 7:00 pm (1100 GMT).

Four-time major-winner Phil Mickelson was one shot below the projected cut of three-under-par with six holes left to play, while Irish star Padraig Harrington and Colombia’s Camilo Villegas were both four strokes from safety. Ernie Els carded a fiveunder-par 66 to lie four-under overall, while 2009 US Open champion Graeme McDowell survived a bout of stomach cramps to limp round in level-par 71, putting him on three-under for the first two days. “I felt very lethargic this morning and played the front nine like a blind man,” McDowell said.

“Then on our way to the 10th tee the hooter went for the storm, and that has probably saved me and kept me in this golf tournament, because it enabled me to get back to the clubhouse, get some fluids

in me and get some rest.” But the twin par71 courses also saw some dazzling play as 2010 British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen stormed to eight-under 63 for a share of 12th, and England’s Justin Rose hoisted himself to joint eighth with a sixunder round.

Joint overnight leader Edoardo Molinari was one shot off Morrison’s pace and

Filipino Juvic Pagunsan and Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano shared fourth.

Asia’s only major-winner Y.E. Yang was joint fifth with six holes to play. But Morrison, a sufferer of the debilitating Crohn’s disease which forces him to constantly monitor his diet, was comfortable leading the illustrious field despite only joining the European Tour last year. —AFP

SINGAPORE: This handout photo provided yesterday by the World Sport Group shows James Morrison of England during day two of the Singapore Open event at the Serapong Course on Sentosa Island in Singapore. — AFP

NBA talks break down, players to regroup NEW YORK: The NBA and its players are hitting pause in their negotiations as the union considers the league’s latest revised offer. The league offered a revised offer after nearly 11 hours of bargaining Thursday. It’s based on the possibility of a 72-game season, starting Dec. 15.

But union president Derek Fisher said it doesn’t address all the necessary system issues that are important to the players. “It does not meet us entirely on the system issues that we felt were extremely important to try and close

this thing out, and so at this point we’ve decided to end things for now, take a step back,” Fisher said. “We’ll go back as an executive committee, as a board, confer with our player reps and additional players over the next few days. Then we’ll make decisions about what our next steps will be at that point.”

NBA Commissioner David Stern said there’s really nothing left to negotiate. “There comes a time when you have to be through negotiating, and we are,” he said. “This is the best attempt by the labor relations committee and

therefore the NBA to address the concerns that the players expressed coming out of their meeting of the player representatives.”

Hunter said they would try to bring the player representatives to New York by Monday or Tuesday to decide what the next step is, and whether the current offer is acceptable.”It’s not the greatest proposal in the world, but I have an obligation to at least present it to our membership and so that’s what we’re going to do,” Hunter said. Stern said he didn’t expect the players to like every

aspect of the revised proposal, saying there were many teams, too, who don’t like aspects of the revised offer. Regardless, it will be better for players than the one that Stern had waiting: a 53-47 split of revenues in the owners’ favor, a flex cap with a hard ceiling, and salary rollbacks. Stern would not speculate on how players would react to the deal. “I would not presume to project or predict what the union would do,” he said. “I can hope and my hope is the events of next week will lead us to a 72game schedule starting on Dec. 15.” —AP

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SPORTS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Smith, Amla send S Africa to crazy victory Smith lets his bat do the talking CAPE TOWN: Captain Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla blasted centuries to send South Africa racing to a crazy eight-wicket win over an embarrassed Australia in the first cricket test yesterday.

South Africa won inside two-and-a-half days at Newlands after trailing by a hefty 188 runs on the first innings, completing a staggering turnaround in an amazing match to lead the two-test series. Smith made 101 not out - the fourth time he’s made a century in a successful fourthinnings run chase - and Amla 112 as South Africa hurried to its victory target of 236 for just two wickets before lunch on day three.

The pair shared a dominating 195-run partnership and Australia’s bowlers took just one wicket on day three in Cape Town.

This, after Australia was skittled for 47 in a game-changing collapse in its second innings on Thursday, its lowest score since the 19th century.

After that chaotic second day when 23 wickets fell and the game swung wildly in the space of four frantic hours in the afternoon, Smith and Amla restored sanity. The Proteas’ pair played fluently to take South Africa to an absurd victory. “It’s quite incredible. Yesterday was a bit of a mind boggle for all of us,” Smith said. “I think it’s probably a win I have to give to the bowlers, the way they fought back after a bad batting display and got us back in the game and being able to close it off was terrific.

“Hopefully the next match is less stressful than this one.” Led by 151 from captain Michael Clarke, Australia made 284 batting first and blasted out South Africa for 96 for its 188-run lead, seizing complete control of the match. But Australia suddenly

slumped to its worst batting score in tests since 1896 - and its fourth lowest total ever - to see its dominant position disintegrate.

“We were in a good position but we let that slide very quickly,” Clarke said. “We have no excuses for that, we played disgraceful shots. Our shot selection was horrendous, our execution with the ball today wasn’t great and we let the test match slide.

“Like I say, we have no excuses. We have a lot of work to do before the second test match.” Australia also missed two crucial chances off Amla in the final stages of a traumatic test for the Baggy Greens, dropping the right-hander off the last ball of the second day and again early yesterday when he was on 30, when Shane Watson spilled a regulation catch at first slip.

Amla sent flashing drives through the covers for his 13th test century and first against the Aussies, powering the Proteas to victory with 21 fours in a 134-ball innings. He carved three straight boundaries off Ryan Harris - the bowler who produced the two missed chances from Amla to cruise to three figures before edging a catch to Clarke in the gully off Mitchell Johnson with South Africa 14 short of victory.

But Smith saw South Africa home with his unbeaten hundred, and first test ton in a year, nudging a single through midwicket to complete a dramatic turnaround. The partnership between Amla and Smith set a record for the second wicket for South Africa in games against Australia, another milestone in a match flooded with rare moments that were mainly down to the inexplicable failure of the batters on Thursday. — AP

CAPE TOWN: South Africa’s Hashim Amla ducks a bouncer during the first Test between Australia and South Africa at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town yesterday. — AFP

Scoreboard CAPE TOWN: Scoreboard at the close on day three of the first test between South Africa and Australia at Newlands yesterday.

South Africa beat Australia by eight wickets.

Australia first innings 284 (M. Clarke 151; D. Steyn 4-55) South Africa first innings 96 (S. Watson 5-17, R. Harris 4-33) Australia second innings 47 (V. Philander 5-15) South Africa second innings (overnight 81-1) G. Smith not out 101 J. Rudolph c Haddin b Siddle 14

H. Amla c Clarke b Johnson 112 J. Kallis not out 2 Extras (lb-4, w-1, nb-2) 7 Total (two wickets, 50.2 overs) 236 Fall of wickets: 1-27 2-222 Did not bat: AB de Villiers, A. Prince, M. Boucher, V. Philander, D. Steyn, M. Morkel, I. Tahir Bowling: Harris 14-2-67-0, Siddle 12.2-049-1 (1nb), Watson 10-0-44-0, Johnson 111-61-1 (1nb, 1w), Lyon 3-1-11-0.

Pakistan thump Sri Lanka DUBAI: Leg-spinner Shahid Afridi capped an excellent return to international cricket with three wickets as Pakistan thumped Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the first day-night match here yesterday. Afridi took 3-27 in

his first match since returning from a sixmonth exile, helping Pakistan dismiss Sri Lanka for a paltry 131 in 40.3 overs before Younis Khan and Imran Farhat hit fifties to anchor the chase at Dubai stadium.

Scoreboard DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Scoreboard yesterday in the first one-day cricket international between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at Dubai International Stadium: Sri Lanka Upul Tharanga c Cheema b Hafeez 25 Tillakaratne Dilshan b Cheema 4 Kumar Sangakkara c Sarfraz b Razzaq 5 Dinesh Chandimal lbw b Afridi 28 Mahela Jayawardene c Razzaq b Ajmal 24 Mathews run out (Razzaq/Sarfraz) 10 Kosala Kulasekara c Gul b Hafeez 0 Seekkuge Prasanna st Sarfraz b Afridi 5 Lasith Malinga b Afridi 11 Suranga Lakmal st Sarfraz b Ajmal 0 Dilhara Fernando not out 0 Extras: (5lb, 13w, 1nb) 19 Total: (all out) 131 Overs: 40.3.

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-36, 3-66, 4-77, 5-104, 6-107, 7-120, 8-122, 9-129, 10-131.

Bowling: Umar Gul 5-2-11-0 (1nb, 1w), Aizaz Cheema 5-1-18-1 (5w), Abdul Razzaq 5-0-251 (2w), Mohammad Hafeez 10-0-24-2, Shahid

Afridi 9.3-0-27-3 (4w), Saeed Ajmal 6-0-21-2.

Pakistan Hafeez c Kulasekara b Lakmal 5 Imran Farhat lbw b Lakmal 50 Younus Khan not out 56 Sarfraz Ahmed not out 4 Extras: (6lb, 7w, 4nb) 17 Total: (for 2 wickets) 132 Overs: 21.5.

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-115.

Did not bat: Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema, Saeed Ajmal.

Bowling: Lasith Malinga 5-0-35-0 (4nb, 5w), Suranga Lakmal 4-0-16-2, Dilhara Fernando 5.5-0 -35-0 (2w), Seekkuge Prasanna 4-0-230, Kosala Kulasekara 3-0-17-0.

Result: Pakistan won by 8 wickets (leads 5match series 1-0).

Man of the Match: Shahid Afridi.

Pakistan lost Mohammad Hafeez (five) in the second over of their innings but Farhat added 103 for the second wicket stand with Younis Khan (56 not out) to ensure a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Farhat hit legspinner Seekkuge Prasanna for his seventh boundary to reach his ninth one-day fifty but with only 17 needed he was trapped leg-before wicket by paceman Suranga Lakmal for 50. Younis, whose fifty was his 45th in one-dayers, took the team past the target in just 21.5 overs. He hit seven boundaries during his 57-ball knock.

Pakistan were on course for a comprehensive win thanks in large part to Afridi, who finished with 3-27 and was ably supported

by Saeed Ajmal (2-21) and Mohammad Hafeez (2-24) as Sri Lanka lost their last seven wickets for 54 after opting to bat.

Dinesh Chandimal top-scored with 28 while opener Tharanga Paranavitna (25) and Mahela Jayawardene (24) were other notable scorers but none went on to make a big score against some lethal spin bowling. Sri Lanka lost Tillakaratne Dilshan in the second over of the match, bowled by paceman Aizaz Cheema for four.

With their captain back in the pavilion, Sri Lanka did not recover as wickets continued to fall, in-form Kumar Sangakkara falling for five after struggling through 24 deliveries. Chandimal and Paranavitana added 30 for the third wicket before

DUBAI: Pakistan’s cricketer Younis Khan plays a shot during the first One Day International (ODI) match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the Dubai cricket stadium in Dubai yesterday. — AFP Pakistan’s spinners ran riot, grabbing the last seven wickets for a mere 54 runs.

Afridi, who only last month decided to go back on a decision to retire from international cricket in protest at being sacked as one-day captain, struck in his first over of the match. — AFP

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Young Russians lead Japan GP ice dance SAPPORO: Russia’s 2010 world junior champions Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov topped the ice dance short programme at the NHK Trophy yesterday as they chased their first senior Grand Prix title.

Dancing to a mix of samba and rhumba music, they earned a maximum level four each for their synchronised twizzle and rotational lift and scored 61.83 points on the opening day in the fourth stop of the six-round Grand Prix series.

The Canadian duo of Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, who finished second at Skate Canada two weeks ago, trailed the young Russians in second spot at 60.07. American siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani, who earned the silver medals at the Cup of China last week, were third at 59.02 with the title-deciding free skate left to be contested today.

It was the season’s first Grand Prix outing for 17year-old Ilinykh and Katsalapov, 20, who finished third at last year’s Cup of Russia. Each competitor can take part in two GP events and the top six in each category will fight it out in the Grand Prix final.

Big name ice dancers-including Canada’s Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir as well as world champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States-have already started their season with a victory at home. “We’ve seen all those couples (in action) and it makes you work harder and harder,” said Ilinykh. “We wanted to start our season as early as possible. A week ago, we were so excited to start competing. It was impossible to wait.”

Weaver and Poje, fifth at last season’s world championships, vowed to fight back in the free skate. “We have to push ourselves to the limit and there are some on-days and some off-days,” said Poje, 24. “Today it was a bit of an off-day but we’ll make a strong comeback tomorrow with more fight to put out a great performance.” — AFP

SAPPORO: Russian skater Alena Leonova performs during the women’s short program in the NHK Trophy, the fourth event of the six-stage ISU figure skating Grand Prix series, in Sapporo, northern Japan, yesterday. — AFP

PARIS: British Andy Murray returns the ball to Czech’s Tomas Berdych during their quarter final match of the Paris Tennis Masters Series indoor tournament yesterday at the Bercy Palais-Omnisport (POPB) in Paris. — AFP

Berdych ends Murray’s long winning streak Paris Masters PARIS: Tomas Berdych outlasted second seed Andy Murray in a marathon battle of missed opportunities yesterday to earn a 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 trip into the semi-finals of the Paris Masters. The frustrated Murray ended with a forehand wide on a second match point for fifth seed Berdych, who qualified into the field for the year-end World Tour Finals starting a week from tomorrow in London. The quarter-final struggle lasted for nearly three-and-a-quarter hours, with Murray missing on 15 of 17 break point chances and Berdych managing to break twice from 14 opportunities.

Murray will now head home to London to prepare for the eight-man season wrap-up without having ever reached a semi-final at the Bercy arena. Berdych now stands 3-1 over Murray in their series, winning their last three dating to 2006 and including a victory last year at Roland Garros. Berdych, the winner in Paris in 2005, will play either Roger Federer or Argentine Juan Monaco in today’s semi-finals. Off court, top seed Novak Djokovic pulled out to hand Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a walkover into the last four due to a shoulder injury. The Serb world number one said his shoulder had worsened after his 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over compatriot Viktor Troicki on Thursday. “Sadly I have to inform you that I have withdrawn from the further tournament,” Djokovic announced on his official website. “I have pushed myself to the limit by playing, and after the match yesterday my shoulder got worse.

“For this reason, I have to put my health first and withdraw even though my urges as a professional player are making me want to play until the last drop of energy. “I am very sorry for all of you who bought tickets and wanted to come and watch me play. My season has been long and tiring, I played all of my matches at my highest level, and now my body is aching for recovery. Hoping for your understanding and support.”

ATP officials said yesterday that Djokovic flew directly to his Monte Carlo base to begin treatment by the same spe-

cialists who somehow got him fit for a Paris start after reinjuring the shoulder in last weekend’s Basel semi-final loss to Kei Nishikori.

With players for the eight-man World Tour Finals in London due in on Thursday, the timetable gives Djokovic at least six treatment days. Should he get a Monday (November 21) start at the year-ender, he would have ten days to aim for fitness for the problem which also forced him to quit at mid-match in the August Cincinnati final against Murray. Djokovic, who has notched up 10 titles this year including successes at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, on Wednesday laughed off suggestions that he only turned up for the Paris Masters in order to avoid missing out on a $1.6 million windfall.

Djokovic’s participation was cast into doubt by his shoulder injury and, having already pulled out of last month’s Shanghai Masters, another withdrawal would have cost him his lucrative share of the ATP bonus pool. “If I know that I’m physically good enough to be competing, I will compete. If I don’t, I will not compete,” he said at the time. — AFP

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

Friendlies - Nationals Wales v Norway Al Jazeera Sport +4

18:00

England v Spain Al Jazeera Sport +2 Al Jazeera Sport 2 HD

20:15

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Don’t write off England, insists Del Bosque LONDON: Spain coach Vicente del Bosque insists England don’t deserve to be written off as Euro 2012 alsorans because they remain a leading force on the international scene. Del Bosque brings his Spain stars to Wembley today for a glamour friendly that is likely to give England a painful reminder of how far they have fallen behind the reigning world and European champions.

While Spain swept through their qualifying campaign for Euro 2012 with eight wins from eight matches, England limped over the line in far less convincing fashion. Xavi, Andres Iniesta, David Villa and company will travel to Poland and Ukraine next year as firm favourites to retain the European crown, while Fabio Capello’s England have already been dismissed as no-hopers.

However, Del Bosque claims the criticism of Capello and his players is too harsh. The former Real Madrid boss is impressed by England’s squad and says the gap in class between the sides is not as wide as some believe.

“I think maybe the English are being a little too modest about themselves. They have a great national team, with pace and power,” Del Bosque said yesterday. “It will

be a big challenge as ever playing against a good England side. “It is true to say we are enjoying a good period of form and success in Spain but I wouldn’t say the differences (between the teams) are that large.” Del Bosque may well have been taking the diplomatic approach as he was on English soil, but even though Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Jack Wilshere are ruled out, with captain John Terry also unlikely to play following the storm over his alleged racist abuse of QPR defender Anton Ferdinand, the Spain boss still expects a tough test.

“Whoever England line up with, whether it is an experimental side that Fabio puts out, we have nothing but good feelings about Fabio in Spain,” Del Bosque added. “He will pick the right side and it will be a strong side whether Rooney is playing or not.”

Del Bosque’s respect for English football culture is clear to see and he believes a key factor in Spain’s dominance in recent years has been the presence of Spanish stars in the Premier League. The likes of Cesc Fabregas, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres and Jose Reina have all developed into world-class talents in England and del Bosque said: “It’s

been vital that we have had such a crop of players who have played in the Premier League and who have played in England at such a young

LONDON: Spain’s coach Vicente del Bosque, center, talks to his players during a training session at Wembley Stadium in London, yesterday.

Spain is to play England today in a friendly soccer match at Wembley Stadium. — AP age. “It’s one of the main factors I always say to people that has helped us have so much success. “Having players in so many different countries has been very important. It

London awarded 2017 world championships MONACO: London was chosen to host the 2017 world athletics championships yesterday after beating Doha for the right to stage the global track and field showpiece for the first time.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) announced the decision after a headto-head battle in which London won by 16 votes to 10 among the council members.

“We’ve worked really hard for this,” UK Athletics chief Ed Warner told Reuters. “I’m the optimist in our camp and I’ve been optimistic all along.”

London’s bid team, including 2012 Olympics chief Sebastian Coe, Sports Minister Hugh Robertson, London Mayor Boris Johnson and former Olympic champion Denise Lewis, hugged each other after the decision was read out by IAAF president Lamine Diack.

“I’m more than thrilled,” said Sydney Games heptathlon champion Lewis. “For me this is all about athletics and the legacy we needed for our sport, for the Olympic stadium and its life beyond 2012. This is the right result. “It has been a team effort. To win something like this you rely on everyone to do a great presentation, we worked hard... we knew London had great strength and I think those are the things that outweighed (Doha’s bid) in the end.” Both bids had very different messages, with London urging the governing body to bring

the showpiece back to its “traditional heartland and fan base” while Doha proclaimed the Middle East was a ripe new market that would help the IAAF grow track and field and safeguard the global appeal of the sport. Oil-rich Qatar, which will host the 2022 soccer World Cup finals, offered the IAAF huge cash incentives totalling over $236 million as part of their bid.

It proposed underwriting an $80 million budget for the event, spending $120 million on construction, $29 million on guaranteeing sponsorship for all events leading up to 2017 and covering the $7.2 million prize fund

helped us shed that complex we always used to have playing at international level.”

Spain have won their last three

for the championships. London also offered to underwrite the prize money, while claiming it could raise $1 billion in sponsorship revenues. Doha’s bid committee vice-chairman and IAAF vice-president Dahlan Al-Hamad congratulated the victorious London team. “The main thing is that it was a fair battle, we wish them good luck and we believe that in sport there is winning and losing, but at the end of the day all of us are working for the good of the sport,” he told Reuters in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel where the IAAF Council held their vote. — Reuters

LONDON: In this March 24, 2011 file photo provided by the Olympic Delivery Authority London 2012, an aerial view of the Olympic Stadium with a newly turfed event field, London is shown. London will stage the 2017 world championships, beating Doha for track’s showcase event and assuring an athletics legacy from next year’s Olympics. — AP

meetings with England, with the most recent of those victories coming in Seville in 2009, but this is their first visit to Wembley since the 1996 European Championships. — AFP

Scotland win over Cyprus 2-1 LARNACA: Kenny Miller and Jamie Mackie scored in either half to give Scotland a 2-1 win over Cyprus in a friendly yesterday.

Scotland took the lead in the 23rd minute when Miller controlled a high cross and his arching, 18-yard shot sailed over Cyprus goalkeeper Antonis Georgallides and into the top right corner of the net.

The second came in the 57th when Mackie picked up a poor clearance attempt by the Cypriot defense and his low shot from the top of the box found the corner of the net. Cyprus pulled one back two minutes later when Dimitris Christofi dribbled into the box and fired a low, hard shot past goalkeeper Allan McGregor.

Scotland dominated possession but didn’t overwhelm the Cypriots, who hit the woodwork twice in the first half. Cyprus could have opened the scoring in 17th when striker Giorgios Efrem chested down a long pass at the top of the Scottish box, but McGregor pushed his shot onto the crossbar.

A 25-yard blast from an unmarked Sinisa Dobrasinovic in the 26th bounced off McGregor’s right post. Jamie Mackie again came close in the 32nd with a solo effort, dribbling past three Cypriot defenders, but his high left-footed shot was pushed over the crossbar

by Georgallides.

Scotland almost scored two minutes later but Miller failed to push the ball into an open Cypriot net after clashing with defender Stelios Parpas in a goalmouth scramble. Mackie’s close-range shot in the 53rd after a through ball from Miller was blocked at the last second by a Cypriot defender. In a similar situation three minutes later at the opposite end, Christophe Berra blocked Dobrasinovic’s 10-yard shot.

Marinos Satsias’ long-range shot in the 81st just sailed over the Scottish crossbar while Scotland substitute Grant Hanley’s 18-yard shot in injury time was saved by goalkeeper Tasos Kixsas, who replaced Georgallides at the start of the second half. — AP

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Czechs beat Montenegro in Euro playoff tie PRAGUE: The Czech Republic beat Montenegro 2-0 in the first leg of the Euro 2012 playoffs here yesterday with second-half goals from winger Vaclav Pilar and sweeper Tomas Sivok.

Czech captain Tomas Rosicky set up Pilar for his debut goal in the national team in the 63rd minute and the 23-year-old sent a superb right-foot shot across the box and into the net past diving Montenegro keeper Mladen Bozovic.

Besiktas sweeper Sivok added another with a stoppage-time header from Rosicky’s free kick that put the Czechs in a better position ahead of the second leg scheduled for November 15 in the Montenegro capital of Podgorica. Montenegro, who held England to two draws in their qualifying group, created the first scoring chance of the game but

Juventus striker Marko Vucinic sent a volley from seven metres above the bar. The Czechs dominated the first half in the chilly evening with the temperature just above zero centigrade. Arsenal midfielder Rosicky was the mastermind behind most of their efforts, but his teammates failed to capitalise on his passes in the first half. Ten minutes from halftime, Petr Jiracek blasted the ball headed by the Czechs’ lone striker Tomas Pekhart above the bar from near the penalty spot in the home side’s best chance. The visitors put the hosts under pressure as the second half started but a Simon Vukcevic shot from 20 metres was cleared by Czech keeper Petr Cech and Stevan Jovetic sent a volley wide. Cech was in the starting lineup despite doubts about his health after the Chelsea keeper broke his nose in a clash with

teammate Ashley Cole in Chelsea’s 1-0 win at Blackburn last Saturday. He played with a special carbon-fibre mask-an addition to the headgear he has been wearing following a skull fracture five years ago.

Later in the second half, Jiracek narrowly missed the top left corner of the Montenegro goal as the Czechs started to gain the upper hand. Ten minutes from time, Pekhart failed to capitalise on a Bozovic blunder as the Montenegro keeper set him up for a header in front of an empty net. The Czechs are close to making their fifth European championships in a row, while Montenegro, the youngest UEFA member that emerged in 2006 as the country gained independence on Serbia, are eyeing their first major tournament ever. — AFP

Bosnia, Portugal draw in Euro 2012 playoff To meet again in Lisbon for the decider

PRAGUE: Czech Republic’s Tomas Sivok, second right, challenges for the ball with Stefan Savic, second left, from Montenegro during their first leg Euro 2012 play off soccer match in Prague, Czech Republic, yesterday. — AP

Croatia on brink of berth at Euro 2012 ISTANBUL: Croatia are firm favourites to qualify for Euro 2012 after a classy 3-0 win in the first leg of their play-off against Turkey here yesterday. Ivica Olic, Mario Mandzukic and Vedran Corluka did the damage to give the Croats a priceless win away from home and give Slavan Bilic’s side the upper hand with the return leg in Zagreb on Tuesday.

Croatia turned up in Istanbul with revenge on their minds after being knocked out of Euro 2008 at the quarter-finals stage on penalties by their play-off rivals. Croatia entered the play-offs after being edged out by Euro 2004 champions Greece in their qualifying group, while Turkey came in a country mile behind runaway leaders Germany in their group.

The visitors suffered a scare in their final training session when Tottenham defender Corluka injured himself but he took to the pitch wearing a special protective boot. Croatia got off to the best possible start, racing into a two minute lead when Bayern Munich striker Olic tapped in Corluka’s cross from the left corner flag, with Turkey keeper Volkan Demirel found wanting. That was Croatia’s fastest ever goal in Euro qualifying. With Turkey in shock Croatia’s dream beginning almost got even better when Olic rose highest in the box only for Mandzukic’s shot to go wide. Corluka and his Tottenham teammate Luka Modric were causing Turkey all sorts of problems down the left. Turkey began to make their presence felt in midfield but just after the half hour mark Croatia doubled their lead on an electric counter-attack down the right.

Darijo Srna sent in a peach of a cross with Modric’s shot blocked. The ball found its way over the right flank again and Srna tried again, this time Wolfsburg forward Mandzukic heading in by the far post. Croatia almost added another on the stroke of half time, denied only by a great save from Demirel who rushed out to block Olic after the Bayern man was played in

by Mandzukic. At the start of the second half Turkey manager Guus Hiddink replaced right back Gokhan Gonul with attacking midfielder Gokhan Tore as the wily tactician attempted to save his side’s floundering Euro 2012 bid. — AFP

ZENICA: Bosnia-Herzegovina held Portugal to a 0-0 draw yesterday, leaving their European Championship playoff wide open ahead of next week’s return leg in Lisbon. In a game that produced few goal scoring chances, Portugal had the best of them although Cristiano Ronaldo squandered several openings.

Bosnia was better in the second half, and came close to breaking the deadlock through Edin Dzeko.

Portugal, a Euro 2004 finalist and Euro 2000 semifinalist, has shown patchy form in its effort to reach next year’s event.

Bosnia, aiming to qualify for its first major international tournament, is unbeaten in its last seven games and has conceded only one goal during that run. It was missing three regular defenders through injury and suspension against the favored Portuguese.

The countries meet again in Lisbon on Tuesday for the decider. The Portuguese won here 1-0 in a playoff for the 2010 World Cup, when it went through 2-0 on aggregate.

Yesterday’s game was no easier for the Portuguese than the 2009 encounter, especially on a lumpy pitch that led Portugal to lodge an official protest.

Portugal’s first fluent move came in the ninth minute. Nani crossed from the right flank to the left where Ronaldo headed down on the edge of the penalty area for Raul Meireles to test Asmir Begovic with a volley.

In a similar move 10 minutes later, Joao Moutinho set up striker Helder Postiga who skewed his shot. The Portuguese couldn’t come up with more because they attacked with long downfield passes instead of advancing with the short passing game that has served them so well.

Bosnia was limited up front. The home team repeatedly sought out Dzeko, but it mishit too many passes and the forward was closely marked

by Pepe in a standout perfomance.

Senad Lulic delivered Bosnia’s first shot on goal - and its only one in the first half - in the 35th minute.

Ronaldo should have done better when he led a break in the 15th, but he held on to the ball too long and then shot weakly. Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio fumbled a cross on the halfhour but recovered before Adnan Zahirovic could pounce.

Ronaldo had a clear chance in the 50th when he received the ball unmarked on the left side of the Bosnia area before hitting his shot wide. Bosnia had to wait until the 72nd for its second shot of the game when Dzeko tried his luck from 30 meters out. Two minutes later Postiga against missed the target from short range, and then Ronaldo failed to capitalize on another break. Senijad Ibricic’s misdirected shot when he was unmarked at back post heralded

a tense final 15 minutes that brought Bosnia’s best chance as Dzeko went one-on-one with Patricio but struck his shot wide.

Lineups: Bosnia: Asmir Begovic; Senad Lulic, Sanel Jahic, Emir Spahic, Sejad Salihovic (Vedad Ibisevic 68th); Elvir Rahimic, Haris Medunjanin (Darko Maletic 68th), Miralem Pjanic, Zvjezdan Misimovic (Senijad Ibricic 86th); Edin Dzeko, Adnan Zahirovic.

Portugal: Rui Patricio, Joao Pereira, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Fabio Coentrao; Miguel Veloso, Joao Moutinho, Raul Meireles (Ruben Micael 82nd); Cristiano Ronaldo, Helder Postiga (Hugo Almeida 65th), Nani. — AP

ZENICA: Portugal’s goalkeeper Rui Pedro dos Santos Patricio (L) saves a ball after a shot by Bosnia’s Adnan Zahirovic (C) during their Euro 2012 play-off first leg football match Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Portugal in Zenica, north of capital Sarajevo, yesterday. — AFP

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KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Yousef Nasser (R) challenges Lebanon’s Ali AlSaadi during their 2014 World Cup Asian zone qualifying football match in Kuwait City yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Japan, Uzbekistan, Jordan advance Lebanon beat Kuwait in WCup qualifie

SINGAPORE: Japan, Uzbekistan and Jordan became the first sides through to the fourth round of Asian qualifying for the World Cup yesterday but Australia will have to wait to join them after suffering a surprise 1-0 loss to Oman.

South Korea also edged towards one of the 10 places in the fourth round when they won 2-0 away at United Arab Emirates while Saudi Arabia recorded a much-needed 3-0 home win over Thailand to get their campaign back on track.

Late goals by Lee Keun-ho and captain Park Chu-young left the Koreans in a position to advance from Group B on Tuesday if they beat lowly Lebanon.

Earlier in Dushanbe, Japan thrashed Tajikistan 4-0 before Uzbekistan beat North Korea 1-0 at home to send the duo through from Group C with 10 points from four matches.

In Kuwait, Lebanon beat Kuwait 1-0 yesterday to move into second place in Group B of the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup. Mahmoud el Ali scored the winner after 57

minutes. Abbas Atwi collected the ball on the edge of the area from Ahmed Zreik before sliding a pass through to El Ali, who lifted the ball over the oncoming Nawaf al Khaldi.

Kuwait dominated the first half but was unable to make a breakthrough despite early injuries to Lebanon defenders Youssef Mohammad and Abbas Kanaan in the opening 10 minutes. Abdulaziz Ashwan caused trouble down the left hand side, latching onto long balls in the first half but Lebanon held firm. El Ali and Roda Antar both went close after the break as Lebanon made frequent counterattacks in the closing stages before securing all three points.

The win moved Lebanon onto seven points from four games, three points behind group leader South Korea. Kuwait remains on five points, while United Arab Emirates is last with no points.

In the fourth round the 10 teams will be split in to two groups of five with the top two from each guaranteed a place at the 2014 finals in Brazil.

Jordan will be one of the sides looking for-

ward to the fourth round draw after they booked their place with a 2-0 home win over Singapore to maintain their 100 percent record in Group A. They look set to be joined by former Asian champions Iraq who beat China 1-0 for the second time in a month to leave the world’s most populous country on the brink of failure.

Iraqi skipper Younus Mahmood was again the thorn in the side of Jose Antonio Camacho’s side as he grabbed a second-half winner for the ‘home side’ in the Group A match played in Qatar because of security fears.

Asian Cup runners-up Australia could have been first through from Group D but they stuttered to their first defeat of the campaign in Muscat despite enjoying long spells of possession.

Oman forward Amad Al Hosni scored the only goal of the game as the Socceroos produced a disappointing display, reverting to long ball tactics as they chased the game following the 18th minute strike.

“We definitely didn’t play the way we nor-

mally play,” Australia coach Holger Osieck told Fox Sports.

“We lost a game which we normally shouldn’t lose against an opponent who is definitely inferior to us.”

Australia still lead their group on nine points ahead of the Saudis (five) with the Socceroos playing third-placed Thailand (four) in Bangkok on Tuesday when victory will seal a fourth round berth. Oman remain last on four points.

Three-times Asian champions Iran remain top of Group E but only after a stoppage time equaliser by Mojtaba Jabari grabbed them a 1-1 draw in Bahrain yesterday.

Qatar are level with Iran on eight points from four matches after they eased past Indonesia 4-0 in Doha with former Asian Player of the Year Ibrahim Khalfan scoring twice.

The 2022 World Cup hosts face Bahrain at the air-conditioned Al Sadd stadium in Doha on Tuesday in a match which will have a big say in who will reach the fourth round from the group. — Agencies