tennis
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Assembly agrees to delay grillings MPs allow period of progress By Nihal Sharaf
Interior to the next round of the 14th legislative term in October upon the request of the Cabinet.
Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The National Assembly on Tuesday agreed to postpone the grilling motions against the Minister of Communications and the Minister of
The Assembly, however, assigned the Interior and Defense Affairs Committee to investigate a security contract between Kuwait and “‘Senstar’ security company based in Canada which is entirely owned by the Israeli security company ‘Magal’ in violation of a law (21/1964) on the boycott of Israel”.
Saudi women sit in ‘Shura’
MPs Hussein Al-Qallaf and Faisal AlDuwaisan argued that their grilling motions contain vital arguments and grave evidence of violations committed in both ministries that should be discussed. They stressed that their intentions are unlike the “annulled Majority Bloc” and that the interpellations truly seek to “ensure that the country’s interests, security and dignity are safeguarded”. Al-Duwaisan especially stressed that “the people can never accept any dealings with the Zionist entity”. The government, meanwhile, assured that it will look into and address the matters cited in the inquires and that it respects the right of lawmakers to file such motions. Absent from the session was Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud AlSabah who is out of the country for medical
RIYADH, Feb 19, (Agencies): Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah on Tuesday swore in the country’s first female members of the Shura Council, an appointed body that advises on new laws, in a move that has riled conservative clerics in the Islamic monarchy. Abdullah, who has not been seen on television since shortly after a back operation in November, was shown on state media sitting in a palace chamber to give a short speech as he swore in the new council members. King Abdullah is seen as having pushed to cautiously advance the role of women in Saudi society. The health of the king, who turns 90 this year, is closely watched in the world’s top oil
Continued on Page 12
Continued on Page 12
Court upholds Sabah death sentence
Opinion
Saudi King Abdullah gladdens our hearts By Ahmed Al-Jarallah Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
THE point of view of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz always serves as a safe haven for Arab-Gulf citizens. His magnanimous speech during the inauguration of the Shura (Advisory) Council gladdened the hearts of the people. The Arab and expatriate observers regard the council as a landmark in the history of the Kingdom due to the commendable initiative taken by the monarch who has granted women the right to join the institution. The appointment of 30 women to the council is an unprecedented step that reflects the commitment of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to work towards building a modern nation. This means the King acknowledges the essential role that women play in nation-building. He believes women deserve fair treatment, because “they are virtuous mothers, sisters, daughters and wives.” He was once quoted as saying that the woman is a lifepartner, so he took a historic decision to honor women by putting them in their rightful position within the Saudi society. The achievements, which were made possible through the Continued on Page 12 Email: ahmed@aljarallah.com
A handout picture released by Syria’s opposition-run Aleppo Media Centre (AMC) shows Syrians inspecting destruction following an apparent surface-to-surface missile strike on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Feb 19. Fourteen children were among at least 31 people killed in an apparent surface-to-surface missile strike on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo late on Feb 18, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. (AFP) — See Also Page 12
Burgan Bank posts ’12 profit Details Page 39
Kidnappers from Nigeria: Hollande
7 French tourists abducted YAOUNDE/DAKAR, Feb 19, (RTRS): Islamist militants from neighbouring Nigeria abducted a French family of seven, including four children, in northern Cameroon on Tuesday, French President Francois Hollande said. The risk of attacks on French nationals and interests in Africa has risen since France sent forces into Mali last month to help oust Islamist rebels occupying the country’s north. “They (French family) have been taken by a terrorist group that we know and that is in Nigeria,” Hollande told reporters during a visit to Greece. Armed men on motorcycles intercepted the family in their car at 0700 GMT and forced them to drive to the nearby Nigerian border, an aide to the governor of the province told Reuters, and the four-wheel drive vehicle was later found abandoned. Islamist radicals in northern Nigeria now pose the biggest threat to stability in Africa’s top oil-producing state. Western governments are concerned that Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamists may link up with groups elsewhere in a region with poor-
ly secured borders, especially al Qaeda’s North African wing AQIM given the conflict in nearby Mali. The seven French nationals were abducted in Dabanga about 10 km (six miles) from the Nigerian border near the Waza national park, where they had spent the night in the extreme north of Cameroon, an area where Westerners often go for holidays. The parents of the family, which included two boys and two girls, worked in a French firm based in Cameroon, Hollande said. It was the first case of foreigners being seized in the mostly Muslim north of Cameroon, a former French colony. “I see the hand of Boko Haram in that part of Cameroon. France is in Mali, and it will continue until its mission is completed,” Hollande said. France intervened in Mali last month when Islamist rebels, after hijacking a rebellion by ethnic Tuareg MNLA separatists to seize control of the north in the confusion following a military coup, pushed south towards the capital Bamako. Eight French citizens are already being Continued on Page 12
Sixth victim dies
New SARS-like virus is well adapted to infecting humans LONDON, Feb 19, (Agencies): A new virus that emerged in the Middle East last year and has killed five people is well adapted to infecting humans but could potentially be treated with drugs that boost the immune system, scientists said on Tuesday. The virus, called novel coronavirus or NCoV, is from the same family as the common cold and as SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. There have been 12 confirmed cases worldwide — including in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Britain — and five patients have died. In one of the first published studies about NCoV, which was unknown in humans until it was identified in September 2012, researchers said it could penetrate the lining of passageways in the lungs and evade the immune system as easily as a cold virus can. This shows it “grows very efficiently” in human cells and suggests it is well-equipped for infecting humans, said Volker Thiel of the Institute of Immunobiology at Kantonal Hospital in Switzerland, who led the study. NCoV was identified when the World Health Organisation issued an international alert in September saying a completely new virus had infected a Qatari man in Britain who had recently been in Saudi Arabia. Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that includes those that cause the common cold as well as the one that caused SARS —
which emerged in China in 2002 and killed about a 10th of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide. Symptoms of both NCoV and SARS include severe respiratory illness, fever, coughing and breathing difficulties. Of the 12 cases confirmed so far, four were in Britain, one was a Qatari patient in Germany, two were in Jordan and five in Saudi Arabia. Scientists are not sure where the virus comes from, but say one possibility is it came from animals. Experts at Britain’s Health Protection Agency say preliminary scientific analysis suggests its closest relatives are bat coronaviruses. What is also unclear is what the true prevalence of the virus is — since it is possible that the 12 cases seen so far are the most severe, and there may be more people who have contracted the virus with milder symptoms so are not picked up. “We don’t know whether the cases (so far) are the tip of the iceberg, or whether many more people are infected without showing severe symptoms,” said Thiel, who worked with a team of scientists from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark. “We don’t have enough cases to have a full picture of the variety of symptoms.” Thiel said that although the virus may Continued on Page 12
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The Court of Appeals presided by Counselor Anwar Al-Anzi recently upheld the verdict of the Criminal Court and sentenced Sheikh Faisal Al-Sabah to capital punishment for murdering Sheikh
Basil Al-Sabah, reports Al-Rai daily. Case papers indicate the accused had shot to death from close range the wheelchair-bound victim in his home. The Criminal Court on Oct 13, Continued on Page 12
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‘Sheikh Nawaf an exemplary leader’ Kuwait marks 7th ’versary of CP assumption of office KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19, (KUNA): His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah will remain an exemplary leader for relentless giving and faithful service for Kuwait and its natives who hold identical sentiments of affection and appreciation towards him, affirmed Chairman of Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) Sheikh Mubarak Al-Duaij AlIbrahim Al-Sabah on the occasion of HH Sheikh Nawaf’s seventh anniversary of his swearingin as Heir Apparent. Sheikh Nawaf is one of the distinguished national leaders who exerted great efforts and effectively contributed to the march of development, witnessed in
Kuwait in the past century, said Sheikh Mubarak Al-Duaij, also the DirectorGeneral of the national news agency. Marking the occasion, when Sheikh Nawaf was sworn in as the Crown Prince at the parliament building on February 20th, 2006, the KUNA chief stated that His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah’s AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s nomination of Sheikh Nawaf to be the Heir Apparent reflected Sheikh Sabah’s desire to choose a skilled leader who devoted himself for the service of the homeland, devoted his life for action and laying the foundations for promoting many of the state apparatuses and institutions. The Crown Prince has been for years the best companion of HH the Amir in the process of managing state affairs, tackling citizens’ needs and ensuring rapid and robust process of constructing a modern state, aspired by all the natives of the country. Sheikh Nawaf has always been the solid right arm of HH Sheikh Sabah and a faithful partner in stances and accomplishments,
made during a critical phase of the history of the region, where challenges have been mounting at various levels. His Highness, Sheikh Mubarak adds, enjoys traits of the successful leader, of experience and keen eye. His character blends calmness with tolerance, modesty, might, firmness, decisiveness and ability to tackle various issues. These features of Sheikh Nawaf became richer as he accumulated abundant experience due to his service in the key posts for long years, starting in 1962 when he was named the Governor of Hawally, which he transformed into a distinguished touristcommercial governorate. Sheikh Mubarak noted that Sheikh Nawaf manifested his true devotion to the homeland, particularly when he served as minister of interior starting in 1978. He is distinguished with his fatherly sponsorship of all natives of Kuwait, his keenness on guiding them for service and preservation of Kuwait. Sheikh Nawaf is not only an eminent witness of Kuwait’s modernization but also an
active participant in its development and construction, affirmed the Minister of Information in a statement marking the seventh anniversary of his proclamation as Crown Prince of the State of Kuwait. Life of HH Sheikh Nawaf depicts modern history of Kuwait, said Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud Al-Sabah, also the Minister of State for Youth Affairs, in a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on the national occasion which falls Wednesday. Sheikh Nawaf’s professional life coincided with the independence of the State of Kuwait. Being named as Governor of Hawally in 1962, he succeeded in management of the governorate affairs and expanding it to turn into a vast province. HH Sheikh Nawaf was a witness and participant in the renaissance of Kuwait in the early 60s, shouldering at the time responsibility of administrating many posts of the country’s key sectors of the state, said Sheikh Salman in the exclusive statement to KUNA.
KUNA photos
Top: The Deputy Amir with Dr Mohammad Mohsin AlBusairi. Above: The Deputy Amir being presented with an Islamic encyclopedia.
Deputy Amir receives guests His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received at Sief Palace Tuesday Dr. Mohammad Mohsin Al-Busairi. HH also received Awwad Buzai’a Al-Khaldi, Bashaer Abdulwahid Al-Awadhi and Faisal Awwad Al-Khaldi, as they presented Sheikh Nawaf with an Islamic encyclopedia. HH Sheikh Nawaf then received Musaad Thamer AlShammari, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kuwait Journalists Union, who gifted HH with a copy of “Sabah AlAhmad.. the Leader” book. HH Sheikh Nawaf thanked his visitors and wished them continued success. (KUNA)
Dearth of Kuwaiti imams KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has approved a plan to encourage Kuwaiti youths pursue a career as Imams by providing financial incentives, reports Al-Qabas daily. According to sources, the number of Kuwaiti Imams recruited does not exceed 130, which is only nine percent of the Imams required to be distributed among 1,400 mosques of the country. They revealed that the Minister of Justice, and Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Shareedah Al-Moasherji will soon submit proposals to the Cabinet in this regard, including the proposal to increase their salaries by 20 percent.
Kuwait Today Civil ID info: 1889988 Site for checking travel ban www.kuwaitcourts.gov.kw/mojweb/NGeneral/Main.jsp
Prayer Timings Fajr ................................. 05:04 am Sunrise .................................. 06:23 Zohr ....................................... 12:02 Asr ....................................03:15 pm Maghrib ................................ 05:41 Isha ...................................... 06:58
Weather Expected weather for the next 24 hours: By Night: Cool with light to moderate north easterly becoming north westerly wind with speed of 08-30 km/h. By Day: Sunny with moderate wind in general north westerly to northerly wind, with speed of 20-35 km/h. Station
Kuwait City Kuwait Airport Nuwaiseeb Wafra Salmi Abdaly Jalaliyah Failaka Ahmadi Port Qaruh Island Umm Al-Maradem
Max Rec
Min Exp
24 24 23 24 23 26 24 23 21 21 21
16 12 14 12 12 10 12 14 17 18 17
4-days forecast – Weather Wednesday, Feb 20 Expected weather....................sunny Max Temp ...................................25C Min Temp ....................................12C Wind Direction .........................NW-N Wind Speed ....................20-35 km/h Thursday, Feb 21 Expected weather....................sunny Max Temp ...................................26C Min Temp ....................................11C Wind Direction.............................NW Wind Speed ....................08-30 km/h Friday, Feb 22 Expected weather clouds to increase Max Temp ...................................26C Min Temp ....................................11C Wind Direction ....................NW-VRB Wind Speed ....................06-26 km/h Saturday, Feb 23 Expected weather.partly cloudy + rising dust Max Temp ...................................28C Min Temp ....................................14C Wind Direction..............................SE Wind Speed ....................20-45 km/h
Marine Forecast Station South Dolphin
South Dolphin Ahmadi L/V Beacon M28
Max Min Sea Today’s Exp Rec Surf Waves Ht Direction 39 31 31 5ft SE
21 15 16 4ft 17 08 - 4ft 25 16 17 4ft
SE SE SE
Beacon N6 Qaruh Island Umm Al-Maradem Sea island Buoy20 Salmiyah
21 21 21 16 20
13 - 4ft 18 18 4ft 17 - 4ft 17 4ft 15 - 4ft
SE SE SE SE SE
4-days forecast - Marine Wednesday, Feb 20 Expected weather....................sunny Sea state............................moderate Wave height ..............................3-5 ft Max Temp ...................................25C Min Temp ....................................12C Wind Direction .........................NW-N Wind Speed ....................20-35 km/h Thursday, Feb 21 Expected weather....................sunny Sea state ..............slight to moderate Wave height ..............................1-4 ft Max Temp ...................................26C Min Temp ....................................11C Wind Direction.............................NW Wind Speed ....................08-30 km/h Friday, Feb 22 Expected weather clouds to increase Sea state ..............slight to moderate Wave height ..............................1-3 ft Max Temp ...................................26C Min Temp ....................................11C Wind Direction ....................NW-VRB Wind Speed ....................06-26 km/h Saturday, Feb 23 Expected weather.partly cloudy + rising dust Sea state .............moderate to rough Wave height ..............................3-7 ft Max Temp ...................................28C Min Temp ....................................14C Wind Direction..............................SE Wind Speed ....................20-45 km/h
Tide times at Shuwaikh Port 1st high tide:.............................09:00 2nd high tide: ...........................18:15 1st low tide: ..............................02:00 2nd low tide:.............................12:45 Sunrise: ....................................06:23 Sunset: .....................................17:41
Recorded yesterday at Kuwait Airport Max temp....................................25C Min temp .....................................11C Max Rh ......................................64% Min Rh .......................................14% Max Wind ........................ N 39 km/h Total Rainfall in 24 hrs ...........00 mm
Recorded yesterday at South Dolphin Min/Max/ Air Temp ....................15/22C Min/Max Rel Hum.....................33/78% Wind Direction/Wind Speed .N/37 km/h Prev Wave Dir/Max Wave Ht .......N/1-ft Min/Max Sea Surface Temp.....16/17 C Sea Current..........................Downdraft – Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Meteorological Dept.
deaths Saud Amer Mohammad Hethli Al-Ajmi, 17 years old, buried on Tuesday. Condolences: (Men) Riqqa, Block 1, St 8, House 58, Tel: 60977766. (Women) Abdulllah Al-Mubarak, Block 9, St 912, House 40. Latifa Jasem Jumma, 103 years old, widow of Belal Mohammad, buried on Tuesday. Condolences: (Men) Aqaila, Block 2, St 220, House 98, Tel: 94436665, 99096979. (Women) Salwa, Block 12, St 5, House 61, Tel: 25615657. Yousef Abdul Rasoul Bader Bouabbas, 82 years old, buried on Monday. Condolences: (Men) Dai’ya, Huseiniyat Boualyan Tel: 99080325, 90906333. (Women) Shaab, Huseiniyat Boushahri, Block 6, St 69, Tel: 97147774, 66648383. Edwaiha Adwiyan Al-Azemi, 89 years old, widow of Mijbel Abdullah Merthe Al-Azemi, buried on Tuesday. Condolences: Dahiyat Jaber AlAli, Block 3, St 21, House 14, Tel: 55291234, 66288958. Shaawi Ewayeth Meghair Al-Mutairi, 71 years old, buried on Tuesday. Condolences: (Men) Ferdous, Block 1, St. 1, Avenue 1, House 14, Tel: 66552292. (Women) Ferdous, Block 2, St. 1, Avenue 8, House 3. Khalawi Abdullah Ewayeth Al-Azemi, 57 years old, buried on Tuesday. Condolences: (Men) Fahed Al-Ahmad, Block 3, St 327, House 8, Tel: 99723044. (Women) Qurain, Block 3, St 12, House 5. Fuad Hashim Abdul Rahman Al-Bader Al-Qanai, 60 years old, to be buried on Wednesday at 09:00 am. Condolences: (Men) Shuwaikh, Diwan Al-Qanaat, Opp Shuwaikh Cooperative Society, Tel: 99633182, 99490651. (Women) Block 4, St 417, House 10, Tel: 25210771.
Feb 19, 2013
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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Kuwaiti students go on field trip to Yesilcay project site
KFAED brings water to 1.6m people in Istanbul: official ISTANBUL, Feb 19, (KUNA): It was through the contribution of Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) that the Greater Istanbul Water Supply (Yesilcay System) Project was able to deliver water to some 1.6 million people out of Istanbul’s population of 16 million, an official told a Kuwaiti delegation here. In remarks during a meeting with a delegation of Kuwaiti high achieving students on a visit organized for them by KFAED, official at the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works Murat Alp said the fund shouldered 50 percent of the financing of the project.
The fund pumped KD 42.3 million (over $140 million) into water projects for Greater Istanbul virtue of agreements signed in 1993 and 1999. Upon completion in 2003, this was Turkey’s biggest water project, but the increase in the Istanbul population made it necessary to seek another project, which was the Greater Melen Project, partly supported by Japanese financing, the official said. “The plan set in motion by the Turkish government means there would be no shortage in water supply in the city by 2060, thanks to new technology employed to bring in water even from remote sources.” In response to
questions by the students on the relationship between the two countries, Alp said, “our nations share strong and long-established bonds, tested and proven during the 1990 Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait and again when agreements were signed in various fields, including those in the water resources and sanitation sector.” The delegation went on a field trip to a site covered by the Yesilcay project 120 kms from Istanbul, and they were given an introduction to and information on a reservoir of water which flows down from the mountains. Engineers responsible for parts of the projects explained some of its details. They also shed light
on the operation system at the dam in the location which collects water that is later pumped through a 45-kilometer pipeline to reach a treatment center, and then Istanbul. One engineer said the daily average of water pumped in winter is 800,000 cubic meter, whereas Istanbul has demand of 2.4 million cubic meter. In remarks to KUNA, student Ahmad Al-Khzam said he felt great pride at the immense Kuwaiti development contributions, which vastly outweigh its actual geographical size. The Saleh Shehab High School student added KFAED plays a key and praiseworthy role in sup-
porting development initiatives and projects in the Arab World and beyond. Al-Imam Malik High School student Mohammad Al-Qattan for his part said, “Seeing the extent and nature of projects financed by Kuwait abroad clearly reflects the great standing it now has among world peoples and nations.” Fellow student from Al-Waha High School Faris Al-Shimmiri remarked the efforts of KFAED and other Kuwaiti institutions in supporting development in other countries reflect the nature of the Kuwaiti people and their belief in global development and global interaction. In total, KFAED’s 12 loans to Turkey
to date came to KD 106 million, starting with a loan in 1979. Among the most important projects supported in Turkey recently were those related to reconstruction following quakes and natural disasters, with focus on improving infrastructure and systems connecting and serving the population across the City of Istanbul. The Kuwaiti students are on a visit to Turkey as part of the “Aim Higher” initiative organized by KFAED to encourage high schoolers to be more diligent with their study and to broaden their horizons and knowledge of their homeland’s contributions on an international scale.
‘Prohibit import of certain products for national days’ ‘Deal’ leads to drop in price of eggs KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has forwarded a letter to the General Customs Department on prohibiting the entry of imported products for the National and Liberation days celebrations like different kinds of balloons and materials for the printing of Kuwaiti flags, reports Al-Nahar daily quoting sources. Sources said the ministry has instructed the companies that distribute the abovementioned goods to refrain from dealing with manufacturers from abroad because these products are counterfeit and they carry slogans in favor of certain groups in Kuwait.
Photos by Mahmoud Jadeed
The Libyan Ambassador to Kuwait Dr Mohammad Salem Omeish held a celebratory event on Sunday to mark the second anniversary of Libya’s 17 Revolution. Undersecretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Khalid Al-
Jarallah, a large number of dignitaries and members of the Arab and foreign diplomatic corps attended the event. Above: some photos from the event.
News in Brief KCCI organizes workshop: Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) hosted here on Tuesday a workshop on the concept and application of knowledge management and its impact. Director of the Middle East Institute of the knowledge-based economy at the University of Brighton Dr Allam Al-Nour Ahmed took part and gave a lecture. Ahmed said at the workshop that Kuwait was ranked the 11th among Arab countries in the knowledge-based economy index and 64th on the global level, while the United Arab Emirates was ranked first among Arab countries in the index itself. Sweden was ranked first on the global level. (KUNA) ❑ ❑ ❑
Plans to hire British lecturers: The Ministry of Education intends to hire British lecturers to teach English in the primary level, reports Al-Nahar daily quoting sources. Sources confirmed the proposal has been forwarded to Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Nayef Al-Hijraf for approval. Sources said the proposal was also submitted to former minister Nuriya Al-Subaih for implementation on an experimental basis, provided the number of lectures does not exceed 25. Sources added the Technical Office adopted the concept at the time and held several
KAC ups bid to update its fleet
Airbus, Bombardier present offers KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: Leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus and the Canadian-based Bombardier on Sunday presented again their offers to Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) to update its fleet, reports Al-Watan daily quoting sources. Representatives of both companies discussed the technical aspects and procedures for developing the KAC fleet with the Board of Directors of the corporation and the Aircraft Buying Committee which will study the offers of the two companies, along with that of Boeing. Sources said the corporation is looking into the
possibility of buying and leasing two or three airplanes. Sources also unveiled the corporation’s plan to improve its travel network for this summer to avoid the recurrence of problems encountered in 2012. Sources said the plan includes increasing the number of flights to certain destinations. Sources added the government is expected to take the necessary procedures soon to cover the dues of the corporation to allow the latter to choose the best offer in line with its operations for this summer and to complete its restructuring program.
meetings; the last of which was in 2008 in the presence of the British Cultural Office direction in Kuwait. ❑ ❑ ❑
The holding company is specialized in establishing and running cities, integrated medical complexes, hospitals, including specialized laboratories, dentistry clinics, pharmacies and X-ray wards. It is equipped to offer medical services at houses, aid cases of special needs, conduct medical and health studies and employ specialized expatriate staff. (KUNA)
KD 200m medical firm set up: A Kuwaiti company, named Kuwaiti Medical City Co, has been founded at a capital of KD 200 million, the official Gazette (Kuwait Al-Yom) said in its latest edition.
In another development, sources disclosed the price of eggs in the local market has dropped due to an agreement between the importers and the ministry, in coordination with the Cooperative Societies Union, for the cooperative societies to sell the product at cost price. However, sources warned the price of eggs might increase again after the inclusion of the product in the food ration cards for citizens. Sources explained the cooperative societies incurred losses after selling the product at cost price because some greedy traders have allegedly took advantage of the delayed implementation of the decision to include eggs on the list of subsidized food items for Kuwaitis. Sources said the decision was supposed to be executed at the beginning of this year to ease the financial burdens of citizens but no concrete step has been taken in this regard until now. Moreover, the local car parts distributors have reached an agreement with the ministry to offer one-year warranty for the new tyres they sell. Sources said these distributors responded to the ministerial directive after holding a series of meetings with tyre manufacturers to avoid huge losses in case the products are defective. Sources added this is in line with ministerial decision number 555/2012 on the right of consumers to return damaged goods. Meanwhile Al-Anba daily has reported that the ministry intends to cancel the commercial licenses of 240 companies due to their failure to submit their financial statements for more than a year. Sources said the ministry has given these companies enough time to comply with the directive but they still failed to meet the deadline under the pretext that the period covered by their general assembly meetings had been increased from one to two fiscal years. Meanwhile, Minister of Commerce and Industry Anas AlSaleh has instructed all ministry officials to refrain from revealing information about the institution to the media. In his circular, the minister stressed that any information regarding the ministry should come from a unique source authorized to publish news or data about the ministry without mentioning the agency or unit in charge of this. Meanwhile, sources said the media agencies have expressed disappointment over the decision, especially since the minister did not name the institution tasked to give information about the ministry.
Al-Saleh
Photo by Meshal Al Okla HSBC Kuwait in association with the Kuwait Blood Bank held a blood donation campaign on Monday. Above: a photo from the campaign.
Al-Hunaidi
Sheikha Fadyah
2013 Kuwait Ibtikar Science Competition
Seven team ‘projects’ move to the final stage KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The Management Committee for the 2013 Kuwait Ibtikar Science Competition, the first public high school science competition of its kind targeting female students, announced the best 7 out of 54 science and research projects submitted through the competition’s website. The Management Committee called upon participants who will be moving on to the GCC finals to start preparing their research papers and presentations, in addition to designing a poster that includes an overview of their project. The submission will be from 17 Feb to 16 March 2013. The 2013 Kuwait Ibtikar Science Competition is held under the patronage of HH The Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and is envisioned by Sheikha Fadyah Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, who plays a vital role in personally following up with education ministers and student activity managers from the participating GCC countries. The participating GCC countries include Kuwait, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman.
Goal The goal of this competition is to encourage female students to reach new horizons in pursuit of their scientific education, develop their critical and analytical thinking by turning their scientific ideas into a reality, as well as providing them with the opportunity to patent their innovative and exceptional projects. The Ibtikar competition is also a scientific forum where female students from various countries can meet and share their knowledge, experience and interests while also allowing talented youth to discuss scientific matters with notable scientists and researchers to increase their chances of success. Commenting on the competition, Ms Reem Al-Hunaidi, Executive Director of the 2013 Kuwait Ibtikar Science Competition said: “We are proud to have launched the 13th annual Ibtikar competition that was specifically created to motivate female students in the GCC countries to devise scientific solutions and creative products that meet the ever changing needs of our lives. Ibtikar is guided by the vision of various GCC leaders whose aim is to strengthen the role of youth in developing the region.” Al Hunaidi added: “Online registration
increased noticeably this year, reaching a total of 54 team submissions by female students who all submitted project ideas and suggestions, compared to 70 teams last year with only 34 of them submitting project ideas and suggestions.” Al Hunaidi explained that Ibtikar’s objectives are far more than a mere competition that gathers students from around the GCC countries. Ibtikar seeks to prepare and train a specialized workforce in various sectors by developing their scientific research and teamwork methodology, which in-turn will increase education and innovation opportunities for today’s female students to become tomorrow’s entrepreneurs in various fields. The judging panel includes well reputed professors and experts in many fields from Kuwait University and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET), and includes Dr Najat Al-Mutawaa, Dr Nawal Al-Othman, Dr Souad Al-Fareeh, Dr Abdul Aziz Al-Najjar Dr Ali Al-Kandari, Dr Abd Al-Mutawaa and the youngest judge, Ms Budour Al-Shebly. The Ibtikar competition came to fruition from a memorandum of cooperation signed between the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Kuwait Ibtikar Science Competition. The competition is supervised by MoE representatives from the department of Student Activities and Public Science Guidance.
Workshops The Kuwait Ibtikar Science Competition organizes numerous workshops and training that help raise interest and a better understanding of the importance of providing female students with scientific expertise. This includes instilling the values of teamwork and sound implementation, acquiring effective presentation skills, learning how to write a practical research paper, improving self-motivation skills and exploring Internet research tools. It also allows participants to communicate with various members of the seven qualifying teams and have their questions answered by the judges who are available to provide them with the guidance and direction they need. The Kuwait Ibtikar Science Competition will provide up to KD 150 to each of the seven teams to assist them in developing their project. The final science fair between all competing teams will be held on April 18, 2013, at the headquarters of the Kuwait Teachers Association in Al-Nozha district in Kuwait.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
LOCAL
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‘Private sector to be main employer’ GMRP eyes creative means to actualize plan
Photo by Anwar Daifallah
Dean of Diplomatic Corps in Kuwait and Senegalese Ambassador Abdul-Ahad Mbaki on Sunday hosted a farewell party for the outgoing ambassadors of Greece and Mongolia. Several ambassadors and members of diplomatic missions attended the event. Mementos were presented to the outgoing ambassadors in recognition and appreciation of their services during their tenure in Kuwait.
Amir closely following project KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has stressed the need to expedite the completion of maintenance works on the Grand Mosque, reports Al-Anba daily quoting Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Undersecretary Dr Adel Al-Falah. Confirming that the Amir is closely following up the project, Al-Falah asserted the company in charge of the maintenance works in the Grand Mosque is facing a huge challenge because the complete file is in the hands of the Amiri Diwan. He pointed out this file is necessary in carrying out the maintenance works according to the highest architectural and cultural standards. Al-Falah clarified the role of the ministry is limited to the supervision of the project, while the Amiri Diwan handles the technical and engineering aspects.
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The Secretary General of Government Manpower and Restructuring Program (GMRP) Fawzi Al-Mijdali says GMRP has ideas to make private sector the major national manpower employer, with creative means to develop manpower to work in the private sector and curb unemployment in the county, reports Al-Qabas daily. Al-Mijdali added GMRP in the last 11 years has managed to get almost 70,000 citizens to work in private sector, although a
significant number of these personnel sneaked out to work in government sector after receiving salary increment and promotions. He added the government acceded to the call by GMRP to support national manpower in the private sector with approval of financial support that is considered the highest in history, in order to induce nationals to work in private companies. He indicated GMRP managed to reduce the rate of unemployment in the country by 8 percent in 2001 to 4 percent in 2012, which he stressed is a major achievement rooted in relentless efforts.
He affirmed that employment opportunities are usually created by the government through support and development projects the GMRP benefits from, such as creating job opportunities in projects like the Mubarak port, Boubyan and Metro implementation, adding the number of jobs in these projects will be specified in coming years. Al-Mijdali reiterated the program is waiting for the new percentage of national manpower in the private companies as specified by Cabinetwherein the new proposal is likely to create 20,000 jobs in the next two years. It also involves implementation of penalty six months after endorsement.
Meanwhile, a host of lawmakers and academics agreed on the necessity to reconsider the B.O.T law in order for it to go in tandem with Kuwait’s aspiration to become a regional financial hub. During a discussion panel held on the sideline of a conference on the role of the private sector in development projects, the experts asserted that the current law does not address all obstacles and challenges facing investors, both local and foreign ones. A bill as significant as the B.O.T should’ve been examined by development experts before being ratified, “a step that never took place,” MP Yaqoub Al-Sanee said.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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‘G-62 to work for country, DIWANIYA not peoples’ own interest’
a digest of public opinion
‘Assembly not in govt’s pocket’ KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The formation of the G-62 group is in the best interest of Kuwait, not for the realization of personal goals, reports Al-Seyassah daily quoting participants in a seminar organized by Academic Writers Diwaniya under the slogan, “Justifications for Forming G-62”. MP Adnan Al-Mutawa disclosed the group was established for the sake of Kuwait rather than defending the personalities involved. He said the group supported the candidacy of 12 incumbent lawmakers. It had
encouraged citizens to participate in the elections and implementation of decrees of necessity issued by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to rescue Kuwait, he added. Al-Mutawa also asked, “How can anybody claim that the Parliament is in the pocket of the executive considering the number of grilling threats we are witnessing now?” He pointed out the allegation is part of efforts of the previous opposition bloc to attack the incumbent Parliament. Meanwhile, official spokesperson of the group Saud Al-Subae’i affirmed the members have agreed to work together based on their love for country. He
explained the group came as “a child of circumstance, especially since the situation had gotten worse considering the efforts of some elements to incite the public against participation in the elections under the one-man one-vote system, which is a commendable foresight of the Amir. “The group is synonymous with the 1962 Constitution, while it comprises of people from various components of the society. We are different from groups that surfaced and faded like soap bubbles due to their hidden agenda,” he concluded. In another development, the opposition must present their demands in a democratic and peaceful manner, instead of issuing provocative and intimidating statements, says former minister of housing Yahya Al-Sumait.
Parties settling scores by ‘cheap’ grillings
‘Proxy wars’ may spell doom “I CAN understand the background of each parliamentary interpellation that might be submitted by any MP from the National Assembly of the ‘oneman, one-vote’,” columnist, the Dean of the College of Technological Studies at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) and the Deputy Chairman of the Islamic Heritage Revival Society (IHRS) Dr Wael Al-Hasawi wrote AlRai daily Tuesday. “The interpellation against the Minister of Oil, for example, reflects a struggle over oil tenders among some senior influential people, while the interpellation that was filed against the Minister of Interior is an internal struggle among members of the ruling family because the interpellation is aimed at serving one wing at the expense of another. “On the other hand, we would like to point out that the outcome of the grilling that was filed against the Minister of Communications had surfaced even Al-Hasawi before the grilling was discussed and this was represented by the appointment of some senior officials from the Ministry in some other ministries, while the interpellation against the Minister of Finance is an attempt to assault the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) in order to embezzle the money. “As a matter of fact, waging of wars on behalf of third parties represent the ‘problem of problems’ in many countries of the world, given the fact these types of tussles are behind civil wars which erupted in Lebanon in 1975 and lasted for more than 15 years, during which Lebanon was transformed into a battlefield to liquidate many foreign accounts on its territories and this was evidenced through a fierce fight among its various components and factions during which thousands of people died before finally the concerned parties reached an agreement to sort out violence and conclude an agreement of reconciliation. “In Kuwait, the ongoing war can be dated back to many years – the war among members of the National Assembly on behalf of some influential people, Sheikhs and merchants. “These parties have transformed the Abdullah Al-Salem Hall of the National Assembly into a battlefield to settle scores with ‘cheap’ parliamentary grilling which acts as ammunition and fuel in such wars. “These interpellations are aimed at impeding the development of the country by getting the MPs involved in a series of sterile and futile arguments. “However, the rational and wise people in the country were hoping the current National Assembly will play the role of ‘lifejacket’ for the government and achieve the targeted cooperation between the executive power and the legislature in order to offset the country’s losses which it had incurred as a result of previous struggles. “But it seems the wars between the two branches on behalf of a third party still represent the blight of blights. In other words, although the members of former Parliament are no longer represented in the current National Assembly, it looks like the ‘warlords’ who are dominating the State ‘joints’ remain unchanged and this has resulted in the Prime Minister saying, ‘we had never expected that the members of the current National Assembly will deal with the government in this way’. “In this context, we cite the editorial that has been penned by our esquire brother Jassem Boodai for the Al-Rai daily last Friday under the title ‘The Differences among the Opposition Currents are Normal, but the Differences among the Ruling Family Members are Destructive’. “In the editorial in question, Boodai has pointed out the nature of the struggle which currently takes place under the dome of the National Assembly. Personally speaking, I am not here to make allowances for the differences among the opposition factions because these differences have widely paved the way for the relevant influential people to get whatever they want from their supporters in the National Assembly and the differences in question have enabled them to use the services of some of the MPs to serve their deviate objectives. “Such being the case, the problem doesn’t rest in the distribution of the electoral constituencies or in the voting system, rather in the quality of the MPs who are directly elected by the people. “In other words, as long as the voters fail to shoulder their responsibilities properly, all attempts that might be exerted to reform the election system will be fail. “In other words, the solution rests in changing the manner followed in selecting both the candidates and the voters simultaneously even if we are reluctant to revise many articles of the Constitution, while the second solution may rest in searching for a State from among those who are ready to invade us and seek help from the world to liberate us and then learn the lesson of the new invasion.”
Also: “There is no government above the Constitution, its mechanisms and the rights that might be consecrated by it,” columnist and the Chairman of Democratic Development Society Nasser Al-Abdali wrote for AlKuwaitiah daily Tuesday. “Any government in the world should not resent the parliamentary practices and depict the latter as something personal that is directed against it. In other words, the government which construes the parliamentary practices as something against the Constitution and valid laws should leave the political arena, because such government cannot deal with the constitutional values properly. “During the reign of Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad, we had given one or two remarks over the performance of his consecutive governments and these remarks mostly revolved around these governments ignoring the constitutional values including the parliamentary interpellations and abuse of the constitutional texts to liquidate some personal accounts with MPs. “Such being the case, we found this method had resulted in toppling the relevant consecutive governments and the said method eventually toppled him. In other words, if these consecutive governments had respected the Constitution they would not have been toppled one by one. “For the time being, we have a new government with a new method. Hence, I have no doubt that the Prime Minister of this government Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak will not hesitate to face the interpellation to constitutionally or legally respond to all points that may be raised by the MPs irrespective of the nature of these remarks.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “Iran’s greed is no longer a secret as manifested in its incessant attempts to expand its powers in the region and to gain political and economic control over the latter,” Hamad Salem AlMarri wrote for Al-Watan daily. “For decades, the GCC countries have been afraid of the possibility that their neighbor will betray them just to realize its ambitions. Iran always finds a way to feed its material and religious greed, in the same manner it has succeeded in interfering in the internal affairs of Lebanon where it created the Hezbollah under the guise of confronting the Zionists. Actually, the group has destabilized the country by executing the instructions of Tehran. “The same scenario is now happening in Syria where Iran took advantage of the current situation in the country by supplying the regime with weapons and money, although it has denied doing so. The real motive behind Iran’s support for the Syrian regime is to strengthen its presence in the country, similar to what it has done in Lebanon. “Iran wants to play a major role in the unfolding of political events in Syria to actualize its objectives. The realization of Iran’s ambitions will lead to negative consequences that will not please any country in the region.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “Within the past phase we have witnessed a trivial battle a big part of which was played by the government and the other part by some sectarian and tribal lawmakers of the former national assemblies. In addition to that some religious and social activists also played an important role in this battle — people who were looking for personal interests at the expense of the citizen who was involved in this battle unintentionally,” columnist Nasser AlAbdali wrote for Al-Kuwaitiah. “When the project of political reform, which is aimed at handling the defects of the current Elections Law was posed, we expected a rigid campaign would be launched to spoil the project particularly after the project had a popular support. “Yet, we did not actually know during which phase this project will be spoiled; however, what happened crossed all our expectations. “I feel serious dialogue is the appropriate solution and a way out of this deteriorating position.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “As HH the Amir specified ways to attain economy growth in Kuwait two years ago and opted for right solution to the structural deficiencies, he was using experience to set the right foundation for long-term solutions that would transform Kuwait into an international financial and economic hub,” Fahad Daoud Al-Sabah wrote for AlNahar daily. “He also focused on the fact that the international economy could not grow out of the financial meltdown unless by redirecting the procedures to enhance confidence in national manpower. Building on a strong foundation normally prevents the economy from nose-diving and shaking. For this reason, we see the way the Amir normally delivers speeches enjoining citizens to resolve domestic problems. He believes this will serve as immunity against the repercussions of international economic downturn or at least reduce its effects. “Any leader who creates history for his subjects and future of his country should have the foresight and ideas covering several years ahead, and because he is working for the future,
he must be able to prepare adequately against unforeseen circumstances. “His Highness the Amir teaches us about what we should become in future, so we must encourage his guidance in deeds rather than mere sayings. We hope the two authorities will learn from this experience.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah attained leadership seven years ago through the Amiri decree dated 07/02/2006. He received overwhelming pledges of allegiance unanimously in the National Assembly on 20/02/2006,” columnist Faisal Hamad Ibrahim AlMuzain wrote for Al-Anba daily. “The fact that Sheikh Nawaf is trusted by HH the Amir indicates his capability and skill in bearing the responsibilities related to his leadership position. Citizens also affirmed their strong conviction and faith in his personality and ability to fulfill his responsibilities. Their affirmation indicates the respect and love they have for him. “Your Highness the Crown Prince, we congratulate you on the seventh anniversary of you attaining the leadership position. I pray that the Lord Almighty grants you good health and protection. I pray He guides you to continue as a dependable pillar for HH the Amir and a symbol of pride for the Kuwaiti citizens. I seek God’s protection over this country so that the month of February will continue always to be the month of celebration similar to how we celebrated when you became the Hawally Governor in 1961 and the recent appointment as the Crown Prince in 2006. God bless Kuwait, the Amir, Crown Prince and all citizens!” ❑ ❑ ❑ “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for strengthening coordination between Iran and Egypt, pointing out that the Iranian revolution model is applicable in the latter,” Ahmad Mohammad Al-Fahd wrote for Al-Watan Arabic daily. “However, the Egyptians have not remained silent over such moves as they strongly rejected the suggestion of Ahmadinejad. I think the statement of Sheikh Al-Azhar on the rights of the Sunnis in Iran clearly depicts the level of rejection. “The problem of Ahmadinejad or the so-called ‘Great Iran’ is the inability to acknowledge certain facts — the Iranian model failed 30 years ago so it is not applicable in any country. Even the Iranian President cannot talk about this but he knows his nation was rich during the tenure of the Shah. Iran has become poor, up to the extent that it can no longer feed its people. “Furthermore, Iran erroneously thinks it is a huge and great nation just because it owns tanks, missiles, rockets and airplanes. I believe Iran is like an ant which has been given wings and its end is fast approaching.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “Popular movement in the Kingdom of Bahrain marks its third year in political crisis. The situation started draining the constituents of this small and peaceful country,” Dr Hassan Abdullah Jowhar wrote for Al-Jarida daily. “I perceive it is necessary relating the series of political developments that have taken place in Bahrain since the beginning of last century, which coincided with similar events in Kuwait in terms of time and content. “Modern education for example started in Bahrain in 1910, at the same time as Kuwait. Ten years later, the first step was taken to demand democracy, while the political movement in Kuwait was initiated in 2010. The movement in Bahrain commenced almost at the same time. I think Kuwait and Bahrain share common phases.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “It seems the honeymoon period for the legislative and executive authorities is over. They have substituted happy faces with repulsive ones — a clear manifestation of a hidden enmity between them,” columnist Dr Bassam Al-Shatti wrote for Alam Al-Youm daily. “A lawmaker has threatened to grill a minister if the latter does not appoint someone from his group; while another made a similar threat if his associates are not considered for promotion. Another have demanded for the declaration of the 10th day of the first month of the Islamic calendar, or what is known as Ashura Day, as a public holiday. “One lawmaker does not want any form of security check for those coming from Basra and another suggested holding military drills in the North because it is considered a security threat to Iraq if it is done in the South. “These are just a few of many absurd demands the lawmakers have presented. These demands merely fuel hatred, enmity and anger amongst the people. The crisis-provoking MPs must take courses on how to issue statements and how to conduct dialogues. It is clear that the incumbent legislature has no ambition and it is dominated by evil. The people have voiced objection to the attitude of the Assembly; hence, the need for the concerned authorities to take the necessary measures, especially during this month of independence and liberation celebrations.”
— Compiled by Zaki Taleb
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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Activists express resentment over number of interpellations Intentions malicious: Al-Samaka KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: Many political activists have expressed resentment over barrages of grilling proposals some lawmakers threaten to file against the ministers, as they presumed the current parliament would turn out to be a tool of reform and not escalation, reports AlSeyassah daily.
Photo by Mahmoud Jadeed
Fallah Al-Thuwaini, Mona AbdulRazzak, Dr Ibtihal Al-Khatib, Dr Rana Abdul Razzak and Dr Sheikha Al-Muhareb.
Media Salon hosts Group 29
Bedoun issue in focus By Joana Saba Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: After completing almost a year since starting, Group 29 was hosted at the Media Salon as part of the Arab Media Forum, to discuss the issue of the Bedoun population, and their continued struggle. Group 29 began as a group of 7 women who were interested in human rights and addressing the various issues and causes in which they saw noticeable human rights violations in Kuwait. They adopted the Bedoun issue out of a conviction that this is one of the most pressing and vital instances of such violations. Moderated The forum was moderated by Madi Al-Khamees, Chairman of the Kuwait Society for Media and Communication. The speakers representing Group 29 were Dr Ibtihal AlKhatib, Professor of English at Kuwait University, Dr Rana AbdulRazzak, consulting doctor for blood-borne diseases and Fallah Al-Thuwaini. In their first year of activities, the group has launched various campaigns and initiatives, including the Education is a Right, and Freedom of Expression is my Right campaigns. Through the Education is a Right campaign, the group successfully raised the acceptance quota for distinguished Bedoun students to Kuwait University from 15 to 150 students. Additionally, the group sponsored 29 Bedoun students’ education in private universities. The forum saw Al-Khatib, AbdulRazzak and Al-Thuwaini speak of the group’s activities in the past, as well as their visions towards the future, whereby the member stated that the group’s activities took place on various fronts, including campaigns, sit-ins, social & cultural events as well as seminars. Further, they stressed the importance
of the role of the group, and other civil society apparatus in ensuring that Kuwait abides by and does not violate the 6 conventions/treaties on human rights that it has ratified, out of 9 internationally recognized ones. This includes filing reports and statistics on any violations that the group witnesses. “In humanitarian causes, there is no such thing as internal affairs,” stated Dr Al-Khatib, in response to criticisms the group has received for “airing Kuwait’s dirty laundry”, and making it susceptible from outside attack. She further stressed that all humanitarian causes should be given equal attention, and should not pay heed to national borders. Further, they stressed the importance of spreading awareness through various different means and methods, including media exposure, seminars, talks, and coordination with international human rights groups. They spoke of their recent visit to Switzerland, presenting their latest report on violations against Bedoun children to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Resolutions Further, they spoke of their coordination with various ministerial figures and government officials, noting that some were welcoming, others welcoming but not positioned to provide any resolutions, and others moreover who were unwilling to resolve it. “Abandoning diplomacy for a minute, I would say that the government is working towards resolving the problem. Most do not even recognize that there is a problem to be resolved,” stated Dr AbdulRazzak, stressing the need to reeducate and re-culture Kuwaiti society as to the depths of the problem. “We seek a full resolution of the Bedoun problem,” continued AbdulRazzak. “In the time being, we are providing them with the humanitarian assistance they require before we are able to reach this point.”
The activists are of the view that the current period is not appropriate for interpellation requests since the lifespan of this government is very short to carry out its assignment and “these inquests apparently serve personal interests, in order to prove the one-vote parliament does not support the government’s side”. They demanded the government be given six months grace period to implement its plan. Columnist Soud Al-Samaka is concerned about the number of grilling proposals the lawmakers have filed against the government within a short period, which he said verify their intentions as malicious. He stressed the attitude of these lawmakers provokes anger of many politicians because the government has just began its tenure. For his part, political activist Man’e Al-Ajmi said interpellation is the constitutional right of lawmakers, and added the political elite supports this right as long as it is far from political and personal interests. He said the step of recruiting former ministers in the new cabinet was one of the key reasons that lead to grilling proposals, indicating he preferred the government would have depended on new ministers to prevent the opposition from using that point against them. Chairman of International Islamic Human Rights Organization Attorney Mubarak Al-Mutawa described interpellation requests as strong queries the lawmakers present against ministers. He noted that government must have no fear for inquests once it trusts in its performance. He also said the government may avoid grilling by working sincerely to resolve chronic issues Kuwaitis have been facing for so long. Abdulrahman Al-Ghanim, the Secretary-General of Civil Society Institutions also said Kuwaitis were wrong to have imagined that the new parliament will serve public interests to push the wheel of development forward. He also said the people are surprised with barrages of inquests filed against the ministers lately, without giving them ‘enough time’ to accomplish their tasks. He called for the MPs to try to resolve key problems to develop the economy.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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Cash stolen from orphan’s account
Police probe as Kuwaiti convict flees from hospital By Munaif Nayef
B’deshi bares himself to girl
Special to the Arab Times
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: A Kuwaiti inmate known as Fuhaid Al-Ajmi escaped from the Chest Hospital where he was admitted few days back due to some illness. According to security sources, the suspect, who received four life sentences for a drug trafficking case, was taken to the Chest Hospital where he was guarded by securitymen. However, when the officers fell asleep during duty, the prisoner managed to steal the keys of one of the securitymen’s sports-vehicle and escaped. A case was registered and a special security team was formed to find and arrest the suspect. Investigations at the prisons are ongoing with the cooperation of Criminal Investigation Department. Securitymen circulated the suspect’s picture and details of the vehicle among the patrol teams. They have also started investiga-
The car in which the Kuwaiti convict is said to have escaped.
15 hurt in accidents
Army officer, juvenile killed By Meshal Al-Sanousi Special to the Arab Times KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: Two Kuwaiti citizens died while 14 individuals including 12 Kuwaiti citizens sustained injuries due to traffic accidents that occurred throughout the country on Tuesday. In details, a Kuwait Army officer known as Khalid Waleed Al-Dhahi died while another officer sustained injuries when their patrol vehicle toppled during duty in Al-Udair. According to security sources, when the Operations Room of Ministry of Interior received information that a vehicle affiliated to Kuwait Army toppled, securitymen and paramedics rushed to the location. They discovered that the two officers were patrolling the area when the vehicle toppled. The injured officer was referred to the nearest hospital while the corpse of the AlDhahi was referred to the Forensics Department. A case was registered for investigations. Meanwhile, a Kuwaiti juvenile died while two of his friends sustained serious injuries when their vehicle toppled after colliding with another in Sulaibiya. Securitymen and paramedics rushed to the location when they received information about the accident. The corpse of the juvenile was referred to the Forensics Department while the two
Indian, girlfriend caught in act on beach KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: Police arrested an Indian man and his Indonesian girlfriend for making love on a beach in Fahaheel, reports Al-Shahed daily. The arrest came after people who saw the couple making love informed the Operations Department of the Interior Ministry. The lovers were reportedly caught in the act. Meanwhile, police are investions with the officers who were guarding him at the hospital to determine how he escaped using the vehicle. ❑
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tigating the death of an unidentified Indian man because a Forensics report shows the death was caused by cerebral concussion, reports Al-Anba daily. According to security sources the death was reported to the Farwaniya police by an unidentified male expatriate. The victim’s remains were found inside an apartment. In other development, police
have arrested a Bangladeshi man working at the Entertainment Park in Hawalli for showing his private part to a 12-year-old girl, reports Al-Rai daily. The daily added following the incident the girl complained to her father. The father lost his temper beat the Bangladeshi and handed him over to police. According to the Al-Kuwaitiah daily the Bangladeshi was drunk.
the bank account of an orphan. According to security sources, a Kuwaiti citizen filed a case at Fahaheel Police Station, informing securitymen that an unknown individual withdrew KD 14,000 from
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Orphan robbed: An unknown individual withdrew KD 14,000 from
the account of his nephew (son of his late brother) on four different occasions. Securitymen requested the officerin-charge of the bank for records to obtain details about the suspect.
Woman stabs to death Kuwaiti husband over ‘family dispute’ Prevalence of bribery denied in ministry By Meshal Al-Sanousi Special to the Arab Times
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: A Kuwaiti citizen died when his Bedoun wife stabbed him in the chest in their flat in Nugra during a domestic dispute. According to security sources, when the guard of the building heard loud shouts and strange noises from the flat, he informed the Operations Room of Ministry of Interior. Securitymen and paramedics rushed to the location and found the Kuwaiti citizen lying on the ground and bleeding profusely. The body of army officer lies covered with the national flag near the toppled car.
other victims were referred to Farwaniya Hospital for treatment. Three Kuwaiti men and three Kuwaiti women of ages between 20 and 50 sustained injuries when five vehicles collided in a traffic accident. Securitymen and paramedics rushed to the location. Paramedics referred the victims to Sabah Hospital for treatment while securitymen organized the traffic. Furthermore, two GCC expatriates and a Kuwaiti citizen sustained injuries when two vehicles collided on Kabad Road. Paramedics
rushed to the location and referred them to Farwaniya Hospital for treatment. A Kuwaiti citizen and an Asian woman sustained injuries when two vehicles collided in Dasma. Paramedics rushed to the location and referred the victims to Amiri Hospital for treatment. In addition, a 24-year-old Kuwaiti citizen sustained injuries when his vehicle toppled on Fahaheel Road near Fifth Ring Road. Paramedics rushed to the location and referred him to Mubarak Hospital for treatment.
News in Brief Drugs in Justice Palace: Prior to hearing of a case of storming into the National Assembly building at the Palace of Justice police found a piece of hashish hidden between two seats, reports Al-Rai daily. The piece of hashish was found during a search operation which was carried out as a precautionary measure. ❑ ❑ ❑
50 Egyptians fight: Police have arrested several men from Upper Egypt for fighting in a public place, reports Al-Qabas daily. According to security sources two men were involved in a fight in Jleeb AlShuyoukh due to a misunderstanding between them and they were soon joined by their friends until the mob snowballed into more than 50 people. ❑ ❑ ❑
Gun stolen: A retired Kuwaiti man has filed a complaint with the Al-Zahra Police Station accusing an unidentified person of sneaking into his home and stealing a licensed gun, reports Al-Anba daily. Police
are looking for the thief. ❑ ❑
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Salesman assaulted: Police are looking for three unidentified persons for breaking into a shop selling cell phones and stealing KD 1,000 cash and used cell phones, reports Al-Rai daily. The owner of the shop has filed a complaint with the Jahra Police Station. In the complaint the owner said the suspects assaulted the salesman and escaped with the money and the loot. ❑ ❑ ❑ Thieves arrested: Personnel from the Criminal Investigation Department have arrested three juveniles for breaking into camps and homes and stealing valuables and ATVs (all terrain vehicles), reports AlShahed daily. Investigations conducted by securitymen led to the arrest of the three juveniles. They were caught red-handed inside a tent in possession of the stolen stuff. During interrogation the juveniles are said to have admitted to the charge.
Paramedics examined him and discovered that he had succumbed to the stab wound on his chest. Officers from General Department for Criminal Evidences rushed to the location and referred the corpse to the Forensics Department. Securitymen arrested the suspect and referred her to the police station, where during interrogations she revealed that she had stabbed him during a fight over some domestic disputes. The suspect was referred to the Public Prosecution for necessary legal action against her.
Agencies add: Rumours
denied: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has denied rumors which said a small number of employees complete the transactions of certain people in return for monetary favors, reports Al-Anba daily. The daily added the ministry has appealed to citizens and expatriates to report cases of corruption in the ministry and promised to keep the name and identity of the informer secret. A senior ministry official said this appeal is only a kind of cooperation between the ministry and the public. He promised to refer cases of corruption and bribery immediately to the Public Prosecutor. The sources pointed out the Minister of Commerce wants to prove to the public that corruption does not exist there. However, the sources stressed through the new secret window that the minister has opened for the public; he wants to improve the monitoring system to combat corruption in the ministry. Corruption cases can now be reported at rpt_corruption@moci.gov.kw ❑
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Top and above: Kuwait Diving Team members cleaning the waste dumped at one of the Kuwait beaches.
‘Environment protection top priority for GCC’ The environment preservation and protection is a top priority for Gulf Cooperation Council member states and affiliate bodies, GCC Assistant Secretary General for Human Being and Environment Affairs Abdullah AlHashim underlined Monday. “Since the first days of its inception, the GCC has given due attention to the environmental issues,” Al-Hashim said in a press statement on the occasion of the Sixth GCC Environment Week, which kicked off Sunday. He stated that the Supreme Council
Probe launched: The Department of Charity Organizations at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor has launched an inquiry into the loss of seven of the 40 receipt books which were delivered to one of the charities to collect donations on behalf of the Syrian people, reports Al-Anba daily. However, the sources have ruled out any kind of manipulation behind the disappearance of the books. Reports show the books were lost and a report had been filed with the area police station. According to sources the charity organization has used only 24 receipt books and collected KD 700,000. The money has been handed over to the World Charity Foundation. ❑
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‘No Kuwaiti involved’:
April 2 hearing set for ex-MPs
Verdict overruled as man acquitted in drugs case By Jaber Al-Humoud Special to the Arab Times KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The Criminal Court, headed by Judge Hani Hamdan, has overturned the ruling of the Court of First Instance, which had earlier sentenced an unidentified person to four years in prison with hard labor, fined him KD4,000 and ordered his deportation after serving the prison term for the possession of hashish and opium. Case files indicate the accused was arrested when a security officer raided
his house where the narcotic substances were discovered. The arrest took place after the officer noticed the unusual behavior of the accused while he was standing in front of his house. During interrogation, the suspect admitted that he is a drug addict and the narcotic substances found in his house were for personal use. Attorney Saoud Al-Shimmari, lawyer for the accused, demanded for the acquittal of his client due to the improper arrest procedures. ❑
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Hearing set: The Criminal Court has set April 2 for hearing on the lawsuit filed by Foreign Affairs Ministry against former MPs Musallam AlBarrak, Salem Al-Namlan and Mubarak Al-Wa’alan, as well as secretary of Musallam Al-Barrak. The defendants are standing trial for alleged verbal attack against the king of Jordan. Public Prosecution accused the defendants of spreading false information about Kuwait’s internal affairs, with the intention of jeopardizing national interests. They pur-
portedly participated in public protests and unauthorized public gathering in which more than five persons assembled to cause security disorder. ❑
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Poll petitions: The Constitutional Court, chaired by Judge Yousuf AlMutawa, adjourned until March 13 the hearing on 12 electoral petitions filed by citizens from the Fourth Constituency against the one-man, one-vote decree and the results of the elections in December 2012.
of the GCC has agreed on certain measures to protect the environment during its sixth session in Muscat (Oman), in 1985. He added that the GCC had adopted a resolution calling for setting up a comprehensive system for the protection and a clear plan for dealing with environmental problems. “GCC relevant ministers have also agreed in 2003 to hold an annual week for environment protection in February to raise people awareness about the issue,” Al-Hashim said.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Khaled Al-Jarallah has denied reports that a Kuwaiti businessman is involved in terrorist activities in Bahrain, reports Al-Qabas daily. Al-Jarallah said Kuwait rejects outside interference in Bahrain’s internal affairs. ❑
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Dogs trace it: Customs officers at the Abdali border post recently foiled an attempt by a Pakistani man to smuggle drugs into the country, reports Al-Anba daily. Officers have reportedly seized two kilos of hashish from the suspect. The drugs were hidden under the battery of the truck. The drugs were discovered by police dogs. The suspect and the drugs have been referred to the General Department for Drug Control.
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The GCC official noted that the pan-Arab Gulf organization has also formed a special committee for raising environment awareness in all member states. He disclosed that the Sixth GCC Environment Week, lasts till Feb 21, is themed “Chemical Materials: Management and Planning”. The week includes a wide array of activities on the issue, mainly the dangers of chemical materials and how to safely handle or dispose off the chemical materials. (KUNA) ❑
‘Tomboy’ nabbed: Police have detained for interrogation an unidentified tomboy for stealing the cell phone of an unidentified young woman and detaining her in an apartment against her will, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. The tomboy befriended the victim via the social networking website and invited her for a cup of tea in her apartment in Salmiya. When the victim arrived at the apartment, she did not like the pervert behavior of her host and made an excuse to leave the apartment. The tomboy reportedly got angry and did not allow the woman to leave. She not only snatched her cell phone but refused to allow her to go. The woman somehow managed to leave the apartment and complained to her father
who informed the Salmiya police. ❑
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Chalet looted: An unidentified VIP has filed a complaint with the Mina Abdullah Police Station accusing some people of breaking into his chalet and stealing electrical appliances, a bunchy and a camera, reports Annahar daily. Personnel from the Criminal Evidences Department have lifted fingerprints to identify the culprits.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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Shafik faces arrest on return to Egypt
Egypt files new charges against ex-PM CAIRO, Feb 19, (Agencies): Egypt’s public prosecutor has filed new criminal charges against the last prime minister of ousted president Hosni Mubarak over alleged illegal real estate sales, judicial sources said on Tuesday. The charges against Ahmed Shafik, who was also the defeated run-off candidate in Egypt’s first free presidential election last year, relate to deals struck in 2005. Shafik, who fled to the United Arab Emirates after losing to Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, was appointed prime minister shortly before Mubarak was overthrown two years ago. The new charges against Shafik include illegally selling and profiting from the sale of villas belonging to the Airforce Officers’ Association, as well as money laundering, the sources said. The prosecutor also referred charges against Shafik’s three daughters to a criminal court in Cairo as the heirs of their mother, Shafik’s late wife. Dozens of legal cases have been opened against Mubarak’s associates since he stood down on Feb 11, 2011 during mass protests. The prosecutors earlier filed charges against Shafik in September last year. The court has yet to set a date for his trial but the prosecutor has asked a judge to call on the UAE authorities to return Shafik to Egypt. Egypt’s MENA state news agency reported on Tuesday that 10 other members of the Airforce Officers’ Association had also been referred to the court for alleged involvement in embezzlement. Shafik who has been living in the United Arab Emirates
Port Said strike enters 3rd day
Islamist adviser to Egypt’s president quits CAIRO, Feb 19, (AP): An ultraconservative Islamist adviser to Egypt’s president resigned Monday in solidarity with a fellow aide who was fired amid allegations of abuse of office. The resignation of Bassam Zarka, who is a member of the Salafi Al-Nour party, is the latest sign of tension between President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist ally ahead of parliamentary elections expected in the months ahead. The public disagreement comes as the country’s Supreme Constitutional court rejected an election law presented to it by the Islamist-dominated parliament, and
asked for a number of articles to be amended, a move that could delay the vote and prolong an already tense political atmosphere.
since his defeat in the election, faces arrest on his return to Egypt after he was put on an airport watch list. He is being investigated along with his daughters and 10 other defendants over illegally seizing public land for use by the Pilot Association, which Shafik headed. Shafik, the last prime minister to serve under ousted pres-
ident Hosni Mubarak, is already facing trial in a separate fraud cases. The former airforce commander narrowly lost a June presidential election to Islamist Mohamed Morsi. The trial will be the latest in a series of court actions that have jailed much of the former regime’s leadership, including Mubarak himself.
Also: PORT SAID: Hundreds of protesters in the restive city of Port Said have pressured government employees to leave work early as they enforced the third day of a general strike. Thousands also rallied in a main square in the city on Tuesday, chanting against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.
Iraq wants rehabilitated Iranian ‘terror group’ out Panel clears senior judge over Saddam ties BAGHDAD, Feb 19, (Agencies): An Iranian exile group attacked in Iraq this month has moved from terrorism lists to international good graces, but Baghdad wants it out over its opposition to Iran’s rulers and ties to Saddam Hussein. On Feb 9, mortar rounds and rockets slammed into Camp Liberty, a former US military base near Baghdad that now houses some 3,000 members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), killing five people, according to Iraqi security officials. The attack triggered condemnation from the United States and United Nations, but in Iraq
officials are eager to see the group depart. The PMOI’s “presence in Iraq is illegal and illegitimate,” Ali Mussawi, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s spokesman, told AFP. “Their presence is rejected.” Iraqi political analyst Ihsan al-Shammari said the “nature of the relationship between the (Iraqi) Shiite political powers and Iran,” Baghdad’s Shiite neighbour to the east with which it has close ties, is a key factor in Iraq’s insistence on the PMOI’s ouster. Shammari also noted other factors including the PMOI’s links to executed dictator Saddam, under whose rule Iraq’s now-empowered Shiite majority was oppressed. Saddam allowed the PMOI to establish a base called Camp Ashraf northeast of Baghdad after he launched the 1980-88 war with Iran, in which the group fought alongside his forces.
Attacks
Yemeni soldiers and firefighters try to extinguish a fire at the site of a plane crash in Sanaa, Yemen, on Feb 19. A Yemeni official says a mil-
itary plane on a training exercise crashed into a neighborhood in the country’s capital, Sanaa, killing 12 and injuring scores of people. (AP)
Tunnels easy conduits for weapons
Hamas accuses Egypt of flooding Gaza tunnels GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip, Feb 19, (AP): The Hamas rulers of Gaza and local smugglers on Tuesday accused Egypt of flooding cross-border tunnels with sewage water in order to halt a thriving smuggling trade that has propped up the local economy for the past five years. Flooding the dozens of tunnels that run along the short Gaza-Egypt border was a rare act of tension between the Hamas government and their ideological parent, the Muslim Brotherhood, which now dominates Egypt’s government. The Egyptian effort appears to be aimed at closing down the illegal routes to better control what is going in. It follows an Egyptian-brokered deal that eased Israeli restrictions on
building material going into Gaza. Yousef Rizka, an adviser to the Hamas prime minister, urged Egypt to allow the tunnels to operate until restrictions on imports to Gaza are lifted. Israel and Egypt have restricted the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza since the militant group Hamas seized power of the territory six years ago. Much of the blockade has been loosened over the years, but residents still rely on the tunnels to get vital goods that are otherwise difficult to obtain in Gaza, such as construction materials and cheap fuel. The tunnels have kept a modest construction boom flowing in Gaza that employs thousands of people, while an estimated 2,000 men and boys work in some 250 border tunnels.
800 Palestinians refuse food
Prisoners join hunger strike RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories, Feb 19, (AFP): Some 800 Palestinians serving time in Israeli jails were on Tuesday refusing food in solidarity with four fellow inmates who have been on long-term hunger strike, officials said. According to the Ramallah-based Prisoners’ Club, 800 prisoners in three prisons were taking part in the one-day strike, among them members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). Sivan Weizman, a spokeswoman
for the Israel Prisons Service (IPS) confirmed hundreds of prisoners had refused their breakfast but said it was 500 prisoners in two facilities. “Five hundred Palestinians in the Ramon and Eshel prisons refused to eat breakfast this morning and have said they will refuse to eat lunch and dinner,” she told AFP. The one-day strike was the latest show of solidarity with four detainees who are on long-term hunger strike and whose state of health has sparked mass protests across the West Bank as well as statements of concern from rights groups and Western governments.
But the tunnels are also easy conduits for weapons and militants to pass in and out of Gaza and the nearby lawless Sinai desert peninsula. From Sinai, militants have launched attacks against Egyptian and Israeli forces. Smugglers said Egyptian military forces were digging water wells and pumping wastewater toward the smuggling area for the past two days. One smuggler said he had to halt operations and rush his workers out after his tunnel filled with sewage. He declined to be named, fearing he would be identified by Egyptian forces. An Associated Press photographer at the scene saw at least 15 tunnels also flooded with wastewater. Still, more than one hundred tunnels were operational, smugglers said.
According to the US State Department, Saddam armed the group with “heavy military equipment and deployed thousands of (PMOI) fighters in suicidal, mass wave attacks against Iranian forces” near the end of the war. Following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the PMOI turned over “2,000 tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and heavy artillery,” the State Department said. The group was also allegedly involved in Saddam’s violent suppression of 1991 Shiite and Kurdish uprisings in Iraq. “The former regime used (the PMOI) to carry out repression” in Iraq, said Dr Adnan al-Saraj, who has written books about the group. Saddam gave the PMOI four bases in Iraq, buildings in central Baghdad and other perks including Iraqi passports and free petrol, Saraj said. Almost all PMOI members in Iraq have moved to Camp Liberty from Camp Ashraf, the last of their bases, as part of a UNbacked process that aims to see them resettled outside the country. But after this month’s attack, the PMOI complained about the slow pace of the process, which has dragged on as few countries have come forward with concrete offers of resettlement. The PMOI has not taken the move from Camp Ashraf, where some members have lived for decades, quietly, alleging Baghdad is acting at Tehran’s behest. It has also criticised the UN’s assertion that the camp meets minimum humanitarian standards and complained about a variety of alleged shortcomings including restrictions on using forklift trucks, which it said amounted to “torture”.
‘Prisoner X died by hanging’
Spotlight on Mossad after prisoner’s death JERUSALEM, Feb 19, (Agencies): The mysterious arrest and suicide of an Australian-Israeli with Mossad ties in a top-secret prison cell near Tel Aviv has raised questions about how Israel’s shadowy spy outfit chooses its agents. While some reports suggested the man now identified as Ben Zygier may have been a loose-lipped braggart with psychological problems, a veteran Israeli defence analyst dismissed the claims, saying it would have shown up clearly in the agency’s exhaustive vetting procedures. Australia’s ABC which broke the story of his identity last week, said Zygier had worked for Mossad until he was arrested in early 2010 for reasons which remain a mystery, and was thrown into an isolated high-security cell in Ayalon prison where he was found hanged 10 months later. Although Israel confirmed the death of a dual national in prison in December 2010, it has refused to comment on his involvement with Mossad nor said anything about why he was arrested, key details which remain subject to a courtordered blackout in the name of national security.
Confirmed But last week, a human rights lawyer who met Zygier just days before he died, confirmed his contact at the prison was a Mossad agent. And on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that exposing intelligence activities could “badly damage” state security in what appeared to be the closest admission yet of the prisoner’s links to Mossad. Australian journalist Jason Koutsoukis, who interviewed Zygier several times in early 2010 said the Melbourneraised lawyer had vehemently denied spying. But a friend who knew Zygier from his days living on a kibbutz told Haaretz newspaper the young Australian had “bragged about his work for the Mossad.” Another friend quoted by the paper said Zygier told him about a traumatic experience providing security backup for Israeli intelligence operatives in Lebanon. “Ben ... told me that he had been compelled to kill a boy and girl while providing security for an operation in Lebanon. He told me he was hospitalised for a month with
shell shock,” he said. “It astounds me if that could really happen. If so, how did they recruit him into the Mossad?” he wondered. “Israel does not recruit someone who says he’s in Mossad. If someone says he’s Mossad, he’d be fired,” said another Israeli friend who knew the Zygier family.
Suicide Meanwhile, Israel released details on Tuesday about the 2010 jailhouse suicide of an Australian immigrant reported to have been a disgraced Mossad spy, saying he hanged himself in his cell and no foul play was involved. The affair was kept under wraps until it emerged last week with an Australian television expose that identified the dead man as 34-year-old Ben Zygier, a likely Israeli foreign intelligence recruit held for suspected security offences. Without explicitly naming Zygier, Israel has confirmed that at the time it had a dual citizen in custody and under alias to stem serious harm to national interests, on which it would not elaborate. The Dec 15 date it gave for the detainee’s death matched that etched on the Melbourne-born Jew’s gravestone. Easing a gag order, an Israeli court allowed the publication on Tuesday of the results of a judge’s inquiry, completed two months ago, into the death. The investigation showed the prisoner looped a wet sheet around his neck, tied it to the bars of a bathroom window in his cell and hanged himself, choking to death. Israeli media reported the bathroom area was not covered, for privacy reasons, by closedcircuit television cameras that transmitted images from other parts of the isolation cell. Ruling out foul play on the basis of medical and physical evidence, Judge Dafna Blatman-Kardai said entry to the cell was monitored by cameras and examination of their footage showed no one “intervened in causing the death of the deceased”. She said his family - which has not commented publicly on the case - agreed with the findings. “A small amount of sedative was found in his blood. There was no alcohol or drugs. This does not change my determination ... about the cause of death,” a forensic medical expert was quoted as saying in the judge’s report.
News in Brief
Also: BAGHDAD: An Iraqi judicial panel has rejected a decision to remove one of the country’s top judges from his post because of alleged ties to Saddam Hussein’s regime. Last week, the Justice and Accountability Committee tasked with purging government ranks of officials with ties to Saddam decided to remove judge Medhat alMahmoud who heads the Supreme Federal Court for his alleged role as an adviser to the late dictator.
Turkish police target ‘leftists’ ISTANBUL, Feb 19, (RTRS): Police arrested more than 100 people including union officials in raids across Turkey on Tuesday targeting a militant leftist group behind a suicide bomb attack on the US embassy. Turkey is an important US ally in the Middle East with common interests ranging from energy security to counter-terrorism. Leftist groups strongly oppose what they see as imperialist US influence over their country. The DHKP-C, has staged a series of deadly attacks on police stations over the last six months.
This file photo taken on Feb 14, shows Australian newspapers leading their front pages in Australia with the story of Ben Zygier after Israel confirmed it jailed a foreigner in solitary confinement on security grounds who later committed suicide, with Australia admitting it knew one of its citizens had been detained. (AFP)
Obama to receive honor: Barack Obama will become the first serving US president to receive Israel’s presidential medal, from his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres on a visit to the Jewish state next month, Peres’s office said on Monday. “President Obama has made a unique and meaningful contribution to strengthenObama ing the state of Israel and the security of its people,” it said in a statement. “Barack Obama is a true friend of the state of Israel and has been since the beginning of his public life. As president of the United States he has stood beside Israel in times of crisis,” it added. Israel’s presidential medal of distinction is awarded to individuals or organisations who have contributed to Israeli society and Israel’s image in the world. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
Saudi executes Chadian: Palestinian children take part in a protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails in Gaza City, on Feb 19. Some 800 Palestinians serving time in Israeli jails were refusing food in solidarity with four fellow inmates who have been on long-term hunger strike, officials said. (AFP)
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday beheaded by the sword a Chadian man convicted of drug trafficking in the ultra-conservative kingdom, the interior ministry said.
PKK link
Turkey frees 10 politicians DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Feb 19, (AFP): A Turkish court released on Tuesday 10 proKurdish politicians who were among hundreds, possibly thousands of people on trial accused of ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The court in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir freed the politicians on the grounds that the time they spent in custody had now exceeded any prison term they would serve if convicted, court sources told AFP. Turkish authorities first launched a major campaign of arrests in 2009 against the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK) which is considered a terrorist organisation and an urban wing of the PKK. Abdelkerim Ibrahim Mussa Abkar, who was executed in the holy city of Makkah, had been sentenced to death for trafficking in cocaine, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. (AFP)
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Capture could help improve strained ties
Afghans arrest senior Pakistan Taleban commander KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb 19, (AP): Afghan intelligence officers have arrested a senior Pakistan Taleban commander who was hiding out in eastern Afghanistan, a security official said on Tuesday. The capture could help improve strained relations between the two neighbors. Maulvi Faqir Mohammed was arrested over the weekend in eastern Nangarhar province near the Pakistani frontier, said the security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Two Pakistani intelligence officials confirmed the capture. They also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Mohammed, who was deputy head of the Tehrik-eTaleban Pakistan, or TTP, fell out with the Taleban’s leadership in 2011 for saying the group was in peace negotiations with the Pakistani government. The Taleban recently claimed it patched up relations with the militant commander after the group announced that it was now ready to hold negotiations with the government. Mohammed, who is reportedly in his 40s, was one of the Pakistani Taleban’s top commanders and led the network’s operations in the Bajur and Mohmand tribal areas along the Afghan border. He fled to Afghanistan in 2010 after the Pakistani military raided his stronghold in Bajur. Maulvi is an honorific religious title. Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been strained because of allegations that Kabul is allowing
‘One-sided attack on Taleban’
Pakistani clerics to boycott peace conference ISLAMABAD, Feb 19, (AP): Pakistani clerics upset with anti-Taleban comments coming out of Afghanistan said Monday they will boycott a conference of religious leaders being held to denounce violence and press for a peaceful end to the 11-year-old Afghan war. The head of the Pakistani clerics, Mufti Abu Huraira Mohiuddin sent a letter to his Afghan counterpart on Sunday announcing the move. In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, Mohiuddin accused some Afghan clerics of using “unsavory language” against the Taleban and said the conference was shaping up to be a one-sided attack on the
Taleban rather than a conference to press for peace. The letter appeared to put an end to an initiative that began last November when Kabul and Islamabad announced the plan to hold a peace conference. The ambitious initiative called for 500 clerics from Afghanistan and Pakistan to gather in Kabul in March to present a united front opposing violence, denouncing suicide bombings and urging all sides in the protracted conflict to pursue peace. At the time, the plan was touted as a sign of improving relations between Kabul and Islamabad. But the latest dispute highlights the difficulty of getting the squabbling neighbors to sit together.
Pakistani Taleban to shelter and carry out attacks inside Pakistan from the Afghan side of the rugged and mountainous border. Afghanistan and the US-led NATO coalition say Pakistan is not doing enough to go after Afghan Taleban fighters operating from safe havens in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas — located on the other side of the frontier. According to the Afghan and Pakistani officials, Mohammed was arrested with at least two of his associates. The Afghan official said he had been brought to a
detention center in Kabul. The Pakistani officials said that at the time of his arrest, Mohammed was trying to cross into Pakistan. The TTP was set up five years ago as an umbrella organization to unite violent militant groups in Pakistan’s tribal areas. It is led by Hakimullah Mehsud who recently offered to start peace talks with the government. Pakistan’s war with the TTP has so far cost the lives of 4,000 soldiers and forced thousands of people from their homes.
Drones killed more Afghan civilians in 2012, says UN ‘Women, girls increasingly victims in Afghan war’ KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb 19, (AP): The number of US drone strikes in Afghanistan jumped 72 percent in 2012, killing at least 16 civilians in a sharp increase from the previous year, the UN said Tuesday in a sign of the changing mission as international forces prepare to withdraw combat forces in less than two years.
The US and NATO have long pledged to keep up the fight against al-Qaeda and other militants even as they draw down forces. And drones are expected to take on a greater role as the Americans focus more on special forces operations. Overall, the full-year toll of civilian deaths in 2012 declined compared to the previous year, according to an annual UN report. But the toll spiked in the second half of the year, compared to the same period a year earlier. That spike suggests the country is likely to face continued violence as the Taleban and other militants fight for control following the impending withdrawal of US and allied combat forces. Conflict-related violence also struck more women and girls last year, with 301 killed and 563 wounded — a 20 percent increase from 2011, the report said. The findings come as the war in Afghanistan is reaching a turning point, with international troops increasingly taking the backseat in operations as government forces take the lead. The UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said 506 weapons were released by drones last year, compared with 294 in 2011. Five incidents resulted in casualties last year, with 16 civilians killed and three wounded, up from just one incident in 2011. Even as drone attacks increased, the UN reported an overall decrease in civilian deaths by airstrikes with the USled coalition implementing stricter measures to prevent innocent people from being killed.
Strikes
Afghan shoppers throng the Mandave main market in downtown Kabul on Feb 19. Insurgents attacks on Afghan government employees soared by 700 percent last year even as the overall 2012 civilian death toll from the war fell for the first time in six years, the UN said on Feb 19. (Inset): An Afghan girl, Shamila, 8, carries firewood
in the Behsood district of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Feb 18. Despite being a mineral-rich country, four decades of war have left Afghanistan as one of the least developed countries in the world and highly dependent on foreign aid. (AFP/AP)
330 soldiers to help train Malian army
Germany approves troops for Mali mission BERLIN, Feb 19, (AFP): The German government said on Tuesday it had approved sending up to 330 soldiers to help train the Malian army and support the French-led international deployment against Islamists. Up to 180 German soldiers have been earmarked for the European Union Training Mission (EUTM), formally approved by EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, a government statement said. Forty of the German contingent will train up Malian forces, while a further 40 will act as medical support staff. The other 100 will be available to provide logistical and administrative support in areas
such as water and energy supplies, making Germany the second biggest contributor to the EUTM mission behind France, according to European sources. Germany will also make another 150 soldiers available to back up the French army in Mali via air transport for French and African troops and help in the refuelling of planes. Combat troops will not be sent to Mali. The German Bundestag lower house of parliament is expected to approve the missions, whose mandates run until the end of February 2014, in a vote Friday. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle welcomed the government’s decision.
‘Terror plot’
Danish court charges brothers COPENHAGEN, Feb 19, (AFP): A Danish court on Monday formally charged two brothers with links to Somalia’s Islamist Shebab rebels on suspicion of plotting a terror attack. Prosecutors have accused the men, of Somali origin and aged 19 and 24, of “organising and financing” several months of training for the older brother at a Shebab-run camp in the capital Mogadishu ending in March 2012. They were arrested in May
last year on suspicion of preparing an act of terror and have been detained since. One of them was picked up at his home in the central Danish city of Aarhus and the other as he arrived by plane at Copenhagen airport. The trial is expected to start on March 11. After an offensive launched in mid-2011 by an African Union force, the al-Qaedalinked Shebab lost their main strongholds in Somalia’s south and centre. They still control some rural areas, however.
“We Europeans have a vested interest in world terrorism not gaining a safe haven in our neighbourhood,” he said in a written statement. “Therefore we want to support the Africans to be able to seize their responsibility for security in Mali,” he added. His spokesman Andreas Peschke told a regular government news conference that European discussions Monday on the training mission had indicated that it would deploy as long as necessary. “I think training will take place there so long as is necessary to create an adequate number of trained Malian troops,” he told reporters.
The UN said most of the civilian casualties from drone strikes appear to be the result of weapons aimed directly at insurgents but some may have been targeting errors. It called for a review of tactical and operational policy on targeting to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law “with the expansion of the use of unmanned combat aerial vehicles” in Afghanistan. Drones are highly effective but have strained relations between the US and Pakistan as well as other nations where the strikes are carried out because civilians are sometimes killed alongside targeted terrorists. Most nations have given Washington at least tacit agreement to carry out the attacks, although the issue has not been prominent in Afghanistan as most drone strikes are targeted against militants on the border with Pakistan. UNAMA said civilian casualties rose 13 percent to 4,431 in the second half of the year, including more from roadside bombs placed in public areas, compared with the same period in 2011.
US imam ‘denies’ Taleban connection MIAMI, Feb 19, (AP): An elderly Muslim cleric who lives in Florida is denying any connection to the Pakistani Taleban terrorist organization. Seventy-seven-year-old Hafiz Khan took the witness stand Tuesday in a federal courtroom. Khan declared he is innocent of US charges that he sent at least $50,000 to help finance Taleban fighters. Khan says he is a proud US citizen. Khan has been jailed since his May 2011 arrest on four terrorism support-related charges. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.
Malaysia’s Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein (center), uses binoculars to view Tanduo village, where suspected Philippine militants are holding off near Lahad Datu, during his visit on Feb 19. Followers of a Philippine sultan who crossed to the Malaysian state of Sabah this month will not leave and are reclaiming the area as their ancestral territory, the sultan said on Feb 17, amid a tense standoff. (AFP)
An Afghan ethnic Hazara woman (center), holds a banner during a hunger strike, in protest against the Saturday’s bombing in Quetta, Pakistan, which killed scores of Shiites, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb 19. Afghans ethnic Hazara went on hunger strike on Wednesday, near the UN’s main office in Kabul, in reaction to the Sunday’s bombing in Quetta, Pakistan. (AP)
Sensitive task: FM
Mali govt probes claims of atrocities PARIS, Feb 19, (Agencies): Malian authorities are investigating claims of torture, killings and reprisals by its own soldiers against minority civilians suspected of links to Islamist militants — accusations that threaten to jeopardize international support for fighting terrorism in the Sahara. Malian Foreign Minister Tieman Coulibaly insisted to The Associated Press that his government is taking the claims seriously and won’t tolerate such “atrocities.” But he acknowledges that it’s a tough and sensitive task to investigate them in a poor, violence-scarred country with a weak, military-led government. Concerns have mounted in recent weeks about abuses by Malian forces amid the French-led military campaign against al-Qaida-linked rebels who overran northern Mali last year. Arab and Tuareg families are particularly afraid of reprisals, minorities who are accused of having aided the rebels. The AP has documented a shallow grave where the bodies of Coulibaly two Arabs from Timbuktu were dumped — two men last seen alive being arrested by Malian forces. One of the last Arab residents of Timbuktu was picked up by Malian troops last week, the elderly man’s hands bound and body trembling. The reason for his arrest and his whereabouts are unclear. “The government will not tolerate atrocities. The government will not accept discrimination,” Coulibaly said Tuesday in Paris. He insisted the goal is to arrest suspected terrorists, not torture or kill them, and said that the lighter-skinned minorities in the north are not being unfairly targeted. “We can’t, in the name of avoiding discrimination, let an Arab or Tuareg go just because he’s Arab or Tuareg, if he is guilty,” he said. He said four or five specif-
ic accusations are currently under investigation by Malian military authorities. Asked whether they’re capable of conducting full, transparent and fair investigations, he acknowledged, “It’s hard.” He said Mali has asked for U.N. observers to come and monitor Malian forces to prevent abuses. Mali is hoping for U.S. and European aid for development and help for the Malian military. But Mali has an unstable government installed by the army after a coup last year, and international partners question whether it will be ready to run the country if French forces start pulling out next month, as they have pledged. “The first responsibility to avoid this kind of reprisal ... rests with the Malian authorities themselves. If that is not the case, the unanimous support of the international community can only diminish,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said Tuesday. He told a news conference the French government hasn’t seen any legal proof of torture and reprisals yet, but that “no one can reasonably say that no abuses have taken place.” French troops are under orders to stop any atrocities they see, gather any proof — and hand it to Malian authorities, Lalliot said.
Also: PARIS/DAKAR: A French soldier and more than 20 Islamist rebels were killed during what appeared to be the first clashes in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountain range where militants have taken refuge in northern Mali, French sources said on Tuesday. Speaking on a visit to Athens, French President Francois Hollande said serious fighting had broken out and was continuing in the remote Adrar des Ifoghas mountains, resulting in several casualties among the rebels and one among the French. “A legionnaire from the 2nd foreign parachute regiment has died in a clash with Islamists in northern Mali,” Hollande told reporters in Athens.
Sidelights Pirates attack ship: Pirates boarded a ship two days ago off the coast of Nigeria’s oil-region, a piracy watchdog said on Tuesday, the latest in a string of attacks close to Africa’s biggest energy producer. The attack took place around 55 miles off the coast of the Brass oil region on Sunday, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said in a piracy report. There were reports that an unknown number of foreigners were kidnapped in the attack on the Armadah Tuah vessel, according to maritime-risk exports AKE. The Nigerian navy did not respond to requests for comment. “If confirmed, the attack would be the third offshore kidnapping in the area in 10 days, following the attacks on Esther C and Walvis 7 on Feb 7 and Feb 10 respectively,” AKE said in a security report. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑
Blast kills 1: An explosive devise went off on Monday in Nigeria’s economic capital Lagos, killing a man and seriously wounding a policeman, a police spokesman and a rescue official said. “It was a minor wired explosive that went off. A man was killed and a policeman was seriously injured. We are investigating all circumstances surrounding the incident,” Lagos state police spokeswoman Ngozi Braide told AFP. She did not give further details.
The explosion happened near Festac, a residential western district of Lagos, she said. The victim of the explosion was identified as a local official of sand dredgers in Festac, an official of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said. “The unionist, popularly known by his nickname ‘Apashe’, was killed by the blast while the policemen in his company was wounded,” said the NEMA official, who declined to be named. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
Attack kills 1: A Philippine army official says dozens of suspected communist rebels have attacked a community in a Del Monte pineapple plantation complex in the country’s south, killing at least one guard. Army Lt Col Eugenio Osias says the New People’s Army guerrillas barged into the vast plantation belonging to Del Monte Philippines Inc. late Tuesday in Manolo Fortich town in Bukidnon province, ransacking offices and seizing firearms from several plantation guards. Osias says the attackers later withdrew and are being pursued by government troops. He says troops and police are checking the extent of the damage in the plantation community and whether the attackers took workers hostage as they withdrew. The Marxist rebellion, one of Asia’s longest, has been raging for 43 years. (AP)
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Opposition forces announce civil strike
Court of appeals issues verdict in favor of Al-Yawm By Abubakar A. Ibrahim Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The Court of Appeals Tuesday issued a verdict in favor of the Al-Yawm TV channel and cancelled the decision which was issued by the Minister of Information revoking the channel’s licence and suspending its operations. Following the verdict the channel will resume telecasting its programs after months of suspension. The court ruled the minister’s decision of revoking the channel’s license is incompatible with the Audio-Visual Law. The court also said the minister had failed to
Saudi King Continued from Page 1 discretion of the highest authority in Saudi Arabia, indicate the wise leader is creating history for his country. His effort to use the nation’s wealth for human resource development before focusing on the improvement of structures is the outcome of a thorough search for people who work in the interest of the country. This was evident when the council members took their oath before the King, during which they promised to do their best in working towards national development. They are aware that the advancement, stability and safety of Saudi Arabia have a positive impact on the entire Arabian Gulf. We were deeply impressed by the speech of King Abdullah when he addressed the council members with fatherly love. The most wonderful aspect of his speech was the affirmation of his closeness to the people. He even apologized for the inability to hug all of them — another expression of profound love for the citizens. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques is the creator of civilization for modern Saudi Arabia. He prioritizes his country and he wants to offer the best to the people. His hard work resulted in remarkable achievements which made the Kingdom worthy of emulation. He bears the burden of improving the image of the country in the international community by initiating cultural dialogue with other nations. We are now witnessing the introduction of a new method of nation-building to set the standard for other countries in the Arabian Gulf. Congratulations to the Kingdom and the entire Arabian Gulf on this momentous event! Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, all the Arab-Gulf citizens are praying for you with one voice, “May God Almighty grant you good health and long life. You and the Kingdom are our common shelter.”
Assembly agrees Continued from Page 1 treatment. State Minister for National Assembly Affairs Rola Dashti requested the postponement of his grilling motion to give the minister an opportunity to correct the defects cited.” She added that “political stability is needed in the country in order to achieve developments since only two months have passed on the formation of the Assembly”. Minister of Communications Salem Al-Uthaina requested the Assembly for a suitable leeway period to implement the ministry’s program and achieve the required reforms, particularly since it’s been only two months since he assumed the ministerial post. He added that he is committed to building an effective and cooperative relationship with the Assembly. It is worth mentioning that Speaker of Parliament held a closed-door meeting with the majority of lawmakers Monday evening to discuss the grilling motions filed. The parliamentarians reportedly decided not to withdraw the motions but to postpone them and allow ministers a period for progress. At the session, 37 MPs approved the request to postpone the Communication Minister’s grilling, 23 rejected it, while two abstained. Meanwhile, 39 MPs approved the request to postpone the Interior Minister’s grilling, 21 rejected it, while one abstained. The proponents of Al-Qallaf’s grilling were on the re-hiring of high-ranking officials after they were investigated and convicted by committees formed at the ministry as well as alleged violations committed at the ministry. Meanwhile, Al-Duwaisan’s grilling was on the Interior Minister’s alleged “slackness in regards to the threat of
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take necessary administrative procedures which are contained in the law. In December last year the channel’s license was canceled for violating licensing requirements, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Information. The ministry in a statement had said it acted in line with the Press and Publication Law and the Audio-Visual Law to issue the cancellation order of the channel’s license. Meanwhile, a source disclosed the Ministry of Information has presented a petition to halt the implementation of the court’s verdict. Al-Yawm channel is considered proopposition and anti-government. Since its
launch the channel has been mainly hosting the opposition members who are critical of the government. After the court decision to reinstate the channel, several opposition members expressed their happiness. Former MP Musallam Al-Barrak said, “We congratulate the owners, employees and lovers of Al-Yawm channel on its return to the broadcasting fold – the channel which is the voice of the people and a platform for the defense of the nation as it always does.” Former MP Abdullah Al-Bargash said the people are happy for the return of the channel. It shows that dignity doesn’t quench their thirst except with plenty of
dignity. Former MP Osama Al-Munawer said the social networking website “Twitter is filled with congratulations and expressions of joy for the return of Al-Yawm channel. These feelings are real and the people were looking for a neutral news window since the closure of the channel. Congratulations to all.” Former MP Mohammed Al-Dalal said the return of the channel by the court ruling is a return of free voice especially for free people. He added, “The authority had tried to silence the channel but failed, the free voice can never be silenced.” Meanwhile, the so-called opposition forces announced they will organize what
they call a civil strike on Thursday, Feb 21. They have called on all citizens to participate in the strike which will last for only one hour from 11.00 am to 12.00 noon. Announcing its support for the strike, the movement’s coordinative wing of the opposition stressed the importance of this step which it said will be followed by other broad steps as a message to the authority that they do not accept the current political situation which ahs resulted from the one vote decree. They have called on the employees in all government institutions to participate in the strike “to serve as a pressure to confront the government use of its power in imposing a method that infringes the
Constitution.” In the meantime, opposition members including former MPs and political activists are continuing their daily sit-ins at the Municipal Garden opposite the Palace of Justice in solidarity with the detainees. They are demanding the release of all activists, bloggers and twitters who are accused of making statements deemed offensive to HH the Amir of Kuwait. Former MP Jamaan Al-Harbash has called on citizens to attend the sit-ins, adding “With continued detention of bloggers and continuing security pursuit, I will respond to the call of opposition tonight at Municipal Garden.”
Syrian rebels target Assad as Aleppo missile toll rises to 31
viruses. The study, published in mBio, an online journal of the American Society for Microbiology, also found that NCoV was susceptible to treatment with interferons, medicines that boost the immune system and which are also successfully used to treat other viral diseases like Hepatitis C. This opens up a possible mode of treatment in the event of a large-scale outbreak, the scientists said. Thiel said that with the future of the virus uncertain, it was vital for laboratories and specialists around the world to cooperate swiftly to find out more about where it came from, how widespread it was, and how infectious it might be. “So far it looks like the virus is well contained, so in that sense I don’t see any reason for increased fear,” he said. Meanwhile, a person suffering from a SARS-like virus has died in Britain, hospital officials said on Tuesday, becoming the sixth fatality from the illness worldwide. The patient was being treated for socalled novel coronavirus at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England, and died on Sunday, the hospital said. The victim was one of three people in the same family with the virus, which appeared to have been caught by one of the family members during a recent visit to the Middle East and Pakistan. “A patient being treated for novel coronavirus at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham has died. The patient passed away on Sunday morning in the hospital’s critical care unit,” the hospital said in a statement to AFP. The World Health Organisation on Saturday urged countries to be vigilant over the spread of the virus. A total of 12 cases of the virus have so far been reported to the WHO with five previous fatalities — three in Saudi Arabia and two in Jordan. The person who died in Britain already had a “long-term, complex unrelated health condition”, the hospital said. “The patient was immuno-compromised and is believed to have contracted the virus from a relative who is being treated for the condition in a Manchester hospital,” it added.
Dozens of Russians leave Syria DAMASCUS, Feb 19, (AFP): Insurgents fired mortar rounds at one of President Bashar al-Assad’s palaces in the Syrian capital on Tuesday, as the death toll mounted from a devastating missile strike on second city Aleppo. The shelling, which was claimed by the rebel Free Syrian Army, came as dozens of Russians left the war-battered country on a plane sent by Moscow as its navy reportedly sent four warships to the Mediterranean for a larger evacuation. The fresh violence came as the United Nations said more than four million people inside Syria are in desperate need of aid, up sharply from 2.5 million in September. In Damascus, two mortar shells crashed into an area “near the southern wall of Tishreen palace” and two hospitals, causing damage but no casualties, state news agency SANA quoted an unnamed official as saying. Little is known about Assad’s movements, and Tishreen is normally reserved for dignitaries, but it was the first time his regime has reported shells falling near a palace since the conflict flared 23 months ago. The military council of the rebel Free Syrian Army announced on Facebook that “the Free Army has fired mortars at the Tishreen presidential palace” in west Damascus. The shelling came a day after an apparent surface-to-surface missile attack flattened a residential area of Aleppo city, killing at least 31 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. Fourteen children and five women were among the dead, and the “toll is likely to rise as bodies are being retrieved from under the rubble,” it said, adding people were critically injured. There were no planes overhead when the missile hit, according to residents, and the extent of the destruction indicated a surface-to-surface missile was likely used, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Leave In the regime stronghold of Latakia, two Russian government planes carried humanitarian aid from Moscow to the port city, before taking back 99 Russians and other ex-Soviet citizens who wanted to leave on their return trip. Moscow, which unlike other world powers still keeps close ties with the Assad regime, also announced it would host Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem for talks on the crisis next week. On Feb 13, a top Russian official said Syria’s opposition chief Moaz al-Khatib was also due in Moscow, though he did not specify when. Observers are watching for any hints of Russia planning a full-scale evacuation of its citizens, which would be seen as a tacit admission from Moscow that Assad is doomed in his fight against rebels. Meanwhile, hundreds of troops backed by military vehicles poured into Aleppo province, as rebels clashed with loyalists around Kwayris military airport as they pushed on with an assault to take control of Aleppo international airport. At least 40 people were killed across Syrian on Tuesday, including five in a car bomb attack in Damascus province, the Observatory said. In Geneva, UN Under-SecretaryGeneral for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos described the situation as “devastating” as she announced that four million people inside Syrian needed aid. “We are watching a humanitarian tragedy unfold before our eyes,” said Amos. The United Nations says at least 70,000 people have been killed in the near twoyear conflict, while the number of Syrians who have fled their homeland now tops 850,000. Zionist espionage to Kuwait due to a security deal with an Israeli security company” and “the adoption of policies that violate the ethics and values that are upheld by security personnel, therefore compromising their role and respectability within society.” On another note, the National Assembly rejected a request that sought to appeal to the Ministers of Public Works and Electricity and Water to delay the implementation of Al-Jaber Bridge and Al-Zour Power Station mega projects until the parliament committee investigating the contracts completes its
Photo by Rizk Tawfik
HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah with Minister of Planning and Development Dr Rola Dashti at the National Assembly Tuesday.
Crisis disrupts efforts to revitalize economy
Tunisia PM quits after initiative fails TUNIS, Feb 19, (RTRS): Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned on Tuesday after his attempt to end a political stand-off by forming a government of technocrats failed. “I vowed that if my initiative did not succeed, I would resign and ... I have already done so,” Jebali told a news conference after meeting with President Moncef Marzouki. Jebali had proposed the cabinet of apolitical technocrats to quell turmoil caused by the assassination of secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid on Feb 6.
inquires. Furthermore, a bill on unemployment insurance was approved in its second deliberation and referred to the government for implementation. The Assembly also discussed eight requests from the Public Prosecution to lift the parliamentary immunity of MP Nabil Al-Fadhl on various audio/visual and press misdemeanors. Three requests were approved and five were rejected. Al-Fadhl submitted a proposal on Tuesday to amend the Penal Code to include a penalty of one to two years imprisonment against those convicted of addressing HH the Amir in an inappropriate manner during speech in public.
Court upholds Continued from Page 1 2012, had sentenced Sheikh Faisal AlSabah to be hanged to death. A report issued by psychiatrists show the defendant is fully responsible for his actions.
Saudi women Continued from Page 1 exporter because he has the final say on policy. Major speeches in recent months have been made on Abdullah’s behalf by his heir, Crown Prince Salman. State media have also listed Salman as chairing the weekly cabinet sessions in place of the king. “Your place in the Shura Council is not as those who have been honoured, but as those who have been charged with a duty, as you represent part of society,” he said, addressing the new women members. One fifth of the new Shura Council are women. The decision to appoint women to the body, which functions in place of an elected parliament, was announced in 2011 but their names were only made public last month. The Shura Council is remodelling parts of its chamber to ensure strict gender segregation between members. Saudi Arabia’s government is entirely appointed by the king, who is also prime
Belaid’s death touched off mass protests targeting in part the ruling moderate Islamist party Ennahda to which Jebali belongs. No one claimed responsibility for the killing, but it deepened the misgivings of secularists who believe Jebali’s government has failed to deal firmly enough with religious extremists threatening the country’s stability. The crisis has disrupted efforts to revitalise an economy hit hard by the disorder that followed the overthrow of veteran strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
minister. The country’s only elections are for half the seats on municipal councils that have few powers. Women will also have the right to vote and stand for office in the next municipal ballot, Abdullah said in 2011. The decision to appoint women to the Shura Council prompted a protest by dozens of conservative clerics outside the royal court in January. They complained that the move, and other reforms aimed at making it easier for women to work, went against sharia law. In the ultra-conservative kingdom, women are banned from driving and need the consent of a male “guardian” to work, travel abroad or open a bank account. “The development we are working at must be gradual,” King Abdullah said in a brief statement broadcast on state television. He recommended that the council show “realism” in its discussions and allow “reason to prevail in issues it has to deal” with. On January 11, the king appointed the women, which include university graduates, human rights activists and two princesses, to the body. also known as the Saudi Consultative Council. His decree marked a breakthrough in the kingdom that imposes stringent restrictions on women, who are banned from driving and denied the right to travel without the consent of a male guardian. The monarch took the decisions following consultations with religious leaders in Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict version of Islamic sharia law. Abdullah has been carefully treading towards change, introducing municipal elections for the first time in 2005. In 2011, he granted women the right to vote and run as candidates in the next local election, set for 2015, saying “we refuse to marginalise women’s role in Saudi society.”
7 French Continued from Page 1 held in West Africa’s Sahel region by al Qaeda-affiliated groups. “It shows that the fight against terrorist groups is a necessity as they threaten all of Africa,” French foreign minister Laurent Fabius told reporters.
Jebali proposed forming a cabinet of apolitical technocrats to restore calm and take Tunisia to elections, but did not consult his own party or its secular coalition partners. He threatened to quit if the proposal failed. But his party scuppered the plan by rejecting the idea of a technocratic government. Announcing his resignation on Tuesday, Jebali said he would not lead another government without assurances on the timing of fresh elections and a new constitution.
Cameroon Information Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said he could not confirm the kidnapping report for now. Cameroon is a largely secular state where 70 percent of the population is Christian and about 24 percent moderate Muslim. Most Cameroon Muslims live in the three northern regions of the country. Until now, there have been no known links between Muslims in north Cameroon and Islamists in northern Nigeria. Most kidnappings of Western nationals in the region have been committed by pirates operating off Cameroon’s southern Bakassi peninsula and the Gulf of Guinea, though the French foreign ministry advises against all travel in the north. Charles Gurdon, managing director of Menas Associates, a London-based risk analysis consultancy, said there had been growing concerns over a possible spillover from Nigeria into the north of Cameroon. “Traces of ... Boko Haram had been discovered (in Cameroon), but the Cameroon government has been covertly trying to undermine the threat,” he said. On Sunday, seven foreigners were snatched from the compound of Lebanese construction company Setraco in northern Nigeria’s Bauchi state, and al Qaedalinked Ansaru took responsibility. Northern Nigeria is increasingly afflicted by attacks and kidnappings by Islamist militants. Ansaru, which rose to prominence only in recent months, has also claimed the abduction in December of a French national who is still missing. An Ansaru said the abductions were driven by “the atrocities done to the religion of Allah by the European countries in many places, such as Afghanistan and Mali.”
New SARS-like Continued from Page 1 have jumped from animals to humans very recently, his research showed it was just as well adapted to infecting the human respiratory tract as other coronaviruses like SARS and the common cold
Newswatch TEHRAN: Iran is prepared to ease Western concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for pledges from the US and others about the country’s ability to enrich uranium, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday. The remarks signaled a possible opening before next week’s talks with world powers, due in the Kazakhstan capital. The West has been reluctant to make clear declarations on Iran’s nuclear “rights” in previous negotiations last year that ended in stalemate. Tehran is seeking international acknowledgment that its uranium enrichment program is acceptable within the UN treaty governing the spread of nuclear technology — a treaty that Iran has signed. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ MANAMA, Bahrain: Two Sunni factions in Bahrain say they are suspending participation in talks with Shiite opposition groups because of a spike in violence in the Gulf nation’s two-year-old uprising. The moves are unlikely to disrupt the overall negotiations between Bahrain’s Sunni rulers and the Shiite opposition bloc, but it reflects the high level of tension confronting attempts at dialogue. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑
LOS ANGELES: A gunman killed three people in California Tuesday, including at least one execution-style, in a series of carjackings before taking his own life, police said. At least two other people were injured as the gunman fired randomly on other vehicles while driving a stolen car on the freeway, before he shot and killed himself in the city of Orange, south of Los Angeles. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
NEW YORK: BMW is recalling 569,830 of its vehicles in the United States and Canada due the chance of an electrical failure that may cause the cars to stall unexpectedly, US regulators and the company said. The recall affects Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s popular 3-Series sedans, convertibles, coupes and sports wagons as well as its 1-Series coupes and convertibles and Z4 two-seat roadsters. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑
BERLIN: A German union has called on security workers at Hamburg airport to walk off the job on Wednesday, the latest in a series of strikes staged to ramp up pressure in a pay dispute. The ver.di union said Tuesday that security personnel will strike from 3:45 am to 11 pm (02:45 to 22:00 GMT). (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ ABUJA: Pirates kidnapped six foreign sailors when they boarded a ship two days ago off Nigeria’s coast in the latest in a string of attacks off Africa’s biggest energy producer, security sources said on Tuesday. A Russian, three Ukrainian and two Indian sailors were taken when the Armada Tuah was attacked around 40 miles off the coast of oil-producing Bayelsa state, three security sources told Reuters. There were no details on what type of ship it was or where it was flagged. (RTRS)
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
SUBCONTINENT
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Clergy want int’l probe on civil war
Photos show Lanka executed LTTE chief’s son NEW DELHI, Feb 19, (Agencies): Photos released on Tuesday to publicise a new documentary on Sri Lanka show that government soldiers executed the 12-year-old son of separatist chief Velupillai Prabhakaran in 2009, its director claimed. The photos, part of a documentary for Britain’s Channel 4, prove the Sri Lankan army’s involvement in war crimes including summary execution and torture during the island’s 37-year-long civil war, according to director Callum Macrae. The pictures “tell a chilling story”, Macrae wrote in an article published in Indian newspaper The Hindu. In one, Balachandran, the youngest son of the slain Tamil Tiger leader, is seen eating a snack while sitting in a green sandbag bunker guarded by a soldier. A second image shows his bullet-riddled bare-chested body. The documentary alleges that Balachandran was executed two hours after the first photo was taken. The images have been scrutinised by digital image analysts, who concluded they came from the same camera, and support video footage of the boy’s body uncovered last year, Macrae said. The Sri Lankan government has maintained that Prabhakaran’s family were killed in fighting. The bodies of his wife and daughter have never been found. “The new photographs are particularly important evidentially, because they prove that Balachandran was not killed in crossfire, or in a battle. His death was deliberate and calculated,” Macrae wrote. “It is difficult to imagine the mindset of an army in which
‘... are constantly the targets of threats, reprisals’
Rights groups condemn Lanka journalist shooting COLOMBO, Feb 19, (AFP): The “appalling shooting” of a senior reporter working for a privately-owned newspaper in Sri Lanka underscores the threats faced by journalists in the country, media rights groups said Tuesday. Paris-based Reporters without Borders (RSF) and Journalists for Democracy, a group of Sri Lankan reporters in exile, said the Friday night shooting of Faraz Shauketaly was the latest attempt to muzzle the country’s independent press. “This appalling shooting suggests that the enemies of media freedom are trying to silence those journalists who still dare to report the news freely,” the two rights groups said in a joint statement. Shauketaly, a 54-year-old investigative journalist at
the Sunday Leader newspaper, had reported on alleged graft in Sri Lanka’s energy sector. He was moved to a private hospital after undergoing surgery at a state hospital to remove a bullet from his neck. The newspaper said the shooting at Shauketaly’s home in a suburb of Colombo brought back memories of the assassination of its founding editor, Lasantha Wickrematunge, who was gunned down in January 2009 while driving to work. “Sri Lankan journalists are constantly the targets of threats and reprisals, often by the government,” the rights groups said, adding that Sri Lanka was ranked 162 out of 179 countries in the RSF press freedom index.
a child can be executed in cold blood with apparent impunity.” “No War Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka” will be released in March in Geneva to coincide with a UN Human Rights Council discussion on the country, currently facing censure by the US over its failure to probe war crimes. Meanwhile, Christian clergy from Sri Lanka’s ethnic
Tamil-majority north have asked the UN Human Rights Council to push for an independent international inquiry into alleged atrocities in Sri Lanka’s civil war. A letter dated Monday and signed by 133 Roman Catholic, Anglican and Methodist pastors and nuns said the government lacks the will to resolve causes of the conflict on its own.
Pakistan finmin ‘resigns’, to be replaced by state minister Pakistani law stipulates that the cabinet must step down and a caretaker government be in place for 90 days before an election. The date for the election has not yet been set. “He’s the government’s top nominee for the prime minister in the caretaker government,” said one of the officials. The opposition leader and ruling party must agree on a list of officials to head the caretak-
er government. But the opposition may object to Shaikh’s appointment because he is seen as being too close to the military and served as privatisation and investment minister under former military dictator Pervez Musharraf. Shaikh will be replaced by the state minister for finance, Saleem Mandviwalla, said one official in the finance ministry and another high-ranking government official. Shaikh, who holds a PhD in economics, taught at Harvard University and worked at the World Bank for several years, advising 21 countries, including a stint as World Bank country head in Saudi Arabia. He leaves as the Pakistan currency has slid to a historic low of 98 rupees against the dollar and the economy is beset by inflation, daily power cuts and plummeting foreign investment. Pakistan only has enough foreign reserves left to pay for two months worth of imports. In 2008, that situation prompted a balance of payments crisis only ended when the International Monetary Fund offered a bailout package of $11 billion. But in 2011, that program was suspended after Shaikh was unable to push through key reforms, most notably widening Pakistan’s tax base. Financial analysts say that others in the ruling party share the blame for that failure. Most of Pakistan’s top politicians and their elite backers don’t pay taxes and are not keen to see reforms. The IMF has said it will not consider rescheduling repayments of the $6.2 billion Pakistan still owes without a comprehensive plan for reform agreed on by all political parties.
Also: PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A
Indian activists from various trade unions participate in a torch-light rally in support of the upcoming two-day All India General Strike on Feb 20-21 in Kolkata, on Feb 18. For the first time in the history of India all the eleven Central Trade Unions and thousands of Independent Federations have given a call to the workers to observe the two-day All India General Strike protesting against the policies of the Government. Millions of workers across the country in private sector, public sector, Central and State government employee sector are expected to participate in this strike. (AFP)
‘98 Myanmar nationals die of dehydration, starvation’
Migrant survivors tell of throwing dead into sea COLOMBO, Feb 19, (RTRS): Myanmar nationals rescued from a sinking ship by the Sri Lankan Navy have told of throwing 98 people overboard after they died of starvation and dehydration, Sri Lanka’s police said on Monday. Sailors rescued 31 adult males and a boy on Feb 16 when their damaged wooden ship began to sink about 250 nautical miles off Sri Lanka’s southeastern coast, Sri Lanka’s navy said on its website . “They said they had carried food and water for only one month and they had been in the sea for two months after the ship engine stalled,” police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody told Reuters. “Their captain and 97 others have died
due to dehydration and starvation. They also said they had thrown the dead bodies into the sea.” The survivors said they were aiming to seek asylum in Indonesia and Australia and identified themselves as Muslims from a border village between Myanmar and Bangladesh, Jayakody said, without elaborating. Fifteen survivors are still in hospital in southern Sri Lanka while 17 of them have been discharged and detained after appearing in court, he said. An estimated 800,000 Rohingya Muslims live in Myanmar but are officially stateless. The Myanmar government denies them citizenship,
Joint taskforce to be set up
UK, India in bid to fight cyber crime MUMBAI, Feb 19, (RTRS): Britain and India are expected to agree to set up a joint task force to fight cyber crime on Tuesday, a move London hopes will help it safeguard the personal banking and mobile phone data of millions of Britons, much of which is stored on Indian servers. The agreement is expected to be sealed at a meeting between British Prime Minister David Cameron and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi, one of the highlights of Cameron’s three-day trade and investment trip to India.
“The two leaders are expected to agree a substantial strengthening of practical co-operation between British and Indian authorities to increase the security of British and Indian computer networks and to help defend them against cyber attacks by terrorists, criminals and hostile states,” Cameron’s office said in a statement. It said India was set to have one of the biggest online populations by 2015 with an expected 300 million users — larger than the United States and up from the 137 million users already in India today.
regarding them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, which does not recognise them either. The United Nations estimates about 13,000 boat people, including many Rohingyas, fled Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh in 2012, a sharp increase from the previous year. On Feb 2, the Sri Lankan navy rescued 127 Bangladeshis and 11 Myanmar nationals in an overcrowded wooden vessel that had begun to sink 50 nautical miles east off Sri Lanka’s eastern coast. The members of this group of 138 people are still in a detention centre near the capital Colombo, police said.
government official in northwest Pakistan died on Tuesday from injuries sustained when suicide bombers struck his office during a meeting to discuss looming general elections, officials said. Khalid Mumtaz Kundi, a deputy of Mutahir Zeb, the government’s representative in the semi-autonomous tribal district of Khyber, which straddles the key NATO supply line into Afghanistan, died in a military hospital in Peshawar. “They operated on him for several hours overnight but several pieces of shrapnel had entered his body and he died,” a security official told AFP. Officials in the Khyber administration confirmed his death. Six people have now died as a result of the attack, in which two suicide bombers stormed the Khyber administration’s compound in Peshawar as Zeb chaired a meeting on arrangements for the elections. There has been no claim of responsibility. The military has long been fighting Taleban and other Islamist insurgents in Khyber, which straddles a key NATO supply route into Afghanistan, where US-led combat troops are due to leave next year. Violence has increased in northwest Pakistan ahead of elections, which are due by mid-May and which will mark the first time an elected civilian government completes a full term in office.
Nepal PM to quit ahead of June poll KATHMANDU, Feb 19, (AFP): Nepal’s prime minister has agreed to resign to make way for the chief justice to lead the politically deadlocked country into elections by June this year, the government said on Tuesday. Baburam Bhattarai will submit his resignation to the president after the nation’s four largest parties ended a protracted stalemate by agreeing to form a unity government headed by the country’s top judge, deputy prime minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar told reporters.
Pakistani Shiite Muslims shout slogans as they protest against the bombing which killed 89 people, in Quetta on Feb 18. (AFP)
Over 170 alleged suspects held
Govt official in northwest dies after suicide attack ISLAMABAD, Feb 19, (Agencies): Pakistani Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh resigned on Tuesday, two officials said, amid speculation that he may lead a caretaker government that must be set up before national elections scheduled for this spring.
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron plays cricket with Indian boys at the Oval Maidan, a communal cricket pitch in the centre of Mumbai, India on Feb 18. British Prime Minister David Cameron called on India to further open up to foreign investment and loosen regulations that hamper businesses, saying Monday that the countries’ ‘special relationship’ could blossom into a powerful economic partnership. On his second visit to Britain’s former colony, Cameron led a delegation of more than 100 British CEOs and investors and stopped first in Mumbai, India’s financial capital. He was to continue to New Delhi and meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday. (AP)
Pakistan Shiites call off their protest, agree to bury dead QUETTA, Pakistan, Feb 19, (AFP): Thousands of Pakistani Shiite Muslims called off nationwide protests Tuesday and agreed to bury the dead from a bomb attack that killed 89 people, after the government promised to arrest those responsible. Saturday’s attack was the second bomb targeting the Shiite Hazara minority in five weeks in Quetta and saw protesters pour onto the streets across the country, shutting down parts of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Shiites, who make up around 20 percent of the mostly Sunni Muslim population of 180 million, are facing record numbers of attacks, raising serious questions about security as Ashraf nuclear-armed Pakistan prepares to hold elections by mid-May. Outlawed militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) has claimed responsibility for the Quetta attacks and Shiites were furious that authorities have done nothing to prosecute those responsible. Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf sent cabinet ministers to the southwestern city to negotiate with the protesters and announced an operation to arrest those responsible for the attack. Officials said security forces had killed four men and detained more than 170 alleged suspects, including the purported mastermind of Saturday’s bombing. Pakistani security forces frequently detain people en masse after major bombings but few
News in Brief Acted ‘correctly’: Italian aerospace and defence giant Finmeccanica insisted it had acted “correctly” in a deal to sell India 12 helicopters, amid investigations in Italy and India over alleged bribes paid for the contact. “Finmeccanica highlights that it has acted correctly throughout the 40 years it has operated in India, one of the most strategically important markets for the entire group,” the company said. “Finmeccanica underlines that its companies have operated for many years and continue to operate in India, with managerial and operational autonomy, complying fully with Indian law and the ethics principles of the group,” it said in a statement. “Finmeccanica is ready to cooperate with the Indian authorities in order to clarify the matter and will collaborate in accordance with international procedures,” it added. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
Arrest warrant condemned:
Pakistani dog handlers supervise a dog fighting match in Chakwal, around 100 kms from Islamabad on Feb 17. Dog fighting and other forms of animal fighting are common in rural areas of Pakistan where some 70 percent of the population of 167 million reside. (AFP)
if any are ever charged. In 2011 a court released the head of LJ Malik Ishaq on bail, even though he has been implicated in dozens of murders. But a spokesman for the protesters announced alongside Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira after talks that the protest was over. “The sit-in protest all over Pakistan is now finished and people should disperse peacefully,” said Allama Amin Shahidi, from the Shiite Wahdatul Muslemeen party. “The government has assured us that they will fulfil all our demands. The governor and the government told us that a targeted operation has begun, which will continue until all the culprits are eliminated.” The dead are now expected to be buried later on Tuesday or early on Wednesday. Kaira promised the operation would “arrest all the culprits and eliminate them” and said a committee would be set up to oversee the protesters’ demands for compensation, protection and jobs for families of the victims. Since late Sunday, scores of coffins lay in neat rows, most decorated with pictures of the victims, in the courtyard of a Shiite mosque near the protest site. Relatives sat with the coffins reciting verses for the dead from the Holy Quran. The youngest victim was a fiveyear-old boy who died along with his mother when the bomb, containing nearly a tonne of explosives, demolished a shopping centre. Last month, Shiites called off a similar protest when Islamabad sacked the provincial government and imposed governor’s rule after suicide bombers killed 92 people at a Hazara snooker hall in Quetta on Jan 10.
The main opposition party in the Maldives condemned on Tuesday fresh moves to arrest its leader, former president Mohamed Nasheed, who has taken refuge in the Indian
embassy in the capital. The Maldivian government on Monday announced that a new arrest warrant has been issued for Nasheed to face charges of abuse of power while president, after a previous warrant expired. The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) accused President Mohamed Waheed of defying the international community and pressing for a politically motivated trial that could disqualify Nasheed from September presidential polls. “Waheed hides behind socalled judicial independence, but his fingerprints are all over this trial,” MDP spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said in a statement condemning the new arrest warrant. A magistrate on Sunday ordered Nasheed to appear before him this Wednesday and told police to arrest him. Nasheed took refuge at the Indian embassy six days ago. The Maldivian Foreign Ministry said late Monday it had told the Indian High Commission about the latest warrant for Nasheed but indicated police would not storm the embassy. (AFP)
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
INTERNATIONAL
14
World News Roundup Court Special protection
Gay marriage rights at stake WASHINGTON, Feb 19, (RTRS): As the US Supreme Court prepares to take up same-sex marriage next month, laws barring recognition of such unions are not the only issue hanging in the balance. The very question of whether gay people constitute a vulnerable group that needs the court’s help in asserting equal rights is also at stake. Ahead of two high-profile oral arguments in March, backers of gay rights and defenders of more traditional marriage are zeroing in on whether courts should be wary of any Kennedy laws that target gay people. The underlying question is whether bans on gay marriage violate the US Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. The Obama administration is due to weigh in by Friday, its deadline for written submissions in a case questioning the constitutionality of a central part of the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage under federal law as being between a man and a woman. The other case before the ninemember court asks the justices to consider whether Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage, should be struck down. The cases will be argued on March 26 and 27. A ruling is expected by the end of June.
In this Feb 10 photo, shown is the Mount Carmel Area Elementary School in Mount Carmel, Pa. (Inset): In this Feb 10 photo, Kelly Guarna’s 5-year-old daughter Madison poses for a portrait in
Crime
Wisdom It’s unclear how the court will rule, but conventional wisdom is that Justice Anthony Kennedy, the most moderate justice on the conservative wing of the court, will be a deciding vote. While the court has no obligation to address the bigger gay rights issues raised in the cases, if it does, the justices would first have to consider whether gay people merit the same protections as some other groups that have experienced discrimination. That finding determines what standard the court will adopt in reviewing the law in question. If it deems that a particular group merits protection, the justices will look at the statute with a more skeptical eye and are more likely to strike it down. Court rulings in the past have held that, in the face of discrimination, classifications based on race, national origin and gender all require closer “scrutiny,” the term the court invokes in discrimination cases. Any ruling that laws affecting gay people require tough scrutiny has implications that go beyond the two cases before the court. It could influence future cases involving not just gay marriage but also any laws seen to infringe upon gay rights.
Can ‘zero tolerance’ make schools safer?
Student suspensions fuel debate
A flag flies at half-mast outside Roberto Clemente High School as a tribute to eighteen-year-old student Frances Colon on Feb 18, in Chicago, Illinois. Colon, who was shot and killed on Friday, was the third student from Clemente High School, a Westside school with less than 800 students, to be murdered in the past three months. Colon was the 51st person murdered in Chicago in 2013. (AFP)
Invitation “It would be an invitation for lawsuits to pop up in every state of the union,” said gay rights legal expert William Eskridge, a Yale Law School professor who is filing a brief urging that the California law be struck down. Not only would same-sex marriage bans be more legally suspect, but also laws relating to other family matters involving such issues as adoption or custody, he said. There has been a long history of laws targeting gays and lesbians, gay rights activists say. Homosexual conduct was for a long time illegal in many states. More recently, various states have passed laws that critics say aim to counter the rise of the gay rights movement. In 2011, for example, Tennessee enacted a law that stripped local governments of their ability to pass stricter anti-discrimination ordinances. Gay rights activists say it was designed specifically to invalidate a Nashville law that provided protections on the basis of sexual orientation. The level of scrutiny varies based on the protected group, with the most stringent, known as “strict scrutiny,” reserved for classifications based on race. Distinctions based on gender prompt a lower level of review known as “intermediate scrutiny.” Legal experts don’t think the court will opt for the highest level of scrutiny, but even if the justices do pick something along the lines of the second option, it would mean they would look at DOMA and Proposition 8 with more suspicion, meaning they would be more likely to strike them down.
Mount Carmel, Pa. The kindergartener was suspended from school for making a ‘terroristic threat’ last month after her mother said she talked about shooting a Hello Kitty bubble gun. (AP)
Morrison
Shein
America NY TV anchor accused: A New York television news anchor fought with his wife and then choked her at their home and threatened her even after he was arrested, police said in Darien, Connecticut. Officers received a call early Sunday morning from WCBS-TV anchor Rob Morrison’s mother-in-law about what was going on at the couple’s home in Darien, police said. Morrison had been belligerent toward his wife, CBS television financial news anchor Ashley Morrison, throughout the night and ended up with his hands wrapped around her neck, leaving red marks, they said. The arresting officers said they heard Rob Morrison threaten to do his wife more harm while they were processing him. They said his wife didn’t seek medical attention. A police mug shot of Morrison shows him with what appear to be a bloody cut on the bridge of his nose and a nasty bruise on his swollen bottom lip. Morrison, who posted $100,000 bond, was due in court Tuesday. He faced charges of strangulation, threatening and disorderly conduct. The couple’s attorney said in a statement Monday they are cooperating fully with authorities in this “unfortunate incident.” “The Morrisons are confident that a full review of this matter will show that the allegations have been greatly exaggerated,” attorney Robert Skovgaard said in the statement. Rob Morrison, who has been a combat correspondent and was a reporter and anchor for WNBC-TV, anchors WCBSTV’s news programs “This Morning” and “News at Noon.” Ashley Morrison worked for Bloomberg Television before joining “CBS MoneyWatch.” The couple has a
WASHINGTON, Feb 19, (AP): Waiting in line for the bus, a Pennsylvania kindergartner tells her pals she’s going to shoot them with a Hello Kitty toy that makes soap bubbles. In Maryland, two 6-year-old boys pretend their fingers are guns during a playground game of cops and robbers. In Massachusetts, a 5-year-old boy attending an after-school program makes a gun out of Legos and points it at other students while “simulating the sound of gunfire,” as one school official put it. Kids with active imaginations? Or potential threats to school safety? Some school officials are taking the latter view, suspending or threatening to suspend small children over behavior their parents consider perfectly normal and age-appropriate — even now, with schools in a state of heightened sensitivity following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in December. The extent to which the Newtown, Conn., shooting might influence educators’ disciplinary decisions is unclear. But parents contend administrators are projecting adult fears onto children who know little about the massacre of 20 first-graders and six educators, and who certainly pose no threat to anyone. “It’s horrible what they’re doing to these kids,” said Kelly Guarna, whose 5-year-old daughter, Madison, was suspended by Mount Carmel Area School District in eastyoung son. (AP) ❑
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Lawyer says getting hate mail: A lawyer for a man fired from his job after being accused of slapping a baby and using a racial slur on an airplane denied on Monday he was a racist and said she was getting hate mail over the assault case. Joe Rickey Hundley of Hayden, Idaho plans to plead not guilty to federal assault charges stemming from the Feb 8 incident
Evidence shows shooter was acting out videogame fantasies
Lanza wanted to top Norway death toll WASHINGTON, Feb 19, (RTRS): The man who shot dead 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school wanted to kill more people than the 77 slain by a Norwegian man in a 2011 rampage, CBS News reported on Monday, citing unnamed law enforcement sources. A Connecticut state police spokesman dismissed the report as inaccurate speculation. Adam Lanza, 20, who killed himself as police closed in on him at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec 14, saw himself in direct competition with Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting attack in Norway on July 22, 2011, CBS said. Breivik surrendered to police. Citing two officials
briefed on the Newtown investigation, CBS said Lanza targeted the elementary school because he saw it as the “easiest target” with the “largest cluster of people.” The report did not say how the investigators learned of Lanza’s desire to compete with Breivik. Lanza was also motivated by violent videogames and had spent numerous hours playing games and working on his computer shooting skills in a private gaming room in his basement with blacked out windows, CBS said. Investigators recovered a large number of games from the basement, the report said. Evidence shows that in his mind, Lanza was likely acting out the fantasies of a videogame during his shooting spree with each death amounting to some kind of “score,”
CBS said. Lanza killed 20 schoolchildren aged 6 and 7 plus six adults who worked at the school, shocking the United States and leading President Barack Obama to propose new gun-control legislation. Authorities have not publicly spoken of his motive. “This is not official Connecticut State Police information and is someone’s speculation regarding the case,” Connecticut State Police Lieutenant Paul Vance told Reuters in an email statement. When asked if the CBS report was in any way accurate, Vance responded, “No.” Breivik, a self-styled warrior against Muslim immigration, killed eight people by bombing the Oslo government headquarters and then shot dead 69 people at the ruling party’s summer youth camp.
ern Pennsylvania last month for making a “terroristic threat” with the bubble gun. “They’re treating them as mini adults, making them grow up too fast, and robbing them of their imaginations.” Conceived as a way to improve school security and maintain consistent discipline and order, zero tolerance was enshrined by a 1994 federal law that required states to man-
date a minimum one-year expulsion of any student caught with a firearm on school property. Over the years, many states and school districts expanded zero tolerance to include offenses as varied as fighting, skipping school or arguing with a teacher. Some experts say there’s little evidence that zero tolerance — in which certain infractions compel
automatic discipline, usually suspension or expulsion — makes schools safer, and contend the policies leads to increased rates of dropouts and involvement with the juvenile justice system. Supporters respond that zero tolerance is a useful and necessary tool for removing disruptive kids from the classroom, and say any problems stem from its misapplication.
in which he is accused of striking in the face a 19-month-old boy on board a Delta Air Lines flight, said his lawyer Marcia Shein. The boy’s mother, who was seated with her son, has said in interviews with the media that the child was crying as the plane from Minneapolis was descending into Atlanta. Hundley, 60, told her to “shut that (Nword) baby up” and slapped the boy,
according to documents filed in US District Court in Atlanta that were widely reported in the case. The baby is black and his adoptive mother, Jessica Bennett of Minneapolis, is white. Hundley has been fired from his executive position at AGC Aerospace & Defense, his Decatur, Georgia-based lawyer Shein confirmed on Monday. Without identifying Hundley by name,
Colorado passes bills
Gun measures OK’d
Rep Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, speaks before the Colorado House as they consider her bill, HB13-1224, that prohibits large capacity ammunition magazines at the State Capitol in Denver, Feb 18. (AP)
DENVER, Feb 19, (RTRS): The Democratic-controlled Colorado House of Representatives on Monday formally approved a package of strict gun-control measures, in a state hit by two of the most notorious mass shootings in US history. All four bills, which had been passed by a voice vote on Friday, were approved by a final, recorded vote after a third reading on Monday, said Dean Toda, a spokesman for the House Democrats. The vote was along party lines, with no Republican supporting the bills, Toda said.
the Oklahoma City-based military technology company issued a statement on Sunday saying: “Reports of the recent behavior of one of our business unit executives while on personal travel are offensive and disturbing. “As of Sunday, the executive is no longer employed with the company,” it said. After saying publicly that Hundley intended to enter a plea of not guilty, his attorney said: “I’m getting hate mail.” The not-guilty plea is part of the initial legal process, and there is much more to the story that will be revealed later, Shein said. “It’s a process you have to go through but when you tell the public that, they just think you’re nuts,” she said. “He is not a racist,” she added of her client. “I’m going to make that real clear because that’s what people are suggesting. “There’s background information people don’t know about, and in time it will come out. “I’m sorry the family is upset,” the attorney added. “I can understand why they would be.” During the flight, Hundley was belligerent and seemed intoxicated, the child’s mother has said in media interviews. Bennett could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday. The attorney said it was unlikely Hundley could successfully fight to get his job back. “I doubt it,” she said. No court date has been set, she said. Hundley is charged with misdemeanor assault. (RTRS)
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
INTERNATIONAL
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Politics Economy could derail
GOP urged to help avert cuts WASHINGTON, Feb 19, (Agencies): President Barack Obama on Tuesday was to urge congressional Republicans to accept more tax revenue in order to avert looming, across-the-board budget cuts due to take effect in less than two weeks. The $85 billion in cuts, a severe attempt at addressing the country’s massive deficit, will start taking effect on March 1 unless Congress acts. The White House says the cuts could derail an economy still suffering from high unemployment and sluggish growth. The cuts are just one of a handful of fiscal deadlines facing a sharply divided Congress, which is on break this week. In recent days, Boehner military leaders and heads of the State Department and other departments have appeared before Congress with warnings of what the cuts would do to their work. Meanwhile, a bipartisan proposal Tuesday by co-chairs of an influential deficit-reduction commission called for reducing the deficit by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years, with much of the savings coming through health care reform, closing tax loopholes, a stingier adjustment of the Social Security pension system’s cost of living increases and other measures. The March 1 spending cuts were as first set to begin taking effect on Jan. 1, but the White House and lawmakers agreed to push it off for two months in order to create space to work on a larger budget deal.
President Barack Obama waves in the doorway of Air Force One as he departs from Palm Beach International Airport, Feb 18. Obama spent the long Presidents Day weekend playing golf. (AP)
Immigration Senators seek increase in employment-based immigration
Families look for relief from bill
Reduce With little progress in recent weeks, Obama is calling for the cuts to be put off again, though it’s unclear whether another delay would have any impact on the prospects for a broader budget agreement. A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said the Republican agrees the cuts are a bad way to reduce spending, but he put the responsibility for averting the cuts on Democrats. “A solution now requires the Senate — controlled by the president’s party — to finally pass a plan of their own,” spokesman Brendan Buck said. Obama wants to offset the cuts through a combination of targeted spending cuts and increased tax revenue. The White House is backing a proposal unveiled last week by Senate Democrats that is in line with the president’s principles. But that plan was met with an icy reception by Republicans, who oppose raising more tax revenue in order to offset the cuts. Republican leaders say the president got the tax increases he wanted at the beginning of the year when Congress agreed to raise taxes on family income above $450,000 a year. The Democrats propose to generate revenue by plugging some tax loopholes. Those include tax breaks for the oil and natural gas industry and businesses that have sent jobs overseas, and by taxing millionaires at a rate of at least 30 percent. ❑ ❑ ❑ Michelle Obama jokingly says a midlife crisis is what inspired her new haircut with bangs. The first lady revealed the new hairstyle last month on her 49th birthday, which came a few days before the festivities for President Barack Obama’s second inauguration. Mrs. Obama was asked about the new haircut during an interview with talk-show host Rachael Ray. Said Mrs Obama: “This is my midlife crisis.” She added that she cut her bangs because she can’t get a sports car and won’t be allowed to bungee jump. The interview was conducted via Skype and is scheduled to air on Wednesday. The Rachael Ray show released excerpts on Monday.
Also: LOS ANGELES: The Mother Jones reporter who shook up last year’s presidential campaign with a report on Mitt Romney’s remarks that 47 percent of Americans “believe they are victims” was among the winners of this year’s George Polk Award. David Corn, the reporter who broke the story, is one of the winners, along with an array of other news outlets, including the New York Times, Bloomberg News, Frontline, GlobalPost and the Washington Post. The 64th annual prize, awarded by Long Island University, honors examples of bold reporting. The name pays tribute to George Polk, a CBS correspondent murdered in 1948 while covering the Greek civil war.
President George Washington presidential presenter C. Roger Cooper poses for a photo with Jordan Berenbauh, 7 (left), and her friend, Gianina Schaefer, 8, during the Presidents Day celebration at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library in Simi Valley, California, on Feb 18. (AP)
Johanns
Beebe
America Johanns won’t seek re-election: US Senator Mike Johanns, a Nebraska Republican, said on Monday in Washington that he would not seek reelection next year, becoming the fifth US senator to announce plans to retire at the end of their current term. A two-term Nebraska governor and former US secretary of agriculture, Johanns, 62, was a freshman senator elected in 2008 for a six-year term. “With everything in life, there is a time and a season,” he said in a message Monday to Nebraskans co-signed by his wife, Stephanie. “At the end of this term, we will have been in public service over 32 years.” While his statement did not immediately tie the decision to partisan gridlock in Washington, he has voiced frustration in the past at Congress’s inability to overcome stalemates on efforts to solve problems facing the United States. He was the fifth senator in recent weeks – and the second Republican – to announce retirement plans ahead of 2014 elections. The others were Frank Lautenberg, an 89-year-old New Jersey Democrat; John Rockefeller IV, a West Virginia Democrat; Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, and Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑
WASHINGTON, Feb 19, (AP): If America is a nation of immigrants, it’s also a nation of immigrants’ husbands, wives, parents and children — and their brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews too. That could begin to change under legislation being written in the Senate, where the nation’s longstanding emphasis on family-based immigration is coming under scrutiny. Unlike most other industrialized nations, the US awards a much larger proportion of permanent residency status to family members of US citizens and permanent residents than to foreigners with job prospects here. About two-thirds of permanent legal immigration to the US is family-based, compared with about 15 percent that is employment-based, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The remainder is largely humanitarian. It’s a lopsided ratio that may change under a bill being crafted by a Senate bipartisan negotiating group that is aiming to release legislation next month. Several senators involved in the talks said employment-based immigration must increase to help American competitiveness and the US economy. High-tech companies have been pleading for more workers, and some Republicans, in particular, believe the educational backgrounds and employment potential of prospective immigrants should be a bigger part of the calculus in awarding green cards, the permanent resident visas that are the key step toward citizenship. “In the 21st century, more of our immigration needs to be based on merit and skill,” said Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a member of Democratic Governor Mike Beebe has not said whether he would sign the bill into law. Seven US states have laws that restrict or ban abortion after the 20-week mark and similar laws approved in Arizona and Georgia are facing legal challenges.
the “Gang of Eight” senators negotiating an immigration bill.
Evolving The senators’ proposals are still evolving and details remain unclear. For advocates of family-based immigration, the key question has become whether the increased focus on employment-based immigration will come in addition to the family-based system — or to its detriment. “Family unity has been the cornerstone of our immigration system for decades and should remain so,” said Kevin Appleby, director of migration policy at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. “We’re concerned that the family-based system is vulnerable and that visas could be taken away or categories could be eliminated, and we would strongly oppose that.” Under current law, US citizens can petition to bring their spouses, parents and minor unmarried children into the country without any limit on the number coming in. There are caps on all other categories, including petitions for citizens’ adult or married children, citizens’ brothers and sisters and their children and the immediate family members of legal permanent residents. The law also caps the percentage of immigrants that can come from any one country in a year. These limitations have led to a backlog of more than 4 million family members of US citizens and permanent residents who must wait in their home countries for years before coming to the US Filipinos in the sibling category can face waits of more than 20 years before they can join family here, advocates said. Maricris Arce, 43, a native of the Philippines who now lives in Late-term abortions remain relatively rare. Most of the recent state laws banning most abortions after 20 weeks are based on hotly debated medical research suggesting a fetus feels pain starting at 20 weeks of gestation. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑
Speed President Barack Obama and the Senate negotiators have committed to reducing the existing backlog of people waiting for family visas, and this would probably happen by adding visas to speed the process. The bill would also probably raise the country cap that limits any one country to 7 percent of total immigrants per year, probably to 15 percent. Those changes are good news for advocates of family immigration, who are also encouraged by Obama’s longstanding commitment to family unification and pledges by Democrats in the negotiating group, including Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, to safeguard the family system. Obama is preparing his own immigration bill to unveil if the Senate process stalls. The more contentious decisions will surround whether any of the current family categories — such as sibling — is reduced or eliminated. Lawmakers have made such attempts in the past, arguing that a focus on immediate family members is more appropriate. Such changes could mean that people who once would have eventually been eligible for US citizenship wouldn’t have that opportunity. It also remains to be seen whether lawmakers choose to make more green cards available overall, as advocates want, or shift visas from the family category to boost employment cate-
Collection fetches about $2m: A collection of John F. Kennedy memorabilia fetched almost $2 million at auction, including $570,000 for the former president’s Air Force One leather bomber jacket. The collection of about 2,000 photographs, gifts and other items was auc-
gories. Another question is how quickly illegal immigrants who would be put on a path to citizenship by the new bill could petition to reunite with family members. Advocates say senators could end up crafting a hybrid system that weights family ties in addition to work skills, something Rubio suggested could happen. “We’re still going to have a familybased part of it. I believe that having family in the US is one of the indicators of success,” said Rubio, who’s talked about his own family members from Cuba coming to the US through the family immigration system. “It’s just some of the folks that are coming on family-based will be able to come on the skill-based as well. They’re not mutually exclusive.” Depending on how it’s crafted, any new system could become an unexpected flashpoint in the immigration debate. In the last round of immigration negotiations in 2007, the Catholic Church ended up opposing action on the bill in part because of discomfort with a proposal that replaced the family-based system with one that awarded points based on job skills, English ability, education and family ties in handing out visas. It’s possible that some aspects of that approach may be adopted this time as well, according to a Senate aide. Senators say they’ll attempt to strike a balance, but some fear that in the end, more job-based immigration could come at the expense of family members overseas. “We’re going to expedite some of the family stuff initially, but over time it’s got to be more merit-based,” said Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, one of the Senate negotiators. tioned Sunday in Massachusetts. The items belonged to David Powers, Kennedy’s assistant and close personal friend who died in 1998. The jacket went to an anonymous bidder and had been only expected to fetch from $20,000 to $40,000. (AP)
‘Legacy to all her fans’
Jenni Rivera memoir due in July
Arkansas Senate passes bill: The Republican-controlled Arkansas state Senate approved a measure on Monday in Little Rock, Arkansas to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy except in the case of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life. The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act passed the Senate, 25-7, with amendments that allowed for the exemptions in the case of rape or incest. An earlier version of the bill that passed the Republican-controlled House allowed exemptions only for pregnancies that threatened the mother’s life. The bill, which shortens the existing limit of 25 weeks, now returns to the House for consideration of the Senate amendment.
Anaheim, California, said she was separated from her husband for five years after coming legally to the US, and he wasn’t present for the birth of their first child. “I think they need to change that law,” Arce said. “Let them come faster and easier so the family will be united.”
In a Feb 14, 2013 photo, Crystal Perry is shown at home in Delta Township, Michigan. Perry, a State of Michigan Department of Human Services employee says a 5-foot toy ape was placed atop her work cubicle in 2009 and was not removed for three weeks. A judge has fined the Michigan Department of Human Services $21,000 which stemmed from a 2010 discrimination lawsuit filed by Perry. Perry called it a racially motivated attack, arguing that white workers were promoted ahead of her. (AP)
NEW YORK, Feb 19, (AP): Some final words from the late Mexican-American singer and TV star Jenni Rivera will be out this summer. Atria Books announced Monday it’s publishing a memoir by the multimillionselling artist, who died in a plane crash in December at age 43. “Unbreakable,” coming out simultaneously in English and Spanish, is scheduled for July and has been authorized by Rivera’s Rivera family. Rosie Rivera, the late singer’s sister, said the family had decided to share Rivera’s book with her fans so they could “enjoy her as we have.” “I miss my sister every moment, but on
days that I want to feel her close, I open her book written in her own words, and feel her right next to me,” Rosie Rivera said in a statement issued by Atria. Atria vice president and senior editor Johanna Castillo said she had talked to Rivera about the impact she hoped her book’s message would have on readers. “This book is her legacy to all of her fans,” Castillo said. Rivera had worked on “Unbreakable” for several years and completed it before her death, Atria spokesman Paul Olsewski said. She had been in talks with Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, since 2011. According to Atria, “Unbreakable” will provide “an intimate look into the heart and soul of this self-made woman, who ascended to the top of the charts against all odds, becoming a legend in a completely male dominated music category,” grupero, a type of Mexican folk music.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
INTERNATIONAL
16
World News Roundup Heist Community shocked
Theft nets $50m ‘diamond haul’ BRUSSELS, Feb 19, (AFP): Heavily armed robbers disguised as police made off with $50 million worth of diamonds in a spectacular heist on the tarmac at Brussels airport, prosecutors and diamond dealers said Tuesday. The Monday night robbery at Zaventem airport just before 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) was “one of the biggest” ever, said a spokeswoman for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), the global dealers’ syndicate. The Brussels raid saw a gang of eight hooded Turtelboom thieves pull up on the runway in two black vehicles with blue police-like markings, Brussels prosecutors’ spokeswoman Anja Bijnens told a press conference. They forced their way through security barriers and sped towards a Swiss passenger aircraft about to take off, forcing open the cargo hold to reach gems — rough and cut — that had already been loaded, she said. Bijnens said the thieves were wearing police uniforms and carrying machine guns, adding: “They wanted to pass themselves off as cops.” They seized at least 120 packages, which was only part of the shipment, she said. The pilot, co-pilot and staff from a Brink’s armoured car that transported the gems were held up but “no shots were fired and noone was injured,” Bijnens said of a robbery that was over “within minutes.” She said the thieves made off at high speed through the same gap in the security cordon they had opened in front of unsuspecting ground staff and travellers, adding that the passengers on board the plane “saw nothing” and that the aircraft, bound for Zurich, did not leave Brussels.
Two airport police officers use a chain to lock a gate which leads to the airport tarmac, at Brussels international airport, on Feb 19. Eight masked gunmen made a hole in a security fence at Brussels’
Horsemeat Horsemeat revealed in German tests
Big food firms embroiled in scandal
Route The Swiss air company said the flight was a regular route operated by its partner Helvetic Airways. According to the AWDC, the global diamond business is worth more than $60 billion each year. Some $200 million worth of stones move in and out of Antwerp every day, the spokeswoman added. The diamond community was “shocked by the brutal heist,” said Caroline De Wolf of the AWDC in a subsequent statement. She said traders want “additional security measures” implemented at the airport. In February 2005, some 75 million euros worth of diamonds and jewels being shipped to Antwerp were stolen in a KLM vehicle at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. But the record for a theft of diamonds was in Belgium, in February 2003, when 100 million euros worth of stones were nabbed from the vault of the Antwerp Diamond Centre. Asked to comment, Brussels airport spokesman Jan Van der Cruysse said: “There are very clear and very strict international security standards and we stick strictly to them.” Neither the prosecutor’s office nor the AWDC official would give any details as to whom the shipment belonged. The prosecutor’s office said the packages contained mainly diamonds.
Haul The AWDC said the haul was worth $50 million. One of the vehicles was found afterwards completely burnt out near the airport, the spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office said. A specialist Belgian prosecutors unit dealing with organised crime is “pursuing all lines of enquiry,” Bijnens said, and is collaborating also with Swiss authorities. “This was not a random robbery,” she stressed. “It was wellprepared — these were professionals.” Belgian Justice Minister Annemie Turtelboom was on hand at the airport as the investigation gathered pace. There are more than 4,500 diamond dealers in Antwerp, the hub for a worldwide industry going back at least 500 years, and more than twice as many jobs dependent on the trade, the AWDC said. Eight in 10 of all rough and half of all polished diamonds are traded in Antwerp, they added.
international airport, drove onto the tarmac and snatched some $50 million worth of diamonds from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane without firing a shot, authorities said Tuesday. (AP)
An elderly walks in Rome’s Piazza Colonna by the government palace Palazzo Chigi on Feb 13. The future of Italy’s economy and the social costs of austerity have taken centre stage as Italians prepare to go to the polls next week for an election in which the outcome is far from certain. (AFP)
Merkel
King Juan
Europe Opposition takes power: A center-left government has taken power in one of Germany’s biggest states - a development that gives opposition parties a majority in the German Parliament’s upper house ahead of national elections in September. The opposition Social Democrats and Greens won a one-seat majority in Lower Saxony’s legislature in a regional election last month — ousting Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right coalition after 10 years running the state. Lawmakers elected Social Democrat Stephan Weil as governor Tuesday. Germany’s opposition now controls a majority in Parliament’s upper house, which represents the 16 states. That’s of largely symbolic significance but gives the opposition a chance to showcase its plans by sending the lower house policy initiatives. Merkel’s coalition lost its upper-house majority in 2010 and already had to haggle to get legislation approved. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑
PARIS, Feb 19, (Agencies): The world’s biggest food company, Swissbased Nestle, and the world’s top beef producer, JBS of Brazil, were Tuesday the latest in a long list of firms to be caught up in Europe’s spiralling horsemeat scandal. Their involvement in the fast-moving drama marked another milestone in a scandal that has seen supermarket chains across Europe pull from their shelves millions of “beef” products that are thought to contain horsemeat. Nestle announced it was removing two ready-to-eat meals — beef ravioli and beef tortellini — from supermarket shelves in Italy and Spain after tests found traces of horse DNA in the products. A Nestle frozen lasagne product made for the catering business was also being withdrawn from sale in France and Portugal because horse traces were found in them. The firm insisted there was no food safety issue but said the tainted products breached the one percent threshold the British Food Safety Agency uses to indicate likely adulteration or gross negligence. The horse DNA was found in products made with meat supplied by German firm H.J. Schypke, Nestle said in a statement late Monday. JBS of Brazil, which used H.J. Spain, the Netherlands and, most recently, France and Britain, it hasn’t moved toward allowing full gay marriage. The court ruled on a challenge to the existing rules from a woman who was denied permission to adopt a Bulgarian girl whom her partner had adopted. It ordered the government to draw up new legislation by June 2014. It said the German constitutional provision that “marriage and the family shall enjoy the special protection of the state,”
Schypke as a subcontractor, meanwhile said in a statement that it would stop buying European meat “until confidence is restored in the European beef supply chain.” It sought to distance itself from the scandal, saying Schypke was “not in any way part of the JBS Group” and adding that “no case of co-mingling of species has been identified in products produced in or at JBS factories.” Schypke on Tuesday denied any wrongdoing. “We buy all raw materials already chopped up, fresh or frozen, from certified suppliers... We would like to point out expressly that H.J. Schypke has at no time purchased horsemeat,” it said.
Tests The firm said it “greatly regretted” the current case and vowed to carry out genetic tests on raw meat in future. German authorities meanwhile announced on Tuesday that 24 samples out of 360 official tests carried out on meat had revealed traces of horsemeat. “It’s too early to assign blame unilaterally... the authorities are working in the federal states to work out who should take responsibility,” consumer affairs ministry spokesman Holger cannot be used to justify ruling out samesex partners adopting the other partner’s adopted child. “In marriage as in a civil partnership, adoption provides the child in the same way with legal security and material advantages in terms of care, support and inheritance law,” presiding judge, Ferdinand Kirchhof, said. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑
Lesbian couple win ruling: A lesbian
Presence On Monday, German discount chain Lidl pulled ready-made meals from the shelves of its Finnish, Danish, Swedish and Belgian stores as it also confirmed the presence of horsemeat. The French firm that sparked the Europe-wide food alert, by allegedly passing off 750 tonnes of horsemeat as beef, was on Monday allowed to resume production of minced meat, sausages and ready-to-eat meals. But Spanghero, whose horsemeat found its way into 4.5 million “beef” products sold across Europe, will no longer be allowed to stock frozen meat, officials said. Upholding that ban means it cannot act as middleman between abattoirs and food-processing companies, the situation which allegedly allowed it to change labels on horsemeat from Romania and sell it on as beef. The firm’s sanitary licence was suspended last Thursday after it was couple who want to jointly raise one partner’s child have won their case at the European Court for Human Rights, which ruled that Austria’s adoption laws discriminated against gay people on that issue. The case was brought in 2007 by the unnamed women, both born in 1967. They live with one partner’s son, who was born out of wedlock in 1995. The couple had lost a legal battle in Austria that sought to challenge the fact that an unmarried man or woman in a hetero-
Woman sets self on fire in bank
Gay adoption rights strengthened: Germany’s highest court strengthened gay couples’ adoption rights in a ruling Tuesday that the country’s justice minister greeted as “a historic step.” The Federal Constitutional Court ruled that one member of a civil partnership should be able to adopt the partner’s stepchild or adopted child. Until now, they could only adopt a partner’s biological child. Germany has allowed same-sex couples to register civil partnerships that legally fall short of formal marriage since 2001. Unlike many other European countries, including
Eichele told reporters. But he said the authorities would eventually be able to tell who were the “main culprits” and the “co-culprits” once the tests of ready meals and inspections of slaughterhouses and food production centres were complete.
A man relaxes on a branch of a tree in Hanover, northern Germany, on Feb 18. Meteorologists forecast temperatures around freezing point for the coming week in central Germany. (AFP)
MADRID, Feb 19, (AP): Authorities say a Spanish woman walked into a bank branch in a small eastern city, doused herself with flammable liquid and set herself ablaze. A regional government statement citing police in Almassora says the woman was taken by helicopter to be treated in Valencia for burns that Spanish media reported covered nearly half of her body. Authorities did not give a reason for why the woman decided to set herself on fire on Monday. But Spain is in financial crisis, and banks are being blamed for a wave of mortgage foreclosures, homeowner evictions and at least five mortgage default-related suicides in recent months.
accused of passing off huge quantities of mislabelled meat over a period of six months. Concerns about horsemeat first emerged in mid-January when Irish authorities found traces of horse in beefburgers made by firms in Ireland and Britain and sold in supermarket chains including Tesco and Aldi. The scandal then intensified when French firm Comigel alerted Findus earlier this month to the presence of horsemeat in the meals it had made for the food giant and which were on sale in Britain. Since then, supermarket chains have removed millions of “beef” products as tests are carried out to detect horsemeat, which is eaten in many European countries but considered taboo in Britain. Horsemeat in “beef” dishes has now been confirmed in products found in Britain, Ireland, France, Austria, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium. Swiss-based Nestle withdrew two chilled pasta products, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini, in Italy and Spain. Lasagnes † la Bolognaise Gourmandes, a frozen product for catering businesses produced in France, will also be pulled, it said. sexual relationship could adopt and jointly raise their partner’s child, while that right was not extended to gay couples. The European court found that the difference in treatment was based on sexual orientation. “No convincing reasons had been advanced to show that such difference in treatment was necessary for the protection of the family or for the protection of the interests of the child,” it said in a statement. The ruling is final, so Austria must comply with it. The court also ordered the country to pay the applicants 10,000 euros ($13,400) in damages and more than 28,000 euros in costs and expenses. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑
‘Shadow’ looms over royal family: Spanish King Juan Carlos’ son-in-law will be questioned Saturday by a judge investigating a corruption case as press reports make new revelations that cast a growing shadow on the entire royal family. Inaki Urdangarin and former partner Diego Torres are suspected of syphoning off millions of euros paid by regional governments to the Noos Institute, a charitable organisation which Urdangarin chaired from 2004 to 2006. The money was meant to cover the cost of staging sporting and tourism events. Both men have denied any wrongdoing and have not been charged with any crime. Spain’s two main daily newspapers, El Pais and El Mundo, on Monday published e-mails supposedly sent by Urdangarin which appear to indicate that the king backed and closely followed his business career closely. (AFP)
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
INTERNATIONAL
17
Italy Highest in world
Tax focus of Italy election ROME, Feb 19, (RTRS): As Italy’s parliamentary elections approach, the parties battling to win over undecided voters are focusing increasingly on tax, the issue that polls show matters most to an electorate struggling after more than a year of austerity. Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has singled out the hated IMU housing tax as the centrepiece of his campaign, promising not only to abolish it but to refund last year’s payments in cash at post office counters. He has also said he would like to introduce a general amnesty on penalties for people who haven’t paid their taxes, a measure he says will Berlusconi encourage late-payers to come forward but which his opponents say is tantamount to encouraging evasion. It is a strategy that has drawn condemnation from rivals, including outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti, who introduced the IMU tax as he battled to gain control over the debt crisis left behind when the last Berlusconi government left office. But rising opinion poll ratings for Berlusconi’s bloc suggest his ideas have resonated with voters, as they did in 2008 when a similar pledge to scrap an earlier version of the housing tax was widely credited with helping him defeat centre-left leader Romano Prodi.
Britain’s Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge receives flowers from children as she leaves the Hope House charity in south London on Feb 19. The Duchess visited Hope House, an all-female rehabilitation centre which is one of the projects run by her patronage, Action on Addiction. (Inset): In this file picture taken on Jan 29, 2013 British author Hilary Mantel poses with her award after win-
ning the Costa Book of the Year award at the 2013 Costa Book Awards in London. Double Booker Prize winning author Hilary Mantel on Feb 19, scorned the Duchess of Cambridge as a ‘machinemade’ princess ‘designed by committee’. Mantel, 60, also accused the 31-year-old princess of being a ‘shop window mannequin’ with a ‘plastic smile’. (AFP)
Britain
Opinion “Those who don’t pay are right,” said Maria, a retired school teacher in Rome, who declined to give her surname for fear of prosecution by Italy’s financial police. “We all know what it’s for. It’s so that impostor Monti can pay off the debts of his banking friends, who wrecked the economy.” The last opinion polls published before a pre-election blackout suggest the centre-left is still leading Berlusconi’s centre-right bloc. But as many as 30 percent of voters are still undecided ahead of the election on Feb 24-25, according to pollsters. Italian taxpayers have the fourth heaviest tax burden in the 34-member Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, behind only Denmark, Sweden and Belgium, according to the latest figures from the Paris-based group of rich countries. Although the IMU tax on property owners’ primary residences, set at 0.4 percent of the value of a home, is comparable to other property levies across Europe, it arouses a near-allergic reaction in Italy. “The house is sacred. It should not be taxed,” Berlusconi has repeated relentlessly in his daily television and radio appearances. Berlusconi says the tax raises just 4 billion euros, a sum that could easily be raised by cutting spending in other areas such as state funding to political parties. Although other parties have attacked him over the details of his plans, the two other main blocks in the election — the centre-left and even Monti’s centrists — have since said they would look into cutting back the tax.
Memories After more than a year of the austerity imposed by the Monti government, eight in ten Italians want taxes to be cut, according to a poll from the Eurispes institute. According to a separate survey last month by the SWG polling institute, 28 percent of voters would like to see the next government lower IMU immediately, the same number that would like to see income tax go down. With Italy’s public finances weighed down by a debt equivalent to more than 126 percent of gross domestic product and memories of last year’s market crisis still fresh, the scope for cutting taxes is extremely limited. And in a country that has long had an ambivalent relationship with the taxman, the next government will face heavy pressure to address the chronic problem of tax evasion, which economists say cost 120 billion euro a year. High taxes, combined with a perception that public services are inadequate, has been “an incentive to evasion” according to LUISS University tax law professor Livia Salvini. The state has also mishandled collection by making it complicated to pay taxes, passing a multitude of sometimes-contradictory laws, and granting repeated amnesties for evaders, she said. Decades of incessant political corruption scandals have hammered in the message that taxes are ill-used, worsened by a widespread perception that public services are inadequate.
Cameron says Mantel is ‘completely wrong’
UK author slams ‘plastic’ Kate BBC employees hold placards outside Broadcasting House in central London on Feb 18, as they man a picket line during a strike over compulsory redundancies. BBC journalists began a 24-hour strike on Feb 18 in protest at compulsory redundancies, causing possible disruption to the broadcaster’s television and radio output. Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) walked out at midnight (local time and GMT) at the end of Sunday’s programming, over job cuts which are expected to affect BBC Scotland, Five Live, the Asian Network and the World Service. (AFP)
LONDON, Feb 19, (Agencies): One of Britain’s most celebrated authors has launched a withering attack on the Duchess of Cambridge, the pregnant wife of Prince William, branding her a “shop-window mannequin” with a plastic smile whose only role in life is to breed. Prime Minister David Cameron described award-winning writer Hilary Mantel as “misguided” after she likened the former Kate Middleton to a “machine made” doll, devoid of personality. Her comments about the 31-yearold wife of William, second-in-line to the British throne, divided public opinion, with newspapers condemning Mantel as “venomous”, “cruel” and “staggeringly rude”. Supporters said her words had been taken out of context from a long analysis of society’s centuries-old obsession with the appearance and fertility of royal wives that ended with a plea to “back off and not be brutes” to them. “I saw Kate becoming a jointed doll on which certain rags are hung,” Mantel said in a lecture at the British Museum in London earlier this month in which she spoke about her changing view of the princess.
Personality Kenny
Mahony
Europe Ex-boxer jailed: A British ex-boxer was jailed for seven years on Monday for killing a stranger with one punch in a dispute outside a London pub. Graham Brett, 50, pleaded guilty Monday in London to the manslaughter of 49-year-old Australian Neil Hannah, who was knocked unconscious with one punch to the jaw. Hannah fell backwards and suffered a brain injury, dying five days later on Aug 7 last year, England’s Old Bailey central criminal court heard. Brett had drunk alcohol and taken cocaine by about 10:20 pm local time when he took exception to Hannah and asked him to go outside the pub in Pimlico, central London. Brett, who fought 70 amateur bouts, threw a right hook at Hannah without warning or provocation. He was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment with another three years added as an extended sentence for public safety. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
“She was a shop-window mannequin, with no personality of her own, entirely defined by what she wore. These days she is a mother-tobe, and draped in another set of threadbare attributions.” Speaking during a visit to India,
role in overseeing the laundries. It found that more than 10,000 women worked in 10 laundries run by former orders of nuns from 1922 to 1996, when the last Dublin facility closed. Prime Minister Enda Kenny last week
Cameron said Mantel was wrong and that people should do more to encourage a young royal who is a “fantastic ambassador for Britain”. “She writes great books, but I think what she’s said about Kate Middleton is completely misguided and completely wrong,” Cameron told Sky News. Mantel, who last year became the first Briton to twice win the Man Booker prize for fiction, referred to the princess’s severe morning sickness during the early stage of her pregnancy and said her role was to provide an heir. “Once she gets over being sick, the press will find that she is radiant. They will find that this young woman’s life until now was nothing, her only point and purpose being to give birth,” Mantel said in the lecture organised by the London Review of Books on Feb 4. The literary magazine reprinted the lecture on its website this week.
Row A smiling Duchess of Cambridge showed no sign of being affected by the row when she visited an addiction charity in London. Wearing a grey wrap dress, she crossed her hands over her small baby bump as she chatted to charity workers. Well-wishers who waited in the late winter sunshine for a glimpse of her expressed sympathy. “It’s totally uncalled for,” said Morag Hamilton, 36, from London. “It’s a shame - that’s what her life is going to become now.”. Mantel, 60, is best known for her
met groups of former Magdalenes in Dublin and London in preparation for Tuesday’s planned apology in parliament. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑
‘Prelate could skip conclave’: US cardinal Roger Mahony, retired from
church duties as part of a paedophilia scandal, cannot be banned from the conclave to elect a new pope, but could be advised to stay away, a fellow cardinal and canon law expert said in an interview on Tuesday.
they interesting? Aren’t they nice to look at?”
Target Others argued that Mantel’s real target was not Kate, but the press. On the Daily Telegraph website, journalist Catherine Scott said Mantel’s speech was “an attack on how some parts of the media canonize royal women ... while also rendering them voiceless and purposeless.” The royal couple’s office declined to comment. Mantel, 60, won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2009 and 2012 for “Wolf Hall” and “Bring Up the Bodies,” novels set at the court of King Henry VIII and centered on the king’s search for a queen who will give him a male heir. Her speech touched on royal figures from Henry’s wife Anne Boleyn to Kate. Mantel said Diana “passed through trials, through ordeals at the world’s hands.” Prince Harry “doesn’t know which he is, a person or a prince” – a confusion Harry himself recently remarked on. And Kate, whose first child is due in July, finds herself cast by the press as someone whose “only point and purpose (is) to give birth.” Of the royal family, she said that “however airy the enclosure they inhabit, it’s still a cage.” Mantel ended her speech – ironically, given the media furor – with a plea for us all “to back off and not be brutes.”
“The common practise is to use persuasion. There is no more that can be done. Cardinal Mahony has the right and duty to take part,” Velasio De Paolis, one of the 117 cardinal electors due to participate, told La Repubblica daily. (AFP)
Court hears arguments
Soldiers’ families begin legal challenge
Ireland apologizes to women: Ireland’s prime minister was expected to issue a state apology Tuesday to the thousands of Irish women who spent years working without pay in a defunct network of prison-style laundries run by Catholic nuns. Former residents of the Magdalene Laundries have campaigned for the past decade for the government to apologize and pay compensation to an estimated 1,000 survivors of the workhouses. Two weeks ago the Irish government published an investigation into the state’s
historical novel “Wolf Hall”, about the rise of blacksmith’s son Thomas Cromwell to the pinnacle of power in King Henry VIII’s court. Her followup “Bring Up the Bodies” recounted Anne Boleyn’s fall from grace after failing to give Henry a male heir. In her lecture, Mantel said the Duchess of Cambridge was “selected for her role ... because she was irreproachable”, contrasting her with the “emotional incontinence” of William’s late mother, Princess Diana. “As painfully thin as anyone could wish, without quirks, without oddities, without the risk of the emergence of character. She appears precisionmade, machine-made, so different from Diana,” Mantel said. The author’s agent and a royal spokeswoman declined to comment. Reaction on Twitter suggested Mantel had split public opinion. Royal commentator Robert Jobson said the “venomous attack” was “unfair and publicity-seeking”. Others agreed with Mantel, saying she had elegantly articulated what many people had long thought about the royals. The lecture looked at the public fascination with the “regal body”, examining the lives of royal women and the importance of providing an heir. Mantel compared their fate to caged pandas in captivity. “Our current royal family doesn’t have the difficulties in breeding that pandas do, but pandas and royal persons alike are expensive to conserve and ill-adapted to any modern environment,” Mantel said. “But aren’t
In this undated family photo supplied Feb 18, showing British couple Peter Root and Mary Thompson, both 34, who were killed in Thailand, Feb 13, 2013, in a road accident during their round-the-world cycling odyssey. The couple from Britain’s Guernsey in the Channel Islands, left Britain in July 2011 and had cycled through Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and China, a journey chronicled on the website Two on Four Wheels, until tragedy struck.(AP)
LONDON, Feb 19, (RTRS): Relatives of British soldiers killed in Iraq began a legal challenge against their government on Monday, saying they could have survived had the army provided them with better equipment to protect themselves. The families of three soldiers killed by road-side bombs while patrolling in armoured vehicles between 2005 and 2007 believe their deaths represented a Hammond breach of their right to life under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Britain’s defence ministry disagrees, saying soldiers who died in combat in Iraq did not fall under the ECHR provision. On Monday, Britain’s Supreme Court
heard arguments on behalf of the relatives in the first step in their efforts to win the right to sue Britain’s defence ministry under Philip Hammond over the case. Cases like this are watched closely in Britain and the United States, which led the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the issue of military deaths remains a sensitive issue because many people opposed military action against Iraq. If the relatives succeed, the case could see the right to life enshrined in legislation extended to all British soldiers in combat and potentially open the way to compensation claims. The High Court ruled in June 2011 that the deceased soldiers did not fall within British jurisdiction when they were killed. Other court rulings said that British jurisdiction only applied while combatants were within military camps.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
INTERNATIONAL
18
World News Roundup Poland CIA jail inquiry
Prosecutors to drop charges WARSAW, Feb 19, (RTRS): Polish prosecutors have decided to drop charges against the country’s former intelligence chief made during an investigation into allegations the CIA was allowed to run a secret prison in Poland for al-Qaeda suspects, a newspaper said on Tuesday. The daily Gazeta Wyborcza first reported early last year Zbigniew Siemiatkowski faced charges of exceeding his authority at the height of the US-led “war on terror”. Government and legal officials have declined to comment on whether Siemiatkowski has ever been questioned or charged. But several sources close to the investigation contacted by Reuters last year confirmed prosecutors had drawn up charges Siemiatkowski against him. On Tuesday, the same newspaper cited an unnamed source saying Siemiatkowski would soon be cleared. “The decision to drop the charges against Siemiatkowski has been taken by Krakow-based prosecutors,” it said. Gazeta Wyborcza is one of Poland’s most respected newspapers and has a track record of getting access to information about the investigation into the alleged CIA jail in Poland. Despite reports by the European Parliament and the Council of Europe stating Poland hosted a CIA detention centre, Polish officials have repeatedly denied there was ever any such base on their soil.
Head of Ukrainian opposition party UDAR (Punch), and boxing heavy-weight World champion Vitaliy Klitschko (second left), speaks to deputies of the party wearing tee-shirts signed ‘Vote personally’ as they block the parliamentary tribune to prevent the opening of the session in Kiev on
Armenia Opposition alleges fraud; protest planned
Sarksyan vows security after victory
Investigation The government called for an investigation into allegations the country was involved in a CIA operation a decade ago to transport suspected al-Qaeda members to foreign facilities where they could be interrogated without the safeguards set out under US law. The juistice ministry has confirmed an invesgitation was underway but prosecutors have also regularly declined to comment on the reports they were looking into Siemiatkowski’s role. Again on Tuesday, Piotr Kosmaty, spokesman for the Appellate Prosecutor’s office in Poland’s southern city of Krakow, told Reuters he could not go into details. Lawyers for two men who say they were held illegally in a secret CIA jail on Polish territory told Reuters last month investigations into the “black sites” were being stalled because a trial would embarrass the Polish state. Reuters last year sent Siemiatkowski written questions about whether he knew about or was involved in a CIA jail in Poland, but he did not reply. Under Poland’s justice system, charges are first presented to a suspect by prosecutors. That does not necessarily mean the prosecutor will progress to the next step, which is to bring the charges to court.
Europe Russia opens probe: Russia says it has opened its own probe into allegations of illegal donor organ trafficking in Kosovo. The European Union is also conducting a probe into the allegation that senior commanders of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army including Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci were involved in illegal organ trade during Kosovo’s war for independence from Serbia. Thaci denies the allegation. Russia has staunchly opposed Kosovo’s independence. An EU prosecutor in Kosovo has indicted a Turkish and an Israeli national in June for involvement in an international ring that duped people including Russian citizens into donating kidneys that were transplanted into wealthy. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑
8 arrested in slaying: Russian investigators have now arrested eight people in the case of a city councilman found dead in a cement barrel, allegedly after he owed $80 million in a business deal gone awry. The Investigative Committee said Tuesday in Moscow it arrested one man suspected in the murder-kidnapping of Mikhail Pakhomov and another accused of a related theft. The 37-year-old councilman in Lipetsk, 350 kms (215 miles) south of Moscow, disappeared last week after three
Feb 19. The dispute in Ukraine’s one-chamber parliament, known as the Verkohovna Rada, centres on opposition demands for each deputy to vote individually. Voting in the Ukrainian legislature is done electronically and lawmakers can delegate the right to vote to their colleagues. (AFP)
A vendor stands at the entrance of his antique shop offering portraits of Joseph Stalin on Feb 18, in central Tbilisi. (AFP)
Kuzmin
Dolgov
Death probed Russian authorities have blamed “inhuman treatment” for the death of a 3-year-old boy adopted by an American family, but Texas officials say they are still investigating claims that the child was abused before his death. Russia’s Investigative Committee said Monday that it had questions about the death of an adoptee authorities identified as Maxim Kuzmin. The committee is the country’s top investigative agency. Texas Child Protective Services spokesman Patrick Crimmins confirmed the agency had received a report on Jan 21 of the death of a 3year-old named Max Shatto, and that the Ector County Sheriff’s Office in West Texas was investigating. Crimmins said CPS had received allegations of physical abuse and neglect, but had not determined whether those allegations were true. Sgt. Gary Duesler, spokesman for the Ector County Sheriff’s Office, said no arrests have been made and authorities are waiting for autopsy results. Russian Foreign Ministry official Konstantin Dolgov said in a statement that the boy’s death was “yet another case of inhuman treatment of a Russian child adopted by American parents.” (AP)
YEREVAN, Feb 19, (Agencies): Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan promised on Tuesday to make the country secure and stable after cruising to victory in an election which international vote monitors said lacked real competition. But Sarksyan faces a challenge in his second five-year term to prevent tensions increasing with Azerbaijan over the enclave of NagornoKarabakh that could lead to a new war in the South Caucasus, where pipelines carry Caspian oil and gas to Europe. Preliminary results showed Sarksyan won 58.6 percent of the votes cast in Monday’s election, enough to avoid a second-round runoff. His closest rival, US-born former Foreign Minister Raffi Hovannisian, trailed on nearly 37 percent. “Armenia chose the path towards a safe Armenia and I am happy and proud of the fact that every resident of Armenia will be on that path,” Sarksyan, 58, told celebrating supporters. International observers said the vote was an improvement on recent elections in the former Soviet republic, including the 2008 presidential ballot in which 10 people were killed. “However, the limited field of candidates meant that the election was not genuinely competitive,” representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a statement. “The candidates who did run were man, said on Tuesday in Kiev that he would give at least half of his estimated $3.7 billion (2.7-billion-euro) fortune to charity. Pinchuk, 52, becomes the first national from ex-Soviet Ukraine to join the effort by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage the world’s richest people to share their
able to campaign in a free atmosphere and to present their views to voters, but the campaign overall failed to engage the public’s interest.” Several of Sarksyan’s potential rivals, most notably former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, decided not to run because they feared the election would be skewed in the president’s favour. A minor candidate was shot and wounded during campaigning, and police received 70 complaints of voting violations. The result was in line with opinion polls, however. Cast One group, the opposition Heritage Party, alleged some ballots cast for Sarksyan’s opponents had been thrown out and said it planned a protest in the capital Yerevan later on Tuesday. It was not clear if other parties would take part. Armenians had expected Sarksyan to win and there was little celebrating. “I expect that things will get better in the next five years. And after that of course we will need to change (the president). That’s all,” said Yerevan resident Roza Atovyan. Another woman in Yerevan, Elana Akapova, said: “The president has a lot of administrative power. Therefore it’s natural that he received the majority of the vote.” The result strengthens Sarksyan’s hold on Armenia, which borders Iran, Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, after his Republican Party won a parliamentary election last year. Sarksyan’s promises of economic recovery went down well with voters wealth. Pinchuk said he felt it was his duty to invest at least half of his fortune in education, healthcare and the arts. “The post-Soviet transformation process was very painful for Ukaine and other countries in the region,” Pinchuk was quoted as saying in a statement by his charitable
foundation. (AFP) ❑
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War criminal Gvero dies: BosnianSerb general Milan Gvero, convicted for crimes against humanity during the 1992-95 Bosnian war and the right-hand man of
Bulgaria protests
Eleven injured
men forced him into a car. His body was found Monday. Evgeny Kharitonov, a former deputy minister in Moscow’s provincial government, is charged with organizing the kidnapping over what police called an $80 million debt. A warrant has been issued for his business partner. Pakhomov had a construction business before becoming a politician. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑
‘Half of fortune for charity’: Viktor Pinchuk, the Ukrainian metals and media tycoon who is the country’s second-richest
in the country of 3.2 million, where more than 30 percent live below the poverty line. The average monthly wage is about $300 and unemployment was 16 percent last year. Armenia is an important potential ally for the West which is trying to ensure Iran does not develop nuclear weapons, although tightening international economic sanctions on its neighbours could affect Armenia’s trade and economy. Sarksyan has outlined no big policy changes and investors and foreign governments are worried by Armenia’s fraught relations with Azerbaijan. War About 30,000 people were killed in the war over Nagorno-Karabakh in the 1990s and Azerbaijan uses its diplomatic and economic muscle to isolate Yerevan. It has vastly increased military spending in the last few years, alarming Yerevan. Nagorno-Karabakh is an ethnic Armenian-majority enclave inside Azerbaijan, which Armenia-backed rebels wrested from Azeri troops. Firefights along the border still kill troops on both sides and experts say a wider conflict is possible. Sarksyan has accused Azerbaijan of threatening a new conflict. Azerbaijan denies it is the aggressor and says Armenians should hand back control of the mountainous enclave. “In terms of domestic policy, we should expect a continuation of deepening ties with the West and the European Union,” said Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional
Riot police stand guard around the Bulgarian Parliament building during a protest in downtown Sofia on Feb 18. (AFP)
SOFIA, Feb 19, (AFP): Eleven people including five policemen have been injured in the Bulgarian capital Sofia as antigovernment protesters fought running battles with riot police and vandalised buildings and vehicles late Monday, officials said. In the latest wave of anger against the government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov sparked by sharply higher electricity prices, demonstrations were also held in around a dozen other cities across the European Union’s poorest member.
Studies Centre think tank in Yerevan. He ruled out a breakthrough over Nagorno-Karabakh, saying: “Both sides remain too far apart.” Without a shift in regional politics, durable economic growth will be difficult for Armenia while its borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey remain closed. Turkey shut the border in 1993 in solidarity with its ethnic kin in Azerbaijan. Most regional pipeline projects between growing regional power Turkey and the oil and gas-producing Azerbaijan isolate Armenia, making Yerevan more dependent on ties with its Soviet-era master Moscow, which has a military base on Armenian soil. Polls Sarksyan, a shrewd former military officer in power since 2008, won Monday’s polls in the small exSoviet state nestled in the Caucasus mountains between Turkey and Iran with 58.64 percent of the votes. His nearest rival, former foreign minister Raffi Hovannisian trailed in a distant second place with 36.75 percent of votes, the central election commission said after counting results from all the precincts. “These elections have again shown that the Armenian people can unite and take the right decision at the most important moments,” Sarkisian told supporters at his campaign headquarters. “I am proud and hope that all who did not vote for me understand the choice of the majority and we develop the country under a stable situation,” he said. army chief Ratko Mladic, has died in a Belgrade hospital, officials said in Belgrade. He was 75. “General Gvero died yesterday afternoon after a leg amputation,” his lawyer Dragan Krgovic told Serb news agency Tanjug on Monday. A hospital source confirmed the report to AFP. In 2010, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentenced Gvero to five years in prison for war crimes, and in particular for his role in the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica where Serb forces killed almost 8,000 Bosnian Muslims. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
Belarus jails border guard: Belarus has convicted and jailed for two years a border guard for failing to report that a foreign plane full of teddy bears had crossed into national airspace from Lithuania last July, the Belarus Supreme Court said Tuesday. The decision by a military tribunal is the first jailing in connection with the stunt by a group of Swedish activists who flew illegally into Belarussian territory to release hundreds of teddy bears carrying protest signs in support of freedom of speech. A border guard who was on duty on July 2, 2012 received his conviction on Jan 4 in a closed trial for not reporting the teddybear fly-by, the spokeswoman of the Supreme Court of Belarus Maria Lapo said. (AFP)
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
INTERNATIONAL
19
Japan ‘Comeback’ guy
‘Right stuff’ for Abe ... this time TOKYO, Feb 19, (RTRS): Five years after staring into a political and personal abyss, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is out to prove that the man who threw in the towel after barely a year in office has what it takes to survive as a long-term leader. Abe, whose 2006-2007 term as premier ended with his abrupt resignation after a year plagued by scandals, an election defeat and a gastrointestinal ailment worsened by stress, won a rare second Abe chance when his party surged back to power in December. This time, in an effort to show he’s taking care of his health, Abe has resumed jogging and is sipping room-temperature water during parliament sessions, apparently to avoid stomach upsets. The prime minister also, media say, still consults memos reflecting on mistakes that he jotted down after quitting. Even some opposition members say Abe and his aides display a better ability to govern than the first administration, when gaffes and scandals cost him five ministers including one who committed suicide.
People visit Meiji shrine as it snows in Tokyo, Feb 19. (AP)
China
Lessons “I think we can see ... the effect of lessons they learned from the first Abe administration, which gave up mid-stream,” said Tetsuro Fukuyama, an upper house lawmaker whose Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) ousted Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 2009, only to be crushed themselves at the polls in December. “I don’t know (if he is a changed man), but I sense that those close to him are pulling together more effectively.” That said, members of Abe’s team do occasionally show signs of singing a bit out of tune. Finance Minister and former premier Taro Aso — who some suspect of dreaming of a comeback of his own — said on Tuesday Japan had no plan to buy foreign currency-denominated bonds as part of a monetary easing programme. A day earlier, Abe had said buying foreign bonds was a monetary option. Those who know Abe say the 58-year-old leader, who goes to Washington this week with a message that Japan is reviving its economic and diplomatic strength, has learned a lot from his first term, when critics said he packed his cabinet with inexperienced cronies.
Beijing refutes involvement in cyberattacks
US firm alleges China hacking
This picture taken on Feb 18, shows the damaged coal mine area after a landslide happened at around 11 am on Feb 18, in Longchang Township in the city of Kaili, southwest China’s Guizhou province. Initial investigation has found that five people, including two children, were buried after the landslide. (AFP)
Elite The grandson of a prime minister and scion of an elite political family, Abe was 52 when he first took office, making him Japan’s youngest post-war premier. He also succeeded a popular prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, without having to fight a general election. “He’s more mature, seasoned, a sort of a ‘come-back’ guy after seeing hell,” said Kunihiko Miyake, a former diplomat who has known Abe for years. “Before, he was a person in a hurry and wanted results soon, impatiently. Now he is comfortable and not in a hurry,” added Miyake, research director at the Canon Institute for Global Studies in Tokyo. Critics say Abe’s improved image benefits from the low bar set by predecessors, including himself. Abe is Japan’s seventh prime minister since Koizumi ended a five-year term in 2006. “He’s assiduously avoiding previous mistakes,” said Brad Glosserman, executive director at Pacific Forum CSIS in Hawaii. “It’s not a lot to be proud of.” Clearly, Abe has rethought his priorities, not least to avoid a repeat of the stinging 2007 upper house election loss that created a deadlock in parliament and helped seal his fate. Abe has made reviving the economy his top priority, a big shift from his first term when his main agenda was to loosen the limits of Japan’s pacifist constitution on the military and restore national pride and patriotism. Those remain vital to Abe’s platform, but for now are taking something of a back seat. Rising Tokyo share prices and support rates of over 60 percent suggest investors and voters are willing to give the benefit of the doubt to “Abenomics” — a mix of big spending and hyper-easy monetary policies with a promise of reforms to come.
Lee
Kai-Fu
Asia Lee warns North Korea: South Korea’s outgoing president warns North Korea has pushed itself further into a corner with its recent nuclear test. President Lee Myung-bak said Tuesday in Seoul in his farewell address that North Korea will only face international sanctions and isolation if it hangs on to its nuclear and missile programs. South Korea has pressed for tighter UN sanctions on North Korea since Pyongyang conducted its third nuclear test last week. North Korea defends the underground blast as an act of deterrence against US hostility. Lee leaves office next Monday. The relations between the two Koreas have frayed badly during his single, five-year tenure. His successor, Park Geun-hye, has called for reopening dialogue with Pyongyang but also remains firmly opposed to North Korea’s nuclear program. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑
BEIJING, Feb 19, (Agencies): Cyberattacks that stole massive amounts of information from military contractors, energy companies and other key industries in the US and elsewhere have been traced to the doorstep of a Chinese military unit, a US security firm alleged Tuesday. China’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the report as “groundless,” and the Defense Ministry denied any involvement in hacking attacks. China has frequently been accused of hacking, but the report by Virginiabased Mandiant Corp contains some of the most extensive and detailed accusations to date linking its military to a wave of cyberspying against US and other foreign companies and government agencies. Mandiant said it traced the hacking back to a neighborhood in the outskirts of Shanghai that includes a drab, white 12-story office building run by “Unit 61398” of the People’s Liberation Army. The unit “has systematically stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations,” Mandiant wrote. By comparison, the US Library of Congress 2006-2010 Twitter archive of about 170 billion tweets totals 133.2 terabytes. “From our observations, it is one of the most prolific cyberespionage groups in terms of the sheer quantity of information stolen,” the company said. It added that the unit has been in operation since at least 2006. Mandiant said it decided that revealing the results of its investigation was worth the risk of the hackers changing their tactics and becoming even more difficult to trace.
Threat “It is time to acknowledge the threat is originating in China, and we wanted to do our part to arm and prepare security professionals to combat openness on the professional networking site LinkedIn. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
5 boys die from suffocation: Five unsupervised boys aged 4 to 6 suffocated
that threat effectively,” it said. In a statement faxed to The Associated Press, the Defense Ministry firmly rejected any involvement in hacking, saying Chinese law forbids all activities harming Internet security. “The Chinese government has always firmly combated such activities and the Chinese military has never supported any form of hacking activity,” the ministry said. “Statements to the effect that the Chinese military takes part in Internet attacks are unprofessional and are not in accordance with the facts.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei did not directly address the claims, but when questioned on the report Tuesday, he said he doubted the evidence would withstand scrutiny. “To make groundless accusations based on some rough material is neither responsible nor professional,” Hong told reporters at a regularly scheduled news conference. Reiterating a standard China government response on hacking claims, Hong said China itself is a major victim of such crimes, including attacks originating in the United States. “As of now, the cyberattacks and cybercrimes China has suffered are rising rapidly every year,” Hong said. Mandiant’s methodology used in the investigation was sound, said Massimo Cotrozzi, managing director of KCS Group, a London-based international cyber investigation consulting firm that was not involved in Mandiant’s research. “No one as yet has provided the world conclusive evidence of a link between the Chinese military and the attacks. This report is the nearest thing to conclusive evidence that I have seen,” Cotrozzi said. after lighting a fire inside an abandoned tobacco barn in southwestern China, state media reported Tuesday in Beijing. The deaths Monday in the southwestern province of Guizhou focused attention on the welfare of children in one of China’s
Mandiant said its findings led it to alter the conclusion of a 2010 report it wrote on Chinese hacking, in which it said it was not possible to determine the extent of government knowledge of such activities. “The details we have analyzed during hundreds of investigations convince us that the groups conducting these activities are based primarily in China and that the Chinese government is aware of them,” the company said in a summary of its latest report.
Traced It said the hacking was traced to the 2nd Bureau of the People’s Liberation Army General Staff’s 3rd Department, most commonly known as unit 61398, in the Shanghai suburbs. News of the report spread Tuesday on the Chinese Internet, with many commentators calling it an excuse for the US to impose greater restrictions to contain China’s growing technological prowess. Graham Cluley, a British cybersecurity expert who was not involved in Mandiant’s research, said people in the computer industry believe China’s government is behind such attacks but have been unable to confirm the source. “None of us would be very surprised or be uncomfortable saying we strongly suspect the Chinese authorities are involved in spying this way,” said Cluley, a senior technology consultant for security firm Sophos in Britain. “I think we are seeing a steady escalation” of sophistication in hacking, Cluley said. “This is really the new era of cybercrime. We’ve moved from kids in their bedroom and financially motivated crime to state-sponsored cybercrime, which is interested in stealing secrets and getting military poorest regions. Three months ago, five runaway boys in the same province died inside a garbage bin, where they lit a fire to stay warm on a cold, damp night in the city of Bijie. Media reports said those boys were large-
Blogger hails social media: One of China’s most popular micro-bloggers — with tens of millions of followers — praised social media Tuesday in Beijing as the country’s least-censored method of expression, even as he was blocked from using it. Kai-Fu Lee, a former head of Google China, drew widespread attention after announcing on Sunday he faced a three-day ban from China’s popular Twitter-like Weibo services, Sina and Tencent, where he has a whopping 30 million and 24 million followers respectively. China’s far-reaching censorship authorities block or delete online content deemed to be too sensitive and control all domestic media outlets to varying degrees. Lee did not say why he might have been banned, although some media reports referred to discussion online that he had criticised Jike, a search engine affiliated with state media. Calls to a Sina manager and a Sina spokesperson were not answered on Tuesday. A Taiwan-born American who now runs a capital venture fund in Beijing, Lee began posting instead on Twitter — officially banned but accessible via workarounds — and published an essay championing online
‘Naval exercise’ Seoul flexes muscles
France’s Culture Minister Aurelie Filipetti (left), stands next to Japanese kabuki performer Tamasaburo Bando (right), after he received the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters award, one of the country’s highest cultural medal, on Feb 19, in Paris. (AFP)
SEOUL, Feb 19, (AFP): South Korea staged a naval exercise involving US surveillance aircraft on Tuesday, flexing its military muscles at a time of high tensions on the Korean Peninsula following the North’s third nuclear test. Day one of a six-day drill in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) involved South Korean warships and submarines, as well as surveillance planes from the United States, the defence ministry in Seoul said. The exercises will practise operations to detect and track North Korean missiles and submarines, the ministry added. “The drill is aimed at testing our readiness against threats from the enemy,” a spokesman told AFP.
or commercial advantage.” China’s army controls hundreds if not thousands of virulent and cuttingedge hackers, according to a report Tuesday by a US Internet security firm that traced a host of cyberattacks to an anonymous building in Shanghai. Mandiant said its hundreds of investigations showed that groups hacking into US newspapers, government agencies, and companies “are based primarily in China and that the Chinese government is aware of them”. The 74-page report focused on one group, which it called “APT1” from the initials “Advanced Persistent Threat”. The New York Times, citing experts, said the group was targeting crucial infrastructure such as the US energy grid. “We believe that APT1 is able to wage such a long-running and extensive cyber espionage campaign in large part because it receives direct government support,” Mandiant said. The group, it said, was believed to be a branch of the People’s Liberation Army called Unit 61398, and digital signatures from its cyberattacks were traced back to the direct vicinity of a nondescript, 12-story building on the outskirts of Shanghai. “We believe the totality of the evidence we provide in this document bolsters the claim that APT1 is Unit 61398,” it said, estimating it is “staffed by hundreds, and perhaps thousands of people”. China’s defence ministry said its army had never supported any kind of hacking activity. “Not only are reports that China’s army has been involved in hacking unprofessional, they do not fit with the facts,” the ministry said in a statement to AFP. ly unsupervised because their parents had sought work in more prosperous parts of the country, and the incident prompted nationwide soul-searching on China’s wealth gap and the effects of its economic boom on families in rural areas. In the latest incident, in Guizhou’s Majiang county, the boys were left unsupervised because their parents were helping with a local wedding, Xinhua said. Four of the boys were found dead in the tobacco barn and the fifth boy died later in a hospital, Xinhua said. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑
Plane makes emergency landing: An official from a northeastern Chinese airport says an Airbus A320 on a domestic flight made an emergency landing because of a mechanical fault. The official from Taiping Airport in Harbin city confirmed Tuesday that China Southern Airlines flight CZ 3624 headed for the southern city of Guangzhou returned to Harbin after takeoff Monday and made an emergency landing. She declined to specify the mechanical fault and would only give her surname, Bai. The official Xinhua News Agency reported that the housing on the plane’s left engine had fallen off, citing a statement from the airline. Xinhua says the passengers left in another plane later Monday. It says the cause of the problem is being investigated. (AP)
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
INTERNATIONAL
20
World News Roundup Africa Kiir retires over 100 army gens: South Sudan under the leadership of Salva Kiir has retired over 100 generals as part of a sweeping restructuring of the former rebel force, in a move partly aimed at demilitarising the fledgling nation’s government, officials said Monday. The presidential decree to retire 117 generals follows similar orders last month for 35 other generals and all six deputy army chiefs of staff. “They all finished their time in the military service so they are retired but are paid...There must be new blood to come up for a change, because we are a new nation at last,” army spokesman Kella Kueth told AFP. South Sudan won independence from former civil war foe Sudan in July 2011, facing a raft of challenges to rebuild the conflict-ravaged nation, including turning a bloated guerrilla army of some 200,000 Kirr troops into a regular force. The army absorbed several former rival rebel factions — some once acting as proxy forces for Sudan — as part of peace building efforts, swallowing up large chunks of the impoverished nation’s budget. Several of the generals now hold government positions, too. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
‘Many casualties’ in clash: A tribal
A visitor takes photos of the heavy snowfall in the grounds of the Our Lady of Sheshan Basilica Catholic Church in Shanghai on Feb 19. The city saw temperatures plummet with the arrival of a strong cold front. (AFP)
Asia Hunter to continue quest: A British aviation enthusiast searching for scores of World War II-era Spitfire fighter planes he believes are buried in Myanmar said Tuesday he will continue his quest even though his main sponsor has backed out. David Cundall told reporters that he is confident of enough funding to continue his search despite the withdrawal of the Belarusian video gaming company Wargaming.net. The company said last Friday it believes the planes don’t really exist and descriptions of their burial by Allied forces as the war drew to a close nearly 70 years ago are a myth. Cundall contends that as many as 140 Spitfires may have been buried in near-pristine condition in Myanmar. No traces of any were found in digging that began in December, but Cundall said he hopes to have good news in two weeks when the searchers finish surveying. He said they are waiting for a specialized company from Europe to use ground-penetrating radar that will show the shape and depth of buried objects. Cundall said Wargaming “couldn’t wait that long.” “I’m still confident to find Spitfires,” he said. “I believe in eyewitnesses.” (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Fiji regime to shut parties: Fourteen of Fiji’s 17 political parties are being closed down after failing to apply for registration under restrictions imposed on opposition groups last month, the military regime said Tuesday in Suva. The move means the Pacific nation will potentially have only three political parties involved in elections scheduled for next year, the country’s first move toward democracy since a military coup in 2006. Fiji’s registrar for political parties Mere Vuniwaqa said 14 parties did not meet a deadline for registration last week and they would be wound up, with all their assets being forfeited to the government. “By law, I am mandated to make an application to the High Court to wind up the rest of the existing parties that did not apply by the deadline,” she told the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation. “We are now working in the Solicitor General’s office to put together the relevant applications for the winding up in the High Court.” Under a decree passed last month, the membership threshold for registering a political party was lifted 40-fold from 128 to 5,000, a major hurdle for opposition groups in Fiji, which has a population of about 870,000. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑ 2 charged in ‘witch’ killing: Papua New Guinea police have charged two people with the grisly killing of a woman who was tortured and burned alive in front of hundreds of people, including young children, after being accused of witchcraft. Janet Ware and Andrew Watea were charged with murder over the slaying of Kepari Leniata, a 20-year-old mother who was stripped, tortured with a hot iron rod, doused in gasoline and set alight on a pile of car tires and trash by a mob earlier this month. Leniata had been accused of sorcery by relatives of a 6-year-old boy who had died in a hospital. Ware and Watea are believed to be the boy’s mother and uncle, police said in a statement. The two charged Monday were among more than 40 people who were detained last week in connection with Leniata’s slaying. The others were eventually released due to lack of evidence, but police said more arrests are expected. In rural Papua New Guinea, witchcraft is often blamed for unexplained misfortunes, but the brutal killing was met with outrage across the South Pacific island nation,
Malaysia Corruption high on list of public concerns
Whistle-blower at centre of fight Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak (left), and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (right), take part in a joint press conference after their leaders’ retreat meeting in Singapore on Feb 19. Singapore and Malaysia announced plans Tuesday to build a high-speed rail link, fuelling hopes that Southeast Asia could one day enjoy a rapid European-style train system connected to China. (AFP)
Lei
Keqing
Mediation rejected China says it has rejected the Philippines’ attempt to seek international arbitration over conflicting claims to territory in the South China Sea. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Tuesday that China’s ambassador to Manila, Ma Keqing, had returned Manila’s formal notification of the move to a Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs official. Hong said the proposal was historically and legally incorrect and contained unacceptable accusations against China. The Philippines informed China last month of its plans to take the countries’ conflicting claims to a tribunal operating under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It wants the panel to declare Beijing’s moves in the potentially oil-rich waters unlawful. Six governments have overlapping claims in the South China Sea. China claims sovereignty over virtually all of it. (AP)
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19, (AFP): Malaysians head to the polls in the coming months with the country’s persistent corruption high on the list of public concerns, and few have done more to put it there than babyfaced Rafizi Ramli. Officially the strategist for the political party of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, Rafizi is best-known to his enemies in the ruling coalition as Malaysia’s foremost whistleblower on official graft. Formerly a top executive at state oil firm Petronas, Rafizi joined the opposition full-time five years ago and has used his financial smarts to sting the government with corruption revelations pulled from his nowfeared files. “I have about three more in my back pocket,” Rafizi, 35, told AFP at his office in the capital Kuala Lumpur, where the odour of cigarette smoke hangs over stacks of documents. The Barisan Nasional (National Front) has governed the multi-ethnic nation since 1957 independence, bringing economic growth and political stability under its authoritarian rule, but also longstanding allegations of large-scale graft. Elections expected in the next two months however could be Malaysia’s tightest yet after the opposition handviolently tossing him around like a doll, a report said. National television showed closed-circuit video footage of the 24-year-old maid sitting down, flipping the boy into the air and throwing him repeatedly onto a mat on the floor. The incident last Friday sparked public
ed the Front its worst-ever showing in 2008 polls. As the ballot nears, a survey in December found corruption was the top concern of 51 percent of voters, which the opposition has fed by hammering the government on recurring scandals, and through revelations coming from Rafizi. Most recently, Rafizi produced documents late last year that he says show a powerful state leader received $13 million in kickbacks and a cabinet minister’s son got a Hummer SUV in exchange for timber contracts. The accusations were denied.
Scandal His top expose was a scandal brought to light in 2011 in which the women’s affairs minister allegedly helped a company owned by her family win an $83 million contract to increase domestic beef production. Funds were allegedly siphoned off to buy luxury cars and property in the “cows for condos” affair — now a catchphrase for official graft. The disgraced minister resigned in what was a major embarrassment for Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has pledged to fight corruption. “People in power can’t just do whatever they want anymore. Those below now have the courage to blow outrage in Malaysia, which relies heavily on foreign maids for household tasks. The Sessions Court sentenced the maid, Yuliana, who uses one name, to 15 years in jail for attempted murder and another five years for abusing the baby after she pleaded guilty to both charges, the national Bernama news agency reported. The judge
ordered the jail terms to run concurrently. The baby’s mother, Nina Suraya Sulaiman, earlier told The Star newspaper she was having breakfast nearby when she saw the incident on her mobile phone, which was linked to the video camera. The maid had only worked for the family for a day at the time. (AP)
Drugs possession
Briton arrested
drawing condemnation from the prime minister, police and diplomats. Police said the hundreds of onlookers, many of whom were children and teenagers, were powerless to stop the mob who participated in Leniata’s killing in the Western Highlands provincial capital of Mount Hagen. Police officers were also among the spectators, but were outnumbered and couldn’t save the woman, national police spokesman Dominic Kakas said. An internal investigation is under way into the police’s actions at the scene. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑
Indonesian maid jailed: A Malaysian court sentenced an Indonesian maid to 15 years in jail on Tuesday for attempted murder and abuse of a 4-month-old baby by
the whistle,” said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, head of Malaysian think tank IDEAS. Corruption — ranging from small bribes sought by police, up to huge kickbacks alleged in a string of large projects — is blamed for hastening a decline in Malaysia’s economic competitiveness compared to its neighbours. Despite Najib’s anti-graft pledges, Malaysia has failed to significantly improve its standing in corruption rankings. It suffered the world’s third-highest illicit capital flight from 20012010 — $285 billion — according to financial watchdog Global Financial Integrity, and topped Transparency International’s (TI) 30-economy bribery survey in 2012. “When 50 percent of businesses surveyed say they lost a deal because they refused to pay a bribe, it’s not just perception. It’s institutionalised,” said TI-Malaysia’s president, Paul Low. A Malaysian government spokesman told AFP tackling corruption remains a “key priority” of Najib’s, adding that “failure to eradicate it will harm our democratic and economic progress”. He pointed to recent initiatives such as setting up special corruption courts across the country and a 2010 Whistleblower Protection Act.
A man squats behind a collapsed roof after a fire gutted residential homes in suburban Valenzuela, north of Manila, Philippines, on Feb 19. The cause of the fire is unknown. (AP)
JAKARTA, Feb 19, (AFP): A Briton arrested for marijuana possession in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta could face up to 12 years in prison if convicted, a police spokesman said Tuesday. Kirk Elliott Neville, 36, who worked as an English teacher in eastern Jakarta, was detained on Saturday with a one-gram (0.035 ounce) package and two joints of marijuana, the East Jakarta police spokesman Didik Haryadi told AFP. “Based on a tip-off from locals, we arrested him on Saturday evening when he was smoking a marijuana joint at his house,” he said, adding that under the anti-narcotics law, Neville could face between four to 12 years’ jail.
clash has claimed many casualties near the tense undemarcated border between Sudan and South Sudan, a source familiar with the incident said on Tuesday in Khartoum. The violence occurred between nomadic Arab Misseriya cattle herders and members of the South Sudanese-based Nuer tribe west of the disputed Abyei region, said the source, an Abyei resident. “There are many casualties,” he said, unable to give specific details. The Sudanese Media Centre, which is close to the security apparatus, quoted a Misseriya leader as saying 23 people were killed in attacks by the South Sudanese military on Sunday. “No, it is a tribal clash,” during the Misseriya’s annual migration southwards, the Abyei source said. “It happens every year when they cross the territory of another tribe.” (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
‘7 to hang for child rape’: A Sudanese judge sentenced seven men to hang for the drugging and rape of a 14year-old girl, the victim’s lawyer said on Monday in Khartoum, calling the sentence “more than just”. Cases of gang rape are rare in the Islamist-run state. Six minors who also abused the girl were sentenced to 10 years each in a reformatory, Judge Ahmed Khalil Albahar ruled, according to the lawyer Salma Mohammedahmed Hamed. “He found them guilty by the evidence he received of raping a child,” the lawyer told AFP. Judge Albahar issued the verdict on Sunday at a court in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, Hamed said. The crime occurred in May last year after the men kidnapped the girl from her home. All 13 of them abused her. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑ EU lifts bans on loyalists: The European Union said Monday in Harare, Zimbabwe it has removed 21 loyalists of Zimbabwe’s president from a sanctions list of people facing travel and banking bans. The EU said another six cabinet ministers from President Robert Mugabe’s party are also now allowed to travel to Europe. It said the decision to remove those restrictions was a result of a “step forward” in finalizing a draft constitution which is set to go voted on in a national referendum on March 16. The draft constitution “adds further momentum to the reform process and paves way for the holding of peaceful, transparent and credible elections later this year,” said the EU statement. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Gbagbo faces ICC judges: Ivorian ex-president Laurent Gbagbo on Tuesday faces International Criminal Court judges who will decide whether there is enough evidence to try him for masterminding a bloody election standoff two years ago. Presiding judge Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi was to open the hearings at the Hague-based court’s headquarters at 14:30 pm (1330 GMT), with prosecutors expecting to launch their case later in the afternoon. Gbagbo, 67, the first-ever former head of state to appear before the ICC, faces four counts of crimes against humanity including murder and rape for fomenting a wave of violence which swept the west African nation after he refused to concede defeat in November 2010 presidential polls. Four months of fighting followed, ravaging the world’s largest cocoa producer and leaving some 3,000 people dead, according to the UN. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
Soldiers occupy Ivorian village: Soldiers from Guinea have occupied a village in Ivory Coast as a decades-old border dispute flares up, Ivorian security sources said Monday in Abidjan. An Ivorian soldier in the area told AFP, when reached by telephone from Abidjan, that “around 50 Guinean soldiers armed with Kalashnikovs” took over the village of Kpeaba. Kpeaba lies close to the town of Sipilou, around 15 kilometres (nine) from Ivory Coast’s border with Guinea. “They have taken down the Ivorian flag and raised the Guinean one,” said the soldier with the FRCI, the Ivorian army. “The situation is tense, a contingent of FRCI troops is stationed seven kilometres” from Kpeaba, he said. A member of the Ivorian police force said “the incursion and occupation date from the beginning of February.” The source added that the Guineans had ousted the Ivorian village chief and brought in their own on Saturday. The dispute between the two former French colonies dates back to the days of independence, he said. (AFP)
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
INTERNATIONAL
21
Polls
Champ nervous
Runner ‘recalls’ traumatic event NAIROBI, Feb 19, (AFP): Five years since Kenya’s world marathon champion Luke Kibet narrowly escaped death in postelection violence that killed two of his colleagues, the runner is nervous as fresh polls approach. More than 1,100 people — including two international athletes — were killed in the chaos and ethnic violence that followed Kenya’s 2007 presidential elections. “We narrowly escaped Kibet death,” said Kibet, a brutal scar on his clean-shaven head showing where a rock hurled by rioting youths smashed his skull during the worst outbreak of violence since Kenya’s independence in 1963. For Kibet, then aged 24 and still basking in the glory of winning the world marathon title in the Japanese city of Osaka in August 2007, the shocking unrest shattered his dreams of continued international success. The bloodshed destroyed Kenya’s image as a beacon of stability in east Africa, with what began as political riots quickly turning into ethnic killing, and Kibet’s highland hometown of Eldoret was especially hard hit. Now, with the east Africa nation gearing up for a March 4 vote — the first since the violence — Kibet is determined to remind compatriots of what is at stake if the polls are not peaceful. “It was a very bad scene, never to be repeated again,” Kibet said, now aged 29, recalling how he helped shelter “many women and their children who fled the violence in my house” for a week.
A supporter of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez holds a photo of him as she celebrates his return, outside the Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital in Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb 18. (Inset): Venezuelan Vice-President Nicolas Maduro waves to supporters outside the military hospital where
Venezuela President undergoing ‘complex and tough’ treatment
Chavez’s return raises questions
Clashed In Eldoret, home to many of Kenya’s famed long distance runners, youths from the Kikuyu and Kalenjin ethnic groups clashed, forcing rivals from their homes and attacking others with clubs, spears, arrows or guns. Kibet, a prison service officer, still appears visibly shaken by one incident when he was forced to shoot his gun in the air to scare off an armed group of youths, who held up his car with four other runners inside. The athletes, driving from the popular running region of Eldoret — whose high altitude conditions help in stamina training — had been summoned by the national athletics body to come to the capital Nairobi for their own safety. But armed youths had blocked the road, forcing them to stay put in their car. “I came out to plead with them that we were just athletes, but they would not budge,” he recalled, adding that he escaped only after firing his pistol. Other athletes — and hundreds of other ordinary Kenyans — were not so lucky. Lucas Sang, 45, a member of the Kenyan 4 x 400m relay quartet at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, was hacked to death in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret. International marathon runner, 34-year old Wesley Ngetich, was killed by a poisoned arrow that pieced his chest in the Transmara district, near the world famous Maasai Mara Game Reserve. Despite the painful memories of the last election, Kibet is keen to put the past behind him and hopeful that the upcoming polls can be peaceful and that a better future lies ahead for his country. “I have almost forgotten what happened,” he said. “There is no need of keeping such traumatic events in my mind.”
Also: HARARE: Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday announced new heads for the country’s human rights and electoral commissions ahead of crucial polls this year. Tsvangirai told journalists a former governor from President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party was the new chairman of the human rights commission following the resignation of top lawyer Reg Austin in January. Austin cited lack of facilities including an office for the commission among reasons for his resignation. “Jacob Mudenda will chair the human rights commission,” Tsvangirai said. “We have considered his past. We believe he is capable, being a lawyer and a member of the commission.”
President Hugo Chavez has been hospitalized following his return from Cuba. ‘We have arrived again to the Venezuelan motherland,’ Chavez wrote. ‘Thank you, God. Thank you, my beloved people.’ (AP/AFP)
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa celebrates his victory on Sunday’s general election, at Carondelet presidential palace in Quito on Feb 18. Fresh from a landslide re-election victory, President Rafael Correa hoped Monday to match it with a sweeping legislative win needed to clear the way for deeper socialist changes in Ecuador. (AFP)
Castro
Sanchez
Lat/Am US lawmakers visit Cuba: A delegation of American lawmakers led by Sen Patrick Leahy arrived in Cuba on Monday to gauge the island’s economic changes and stress the importance of freeing a jailed American whose detention has chilled relations between the two countries. The trip, which included five senators, was the first to the Communist-run island by high-level US politicians since President Barack Obama’s re-election in November. It comes a year after another group of legislators led by Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, came to Cuba and met with President Raul Castro. Last year’s delegation also visited Alan Gross, an American jailed since 2009 for illegally distributing communications equipment on the island while on a US-funded democracy-building program. In their meetings, the lawmakers will stress that freeing Gross, who is serving a 15-year sentence, is a crucial prerequisite for improved ties, a State Department official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, lacking authorization to comment publicly. “Nothing would make me happier if, when we leave in a couple of days, for Alan Gross to be on the plane with us,” Leahy said following the group’s arrival, before adding: “I don’t think that is likely to happen.” Leahy said the aim of the trip is to work toward better relations between the two countries, and that both sides would have to give ground. He said many Americans agree US policy in place for decades has become anachronistic. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ US citizen slain: Salvadoran authorities say a US citizen was shot to death on a coffee farm in the western part of the country. Police Commissioner Douglas Omar Garcia Funes said Michael James Brown was shot at least five times in the head and shoulders on Saturday night in the town of Izalco, about 70 miles west of the capital, San Salvador. Garcia Funes said the 55-year-old was
CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb 19, (Agencies): The announcement of President Hugo Chavez’s return to Venezuela after a 10-week silence in Cuba is raising questions about his cancer treatments, his delicate health, and the political purposes that motivated his homecoming. Three messages appeared on Chavez’s Twitter account early Monday saying he was back, and the government announced that he had arrived at 2:30 am and was taken to Caracas’ military hospital to continue with his treatments. The government released no images of the president, though, and while his supporters threw street celebrations to welcome him, some also said they wanted to see him to get a better idea of how he is doing. The government has said Chavez is undergoing “complex and tough” treatments for his illness but hasn’t specified what sort of treatment. The government has said he is breathing through a tube inserted into his windpipe and therefore has difficulty talking, but officials haven’t given a detailed medical report despite demands by the opposition. Even as Vice President Nicolas Maduro has increasingly stood in for Chavez since the president’s Dec 11 surgery, he and other leading officials have insisted that Chavez remains in charge and has been signing off on government decisions. Chavez’s announced return to Caracas came less than three days after the government released the first photos of the president in more than two months, showing him in a driving a rental car along with a woman who was wounded and is now under police protection, Funes said. The US State Department warned citizens several weeks ago that El Salvador continues to suffer high levels of violence
bed looking bloated and smiling alongside his daughters. The lack of any images of Chavez on Monday underlined the many unanswered questions about where he stands in his prolonged struggle with an undisclosed type of pelvic cancer.
Clapping Information Minister Ernesto Villegas broke into song on television early Monday, exclaiming: “He’s back, he’s back!” “Bravo,” Villegas said, before state television employees joined him in the studio clapping and celebrating. A giant inflated Chavez doll was placed beside a corner of the National Assembly building. Villegas reiterated in an interview with Venezuelan radio station Union Radio that Chavez is going through a “difficult, hard and complex” recovery process, and that his return doesn’t change the “difficult circumstances he has been in.” The vice president later presided over a televised Cabinet meeting at the presidential palace, though he didn’t offer additional details about Chavez. “He will live and he will triumph,” Maduro said at the end of the meeting, while on television an image of Chavez’s face was superimposed on the oval-shaped table. Hundreds of Chavez supporters celebrated his return in downtown Caracas, chanting his name and holding photos of the president in Bolivar Plaza. Supporters also gathered outside the hospital, wearing the red T-shirts of Chavez’s socialist despite a truce between its largest street gangs. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑
Blogger met by small protests: Cuba’s best-known dissident, blogger
movement and chanting: “He’s back!” “I want to see my president,” said Alicia Morroy, a seamstress who stood outside the hospital on the verge of tears. “I’ve missed him a lot because Chavez is the spirit of the poor.” Six hospital employees who were asked about the president said they hadn’t seen him. Yusmeli Teran, a waitress who serves food to patients, told The Associated Press that the area where Chavez was being treated on the 9th floor is a restricted area guarded by police and soldiers. “No one has seen him at all,” she said. Chavez’s precise condition and the sort of cancer treatments he is undergoing remain a mystery, and speculation has grown recently that he may not be able to stay on as president. Dr Carlos Castro, scientific director of the Colombian League Against Cancer in Bogota, Colombia, said that given the government’s accounts that Chavez is undergoing “complex” treatment, he thinks he likely will have to step down.
Battle “Unfortunately, the cancer he has isn’t going to go away, and he’s returning to continue his battle. But I think he’s conscious that he isn’t going to win his fight against cancer, as much as he’d like to win it,” Castro told the AP in a telephone interview. The Venezuelan Constitution says that if a president dies or steps down, a new vote must be called and Yoani Sanchez, was greeted on Monday by small groups of protesters who called her a CIA agent upon arriving in Brazil, the first stop on a whirlwind tour that will take her to a dozen countries. A smiling Sanchez brushed off the stu-
‘Lower approval rating’
Nieto gets 56 pct
Police cordon the entrance to a restaurant after gunmen killed Oscar Roberto Ramirez and two bodyguards in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Feb 17. Ramirez, 17, who was the son of the former national police chief, Ricardo Ramirez del Cid, was shot and killed along with two of his bodyguards inside the restaurant. (AP)
MEXICO CITY, Feb 19, (RTRS): Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has a lower approval rating at the start of his term than his predecessor did, a poll showed on Monday, underscoring the challenge he faces to push key economic reforms through a divided Congress. Less than three months into office, 56 percent of Mexicans approve of Pena Nieto as president compared to 29 percent who disapprove of the job he is doing, according to a survey by Buendia y Laredo published by daily El Universal on Monday. After 12 years of opposition rule, Pena Nieto returned to power his centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled Mexico for most of the past century.
held within 30 days. Chavez raised that possibility before he left for Cuba in December by saying that if necessary, Maduro should run in a new election to replace him. Chavez’s return could be used to give a boost to his would-be successor and gain time to “consolidate his alternative leader” ahead of a possible new presidential vote this year, said Luis Vicente Leon, a Venezuelan pollster and political analyst. Leon said that even if Chavez isn’t seen in public, his presence will allow the government to keep up his emotional connection to his followers and rally support. Even the state newspaper Correo del Orinoco referred to the possibility of a new election in its Monday edition. The top headline, published before Chavez’s announced return, said a poll found Maduro would win a possible election. Maduro and other Cabinet ministers held hands and prayed in a televised gathering on Monday night in which a priest and a minister offered words of thanks for Chavez’s return. Venezuela’s opposition responded to the news by saying that it’s natural for the president to be back in his own country and that creating a “spectacle” with his return serves no useful purpose. “The government should tell the truth and dedicate itself to working to confront Venezuelans’ serious problems,” the opposition coalition said in a statement, citing problems such as violent crime, soaring inflation and worsening shortages of some foods. dent demonstrators who sympathize with Cuba’s communist government, saying she wished Cubans had the same freedom to protest back home. Sanchez’s arrival in Brazil kicked off her first trip abroad since the Cuban government finally granted her a passport after more than 20 refusals in the past five years. About eight students from a local university shouted “sell out” and “CIA agent” as Sanchez arrived in the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife, according to a Reuters photographer who was at the airport. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑
Rebels hold Canadian engineer: Colombia’s ELN guerrilla group said Monday in Bogota they were still holding a Canadian engineer after releasing five other captured mining company employees last week. “Canadian engineer Jernoc Wobert, 47, continues to be detained by guerrillas of the National Liberation Army in the San Lucas mountain range,” an ELN unit, the Dario Ramirez Castro Front, said in a statement on the group’s website. The statement, which was dated Friday and titled “The Canadian stays,” gave no reason for keeping Wobert, who was taken captive January 18 at a mining camp in northern Colombia belonging to the Geo Explorers mining company. Five other people captured at the same time — two Peruvians and three Colombians — were handed over to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday. (AFP)
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
INTERNATIONAL
22
World News Roundup Health Chemicals blamed
EDCs cited as health threats GENEVA, Feb 19, (RTRS): Manmade chemicals in everyday products are likely to be at least the partial cause of a global surge in birth deformities, hormonal cancers and psychiatric diseases, a UN-sponsored research team reported on Tuesday. These substances, dubbed EDCs, could also be linked to a decline in the human male sperm count and female fertility, to an increase in once-rare childhood cancers and to the disappearance of some animal species, they said. Chan “It is clear that some of these chemical pollutants can affect the endocrinal (hormonal) system and ... may also interfere with the development processes of humans and wildlife species,” the report declared. The international group, academic experts working under the umbrella of the United Nations environmental and health agencies UNEP and WHO, under its director Margaret Chan issued their findings in a paper updating a 2002 study on the potential dangers of synthetic chemicals. Declaring “a global threat that needs to be resolved,” the team said humans and animals across the planet were probably exposed to hundreds of these often little-studied or understood compounds at any one time. “We live in a world in which man-made chemicals have become part of everyday life,” said their 28page report, “State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, 2012,” issued as a policy guide for governments.
Children react as a carnivorous theropod known as the Australovenator dinosaur walks through crowds along the Southbank, in London, on Feb 18. The dinosaur is one of many that can be vis-
ited at the Erth’s Dinosaur Petting Zoo, visiting from Australia, the creatures can be touched and fed at the Southbank Centre. (AP)
Space
Absorbed EDCs include phthalates long used in making plastics soft and flexible. Products made from them include toys, children’s dummies, perfumes and pharmaceuticals, as well as cosmetics like deodorants that are absorbed into the body. Another is Bisphenol A, or BPA, which is used to harden plastics and is found in food and beverage containers, including some babies’ bottles and the coating of food cans. A few countries - including the United States, Canada and some European Union members - have already banned the use of some of them in certain products, especially those destined for the use of children. But, the report said, “many hundreds of thousands” are in use around the world and only a small fraction had been assessed for their potential to spark disease by upsetting the endocrinal, or hormonal, systems of humans and animals. Experts believe that in general, such chemicals can be absorbed into drinks and food from the containers they come in.
Working The team, created by a 17-yearold chemical management body called the IOMC working with a range of UN agencies, said a key problem was that manufacturers of consumer products did not identify many of their chemical components. Consequently, the researchers said, they had only been able to look at “the tip of the iceberg”. Disease risk from the use of EDCs - or what could be even more dangerous a combination of them - “may be significantly underestimated.” Using studies of the effect of the chemicals on humans and animals, the team added, a link to EDCs could be suspected in breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, infertility, asthma, obesity, strokes, and Alzheimer and Parkinson’s diseases. Babies exposed to EDCs in the womb or in puberty, these studies suggested, were especially vulnerable to developing these diseases in later life as well as behavioral and learning problems like dyslexia as children. In many countries, these disorders affected 5-10 percent of babies born, while autism was now recorded at a rate of one percent. Childhood leukemia and brain cancer is also on the rise, according to the report. “All of these complex non-communicable diseases have both a genetic and an environmental component,” it said. “Since the increases in incidence and prevalence cannot be due solely to genetics, it is important to focus on understanding the contribution of the environment to these chronic disease trends in humans.” The researchers said their report had been based largely on studies in the developed world. But the size of the problem in developing countries had yet to be adequately assessed due to a lack of data from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
See Also Page 35&36
NASA scrambles for better asteroid detection
How do you stop space objects? A handout photo taken on Feb 18, and provided by Urals Federal University shows pieces of porous black rock, reportedly fragments of the meteor that spectacularly plunged over Russia’s Ural Mountains, as scientists work with them the university’s lab in Yekaterinburg. Scientists said on Monday they had discovered fragments of the meteor that spectacularly plunged over Russia’s Ural Mountains creating a shockwave that injured 1,200 people and damaged thousands of homes. (AFP)
Ecology Euro MPs back plans: The European Parliament’s environment committee on Tuesday in Brussels backed efforts to make investment in clean technology financially more attractive by freezing about 900 million tonnes of pollution credits available to companies in 20132015. The EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) — carbon credits that can be bought or sold — are providing little incentive so far for firms to change their ways because their prices are too low. The parliamentary committee agreed by 38 votes to 25 to allow the European Commission to delay the timing of carbon emission auctions in hopes the price will rise and so encourage cleaner technologies, a statement said. “The environment committee has sent a clear signal in favour of a strong and healthy emissions trading system. A stronger carbon price will help catalyse Europe’s transition towards a low-carbon economy,” committee chairman Matthias Groote said in a statement. “Creating the EU ETS was a landmark achievement but there is also a learning process. Delaying auctions is only a temporary fix but it is a positive step,” said Groote. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
‘Makers must share costs’: Antinuclear activists kicked off a global campaign Tuesday to urge governments to force makers of nuclear reactors to shoulder some of the cost of accidents in Tokyo. Greenpeace said in many countries blame for nuclear disasters falls on operators, but laws often limit their liability, leaving taxpayers to pick up the bill for compensation. Meanwhile, suppliers of nuclear reactors, including GE, Toshiba and Hitachi, companies involved in the design and building of units at Fukushima, are often legally shielded from sharing blame for accidents involving their products, they said. There have been no suggestions that the meltdowns that started after a tsunami thumped the plant nearly two years ago
WASHINGTON, Feb 19, (Agencies): NASA, universities and private groups in the US are working on asteroid warning systems that can detect objects from space like the one that struck Russia last week with a blinding flash and mighty boom. But the US space agency reiterated that events like the one in the Urals, which shattered windows and injured nearly 1,000 people, are rare. “We would expect an event of this magnitude to occur once every 100 years on average,” said Paul Chodas of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. NASA estimates that before entering the Earth’s atmosphere above Russia, the asteroid measured 17 meters (56 feet) in diameter and weighed 10 tons. Fragments of the asteroid caused an explosion equivalent to 500,000 tons of TNT when they hit. The same day, a 45-meter in diameter asteroid known as 2012 14 whizzed harmlessly past the Earth, its passage overshadowed by the bright arc drawn across the Russian sky that same day. But had it hit ground, 2012 DA14 could have obliterated a large city. Ten years ago, NASA would not have been able to detect 2012 DA14, said Lindsey Johnson, near earth object (NEO) project manager at NASA said recently.
Progress But he said NASA has made progress on learning how to detect small asteroids. Johnson said there are many of these objects flying around near the Earth — say, half a million — and they are hard to track because of their small size. In line with a goal set by Congress in 1998, NASA has already discovered and catalogued around 95 percent of the asteroids of a kilometer or more in diameter that are in the Earth’s orbit around the sun and capable of causing mega-destruction. The NEO program at NASA currently detects and tracks Earth-approaching asteroids and comets with land-based and orbiting telescopes. Scientists estimate their mass and orbit to gauge whether they pose a danger. With this system, the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, which has an
were in any way the fault of those companies. “The nuclear industry evades responsibility in... a big accident,” said Aslihan Tumer of the pressure group. “Every business around the world as well as all technologies have certain levels of risk when it comes to accidents. “However, it’s only the nuclear industry that can avoid this risk despite the large, long-term and trans-boundary impacts that
‘It’s bad news’
Subatomic calculations indicate finite lifespan BOSTON, Feb 19, (RTRS): Scientists are still sorting out the details of last year’s discovery of the Higgs boson particle, but add up the numbers and it’s not looking good for the future of the universe, scientists said Monday. “If you use all the physics that we know now and you do what you think is a straightforward calculation, it’s bad news,” Joseph Lykken, a theoretical physicist with the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, told reporters. Lykeen spoke before presenting his research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston. “It may be that the universe we live in is inherently unstable and at some point billions of years from now it’s all going to get wiped out,” said Lykken, who is also on the science team at Europe’s Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, the
world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. Physicists last year announced they had discovered what appears to be a long-sought subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, which is believed to give matter its mass. Work to study the Higgs’ related particles, necessary for confirmation, is ongoing. If confirmed, the discovery would help resolve a key puzzle about how the universe came into existence some 13.7 billion years ago — and perhaps how it will end. “This calculation tells you that many tens of billions of years from now, there’ll be a catastrophe,” Lykken said. “A little bubble of what you might think of as an ‘alternative’ universe will appear somewhere and then it will expand out and destroy us,” Lykken said, adding that the event will unfold at the speed of light.
Scientists had grappled with the idea of the universe’s long-term stability before the Higgs discovery, but stepped up calculations once its mass began settling in at around 126 billion electron volts — a critical number it turns out for figuring out the fate of the universe. The calculation requires knowing the mass of the Higgs to within one percent, as well as the precise mass of other related subatomic particles. “You change any of these parameters to the Standard Model (of particle physics) by a tiny bit and you get a different end of the universe,” Lyyken said. Earth will likely be long gone before any Higgs boson particles set off an apocalyptic assault on the universe. Physicists expect the sun to burn out in 4.5 billion years or so, and expand, likely engulfing Earth in the process.
antenna 305 meters in diameter, can observe with great sensitivity a third of the night sky and detect asteroids that are on the large side. All asteroid observations made anywhere in the world by telescopes, even by amateur star gazers, must be passed on to the Minor Planet Center, which is financed by NASA and run by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for the Paris-based International Astronomical Union. But in times of tight budgets like these, NASA is trying to develop other systems specifically capable of tracking small objects in space. It is financing to the tune of $5 million a project at the University of Hawaii called Atlas, or Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Alert System. Researchers say ATLAS, which will monitor the entire visible sky every night, will be able to detect objects 45 meters (yards) in diameter a week before they hit our planet. For those measuring 150 meters (yards) in diameter, the system —
which could be operational in late 2015 — will give a three week heads up. The goal is to find the objects and give enough advance warning for measures to be taken to protect people, said John Tonry, the principal investigator at ATLAS. The system has enough sensitivity to detect a match flame in New York City when viewed from San Francisco, for instance. “That’s enough time to evacuate the area of people, take measures to protect buildings and other infrastructures and be alert to a tsunami danger generated by ocean impacts,” according to the ATLAS website. But NASA’s efforts are deemed insufficient by former agency astronauts and scientists who last year launched a project designed to finance, build and launch the first private space telescope to track asteroids and protect humanity. The foundation called B612 is trying to raise $450 million to build and deploy a space telescope that would be called Sentinel and placed in orbit
around the sun, at a distance of 273 million kilometers from the Earth to detect most objects that are otherwise not visible. What can man do to prevent Earth being hit by meteorites and asteroids? Russia has found, to its cost, that it has no answers. But US and European experts may be able to help with a few ideas that at first glance seem straight out of science fiction, including smashing spacecraft into asteroids, using the sun’s rays to vaporise them, or blasting them with nuclear bombs.
these accidents cause.” (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
Tumer
Groote
Endangered rhino dies: An Ohio zoo says an endangered Sumatran rhino that fathered the first Sumatran rhino calf born in captivity in more than a century has died. Ipuh was one of the Cincinnati Zoo’s most famous residents. He died Monday. The zoo says Ipuh had fathered three
Relief That should come as some relief to the many worried Russians who want something done immediately, even though scientists say the explosion of a meteor over central Russia on Friday was a once-in-a-lifetime event. “We must create a system to detect objects that threaten Earth and neutralise them,” Dmitry Rogozin, a first deputy prime minister in charge of the defence industry, wrote on Twitter.
calves since 2001, the most ever in captivity. The zoo estimates Ipuh was at least 33 years old and says it believes he was one of the oldest Sumatran rhinos on record. Sumatran rhinos are seriously threatened by loss of habitat and poaching. Fewer than 200 live in the wild in Indonesia and Malaysia. The Cincinnati Zoo says there about 10 in captivity worldwide. (AP)
Movies fuel topical political debates
Has heavy dose of politics weighed on Oscars race?
Film
LOS ANGELES, Feb 19, (AFP): Perhaps it is no surprise, given that 2012 was a US election year, but this year’s Oscars crop includes a heavy dose of politics — which has arguably influenced Hollywood’s top awards race. From gun control advocates blasting blood-spattered “Django Unchained,” to rows over CIA torture that were triggered by “Zero Dark Thirty,” this year’s nominees have, whether coincidentally or not, fueled topical political debates. The most obviously political film vying for Academy Award glory on Sunday, Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” even won a surprise backing from none other than former president Bill Clinton, on stage at the Golden Globes last
month. That looked eerily like the kind of candidate endorsement America spent last year watching, as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney vied for the White House, except that it was for a movie, in this case by Democrat-supporting Spielberg. “A tough fight to push a bill through a bitterly divided House of Representatives — winning it required the president to make a lot of unsavory deals... I wouldn’t know anything about that,” Clinton quipped at the Globes.
Plot He was joking about the film’s plot, in which the 16th US president schemes to ensure Congress backs the 13th Amendment to ban slavery. But he could easily have
been referring to any Washington crisis including the current budget one. “Lincoln” has the most nominations going into the 85th Academy Awards, but even Clinton’s backing may not be enough to secure it top honors, in one of the most unpredictable Oscars contests in recent memory. Political thriller “Argo,” which has won virtually every major preOscars award, tells a true story from the sidelines of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, a US diplomatic disaster which effectively sealed president Jimmy Carter’s fate. Reminding US voters of that debacle overall possibly didn’t help Democrats too much, although the movie’s focus on an audacious CIA operation to free six hostages leaves Carter looking sur-
prisingly good. One Oscar-nominated film which definitely sheds a good light on a Democratic president — Obama — is Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama bin Laden manhunt movie “Zero Dark Thirty.” Indeed, the risk of the film being seen as propaganda — it climaxes with the deadly raid on the alQaeda chief’s Pakistan hideout, a game-changing Obama triumph — was such that it was only released after the November 6 election. But the bigger political row it triggered was over its depiction of CIA “enhanced interrogation” techniques, widely seen as torture, and specifically how much role they played in tracking bin Laden to his Abbottabad compound. The CIA’s acting head and a
number of top lawmakers lambasted the film for implying that torture helped turn the tide in the hunt for bin Laden — a charge Oscar-winning Bigelow repeatedly rebuffed.
Key “I think Osama bin Laden was found due to ingenious detective work. Torture was, however, as we all know, employed in the early years of the hunt. That doesn’t mean it was the key to finding Bin Laden,” she said. But the torture row could well have clouded the movie’s Oscars chances, as Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters may have balked at casting their ballots for such a politically-loaded film. But perhaps the most obvious
victim of political controversy, in awards terms, has been Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.” The film is about a black slave freed by a white bounty-hunter in pre-Civil War America, and features Tarantino’s trademark overthe-top violence as the pair kill for rewards and revenge in nearly three hours of blood-soaked chaos. Days before its release, the massacre of 20 small children occurred in Newtown, Connecticut — and America went into paroxysms of hand-wringing about gun violence, just as “Django” was gearing up for its big entrance. A red-carpet premiere was called off, and a range of toys of the film’s key characters was withdrawn and banned from eBay as “offensive.”
Features
Variety
This film image released by Columbia Pictures shows Mark Strong in a scene from ‘Zero Dark Thirt.’ directed by Kathryn Bigelow. The National Board of Review has named ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ the 2012 Best Film of the Year. (AP)
Film
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
‘Interesting year for thought-provoking movies’ TEHRAN: Iran on Monday protested against the awarding of a Silver Bear to Jafar Panahi for the best screenplay for Parde (Closed Curtain) at the 63rd Berlin Film Festival, the ISNA news agency reported. The award went on Saturday to the dissident director and his long-time collaborator Kambuzia Partovi, for a film made secretly in defiance of a ban by the Tehran authorities. “We have protested to the Berlin Film Festival organisers,” ISNA quoted the head of the Iran cinema organisation and deputy culture minister Javad Shamaqdari as saying. “We believe that the Berlin fest organisers should correct their behaviour. Everyone knows that making a film and sending it outside the country needs permission. “Making these films is illegal, but so far the Islamic republic has shown patience towards such illegal acts,” Shamaqdari said. Panahi was detained for a documentary he tried to make on the unrest following Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election and banned from making more films for 20 years. He was given a six-year jail sentence but currently remains under house arrest. But the director, who has picked up a series of prizes at major international festivals for socially critical movies that are outlawed in Iran, has been feted abroad as one of the most original voices of the Iranian new wave. Although he was prevented from presenting the film in person in Berlin, Panahi himself appears on screen in his haunting feature about state oppression. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑ LOS ANGELES: “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” marked a weekend of box office milestones as the Warner Bros fantasy adventure continued to rack up a treasure to rival Smaug’s. The prequel to “The Lord of
History alive & kicking at Oscars LOS ANGELES, Feb 19, (RTRS): History is alive and kicking at this year’s Oscars in an unusually rich year for movies that plumb the distant and recent American past and have resonated with both audiences and voters. Four of the nine Best Picture nominees at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony — Iran hostage drama “Argo,” Osama bin Laden thriller “Zero Dark Thirty,” slavery revenge fantasy “Django Unchained” and US presidential drama “Lincoln” — are the most discussed films of the awards season, with their very different takes on historical events. “It’s an interesting year for thought-provoking movies that have a semblance of reality. Some look to where we come from and where we are going, and they get people thinking,” said Pete Hammond, awards columnist for entertainment industry website Deadline.com. It’s a sharp contrast with 2012 when the silent film comedy “The Artist” was embraced by the 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a love letter to old Hollywood.
Calamitous This time, terrorism, slavery, war, politics and the CIA take center stage in films that try to make sense of calamitous times for the United States and draw lessons for the future. “Lincoln”, Steven Spielberg’s account of president Abraham Lincoln’s drive to persuade a divided Congress to abolish
the Rings” series was to hit $300 million domestically at some point Monday, its studio said Monday. “At this very moment there is someone buying a ticket at an IMAX theater, which will put us over the $300 million mark,” Jeff Goldstein, executive vice president of domestic distribu-
Panahi
slavery in 1865, has spoken loudly to present day Americans faced with daily evidence of political deadlock in Washington. “The movie emphasizes the theme of how difficult it is to get anything done in a democratic republic like ours, and how it requires wheeling and dealing and negotiating,” said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. “The idea of taking these very modern problems and seeing them positioned in this noble historical past has been one that, in an odd way, is very comforting,” Thompson added. Not so comforting is “Django Unchained”, director Quentin Tarantino’s blood-soaked but audacious take on 19th century slavery, filmed in darkly humorous spaghetti Western style. Spike Lee, one of the nation’s most respected black filmmakers, called “Django” disrespectful to his ancestors and vowed not to see it. “American slavery was not a Sergio Leone spaghetti Western. It was a holocaust,” Lee said in a Twitter message in December. Although the film has divided the African-American community, it has taken an impressive $154 million at the North American box office alone, received five Oscar nods, and sparked new debates about the brutal era of slavery. No movie has split Americans more this season than “Zero Dark Thirty,” which
Jackson
tion at Warner Bros., told TheWrap. Goldstein said the film is on pace to hit $1 billion worldwide in the next three weeks. As it now stands, “The Hobbit” has racked up $960 million at the global box office. It has opened in nearly every major territory, save China, where it will debut
was released less than two years after the May 2011 killing of al-Qaeda leader bin Laden by US Navy SEALS. Attacked by politicians and some activist groups for its portrayal of torture in the decade-long hunt for bin Laden, the film is being promoted in Oscar campaigns as “the most talked-about movie of the year.”
Challenge “Zero Dark Thirty” screenwriter Mark Boal said the film is intended to challenge Americans to ask questions. “It’s a story about our time, and our nation, and our role in the world,” Boal said in a speech at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles this month. “It contributes to public dialogue about our government and its actions.” It’s also a film that, for better or worse, may stand for years as the definitive version of the bin Laden mission. “We watched all the news coverage of the killing of Osama bin Laden. But we did not have those front row seats and a movie is much more memorable than the president of the United States standing by the podium and describing it,” said Thompson. “Until another Osama bin Laden movie is made, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ is probably going to be one of the dominant ways in which that event is remembered.” “Argo” director Ben Affleck sees his movie as “eerily current,” despite being set more than 30 years ago. Based on a real
this week. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” is the only other adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels to break the $1 billion barrier. It grossed more than $1.1 billion when it was released in 2003, although it did so without the benefit of 3D. “The Hobbit”
CIA mission soon after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, it recounts the rescue of six US diplomats from the Canadian embassy in Tehran using an unlikely Hollywood movie cover story. Noting the unrelenting political tensions between the United States and Iran, Affleck told reporters in January: “I think we are feeling a bit frustrated as a country, and this was a time when the CIA and the Canadians went out and got something right.” All four films have been accused of taking liberties with historical accuracy. But pop culture expert Thompson said movies shouldn’t be judged like journalism or history books. “The great thing about art is that it turns data into a valuable experience. We want art to be working on this material,” he said. Dave Karger, chief correspondent for Fandango.com, said the Academy has always gravitated toward stories drawn from real life. “I don’t think it’s a conscious choice, but I do think there is something appealing to most Academy voters in these quintessential American stories,” Karger told Reuters. The Oscar Best Picture nominees are rounded out by musical “Les Miserables,” shipwreck tale “Life of Pi,” French-language drama “Amour,” mythological indie film “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and quirky comedy “Silver Linings Playbook.”
was shot in the format, which allows it to charge a premium on certain showings. “The Hobbit” has already surpassed the grosses of the two other Peter Jackson directed films in the series. “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” topped out at $871.5 million worldwide in 2001 and
“The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” earned $926 million worldwide when it hit theaters in 2002, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. Despite having lighter source material (one book to the “Lord of the Ring”s’ three), “The Hobbit” will spawn two more sequels (RTRS)
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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People & Places Oscars Nominees make strong late push
Expensive way to make last impact LOS ANGELES, Feb 19, (RTRS): As one of the most expensive Oscar races ever comes to a close, the Hollywood trade papers and a handful of consumer publications ought to be sending thank-you notes to the 371 members of the Academy’s Directors Branch. If those voters had gone the expected route and given a Best Director nomination to Ben Affleck for “Argo,” this Oscar season would look a lot like last year, when “The Artist” romped to what appeared to be an easy victory, or 2011, when “The King’s Speech” did the same thing. In both of those years, one film won most or all of the guild awards and breezed to Oscar gold — and both times, the film’s biggest rivals saw the writing on the wall long before the Academy Awards rolled around.
Emboldened But this year, the fact that Affleck didn’t get a director nomination means that if it wins, “Argo” will become only the fourth film in history — and only the second in 80 years — to win Best Picture without that directing nod. And that has emboldened rivals to believe that they have a real shot in a race that otherwise would appear all but wrapped up, given the string of “Argo” wins: the Producers Guild, the Directors Guild, the Writers Guild, the Screen Actors Guild’s ensemble award ... So Disney and DreamWorks (“Lincoln”) and the Weinstein Company (“Silver Linings Playbook”) and 20th Century Fox (“Life of Pi”) and Sony (“Zero Dark Thirty”) are clinging to the idea that they have a real shot at engineering an upset, and Warner Bros. (“Argo”) is doing everything it can to avoid that upset. And that has led to an endgame of big expenditures and nonstop television and print ads attempting to get that final message to voters. It will end, according to estimates by campaign veterans, with both “Argo” and “Lincoln” spending more than $10 million on ad campaigns, and with “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Life of Pi” and “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Les Miserables” making strong pushes late in the game as well. So you get TV ads that are clearly aimed at Oscar voters, not moviegoers, with filmmakers and cast members trotting out talking points in between film clips. And making-of specials, and press releases pointing out that free copies of “Lincoln” are being sent to all middle and high schools the United States, or that “Silver Linings” director David O. Russell went to Washington to meet with Vice-President Joe Biden and senators promoting a new mental health bill. And you get constant ads in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Hollywood trades (including TheWrap). On Saturday, for instance, one “Silver Linings Playbook” ad in the Los Angeles Times featured a quote from Roger Ebert not about the film’s quality, but it’s awards chances: “For Best Picture, more and more, from many different quarters, I hear affection for ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ ... I sense a groundswell.” Last-minute splurges are a timehonored Oscar tradition, as are ads in consumer outlets that are really aimed at Academy voters (the better to hide the actual cost of an awards campaign). The 1999 battle between “Saving Private Ryan” and “Shakespeare in Love” is legendary, though both sides denied that expenditures hit the rumored $15 million level. As this wild race comes to a close, here’ a guide to the messages we’re seeing in this year’s endgame:
‘Argo’ The message: We’re the winner. Actually, that’s not the endgame message that “Argo” originally set out to deliver. After the nominations, television ads began to appear in which Ben Affleck talked about how at heart, his movie was about “storytelling” — a stretch, perhaps, but one that says to Hollywood, “this is your movie, all you storytellers.” But that message is less important than the message that has been sent by victories at the Producers Guild, Directors Guild, Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild: If you want to be on the winning team, go with “Argo.” With a chance to win the first major-studio Best Picture Award since its own win for 2006’s “The Departed” (and only the second in the last decade), Warner Bros. is going down to the wire with that message. So Sunday’s L.A. Times came with a wraparound cover, partially obscuring the paper’s front page with a banner that spelled it out: “Winner, BAFTA Awards; Winner,
Screen Actors Guild Awards; Winner, Golden Globe Awards; Winner, Critics’ Choice Movie Awards; Winner, USC Scripter Award; Winner, Directors Guild Awards; Winner, Producers Guild Awards.”
‘Lincoln’ The message: We’re the important movie. From the start, “Lincoln” has played things big and classy and a bit remote; while Affleck has charmed every room where he might find a handful of voters, guild members or pundits, Steven Spielberg has for the most part remained above the fray, Now, the message is getting more pointed: This is a movie both from and for the history books. “His Story Is Our Story,” is the ads’ current tag line, with quotes like “‘Lincoln’ belongs to the ages” and ads that reverently detail the contributions from each of the film’s nominated filmmakers, actors and craftsmen. Disney Educational Productions’ Feb 12 announcement that it would be giving free copies of the film to all public and private middle and high schools in the country was one more (nicely timed) indication that the film is simultaneously spending lots of money and taking the high road. But does it also emphasize what might be the film’s Achilles heel — the perception that it’s good for you, an accomplishment to respect and admire rather than one to love and embrace?
‘Silver Linings Playbook’ The message: We’re serious, too. The awards-season wins for “Silver Linings” have often come at shows that have separate categories for comedies: the Golden Globes, the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and Saturday’s ACE Eddie Awards, among others. But after Russell’s film won some comedy awards and landed seven Oscar nominations, including a rare sweep of all four acting categories, the Weinstein campaigners began insisting that it wasn’t really a comedy after all — or that if it was, its laughs were secondary to its theme of mental health. Russell began to talk more and more explicitly about how he’d made the movie for his son; when other people from the film won awards, they brought it up, too, as if they were all working from the same, um, playbook. And late in the game, as balloting finally began, Russell went to Washington to talk to Biden and the Senate, while Robert De Niro suddenly began appearing (and crying!) on Katie Couric and getting his hand prints at the Chinese Theatre and otherwise behaving as if he were actually campaigning.
‘Zero Dark Thirty’ The message: Pay no attention to the criticism — we’ve got heavy hitters on our side. With its brutally propulsive filmmaking and moral ambiguity, “Zero Dark Thirty” originally seemed as if it might blow “Argo” out of the water — but after a barrage of criticism from several US senators and others over its depiction of torture, its toughness drove voters toward the more uncomplicated, Hollywood-ized pleasures of Affleck’s film. The initial criticisms came right at the time when voting on nominations was taking place, and they clearly wounded the film’s chances. But in the second round, Sony has capitalized on the fact that the criticism by the likes of Sen Dianne Feinstein, Sen. John McCain and Academy member David Clennon now seems distant, and the film has been more recently championed by former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, “Lincoln” writer Tony Kushner and attorney Alan Dershowitz, among others.
‘Life of Pi’ The message: It’s about humans, not just CG tigers. After landing 11 nominations for director Ang Lee’s visionary epic, Fox has been trying out a new tag line, “The Story is Yours Now,” that both plays off a key line in the film — “which story do you prefer?” — and puts the film’s fate in the hands of voters. The imagery in some of the new ads, meanwhile, has shifted from the movie’s spectacle — a boy and a tiger adrift in a boat on a mirror-like sea — to its humanity. The movie may focus on the relationship between the boy and the tiger, and it may spend its lengthy central section at sea — but of the seven shots in one frequently-used recent print ad, only one is of the computer-generated tiger, and only one is from the sequence at sea.
In this photograph taken on Feb 9, Afghan actor Jawanmard Paiz, 14, (right), talks as Fawad Mohammadi, 14, listens during an interview with AFP at the
‘Afghan Film’ organization in Kabul. (AFP)
Afghan street kid heads for Oscars red carpet An Afghan street kid is off to Hollywood and the red-carpet treatment at the Oscars — a fairytale ending to a chance encounter that led to a starring role in a movie. Fawad Mohammadi, 14, was selling maps to passing foreigners on Kabul’s famed Chicken Street to help feed his family when he met American director Sam French. Now he is preparing for his first flight in an aircraft and his first trip outside war-torn Afghanistan to a glamorous world almost beyond imagination on the grimy streets of Kabul. French cast Mohammadi as one of the main characters in “Buzkashi
Boys”, a movie shot entirely in Afghanistan and nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at the Academy Awards on Feb 24. The film is about two youngsters growing up in Kabul who dream of becoming Buzkashi horseback riders in Afghanistan’s dramatic national sport, which uses a headless goat in place of a ball in a wild version of polo. In the movie, one of the boys is a street kid like Mohammadi, the other the son of a blacksmith forced to spend long hours in his father’s dark workshop sharpening axe heads. Ahead of the US trip, Mohammadi, sporting a leather coat and jeans,
told AFP the adventure would be a “great privilege for me and for all Afghanistan to meet the world’s most famous superstars”. “It’s truly such a great feeling to go to the Oscars, I had never thought about it. I still don’t believe it.” Mohammadi, whose ambition is to become a pilot, said he hoped to be able to visit the cockpit of the airplane during his flight to Los Angeles. “I have grown up watching Afghan movies. When I watched them, I dreamt of becoming an actor. Then I met Sam French on Chicken Street, that’s how I came to act in the film,” he said, with a big smile.
Mohammadi is the youngest of seven siblings. Their father died several years ago, and his five brothers all also work. He started selling chewing gum on the streets and expanded his trade to selling maps and dictionaries to foreigners. He learned English as he worked on Chicken Street, a popular destination for expats shopping for Afghan carpets, jewellery and craftwork. “We knew him from Chicken Street as the kindest and most warm-hearted street-kid, who would provide ‘bodyguarding’ services and sell maps — he always had a smile and witty remark,” French told AFP by email. (AFP)
Multitalented entertainer getting ready to host Oscars
MacFarlane puts all he’s got
A sign reading, ‘Ready, Seth, Go’ is seen on Hollywood Blvd before the 85th Academy Awards ceremony, on Feb 18, in Hollywood, California. Seth MacFarlane will host the 2013 Academy Awards ceremony, which will take place on Feb 24, at the Dolby Theatre. (AFP)
Variety LOS ANGELES: Melissa McCarthy, Liam Neeson, John Travolta and Salma Hayek Pinault will present awards on the Oscar telecast next week, the show’s producers said Monday. All four have been nominated for Oscars in the past. McCarthy was a Best Supporting Actress nominee for her role as a crass, but lovable member of the wedding party in “Bridesmaids” (2012). Neeson was among the Best Actor nominees in 1993 for his performance as a Nazi profiteer turned unlikely hero in “Schindler’s List.” Hayek Pinault (who now apparently goes by her married name) was nominated for Best Actress in 2002 for her work as unibrowed Mexican painter Frida Kahlo in “Frida.” Travolta has two Oscar nominations to his credit - one for his 1977 breakout performance in “Saturday Night Fever” and another for his 1994 comeback role in “Pulp Fiction.” Previously announced presenters include a smorgasbord of current nominees, last year’s winners and big named co-stars from 2012’s top grossing films. Ben Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Sandra Bullock, Mark Wahlberg,and “Marvel’s The Avengers” cast members Robert Downey Jr, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo are among those taking the stage. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑
LOS ANGELES: He may have guided her to her second Oscar, but Maggie Smith is no fan of Herbert Ross. The “Downton Abbey” star made it clear during an appearance Sunday on “60 Minutes” that she did not enjoy working with the late director on
LOS ANGELES, Feb 19, (AP) Seth MacFarlane might be the hardest working man in show business. Right now he’s getting ready to host Sunday’s Academy Awards, where he’s also a nominee for the original song for his hit movie “Ted.” He’s producing and writing three animated TV shows, plus voicing many of their key characters. “I’m a little exhausted,” the 39year-old confessed in a recent interview. MacFarlane also is sure this will be his only time hosting the Oscars and he already has an idea who his replacements will be. MacFarlane says it’s “very likely” that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will get the job. They got raves for hosting the Golden Globes. MacFarlane says preparing to host the Oscars is hard work. He says he doesn’t like “working 150 hours a week.” He’s continuing to voice the characters in “Family Guy” and “American Dad” while preparing for the Oscars. He says it’s “very vocally taxing” because there’s a lot of screaming and yelling. He admits he’s “a little exhausted.” The multitalented entertainer talked with The Associated Press about what makes a great Oscar show, juggling multiple jobs and who he thinks will host next year. AP: What’s been the best part of the Oscar job so far? MacFarlane: I’ve enjoyed the writing process. It’s really a very different type of production than I’ve been involved with in the past and it’s such an extensive amount of time, and putting it together and having it feel like it has a shape and a consistency has really been a challenge. AP: How much is with your own writing team? MacFarlane: My staff has been composed of primarily “Family Guy” writers, but there’ve been about maybe four folks that have been brought on from other places. But for
“California Suite.” “I found the director a bit tricky, a bit spikey,” Smith told interviewer Steve Kroft. “He was jagged,” she added. “He was very difficult.” She said the only thing that made her feel better was when somebody on the production said that her co-star Walter Matthau was so upset over Ross’ harsh techniques that he left the set in tears.
the most part I’ve been allowed to assemble my own staff, and we’ve tried to find a balance of people that I’ve worked with for a lot of years and that know my rhythms and some new people as well, a few of whom have worked on past Oscar ceremonies. AP: What are the elements of a great Oscar host? MacFarlane: It’s part classy Master of Ceremonies and part Friars Club roaster. AP: How hard has it been to find that middle ground? MacFarlane: It’s been a challenge but not an enormous challenge. We are, I hope, smart enough guys to be aware of what the tone is and to work within those parameters. So you won’t be seeing any (penis) jokes. It’s still Disney, for Christ’s sake. AP: Is a blend of Ricky Gervais and Billy Crystal the best example of what you’re going for? MacFarlane: Certainly Billy Crystal, Johnny Carson and Bob Hope are the three that stand out as the paragons of class and effectiveness and comedic balance in the history of the Oscars. I’m going to go out there and certainly be mindful that that’s what works but also try and inject some of what I do into the mix and hopefully come out with something that is fresh and surprising and has an edge but doesn’t completely thumb its nose at the Oscars. Change happens incrementally... I think it’s safe to say what we’re doing is very self-aware of this challenge that everyone keeps asking about. AP: How long did you continue voicing the characters on your animated shows after taking on the Oscar job? MacFarlane: That’s always the challenge. The shows don’t stop for this stuff. They still have to keep moving. And it is a vocal strain. “Family Guy” and “American Dad!” are very vocally taxing shows. There’s a lot of high-energy stuff, a lot of screaming, yelling. A lot of vocal contortions. So that becomes really the biggest chal-
Neeson
Travolta
lenge of all: How to get it all done and keep it all on schedule and not destroy my throat. AP: So you’ve essentially had two or three full-time jobs. MacFarlane: Who knows how this will go. Even if it goes great, I just don’t think that I could do this again. It’s just too much with everything else that I have to do. I’m happy to be doing it and I will be thrilled to have done it, assuming I get out of there in one piece, but I really think this is a one-time thing for me. AP: Why? MacFarlane: I just don’t like working 150 hours a week. I do like to have some sort of recharge time. I think it makes everything better. If you’re working around the clock, the work starts to suffer. And it hasn’t thus far, but I’m glad (the Oscars are) in a week and a half because I’m getting close to the point where I can’t do six jobs at the same time. And also, Craig and Neil have been pretty open about the fact that they really want to do this once. They want to put on the best Oscars that they possibly can and call it a day... And I have a feeling whoever produces next year will want to put their own stamp on it. Everybody sort of assumes that Tina (Fey) and Amy (Poehler) will do it next year, and I think that is very likely. So whoever comes in and produces next year I think will want to make their own mark. Even if I wanted to do it again, I think that is a factor. Craig and Neil, I am very much a product of their gamble ‚Äî and I’m busting my ass to make sure they don’t regret it. But we are all sort of looking at this as a onetime thing. AP: Will you take vacation after this? What are you most looking forward to doing? MacFarlane: I’ll get a little bit of time off. I’ll get a week or two off. And I’ll probably just do nothing. Even travel sounds exhausting. ❑ ❑ ❑ Online: www.oscars.org
The experience may have been bad, but Smith’s performance as a fading star desperate to win an Oscar earned her the Best Supporting Actress statue in 1978. Her description of Ross might also have applied to the septuagenarian star; at least if “60 Minutes” is to be believed. Indeed the whole subtext of Kroft’s talk with Smith was that she’s unbelievably intimidating and many of her castmates cower around her. (RTRS)
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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Film Performance subtle
Everyone bets on Day-Lewis LOS ANGELES, Feb 19, (RTRS): If there is one sure bet in this roller coaster movie awards season, it is that Daniel Day-Lewis will take home the Best Actor statuette at the Oscars on Sunday. Day-Lewis, known for his meticulous preparation, would become the first man to win three Best Actor Oscars, and awards pundits say it’s not hard to see why. The tall, intellectual actor has swept every prize in the long Hollywood awards calendar for his thoughtful, intense portrayal of US President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s movie “Lincoln.” “No-one has emerged to take him on. I don’t think he has lost a single (preOscar) race. We have 25 Day-Lewis experts and every single one is betting on Daniel DayLewis,” said Tom O’Neil of awards website Goldderby.com. More surprising perhaps is that Day-Lewis will also be the first person to win an Oscar for playing a US president. And it has taken a Briton with dual Irish citizenship, portraying one of America’s most revered leaders, to do it.
In this Jan 16, 2013 file photo, US musician Herbie Hancock performs during a concert, as part of the 10th edition of the Panama Jazz Festival, in Panama City. (Inset): This publicly distributed
Dimmed Although “Lincoln” started the Oscar race with a leading 12 nominations, its Best Picture front-runner status has dimmed in recent weeks with the ascendance of Iran hostage drama “Argo.” But Day-Lewis’s star has only risen with Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and British BAFTA trophies, along with a slew of honors from film critics. Day-Lewis, 55, plays Lincoln in the last few months of a life cut short by his 1865 assassination in a film that focuses on the president’s personal commitment to abolish slavery and end the bloody fouryear US Civil War. He’s not the first actor to play Lincoln on screen. Yet his quiet assurance, his adoption of a highpitch voice rather than the booming tones associated with Lincoln, and the movie’s focus on complex political debates have shone new light on a man that many Americans thought they already knew well. “It’s a performance that is subtle. It’s not the Lincoln you expect. It’s a different interpretation of Lincoln than we have seen and we feel, wow! This could be the way Lincoln was,” said Pete Hammond, awards columnist at Deadline.com.
Music Tribute to legacy of Ertegun Brothers
Jazz Day to celebrate Turkish jazz link Country Musician Blake Shelton performs on stage at the NASH FM 94.7 Country Music Concert Night 1 at Roseland Ballroom on Feb 18, in New York. (AP)
Real “We are seeing a real human being played out here for the first time and that is extraordinary. DayLewis is bringing the character to life in a way we haven’t seen in years,” Hammond told Reuters. The London-born actor threw himself into the role with the same devotion that marked his Best Actor Oscar-winning performance as quadriplegic Irish writer Christy Brown in “My Left Foot” in 1989, when he spent weeks living in a wheelchair. In “Gangs of New York,” he sharpened knives on sets between takes to capture the menace of Bill “The Butcher” Cutting, earning another Oscar nomination, and in 2008 he won his second Best Actor Award at the Oscars for his turn as a greedy oil baron in “There Will Be Blood.” Sally Field, who plays his screen wife Mary Todd Lincoln, said DayLewis sent her text messages that were completely in character and in 19th century vernacular over a seven-month period prior to shooting “Lincoln.” Joseph Gordon-Levitt who plays Lincoln’s son Robert, said he didn’t get to know Day-Lewis until after production wrapped. “I never met Daniel in person,” Gordon-Levitt told reporters. “I only ever met the president, only ever heard the president’s voice. I called him sir, and he called me Robert.” With four Academy Award nominations and two wins before “Lincoln,” Day-Lewis appears to have barely set a foot wrong in his 30-year career. Yet there have been missteps, including the box-office flop of star-laden musical “Nine” in 2009. “He was sorely miscast as Guido, the adorable gigolo, and he was not convincing at all. He brought the whole film down,” recalled O’Neil. “‘Lincoln’ is a spectacular career rally for him after that disaster.” While others are betting on DayLewis to take home a third Academy Award on Sunday, the actor has been modest about his chances. “Members of the Academy love surprises, so about the worst thing that can happen to you is if you’ve built up an expectation.
handout photo made available by the Library Congress shows (from left), Lawrence Brown, Johnny Hodges, and Adele Girard, performing at the Turkish Embassy in Washington, in the 1930s. (AP)
Ozawa
Moss
Variety TOKYO: Seiji Ozawa, Japan’s most famous conductor, is set to make a comeback in August at a music festival after taking more than a year off to recover from a spell of bad health that included bouts of pneumonia. The former Vienna State Opera music director, 77, who before that was conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in January 2010 and completed treatment later that year. Last March, he announced he would take a year-long break from conducting to recover his strength after a number of health issues but vowed to return to performing. Ozawa is set to conduct Maurice Ravel’s opera “The Child and the Spells” at the Saito Kinen Festival in the city of Matsumoto, central Japan, in late August, said an official at the festival office. “Maestro Ozawa said last March that he was taking a year off, and that year is almost up,” the official said, noting that it’s hard to know if the performance will truly mark Ozawa’s comeback since the performance date is so far away. “It just so happens that this coincides with the announcement of the festival programme. He may well have other performances planned before then that we just don’t know about.” Ozawa underwent endoscopic lower back surgery in January 2011 and took a six-month break from conducting at that time. This was followed by the announcement last March of a more extended break. Ozawa was one of the first Asian classical musicians widely recognised abroad and has strived to revitalize the classical music scene in his native country by founding the Saito Kinen orchestra, named after his former music teacher. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑
NEW YORK, Feb 19, (AP): Pianist Herbie Hancock will celebrate the special connection between Turkey and jazz music forged decades ago when the Turkish ambassador opened his residence to white and black musicians at a time when segregation held sway in the US capital. Hancock, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, is organizing a gala concert with jazz stars from around the world on April 30 at the famed Hagia Irene in the outer courtyard of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, which has been designated the host city for the second annual UN-sanctioned International Jazz Day. “There’s an amazing history of the relationship between Turkey and jazz,” Hancock told The Associated Press in a telephone interview ahead of Tuesday’s official announcement of the 2013 International Jazz Day program. It began in the ‘30s and ‘40s when the two sons of Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Munir Ertegun pursued their passion for jazz by frequenting the capital’s black neighborhoods to buy “race” records not available elsewhere, and attend concerts at the Howard Theater, a mecca for leading African-American entertainers. Their father readily agreed when the brothers began inviting musicians to the ambassador’s mansion for Sunday lunches followed by integrated jam sessions in an upstairs music parlor. The guests included jazz royalty from the Duke Ellington and Count Basie bands such as Lester Young, Benny Carter, Harry Carney, Johnny Hodges and Rex Stewart. Hancock says he was particularly
Zander, said the 37-year-old mother of two stayed in the in-patient substance abuse treatment center for about 18 hours before being allowed to walk free. Authorities say McCready died in an apparent suicide Sunday at her home in Heber Springs, a vacation community north of Little Rock. Sheriff Marty Moss said McCready was found dead on the front porch where her boyfriend, musician
impressed by a story told to him by Turkey’s current ambassador, Namik Tan, about how his predecessor responded whenever outraged Southern senators would complain that “a person of color was seen entering your house by the front door (which) is not a practice to be encouraged.” The ambassador would offer a terse one-sentence reply such as: “In my home, friends enter by the front door — however we can arrange for you to enter from the back.” “That was fantastic ... that he always had the embassy open to jazz musicians,” Hancock said. “Think about the state of civil rights and race relations at that time.”
Died After the ambassador died in 1944, his sons remained in the US Ahmet Ertegun founded Atlantic Records where he helped move AfricanAmerican music into the mainstream of American pop culture, launching the careers of Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, among others. His older brother, Nesuhi, headed the label’s jazz department, producing significant recordings by jazz legends such as the Modern Jazz Quartet, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman. Tan acknowledged the tradition by launching the Ertegun Jazz Series of concerts at the Embassy Residence in 2011. He hopes that International Jazz Day will further spotlight the “unknown, or even surprising” connection of Turkey with jazz. “International Jazz Day 2013 will provide a unique opportunity to pay tribute to the legacy of the Ertegun
David Wilson, died last month of a gunshot wound to the head. Investigators are investigating his death as a suicide, but haven’t yet determined his cause of death. McKnight, speaking to The Associated Press by phone from Tampa, Florida, said McCready and Wilson had actually gotten engaged. He wondered how she was allowed to go free, given all the turmoil in her life.
Lineup The lineup includes such American jazz stars as Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Jimmy Heath, George Duke, Robert Glasper, Christian Scott, Marcus Miller, Lee Ritenour, Al Jarreau and Dianne Reeves, with pianist John Beasley serving as musical director. The international contingent features Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim (South Africa), Keiko Matsui (Japan), Anat Cohen (Israel), Milton Nascimento (Brazil), John McLaughlin (Britain), Igor Butman (Russia) and Jean-Luc Ponty (France), among others. Clarinetist Husnu Seniendirici and trumpeter Imer Demirer will represent Turkey. Tom Carter, president of the
“That was a big mistake on the part of whoever released her,” McKnight said. “... She was in a terrible state of mind. She doesn’t perform any more. She wasn’t working. She has two kids and her fiance was just killed. There’s no way she should be out by herself in a lonely house with nothing but booze and pills. That was a really, really bad mistake, and the end result is tragic.”
‘James Bond’
‘Novel’ out in Sept
HEBER SPRINGS, Arkansas: Mindy McCready threatened to kill herself after losing custody of her sons earlier this month, yet she was allowed to leave a court-ordered drug rehabilitation program days before she apparently killed herself, her ex-boyfriend said Monday. Billy McKnight, who was in a long, rocky relationship with McCready and who is the father of her oldest child,
Brothers by bringing together artists from all around the world to celebrate jazz music’s universal messages of peace, freedom and fraternity in the unique city of Istanbul where continents and civilizations meet,” Tan said in an email. Hancock will kick off the April 30 celebration with an early morning educational performance for students at Galatasaray High School, Turkey’s oldest secondary school. Two local universities will be hosting seminars, workshops, panel discussions, film screenings and master classes during the day. The festivities conclude with an evening concert at Hagia Irene, known for its phenomenal acoustics, which is the city’s oldest church dating back to the 4th century and now a museum. The concert will be streamed live and taped for broadcast on public television stations worldwide.
Yellow crime-scene tape blocks off the home of Mindy McCready in Heber Springs, Arkansas, on Feb 18, the day after the country singer was found dead there Sunday in an apparent suicide. She was 37. (AP)
LONDON, Feb 19, (AFP): A new James Bond novel, written by British novelist William Boyd, will be released on Sept 26, publishers Jonathan Cape announced Monday. The book, as yet untitled, is set in 1969 and features a 45year-old Bond. “1969. A veteran secret agent. A single mission. A licence to kill. James Bond returns,” readers are promised. The glamorous British spy’s creator Ian Fleming died in 1964 after writing 14 novels in the Bond series, but other authors have since kept the saga alive and the franchise has now sold more than 100 million books.
Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, says Istanbul is symbolically well suited to foster the goals of International Jazz Day because it bridges two continents. “We look at jazz music as a means of bridging people together around the world,” Carter said. “Turkey is a Muslim nation that has embraced democracy and is a very open society. That’s very much what jazz represents - peace, harmony and democracy.” The Monk Institute is sponsoring the day’s festivities along with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Istanbul Foundation for Culture & Arts. Some 80 International Jazz Day events have already been confirmed in countries worldwide for April 30 — from an open-air concert in Yerevan, Armenia, to a program “Jazz Across Borders and Cultures” with workshops, jam sessions and concerts in Swaziland. Hancock hopes to build on the success of last year’s inaugural event which included star-studded concerts at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, New Orleans’ Congo Square, and the UN General Assembly Hall in New York. “This was a special occasion to share the music with the rest of the world and have it honored in a way that made everybody proud,” said Hancock. “It accomplished what I believe to be a new vision of cultural diplomacy.” ❑
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Online: www.jazzday.com and www.unesco.org/days/jazzday
Neighbors reported hearing two shots Sunday afternoon when they called the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities found Wilson’s dog dead next to McCready’s body. “Based on what we have found at the scene at this time, we do believe that she took the life of the dog that we are being told by family members belonged to Mr. Wilson before she took her own life,” Moss said. The sheriff confirmed McCready’s two sons remained in foster care where they were at the time of her death. McKnight says he’s working with authorities to get custody of his son, Zander, and was not privy to what’s happening with infant boy Zayne, who was born to McCready and Wilson last year. McCready’s sons were put in foster care and she was ordered into rehab earlier this month after McCready’s father expressed concern. He told a judge his daughter had stopped taking care of herself and her children after Wilson’s death and she was abusing alcohol and prescription drugs. Moss said he expects McCready’s official cause of death will be released soon, but that “all indicators” point to a suicide. Her body has been sent to the state crime lab for autopsy. McCready attempted suicide at least three times previously and her fragile state of mind was always a concern to family and friends who cared for her. “This didn’t come as a surprise, although shocking,” McKnight said. “She was bitter. (AP)
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most effective way to save lives by detecting breast cancer at early stage. For more information visit: http://fightingwithcancer.webs.com/
click Drinking problem?: You are no longer alone! Confidential helpline 99641389. ❑ ❑ ❑
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Narcotics Anonymous: NA can help with addiction problems. Totally confidential: 94087800 English/Arabic. ❑ ❑ ❑
Cancer online support group: If you are Cancer patient or family member fighting with this deadly disease, come join our online support group. Best way of dealing with this disease is providing support and share our experience with each other. There are lot of things which even doctors can’t tell so be member of this website and start sharing your experiences which may help others. October is recognized as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM). The primary purpose is to promote self examination and screening mammography as the
The British Embassy in Kuwait recently held a public speaking and speech writing competition with the subject ‘The Relations between Kuwait and Great Britain.’ The competition was opened to all English Schools in Kuwait. The English School Fahaheel student and Deputy Head Boy Tareq AlBaddah from ESF 6th Form won the speech competition. His speech will now be delivered publicly by HE The British Ambassador to Kuwait in the near future. ESF congratulates Tareq on his outstanding achievement. Above: Head of Sixth Form with Tareq
IBL registration: Indian Bowling League Season 4 will commence in March 2013. Kindly register your teams before that. It’s a mix of different nationalities and open to all. It’s fun and a good indoor sport. You will learn many things about it that you never knew. Email your applications to uly334@gmail.com IBL Season 3 – https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set =a.10151366929589939.510911..5125449 38&type=1&l=63ddf1e93d
the Shahid Dibash and International Mother Language Day. Feb 22
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom: Indian Youth Society brings another unique show “JhoomBarabarJhoom” featuring world famous ghazal and qawwali singer Sabri Brothers and his team on Feb 22 at 6:30 pm sharp at Kuwait Medical Association Auditorium, beside Mubarak Al Kabeer hospital, Jabriya, Kuwait. Young talents from Kuwait will be another attraction of the evening. For more details, please contact: 66127231, 69674121, 66869007, 67738135 and 99225378. Email iyskuwait@gmail.com; Web Page: www.iyskuwait.com
Feb 21
Bangladesh Embassy closure: The Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Kuwait will remain closed on Thursday, Feb 21 on the occasion of
Feb 24
Pakistan Embassy closure: The Embassy of Islamic Republic of Pakistan will remain closed on Feb 24-26 on the
occasion of National Day and Liberation Day of Kuwait. The embassy will resume its work on Feb 27. Feb 25
French Embassy closure: On the occasion of National Day and Liberation Day of Kuwait, Embassy of France in Kuwait will close its doors on Monday and Tuesday corresponding to Feb 25-26, 2013. ❑ ❑ ❑
Sri Lanka Emb closure: The Embassy of Sri Lanka will be closed for public from Feb 25 and Feb 26, 2013 in lieu of ‘Liberation Day and National Day’ of Kuwait. ❑ ❑ ❑ British Embassy closure: The British Embassy will be closed on Monday, Feb 25 on the occasion of Continued on Page 28
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Play Attention helps improve memory in children and adults
Envoy launches cognition improvement device KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: Envoy General Trading and Contracting Co launched their new cognition improvement product Play Attention last Wednesday, Feb 13, 2013 at Sheraton, Kuwait. Play Attention is a non medical therapy incorporating a computer based program that combines tested teaching methods and proven technology to reduce behavior problems, improve attention skills and improve memory among children and adults alike. Play Attention was developed by a teacher, inspired by NASA technology. Play Attention uses powerful advancements of neurofeedback technology that allow people to control the computer by their mind/attention alone. This technology strengthens the mind so that people can control their mind, it doesn’t control them. Play Attention is used globally in more schools and homes than any other educational, cognitive, and behavioral program. Attention problems are only the tip of the iceberg. Attaining better attention, ignoring distractions, developing memory skills, finishing tasks on time and becoming organized are some of the areas of life
Some photos from the event
that are developed by undergoing the program. Literally. Play Attention will help people to acquire the skills necessary for success at school or work, improve self-esteem, and a happier life at home. When people are actively engaged or paying attention, their brain emits a signal - an attention signature. The
BodyWave armband used in Play Attention monitors this signal through the body and transmits it wirelessly to the computer. This unique device allows people to control their computer exercises by their mind alone! Attention is now concrete and controllable. Brain exercise or cognitive exercise is like physical exer-
cise: anyone can benefit, regardless of age, gender, profession, or educational background. And the shill is permanent like learning to swim or ride a bike. Play Attention has been used in many thousands of homes, by schools, learning centers, doctors’ offices, psychologists’ offices, Olympic teams, universities, and traumatic brain injury hospi-
tals since 1994. It has been here longer, have a far deeper wealth of experience, and offer more support than virtually anyone else in this industry. The launching was conducted by Ali Al Zaben, President of Envoy and Mrs Sherry Kaen, International Consultant from Los Angeles, USA. The seminar started with Mrs Sherry introducing
Serbia
Play Attention to the representatives of the Schools, Universities and Education Ministry in Kuwait. She also showed a live demo of the program and a few educators also tried it out in the seminar and were highly impressed with its effect and the technology used. The program modules were tried out and found to be very beneficial to the users. Schools such as Kuwait English School, Universal American School, FAWSEC International School, The IPE Group as well as The Ministry of Private Education participated in the seminar and a very interesting Question Answer session took place with Mrs Sherry. The seminar was highly successful and appreciated by the participants as being a very useful tool. The seminar was well organized by the entire team of Envoy. Play Attention is unique within the handful of products in the world related to human attention and the participants in the seminar hoped that it will help the students in Kuwait as well as the adults to improve their attention, memory and behavior to a greater extent.
on the British Embassy services, visit the British Embassy website: www.ukinkuwait.fco.gov.uk ❑ ❑ ❑
Curtorcares 7-a-side tourney: Curtorcares United Club will hold their one-day seven-a-side tournament on Feb 25, 2013 at Sabah Hospital Ground, Shuwaikh. Clubs desiring to field two teams please contact Nicholas Rebello on mobile number 97993276 or Seby on 99053718. ❑ ❑ ❑
India Embassy closure: The Embassy of India will remain closed on the following days during the month of February 2013: Feb 25, 2013 – Monday, National Day of Kuwait Feb 26, 2013 – Tuesday, Liberation Day of Kuwait ❑ ❑ ❑
HMWA organizes grand prog: Hyderabad Muslim Welfare Association is going to organize a grand yearly programme on the life of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) titled “Prophet Mohammed Greatest Social Reformer on 25th feb 2013 soon after Friday prayer in Masjid-e-Abdullah Al Mehri next to famous Edi Stores and in front of Titanic building in Salmiya. Prominent scholars from kuwait will speak on the selected topics focusing life of Prophet (PBUH) and his message to whole humanity and in particular to Muslim Umma. Dear Brothers it is yet again a great opportunity to learn more and more about Seerah of our beloved Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). And to show our Passion, love and respect to our beloved religion of Islam and enlightened our lives with good deeds preached by Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) HMWA executive committee request all the members and people from Hyderabad and other areas to participate in great numbers and bring your near and dear ones and get educated ourself with the message of Islam which is Peace, love and service to humanity. For further details Contact 99481599, 50605074, 66605881 Feb 28
Photos by Iehab Qurtal
Some photos from the event
50 yrs of Kuwait and Serbia’s diplomatic ties celebrated
Serbian Embassy marks Serbia’s National Day By Cinatra Fernandes Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The Embassy of the Republic of Serbia hosted a diplomatic reception to commemorate the country’s National Day at the Al Baraka ballroom of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Monday evening. Serbian Ambassador Mihailo Brkic and Kuwaiti Director of the Department of Europe in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Waleed Ali Al-Khubaizy cut the ceremonial cake at the occasion that also marks the 50 years of Kuwait and Serbia’s diplomatic relations. “This year is very symbolic as it marks 50 years of the establishing of diplomatic
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Relations
other common committees.” He stated that a technical committee between the two countries under the Ministries of Foreign Affairs will be held in Kuwait in mid April or the last week of April.
Al-Khubaizy echoed the sentiment, saying, “We are very happy to participate in the occasion of Serbia’s National Day and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between our two countries. We have had strategic relations since 1963, first with Yugoslavia and then Serbia. There are around 13 agreements signed between our two countries in various fields that include dual taxation, health and aviation in addition to
When asked about Kuwait’s diplomatic ties with Kosovo, Al Khubaizy stated that negotiations were underway between Serbia and Kosovo. “We are waiting to find a suitable place for understanding for the neighbouring States. Kuwait recognises Kosovo and has signed agreements for the establishment of diplomatic relations.” He further stated that this did not con-
tradict with Kuwaiti-Serbian relations because Serbia understands that Kuwait has many matters of international importance that has to align with the rest of the GCC. He also divulged details of his recent visits to Turkey and Azerbaijan where he accompanied the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah AlKhalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, conveying messages from the Amir concerning bilateral relations between the countries. “Turkey is an important country and partner for Kuwait, we have about 31 agreements between the two countries. The magnitude of partnership is great in addition to common exchange”, he said. Regarding Syria, he stated that the two
Kuwait National Day. The embassy will re-open on Tuesday, Feb 26. The Visa Application Centre (VAC) will be closed on the same date above.
The opening hours of the Visa Application Centre are 0930-1630 for submissions, and 1600-1730 for passport collection. Application forms remains available online from the UKBAs’ website. www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk or the Visa
Application Centre’s website: www.vfsuk-kw.com. The UK Visa Application Centre is located at: 4B, First Floor, Al Banwan Building (Burgan Bank Branch Office Building) Al Qibla area, opposite Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City.
ties since 1963. We enjoy a long and strategic partnership with Kuwait and we don’t have another Embassy here in the gulf it is very important for us”, Ambassador Brkic said.
Agreements
countries shared similar points of view. “There is harmony and agreement concerning this matter between the Arab group and Turkey.” In meetings with Azeri Premier, matters of regional and international issues were discussed. He stated that preparations were being made to convene the first higher Common Committee in Kuwait. When asked if Kuwait had any new security agreements, he stated, “In my field, there is no prepared security agreement. But established cooperation regarding crime, exchanging of information and combating drug trafficking continues between Kuwait and European countries.” For any further inquiries, please contact the Visa Application Centre: Website: www.vfs-uk-kw.com, email: info@vfs-ukkw.com, tel 22971170. The Consular Section will also be closed on the same dates. For information
YMCA – Global Peace Rally: The revered spiritual head of the MarThoma Syrian Church, His Grace The Most Rev Dr Philipose Mar Chrysostom, who has earned the respect and love of all sections of the society through his witty humour and noble deeds, has ventured to lead a yearlong Global Prayer and Peace Rally from Kanyakumari to Chicago. The rally is an attempt to mobilize people’s response across the world by highlighting topics close to the mind of Mar Chrysostom such as renaissance of values in public life, achieving economic soundness devoid of opulence, open respect to various traditions, dialogue between different religions and a refined and enriched social order to better the life of common man. YMCA Kuwait is privileged to welcome and honour the participants of the Global Peace Rally lead by Mar Chrysostom. This unique event is scheduled to be held in Kuwait on Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 at NECK, Kuwait City from 7:00 pm onwards. The program will be inaugurated by Maha Al Berjes (Arab Human Right Commission Chairperson & President of Human Rights Commission Kuwait). Dr Hilal Al Sayer (Former Health Minister Kuwait), MarThoma Valiya Metropolitan HG The Most Rev Dr Philipose Mar Chrysostom, Bishop Rt Rev Thomas K. Oommen (CSI Madhya Kerala Maha Edavaka), HG Dr Elias Mor Athanasius Metropolitan (Malankara Jacobite Syrian Christian Church - Thrissur Diocesan Bishop) and HG Dr Thomas Mar Athanasius Metropolitan (Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church - Kandanad East Diocesan Bishop) will be the guests of honour. ❑ ❑ ❑ YMCA membership campaign: YMCA Kuwait is conducting membership Campaign until Feb 28. Persons who wish to become a member of YMCA Kuwait and persons who would like to contribute their time, efforts and services for the society and humanitarian causes may please contact – 97542985. March 4
Arabic Poetry Competition at AUK: The Arabic Literature Club at AUK will be holding ‘The Arabic Poetry Competition 2013’ on March 4, 5:00-8:00 pm at the AUK Auditorium. The event will include Formal Arabic and Nabati (colloquial) poetry recitation by student contestants. Each participant will present
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Micha el van
Fashio n
Peter Pilott o
der Ha m
Tom F ord
LONDON: Bold looks at Burberry Prorsum and a much-anticipated show by Tom Ford brought London Fashion Week to an exhilarating climax Monday, packed with starry front rows and catwalks awash in a riot of animal prints, contrasting textures and embellishments. Burberry design chief Christopher Bailey and Ford delivered the goods, but strong showings by Christopher Kane and Erdem — both rising talents with an international following — helped round out day four of the style event. Ford said after his show that he wanted his autumn collection to express exuberance and color. Aside from rich, saturated hues, he also featured bold animal Above and below: prints, which happened to also dominate Models present Burberry’s catwalk. creations by Tom F Kane, who was showing his first colTom Ford, ord lection since luxury conglomerate PPR Peter Pilotto, bought a majority stake in his label, Michael van unveiled an extensive, assured collecder Ham and tion that included everything from camBurberry ouflage and kilts to velvet and feather Prorsum during trims. Autumn/Winter Meanwhile, Erdem Moralioglu London Fashion Week in delivered his usual elegant looks, London, on Feb 18. though surprising some with a dark and (AP/AFP) moody twist to his typically delicate pastel floral dresses. His collection was mostly black, though the different textures (lace, velvet, mesh) and layers kept things interesting. Floral prints and feathers peeked out under black organza overlays, while sheer black polka dot layers were draped over abstract yellow florals. The designers were the last major stars to show during London Fashion Week. Designers including Vivienne Westwood, Mulberry, Preen and Temperley London had already shown their latest earlier in the week. The event was to end Tuesday, as editors, models and bloggers prepare for more catwalk shows in Milan and Paris. Burberry Prorsum Burberry’s creative director, Bailey, has taken its classic trench coats on safari for a makeover. In a catwalk show that drew actresses Kate Beckinsale and Michelle Dockery to its front row, the luxury British brand updated its coats with calfskin and mink in bold leopard and giraffe prints, cinched in with glossy gold belts. Bailey said he stuck to Prorsum elegant fabrics such as cashBurberry mere and a classic palette of camel, oxblood, black and white for his new autumn collection, but injected contrast with innovative fabrics such as Ham van der plasticized leather. Michael Those certainly are not for the conserits sleeves, gun flaps and skirt made of a vative dresser. A camel trench coat had brown rubber, while another trench coat is made in shiny wine-colored PVC. A tight translucent rubber skirt revealed flirty heart-print knickers underneath. Python-printed leather joined the var-
Peter Pilott o
LONDON Other outfits emphasized a basic color palette of black and white in interesting contrasts, playing on a zebrastriped theme. The outfits were not revealing but very feminine and flattering, with many jackets offering high neck collars and dramatic shapes. Christopher Kane Kane’s latest display was so diverse and included so many creative themes that it seemed like several collections rolled into one. The designer opened his show with oversized, boxy and buckled army coats, then moved on to develop the military theme with muted blue and grey camTom Ford
Prorsum Burberry ious big cat prints on skirts and jackets, and gold hardware gave the collection a
ouflage prints on kilts and silky separates. Off-shoulder dresses with big fur trims came next, and then it was a riot of different themes and looks: Short, sexy dresses in crochet, tight rorsum P y rr e Burb velvet numbers held together with crochet panels or adorned with ruffle-like feather trims, 3D flowers and organza patchwork. The finale consisted of a series of sparkly party dresses embellished with wiry orange, green and cobalt tinsel-like material. Erdem rd o Tom F London designer Erdem Moralioglu has garnered a long list of fans with his luxurious sheen throughout. delicate, ice cream-colored floral dressTom Ford es, but this season he decided to put a Ford’s show included lacy black tops, darker twist on his romantic style. brightly colored metallic skirts, and The show began with all-black dress long, form-fitting black dresses set off and coat ensembles, with a rich mix of by explosive sunbursts of sequined, textures to keep things interesting: metallic color. Feather trims, boucle, exposed zips and The American designer also made use shimmering sequins on sheer blouses. of leopard-printed coats of varying (Agencies) lengths and — in a nod to the 1960s — soft black leather jackets with fringes in the back.
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Some photos from the event
Fun, food and frolic
Tulu Koota organises family picnic in style KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: Tulu Koota Kuwait Family Picnic 2013 was held on Friday, Feb 15 at Mishref Garden as always was a grand success. The picnic was inaugurated with hoisting of the Tulu Koota Kuwait Flag by President Ramesh Kidiyoor. As a symbol of peace advisory and management committee members released doves and balloons on the occasion. A Grand March past was arranged and conducted by Suresh Shyam Rao followed by four Teams, Koti Chennaya, Bappa Baeri, Jaya Vijaya, Dev Poonja, while the TKK cheer girls and cheer boys cheered them all the way. The President, Ramesh Kidiyoor in his opening speech asked everyone to enjoy the family picnic with a spirit of sportsmanship. The sports secretary Ronald D’Souza declared picnic open by breaking the coconut. The games started off with small children under 4 playing passing the cap and ribbon games while children from 4 to 6 played ball race and frog race. Children above 6 to 10 played lagori and bunny rabbit race, while children above 10 to 15 years enjoyed games like one leg and back race, kutti onne, tonka and skipping race and lemon in the pot.
Attraction
Some photos from the event
KDNA conducts medical seminar on chronic pain Kozhikode District NRI Association (KDNA) conducted medical seminar titled ‘Chronic Pain’ at Indian Community School, Khaitan Branch. Wellknown Neurosurgeon Dr Ramnarayan (Chennai Apollo Hospital), who arrived Kuwait for a short visit as the special invitee of Kuwait Health Ministry, conducted the seminar and scientifically
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explained all types of pain in human bodies and its remedy. Earlier in the seminar Dr Ramnarayan privately consulted about 50 patients including women and children who registered their names earlier. A memento was presented to the Dr Ramnarayan by Association President Zubair MM
held on 12th April, 2013 at the Abbas AlOstad Hall, Al-Arabi Stadium, Mansouriya starting from 7 pm onwards. With Super Hits like Dhinka Chikka, Pyaar ki Pungi, Chintaa taa Chitaa, Subah Hone Na De and many more, Mika Singh is currently ranked as No. 1 in Bollywood. An excellent performer on
and advisory board member Krishnan Kadalundi. Seminar started with an official function. President Zubair, General Secretary Suresh Mathur, Seminar Convener Mohammed Vazhayil, Treasurer Santosh Punathil spoke during the official function. Association also thanked all the Indian community who have attended the seminar.
stage, Mika was honored by Shah Rukh Khan as the Achiever for 2012 at the Colors Screen Awards held recently.This concert promises to be a treat for one and all. Knowing well that a concert of such epic proportions requires an equally well equipped venue converted into the ideal concert hall – the audiences as well as the
auditorium will have elevated seating to ensure the best view in the house for all and off course special acoustics that will ensure Mika’s voice is heard at its best.Mika Singh will be accompanied with his entire troupe and there is no doubt that this promises to be a rocking event which is definitely not to be missed.
Ladies enjoyed the blind walk race, kodapana race, breaking the pot, shot put, while gents played pampu dantunu, breaking the pot, shot put. Couples played couple cricket and rock n roll, while seniors loved playing musical chair and passing the tender coconut. There were also games like Housi Housi, Govinda and Quiz open to all. Special attraction of the day was cock fighting. The VicePresident, Tharendra Shettigar, conSo mark your calendars today for MIKA on the 12th of April, 2013. Ticket sale details will be announced soon.Visit and register on our website www.hot-stepper.com for timely updates on the event.
Theater & Music March 6
KLT Box Office shows: The Kuwait Little Theatre Box Office is now open for ‘An Evening with Andrew Lloys Weber’.
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will present in Kuwait his new Konkani drama ‘Corruption Kabar?’ on Friday, April 12, 2013 at 4:30 pm at the Kuwait Medical Association Hall, Jabriya. The star cast includes veteran Sabina Fernandes, Jessica Gomes, comedian Janet, Jr Nelson, Salu de Loutolim, Jaju Fernandes, Filipe Almeida, Sylvester Vaz, comedian Selvy Correia, comedian Agostinho Temudo and above all the singing sensation Seby de Divar. For more details, contact tel 99923176, 99540232 or e-mail flexq8@yahoo.com
March 16
April 12 Creative Indians Association and Raja Company W.L.L. join hands in announcing the Biggest Asian event of 2013. “Mika Singh - Live in Concert” will be
The collection of songs for this show is dazzling, including numbers from well known shows such as Evita, Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Boulevard and many more. There really is something for everyone’s musical taste in what is guaranteed to be an evening of beautiful music. Directed and produced by KLT regulars, Mike Ricketts and Helen Newton, it’s sure to be an evening you should not miss! Show dates are: Wednesday 6th March, Thursday 7th March and Thursday 8th March. Book now by logging on to www.theklt.com April 12
Lighthouse Academy marks 40 yrs:
Mika Singh live in concert:
Support Picnic was well organized and coordinated by the Sports Secretary Ronald D’Souza. The success of the event is owed to the whole hearted support of all the committee members, who toiled day and night to achieve their target. The grand raffle draw that was held at the conclusion of the event continued to interest one and all with the exciting prizes, after which the General Secretary, Wilson D’Souza gave out a vote of thanks. TKK also thanks to Public Authority of Agriculture Affairs & Fish Resources for their outstanding support.
Konkani drama: Comedian Agostinho
two poems that will be juried by a panel of judges. Keynote speakers of the event will include poets Waleed Al-Qallaf, Hamad Al-Zemami and Mariam Fazil, who will recite their poetry before the audience. The event will include an awards ceremony for the top three winners of the competition.
The Lighthouse Academy invites all former students, staff and parents to our 40th year Anniversary celebration. Date: March 16, 2013, Time: 11:00 – 3:00 pm, Venue: National Evangelical Church of Kuwait. RSVP to: elcacademy@hotmail.com. Donations are accepted for Smartboards and Student Fund for Scholarships.
ducted a tough Tulu Quiz leaving the audience for more. The throwball tournament for ladies was won by Al-Rathat and the runners up were Udupi Friends. Kabbadi tournament for men was won by Navachetna A while the runners up were Navachetna B. Volleyball tournament was won by Noronha A and the runners up were Salmiya A Friends. Hasan Yousuf Chief Coordinator, United Karnataka Association, Elias Sanctis, ex-president TKK, Ibrahim Pinto, sponsor and well-wisher of TKK and Surendra Nayak ex-president KKK, were present at picnic event. The event was beautifully hosted by Suresh Salian, Shalini Vijay, Ramesh Bhandary and Sushma Bangera. Banana Leaf Restaurant served a tasty breakfast, soft-drinks were freely served throughout the event by Ibrahim Pinto and a scrumptious lunch was set by Avanti Palace. Lightings and sound was arranged by Anand Illuminations and photography by Prashanth Shetty.
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Konkani Drama: M.A. Production is Amma Kuwait conducted a free workshop on ‘Basic Awareness against Child Abuse’ on Feb 15, 2013 in its center Amritanjali at Maidan Hawally. The workshop gave awareness on different kinds of dangers, how to identify dangers from people, and how to escape from dangerous situations. The highlight of the workshop was the demonstration of simple yet practical techniques to defend and get
away from danger. Based on the key principle ‘Assess, Neutralize, Attack & Get-away,’ Mrs Moli Divakaran and Divakaran jointly demonstrated practical self defense tips for escaping from situations such as arm grabs, wrist grabs, shoulder grabs, bearhugs, neck grabs, headlocks and punches. This interactive workshop provided opportunity for participants to try out each tech-
nique that was demonstrated. The participants appreciated Amma Kuwait for organizing this socially relevant topic and creating awareness in the community against child abuse and empowering children to stay safe. Great interest was expressed by the community to participate in various awareness and empowerment programs regularly conducted by Amma Kuwait.
all set to present a Konkani Drama (Tiatr) “MOJE DHUVENCHEM KAZAR” to be staged on 30 August 2013 with an emotionally charged storyline, humour and music, written by M.Dias and directed by Sylvester Vaz & M.Dias to be held at Kuwait Medical Association Auditorium (near Blood Bank), Jabriya. Popular actors and singers will be flown from
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Dar Al Athar ‘Objective reporting non-existent in practice’
Writer Riding reveals ‘fiction’ about journalistic truth By Chaitali B. Roy Special to the Arab Times
F
or some, journalism may be the ideal stepping stone to fictional literature, though it is too sweeping a generalization. Charles Dickens who worked as a reporter for several years before venturing into fiction is quoted as having attributed the verity of his writing to “the wholesome training of severe newspaper work.” The connection between journalism and literary achievement was explored by Alan Riding, celebrated British journalist in a lecture ‘Journalism and Fiction: Facts, Ideas and Imagination’ at Dar Al Athar Al Islamiyyah, Al Maidan Cultural Centre on Monday, Feb 18. It will not be wrong to call Alan Riding a jack of more than two trades. A journalist and writer, Riding spent 30 years as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, latterly as the paper’s European cultural correspondent based in Paris. He is the author of several books including
‘Distant Neighbors: A Portrait of the Mexicans’; ‘Essential Shakespeare Handbook’; and, most recently, ‘And The Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris’. He resides in Paris where he is currently writing plays. His lecture traversed the gray area between “journalistic truth” and “fiction” and the attempts in the process to win over public trust at large. His speech which drew on his own experience as a journalist was candid disturbingly so, humorous and lay bare the great fiction about journalistic truth.
Challenged “I was a journalist for 40 years, a foreign correspondent whose job it was to report from distant corners of the world to readers far away. I tried to do this honestly. I won’t say “objectively,” because objective reporting is something taught in journalism schools but non-existent in practice.” Journalists, he said look at the world through a prism composed of
family roots, values, national culture, educational background, religious beliefs, and prejudices leading inevitably to a degree of subjective reportage. Moreover, the notion of objectivity is again challenged when it comes to conforming to the vision and values of the reporter, reader, editor and ultimately the owner of the paper. Adding value, interpreting a country and its culture, shaping opinions based on perceptions of objective truth, is also something that troubles foreign correspondents. He went on to speak of ‘reader fatigue’ a phenomenon caused by unending conflicts and the resulting reportage and the menace of the Internet which has posed problems for traditional newspaper reporting. It is to escape these various limitations that journalists turn to writing fiction, smiled the veteran reporter. The relation between fictional literature, and journalism seems to have blurred at a fast pace with many celebrated authors of the 19th century having journalistic experience. “I
reported from Mexico for 13 years, then I wrote a book about Mexico. The many hundreds of stories I wrote from Mexico have long been forgotten. The book is still alive.” Riding went on to speak of reporters who have gone into literary journalism, fiction and pulp fiction.
Imagination At the heart of Riding’s lecture were shared tenets of journalism and fiction. In both case encounters with reality are filtered through an individual state of mind which obviously is subjective but structured in different ways. Fiction takes the aid of imagination, while reportage has to be anchored in reality and time. “Of course,” said Riding, “the difference between leading journalists and prominent novelists goes beyond the ways they write. A novelist is an artist whose principal tool is his imagination. And this creative dimension gives a special aura, a certain mystique, even a unique authority.” As novelists, writers gain a unique
Alan Riding
perspective that gives them an elevated status as opinion builders. Riding recounts his experience of meeting up with some fine minds during his stint in Latin America. “As a foreign correspondent, I also sought out the likes of Fuentes, Garcia Marquez, Vargaz Llosa, Octavio Paz and a host of other writers as sources. This wasn’t the same as talking to politicians,
guerilla leaders or intelligence agents who might share information selectively and spin it to suit their immediate interest. No, these were true conversations with thinkers who stood away from the cacophony of breaking news. They talked about literature, history, religion, ideology, the psychology of their own compatriots, the ancient roots of political struggles and yes, also the politics of the day. They didn’t give me stories as such rather they gave me a deeper understanding of how their societies worked. And that was invaluable.” Lecture The lecture ended on a note of caution with Riding mulling over the deluge of unending information under which readers get stifled and confused. The need of the hour is to go back to basics, he said. “We are at a watershed. Only by turning back to the message can we hope to understand the world around us and our place within it.”
IHOP click Theater & Music Continued from Page 30 India including Seby de Divar – Goa’s singing sensation, John D’Silva – Goa’s best known comedian and character artiste, Yvonne – new sensation in comedy, Fr Nevel Gracias (Vell’lekar) – well known actor and writer, Sylvester Vaz – Hitman of Konkani stage, besides a few prominent well established actors and singers from the tiatrist fraternity in Kuwait. The proceeds of this drama will be sent to Old Goa Retreat Centre. Please make note in your diary to attend this must-to-see by all parents and children, and support this noble cause. Await for more details how to obtain your entry passes or email: dias_q8@yahoo.com Tel: +965 66698257, 99616965, 65095345. http://goablog100.blogspot.com/2013/02/ moje-dhuvenchem-kazar.html
Sports Football Coaching Course: The next P.G.A. Everton Football Coaching Course at the new location by Abdullah Al-Rujaib High School, Bayan Block 7, Masjed Al-Aqsa Street. Courses are available for boys and girls aged from 3 to 18 years. For further details see http://www.pga-kuwait.com.kw/ or contact academy Director Mike on 99981327 or Executive Director Baker on 66918666. ❑ ❑ ❑ KLL registration: Kuwait Little League (KLL) has kicked off registration for the 2012-2013 baseball and softball season. The various divisions and corresponding age groups are as follows: Tee Ball: Boys and Girls — 5 to 7 years old; Minors: Boys and Girls — 8 to 10 years old; Majors: Boys and Girls — 11 to 12 years old; Juniors: Boys and Girls — 13 to 14 years old; Seniors: Boys and Girls —15 to 18 years old; Softball: Girls only — 11 to 18 years old. Challenger* – Boys and Girls — 7 to 12 years old (for children with special needs). Persons who deem themselves eligible as volunteer baseball coaches, umpires or team parents are also welcome to register. For registration and more information please visit www.Q8LL.ORG. ❑ ❑ ❑
Photos by Meshal Nayef
The IHOP team
Kwt-Brits football supporters: A new football supporters website for British expats living and working in Kuwait has been set up by an Everton supporter, Trevor Powell. The Kuwait Brits Football Supporters Association (KBFSA) site aims to provide contact information for supporters of each others’ whereabouts and also in the future hopes to organise social events such as quizzes and even five-a-side matches on a home international teams basis. We need expats to register their support and hence we can then start to cast around for a suitable meeting venue. The site can be accessed at www.kbfsa.co.uk. ❑ ❑ ❑
Kuwait Cricket for schools: Kuwait Cricket, the apex body of cricket in Kuwait would like to invite school cricket teams to participate in their tournaments which are planned to be held at the turf ground at Sulaibiya. Kuwait Cricket intends to conduct two cricket tournaments for U-15 and U-18 school children who should have valid Kuwait residence and be a student of their respective school. Physical Education officials or Managers of various schools in Kuwait are hereby requested to contact Murali Kutticode on 99542107 for more information. The tournaments will be played on Saturdays at Sulaibiya grounds and the matches will be 30 overs. Participation of school cricket teams will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in ensuring the success of the open cricket tournament and we look forward to your confirmation of attendance. Any inquiries
Continued on Page 32
IHOP omelette
IHOP restaurant officials
IHOP pancakes
Chain stresses on high food quality, value and excellent service
IHOP opens its first restaurant at Avenues By Cinatra Fernandes Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) opened its first restaurant in Kuwait at the Avenues partnering with retail franchise operator M.H. Alshaya Co. IHOP is an iconic American-style restaurant that is famous for its breakfast menu. The menu features a wide selection of items that range from signature pancakes, a wide variety of omelettes, French toast and waffles, crepes, sandwiches and burgers, appetizers, soups, salads and desserts.
The new 307-seat restaurant has a friendly, warm and comfortable ambience designed for individual and family dining and delivers a uniquely iconic American-style dining experience. The chain is highly competitive in its menu offering, serving 65 different signature, made-from-scratch breakfast options as well as a range of meals under 600 calories. Beyond offering “everything you love about breakfast,” IHOP has a wide selection of popular lunch and dinner items, as well.
Flavors IHOP officials inform that the
restaurant will further introduce a selection of international flavors as well as signature and dinner favorites such as the Big Steak Omelettes, Philly Cheese Steak Stacker, Pick-APancake Combo, Breakfast Sampler, Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity, country fried steak, crispy chicken strips, French onion pot roast, T bone steak, along with a diverse assortment of lower-calorie healthy choices. “The success of the IHOP story lies in its combination of high food quality, value and an excellent service. As we continue to expand the brand across the Middle East, we are sure that IHOP will become a firm family
favorite with customers in Kuwait, just as it has become in Dubai,” commented Stephen O’Connor, VicePresident for IHOP in the Middle East.
Experience Kuwait’s first IHOP restaurant follows the brand’s success at two locations in Dubai which opened earlier in September 2012. “We are delighted and encouraged to add Kuwait to the list of countries around the world that can now enjoy the IHOP experience. As the new IHOP restaurants in Dubai have already proven, there is a strong appetite for great food and
service with strong value throughout the region,” said John Merkin, vicepresident of International Operations, IHOP. “Alshaya has done an outstanding job in bringing the IHOP brand to Dubai and now Kuwait. We look forward to a continued successful partnership as the brand expands throughout the region.” Alshaya’s multi-market franchise partnership with DineEquity Inc, will see a significant number of new IHOP restaurants opening across the Middle East in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, and Egypt.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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Horoscope By Jacqueline Bigar Happy birthday for Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013: You have many dreams that you choose not to share. This year, you might witness one of them being fulfilled. You become incredibly intuitive and seem to have strong premonitions. If you are single, you could meet someone who seems so special that you have to pinch yourself to make sure the experience is real. Be careful. When you put someone on a pedestal, there is only way to go ... and that is down. If you are attached, the two of you seem to develop a new style of communication. Understand that there could be a lot of confusion around your relationship this year. Do not listen to gossip or hearsay, especially from a GEMINI. The Stars Show the Kind of Day You’ll Have: 5Dynamic; 4-Positive; 3-Average; 2-So-so; 1Difficult
Capricorn - (Dec 22 - Jan 19)
CAPRICORN (Dec 22-Jan 19) **** You might want to rethink a decision more carefully. You often use logic to explain your actions or decisions, but know that they were motivated by a gut feeling or an intuitive hunch. Be honest with yourself. Tonight: Listen to a friend and follow through on his or her suggestion.
Aquarius - (Jan
20 - Feb 18)
*** Maintain a mellow attitude when dealing with co-workers and associates. They need to ask questions in order to understand why you are moving in a certain direction. You might need to seek out more information on a financial decision. Tonight: Get feedback from others.
Pisces - (Feb 19 - Mar 20) ***** Tap into your endless creativity, and know that there are answers to your questions. How you handle a personal detail could change the out-
home decor
come of an entire situation. Use your ingenuity. Others enjoy their conversations with you. Tonight: Easy works. Attention is reciprocal.
Aries - (Mar 21 - Apr 19) **** You find that others often seek you out. Use your imagination, and you’ll come up with many workable ideas. In fact, you’ll have so many options that you might not know which way to go. You have a unique way of understanding personal issues. Tonight: Head home.
Taurus - (Apr 20 - May 20) ***** Your sense of timing and choice of words appear to be right on, and many people will react to them. You understand far more than others might realize. Listen to someone’s news, but take it with a grain of salt. You’ll want to do what is most workable. Tonight: All smiles.
Gemini - (May 21 - June 20) *** Be conscious of your limits before you jump into a situation. Your view of what is provocative could change radically. A matter involving your career might not be resolvable at this point. You know what must be done. Carefully consider your options. Tonight: Out late.
Cancer - (June 21 - July 22) *** Know when to say that you have had enough. Your sense of humor will come out as you begin to understand what motivates others. Detachment gives you a unique perspective that allows you to see a situation differently. Tonight: Have a ball with friends and loved ones.
Leo - (July 23 - Aug 22) *** You might want to be more mindful of your
indoor gardening
spending, needs and assets. Once you are, you will make better choices. Your ability to understand vagueness can help you in your dealings, but you still might need more information. Friends surround you. Tonight: Where the gang is.
Virgo - (Aug 23 - Sept 22): **** Zero in on your priorities. Understand who you are and with whom you will be dealing. Conversations might become animated, and you could receive more feedback as a result. Trust your intuition when reaching out to someone at a distance. Tonight: Say “yes” to an invitation.
Libra - (Sept 23 - Oct 22) **** Pressure builds. You might feel as if you have little time to accomplish a lot. Reach out to someone you really care about. This person’s reaction could shock you. A boss pushes hard to get his or her way. You could become overwhelmed as a
beauty tips
result. Tonight: To the wee hours.
Scorpio - (Oct 23 - Nov 21) ***** Reach out to someone at a distance. You could gain critical information that will help you move a project to a different level. Ask questions, and you’ll come up with a better solution or a more workable idea. Your creativity flourishes. Tonight: Respond appropriately.
Sagittarius - (Nov 22 - Dec 21) **** You might want to head in a new direction. Despite what is happening with others’ insecurities, a partner or associate supports you 100 percent. This person follows his or her intuition. Communication flourishes in real-estate issues. Tonight: At home.
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Born today: Actor Sidney Poitier (1927), model Cindy Crawford (1966), singer Rihanna (1988)
taste buds
candle apple
rechsteineria leucotricha
juniper foot bath
olive pasta salad
Supplies: Apple; Tea gentle or votive candle; Small knife; Lemon juice; Instructions: Whether or not you use red, green or gold apples, decide on a less crisp apple. Wash the apple. Eliminate the stem, making use of a tiny knife if needed. Place the candle you prepare to use on top and use the knife to mark the outer edges. Core the marked section with a spoon. Pour adequate lemon juice into the hole to fill it and enable it sit for 5 or 10 minutes. This will not only retain the uncovered fruit from browning as swiftly, it will stop your residing candleholder from rotting a bit extended. Following you pour the lemon juice out, permit the root dry a little bit. If you are utilizing a votive, you may want to gentle the candle for a number of seconds and pour a few drops of wax into the gap to assist it stay. If you’re utilizing a tea light candle, that’s unnecessary. Then just push the candle into the hole firmly.
Commonly known as Cardinal Flower. These plants give origin to a brush with a rounded form. The Rechsteineria leucotricha is small in size; in autumn it assumes a green red and pink coloring. These are evergreen plants, which mean they keep their leaves year round. Rechsteineria leucotricha has woolly silvery-grey leaves.The Rechsteineria leucotricha is developed like a succulent plant. Site: This plant prefers very luminous locations; during this period of the year it is best to avoid direct exposure to solar rays. Temperature: Average or above average warmth in summer. Keep fairy cool in winter - minimum temperature 55°F or 15°C. Water: Water freely from spring to autumn – sparingly in winter.
Juniper berries help pull toxins from the body, as well as kill bacteria that cause smelly feet. Ingredients: ■ 1 cup boiling water ■ 10-12 juniper berries ■ 5 whole cloves ■ 1 tsp dried rosemary ■ 1 tsp dried sage ■ 2 gallons very warm water Method: Pour the first 5 ingredients into a mug and steep, like a tea, for 10 minutes. Pour the 2 gallons of water (as warm as you can bear it), into your bucket or bowl. Add the steeped spice mixture. Ease feet into the bath and soak for at least 10 minutes.
Ingredients: 4 eggs; 3 cups uncooked macaroni; 2 cups pimento-stuffed green olives, sliced; 1/2 cup mayonnaise; 2-1/2 teaspoons celery seed; 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; 1 teaspoon salad seasoning Method: Place the eggs in a saucepan with enough cold water to cover. Bring water to a boil and immediately remove saucepan from heat. Cover, and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, peel, and chop. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain. In a large bowl, mix the olives, mayonnaise, celery seed, pepper, and salad seasoning. Toss in the eggs and macaroni. Cover, and chill at least 3 hours in the refrigerator before serving.
Dear Abby Woman feels she is used by her friends By Abigail Van Buren Dear Abby: We have always purchased rather than leased our cars. One of them has 225,000 miles on the odometer and is running well. I have two friends who lease expensive foreign cars. Keeping the mileage down on their cars is important to them, especially when it comes time to return them at the end of the lease. Because of this, I find myself driving more often than I should. One friend attends a weekly meeting with me, and we’re supposed to take turns driving each other every other week. But somehow I end up at the wheel more often. I’d hate to start writing down our outings, but I’m beginning to feel used. While I respect their decision to lease expensive new cars, it is not my responsibility to keep their expenses down. Both of these women are in a better financial position than I am, although we are all “comfortable.” Any ideas about how to approach this without seeming petty? It has been going on for a long while and is starting to Abigail Van Buren bother me. — Driven too far in Long Beach, Calif. Dear driven too far: If you feel that you are being taken advantage of, then you probably are. I recommend you wean these ladies off your chauffeur services by being less available when they need a ride. And if you are asked why, remind them of your original agreement to share the driving duties 50-50. ❑ ❑ ❑ Dear Abby: My boyfriend, “Doug” (24), and I (22) have been in a long-distance relationship for a year, but we were friends for a couple of years before that. I had never had a serious relationship before and lacked experience. Doug has not only been in two other long-term relationships, but has had sex with more than 15 women. One of them is an amateur porn actress. I knew about this, but it didn’t bother me until recently. Doug had a party, and while he was drunk he told one of his buddies — in front of me — that he should watch a certain porn film starring his exgirlfriend. It made me feel awkward. The next day he apologized. Of course, having learned her name, I couldn’t help myself from searching for her on the Internet. Now I can’t stop comparing myself to her, and I feel intimidated and frustrated. I have been struggling with how to get over it. Doug has told me many times that he loves me and I believe him. But those stupid, drunken comments really knocked me down. How do I get over my boyfriend’s past? — Eclipsed by a “Star” in New York Dear eclipsed: A giant step in the right direction would be to quit comparing yourself to a porn actress. In his addled condition, your immature boyfriend couldn’t resist bragging to his buddies because he thought it would impress them with his prowess. If he had serious feelings about her, he would still be with her, not in a relationship with you. That said, it would be in your best interest to find out if this woman really was a “girlfriend” or one of his one-night stands. If he is in a long-distance relationship with you and tends to be promiscuous, you should be more concerned about his judgment than how to get over his past. ❑ ❑ ❑ Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069. (Source: Universal Uclick)
Kuwait Pavendar Khazhagam celebrated its 5th kalam recently at Kanyakumari Restaurant premises in Mirqab. The program was started with prayer song by Mrs Anu ans Selvi, Nalina. Sugana Pandiyan and Sivanantham were the chief guests of the day and who were introduced to the audience by Rajasekharan, Secretary of PVKK. The chief guest appreciated and congratulated the office bearers of PVKK for organizing such a memorable event in Tamil literature every month and he assured
that he will extend his support in future for benefit of the PVKK. The program was compered by B. Sekar, treasurer of PVKK. Kalapadal (Pavendar Song) was sung by Ravanan, President of PVKK. The event under the title ‘Mann Isai’ was performed by Mrs Latha, Mrs Manjula and Selvi. The Kaviarangam was performed under the headship of Sivamani and other participants in Kaviarangam were Mahesh, Mrs Devi Ravi, Sivasankaran and Nilavan. The
speech contest was introduced in Kalam-5 and contestants of PVKK members showed their talents in the art of effective public speech. Kavi Sekar, Ramesh Kumar, Murugesan, Ravichandran, Mrs Punitha were among the participants. The evaluators for speech contest were Ravana, Rajasekharan and Natarajan. The children were participated in various events under the title ‘Kalathu Medu’. Selvi Srilekha, Selvan Ajay Joyal, Selvan Kittu John, Selvan Kanval Kishore
what’s on today ■ Azerbaijan Symphonic Orchestra: The National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Azerbaijan will hold ‘Azerbaijan State Symphonic Orchestra’ today at 8:00 pm at the Kuwait National Museum. ❑ ❑ ❑
recently honored as a global leader for 2012 by the World Economic Forum for her contribution to society, winner of the best innovative Design Award under the Young Arab Designers category by The Middle East Watches, Jewellery & Pens Awards. For details log on to www.thefagallery.com ❑ ❑ ❑
■ Maramon Convention: In connection with the commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of establishing Marthoma parish in Kuwait, Gospel convention in line with the 118-year-old Maramon Convention nostalgically called as Maramon Convention of Desert, will be conducted under the auspicious of Kuwait Center Marthoma Joint Fellowship, from 7.00 pm at National Evangelical Church and Parish Hall from Feb 18-22, 2013 except on Feb 20 (Wednesday) when it will be conducted at Ahmadi Marthoma Church at 7:00 pm. For more details contact Rev K.A. Varghese (President), 66222951; Rev C.V. Simon (Chairman), 50180905; Varghese Joseph (Convener), 99806840 and Jacob Varghese (Coordinator), 97959347. ❑ ❑ ❑
■ Islamic classes in French: The Enlightenment into Islam is offering Islamic Classes in French for ladies. Timings 4:30 to 7 pm. Every Wednesday. Please register at the office (Women’s Section), 2nd floor. For more information please contact us. Telephone 25362684, 99789954, 99507076, 97743327. Fax 25342573 (attention — Enlightenment into Islam) ❑ ❑ ❑
■ Jewelry exhibition: FA Gallery presents collectible jewelry exhibition by Lama Hourani until Feb 23. The exhibition will feature her latest collections of handmade artto-wear pieces and timeless classics. Lama Hourani is a Jordanian jewelry designer residing between Amman, Barcelona and Shanghai. Hourani was
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■ Latino dancing classes: Salsa & Bachata classes learn the moves, unleash your potential live the experience of true Latin dancing. We provide individual attention to students. You can join as an individual or as a couple. Salsa classes on Monday and Wednesday from 8 pm to 9 pm. Bachata classes every Sunday from 8 pm to 9 pm. For details contact: 55885102, 99885102. ❑ ❑ ❑ ■ First AG Church Meetings: First Assembly of God Church Kuwait Worship Meetings on all Fridays from 9:30 am 12:15 pm and Fasting Prayer on all Thursdays from 7 pm - 9:15 pm at NECK and please feel free to contact Kuwait cricket with your positive feedback. Contact details: Murali Kutticode, Director, Junior & Corporate cricket Tel: 99542107 or kutticode@yahoo.com
Continued from Page31 may be directed to the contact phone numbers or email addresses mentioned below: A meeting of School representatives will be arranged shortly
Courses March 24
AWARE Spring Arabic courses: “The
Items for the What’s On page can be sent directly to the Arab Times, P.O. Box 2270, 13023, Safat or faxed to 24818267 or e-mail to arabtimes@arabtimesonline.com. All items on this page are published as a courtesy to the public. These announcements can include birthday greetings, weddings, social functions or any other noncommercial events. Photographs of all events are welcome. Compound (Hall of Hope, Ground Floor, Front of Baptism Pool) Kuwait City. Cottage meetings on all Mondays from 7.30 pm - 9 pm at scheduled places. Fasting prayer on third Wednesday, Thursday & Friday of every month. Sunday School on all Fridays from 7.30 am - 9 am at Abbasiya Parsonage (Abbasiya Supermarket bldg). Ladies prayer meeting on Wednesdays from 5 pm - 7 pm at scheduled places. C.A Youth Meeting on last Thursday of every month from 7 pm - 9 pm. Transportation provided to all parts of Kuwait. For more information contact Pastor V.D Thomas (97251639/24312630), Bro Abraham George (99384503/24768495). www.firstagkuwait.com. E-mail: firstagkwt@gmail.com. ❑ ❑ ❑ ■ KTCC activities: Worship service – AWARE Management is glad to inform interested Western expatriates that Spring Arabic language courses with new textbooks and curricula will begin on Sunday March 24, 2013 until Tuesday May 3, 2013. AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind. The environment is relaxed & courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the commu-
were among the participants. Dr Neelamani and Mrs Latha Neelamani spoke about Vazhkkai Kalvi (Life Education) and Penniam (Women’s Right) respectively. Quiz was conducted by Manivannan. The quiz winner was Shanmugam who was awarded with a prize by chief guest, Suguna Pandian. The program was organized by office bearers and executive members Manikandan was the sponsor for Kalam-5. The program was concluded with India’s national anthem.
emergency number 112
every Wednesday 7:00-9:00 pm at North Tent, NECK. Children’s Bible School – every Wednesday 7 to 9 pm at Activity Building, NECK. Overnight prayer – every 1st Thursday from 10 pm – 4:00 am at Diwaniya, NECK. Communion Service – every 3rd Wednesday. The Following meeting are held at our KTCC Prayer House: 1) Children Bible School Teacher’s Prayer – 1st Saturday 7 to 9 pm. 2) Children’s Prayer – 2nd Friday 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. 3) Bible Study – every 2nd and 4th Sunday at 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm. 4) ISOM – Batch 1 Class Tuesdays – 7 to 9 pm and Batch 2 Class Fridays – 4 to 6 pm. 5) Choir Practice – Mondays – 6 to 8 pm. 6) Men’s Fellowship – 4th Friday – 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. 7) Women’s Prayer – (Abbasiya) – 3rd Sunday – 6:30 to 8:30 pm and (Salmiya) 4th Tuesday – 6:30 to 8:30 pm. 8) Fasting Prayer – every 3rd Friday from 12:00 Noon – 3:30 pm. 9) Cottage Prayers – every 2nd and 4th Week. 10) Baptism Service – every 4th Friday. Welcome to all Tamil known people to participate in our regular activities to worship the Lord in our own mother tongue and be blessed! For details or for any prayer needs contact Tel No: 66920350 / 99432849. nity. We cater to teachers, travelers & 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. AWARE Arabic courses highlight: ■ Introductory to Level 5 Arabic language basics
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ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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at bringing Arabs and Westerners together. AWARE Arabic courses highlight: ■ Introductory to Level 5 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. Note: Due to some of our clients’ busy schedules during week days, AWARE Center has decided to offer Arabic classes every Saturday for beginners (Introductory Arabic) with effect from Feb 9, 2013 until March 16, 2013. Don’t miss this opportunity! For more information, please call 25335260/80 or log onto: www.aware.com ❑ ❑ ❑
Courses Continued from Page 32 ■ 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. Note: Due to some of AWARE’s clients’ busy schedules during week days, AWARE Center has decided to offer Arabic classes every Saturday for beginners (Introductory Arabic) and Level 1 Basic. Don’t miss this opportunity! For more information, please call 25335260/80 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw.” ❑ ❑ ❑
NYF – yoga classes: Yoga classes available for all age groups and different health problems, weight reduction, depression etc by well experienced Indian female yoga teacher near Al-Rashid Hospital, Salmiya. Separate workshop, meditation, advanced breathing exercise classes, healing courses available according to the requirements of different schools, hospitals and organizations at your place. For more details contact 99838117, 99315825. ❑ ❑ ❑
Turkish language course: The Embassy of the Republic of Turkey announces that a new classes of Turkish Language for beginners will start at the Embassy’s Tourism, Culture and Information Office on Feb 17, 2013. The lessons will be two times in a week for six weeks, for further details and registration please contact: ■ the Embassy at Tel: 22277405 (only from 9 am to 3 pm). ■ or fill the application form on http://kuveyt.be.mfa.gov.tr and send it to the e-mail: embassy.kuwait@mfa.gov.tr ❑ ❑ ❑
Salsa & jive classes: If you want to
Basic teachings in Islam: TIES
stay fit – Take the dive, with salsa and jive, two left feet won’t stop the beat. Join now as individual or couple. Unleash your potential. Individual attention to all students guaranteed. For details contact: 97979816/94445711. ❑ ❑ ❑
Free Arabic course: IPC and all its branches is opening Free Arabic Language Course for non-Arab Ladies accessible in beginners and advance levels. Class in Islamic and Quran courses are also presented in different languages. Registration is on! Call the nearest IPC branch: Rawdah: Offers 2 alternatives for Level 1 — Call:
The staff members of Virology Laboratory in Kuwait recently bid farewell to M.K. Cherian, the chief technician at the laboratory. Cherian, who has served with the Ministry of Health for many years and is now returning to India for good, was given an affectionate farewell that was attended by friends and colleagues. 22512257. 1. Once a week class (4-month course); 2. Twice a week class (2-month course) Salmiyah: 25733263, 97533263; Kheitan: 24730137, 99285459; Mangaf: 23723002 ext 124/123; Jahra: 24558830, 97533948. ❑ ❑ ❑
TIES Russian Classes: TIES Center Russian Club is glad to announce the start
of Russian Language Courses. We offer classes for all levels, from beginners to advance level. TIES Russian Courses are intended for all Arabic speakers who wish to learn Russian as a second language or simply as a hobby. Throughout the course the students will learn how to read and write in a friendly, relaxed and welcoming environment. For more information/registration kind-
ly contact us 97226650. ❑ ❑
❑
AWARE Winter Arabic course: ‘The AWARE Management is glad to inform you that Winter 2 Arabic language courses with new textbooks and curricula begins today and runs until March 18, 2013. 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
Ladies Club cordially invites all ladies to the new classes of basic teachings in Islam and Seerah. These classes will provide a good opportunity for all Muslim ladies to refresh their basic teachings in Islam and Hadiths of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). An interaction of day-to-day live achievements, challenges and ideas can be shared among the ladies to learn from each other. Basic teachings in Islam from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon (every Saturday); Seerah from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm (every Tuesdays). All classes are free of charge. For more information please contact us on 25231015-6; mobile 97228860 or visit our website at www.tiescenter.net.
Cinema Cinema programme from Thursday 14/2/2013 to Wednesday 20/2/2013
Bullet To The Head (Dig) (Silvester Stallone, Jason Momoa) Sharqia 1
13:30, 00:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Muhalab 1 13:30, 00:15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 15:30 (Daily) Fanar 1 18:00, 22:00 (Daily) Marina 2 00:15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Avenues 1 12:45 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 17:15, 21:45 (Daily) 00:05 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 360° 7 14:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16:15, 18:30, 20:45, 22:45 (Daily) 00:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Al-Kout 4 20:00 (Daily) 00:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Grand cine 4 13:30, 15:30, 17:30, 20:30, 22:30 (Daily)
Safe Haven (Dig) (Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel) Sharqia 1 Muhalab 1 Fanar 3
15:45, 20:00 (Daily) 17:30, 19:45, 22:00 (Daily) 13:30, 23:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 19:30 (Daily) Marina 1 16:30, 20:45 (Daily) Avenues 5 13:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 18:30 (Daily) Avenues 10 13:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16:00, 18:15, 20:30, 22:45 (Daily) 01:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 360° 9 17:15 (Daily) 360° 11 12:45 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 15:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 17:15, 19:30, 21:45 (Daily) 00:05 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Al-Kout 4 13:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 17:30, 22:15 (Daily) Bairaq 2 16:15, 20:30 (Daily) Grand cine 3 14:00, 17:30, 20:00, 22:30 (Daily)
Gambit (Dig) (Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz) Sharqia 1 Fanar 1
18:00, 22:30 (Daily) 13:45, 00:05 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 20:00 (Daily) Marina 2 15:45, 22:15 (Daily) Avenues 2 13:15 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 15:15, 01:15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 17:15, 19:15, 21:15, 23:15 (Daily) 360° 2 14:15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16:15, 18:15, 20:15, 22:15 (Daily) 00:15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Al-Kout 3 13:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 17:45, 22:00 (Daily) Bairaq 3 13:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 17:30, 21:45 (Daily) Grand cine 2 13:00, 15:00, 17:30, 20:00, 22:15 (Daily) 00:30 (Thu, Fri)
(Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney) Sharqia 2
14:15, 00:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 20:15 (Daily) Muhalab 3 14:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18:30, 22:45 (Daily) Fanar 4 16:45, 20:30, 22:30 (Daily) 00:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Marina 3 18:30, 20:30 (Daily) 00:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Avenues 4 12:30, 23:45 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 14:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 17:00, 19:15 (Daily) 21:30 (Sun to Fri) Avenues 11 13:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 15:45, 18:00, 20:15, 22:30 (Daily) 00:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 360° 10 13:15 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 15:30, 17:45, 20:00, 22:15 (Daily) 00:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 360° 12 12:30 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 14:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 17:00, 21:30 (Daily) 19:15 (Sat to Thu) 23:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 360° 13 13:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16:00, 18:15, 20:30, 22:45 (Daily) 01:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Al-Kout 2 13:00 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 15:00, 01:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 21:00, 23:00 (Daily) Bairaq 2 14:00, 00:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18:30, 22:45 (Daily) Laila 16:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 22:30 (Daily) Grand cine 6 13:00, 15:30, 18:00, 20:15 22:30 (Daily) 00:45 (Thu, Fri) Grand cine GC 15:00, 17:30, 20:00, 22:00 (Daily) 00:15 (Thu, Fri)
3Ala Gosety (Dig) (Ahmed Helmi, Ghada Adel, Edward, Hasan Hosny) Sharqia 2 Muhalab 3 Fanar 5
Marina 2 Avenues 5 Avenues 6
360° 1
(Ivan Okhlobystin, Nyusha) Muhalab 3 Fanar 4 Marina 3 Avenues 9 360° 5 360° 6 Al-Kout 1 Bairaq 1
12:30 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 16:15 (Daily) 13:00 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 16:45 (Daily) 13:00 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 15:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18:45 (Daily) 13:15 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 16:45 (Daily) 13:00 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 15:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 17:00, 19:00 (Daily) 13:15 (Sat) 14:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16:00, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00 (Daily) 12:45 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 14:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 16:30 (Daily) 12:30 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 14:15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 16:00 (Daily)
How to find us
A Good Day To Die Hard (Dig)
The Snow Queen (Dig-3D) Sharqia 2
(Vivek Oberoi, Neha Sharma) 14:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 360° 14
Grand cine 5 13:00, 14:00 (Daily)
360° 9
Al-Kout 1 Bairaq 1 Plaza Laila Ajial 2
18:00, 22:30 (Daily) 20:30 (Daily) 00:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 13:00 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 15:15, 00:15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 17:30, 19:45, 22:00 (Daily) 13:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 17:45, 20:00 (Daily) 16:00, 21:00 (Daily) 23:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 12:30 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 15:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 17:30, 20:00, 22:30 (Daily) 01:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 13:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16:15, 18:45, 21:15 (Daily) 23:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 12:30 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 14:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 19:45, 22:15 (Daily) 00:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18:15, 22:30 (Daily) 17:45, 20:00, 22:15 (Daily) 00:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 15:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 21:45 (Sat, Sun, Tue, Wed) 18:00 (Daily) 19:45, 22:00 (Daily)
1. 360°
Zahra’a Area, South Surra, 6th Ring Road, corner of King Faisal Highway
2. Ajial
Ajial Complex, Fahaheel
3. Al Bairaq
Between Jaber Al Ali East & Al Agalia West
4. Al Fanar
Al Fanar Complex, Salem Al Mubarak Street, near Sultan Center, Salmiya
5. Al Kout
Al-Kout Complex, at the end of the Coastal Road, Fahaheel
6. Al Muhalab
Al Muhalab Complex, Behind Hawalli Clinic, Hawalli
7. Al Sharqiya
Arabian Gulf Street, Souq Sharq, near the Amiri Hospital
8. Granada
Abraq Khaitan, off the Old Airport Road
9. Laila Gallery
Salem Al Mubarak Street, near Sultan Center, Salmiya
10. Marina
Marina Mall, Between Salem Al Mubarak Street & Arabian Gulf Street, Salmiya
11. Metro
Metro Complex, Farwaniya, near Crowne Plaza Hotel & Farwaniya Garden
12. Plaza
Salem Al Mubarak Street, near Sultan Center, Salmiya
13. The Avenues
The Avenues Mall, Al Reggai near Al Rai, 5th Ring Road & Ghazali Road Intersection
Mirchi (Dig-Telugu) (Prabhas, Anushka Shetty) Plaza
Lokpal (Dig-Malayalam) Ajial 4 Metro 1
NB: Friday no show before 1:30 pm On Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday no show before 3.30 pm and after 11.15 pm in Sharq, Mohalab, Fanar, Marina, Al Kout, Bairaq, 360 and Avenues. On Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday no show before 5:30 pm in Plaza, Laila, Ajial, Metro and Granada. Regular show KD3:000; 3D-Digital — KD3.500; VIP show — KD6.000. ‘On Monday, price is KD1.500 except Digital movies. Movies inquiries and Fax Back hotline 1803456
Grand Al-Hamra, tel: 22270333, www.grandcinemas.com
18:15, 22:45 (Daily) 12:30 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 23:00 (Daily) 01:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Avenues 3 14:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16:15, 18:30, 20:45, 23:00 (Daily) 01:15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 360° 8 13:00 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 00:15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 15:15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 17:30, 19:45, 22:00 (Daily) Al-Kout 1 20:30 (Daily) 00:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Bairaq 3 19:30 (Daily) 23:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Grand cine 1 15:00, 17:30, 20:00, 22:15 (Daily) 00:30 (Thu, Fri) Marina 1
Broken City (Dig) (Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe) Sharqia 3 Muhalab 2 Fanar 2
16:30, 22:45 (Daily) 15:45, 22:15 (Daily) 16:00, 20:15 (Daily) 00:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon)
Marina 3 Avenues 7
22:30 (Daily) 13:00 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 15:30, 21:30 (Daily) 00:05 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 360° 4 13:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 (Daily) 23:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Al-Kout 3 15:30, 19:45 (Daily) 00:05 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Laila 20:15 (Daily) Grand cine 7 13:30, 16:00, 19:45, 22:00 (Daily) 00:15 (Thu, Fri)
Save Your Legs! (Dig) (David Lyons, Brenton Thwaites) Sharqia 3 Muhalab 2 Fanar 3 Marina 1 Avenues 8 360° 5
Al-Kout 2
18:45 (Daily) 18:00 (Daily) 17:30, 21:45 (Daily) 18:45 (Daily) 18:15, 20:15, 22:15 (Daily) 15:15 (Fri, Sat) 17:15 (Tue to Sun) 19:15, 21:15, 23:15 (Daily) 01:15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 19:00 (Daily)
The Guilt Trip (Dig) (Barbra Streisand, Seth Rogen) Fanar 1 16:00 (Daily) Marina 1 Avenues 1
14:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 15:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 19:30 (Daily) 360° 15 13:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 15:45, 18:00, 22:30 (Daily) Al-Kout 2 17:00 (Daily) Grand cine 8 14:00, 16:00, 18:00, 20:15, 22:15 (Daily)
Snowflake, The White Gorilla (Dig) (Claudia Abate, Pere Ponce) Fanar 3 15:45 (Daily) Marina 3 Avenues 8 360° 3 Al-Kout 4 Bairaq 3 Ajial 2
15:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 14:15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16:15 (Daily) 13:00 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 15:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 17:00, 19:00 (Daily) 15:45 (Daily) 15:30 (Daily) 16:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18:00 (Daily)
Special 26 (Dig) (Hindi) (Kajal Agarwal, Manoj Bajpai) Avenues 7 18:30 (Daily) 360° 14 Ajial 3
17:30 (Daily) 16:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 19:00, 22:00 (Daily)
Warm Bodies (Dig) (Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer) Avenues 8 00:15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 360° 15
20:15 (Daily) 00:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon)
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (Dig-3D)
Sharqia 3
(Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton) Avenues 9 20:45, 22:45 (Daily)
Fanar 2
15:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18:45, 21:45 (Daily) 15:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18:30, 21:30 (Daily)
IMAX Imax film programme at The Scientific Centre
Sunday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am Tornado Alley 3D 10:30 am, 2:30 pm, 5:30 pm, 7:30 pm, 9:30 pm To The Artic 3D 11:30 am, 3:30 pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 12:30 pm, 6:30 pm Born to be Wild 3D 4:30 pm, 8:30 pm
Monday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am Born to be Wild 3D 10:30 am, 3:30 pm, 9:30 pm Tornado Alley 3D 11:30 am, 5:30 pm, 7:30 pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 12:30 pm, 2:30 pm 8:30 pm To The Arctic 3D 4:30 pm, 6:30 pm
Tuesday
Mama (Dig)
Muhalab 2
18:30 (Daily) 21:45 (Thu, Fri, Mon) 15:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18:30, 21:30 (Daily) 15:45, 22:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18:45 (Daily) 21:45 (Sun, Tue, Wed)
(Mohanlal, Kavya Madhavan)
(Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) 12:30 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 14:30, 01:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 20:45 (Daily) 13:45, 00:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 20:15 (Daily) 14:00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon)
Ajial 1 Metro 2
14. The Scientific Center Opp Holiday Inn, Salmiya, Gulf Road IMAX
15. Grand Cinemas
20:30 (Daily) 23:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon)
00:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 360° 3 21:00, 23:00 (Daily) 360° 6 00:05 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Grand cine 5 17:00, 20:30, 22:30 (Daily)
‘Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters’ starring Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Peter Stormare is now showing in Kuwait cinemas.
Jayanta Bhai Ki Luv Story (Dig-Hindi)
Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am Tornado Alley 3D 10:30 am, 3:30 pm 6:30 pm, 8:30 pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 11:30 am, 5:30 pm, 9:30 pm To The Arctic 3D 12:30 pm, 7:30 pm Born to be Wild 3D 2:30 pm Journey to Mecca 4:30 pm
Wednesday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am To The Arctic 3D 10:30 am, 2:30 pm, 6:30 pm Tornado Alley 3D 11:30 am, 5:30 pm, 7:30 pm, 9:30 pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 12:30 pm, 3:30 pm, 8:30 pm Born to be Wild 3D 4:30 pm
Thursday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am Flight of Butterflies 3D 10:30 am, 2:30 pm 6:30 pm To The Arctic 3D 11:30 am, 8:30 pm Tornado Alley 3D 12:30 pm, 3:30 pm, 5:30 pm, 7:30 pm, 9:30 pm Born to be Wild 3D 4:30 pm
Friday Fires of Kuwait 2:30 pm Tornado Alley 3D 3:30 pm, 5:30 pm, 8:30 pm To The Arctic 3D 4:30 pm, 7:30 pm Born to be Wild 3D 6:30 pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 9:30 pm
Saturday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am Flight of Butterflies 3D 10:30 am, 1:30 pm, 8:30 pm Tornado Alley 3D 11:30 am, 2:30 pm, 5:30 pm, 7:30 pm, 9:30 pm To The Arctic 3D 12:30 pm, 6:30 pm Born to be Wild 3D 3:30 pm Journey to Mecca 4:30 pm Notes: All films are in Arabic. For English, headsets are available upon request. “Fires of Kuwait” is in English. Arabic headsets are available upon request. Film schedule is subject to changes without notice. For information call 1848888 or visit www.tsck.org.kw
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
34
Couch slouch
Dylan McDermott cast in CBS’s ‘Hostages’ drama pilot NEW YORK, Feb 19, (RTRS): Dylan McDermott will join Toni Collette in “Hostages”, a CBS drama pilot about a family caught in a vast political conspiracy. The star of FX’s “American Horror Story” will play Duncan, a righteous FBI agent at the center of it. Collette, the star of Showtime’s “United States of Tara,” was cast last month as Ellen, a surgeon chosen to operate on the
President. When her family is swept into the conspiracy, she has to save her husband and children. McDermott has previously starred on shows including “The Practice”, “Big Shots” and “Dark Blue”. He also appeared recently in the film “The Campaign”. “Traitor” director Jeffrey Nachmanoff is writing, directing and executive producing the pilot, which is based on an Israeli for-
mat created from Alon Aranya, Omri Givon and Rotem Shamir.. ❑ ❑ ❑ It didn’t take long for KaDee Strickland to line up another gig. Strickland, who played Dr Charlotte King on ABC’s “Private Practice” — which wrapped up its run late last month — has been cast in the NBC pilot “Bloodline.”
Executive-produced and directed by Pete Berg (“Friday Night Lights”), “Bloodline” is billed as a pulpy, highly stylized thrill ride that catapults the viewer into the cheeky world of Bird Benson, a smart, irreverent and strong young girl who, due to an accident of birth, finds herself caught in the middle of an epic struggle between two warrior families set against the backdrop of modern suburbia.
Strickland will play Stella Killpriest, Benson’s mother. . ❑ ❑ ❑ Krysten Ritter might have been rendered temporarily homeless when ABC evicted her comedy “Don’t Trust the B—— in Apt. 23” from its programming slate earlier this year, but at least she’s working again.
Ritter has been cast in the NBC comedy pilot “Assistance.” She’ll play Nora, an idealistic assistant who strives to please her larger-than-life boss as she attempts to find balance in her own life. The single-camera comedy is being written by Leslye Headland (“Bachelorette”), who’ll also executive produce, along with Headland, Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Chris Henchy and Owen Burke.
tv highlights Animal Planet 05:55 Call Of The Wildman 06:20 Escape To Chimp Eden 06:45 Shamwari: A Wild Life 07:10 Shamwari: A Wild Life 07:35 Wildlife SOS 08:00 The Really Wild Show 08:25 My Cat From Hell 09:15 Dogs 101 10:10 Animal Airport 10:35 Animal Airport 11:05 Wildest Arctic 12:00 Animal Cops Phoenix 12:55 Call Of The Wildman 13:20 Wildlife SOS 13:50 Wildlife SOS 14:45 Animal Precinct 15:40 Wildest Arctic 16:30 Escape To Chimp Eden 17:00 The Really Wild Show 17:30 Dogs 101 18:25 Weird Creatures With Nick Baker 19:20 Breed All About It 19:45 Breed All About It 20:15 Bondi Vet 20:40 Safari Vet School 21:10 Call Of The Wildman 21:35 Escape To Chimp Eden 22:05 Wildest Arctic 23:00 Mutant Planet 23:55 Daniel And Our Cats 00:50 Animal Cops South Africa 01:45 Great Animal Escapes 02:10 Great Animal Escapes 02:35 I'm Alive 03:25 Wildest Arctic 04:15 Mutant Planet 05:05 Daniel And Our Cats 05:55 Call Of The Wildman
BBC Lifestyle 06:05 Living In The Sun 07:00 House Swap 07:45 Perfect Day 08:10 Homes Under The Hammer 09:00 Bargain Hunt 09:45 Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds 10:30 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 11:10 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 11:50 MasterChef 12:40 Come Dine With Me 13:30 Perfect Day 13:55 Baking Made Easy 14:20 10 Years Younger 15:10 Bargain Hunt 15:55 Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds 16:40 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 17:20 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 18:00 Homes Under The Hammer 18:50 Rick Stein's Spain 19:45 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 20:10 French Food At Home 20:30 Come Dine With Me 21:20 Perfect Day 21:45 Celebrity Fantasy Homes 22:30 Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds 23:15 Bargain Hunt 00:00 Homes Under The Hammer 00:50 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 01:30 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 02:10 10 Years Younger 03:00 MasterChef 03:55 House Swap 04:40 Bargain Hunt 05:30 Living In The Sun
General
Boomerang 06:00 Bananas In Pyjamas 06:25 Gerald McBoing Boing 06:45 Jelly Jamm 07:00 Ha Ha Hairies 07:25 Baby Looney Tunes 07:50 Lazy Town 08:15 Krypto The Superdog 08:40 Jelly Jamm 09:05 Gerald McBoing Boing 09:30 Cartoonito Tales 09:55 Bananas In Pyjamas 10:20 Ha Ha Hairies 10:45 Lazy Town 11:10 Krypto The Superdog 11:35 Baby Looney Tunes 12:00 Jelly Jamm 12:25 Gerald McBoing Boing 12:50 Cartoonito Tales 13:15 Krypto The Superdog 13:40 Lazy Town 14:00 A Pup Named Scooby-Doo 14:25 Tom And Jerry Tales 14:50 Sylvester And Tweety Mysteries 15:20 Johnny Bravo 15:45 Tom & Jerry 16:10 Pink Panther And Pals 16:35 The Garfield Show 17:00 What's New ScoobyDoo? 17:25 Sylvester And Tweety Mysteries 17:50 Tom And Jerry Tales 18:15 The Looney Tunes Show 18:40 Taz-Mania 19:05 Moomins 19:30 Pink Panther & Pals 19:45 The Garfield Show 20:00 Sylvester And Tweety Mysteries 20:20 Tom And Jerry Tales 20:45 Moomins 21:10 Dexters Laboratory 21:20 Johnny Bravo 21:35 Puppy In My Pocket 22:00 The Garfield Show 22:25 What's New Scooby-Doo? 22:50 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries 23:15 Tom & Jerry Tales 23:40 The Looney Tunes Show 00:05 Taz-Mania 00:30 Pink Panther And Pals 00:55 Moomins 01:20 Tom & Jerry Kids 01:45 A Pup Named Scooby-Doo 02:10 Puppy In My Pocket 02:35 Wacky Races 03:00 Looney Tunes 03:25 Duck Dodgers 03:50 Dastardly And Muttley 04:00 Dexter's Laboratory 04:30 Wacky Races 04:55 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries 05:20 Tom & Jerry 05:45 The Garfield Show 06:00 Bananas In Pyjamas
Cartoon Network 06:05 Ben 10 06:30 Ben 10 06:55 Angelo Rules 07:00 Casper's Scare School 07:30 Casper's Scare School 08:00 Mucha Lucha 08:25 Johnny Test 08:45 Adventure Time 09:05 Total Drama World Tour 09:30 Total Drama World Tour 09:55 Ben 10: Omniverse 10:20 Young Justice 10:45 Thundercats 11:10 Regular Show 12:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 12:50 Foster's Home For... 13:15 Foster's Home For... 13:40 Courage The Cowardly Dog 14:30 Powerpuff Girls 15:20 Angelo Rules 16:10 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 16:35 Young Justice 17:00 Ben 10: Omniverse 17:20 Transformers Prime 17:40 Johnny Test 18:00 Level Up 18:25 The Amazing World Of Gumball 18:50 Adventure Time 19:15 Regular Show 19:40 Mucha Lucha 20:05 Total Drama World Tour 20:30 Total Drama World Tour 20:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 21:20 Hero 108 21:45 Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge 22:10 Grim Adventures Of... 23:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 23:25 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 23:50 The Powerpuff Girls 00:40 Chowder 01:30 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 01:55 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 02:20 Foster's Home For... 02:45 Foster's Home For... 03:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 04:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 04:25 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 04:50 Adventure Time 05:15 The
News
Al-Jazeera 00:00 NEWSHOUR 01:00 News 01:30 Earthrise 02:00 NEWSHOUR 03:00 News 03:30 Inside Story 04:00 Revolution Through Arab Eyes 05:00 NEWSHOUR 06:00 News 06:30 Viewfinder Latin America 07:00 News 07:30 The Stream 08:00 News 08:30 News 09:00 Witness 10:00 News 10:30 Inside Story 11:00 News 11:30 The Stream 12:00 News 12:30 Earthrise 13:00 NEWSHOUR 14:00 News 14:30 Inside Story 15:00 Al Jazeera World 16:00 NEWSHOUR 17:00 News 17:30 The Stream 18:00 NEWSHOUR 19:00 News 19:30 People & Power 20:00 News 20:30 Inside Story 21:00 NEWSHOUR 22:00 News 22:30 The Stream 23:00 Witness
Movies
MBC Action 09:00 Cold Case 09:45 CSI 10:30 Bones 11:15 Most Daring 12:00 Driven 13:00 CSI 13:45 Cold Case 14:30 Bones 15:30 Action Ya Dawry 16:30 Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life 18:00 NCIS 19:00 WWE Superstars 20:00 The Quest 22:00 The Mentalist 23:30 Action Ya Dawry 00:00 Sorrority Row 02:00 Action Ya Dawry 03:00 Rome 04:00 The Quest 05:30 WWE Superstars 06:30 The Mentalist 07:45 Bones 08:15 Human Target
MBC 2 09:30 Baby Mama 11:30 Mortal Kombat 13:00 Feel The Noise 15:00 Two For The Money 17:00 Jurassic Park III 19:00 Furry
tv today Powerpuff Girls 05:40 Generator Rex 06:05 Ben 10
Crime & Investigation 06:00 Murder Casebook With Fred Dinenage 07:00 The FBI Files 08:00 The FBI Files 09:00 Psychic Detectives 09:30 Psychic Detectives 10:00 Crime Stories 11:00 Snapped: Women Who Kill 11:30 Snapped: Women Who Kill 12:00 I Didn't Do It 13:00 The Devil You Know 14:00 Evil Up Close 15:00 Murder Casebook With Fred Dinenage 16:00 The FBI Files 17:00 Psychic Detectives 17:30 Psychic Detectives 18:00 Crime Stories 19:00 The FBI Files 20:00 Murder Casebook With Fred Dinenage 21:00 Snapped: Women Who Kill 21:30 Snapped: Women Who Kill 22:00 The Devil You Know 23:00 Paranormal State 23:30 Paranormal State 00:00 Psychic Detectives 00:30 Psychic Detectives 01:00 The Suffolk Strangler 02:00 Watching The Detectives 03:00 Psychic Detectives 03:30 Psychic Detectives 04:00 Paranormal State 04:30 Paranormal State 05:00 Snapped: Women Who Kill 05:30 Snapped: Women Who Kill 06:00 Murder Casebook With Fred Dinenage
Discovery Channel 06:05 American Guns 07:00 Mythbusters 07:50 Fine Dining With Bear Grylls 08:45 Outback Truckers 09:40 Border Security 10:05 Auction Kings 10:30 Auction Hunters 10:55 How Do They Do It? 11:25 How It's Made 11:50 Flying Wild Alaska 12:45 Man, Woman, Wild 13:40 Finding Bigfoot 14:35 Border Security 15:05 Auction Kings 15:30 Auction Hunters 16:00 Unchained Reaction 16:55 Outback Truckers 17:50 Mythbusters 18:45 American Guns 19:40 How Do They Do It? 20:05 How It's Made 20:35 Auction Kings 21:00 Auction Hunters 21:30 Magic Of Science 21:55 Time Warp 22:25 Mythbusters 23:20 Mythbusters 00:15 Magic Of Science 00:40 Time Warp 01:10 Mythbusters 02:05 Mythbusters 03:00 Mythbusters 03:55 Border Security 04:20 Auction Kings 04:50 Auction Hunters 05:15 How Do They Do It? 05:40 How It's Made 06:05 American Guns
Disney Channel 06:15 Suite Life On Deck 06:40 My Babysitter's A Vampire 07:05 A.N.T. Farm 07:30 Phineas And Ferb 07:40 Phineas And Ferb 07:55 Jessie 08:20 Good Luck Charlie 08:45 Doc McStuffins 09:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 09:25 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 09:35 The Hive 09:45 Mouk 10:00 Jonas 10:25 So Random 10:50 Hannah Montana 11:15 Sonny With A Chance 11:40 Kim Possible 12:05 Shake It Up 12:30 Wizards Of Waverly Place 12:55 Phineas And Ferb 13:20 Austin And Ally 13:45 Art Attack 14:10 A.N.T. Farm 14:35 Suite Life On Deck 15:00 My Babysitter's A Vampire 15:25 Shake It Up 15:50 Austin And Ally 16:15 Jessie 16:40 A.N.T. Farm 17:00 Good Luck Charlie 17:30 Gravity Falls 17:55 Suite Life On Deck 18:20 Austin And Ally 18:45 Phineas And Ferb 18:55 Phineas And Ferb 19:10 A.N.T. Farm 19:35 Good Luck Charlie 20:00 Jessie 20:30 That's So Raven 20:50 Cory In The House 21:15 Phil Of The Future 21:40 Hannah Montana 22:05 Good Luck Charlie 22:30 Good Luck Charlie 22:55 Wizards Of Waverly Place 23:20 Wizards Of Waverly Place 23:45 Hannah Montana 00:10 Hannah Montana 00:35 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 01:00 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 01:25 Replacements 01:50 Replacements 02:15 Emperor's New School 02:40 Emperor's New School 03:05 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 03:30 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 03:55 Replacements 04:20 Replacements 04:45 Emperor's New School 05:10 Emperor's New School 05:35 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 06:00 Phineas And Ferb 06:15 Suite Life On Deck
Disney Junior 06:15 Jungle Junction 06:30 Little Einsteins 06:50 Special Agent Oso 07:05 Special Agent Oso 07:15 Jungle Junction 07:30 Jungle Junction 07:45 Handy Manny 08:00 Special Agent Oso 08:15 Imagination Movers 08:40 Cars Toons 08:45 Handy Manny 09:00 The Hive 09:10 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 09:35 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 09:50 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 10:05 Doc McStuffins 10:20 Doc McStuffins 10:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 11:00 Lilo And Stitch 11:30 Cars Toons 11:35 Mouk 11:45 Art Attack 12:10 The Adventures Of Disney Fairies 12:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 13:00 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 13:10 Doc McStuffins 13:25 Handy Manny 13:40 Jungle Junction 13:55 Timmy Time 14:05 The Hive 14:15 Mouk 14:30 Little Einsteins 14:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 15:20 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 15:45 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 16:00 The Little Mermaid 16:25 Lilo And Stitch 16:55 Zou 17:10 Zou 17:20 Handy Manny 17:35 The Hive 17:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 18:10 Doc McStuffins 18:25 Doc McStuffins 18:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 18:55 Jake
BBC World 06:00 BBC World News 06:30 World Business Report 06:45 BBC World News 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 World Business Report 07:45 BBC World News 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 Hardtalk 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 Sport Today 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 BBC World News 11:00 GMT With George Alagiah 11:30 GMT With George Alagiah 12:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 12:30 Impact With Mishal Husain 13:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 13:30 Hardtalk 14:00 BBC World News 14:30 BBC World News 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 World Business Report 15:45 Sport Today 16:00 BBC World News 16:30 BBC Focus On Africa 17:00
Vengeance 21:00 War Of The Worlds 23:00 88 Minutes 01:00 One Hour Photo 02:30 The Pleasure Drivers 04:00 V.I. Warshawski 05:30 Judge Dredd 07:00 The Life Of David Gale
OSN Movies Action HD 06:00 Tank Girl 08:00 True Justice: Vengeance Is Mine 10:00 Do No Harm 12:00 Enter The Phoenix 14:00 True Justice: Vengeance Is Mine 15:45 Mission: Impossible 17:45 Enter The Phoenix 19:30 Monsters 21:15 Street Kings 2: Motor City 23:00 The Godfather II 02:30 Monsters 04:15 True Justice: Vengeance Is Mine 06:00 Enter The Phoenix
OSN Cinema 07:00 Black Forest 09:00 Feed The Fish
Sports TV listings — See Page 48 —
15:30 Vicky Goes Foreign – Canada Tadka 16:00 Lock Stock And Two Smoking Tikkas 16:30 Tech Grand Masters 2 17:00 Braking Bread With Ad Singh 17:30 Highway On My Plate 18:00 Ten Things To Do Around The World 18:30 Ten Things To Do Around The World 19:00 Vicky Goes Foreign – Canada Tadka 19:30 Royal Reservation Project Living 20:00 Yogacity 20:30 Life Is A Beach 21:00 Model TV classic 21:30 Bikini Destinations 22:00 Tele Shopping 22:30 Tele Shopping 23:00 Tele Shopping 23:30 Tele Shopping 00:00 Tele Shopping 00:30 Tele Shopping 01:00 Tele Shopping 01:30 Tele Shopping 02:00 Tele Shopping 02:30 Tele Shopping 03:00 Tele Shopping 03:30 Tele Shopping 04:00 Tele Shopping 04:30 Tele Shopping 05:00 Tele Shopping 05:30 Tele Shopping
& The Neverland Pirates 19:10 The Adventures Of Disney Fairies 19:35 Zou 19:50 Zou 20:05 Timmy Time 20:15 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 20:25 Doc McStuffins 20:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 20:55 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 21:10 The Hive 21:20 Timmy Time 21:30 Mouk 21:45 Handy Manny 22:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 22:25 The Hive 22:35 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 23:00 Timmy Time 23:10 Animated Stories 23:20 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 23:30 Jungle Junction 23:45 Handy Manny 23:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 00:20 Little Einsteins 00:50 Special Agent Oso 01:00 Special Agent Oso 01:15 Lazytown 01:40 Jungle Junction 01:55 Jungle Junction 02:10 Handy Manny 02:20 Handy Manny 02:30 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 03:00 Lazytown 03:25 Special Agent Oso 03:40 Special Agent Oso 03:50 Imagination Movers 04:20 Handy Manny 04:30 Handy Manny 04:40 Special Agent Oso 04:50 Special Agent Oso 05:00 Timmy Time 05:10 Lazytown 05:35 Little Einsteins 06:00 Jungle Junction 06:15 Jungle Junction
Whisperer
Disney XD
07:00 Murdoch Mysteries 08:00 60 Minute Makeover 09:00 Jeremy Kyle USA 10:00 Emmerdale 11:00 Coronation Street 12:00 Come Dine With Me Ireland 12:30 Coach Trip 13:00 Lewis 15:00 Murdoch Mysteries 16:00 60 Minute Makeover 17:00 Jeremy Kyle USA 18:00 Emmerdale 19:00 Coronation Street 20:00 Come Dine With Me Ireland 20:30 Coach Trip 21:00 The Jury 22:00 Dirk Gently 23:00 Underbelly 00:00 60 Minute Makeover 01:00 Jeremy Kyle USA 02:00 Emmerdale 03:00 Coronation Street 04:00 Come Dine With Me Ireland 04:30 Coach Trip 05:00 The Jury 06:00 Dirk Gently
06:00 Seinfeld 06:30 Hope & Faith 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Less Than Perfect 08:30 Less Than Perfect 09:00 The Simpsons 09:30 How I Met Your Mother 10:00 Modern Family 10:30 Hope & Faith 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Seinfeld 12:30 Less Than Perfect 13:00 Less Than Perfect 13:30 Hope & Faith 14:00 Raising Hope 14:30 Modern Family 15:00 How I Met Your Mother 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Seinfeld 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 The Simpsons 18:30 Raising Hope 19:00 Allen Gregory 19:30 The Mindy Project 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 The League 22:30 Louie 23:00 Veep 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 The League 02:00 Louie 02:30 Veep 03:00 The Simpsons 03:30 Raising Hope 04:00 Less Than Perfect 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Less Than Perfect 06:00 Seinfeld
Nat Geo Adventure HD
OSN First
06:15 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 3 06:40 Food Lover's Guide To The Planet 07:10 Exploring The Vine 07:35 Kimchi Chronicles 08:05 Around The World For Free 09:00 A World Apart 09:55 Long Way Down 10:50 Banged Up Abroad 11:45 City Chase Rome 12:40 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 13:35 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 3 14:00 Food School 14:30 Exploring The Vine 14:55 Kimchi Chronicles 15:25 Around The World For Free 16:20 A World Apart 17:15 Long Way Down 18:10 Banged Up Abroad 19:05 City Chase Rome 20:00 Exploring The Vine 20:30 Kimchi Chronicles 21:00 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 3 21:30 Delinquent Gourmet 22:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 22:55 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 3 23:20 Food Lover's Guide To The Planet 23:50 Eccentric Uk 00:15 Eccentric Uk 00:45 Amish: Out of Order 01:40 Meet The Amish 02:35 Bondi Rescue 03:00 Bondi Rescue 03:30 Bondi Rescue 03:55 Bondi Rescue 04:25 Travel Oz 04:50 Travel Oz 05:20 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 06:15 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 3
08:00 Emmerdale 08:30 Coronation Street 09:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 10:00 Jane By Design 13:00 In Plain Sight 14:00 Jane By Design 15:00 Live Good Morning America 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Coronation Street 19:00 The Finder 20:00 Franklin & Bash 21:00 Awake 22:00 The Carrie Diaries 00:00 Franklin & Bash 01:00 Awake 02:00 The Carrie Diaries 03:00 The Finder 05:00 Good Morning America 08:00 Emmerdale
07:00 Kickin It 07:25 Phineas And Ferb 07:50 Almost Naked Animals 08:15 Crash & Bernstein 08:40 Slugterra 09:05 Scaredy Squirrel 09:30 Ultimate Spider-Man 09:55 Zeke & Luther 10:20 Kick Buttowski 10:45 I'm In The Band 11:10 Rekkit Rabbit 11:35 Rated A For Awesome 12:00 Iron Man Armored Adventures 12:25 American Dragon 12:50 Kick Buttowski 13:20 Pair Of Kings 13:45 Zeke & Luther 14:10 Kick Buttowski 14:35 I'm In The Band 15:00 Phineas And Ferb 15:25 Kickin It 15:50 Rekkit Rabbit 16:15 Pair Of Kings 16:40 Almost Naked Animals 17:05 Lab Rats 17:30 Slugterra 18:00 Crash & Bernstein 18:25 Crash & Bernstein 18:50 Crash & Bernstein 19:15 Crash & Bernstein 19:40 Mr. Young 20:05 Slugterra 20:30 Crash & Bernstein 20:55 I'm In The Band 21:20 Rated A For Awesome 21:45 Rekkit Rabbit 22:10 Phineas And Ferb 22:35 Ultimate Spider-Man 23:05 Kick Buttowski 23:30 Scaredy Squirrel 00:00 Programmes Start At 7:00am KSA 07:00 Kickin It
E! Entertainment 06:00 15 Remarkable Celebrity Body Bouncebacks 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 Opening Act 09:15 Opening Act 10:15 THS 12:05 Khloe And Lamar 12:35 Khloe And Lamar 13:05 Married To Jonas 13:35 Married To Jonas 14:05 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 14:30 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 15:00 Style Star 15:30 THS 16:30 Behind The Scenes 17:00 Giuliana & Bill 18:00 THS 18:30 E!es 19:00 Fashion Police 20:00 THS 21:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 22:00 Ice Loves Coco 22:30 Giuliana & Bill 23:30 Chelsea Lately 00:00 Opening Act 00:55 Style Star 01:25 THS 02:20 THS 03:15 Behind The Scenes 03:40 Extreme Close-Up 04:10 THS 05:05 THS 06:00 THS
Food Network 05:40 Chopped 06:30 Iron Chef America 07:10 Unwrapped 07:35 Unwrapped 08:00 Food Network Challenge 08:50 Kid In A Candy Store 09:15 Unwrapped 09:40 Food Crafters 10:05 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 10:30 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 10:55 Cooking For Real 11:20 Easy Chinese 11:45 Easy Chinese 12:10 Mexican Made Easy 12:35 Mexican Made Easy 13:00 Iron Chef America 13:50 Symon's Suppers 14:15 Unique Sweets 14:40 Unique Sweets 15:05 World Cafe Asia 15:30 Easy Chinese 15:55 Easy Chinese 16:20 Food Crafters 16:45 Chopped 17:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 18:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 19:15 Symon's Suppers 19:40 Charly's Cake Angels 20:05 Guy's Big Bite 20:30 Chopped 21:20 Chopped 22:10 Iron Chef America 23:00 Charly's Cake Angels 23:25 Charly's Cake Angels 23:50 Unique Sweets 00:15 Unique Sweets 00:40 Diners, DriveIns & Dives 01:05 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 01:30 Andy Bates Street Feasts 01:55 Andy Bates Street Feasts 02:20 Unwrapped 02:45 Charly's Cake Angels 03:10 Charly's Cake Angels 03:35 Unique Sweets 04:00 Unique Sweets 04:20 Kid In A Candy Store 04:50 Unique Sweets 05:15 Charly's Cake Angels 05:40 Chopped
Fox TV 05:30 Lie To Me 06:30 Flash Forward 07:00 Baby TV 08:00 Ghost Whisperer 09:00 AlMaw3ed Al3emyani 10:00 Flash Forward 11:00 CSI Miami 12:00 The Block 13:00 Al Qalb Al Maftooh 14:00 The Listener 15:00 MasterChef Australia 16:00 Lie To Me 17:00 Scrubs 17:30 CSI Miami 18:30 The Block 19:15 Al Qalb Al Maftooh 20:00 MasterChef Australia 21:00 Glee 22:00 Scrubs 22:30 CSI Miami 23:30 MasterChef Australia 00:30 Al Qalb Al Maftooh 01:30 Ghost Whisperer 02:30 Glee 03:30 Ghost Whisperer 04:30 CSI Miami 05:30 Ghost
BBC World News 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 18:30 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 19:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 19:30 World Business Report 19:45 Sport Today 20:00 Business Edition With Tanya Beckett 20:30 Hardtalk 21:00 BBC World News America 21:30 BBC World News America 22:00 Newsday 22:30 Asia Business Report 22:45 Sport Today 23:00 Newsday 23:30 Asia Business Report 23:45 Sport Today 00:00 Newsday 00:30 Asia Business Report 00:45 Sport Today 01:00 BBC World News 01:30 Asia Business Report 01:45 Sport Today 02:00 BBC World News 02:30 Asia Business Report 02:45 Sport Today 03:00 BBC World News 03:30
Investigation Discovery 05:30 Dr G: Medical Examiner 06:20 Ghost Lab 07:10 Murder Shift 08:00 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 08:50 Street Patrol 09:15 Street Patrol 09:40 Real Emergency Calls 10:05 Who On Earth Did I Marry? 10:30 On The Case With Paula Zahn 11:20 Murder Shift 12:10 Disappeared 13:00 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 13:50 Street Patrol 14:15 Street Patrol 14:40 Forensic Detectives 15:30 On The Case With Paula Zahn 16:20 Real Emergency Calls 16:45 Who On Earth Did I Marry? 17:10 Disappeared 18:00 Murder Shift 18:50 Forensic Detectives 19:40 On The Case With Paula Zahn 20:30 Disappeared 21:20 Nightmare Next Door 22:10 Couples Who Kill 23:00 American Greed 23:50 I Almost Got Away With It 00:40 I Almost Got Away With It 01:30 Dr G: Medical Examiner 02:20 Ghost Lab 03:05 American Greed 03:55 I Almost Got Away With It 04:45 I Almost Got Away With It 05:30 Dr G: Medical Examiner
ITV Granada
Nat Geo Channel HD 06:00 Departures 07:00 Engineering Connections 08:00 Naked Science S2.5 09:00 The Known Universe 10:00 The Known Universe 11:00 Departures 12:00 Helicopter Wars 13:00 Hooked 14:00 Departures 15:00 Engineering Connections 16:00 Naked Science 17:00 The Known Universe 18:00 The Known Universe 19:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 20:00 Situation Critical 21:00 Shark Men 22:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 23:00 Engineering Connections 00:00 Naked Science S2.5 01:00 Fight Masters 02:00 Crash Science 03:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 04:00 Situation Critical 05:00 Shark Men 06:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy
Nat Geo Wild HD 05:35 The Phantom Cat 06:30 Triumph of Life 07:25 Dangerous Encounters 08:20 World's Deadliest Animals 09:15 Salmon Wars 10:10 Dangerous Encounters 11:05 Hunter Hunted 12:00 Monster Fish 13:00 Triumph of Life 14:00 Dangerous Encounters 15:00 World's Deadliest Animals 16:00 Raptor Force 17:00 Cheetah: Fatal Instinct 18:00 Hunter Hunted 19:00 Hooked 20:00 Cheetah: Fatal Instinct 21:00 World's Deadliest Animals 22:00 Salmon Wars 23:00 Dangerous Encounters 00:00 Hunter Hunted 01:00 Monster Fish 01:55 Sahara 02:50 Triumph of Life 03:45 My Life Is A Zoo 04:40 World's Wildest Encounters 05:35 Cheetah: Fatal Instinct
NDTV Good Times 06:00 Tele Shopping 06:30 Yogacity 07:00 Chakh Le India 07:30 Gourmet Central 08:00 Gourmet Central 08:30 Love Bites With Joey 09:00 A Whole New World 09:30 A Whole New World 10:00 I am Too Sexy For My Shoes 10:30 Vicky Goes Veg 11:00 Heavy Petting 11:30 Lock Stock And Two Smoking Tikkas 12:00 Whatever Whenever Wherever 12:30 Love Bites With Joey 13:00 Chakh Le India Kacha Rasta 13:30 Highway On My Plate 14:00 Yogacity 14:30 Gadget Guru 15:00 2 For The Road
Hardtalk 04:00 BBC World News World Business Report 04:45 BBC News 05:00 BBC World News World Business Report 05:45 BBC News 06:00 BBC World News
04:30 World 05:30 World
CNN International 06:00 Quest Means Business 07:00 The Situation Room 08:00 World Sport 08:30 News Special 09:00 World Report 10:00 World Report 11:00 World Sport 11:30 Inside Africa 12:00 World Business Today 13:00 Amanpour 13:30 On China 14:00 World One 15:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 16:00 News Stream 17:00 World Business Today 18:00 International Desk 19:00 Global Exchange 20:00 World Sport 20:30 On China 21:00 International Desk 22:00 Quest Means Business 23:00 Amanpour
11:00 Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back 13:00 An Invisible Sign Of My Own 15:00 Blank Slate 17:00 Henry's Crime 19:00 The People vs George Lucas 21:00 The Big Bang 23:00 Snowtown-R 01:00 Henry's Crime 03:00 Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back 05:00 An Invisible Sign Of My Own 07:00 Blank Slate
OSN Movies Festival
OSN Movies Comedy
OSN Movies HD
06:00 The Ladykillers 08:00 The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom 10:00 Just Crazy Enough 12:00 Zookeeper 14:00 ScoobyDoo! Curse Of The Lake Monster 16:00 Just Crazy Enough 20:00 Old School 22:00 The Guru 00:00 Girl Walks Into A Bar 02:00 Old School 06:00 Just Crazy Enough
07:00 Certain Prey 09:00 Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer 10:45 Transformers: Dark Of The Moon 13:15 Battle For Terra 15:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules 17:00 Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer 19:00 The Beaver 21:00 The Big Bang 23:00 In Time 01:00 Roadie 03:00 Judy Moody And The
06:30 The Evening Star 08:45 Justice For Natalee Holloway 10:15 Soldier Love Story 11:45 Loosies 13:15 Roger And Me 15:00 Soldier Love Story 17:00 Sunshine State 19:00 Frozen 21:00 Hugo 23:15 Adaptation 01:15 The Art Of Getting By 03:00 Hugo 05:15 Frozen 07:00 Roger And Me
OSN Comedy
OSN Aksyon TV 05:45 Relasyon 07:45 Wanted With Raffy Tulfo 09:45 Punto Asintado 11:45 Presinto 5 12:15 Bilang Tao 12:30 PBA Games 17:00 Astig 17:15 Andar Ng Mga Balita 18:15 PBA Games 23:00 Pilipinas News 23:25 Reaksyon 23:45 T3 Reload: Balita't Serbisyo, Ora Mismo! 00:15 Medyo Late Night With Jojo A. All The Way 00:45 Aksyon 01:30 Bilang Tao 01:45 Good Morning Club 03:45 Andar Ng Mga Balita 04:45 T3 Reload: Balita't Serbisyo, Ora Mismo! 05:15 Pilipinas News 05:40 Astig 05:45 Relasyon
OSN GMA Life TV 05:40 Personalan 06:25 Tim Yap Show 06:40 Pop Talk 07:05 Golden Heart 07:35 Misery 08:05 Kusina Master 08:30 Quickfire 08:40 Sarap At Home 08:50 Pinoy Sine Klasika 10:30 Balitanghali 11:40 Quickfire 11:50 Sarap At Home 12:00 Golden Heart 12:30 Misery 13:00 Reel Life 1 14:50 Balitanghali 16:00 Camera Cafe 16:05 Personalan 16:50 Kusina Master 17:10 Reel Life 2 19:00 The 700 Club Asia 20:00 Mars 20:35 Personalan 21:20 Tim Yap Show 21:40 Balitanghali 22:45 Golden Heart 23:15 Misery 23:45 Camera Cafe 23:50 Kusina Master 00:10 Reel Life 1 02:05 The 700 Club Asia 03:05 Reel Life 2 05:00 Camera Cafe 05:05 Mars 05:40 Personalan
OSN GMA Pinoy TV 07:45 Tunay Na Buhay 08:20 Bukod Kang Pinagpala 08:50 Forever 09:20 Rescue 09:50 Paroa 10:20 Yesterday's Bride 10:50 Pahiram Ng Sandali 11:25 Eat Bulaga 13:20 Pepito Manaloto, Ang Tunay Na Kuwento 14:10 24 Oras 15:20 Forever 15:50 Bukod Kang Pinagpala 16:20 Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho 16:50 Paroa 17:20 Temptation Of Wife 17:50 Indio 18:20 24 Oras 19:30 Pahiram Ng Sandali 20:00 Yesterday's Bride 20:30 Eat Bulaga 22:15 IWitness 22:50 Imbestigador 23:40 Saksi 00:15 Wish Ko lang 00:50 Temptation Of Wife 01:25 Indio 02:00 Yesterday's Bride 02:35 Pahiram Ng Sandali 03:10 Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho 04:05 Design Para SA Lahat 04:45 Saksi 05:10 Unang Hirit 07:45 Reporters Notebook
OSN Kapatid TV5 06:00 Ang Latest 06:30 Good Morning Club 08:30 Alabang Housewives 09:00 Jeepney Jackpot: Pera O Para 09:30 Sharon 10:30 Face To Face 11:30 Ang Latest 12:00 Never Say Goodbye 12:45 Kidlat 13:30 Wowowillie 15:30 Face To Face 16:30 Alabang Housewives 17:00 Jeepney Jackpot: Pera O Para 17:30 Aksyon 18:15
23:30 CNN Newscenter 00:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson 01:00 Amanpour 01:30 World Sport 02:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 03:00 World Report 03:30 World Sport 04:00 Anderson Cooper 360 05:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 06:00 Quest Means Business
OSN News 06:00 MSNBC The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell 07:00 NBC Nightly News 07:30 ABC World News With Diane Sawyer 08:00 NBC Nightly News 08:38 ABC Nightline 09:06 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 10:00 MSNBC The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell 11:00 ABC World News Now 11:30 Live ABC World News Now 12:00 NBC Early Today 12:30 ABC America This Morning 13:00
Not Bummer Summer 05:00 Battle For Terra 06:45 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
OSN Movies Kids 06:00 The Great Bear 08:00 Turandot 10:00 Hop 11:45 Zathura: A Space Adventure 13:30 The Fantastic Adventure Of The Ugly Duckling 15:00 Hey Arnold! The Movie 16:15 Queen Of The Swallows 18:00 Hop 20:00 Valentina 22:00 The Fantastic Adventure Of The Ugly Duckling 23:30 Queen Of The Swallows 01:00 Turandot 02:45 Valentina 04:30 The Fantastic Adventure Of The Ugly Duckling 06:00 Hop
OSN Premiere 06:00 The Hairy Tooth Fairy 2 08:00 I Don't
T3 Reload: Balita't Serbisyo, Ora Mismo! 18:45 Wowowillie 20:45 Never Say Goodbye 21:30 Kidlat 22:15 Pilipinas News 22:40 Reaksyon 23:00 Face To Face 00:00 Ang Latest 00:30 Rescue 5 01:00 Pilipinas News 01:25 Reaksyon 01:45 Loko Moko U 02:45 Pinoy Explorer 03:45 T3 Reload: Balita't Serbisyo, Ora Mismo! 04:15 Aksyon 05:00 Sharon 06:00 Ang Latest
OSN MnITV 05:30 In The Fishbowl 06:30 Ikaw SA Puso Ko 07:00 Especially For You 07:30 The Daily Top 10 08:30 Pinoy Sinebisyon 10:30 Iskul Bukol 11:30 Kalipay SA Kasakit 12:00 Honorabol 12:30 Ikaw SA Puso Ko 13:00 Pinoy Movie Fiesta 15:00 This Is Life 16:00 The OPM Show 16:30 Stop, Talk And Listen 17:30 Kalipay SA Kasakit 18:00 Honorabol 18:30 Ok Ka Fairy Ko 19:30 Ikaw SA Puso Ko 20:00 Pinoy Movie Fiesta 22:00 Especially For You 22:30 The Daily Top 10 23:30 The OPM Show 00:00 Ok Ka Fairy Ko 01:00 Stop, Talk And Listen 02:00 Pinoy Movie Fiesta 04:00 Kalipay SA Kasakit 04:30 Honorabol 05:00 The Daily Top 10 05:30 Mustard Seed
OSN Pinoy Extreme 07:00 Inside Motoring 08:00 Greatest Games MVP 10:00 Kamao Kontra Kamao 11:00 Greatest Games MVP 13:00 PBA Greatest Games 15:00 Kamao Kontra Kamao 16:00 Inside Grand Prix 17:00 Greatest Games MVP 19:00 Greatest Games MVP 21:00 Inside Grand Prix 22:00 Kamao Kontra Kamao 23:00 Greatest Games MVP 01:00 Greatest Games MVP 03:00 Oras Ng Himala 04:00 Kamao Kontra Kamao 05:00 PBA Greatest Games 07:00 Inside Grand Prix
TFC Kapamilya Channel 2 08:00 Kris TV 09:00 Inazuma 11 09:30 Blue Dragon 09:45 You’re Still The One 10:20 Oh La La Couple 11:00 Minute To Win it 11:30 Be Careful with my Heart 12:30 It’s Showtime 02:30 May Isang Pangarap 03:30 Precious Hearts Romance: Paraiso 04:15 A Gentleman’s Dignity 04:45 Pinoy True Stories 05:15 Rooftop Prince 05:45 Kahit Konting Pagtingin 06:30 TV Patrol World 07:30 Juan dela Cruz 08:15 Ina Kapatid Anak 09:00 Apoy Sa Dagat 09:45 Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw 10:15 Bandila 11:00 Ako Ang Simula 04:15 Matanglawin 05:00 Umagang Kay Ganda 08:00 Kris TV
The History Channel 06:00 Pawn Stars 06:30 American Restoration 07:00 Ancient Aliens 08:00 Pawn Stars 08:30 Storage Wars 09:00 Mud Men 10:00 Pawn Stars 10:30 American Restoration 11:00 Pawn Stars 11:30 Storage Wars 12:00 Ancient Aliens 13:00 Storage Wars 13:30 Storage Wars Texas 14:00 American Pickers 15:00 Pawn Stars 15:30 American Restoration 16:00 Mud Men 17:00 Storage Wars 17:30 Storage Wars Texas 18:00 American Pickers 19:00 Pawn Stars 19:30 American Restoration 20:00 Mud Men 21:00 Pawn Stars 21:30 Storage Wars 22:00 Ancient Aliens 23:00 Ancient Aliens 00:00 Grave Trade 01:00 Pawn Stars 01:30 Storage Wars 02:00 Ancient Aliens 03:00 Ancient Aliens 04:00 Grave Trade 05:00 Mud Men 06:00 Pawn Stars
The Style Network 06:10 Chicagolicious 07:05 Clean House: New York 08:00 Videofashion News 08:30 Videofashion News 09:00 Videofashion Daily 10:00 Open House 10:30 Big Boutique In The City 11:00 Top 10 11:25 Top 10 11:55 Giuliana & Bill 12:25 Giuliana & Bill 12:55 Tia And Tamera 13:50 Videofashion News 14:20 Videofashion Collections 14:50 Dress My Nest 15:15 Dress My Nest 15:45 How Do I Look? 16:40 How Do I Look? 17:35 Clean House 18:30 Clean House 19:25 Big Rich Texas 20:25 Big Rich Texas 21:20 Tia And Tamera 22:15 Tia And Tamera 23:10 Empire Girls: Julissa And Adrienne 00:05 Fashion Police: The 2013 Grammy Awards 01:00 Chicagolicious 02:00 Videofashion News 02:25 Videofashion Collections 02:55 Big Rich Texas 03:50 Big Boutique In The City 04:20 Jerseylicious 05:15 Glam Fairy 06:10 Chicagolicious
Travel Channel 06:00 Eden Eats 07:00 Sophie Grigson In The Orient 07:30 Sophie Grigson In The Orient 08:00 Globe Trekker 09:00 Off Limits 10:00 Departures 11:00 Globe Trekker 12:00 Dirt Biking New Zealand 13:00 Planet Food 14:00 Sophie Grigson In The Souk 14:30 Sophie Grigson In The Souk 15:00 International House Hunters 15:30 International House Hunters 16:00 International House Hunters 16:30 International House Hunters 17:00 Globe Trekker 18:00 Dirt Biking New Zealand 19:00 Hotel Impossible 20:00 Globe Trekker 21:00 Off Limits 22:00 Airport 24/7: Miami 22:30 Airport 24/7: Miami 23:00 Wreck Trek 23:30 Essential 00:00 Dirt Biking New Zealand 01:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 02:00 Off Limits 03:00 Airport 24/7: Miami 03:30 Airport 24/7: Miami 04:00 Wreck Trek 04:30 Essential 05:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 06:00 Planet Food
ABC America This Morning 13:30 Live ABC America This Morning 14:00 Live ABC America This Morning 14:30 MSNBC First Look 15:00 Live NBC Today Show 18:57 Live MSNBC Hardball With Chris Matthews 19:38 Live MSNBC The Ed Show 20:19 Live MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 21:00 Live MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports 22:00 MSNBC Newsnation 23:00 MSNBC The Cycle 00:00 MSNBC Martin Bashir 01:00 MSNBC Hardball With Chris Matthews 02:00 MSNBC Politicsnation 03:00 Live NBC Nightly News 03:30 ABC World News With Diane Sawyer 04:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 05:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 06:00 MSNBC The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell
Know How She Does It 10:00 Fat Albert 12:00 Tower Heist 14:00 Dr. Seuss' The Lorax 16:00 I Don't Know How She Does It 18:00 Glee: The Concert Movie 19:45 XMen: First Class 22:00 Waiting For Forever 00:00 Prime Mover 02:00 I Don't Know How She Does It 04:00 Fat Albert 06:00 Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
TCM 06:40 The Secret Partner 08:00 It Happened At The World's Fair 09:45 The Secret Partner 11:15 The Omega Man 12:50 Double Trouble 14:20 Tribute To A Bad Man 15:55 At The Circus 17:25 Summer Holiday 18:55 Somebody Up There Likes Me 20:49 The Prize 23:00 It!U 00:40 Quo Vadis 03:25 The Clock 04:55 Little Women 06:55 Across The Wide Missouri
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
HEALTH
35
Health Unnecessary bracing harmful
Program cuts down on scoliosis referrals NEW YORK, Feb 19, (RTRS): Educating pediatricians about scoliosis seems to cut down on the number of children who are unnecessarily sent to specialists for curves of the spine, according to a new study. Researchers found the number of referrals to orthopedic surgeons in one group of pediatricians fell by over 20 percent in the two years after the program was started, compared to the two years before. “If you’re training a certain group of people to treat scoliosis, I think that’s good,” said Dr. David Feldman, chief of pediatric orthopedic surgery at NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York. “The question is if that’s sustainable,” said Feldman, who was not involved with the new study. Scoliosis, which is a curve of the spine greater than 10 degrees, affects up to 3 percent of children. Mild cases may just need to be monitored by a doctor, but some children need to wear a back brace, or — in extreme cases — need surgery. The US Preventive Services Task Force, a government-backed group of clinicians, found that routine screening of youths for scoliosis could lead to unnecessary bracing and other specialty care. Those potential harms, they said, outweighed the benefits of screening, but some states still require it. In the Pediatric Physicians’ Organization at Children’s, a group of 72 doctors’ offices affiliated with Boston Children’s Hospital, the researchers found less than 5 percent of the children referred to orthopedic specialists ended up with a back brace, and less than 1 percent had surgery. The researchers, who could not be reached for comment by deadline, thought starting a training program would teach pediatricians which children should and shouldn’t be sent to specialists. That, they write in the journal Pediatrics on Monday, would cut down on the number of unnecessary referrals and save money. In mid-2009, the researchers held informational sessions to teach pediatricians within the group of doctors at the 72 offices about scoliosis. They also gave the pediatricians tools to decide which children should see specialists, and gave them updates on how many of their patients were being referred. In the two years before the training, there were about 5 visits to specialists for every 1,000 children per year. In the two years after the training program, that number fell to about 4 visits for every 1,000 children per year. The researchers estimate the training may have stopped about 131 referrals. The researchers write that they believe the drop in the number of referrals is due to their program, because visits to specialists increased for all other conditions during that time. Feldman told Reuters Health that it’s important that doctors are able to differentiate between scoliosis and other types of malformations, and that they’re not postponing treatment for children that need to wear braces. “I’m concerned about this, but done in the right setting I think it can be very useful,” he said. But the study did have limitations, including that the researchers could not separate children who were referred to specialists by the pediatricians from children who may have been screened for scoliosis at school. Also, the researchers write that there was a 13 percent increase in the number of x-rays taken by pediatricians to examine the children’s spines after the program. They cannot tell whether that is too many. Feldman added that it’s unknown whether this type of program could be applied across the country, or whether it’s just effective in this one group of pediatricians. ❑ ❑ ❑ Circumcision: Men circumcised either as children or adults report less intense sexual pleasure and orgasm than their uncircumcised counterparts, according to a new study from Belgium. “We’re not saying less sexual activity or satisfaction, but sensitivity,” said the study’s senior researcher Dr Piet Hoebeke, from Ghent University Hospital. The new study surveyed 1,369 men over the age of 18, who responded to leaflets handed out in train stations across Belgium. The men were asked whether they were circumcised, and were then asked to rate how sensitive their genetels was, how intense their orgasms were and whether they experience any pain or numbness when they are aroused. Overall, 310 men who took the survey were circumcised, and 1,059 were not. Each rated how sensitive their penis was on a scale from 0 to 5, with higher numbers being the most sensitive. Overall, uncircumcised men reported between 0.2 points and 0.4 points higher sensitivity and sexual pleasure when their penis’s head — known as the glans — was stroked during arousal, compared to circumcised men. For example, uncircumcised men reported an average sensitivity score of 3.72 when they or their partner stroked the top part of their penis’s glans, compared to 3.31 amongst circumcised men. Uncircumcised men also reported more intense orgasms. “It’s not a very big difference in sensitivity, but it’s a significant difference,” Hoebeke said. Currently, about half of US baby
‘Up SGA risk’
Coffee ‘linked’ to low baby weight LONDON, Feb 19, (KUNA): One cup of fresh coffee a day significantly increases the chances of giving birth to an underweight baby, research has shown. The new findings from a large Scandinavian study suggest current UK guidelines on caffeine consumption during pregnancy may not go far enough. Writing Tuesday in the British Medical Journal, “Medicine”, the researchers said a daily dose of between 200 and 300 milligrams of caffeine — roughly equivalent to one cup of fresh coffee or two cups of instant — increased the risk of a baby being small for gestational age (SGA) by up to 62 percent. The association was independent of smoking, a major risk factor for low birth weight which may be linked to caffeine intake. Coffee, but not other sources of caffeine, was also associated with longer pregnancies. The reason for this remains a mystery. It could be due to some aspect of behaviour rather than the effects of any substance in coffee, according to the researchers. Currently the World Health Organisation recommends a caffeine consumption limit of 300 milligrams per day for pregnant women. In the UK, Nordic countries and the US, the limit is set lower at 200 milligrams. However, the new study shows that even 200 milligrams per day of caffeine can increase SGA risk. A baby is said to be small for gestational weight if it weighs 2.5 kilograms or less after a normal length pregnancy. Such babies can suffer complications at birth or long term health problems, including impaired neurodevelopment. Along with nutrients and oxygen, caffeine passes across the placental barrier but is not easily inactivated by the developing foetus.
boys have their foreskin surgically removed at birth, and about 30 percent of men around the world are circumcised. ❑ ❑ ❑ Market: For pharmaceutical companies, Africa is changing. Not only is the continent’s economic growth grabbing attention in boardrooms but the shifting nature of its disease burden is luring Big Pharma, as new opportunities open up for treating chronic diseases afflicting the middle classes, rather than just fire-fighting infection. European companies, in particular, hope to reap rewards by investing early in a region where many of them already have historic commercial ties. Violence in Mali and Algeria have put Africa in the headlines in recent weeks but Sanofi of France — the international drug company with the biggest sales in Africa — is still pushing ahead with a third factory in Algeria. “Africa is becoming an extremely interesting market and we’ll continue to expand our commercial presence there,” Chief Executive Chris Viehbacher told Reuters. According to IMS data, by 2016 pharmaceutical spending in Africa is expected to reach $30 billion, driven by a 10.6 percent annual growth rate that is second only to Asia and in line with Latin America. By 2020 the market will have more than doubled from current levels to $45 billion. Although it is likely to remain a niche market, the promise of Africa is that it will continue to grow in the next decade as Asia and Latin America start to reach maturity. It is that potential for the continent to act as a hedge against slowing long-term growth in established emerging markets that appeals to Novartis Chief Executive Joe Jimenez. “We’re thinking hard about what happens when those emerging markets start to slow because they are not going to continue growing at the rate that they’re growing forever — and a place where we’re putting a lot of our attention is Africa,” he said.
Indian school children perform Surya Namaskar or Sun salutation during a function to mark 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, in New Delhi, India, Monday, Feb 18. Hundreds of school children across India performed Surya
Namaskar, a Yoga posture which comprises 12 different bodily postures that ought to be performed in particular sequence. Swami Vivekananda, an Indian Hindu monk, who spread the message of India’s spiritual heritage across the world. (AP)
‘Pretty invasive’
Can acupuncture treat allergies?
Skin-lightening products are pictured on Oct 10, 2008 in Dakar. A citizens’ movement has emerged in Senegal to discourage women from buying products that whiten their skin, arguing that black is still beautiful and to act otherwise is to risk one’s health. The protest campaign has gone from strength to strength since in August and September last year, large advertisements appeared in the capital Dakar for a cosmetic cream called, in Wolof, ‘Khess Petch’, or ‘all white’. The posters promised ‘rapid action’ and ‘results in 15 days.’ They showed a tube of cream and before and after pictures of a young woman, who started out black and ended up with fair skin through depigmentation, locally known as ‘kheessal’, or bleaching. (AFP)
Turia
Shah
Health Woman has 2 sets of twins: A Texas mother had a one-in-70-million kind of Valentine’s Day this year when she gave birth to two sets of identical twin boys, a Houston hospital announced on Monday. The four brothers were delivered at 31 weeks to Tressa Montalvo, 36, via Cesarean section at The Woman’s Hospital of Texas in Houston, according to a news release from the hospital. Tressa and Manuel Montalvo Jr. were not using any fertility drugs and had just hoped for a little brother or sister for their 2-year-old son, Memphis, according to the release. “We planned the pregnancy — I guess we just succeeded a little too much!” said Tressa Montalvo, quoted in the release. When Montalvo was 10 weeks pregnant, her physician told her she was having twins, and on a subsequent visit, the doctor detected a third heartbeat. The Montalvos were later informed they were having four babies - not quadruplets but two sets of twins. The odds of delivering two sets of naturally occurring identical twins is somewhere in the range of 1 in 70 million, according to the hospital. Two boys shared one placenta and the two other boys shared another placenta. Ace and Blaine were born at 8:51 a.m. on Feb 14 and weighed 3 pounds, 10 ounces (1.64 kg), and 3 pounds, 15 ounces (1.79 kg), respectively. Cash and Dylan followed a minute later, weighing 2 pounds, 15 ounces (1.33 kg), and 3 pounds, 6 ounces (1.53 kg), respectively. (RTRS) ❑
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NEW YORK, Feb 19, (RTRS): Watery eyes and stuffy noses are seasonal martyrdom for millions of allergy sufferers around the globe, but now a German study finds that some help may come from an unlikely source — acupuncture. Researchers, publishing in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that 71 percent of people reported an improvement in their allergies after eight weeks of acupuncture. But so did 56 percent of allergy sufferers who were treated with sham acupuncture as a comparison. “Acupuncture led to statistically significant improvements in disease-specific quality of life an antihistamine use measures after eight weeks of treatment compared with sham acupuncture and with (medication) along,” wrote lead researcher Benno Brinkhaus and colleagues. “But the improvements may not be clinically significant.” Brinkhaus, at Charite-University Medical Center in Berlin, and his colleagues randomly assigned 422 people with seasonal allergies to receive real or sham acupuncture or to take only antihistamines as needed.
Dropped After eight weeks and 12 treatment sessions, average allergy symptom scores dropped among people in the acupuncture group from 2.7 to 1.7 points on a 0-to-6 scale, where lower scores indicate fewer symptoms. Among patients treated with sham acupuncture, symptom scores improved from 2.3 to 1.8 point, and from 2.5 to 2.2 in the medication only group. However, by another eight weeks after the treatment ended, there was no longer any difference in the degree of symptom improvement between groups. People with allergies would likely notice about a half-point change on the symptom scale in their daily lives, the researchers said — the difference between the real and sham acupuncture groups after eight weeks in the current study. “It works, but there are some caveats (for) people who might think of using it,” said Harold Nelson, who treats allergies at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado and was not part of “Currently the packaging does everything it can to attract consumers and increase the perceived appeal and acceptability of smoking,” she told reporters. “The move to plain packaging would make more explicit what tobacco is — a product that kills 5,000 New Zealanders a year.” The move was widely anticipated after New Zealand gave support in principle to plain packaging last year and praised Australia’s pioneering efforts. The packaging was introduced in Australia in December, meaning all cigarettes must be sold in identical, olivebrown boxes bearing the same typeface and large health warnings bearing graphic images of diseased smokers.
Treatment targets parasite
New drug holds hope for malaria SYDNEY, Feb 19, (RTRS): Researchers in Australia have provided the final piece of a puzzle to develop a new anti-malarial drug, which targets the parasite that causes the disease and kills it with a salt overdose. The drug, the first discovery in the fight against malaria in two decades, holds out fresh hope for conquering the disease, which claims hundreds of thousands of lives a year and is known for its evolving drug resistance. The malaria parasite, carried to humans by mosquitoes, lives in red blood cells, which are full of salt. To survive, researchers knew it had to have a way of filtering salt out of its body. “The parasite is quite leaky, it’s letting salt in all the time. But that doesn’t matter because it’s got a very effective molecular salt pump that keeps pushing the salt out again,” said Professor Kiaran Kirk, director at the Research School of Biology at Australia National University (ANU). Research teams in the United States and Singapore had developed a drug that attacked the protein that makes up the salt pump, but it wasn’t until the ANU researchers tested it that they confirmed it worked effectively. “On the one hand, they had a brand new drug, they didn’t know how it
worked,” Kirk said. “We knew a lot about salt and salt pumps, and it was clear their drug was knocking out our salt pump. That led us to work together.” The drug attacks the salt pump and disables it, causing the parasite to fill up with salt and die. Targeting such a basic function is crucial because malaria tends to evolve quickly, rendering other drugs ineffective. Other drugs that combat malaria combine or package older drugs together or are altered chemically. “This is actually the first drug for 20 years to be genuinely new,” Kirk said. “Targeting the pump protein is a structure that has never been used before to treat malaria.” The drug is undergoing clinical trials and it will be several years at least before it hits the market. The other two groups involved are the Novartis Institutes for Tropical Disease in Singapore and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis research Foundation. Malaria infects more than 200 million people worldwide every year and kills around 600,000 of them — primarily children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa. Experts say one of the most challenging features of this parasite is its ability to evolve and overcome antimalarial drugs — a factor that is undermining global work towards eradicating the killer disease.
the study.
steroids is better at preventing symptoms. But drugs don’t work well for everybody. “We mostly saw patients in our outpatient practice who have had this disease for years,” Brinkhaus told Reuters Health. “They are not very happy taking the medications every day, and some of them suffer from side effects.” For those people, acupuncture could be a good add-on option, he added. “It’s not an alternative. We use it firstly as some sort of complementary medicine,” he said. “If the acupuncture has good results, we can reduce the anti-allergic medication.”
Consuming “This is pretty invasive, particularly when you compare it to something like spraying a nasal steroid in your nose once a morning,” he added. It is also more time consuming and requires finding a qualified, licensed acupuncture’s. Researchers aren’t sure why acupuncture might help people with seasonal allergies, other than its possible beneficial effect on the immune system. Nelson said antihistamines might not have been the best drug comparison for acupuncture, since daily use of nasal Turia said the government would introduce legislation later this year but delay enforcing it until legal challenges launched by tobacco firms against Australia’s ban had been decided. (AFP) ❑
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FDA to review diabetes drug: French drugmaker Sanofi said on Tuesday that its experimental diabetes drug lixisenatide has been accepted for review by the US Food and Drug Administration. The US brand name for the drug, known as Lyxumia in Europe, is under consideration, Sanofi said in a statement. Sanofi is set to launch the treatment in the European Union at the end of the first quarter of 2013 after receiving
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NZ plans plain packs for cigs: New Zealand announced plans Tuesday to force tobacco companies to sell cigarettes in plain packaging, becoming only the second country in the world after Australia to introduce the measure. Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia said banning tobacco branding and selling cigarettes in drab boxes plastered with explicit health warnings “will remove the last remaining vestige of glamour from these deadly products”.
University students smoke the hookah, or the water pipe, in a cafe downtown Ankara. After banning smoking in public places, the Turkish government has gone one step further by clamping down on an ancient tradition – the hookah, or water pipe. (AFP)
approval on Feb 4. (RTRS) ❑
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Fracking decision faces delay: New York State’s decision to lift a fouryear ban on natural gas drilling faced further delay on Tuesday after officials conducting a key health impact study asked for more time to form their conclusions on the divisive issue. The New York Department of Health, which has been commissioned to study how the drilling process known as fracking affects public health, said the review is ongoing but that a few more weeks are needed due to the “complexity of the issues”. “As we have been reviewing the scope of these studies, I have determined that the DOH Public Health Review will require additional time to complete based on the complexity of the issues,” said health commissioner Nirav Shah in a letter to Joe Martens, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The health review, and a parallel environmental impact study being conducted by the DEC, will form the basis of new regulations that could open New York’s borders to drilling once again. Proponents say New York communities that allow drilling in the Marcellus shale, one of the country’s largest gas deposits, will produce jobs and revenues for local economies. Opponents warn that the process of fracking, needed to extract gas from shale, can contaminate water supplies and increase harmful emissions. The health study delay will push back the publication of the DEC’s environmental report, known as the SGEIS, the deadline for which is Wednesday, which in turn will delay the drafting of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s drilling regulations, the deadline for which lands on Feb 27. (RTRS)
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
HEALTH
36
34 mn suffer from diabetes in MENA region
UNICEF reviews UAE’s anti-obesity programme for kids DUBAI, UAE, Feb 19: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) — which works for children’s rights, their survival, development and protection - expects the rate of diabetes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to increase to almost 59 million people by 2030. The organisation recently participated in a United Nations seminar in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where delegates heard that more than 34 million people suffer from this disease in the MENA region. During the seminar UNICEF shared its success in the fight against childhood obesity with the support of its partners: the General Women’s Union and the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, the Ministry of Education, Ambulatory Health Services (SEHA) and Abu Dhabi Education Council. The programme implemented under the patronage of HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, wife of the late HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and president of UAE Women’s Association and Chairman of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood. Dr Dalia Haroun, programmes consultant for UNICEF Gulf Area
Quwain.”
Children exercise during the event
Office, said that the programme aims to increase awareness on how to live a healthier lifestyle by providing participating students with health education sessions and physical activity. The programme also provides health workshops for parents and staff, and psychology workshops for school staff. Dr Haroun said: “The pro-
gramme is a great success and has received acclaim and positive feedback from students and parents. This positive interaction encouraged us to accelerate the launch of the second phase of the programme during the current academic year, which includes government schools in the emirates of Ajman, Umm Al
Build The first phase of the obesity prevention programme was implemented during the previous academic year (2011-2012) and included eight government schools (four in Abu Dhabi and four in Dubai) as well as two control schools in Abu Dhabi. More than 3000 students participated. It also helped build and change the attitudes and perception of parents, teachers, school nurses and other staff by teaching them how to lead a healthier lifestyle. Razan Sahuri, nutrition consultant at UNICEF Gulf Area Office, said the global school health survey for 2010 showed that 40% of UAE students in the 12 to 15 years age group were overweight. “This is a significant health concern, since obesity does not only lead to diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, but also causes mental health problems such as low self-esteem and adversely affects the education and upbringing of children,” she said. The campaign included a preliminary and post assessment, which included body composition and testing students’ knowledge of healthy eating and dietary habits, as well as physi-
cal activities. Workshops were also held to raise awareness of the health problems associated with obesity. The seminar, which was held under the patronage of HRH Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, Saudi Minister of Education, and the participation of a number of dignitaries of relevant government and private sector, United Nations agencies - discussed the phenomenon of obesity in general, how it can be prevented and the current situation in Saudi Arabia, along with experiences from other countries in the fight against obesity and the best practices from the Gulf, the region and internationally. Dr Ibrahim El-Ziq, UNICEF Representative for the Gulf Area, stressed that the interest in obesity stems from its direct relationship with non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and respiratory diseases and diabetes. He pointed out that the number of worldwide deaths caused by non-communicable diseases totalled 36 million out of 57 million deaths annually, with studies confirming that obesity was the cause of 44% of all diabetes cases and 23% of coronary heart disease. Dr El-Ziq focused on the impor-
tance of the learning environment in enhancing the awareness and promotion to combat obesity, where children spend most of their time each day in schools. He explained: “The school environment is integrated. Besides lessons, there are activities such as physical activities, health and nutrition, therefore the school is the ideal environment for health promotion and integrated access to children as well as their parents. Here the role of the Ministries of Education and Health complement one another in achieving this common goal.” The UNICEF Representative to the Gulf Area stressed the important role of the media, especially television, in influencing the choices of society, in particular children. The United Nations has recommended a reduction in mass marketing directed at children of foods and beverages with a high percentage of sugars, salt and fat, especially saturated fat. He stressed that the success of obesity awareness campaigns depend on the cooperation of private sector companies working in the field of nutrition and urged them to carry out corporate social responsibility projects in the communities in which they operate.
UAE plans to entice Emiratis to private sector: report The United Arab Emirates is mulling imposing a two-day weekend on the private sector as well as paying government supplements in a bid to lure Emiratis away from the attractive public sector, a newspaper reported Tuesday. The National, quoting UAE Labour Minister Saqr Ghobash, said the government was considering ways to make the private sector, currently dominated by foreign workers, more attractive to
Emiratis. The report said that of the four million employed in the private sector, only 20,000 are Emiratis, and of whom 65 percent work in the banking sector. Ghobash said the government was considering a guaranteed twoday weekend for the private sector in line with the public sector as well as offering government supplements for Emirati salaries in the private sector. In return, he said, the
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Change +18.10 +123.72 +45.72 +21.34 +134.64 +6.94 +68.78
Mubadala converts Aldar bonds to boost capital by 10% Abu Dhabi’s Aldar Properties , which plans to merge with smaller rival Sorouh Real Estate, on Tuesday said its largest shareholder Mubadala converted bonds in the company to shares, boosting its capital by nearly 10 percent. State-owned investment fund Mubadala converted the bonds at a price of 1.75 dirhams per share, Aldar said in a bourse statement, resulting in an increase in capital to 4.48 billion dirhams ($1.22 billion)
working day would increase by one hour to nine hours. “We are now at crossroads,” Ghobash said, “and we need educated and informed discussions so we can make the right decision. We are waiting to hear what the people have to say.” He said government jobs tend to be more attractive with higher salaries, shorter work days, longer holidays and better job security. (AFP)
from 4.085 billion dirhams earlier. Shares in Aldar, which has been bailed out by the Abu Dhabi government over the past two years with around $10 billion in funding, closed at 1.54 dirhams on the Abu Dhabi bourse Monday. The stock has fallen 5.5 percent since a state-backed merger with Sorouh was agreed on January 21. Abu Dhabi’s two biggest property firms agreed on an all-share merger in January, aimed at reviving the
emirate’s battered real estate sector, creating a business with $13 billion in assets. Both companies will hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to vote on the proposed merger on Feb. 21. The effective date of the merger has been set for June 30. However, questions have been raised on the ability of Sorouh to reach the necessary quorum for approving the merger on Jan 21. (RTRS)
19-02-2013
Closing pts 5,101.00 7,752.45 2,662.37 4,141.29 19,635.72 4,255.58 3,735.82
JAPAN HONG KONG
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Nikkei Hang Seng
Change -35.53 -238.03
Closing pts 11,372.34 23,143.91
Business
Kuwait seen as dynamic mkt for Samsung Tech giant achieves 65% sales growth By Iddris Seidu Arab Times Staff
DUBAI, Feb 19: Kuwait is a very dynamic and complicated market for Samsung where consumers are willing to pay higher amounts for better products which is evident across all segments ranging from TVs, smart phones, tablets, notebooks, smart cameras as well as desktop computers, said Raj Varma, General Manager for Samsung’s IT Sales segment, as he spoke to Arab Times on the sidelines of the Samsung Middle East and Africa (MENA) Forum2013 held Monday at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai. The four-day Samsung-MENA event, Feb 18-21, is the third to be held since its inception two years ago in 2011 and showcases new products and services that define Samsung’s vision for the consumer electronics industry where technology enables consumers to discover a world of possibilities. The product exhibition was opened by Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and Juma Al Majid, Chairman of Juma Al Majid Group of Companies accompanied by Samsung’s MENA president Kyung-tae Bae. In their presentations at the forum, various segment heads laid out Samsung’s vision of creating new, richer experiences for consumers, through its deep understanding of the MENA region as well as its relentless pursuit of discovery and innovation. Commenting on the event, Kyung-tae Bae, Samsung’s MENA president, said that thanks to the company’s understanding of consumers and their lifestyles in the MENA region, Samsung has seen tremendous growth, achieving 65% sales growth in 2012 to stand as the leading electronics brand and plan to continue pushing the company forward in 2013. From Smart TVs that are redefining the TV experience to hyper-connected cameras, intelligent home appliances and the most versatile PCs, the Samsung regional product lineup reflects the company’s commitment to delight consumers, bringing not just what they expect, but what they’d never dreamed was possible.
Innovations Samsung at the Forum, unveiled significant innovations, in Television, home appliances, connected cameras, PCs and printers, demonstrating how it is redefining product categories across virtually all of its product lines as well as reinvigorating the consumer electronics market with seamless content discovery, intuitive control and personalized user experiences. In 2012 Samsung demonstrated leadership across all of its categories including TV market, achieving 18% growth in revenue and 19% growth in unit sales in the entire region. Design in the TV segment has been Samsung’s strong point; the South Korean electronics giant came to the number one position by changing the concept of what the TV should be looking like, not just one piece of the living room furniture. “You’ll see more and more demand this year for bigger sized screens, trending especially towards 40inch, 46inch and larger sizes and we’re offering all those products consumers are expecting and hope to continue the same trend this year”, said Vinod Nair, Samsung’s General Manager for TV Business. With 30% market share in Samsung TVs and 38% value wise in the Middle East and North Africa region, Kuwait stands out as a major dependable market for Samsung. But regarding the strategy for growth in the TV segment, Nair’s solution was simply, “supply what the consumer wants; there’s a lot of demand for high-end products in Kuwait, so the high-end lineup is being boosted with even the 85in coming to the Kuwaiti market shortly”. The prime mover top-of-the-line product currently in Kuwait is the 55inch followed closely by 46inch and 32in both regular and smarts. He said the idea of a smart TV is to enable the consumer to “watch what you want when you want it”. As part of Samsung’s offer of a new world of possibilities in home entertainment, the company at the forum launched its flagship F8000 LED TV, the first Samsung TV to feature a quad-core processor. Available in sizes up to 75-inch, the F8000 features an ultra-thin profile, a quarter inch thick bezel and a wave-inspired arc stand that makes the TV look as if it’s simply floating in the air. The Samsung 85-inch Ultra High Definition (UHD) TV, 85S9 was also introduced. It spots a stunning timeless gallery design that sets a new standard for TV craftsmanship. It offers four times the resolution of Full HD displays to deliver unmatched picture detail and clarity.
Another interesting revelation was the new Smart Hub which intelligently organizes a viewer’s content into clear, dynamic menu panels that include Apps, photos, Videos & music and social to provide a simple, more intuitive way to discover and experience television. It also has enhanced motion control capabilities which make navigating Smart Hub’s three panels convenient and fun with a simple flip motion. Thanks to Samsung’s leadership in connectivity, TV viewers can now use their mobile devices as remote controls or simultaneously enjoy two different pieces of content from a TV or Blu-Ray on a second screen. Another interesting 2013 revelation was the Evolution Kit which when connected to a regular Samsung TV, can make immediately available to users access to the latest offerings of Samsung Smart TV including quad-core and the newly updated Smart Hub. Exclusive to the MENA region, Samsung and content partner OSN launched a new platform called OSN Pay which allows consumers to watch TV online anytime anywhere with a variety of devices.
Bae (first from right), poses with Sheikh Al-Maktoum (second from right), and his entourage at the event.
Sheikh Al-Maktoum (second left), inspects Samsung products at the forum.
Deliver To deliver an audio performance to match the company’s screen excellence, Samsung unveiled the HT-F9750W, the electronics giant’s flagship 7.1 channel Home Theater system that is a perfect companion to its 2013 Smart TVs and the HWF751 at the Forum. The system features 1,330 watt sound system for unprecedented sound quality and exceptional viewing experience. The HW-F751 on the other hand, is Samsung’s first Air-Track, a sound bar that can connect to a TV via Bluetooth or double as a wireless speaker for smart phones or tablets. Samsung’s handheld gadget growth in Kuwait for 2012 has been phenomenal-a whopping 340%, with the smart phone segment leading the charge. Since Kuwait is a high-end market setting itself apart from other parts of the world, Young-Woo Jun, Samsung’s Director of Communication or Handheld gadgets segment, said Samsung’s strategy for growth in the oil-rich nation would be to offer better product portfolios to suit Kuwaiti customers’ needs and aspirations. For his part, Raj Varma, Samsung GM for IT Sales segment in the GCC, said it’s important that consumers are made aware of what’s in store for the coming year, what technologies are on offer, the products rolling out, enabling all stake holders have a firsthand experience. Kuwait is the biggest market for Samsung IT products after UAE and the most interesting part of the story, according to Varma, is that the consumer perception of the brand is very strong with the strongest demand trending in favor of the premium products. Consumers in Kuwait are willing to pay higher amounts for better products, which is evident across all segments from TVs, smart phones, tablets, notebooks, smart cameras as well as desktop computers. “Kuwait is a very dynamic and complicated market for us”, said Varma. Another top-of-the-line product at the show was the new Samsung refrigerator (RT38) powered by Samsung’s Digital Inverter Compressor and built with durability in mind. Also in the washer category was Samsung’s new Samsung Eco-Bubble washer (WF80F5E) uses its unique bubble generator to create bubbles that are mixed with detergent. Additionally, Samsung announced its Smart Oven (MC32F606), which comes equipped with expert cooking capabilities to change and enhance the way families eat. The Smart Oven makes it easier to follow a nutritious and balanced diet, thanks to its smart sensor cooking and features like preprogrammed recipes, a yogurt maker and slim fry setting. In the camera segment, Samsung is delivering the latest and greatest camera technology and driving change in the digital imaging landscape with the unveiling of the newest in its NX-range, the NX300 which blends highly functional and simplified Wi-Fi sharing with exceptional image quality, fast Hybrid Auto Focus, and 3D still and video capture. The NX300 is complemented by the new Samsung NX 45mm F1.8 2D/3D lens, the first one-lens 3D system for a consumer camera, capable of capturing both still pictures and full 1080p HD video. Samsung’s new PC line-up in the MENA region consists of two new devices that combine powerful performance with design excellence. The powerful new Series-7 Chronos and the portable Series-7 Ultra Notebook are equipped to handle both work and entertainment applications. The new Series 7 Chronos delivers a professional performance in a thinner and lighter form factor, with a quad-core performance, as well as a new software solution called RAM-accelerator, which provides up to a 150 percent increase in speed for browsing and running apps, to act as a true desktop replacement.
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Samsung NX-300 (white back)
The 85 inch Samsung VHD TV-8559 on display at the forum
The new Samsung series 7 chronos laptop computer
The Samsung Eco-Bubble washer — WF80F5E
Vinod Nair pictured at the event. Samsung refrigerator — RT38 on display at the forum
Raj Varma pictured at the forum
Dubai-based operator drops Saudi expansion
UAE telco du 4th quarter profit surges DUBAI, Feb 19, (RTRS): Du, the United Arab Emirates’ No. 2 telecom operator, beat quarterly profit forecasts, helped by a buoyant local economy, and said it was dropping plans to expand into Saudi Arabia because it would need to find a partner. Chief executive Osman Sultan said on Tuesday du did not meet the criteria to bid for one of three so-called mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) licences for sale in Saudi Arabia. “We wouldn’t qualify directly (and) going there through some kind of partnership would make the financial equation less interesting,” he told reporters. “I don’t see us going into regional expansion at least in the coming two years in the traditional way, which is new licences.” MVNOs lease capacity from conventional mobile operators and pay a percentage of their revenue to them, as well as fees. Dubai-based du had hoped to expand beyond its UAE base as mobile penetration growth stagnated, but with the country’s economy buoyant this now appears less of a priority. The UAE government has estimated GDP grew around 4 percent in 2012, while it attracted 30 billion dirhams ($8.2 billion) of direct foreign investment last year. Du said its fourth-quarter net profit more than doubled after it wrote back tax provisions. Its per-customer revenue also rose and its mobile subscriber base increased by nearly a quarter from a year earlier. Sultan said du’s 2013 capital expenditure would be roughly the same as last year’s 1.7 billion dirhams, with the money to be spent on expanding and
Impairments cut telco’s Q4 profit to 854.3 mln dhms
Etisalat takes $769m charge on foreign units DUBAI, Feb 19, (RTRS): Etisalat, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest telecom operator, has written down the value of businesses in Pakistan and Sudan by a combined $769 million, blaming tough political and economic conditions and crimping quarterly profit growth. The state-controlled firm operates in about 15 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, having expanded into new markets in the last decade in an attempt to offset the impact of the launch of domestic rival du in 2007. These acquisitions have provided mixed results, with Saudi Arabia affiliate Mobily among most analysts’ top regional picks, but Etisalat has found it much harder going in lower income markets outside the Gulf. Last year, the Abu Dhabi firm wrote off the $827 million value of its Indian operation in its 2011 fourth-quarter
results. Of the latest 2.83 billion dirhams of impairments, 2.37 billion relate to Pakistani affiliate Pakistan Telecommunication Co Ltd (PTCL) and 459 million to Sudan fixed-lined operator Canar. Etisalat said it took the impairments due to inflation and “challenging economic and political conditions as well as by the downtrend in real estate prices combined with negative local currency fluctuation”. These impairments reduced Etisalat’s fourth-quarter net profit to 854.3 million dirhams, according to Reuters calculations. This compares with a profit of 704 million dirhams in the prior-year period when the company took the India write down. One analyst at Bahrain’s Securities & Investment Co (SICO), who had not expected Etisalat’s new write-downs,
forecast the operator would make a quarterly profit of 2.84 billion dirhams. Etisalat’s 2012 net profit was 6.74 billion dirhams, up from 5.84 billion dirhams in 2011. The firm reported rising profits in the second and third quarters, with the latter period boosted by the $510 million sale of a 9.1 percent stake in Indonesian affiliate PT XL Axiata. These appeared to mark a turnaround for the company, which up to and including the first quarter of 2012 had posted falling profits in eight out of nine quarters, prompting Etisalat’s revamped management to focus on high growth or high population markets such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia as well as mounting a fight-back against domestic rival du. Fourth-quarter revenue was 8.48 billion dirhams. This compares to 8.23 billion dirhams a year ago.
improving its mobile network and broader infrastructure. Du, which ended rival Etisalat’s domestic monopoly in 2007, made net profit of 994 million dirhams in the three months to Dec. 31, up from 440 million dirhams in the year-earlier period. Analysts had on average forecast a profit of 809.7 million dirhams, in a Reuters poll.
Du’s shares surged 11.7 percent to their highest close since November 2008. Fourth-quarter revenue was 2.74 billion dirhams. This compares with 2.4 billion dirhams a year earlier. UAE telecom operators are taxed via royalties under licenses from the federal government. The latter announced a new formula in December that includes a levy
on revenues as well as profits. Du had expected to pay 50 percent of its profit in royalty fees through the year, the same rate as the longer-established Etisalat. But the new formula means it pays less tax as a percentage of profit than 2011, enabling it to write back some of the provisions it set aside in the first nine months of 2012.
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Burgan Bank posts KD 55.6m net profit BoD recommends payout of 10 fils cash dividend and 5% bonus shares KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: Burgan Bank Group announced today significantly improved financial results for the year ended Dec 31, 2012. The group posted KD 55.6 million net profits, 10% increase from the same period of 2011 reported at KD 50.6. Million. Earnings per share (EPS) grew 12% to reach 37.8 fils compared to 33.7 fils reported last year. The Board of Directors recommended a payout of 10 fils as a cash dividend and 5 % as bonus shares subject to the approval of the annual general assembly meeting. The group’s performance during 2012
Majed Essa Al Ajeel, Chairman of Burgan Bank
reflects a solid performance reflecting a constant growth trend. Compared to the same period last year, Operating income grew 16% to reach KD190 million while operating profit before provisions grew
FCCG earns KD 533,757
URC records net profit of KD 22.5 mln in 2012 KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: United Real Estate Company (URC) announced that the company achieved a netprofit of 22.5 million Kuwaiti Dinars for 2012, an increase of 122% compared to the previous year net profit. Tariq Mohammed Abdul Salam, Chairman of URC said, “We are very proud to have achieved these excellent results. They are a reflection of the success of the company’s overall business strategy in the past year in assessing and managing our high value assets more effectively to achieve greater value and returns for the company and its shareholders. With the highly appreciated efforts of the executive management team, we shall continue to apply this strategy for the upcoming years.” Chief Executive Officer of URC, Eng. Mohammed Ahmed Al-Saqqaf commented, “We are pleased with this year’s outstanding results and look forward to continuous achievements that will strengthen URC both operationally and financially. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Board of Directors for their continuous support and URC’s execuMohammad tive management team for their invaluable efforts and dedication”. URC is one of the largest real estate development companies in the Middle East and North Africa with major projects such as Abdali Mall in Jordan, Salalah Gardens Mall in Oman and the luxurious high-end Raouche View at 1090 residential tower in Lebanon.
Also: Kuwait Stock Exchange announced that the Board of Directors approved Future Communications Company, Global Tariq (FCCG) annual financial statements of the company for the year ending Dec 31, 2012, dated Feb 18, 2013. Particulars Dec 31, 2012 Dec 31, 2011 Profit (Loss) (KD) 533,757 1,153,305 Earnings per share (fils) 6.59 14.23 Total current assets 18,520,623 18,821,666 Total assets 19,099,483 19,430,612 Total current liabilities 3,729,379 3,629,751 Total liabilities 4,704,146 4,557,062 Total shareholders’ equity 14,395,337 14,873,550 The total expenses from transactions with related parties amounts to KD 230,068. The Board of Directors of the company recommended cash dividends of 12.5% of the nominal value per share of 12.5 fils per share for the fiscal year ending Dec 31, 2012. The distribution will be sourced from the profits for the year ending Dec 31, 2012 and retained earnings. Note that these recommendations are subject to approval by the shareholders and the competent authorities. ❑ ❑ ❑ Board of Directors of Dulaqan Real Estate Company (Dalqan) met on Feb 18, 2013 and adopted the annual financial statements of the company for the year ending Dec 31, 2012. Particulars Dec 31, 2012 Dec 31, 2011 Profit (Loss) (KD) 225,999 16,904 Earnings per share (fils) 5.65 0.42 Total current assets 1,790,715 1,596,002 Total assets 4,600,717 4,368,504 Total current liabilities 20,564 16,505 Total liabilities 32,325 26,111 Total shareholders’ equity 4,568,392 4,342,393 The Board of Directors of the company recommended not to distribute profits for the fiscal year ending Dec 31, 2012. Note that these recommendations are subject to approval by the shareholders and the competent authorities.
Kuwait seen as Continued from Page 38 The Series 7 Ultra embodies superior mobility and performance in an ultra-slim and light, full aluminum body. Combining an eight hour battery life, a beautiful 13.3-inch Full HD display with a 10-point multi-touch screen, aluminum frame, a i5 / i7 CPU for fast-processing and up to 256GB SSD of storage, this PC provides the computing power required by even the most demanding users; and like the Series-7 Chronos, it will run on Windows 8. In addition, Samsung introduced its ATIV Smart PC line-up to the Middle East and North Africa. The ATIV Smart PC and the ATIV Smart PC Pro combine exquisite craftsmanship on the exterior with unmatched performance, featuring the versatility of Windows 8 OS and compatibility with Windows 7. Adding to the powerful mobility products, Samsung underscored its leading position in the global monitor market with the introduction of the Series-7 Touch(SC770), which is Samsung’s first multitouch display optimized for Windows 8. Supporting up to 10 points of simultaneous multi-touch, users can drag, rotate or select objects on the monitor using their fingers. Samsung also highlighted at the forum, how innovation in the B2B market can facilitate change in the era of e-learning, or Smart Education.There is much interest and investment from governments around the world in Smart Education, and in the Middle East and North Africa, Samsung is helping to fuel this investment by bringing Smart Education experiences to schools throughout the region. Samsung will be equipping five demonstration classes in four countries with easy-to-use, immersive technologies, such as Note PCs, e-boards and mobile solutions. Also, more than 6,000 online textbooks will be available via an open market content platform. Beyond education, Samsung also announced the results of its joint study with research leaders IDG regarding the attitudes of IT executives and consumers toward ‘bring-your-own-device (BYOD)’ to work policies. The results revealed that an overwhelming majority of IT executives believe that BYOD programs will become standard in business within the next two years, and consumers expect the mobile device to be the primary computing device for work within five years.
17% reaching KD119 million. International Operations (Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Tunis, Turkey) are profitable and on growth mode, the contribution of the International Operations (Excluding the subsidiary in Turkey which was acquired on Dec 21, 2012) to the group’s total revenues during 2012 stood at 48%. Majed Essa Al Ajeel, Chairman of Burgan Bank said: “We are continuously increasing our market share with profitability, Loans and advances grew 50% reaching KD3.4 Billion while customer deposits grew 39% reaching KD3.9 Billion. Our Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) are decreasing and our total provisions reached KD 194.4 millions. Our NPL ratio (net of collateral) to gross loans stands at 1.9%. Capital Adequacy Ratio stands at 18.5%.” “The solid performance reiterates our foremost commitment to our shareholders as well as our customers, and we are optimistic that we will continue achieving sound results. On behalf of the board, I
take this opportunity to thank the executive management team and staff under the leadership of Eduardo Eguren, Chief Executive Officer, for their continuous hard work and delivery of strong results. I also take this opportunity to express our gratitude towards our customers and shareholders for their continued confidence in our capabilities,” added Al Ajeel. During 2012, Burgan Bank Group achieved an impressive array of international awards. Burgan Bank achieved the “Best bank in Kuwait” award by EMEA finance, Bank of Baghdad achieved the “Best bank in Iraq” award by EMEA finance, Jordan Kuwait Bank achieved the “Best Bank in Jordan” award by Global Banking and Finance review, Tunis International Bank achieved the “Bank of the Year” by Intercontinental Finance Magazine. In recognition of its delivery of sound results across its operations in the region, Burgan Bank Group also achieved the “Best banking group in MENA” by
Global Banking & Finance Review.
Excellence is one of the Bank’s four key values and Burgan Bank continually strives to maintain the highest standards in the industry. The Bank was re-certified in 2010 with the ISO 9001:2008 certification in all its banking businesses, making it the first bank in the GCC, and the only bank in Kuwait to receive such accreditation. The Bank also has to its credit the distinction of being the only Bank in Kuwait to have won the JP Morgan Chase Quality Recognition Award for twelve consecutive years. Burgan Bank won the prestigious “Banking Web Awards” prize in the commercial and corporate Category for Kuwait. In 2010 Burgan Bank was awarded with the “Best Internet Banking Service award” from Banker Middle East Awards. Burgan Bank was recognized in 2011 as Kuwait’s “Best Private Bank”, by World Finance. The bank also
won, in 2011, the coveted “International Platinum Star for Quality” award from Business Initiative Directions, and “The Best Technical Award” from Banking Web Awards. In 2012, Global Banking and Finance Review online magazine recognized Burgan Bank as the “Best Banking Group in the MENA” as well as the “Best Corporate Bank in Kuwait”. The bank also won the coveted “Best Bank Branding” award by the Banker Middle East. For the second consecutive year in 2012, Burgan Bank also won World Finance’s “Best Private Bank” award, as well as the “Best Private Bank in Kuwait 2012” award from Capital Finance International. The bank recently won the “Best Bank in Kuwait” award from EMEA Finance. Burgan Bank, a subsidiary of KIPCO (Kuwait Projects Company), is a strongly positioned regional Bank in the MENA region.
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MGRP honors Boubyan Bank for Best Training Plan in 2012 Al-Hammad: Our strategy is based on giving human resources the key role in developing the Bank’s performance. Boubyan Bank continued to realize achievements by receiving awards and appreciations from State institutions as Boubyan ITQAN Academy was honored by Kuwait’s Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP) for the best training plan and specialized training and development programs for 2012 all over the private sector in Kuwait. The honors were received by GM - Human
Resources Group of Boubyan Bank, Adel AlHammad at the ceremony organized under the auspices of His Excellency Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and Municipal Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Al-Mubarak, President of Civil Service Bureau, Abdul-Aziz Abdullah AlZabin, and Assistant Secretary General for Labor Affairs in MGRP, Fawzi Al-Majdali. Commenting on his high-level appreciation, Al-Hammad said: “At Boubyan, we are really proud of this achievement made all over the private sector, especially that it is granted by an
authority known for efficiency and striving to develop human resources and national cadres across all fields and sectors in pursuit of achieving development for our beloved Country.” “Since starting the implementation of its new strategy in 2010, the Bank takes into account that developing and growing the capabilities and expertise of human resources should be the key pillar through which it can realize all objectives related to success of this strategy, indicating that the top executive management of the Bank regards this issue as a priority,” added Al-Hammad.
Adel Al-Hammad (center), GM, Human Resources Group, Boubyan Bank receiving the award.
Ahmed outlines importance and implementation of KM
Knowledge management key to corporate success: expert By Joana Saba Arab Times Staff KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The Kuwait Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) hosted a lecture by international management expert, Professor Allam Ahmed on the importance and implementation of Knowledge Management. Professor Allam Ahmed is based at the Science and Technology Policy Research unit at the University of Sussex, where he has also established a leading postgraduate program in international management. Ahmed is also the founding director of the Middle Eastern Knowledge Economy Institute (MEKEI) at the University of Brighton. In his lecture, Professor Allam outlined the importance of introducing the idea of Knowledge Management (KM) into corporate strategies, emphasizing the importance of dissemination of information for the success of companies and institutions. He discussed the various advantages and obstacles that would be faced in doing so, pointing to specific examples where KM was proven to result in better strategy and positive overall outcomes. Ahmed stressed the importance of transferring knowledge, information and technology in institutions, to further optimize operations. He further stated that one challenge when it comes to implementing KM is spreading awareness on its importance. Some of the problems facing the implementation of KM are mainly due to misinformation and attitude, including the notions that experts are unwilling to
Qatar to list $12 billion firm with assets from wealth fund IPO open only to Qataris, foreign investors to buy in later Photo by Meshal Al-Okla
Professor Allam Ahmed.
share their information, not knowing what knowledge others have, and fear that a system may not be able to sustain such information. Ahmed also stated that KM is often met with the reluctance of consultants to share information out of fear of lowering their value. However, he stated that companies and institutions where KM is part of the general strategy have proven to be much more profitable, with much higher rates of employee satisfaction. Amongst the success factors, he stated, are systematic participation, communication policies, user potential, sustainability, progress, sufficient funding and good timing. He further added that KM has proven to be the only means for continuous growth.
More exports driven by growth in Asia
Saudi likely to raise crude output in Q2 DUBAI, Feb 19, (RTRS): Saudi Arabia expects to raise its oil output in the second quarter to satisfy higher demand from China and feed economic recovery elsewhere, oil industry sources said. The world’s largest oil exporter kept production steady at around 9 million barrels per day (bpd) in January and sources say production has since hovered around that level because buyers have not asked for more. Saudi cut production sharply in the fourth quarter of last year because of weak economic growth abroad and lower seasonal consumption during cooler weather at home. But exports are expected to rise again in the second quarter, driven by growth in Asia, one industry sources said. Supply “There are positive economic indicators in the second quarter and demand is picking up from China and if things stay the same there will be more supply coming from Saudi for sure,” the oil industry source said. “Saudi Arabia always responds to demand, not prices,” the source said, adding that any increase in production for export would probably be modest. Saudi production in December and January was more than a million barrels below its peak of last summer, when the kingdom’s own oil use soars to meet rising air conditioning demand. Domestic oil use is likely to rise again in the second quarter, putting upward pressure on production whatever happens to export demand. A second oil industry source said that the kingdom planned to raise production to meet increased demand for exports, but declined to say when or by how much. “Demand for Saudi oil will reflect
the increase in global oil demand,” the source said, hinting that demand could rise after refineries return from spring maintenance. With Europe still mired in debt and the United States consuming more of its own oil, Chinese demand is the main driver of Saudi oil export demand. China imported 1.08 million barrels a day of crude from Saudi Arabia in 2012, up 7.24 percent from 2011 and state-run CNPC expects China’s total net imports of crude to rise to about 5.78 million bpd, 7.3 percent higher than 2012. OPEC’s leading producer and holder of the world’s only significant spare capacity slashed its output by around 700,000 bpd over the last two months of 2012, helping drive a rise in crude prices since early December. Saudi oil ministry adviser Ibrahim al-Muhanna said on Jan. 14 that the cuts came in response to lower Saudi domestic and export demand. Brent oil traded near $117.40 barrel on Tuesday after posting last week its first weekly loss since early January. Crude has risen from $109.50 since the start of the year. According to official Saudi government figures published through the Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI), Saudi oil demand for power generation rose by 356,000 bpd from March to June 2011 and by 401,000 bpd from March to June 2012. So even if demand for exports does not increase in the second quarter, Saudi production is likely to rise to meet its own demand for electricity, although this year’s surge in oil burning should be tempered by more gas being made available for power generation. Chinese customs will release January 2013 import figures later this week.
Iraq OKs gas pipeline deal with Iran & Syria BAGHDAD, Feb 19, (AFP): Iraq on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for a framework agreement to be signed for the construction of pipelines through Iraqi territory that would deliver Iranian gas to Syria. A cabinet statement said that Oil Minister Abdelkarim al-Luaybi had been instructed to sign the deal, by which Iranian natural gas could be delivered in the future to Europe as well. In July last year, Iran, Iraq and Syria inked a memorandum of understanding for the gas pipelines, with Tehran saying that the total cost of the project would be about $10 billion. The construction of pipelines stretching for several thousand kilometres (miles) “should take three to five years once funding is secured,” Iran’s deputy oil minister Javad Ouji said at the time. Ouji said in July that the project calls
for the construction of a 56-inch (142 centimetre) pipeline with a capacity of 110 million cubic metres a day, connecting southern Iranian port of Assalouyeh to Iraq and then to Syria, with the possibility of extending to Lebanon and Europe. Iraq should initially receive about 20 million cubic metres a day for its power plants, and Syria between 20 and 25 million cubic metres a day, he said. Iran has the second largest proven gas reserves in the world after Russia. It currently consumes almost all of the approximately 600 million cubic metres (21.8 trillion cubic feet) per day of gas production, but hopes to double its output and export some 250 million cubic metres per day to its neighbours and to Europe from 2015 through developing a giant offshore gas field in the Gulf, which it shares with Qatar.
DOHA, Feb 19, (RTRS): Qatar will create a new $12 billion investment firm, backed by blue-chip assets from its sovereign wealth fund, and list it on the local stock exchange, its main institutional backer said on Tuesday. Qatar Holding — the investment arm of the Qatari sovereign fund — said the new firm will invest in assets around the world. “You name it — shares, bonds, real estate, private equity. We will look at every sector in every country around the world,” Hussain al-Abdullah, Qatar Holding’s vice-chairman, said at a news conference. Qatar Holding, believed to have assets in excess of $100 billion, has been the most active of the region’s sovereign wealth funds in recent years, deploying the Gulf nation’s riches from plentiful natural gas to buy stakes in companies ranging from German sports car maker Porsche to British bank Barclays and Swiss lender Credit Suisse.
Wealth “Listing a company of this magnitude will stimulate more wealth distribution down the line. It will give Qataris a chance to be part of the country’s growth and will bring in sophisticated foreign investors once it’s listed,” said R. Seetharaman, chief executive of Doha Bank. Qatar Holding will transfer $3 billion worth of assets into the new firm, with a similar amount raised in an initial public offering on the Qatar Exchange. A senior banker familiar with the matter said a further $6 billion will be raised at a later date. Some bankers expressed doubt over whether the company could be launched as quickly as Qatar hopes. “The announcement is pretty surprising, and it’s a brave move by Qatar. Most of their investments are either bespoke or in listed entities. There is a risk that it may open up their books sig-
Total operating income up by 6% to $892.8 mln
Bahrain’s AUB earns $335.7m in 2012 DUBAI, Feb 19: Ahli United Bank B.S.C. (AUB) reported a net profit attributable to its equity shareholders of $335.7 million for the year ended 31 December 2012. This represents a 8.1% increase over the 2011 result. The last quarter of 2012 contributed $78.6 million to the overall increased result, as compared to $70.3 million in Q4/2011. Total operating income grew by 6.0% to $ 892.8 million over 2011, driven by a 12.3% increase in net interest income, a 3.5% improvement in fee based income and a 8.5% increase in share of profit from associates and joint venture. Deployment of liquidity into diversified and risk acceptable sectors and assets resulted in the overall improvement in the net interest margin from 2.1% in 2011 to 2.2% in 2012. Key drivers of the increase in operating income were the 3.1% growth in net loans and advances together with a 17.2% growth in the non-trading investments portfolio over December 2011, funded by a 5.1% increase in customers’ deposits. Interest income includes a minor $0.8 million exceptional gain from early repayment of subordinated debt. Ongoing adoption of a disciplined cost culture within the AUB Group further improved the cost income ratio to
29.9% (2011: 32.4%) and positively contributed to profitability. Credit quality levels were maintained with a non-performing loans level of 2.4% comparable to 2.5% in 2011. The overall provision coverage ratio (including collective impairment provisions) was increased to 150% at 31 December 2012 as compared to 135% as of 31 December 2011, as part of AUB’s ongoing prudent risk man-
agement strategy. Specific provision coverage improved from 86.0% in 2011 to 87.7% in 2012. Return on Average Equity for the year stood at 13.0%, an increase over the 12.7% achieved in 2011. The Group’s Return on Average Assets increased from 1.2% to 1.3% in 2012. The resultant basic earnings per share was US cents 6.4 for the year ended Dec 31, 2012 (2011: US cents 5.9). Given the excellent 2012 result for AUB, the Board of Directors has recommended a cash dividend of US cents 4.0 per share (2011: US cents 3.0) together with a bonus ordinary share issue of 5% (2011: 5%) to augment share capital. “AUB continued its annual improvement in financial results into 2012, in the face of continuing uncertain and challenging business and operating environment. Despite expected similar challenges in 2013, AUB continues to remain confident of its resilience and ability to maintain its performance given its strong fundamentals and prudent, proactive management of risks. It will continue to seek, identify and tap organic as well as inorganic growth opportunities within an acceptable riskreturn framework,” commented Fahad Al-Rajaan, Chairman, AUB.
nificantly,” a senior banking source in Dubai said. The IPO is open only to Qataris, but foreign investors will be able to buy in later. Qatar Holding’s investments are widely seen as opportunistic, not following a specific strategy, as it has purchased a wide range of assets globally. Qatar, the world’s richest country per capita, has also invested in other Arab states partly to boost its political clout. The sovereign fund had a rate of return of 17 percent last year, Abdullah
said on Tuesday. “This is a global investment company to invest overseas, not in Qatar,” he said, adding it planned to guarantee a 5 percent dividend in its first year. It was not immediately clear which assets would be transferred to the new firm, called Doha Global Investment Company. The banker said Qatar Holding would spin off $3.5 billion worth of assets into the firm at a discount value of $3 billion. Abdullah, who is also a board mem-
ber of the Qatar Investment Authority, said the listing would take place in six to eight weeks on the Qatar Exchange, which seeks to rival Dubai as a financial hub. “We don’t see an immediate rationale for a move like this, other than maybe sharing the wealth of the nation with citizens, but they have a lot of other companies in petroleum, steel, water treatment which should go (public) first,” the Dubai banking source said.
Fahad Al-Rajan, Chairman, AUB.
Move could establish Ankara as regional energy hub: analysts
Turkey defies allies to pursue Iraqi Kurds ties ANKARA, Feb 19, (AFP): Turkey is defying Washington and Baghdad in developing a broad energy partnership with Iraqi Kurds as it pushes to secure affordable oil and gas supplies to fuel its rapid economic growth. Analysts say the move could also establish the country as a regional energy hub, but risks aggravating tensions in the powderkeg region and damaging ties with the United States, its major ally. Ankara had initially refused to engage in official contacts with Iraqi Kurds, fearing that the establishment of an independent Kurdish state there could embolden its own Kurds, some of whom have waged a nearly three-decade insurgency. But as Turkey’s economy has boomed — it grew by more than 8.0 percent in 2010 and 2011 — and its thirst for energy grown, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has moved gradually to forge trade ties with Iraqi Kurds. In a major deepening of those ties, Turkey and Iraqi Kurds have reportedly agreed recently to build a natural gas pipeline to transport at least 10 billion cubic metres of gas annually. That represents over a fifth of Turkey’s current consumption. Turkish officials have refused to publicly confirm the project that threatens to aggravate a dispute between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan region over control over energy resources. The burgeoning energy ties are raising eyebrows in Washington, where there are concerns that they could tip the volatile country towards disintegration and push an increasingly isolated Baghdad into Iran’s embrace. “Economic success can help pull Iraq together,” US Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone said earlier this month. But “if Turkey and Iraq fail to optimise their economic relations ... there could be more violent conflict in Iraq and the forces of disintegration within Iraq could be emboldened,” he warned.
Baghdad riles over Kurd deals with foreign cos
KRG says inks deal with Gazprom Neft MOSCOW, Feb 19, (RTRS): The president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) was quoted on Tuesday as saying that the autonomous region of Iraq had signed new agreements in recent days with Russia’s fifth-largest oil producer, Gazprom Neft. The deals may increase friction between KRG and Baghdad, which insists that only it has the authority to grant oil contacts and control crude exports in the country.
“We are satisfied with Gazprom Neft’s work in the region. New agreements have been reached with this Russian company in recent days,” Masoud Barzani was quoted as saying by news agency Interfax, which didn’t report any details. A spokesman for Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of world’s top oil company, Gazprom, declined to comment. Gazprom Neft acquired interests in two Kurdistan blocks last August. That
followed moves by international oil firms to develop fields in the autonomous region that angered the central Iraqi government in Baghdad. The Russian company also has a contract for the Badra oilfield, controlled by the government. Industry insiders have said that Kurdistan offers more lucrative conditions — under production sharing agreements — than the central government.
“...and that would not be good for Turkey, the United States, or anybody in the region.” Turkey has already ruffled Washington’s feathers by continuing to import Iranian (oil and gas) despite US efforts to isolate Tehran over its alleged nuclear weapons drive. But Ankara has remained defiant, supporting Iraqi Kurdistan’s right to use part of its energy resources as it sees fit. Erdogan said the regional Kurdish government “is free to use this right with whichever country it wants and we are their neighbour.” Analysts say energy-hungry Turkey’s dependence on expensive energy imports from Iran and Russia are pushing it to find cheaper sources, and northern Iraq appears to be the best provider. “Iraqi sources are the cheapest and it is a way for Turkey to diminish its energy dependence,” Mete Goknel, former director of Turkey’s state-owned pipeline company Botas, told AFP. According to the US Energy Information Administration, Turkey has been importing about half of its crude oil from Iran, although this is likely to fall
given international sanctions on Tehran. In 2011 Turkey was importing nearly 60 percent of its natural gas from Iran, with a fifth coming from Russia. “Turkey depends on Russia and Iran on energy and if both countries close the tap, the Turkish economy will tank,” said an energy expert who asked to remain anonymous. This imported energy has been responsible for a large part of Turkey’s trade deficit, which threatens to crimp expansion.
national energy firm TPAO from bidding for an oil exploration contract, a decision which Erdogan said was not “smart business”. And in December, Baghdad barred a plane carrying Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz from landing in Arbil as he was reportedly on his way to seal the much-speculated energy deal. A Baghdad-controlled oil pipeline that goes to Turkey operates well below its capacity to transport 70.9 million tonnes per year. Sunni-majority Turkey is also at loggerheads with the Iraqi government of Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki over a number of issues including Ankara’s refusal to extradite fugitive Vice President Tareq alHashemi. Despite the difficulties Turkish trade with Iraq has grown rapidly, from $2.8 billion in 2007 to $10.7 billion last year. Iraq is now Turkey’s number two trade partner following Germany, with most of that trade with the Kurdish region. More than 1,000 Turkish companies are currently operating in northern Iraq, and they are optimistic Iraq could become Turkey’s top trade partner as soon as this year.
Hub Goknel said Iraq would also benefit from Turkey becoming a regional energy hub. “It would be more advantageous for Iraq to ship its gas to western markets through Turkey versus the more expensive shipping lane, the strait of Hormuz,” he said. A decision is expected within months on the route of a separate pipeline to ship natural gas from Azerbaijan via Turkey to Western Europe. But Baghdad appears intent on dashing Ankara’s designs to become a regional energy hub, blocking Turkish efforts to step up their presence in Iraqi Kurdistan. In November, Baghdad blocked Turkish
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Egypt in political clinch as ‘cliff’ looms Govt to start rationing subsidized fuel in July CAIRO, Feb 19, (RTRS): Two years after a pro-democracy uprising, Egypt resembles a rickety bus rolling towards a cliff, its passengers too busy feuding over blame to wrench the steering wheel to safety. Foreign exchange reserves are dwindling. Tourism is moribund. Investment is at a standstill. Subsidised diesel fuel and fertiliser are in short supply, while the cost of subsidies is swelling the budget deficit unsustainably. The Egyptian pound has lost 14 percent of its value since the 2011 revolt. Dollars
are scarce. An IMF loan that could unlock wider aid is on hold. Unemployment is rising. Public security has deteriorated, and arms smuggling is rife. With little regard for the looming economic cliff, politicians in the most populous Arab nation are trading blows over an Islamist-tilted constitution, political violence and an alleged power grab by the Muslim Brotherhood. To President Mohamed Morsi and his supporters in the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political arm, this is just a tough home stretch in Egypt’s delayed transition to democracy. With the strongest national machine, they confidently expect to win parliamentary elections in April or May, completing
their conquest of the new democratic institutions, then set about reforming the country along conservative Islamic lines. “We are going through a bottleneck,” said Essam Haddad, the president’s national security adviser. “We’d like to get through this bottleneck as quickly as possible, and without cracking the bottle.” Cash injections from Qatar, the Brotherhood’s main foreign backer, are holding the country’s head just above water, and Haddad says a big informal economy will keep Egypt going. Others are less sure. US ambassador Anne Patterson warned this month that the dearth of foreign currency could cause food and fuel shortages and put social stability at risk in a country where
two-fifths of the population lives on less than $2 a day. Contacts with the International Monetary Fund continue by telephone and email, but there is no sign of an IMF mission returning to Egypt to conclude a $4.8 billion loan agreement vital to stabilise the economy. The IMF demanded in December that Egypt amend its economic adjustment programme to qualify for the loan. Diplomats say an IMF deal could unlock up to $12 billion in funding from a range of sources including the World Bank, the European Union, the United States and Gulf Arab countries. Haddad made clear the government would not risk implementing before
polling day the unpopular subsidy cuts and austerity measures required by the global lender.
Also: CAIRO: Egypt will implement its delayed plans to ration subsidised fuel through a system of smart cards at the beginning of July, the country’s minister of petroleum and mineral resources said on Monday. Egypt’s government is in the process of reforming subsidies in order to cut its budget deficit and secure a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, which is crucial to support its ailing economy. “We are working, as part of the pro-
gramme, to implement it at the beginning of the new financial year (in July),” Osama Kamal said, when asked about the smart cards, in an interview broadcast on Egyptian channel CBC. The quotas, to be implemented through a system of cards allowing drivers a limited amount of subsidised fuel, were due to start in April, just as the country is set to hold parliamentary elections. On Feb 12, the minister said that the smart cards would be implemented between April and July. The Islamist-led administration that took office in July vowed to push through a reform of subsidies, which swallow as much as a quarter of the state budget, to lower its deficit but is reluctant to hurt voters.
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Tunisia credit rating cut
Gulf Bank employees enjoy free show Gulf Bank employees recently got the chance to enjoy the world-renowned ‘Cirque de Glace’ show — compliments of Gulf Bank. The sell-out award winning Russian show, which was touring for the first time in the Middle East, visited Kuwait for three days between Feb 6-9, 2013, performing at the Ice Skating rink in Kuwait City. Gulf Bank gave its employees the opportunity to attend for free and enjoy the unique show as part of its
A photo from the Gulf Bank event
ongoing employee engagement program, which is designed to create a sense of unity and loyalty and encourage a stronger bond between the Bank and its employees. The ‘Cirque de Glace’ show was an unforgettable experience, and all Gulf Bank employees who went enjoyed an evening to remember. February is a festive month in Kuwait and the Bank felt that this was one way to engage employees with the month’s festivities.
The Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has downgraded Tunisia’s government credit rating due to the persistent political instability in the country. The move Tuesday is the latest blow to the country’s economy, which has been suffering since Tunisians overthrew their dictator in January 2011, as well as due to Europe’s financial crisis. S&P lowered Tunisia’s rating to BB- from BB with a negative outlook. It is the third such downgrade since the uprising. In justifying its move, the agency cited the ongoing political crisis in the country following the assassination of leftist politician Chokri Belaid on Feb 6. (AP)
British PM promises to fully ‘Too early’ to suspect foul play in Rafale deal: India cooperate with India in probe UK to assist in helicopter probe
NEW DELHI, Feb 19, (RTRS): Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony said on Tuesday it was “too early” to consider the possibility of foul play in a planned $10 billion deal with France’s Dassault Aviation for Rafale war planes. India has threatened to scrap a $750 million deal for a dozen AgustaWestland helicopters after Italian police arrested the former head of parent company Finmeccanica, Giuseppe Orsi, last week for allegedly paying bribes to Indian politicians to win the contract. The Rafale purchase, one of the world’s largest defence deals, has come under increased scrutiny in the Indian media because of the Finmeccanica case. The allegations surrounding the AgustaWestland deal also hung over the visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron to India this week. After meeting his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, Cameron promised to assist India’s investigation into the sale of the helicopters, which are manufactured in Britain. Antony was responding to a question from Reuters at a news conference on whether the government was looking into any possibility of corruption in the deal with Rafale to buy 126 fighter jets, which is in the final stages of negotiation between Dassault and India.
Scrutiny “It is too early,” he said, adding that there were many levels of scrutiny in the deal. “I can assure you one thing, as far as our government is concerned, regarding integrity, transparency, we will not compromise,” he said. “We will go to any extent to take action,” he said, if there was any evidence of corruption. French President Francois Hollande said on a visit to India last week that his government was committed to deals being done according to “commercial rules” and France remained vigilant in the fight against corruption.
“We are working with Indian authorities, we have nothing to do with Finmeccanica and even less with the problems that they’re having now,” Eric Trappier, chief executive of Dassault Aviation, told reporters during Hollande’s visit. The Finmeccanica case has sent shockwaves through the defence industry in India, the world’s largest weapons importer. It follows a series of corruption scandals that have dogged the government, which faces a general election due by 2014. The Defence Ministry is considering cancelling the helicopter deal, which would put in question some $12 billion in sales the Italian company is chasing.
Prohibits India prohibits any middlemen in arms deals. Several Indian newspapers have quoted a 2002 Paris court judgment that a British-based broker, Christian Michel, was employed by Dassault during a bid to sell India 10 Mirage 2000 jets. The court ruled that Dassault and Michel had parted ways by the time that deal was signed in 2000. “Today there are only reports. We are very clear if for any deal, any foul play is found, we will take action,” Antony said. Michel is now accused by Italian prosecutors of funnelling bribes to Indian officials to swing the AgustaWestland helicopter deal. Cameron is in India hoping to tap one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies for new trade and investment opportunities, including in the defence sector. Britain was part of a consortium hoping to win the contract to sell Eurofighter jets worth about $10 billion to India. That consortium has lost out to Dassault but Cameron has sought to persuade the Indian government that Eurofighter remains an attractive option if India decides to review the Rafale deal.
Cameron keen to forge new partnership with New Delhi Partnership seeks to reverse decline in India gas field
BP, Reliance plan $5b investment NEW DELHI, Feb 19, (AFP): BP Plc and Reliance Industries Ltd Tuesday announced plans to invest over $5 billion to reverse a decline in output from India’s biggest natural gas reservoir in the Bay of Bengal. The energy partners, who tied up two years ago, said they would jointly invest in a string of projects to develop four trillion cubic feet of gas resources from the D6 block in the KrishnaGodavari basin to supply energy-hungry India. At current prices, it would cost more than $50 billion to import this volume of gas into India, BP, already India’s largest single British investor, and Reliance, India’s largest private company, said in a statement. “The partnership is focused on finding more hydrocarbons and addressing the complexities of the geology along the east coast of India,” Reliance’s billionaire chief Mukesh Ambani said in a statement. The announcement came as British Prime Minister David Cameron was in New Delhi on the second-day of a trade-focused official visit during
which he declared Britain wanted to be India’s trade “partner of choice”. “The decision to join forces with Reliance Industries to invest $5 billion in the next few years in India’s gas markets reinforces how two of Britain and India’s leading companies can work together,” Cameron said. The firms hope to “significantly contribute to India’s domestic production and help the country attain energy security”, Ambani said.
Benefit In 2011, BP, seeking to benefit from access to new hydrocarbon resources and markets, agreed to buy a 30 percent stake in 23 of Reliance’s oil and gas blocks, including KG-D6, for $7.2 billion. Reliance teamed up with BP in the hope its deepwater drilling expertise would raise output from KG-D6 that has slumped sharply due to geological complexities and left India more dependent on costly imported liquefied natural gas. “This plan, when implemented, would entail a potential total investment in excess of $5 billion over the next three to
five years,” the two companies said, referring to the KG-D6 gas field. Gas from these projects “will deliver energy to millions of Indians and would significantly help India in reducing its import dependence”, India’s petroleum minister Veerappa Moily said. Greater fuel access for India has become especially vital given turmoil in the energy-rich Middle East and north Africa and the need to reduce a record current account deficit of which fuel imports account for the largest chunk. Reliance and BP have since formed a 50:50 joint venture to source and market gas in India called India Gas Solutions Private Ltd. “We will bring all our expertise in deep water to explore the prolific gas basins in India,” said BP’s Bob Dudley, who was part of what Cameron called the biggest-ever British overseas trade delegation. Moily promised to “fast-track” India’s notoriously slow government approval process so that BP and Reliance could start stepping up development.
‘Every Indian wants gold’
India’s gold culture defies new tax hike MUMBAI, India, Feb 19, (AP): India’s steep new tax on gold imports doesn’t deter Mousumi Rao as she holds up a glittering $5,000 filigree necklace that could adorn her daughter on her wedding day. Rao’s daughter isn’t getting married next month or even next year. The 12-year-old is at least several years away from her wedding. Since tradition demands a bride practically drip with gold jewelry, it’s never too early for an Indian family to start preparing, particularly with the high cost of gold these days. “I’m collecting things for her now so when she grows older and marries, I should have enough gold for her,” said Rao. “It is very auspicious for us, one of the most auspicious things, to give gold to your daughter.” Gold has been deeply entwined in Indian culture for thousands of years. Nowadays, India is by far the world’s biggest buyer of gold and those imports are an increasing drain on an economy that is growing too slowly to reduce widespread poverty. Last year Indians imported 864 tons of gold, about one fifth of world sales. The cost of 2.5 trillion rupees ($45 billion) was second only to India’s bill for imported oil. The unquenchable appetite for gold coins, bars and jewelry has swelled India’s trade deficit and weakened its currency, making crucial imports such as fuel more expensive.
The government can’t do much about oil imports - without fuel, the economy would grind to a halt — so in the past year it has tried to rein in gold demand, raising the import duty three times in a year to its current level of 6 percent. The higher tariff is proving little match for age-old tradition. “Every Indian wants gold. Now is the wedding season, and I’m seeing an increase in demand no matter about the tax,” said jeweler Arun Kaigaonkar. “Prices have been rising for years, and still people buy.” He said not only jewelry, but gold bars and coins remain in high demand because in many rural areas banking is less available. “In the countryside, people save their money only in gold.” Last year Indian gold-buying briefly dropped for six months, but then it roared back in the second half of the year. And in January, sales spiked sharply as jewelers and investors rushed to buy ahead of the import tax hike to 6 percent, which took effect at the end of the month. “The culture of gold is so strong in India. It’s difficult to contain this demand by just tweaking import duties,” said Samiran Chakraborty, an economist with Standard Chartered Bank in Mumbai. Through centuries of warfare and the shifting borders of regional kingdoms, gold was the safest currency.
NEW DELHI, Feb 19, (AFP): British Prime Minister David Cameron promised full cooperation on Tuesday with an Indian investigation into alleged corruption in a helicopter deal, an issue that has clouded his trip to New Delhi. Cameron arrived in India on Monday pushing for better access to the booming market of 1.2 billion people and greater trade. While keen to persuade India of the merits of the part-British Eurofighter jets, he has been dogged by another aviation deal involving the AngloItalian helicopter maker AgustaWestland. Italian authorities arrested the boss of AgustaWestland’s parent company Finmeccanica last week during an investigation into bribes allegedly paid to secure the $750-million Indian government contract in 2010. Finmeccanica Tuesday insisted it had acted “correctly” and complied fully with Indian law, amid allegations the deal was won through bribes of up to $66 million. Press reports indicate one of the accused middlemen is based in London, while the 12 helicopters are being made in southwest England. “We will respond to any request for information. I am glad that the Italian authorities are looking into this issue in detail,” Cameron told a press conference with Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh. Singh, eager to show his graftplagued government taking action ahead of national elections next year, said he had conveyed “our very serious concerns regarding allegations that unethical means were used” to secure the deal. “I have sought the full assistance of the UK in this case,” he added.
Forge The scandal has been an unwanted distraction for Cameron who is keen to forge a new partnership with Britain’s former colony, believing their historical links should provide a foundation for a closer partnership. Like other Western leaders who arrive eyeing the country’s enviable economic growth rates, he is eager for British companies to benefit from India’s vast investment in infrastructure, health, energy and defence. Executives in his delegation from the worlds of banking, insurance and retail have also been encouraged by the Indian government’s moves late last year to drop some barriers to foreign investors. Cameron has targeted a doubling of annual bilateral trade with India, from 11.5 billion pounds ($17.8 billion) in 2010 to 23 billion pounds by the time he faces re-election in 2015. “Britain wants to be your partner of choice,” Cameron said during a factory visit in commercial capital Mumbai on Monday. Harsh Pant, a expert on Indian foreign relations at King’s College university in London, said that Britain and India were bound by their history and large British-Indian population, but that New Delhi was destined to remain aloof.
Indian unions call strike as govt grapples with deficit NEW DELHI, Feb 19, (RTRS): Major Indian trade unions have called for a two-day strike starting on Wednesday, as the beleaguered government prepares to present an austerity budget to parliament and weather a corruption scandal in a big arms deal. Financial services, mining and transport are likely to be affected by the strike, called by all major trade unions to protest high inflation, a fuel price increase and what they say are violations of labour laws. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, grappling with the country’s worst economic slowdown in a decade, asked the unions to call off the strike, but talks between a ministerial panel and union leaders broke down on Monday. “As far as we have seen, the government has nothing to offer to labourers,” said Atridev Tiwari, general secretary of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (Indian Workers Union), one of the main unions leading the strike. “It doesn’t matter what the prime minister says now because we cannot rely on his word. He says something and does something else.” The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry said the two-day strike was expected to cause an estimated loss of 150 billion-200 billion rupees ($2.8 billion-$3.8 billion), hurting sectors such as banking, insurance and transport. Narsing Rao, the head of state-owned Coal India Limited which accounts for about 80 percent of India’s coal, said output losses this week could touch 4 million tonnes pushing the company further away from its production target of 464 million tonnes in this fiscal year through March.
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advanced economies retreat in last quarter: OECD
US homebuilder confidence dips from 6-1/2 year high Confidence among US homebuilders slipped this month from the 6-1/2 year high it reached in January, with many builders reporting less traffic by prospective customers before the critical spring home-buying season. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Tuesday dipped to 46 from 47 in January. It was the first monthly decline in the
index since April. Readings below 50 suggest negative sentiment about the housing market. The last time the index was at 50 or higher was in April 2006, when it was 51. It began trending higher in October 2011, when it was 17. The latest index, based on responses from 402 builders, comes as the US housing market is strengthening after stagnating for roughly five years after the housing
boom collapsed. Steady job gains and nearrecord-low mortgage rates have encouraged more people to buy homes. Prices have been rising. In part, that’s because the supply of previously occupied homes for sale has thinned to the lowest level in more than a decade. And the pace of foreclosures, while still rising in some states, has slowed sharply on a national basis. (AP)
The economies of advanced countries shrank in the final quarter of last year, giving a twist to broad slowdown in 2012, data from the OECD showed on Tuesday. And in the whole of 2012, OECD economies grew by 1.3 percent from the level in 2011, when output had expanded by 1.9 percent. Overall, the economies of OECD countries shrank by 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter of last year after
a rise of 0.3 percent in the third quarter. The economy of the United States slowed down to about zero growth in the fourth quarter from growth of 0.8 percent in the third quarter. On a 12-month comparison, the OECD economies grew by 0.7 percent, a sharp slowdown from growth of 1.2 percent in the third quarter. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development,
which groups 34 advanced countries, said that the contraction in the last quarter, from output in the previous quarter, was the first since a sharp reversal of 2.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009. Output by the 27 members of the European Union shrank by 0.5 percent, the OECD said, highlighting contraction of 0.6 percent in Germany, the first since early in 2009. (AFP)
Qatar economic brief National Bank of Kuwait
GDP seen to grow by 5% in 2013 R
eal GDP growth in Qatar is expected to slow to 5.0 percent and 4.9 percent in 2013 and 2014 respectively, with real non-oil GDP forecast to grow by 8.0 percent and 7.6 percent respectively in the next two years. Meanwhile, inflation in Qatar is forecast to pick up in 2013 and 2014 and reach 3.4 percent y/y and 4.0 percent y/y, respectively. By the end of 2012, Qatar’s economy should benefit from its first full year of maximum LNG output (77 million tonnes). This will cap a remarkable decade of investment and expansion in the country’s gas sector which has delivered double-digit average annual growth and seen Qatar assume the mantle of the world’s largest LNG exporter and highest per capita income country. In view of the completion of LNG expansion and the moratorium on further gas exploration in the North Field until at least 2014, growth is set to moderate substantially. As a result, real GDP is forecast to slow to 5 percent during 2013-14. Moreover, pending enhancement and fur-
ther development of the country’s aging oil fields, which is scheduled over the next few years, oil production is likely to remain below potential. Qatar forecast summary: 2013f 2014f Real GDP percenty/y 5.0 4.9 - Non-oil percenty/y 8.0 7.6
UAE to expand by 3.2 percent
GCC economy pegged to grow by 3.8 pct in 2013 By Dr Giyas Gökkent NBAD’s Group Chief Economist ABU DHABI, Feb 19: 2012 was a record year in many respects. It was the second consecutive year with the average price of oil above $100 per barrel. The average price of crude oil (Dubai, spot) was the highest ever at $109.1 per barrel and up from $105.5 per barrel in 2011. Oil production by the GCC region was also at a record level, with crude oil output averaging about 17 million barrels per day. GCC region nominal GDP also reached a new record high at about $1.56 trillion, up from $1.44 trillion in 2011. In aggregate, the GCC region continued its climb and became the 12th largest economy in the world, behind 11th ranked Canada. Saudi Arabia accounted for 47 percent of the GCC economy, Gökkent while the UAE accounted for 23 percent. Qatar and Kuwait accounted for 12 percent and 11 percent of the GCC economy, respectively. Oman and Bahrain accounted for about 5 percent and 2 percent. GCC real GDP growth rate slowed from an estimated 7.4 percent in 2011 to 5.3 percent in 2012. Saudi Arabia accounted for about 48 percent of the GCC real GDP growth rate, while the UAE accounted for 25 percent. For the first time ever, GCC value of exports reached $1 trillion, up from $932 billion in 2011. This is almost double the 2009 level of $526 billion. UAE value of exports accounted for about a third of the GCC total. Value of oil and related exports rose to a new record high of $692 billion, up from $644 billion in 2011. GCC is estimated to have registered a trade surplus of $558 billion in 2012 (up from $529 billion in 2011), again a new record. Services account remained in deficit, while workers’ remittances were a record $77 billion culminating in an aggregate current account surplus of $346 billion, equivalent to 22.3 percent of GDP. Saudi Arabia accounted for 52 percent of the GCC current account surplus with $178.5 billion. UAE current account surplus is estimated at $32 billion (8.8 percent of GDP) in the same period.
Surplus GCC budgetary expenditures rose to a record $491 billion, up from $467 billion in 2011. Nevertheless, the aggregate budget surplus was substantial at $222 billion, equivalent to 14.3 percent of GDP reflecting the buoyancy of hydrocarbon revenues. UAE economy is estimated to have registered a consolidated fiscal surplus equivalent to 7.8 percent of GDP, the best performance since 2008. In 2013, real GDP growth rate in the GCC region is expected to slow to the slowest pace since 2009 at about 3.8 percent. UAE economy is forecast to grow by 3.2 percent year-on-year. The main culprit for the slowdown is expected to be a flattening in hydrocarbon sector growth. The crude oil output of the four GCC OPEC members rose to 16.3 million bpd in
August 2012, but has since declined every month and stood at 15.2 million bpd in January 2013. Saudi Arabia accounted for about 73 percent of the decline in output amongst the GCC OPEC members in that period. The price of oil has been resilient and high in historical terms, but stopped its steady climb since 2009. The average oil price in the January to mid-February 2013 was essentially unchanged from the same period in 2012. US Energy information Administration is forecasting a decline in the Brent crude oil spot price to an average of $105 per barrel in 2013 and $99 per barrel in 2014. This compares with an average price of $112 in 2012. The driver for lower oil prices is expected to be a rise in supply from non-OPEC sources, particularly from North America. Our estimates are currently based on an average oil price of about $103 per barrel in 2013 and slightly higher in 2014 on the assumption that OPEC will curtail output to maintain breach of its comfort level.
Slowdown Non-oil sectors are forecast to grow by a healthy 5.4 percent y-o-y in 2013, spearheading overall economic activity given the slowdown in hydrocarbon activity. GCC nominal GDP is forecast to rise to $1.61 trillion in 2013. UAE nominal GDP is projected at $368 billion. GCC trade surplus is forecast to ease to $492 billion, while the current account surplus is estimated at $270 billion (16.8 percent of GDP). The fiscal surplus is forecast to ease to $171 billion (10.6 percent of GDP). UAE is forecast to register surpluses in its current account and budget equivalent to about 8.5 percent and 6.8 percent of GDP, respectively. Oil prices at these levels will continue to allow GCC to accumulate international assets and retain their usual role of being capital exporters. Saudi Arabia 2010 2011 Nominal GDP ($ bn) 526.8 669.5 Real GDP ( percent) 4.75 8.5 Total hydrocarbon export revenue ($ bn) 215.2 317.6 United Arab Emirates 2010 2011 Nominal GDP ($ bn) 283.9 338.7 Real GDP ( percent) 1.3 4.2 Total hydrocarbon export revenue ($ bn) 74.6 111.6 Kuwait 2010 2011 Nominal GDP ($ bn) 119.9 160.9 Real GDP ( percent) 11.4 6 Total hydrocarbon export revenue ($ bn) 61.8 96.7 Qatar 2010 2011 Nominal GDP ($ bn) 127.3 173.5 Real GDP ( percent) 16.7 14.1 Total hydrocarbon export revenue ($ bn) 72.6 105.5 Oman 2010 2011 Nominal GDP ($ bn) 59.2 72.7 Real GDP ( percent) 6 5.3 Total hydrocarbon export revenue ($ bn) 25.2 33.3 Bahrain 2010 2011 Nominal GDP ($ bn) 25.7 29.0 Real GDP ( percent) 4.3 1.9 Total hydrocarbon export revenue ($ bn) 10.2 15.4
2012 2013 727.3 753.9 6.8 4 347.2 312.6 2012 2013 358 367.5 4 3.2 122.3 117.9 2012 2013 173.2 176.9 6.6 3.9 102.4
98.2
2012 2013 187.5 197.7 6.2 5.4 109.9 109.5 2012 80.2 5
2013 82.8 3.9
36.5
34.8
2012 31.0 3.7
2013 32.3 3.9
14.8
13.9
Inflation (yr avg) percent 3.4 4.0 Budget balance percent GDP 8.2 7.0 Economic expansion will therefore be driven largely by developments in the nonhydrocarbon sector — manufacturing, construction and services especially. Manufacturing output will be boosted by the attainment of full production at the
140,000 bpd Pearl gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility during 2013-14 as well as further expansion in petrochemical and fertilizer production, of which Qatar Fertilizer Company’s QAFCO-6 project and Qatar Petrochemical Company’s (QAPCO) low density polyethylene plant LDPE3 are notable examples. Meanwhile, as the gov-
ernment proceeds with realizing its National Development Strategy 20112016, a pipeline of major infrastructure projects — including the $45 billion Lusail development, the $17.5 billion New Doha International Airport and a host of road, railway and associated World Cup construction projects — will, alongside
the government’s broader efforts to position Qatar as a financial services and tourism hub, gain increased momentum. While inflation is expected to repeat its performance of 2011 and average 1.9 percent y/y in 2012, it is forecast to pick up in 2013 and 2014 and reach 3.4 percent y/y and 4.0 percent y/y, respectively. This is largely due to a turnaround in the rental component of the consumer price index, which has, since the middle of 2012, posted consecutive monthly increases. Demand in that sector, spurred on by an expansion in the workforce, finally looks to be rising to meet the oversupply that has characterized the Qatari real estate market since the financial crisis. In spite of relatively muted global food and commodity prices and a stronger US dollar, which are tempering inflation for the moment, domestic pressures stemming from rising consumer demand and expansive fiscal and monetary policies are likely to feature in the medium term inflation outlook.
Forecasters caught napping by pace of currency moves Currency war, euro optimism behind market surge LONDON, Feb 19, (RTRS): Rapid moves in foreign exchange markets have sent strategists scrambling to revise 2013 forecasts as resurgent currencies outpace price predictions, wrongfooting the experts that many rely on for hedging, budgeting and investment. After two years of muted trading volumes and limited opportunity to make money as asset classes moved in lock-step, investors are piling back into currency trading. The surge in trading has been fuelled by optimism the worst of the euro zone debt crisis is over and by talk of “currency wars,” after Japan’s readiness to talk down the yen drove other currencies sharply higher. The change in pace has taken forecasters, many of whom earn six-figure salaries in return for their expertise, by surprise, and faulty forecasts can cost their clients dear. Many new year forecasts were outdated within days; in some cases analysts also got the direction of a move wrong, predicting a currency would fall only to see it shoot higher.
Forecasts In January, both the euro and yen ended the month well outside the range of all the forecasts in a Reuters poll of 53 banks. Strategists have not been so wrong on two currencies in the same month since October 2011. Bank of England Governor Mervyn King once said only a fool would forecast exchange rates. Some strategists said the dramatic acceleration in FX moves highlighted the difficulty of making detailed forecasts in a $5 trillion-aday market. “You make a rod for your own back when you forecast,” said Neil Mellor, currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon. “No one likes to admit getting things wrong. It affects your view if you start defending a position, when really you should be assessing what’s affecting the market.” The yen has been the biggest mover as investors bet heavily that the Bank of Japan would aggressively ease monetary policy as part of efforts to revive the economy. The currency dropped far faster than the sedate pace envisaged at the start of 2013. Reuters polling data shows the mean 12-month dollar/yen forecast from analysts surveyed in January was 87.8 yen. The dollar raced past that level four days into the new year. By February analysts had raised the mean 12-month forecast up to 94.4 yen. That level was hit on Feb 11. Short-term forecasts were no better. Only a third of those polled in January correctly predicted the yen would fall against the dollar by month-end. The euro, riding a wave of investor optimism, caused similar problems, ending January near $1.36, well outside the $1.27 to $1.3450 range in the poll. Unlike traders, who risk millions of dollars betting on market moves, only pride is
HE Abdullah Bin Hamd Al-Attiyah receives the MEED Lifetime Achievement Award at Qatar Projects.
Doha’s financial sector key: QFC CEO
Qatar, UAE, Kuwait projects valued at $245b DOHA, Feb 19: Collaboration with banks are a must for contractors and developers to succeed in Qatar’s burgeoning projects market. “With all the schemes planned, it will necessitate banks working together if all of the projects are to be completed in the required timeline,” said John Iossifidis, executive vice-president and head of international banking at Dubai-based Mashreq at MEED’s Qatar Projects 2013 conference yesterday. Last year, according to Iossifidis, $145 billion-worth of projects were budgeted for in the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar, with about $45bn worth of schemes reaching financing stage. Lossifidis estimates that $245 billion-worth of schemes are budgeted in these three states in 2013, and with it a surge in project financing. “At the same ratio as last year, financing will be required for about $80bn of projects. Co-operation between the banks to finance this is important,” he added.
Meanwhile, Shashank Srivastava, chief executive officer, Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFC), speaking at the same conference, says Doha’s financial sector has become an important part of Qatar’s economy. “The contribution of the financial industry is an important part of the National Vision for 2030. Financial services help diversification away from excessive dependence on hydrocarbons. Qatar has already made long strides. Finance, insurance and reinsure now account for 10 per cent of the country’s GDP,” Srivastava continued. In another major highlight of the conference, His Excellency Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, President, Administrative Control and Transparency Authority received the prestigious MEED Lifetime Achievement Award at a gala dinner hosted by Platinum Sponsors IBQ. His Excellency is credited with orchestrating Qatar’s transformation into a modern and progressive industrial nation.
In addition to Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Chamber and the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), Qatar Projects 2013 is being supported by International Bank of Qatar (IBQ) as Platinum sponsor; United Development Company (UDC) as Strategic Partner; Qatar Islamic Bank and Kharafi National as Gold Sponsors; Mashreq as Silver Sponsor; as well as Qatar Insurance Company, Brookfield Multiplex, Black Cat and Autodesk as Bronze Sponsors. Metito, Drake & Scull, as well as Qatar Financial Centre Authority are on board as Conference Sponsors. Patton Boggs and SSH International have signed up as Lunch Sponsors of the event; while Seib Insurance and Reinsurance is the Breakfast Sponsor. This year’s reception sponsor is PWC. For more information on Qatar Projects 2013 conference, please visit www.qatarprojectsconference.com.
at stake for analysts, though persistently bad calls might not be tolerated for long. Those who miscalculate not just the pace but the direction of a move face a tricky conundrum: do they keep faith with forecasts even as markets race off in the opposite direction, or eat humble pie and hastily revise outlooks? “When things are not going your way, it’s not pleasant. If we change our forecast we get a bit of grief internally and externally,” said Daragh Maher, currency strategist at HSBC. HSBC strategists this month revised their dollar/yen 12-month forecast up to
80 from 74 yen, predicting the yen will rebound to levels not seen this year, just as many of their rivals see the currency falling towards 100 to the dollar. For most analysts, getting the “story” right — a convincing argument for where a currency is headed — is more important than hitting a specific price. “When someone changes their forecast, are they chasing spot, which I think is a mistake, or has their view changed? We’re paid to try and help people make money, and so getting a story right and having an interesting story is part of that,” Maher said.
There are no hard-and-fast rules for predicting currencies, but most analysts use a combination of economic fundamentals, “event risks” — the impact of any event, from an earthquake to a policymaker’s speech — and positioning data, which looks at the weight of speculative bets on an exchange rate. Many forecasting models include specific variables for each currency. The strategy team at Bank of TokyoMitsubishi (BTMU)uses dairy prices to help predict the New Zealand dollar, reflecting agriculture’s dominant role in the economy.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
BUSINESS
44
06:00 Asia Edge 07:00 Bloomberg West 08:00 Bloomberg West 09:00 Countdown 10:00 Countdown 11:00 On The Move 12:00 The Pulse 13:00 The Pulse 14:00 Bloomberg Surveillance 15:00 Bloomberg Surveillance 16:00 In The Loop With Betty Liu 17:00 In The Loop With Betty Liu 18:00 Market Makers 19:00 Market Makers 20:00 Lunch Money 21:00 Money Moves With Deirdre Bolton 22:00 Charlie Rose 23:00 Street Smart 00:00 Street Smart 01:00 Charlie Rose 02:00 Bloomberg West 03:00 First Up 04:00 On The Move Asia 05:00 On The Move Asia 06:00 Asia Edge
05:00 Cash Flow 07:00 Fast Money: Half Time Report 08:00 Capital Connection 09:00 Squawk Box Europe 12:00 Worldwide Exchange 14:00 Us Squawk Box 17:00 Squawk On The Street 19:00 European Closing Bell 20:00 Access: Middle East 20:30 Fast Money: Half Time Report 21:00 Us Power Lunch 22:00 Us Street Signs 23:00 Us Closing Bell 01:00 CNBC Meets Richard Desmond 01:30 CNBC Documentaries 02:00 Us Street Signs 03:00 Asia Squawk Box 04:00 The Call Asia 05:00 Cash Flow 07:00 Fast Money: Half Time Report
tv today
tv today
Turkey cbank cuts rates, raises obligatory reserves Turkey’s central bank cut Tuesday overnight interest rates while raising reserve requirements for commercial lenders, as it juggled supporting growth while avoiding a credit boom. The bank’s monetary policy committee kept the main policy rate unchanged at 5.5 percent. However it lowered by 25 basis points, or 0.25 percentage points, the overnight rates which form the floor and ceiling for market interest rates. The overnight borrowing rate was lowered to 4.5 percent and the overnight lending rate to
8.5 percent. The bank raised lenders foreign exchange reserve requirement from 11.1 percent to 11.5 percent, saying it would withdraw $940 million (705 mn euros) from the market. “Although the Turkish central bank cut interest rates today, it also raised reserve requirements, so the overall impact on monetary conditions is ambiguous,” London-based Capital Economics said in a statement. Policymakers are under pressure to revive the economy by cutting rates, but they risk rekindling concerns over the current account deficit, it added. “Today’s moves reflect the bind
the Bank is in,” they said. Lower interest rates would support economic growth, which has recently slowed. Raising the reserve requirements would restrain banks from loaning too much, with the central bank warning of a significant acceleration of credit growth, which is financed mostly by foreign capital inflows. Although Turkey is narrowing its current account deficit, its need for external financing remains the growing economy’s weak spot, along with a big external debt in the private sector. (AFP)
Egypt slips 1.2% to its lowest level in February
Telco du leads Dubai rally; Abu Dhabi sheds 0.2 pct DUBAI, Feb 19, (RTRS): Dubai telecom operator du made its largest one-day gain in 10 months on Tuesday, surging to a four-year high and boosting the broader index after it posted quarterly results that beat analysts’ estimates. Most regional markets in the Gulf Arab region declined. Shares in Du jumped 11.7 percent to 4.12 dirhams in its biggest gain since April 2012. Du’s fourth-quarter profit more than doubled to 994 million dirhams ($270.6 million) as it wrote back tax provisions. UAE telecom operators are taxed via royalties under license agreements with the federal government. The latter announced a new formula in December that includes a levy on
revenues as well as profits. Du had provisioned to pay 50 percent of its profit in royalty fees through the year, but the new formula means it pays less tax as a percentage of profit than 2011, enabling it to write back some of the provisions it set aside in the first nine months of 2012. The firm also proposed a cash dividend of 0.3 dirhams per share. “The surprise was on earnings as well as dividend yield, which at 8 percent is very attractive,” said Ali Adou, portfolio manager at The National Investor. “The royalty fee restructuring will be negative for du after three years, but for the time being, the stock looks very attractive.” Dubai’s measure rose 1.7 percent
to its highest close since November 2009. It has risen 16 percent yearto-date. Stocks have rebounded following tentative signs of recovery in Dubai’s property sector, but the share index remains about 70 percent below a 2008 peak. Abu Dhabi’s index eased 0.2 percent, down from Monday’s 39month high. Elsewhere, Egypt’s index fell 1.2 percent to its lowest level in February as political uncertainty spurred foreign investors to cut risk exposure. Egypt’s constitutional court rejected five articles of a draft election law on Monday and sent the text back to the country’s temporary legislature for redrafting in a ruling that may delay a parliamentary poll
due in April. Investors are worried about the economic uncertainty caused by the delay, including a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary fund, seen as crucial to support the country’s battered economy and to stabilise a currency crisis. “The law debate makes it very difficult to expect when the elections will be held,” said Ahmed Kheir El Din, a Cairo-based trader. “We don’t know what will happen with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) loan or the appointment of a new government.” Non-Arab foreign were net sellers, while Arab were net buyers, bourse data shows. Commercial International Bank is the main drag, falling 3.2 percent.
Orascom Telecom and Media sheds 1.4 percent and EFG-Hermes dips 2.8 percent. In Saudi Arabia, the index slipped 0.4 percent, declining for a third session. Large-caps led losses with Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) and Al Rajhi Bank slipping 0.8 and 0.7 percent respectively. Investors shunned large-caps, petrochemical and banking shares, after disappointing fourth-quarter earnings and muted growth. Dubai ■ The index rose 1.7 percent to 1,914 points. Abu Dhabi ■ The index slipped 0.2 percent to 2,964 points.
Egypt ■ The index fell 1.2 percent to 5,623 points. Saudi Arabia ■ The index slipped 0.4 percent to 7,026 points. Qatar ■ The index declined 0.2 percent to 8,780 points. Kuwait ■ The index slipped 0.3 percent to 6,387 points. Oman ■ The index gained 0.3 percent to 5,912 points. Bahrain ■ The index eased 0.09 percent to 1,095 points. See Also Page 45
investment funds Funds Fund Manager Valution Valued date Currency Net Asset Prev NAV Prev NAV Dated Value (NAV) ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
National Bank of Kuwait
Private Equity Funds
Money Market Funds
Watani KD Money Market Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Feb 5, 2013 KD 1.377 1.377 Jan 29, 2013 Watani KD Money Market Fund (Islamic) NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Feb 5, 2013 KD 1.161 1.161 Jan 29, 2013 Watani Foreign Currency Money Market Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Feb 5, 2013 USD 1.284 1.284 Jan 29, 2013 Watani Foreign Currency Money Market Fund (Euro) NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Feb 5, 2013 Euro 1.236 1.237 Jan 29, 2013 Watani USD Money Market Fund (Acc NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Feb 5, 2013 USD 1.091 1.090 Jan 29, 2013 to Islamic Shariah principles) Equity Funds NBK Gulf Equity Fund NBK Weekly Feb 14, 2013 USD 1.047 1.049 Jan 31, 2013 NBK Kuwait Equity Fund NBK Weekly Feb 14, 2013 KD 0.647 0.658 Jan 31, 2013 NBK Qatar Equity Fund NBK Weekly Feb 14, 2013 USD 1.368 1.357 Jan 31, 2013 Islamic Ijara Fund IX Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31 2012 USD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic Ijara Fund X Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Jan 31, 2013 USD 10.000 10.000 Dec 31, 2012 Islamic Ijara Fund XI Wafra Capital Partners LP Cayman Islands Monthly Jan 31, 2013 USD 10.000 10.000 Dec 31, 2012 Thahabi Ijara Fund V Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Jan 31, 2013 USD 10.000 10.000 Dec 31, 2012 Thahabi Ijara Fund VI Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31 2012 USD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Thahabi Ijara Fund VII Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Nov 30, 2012 USD 10.000 10.000 Oct 31, 2012 Islamic KD Ijara Fund I Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31 2012 KD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic KD Ijara Fund II Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31, 2012 KD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic KD Ijara Fund III Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31, 2012 KD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic KD Ijara Fund IV Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31 2012 KD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic KD Ijara Fund V Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31 2012 KD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Alternative Funds Watani US Real Estate Income & Growth Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Monthly Sept 30, 2012 USD 1,000.000 1,000.000 June 30, 2012 Watani European Real Estate Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Quarterly Sept 30, 2012 Euro 1,000.000 1,000.000 June 30, 2012 Central European Real Estate Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Quarterly Sept 30, 2012 Euro 10,000.000 10,000.000 June 30, 2012 Islamic European Real Estate Fund – A Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Quarterly Sept 30, 2012 USD 1,000.000 1,000.000 June 30, 2012 Islamic European Real Estate Fund – B Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Quarterly Sept 30, 2012 USD 1,000.000 1,000.000 June 30, 2012 Islamic Asian Real Estate Fund Wafra Investment Advisory Group Inc Quarterly Sept 30, 2012 USD 1,000.000 1,000.000 June 30, 2012 Islamic China India Real Estate Fund Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Quarterly Sept 30, 2012 USD 1,000.000 1,000.000 June 30, 2012 R.Estate Security Funds Islamic Global RE Securities Fund Class A Wafra Capital Partners L.P. Monthly Dec 31, 2012 USD 1,062.376 1,048.180 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic Global RE Securities Fund Class B Wafra Capital Partners L.P. Monthly Dec 31, 2012 USD 1.017.974 1.013.814 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic Turkey Real Estate Fund Wafra Capital Partners L.P. March 19, 2008 USD 1,000.000 Multi Asset Funds Thahabi Multi Asset Fund – Con Portfolio Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd Monthly Dec 31, 2012 USD 93.044 92.730 Nov 30, 2012 Thahabi Multi Asset Fund – Mo Portfolio Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd Monthly Dec 31, 2012 USD 82.671 82.140 Nov 30, 2012 NBK Frontier Multi Asset Fund – Con Portfolio Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd Monthly Nov 30, 2012 USD 92.730 92.410 Oct 31, 2012 NBK Frontier Multi Asset Fund – Mo Portfolio Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd Monthly Nov 30, 2012 USD 82.140 81.586 Oct 31, 2012 NBK Frontier Multi Asset Fund – Plus Portfolio Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd Monthly Nov 30, 2012 USD 66.330 65.623 Oct 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Gulf Bank Al Basha’er GCC Equity Fund Kwt. Fin. & Inv. Co. & Gulf Fin. House Monthly Jan 31, 2013 USD 7.270 6.9878 Dec 31, 2012 Coast Fund Coast Investment Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.644 0.643 Dec 31, 2012 Sanaya Dow Jones Kuwait Index Fund Industrial & Financial Investment Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.629 0.614 Dec 31, 2012 Markaz Capital Preservation Programs 1 Monthly Nov 30, 2012 KD 0.959 0.959 Oct 31, 2012 Markaz Capital Preservation Programs 2 Monthly Nov 30, 2012 KD 0.960 0.995 Oct 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Commercial Bank Tijari Islamic Fund Commercial Bank of Kuwait Tw. Monthly Feb 14, 2013 KD 0.324 0.325 Feb 7, 2013 Tijari Indian Fund Commercial Bank of Kuwait Weekly Feb 18, 2013 KD 0.840 0.840 Feb 11, 2013 ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Al Ahli Kuwaiti Fund Al Ahli Bank Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.943 0.928 Dec 26, 2012 Al Ahli Gulf Fund Al Ahli Bank Monthly Jan 28, 2013 KD 0.824 0.794 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Boubyan Bank Boubyan KD Money Market Fund Boubyan Bank Weekly Feb 5, 2013 KD 1.021 1.021 Jan 29, 2013 Boubyan Sukuk Fund Boubyan Bank Daily Dec 25, 2013 USD 770.110 1,001.180 May 11, 2011 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Burgan Bank Burgan Financial Fund Burgan Bank Daily Jan 2, 2013 KD 1.009 1.009 Dec 31, 2012 Burgan Equity Fund Burgan Bank Monthly Jan 27, 2012 KD 1.845 1.828 Dec 23, 2012 ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Local Fund
Al Raed Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Feb 14, 2013 KD 0.993 0.991 Feb 7, 2013 Kuwait Investment Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.651 0.624 Dec 31, 2012 Al Hilal Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Feb 18, 2013 KD 0.583 0.583 Feb 4, 2013 KIC Bond Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.930 0.929 Dec 31, 2012 Al Atheer Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.072 1.044 Dec 31, 2012 International Global Bond Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Feb 13, 2013 USD 22.740 22.730 Feb 6, 2013 Diversified Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Feb 13, 2013 USD 17.540 17.500 Feb 6, 2013 European Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 Euro 15.800 15.500 Dec 31, 2012 Pacific Equity Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Feb 13, 2013 USD 32.700 35.520 Feb 6, 2013 Al-Awaed Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2012 KD 0.917 0.914 Dec 31, 2012 North American Equity Fund Kuwait Investment Co Tw. Monthly Jan 31, 2013 USD 13.870 13.210 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
lnternational Financial Advisors Local Fund
IFA Islamic Fund International Financial Advisors Monthly Oct 21 2012 KD 0.200 0.195 Sept 30, 2012 IFA Investment Fund International Financial Advisors Monthly Oct 22, 2012 KD 0.284 0.275 Sept 18, 2012 International IFA International Guaranteed Fund International Financial Advisors Monthly Dec 31, 2010 KD 9.040 0.703 Nov 30, 2010 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
National Investment Co. (NIC) Equity Funds
Al- Wataniya Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.617 0.599 Dec 31, 2012 Al-Safwa Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.461 0.457 Dec 31, 2012 Al-Darji Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.461 0.453 Dec 31, 2012 Mawarid Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.555 0.537 Dec 31, 2012 Zajil Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.745 0.733 Dec 31, 2012 Al Mada Investment Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 USD 0.650 0.615 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Al Mal Investment Al Huda Islamic Fund Al Mal Investment Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.399 0.395 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Coast Investment Co. Coast Investment Fund Coast Investment Co Daily Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.664 0.643 Dec 31, 2012 Coast Pearl Fund Coast Investment Co Dec 31, 2012 KD 0.790 0.789 Nov 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) Mumtaz Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Feb 14, 2013 KD 4.149 4.164 Feb 7, 2013 MIDAF Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Feb 14, 2013 KD 3.082 3.080 Feb 7, 2013 Islamic Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Feb 14, 2013 KD 1.624 1.633 Feb 7, 2013 Markaz Arabian Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Feb 14, 2013 USD 2.850 2.829 Feb 7, 2013 FORSA Financial Fund Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 3.996 0.963 Dec 31, 2012 Energy Fund Kuwait Financial Center Quarterly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.772 0.772 Dec 31, 2012 Real Estate Fund Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.374 1.375 Dec 31, 2012 Markaz Fixed Income Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Feb 14, 2013 USD 10.780 10.740 Jan 31, 2013 Markaz Idikhar Fund Kuwait Financial Center Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.447 0.446 Dec 31, 2012 Markaz Islamic Income Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Oct 31, 2012 KD 0.219 0.218 Sept 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Kuwait & Middle East Financial & Inv. Co. Al Rou’yah Fund KMEFIC Monthly Jan 21, 2013 KD 1.423 1.367 Dec 31, 2012 Gulf Gate Fund KMEFIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.857 0.824 Dec 31, 2012 Al Awsat Money Market Fund (USD) KMEFIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.688 0.688 Dec 31, 2012 Al Awsat Money Market Fund (USD) KMEFIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 USD 4.787 4.784 Dec 31, 2012 Amwal Islamic Money Market Fund KMEFIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.549 0.549 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Global Investment House
Money Market Funds Islamic Real E. Funds
Kuwait Finance & Investment Co (KFIC) Al Wasm Fund KFIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.396 0.384 Nov 30, 2012 Al Basha’er GCC Equity Fund KFIC & Gulf Finance House Quarterly Jan 31, 2013 USD 7.270 6.988 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
KAMCO KAMCO Investment Fund KAMCO Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.977 0.940 Dec 31, 2012 Kuwait Private Equity Opportunities Fund KAMCO Quarterly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.678 0.678 Dec 31, 2012 Kuwait Education Fund KAMCO Quarterly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.428 1.428 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Al Madar Finance Shuwaikh Real Estate Fund Al Madar Bi-weekly Dec 31, 2012 KD 1.438 1.486 Sept 30, 2012 US Index Fund Al Madar Monthly Feb 15, 2013 USD 1.856 1.850 Feb 8, 2013 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Al Madina Finance & Investment Co. India Fund Al Madina Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.873 0.845 Dec 31, 2012 Al Madina Fund Al Madina Quarterly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.473 0.473 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Wafra International Investment Co. Wafra Equity Fund Wafra Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.855 0.819 Dec 31, 2012 Wafra Bond Fund Wafra Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.001 0.998 Dec 31, 2012 Fajir Islamic Fund Wafra Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.619 0.589 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Shuaa Capital Co. Saudi Gateway Fund Shuaa Capital Weekly Jan 28, 2013 USD 8.470 8.470 Dec 20, 2012 The Arab Gateway Fund Shuaa Capital Monthly Feb 12, 2013 USD 24.440 24.180 Feb 5, 2013 Emirates Gateway Fund Shuaa Capital Monthly Feb 12, 2013 AED 7.370 7.340 Feb 5, 2013 Qatar Gate Fund (Q) Shuaa Capital Monthly Jan 31, 2013 QAR 94.840 89.110 Dec 31, 2012 Qatar Gate Fund (N) Shuaa Capital Monthly Jan 31, 2013 QAR 93.200 87.830 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Investment Dar Co. Al Dar Real Estate Fund Tharwa Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.134 1.133 Dec 31, 2012 Al Dar Funds of Fund Al Dar Asset Management Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.470 0.470 Dec 31, 2012 Al Dar Money Market Fund Al Dar Asset Management Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.872 0.868 Jan 21, 2013 Al Dar Securities Fund Al Dar Asset Management Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.550 0.524 Dec 31, 2012 Al Nokhba Fund Al Dar Asset Management Monthly Dec 31, 2012 KD 0.406 0.408 Nov 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Global Umbrella Fund - US Global Umbrella Fund - Asia/Japan Global Distressed Fund Zenith Fund Mayur Hedge Fund Global KD Bond Fund GCC Large Cap Index Fund Al-Mamoun Fund A Al-Mamoun Fund B GCC Large Cap Fund Al-Noor Fund Global Saudi Equity Fund Global KD Money Market Fund Global USD Money Market Fund Global US Real Estate Fund GCC Real Estate Fund Global Asia Real Estate Fund Global Real Estate Ijarah Fund
Al Aman Islamic Fund Al Aman Investment Monthly Feb 14, 2013 KD 0.907 0.911 Feb 7, 2013 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Housing Finance Co (ISKAN) Masaref Investment Fund ISKAN Weekly Feb 14, 2013 KD 0.907 0.911 Feb 7, 2013 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Gulf Investment Corp. Gulf Bond Fund Gulf Investment Corp Weekly Feb 8, 2013 USD 13.920 13.910 Jan 31, 2013 Gulf Premier Fund Gulf Investment Corp Weekly Feb 7 2013 USD 21.550 21.630 Jan 31, 2013 Gulf Islamic Fund Gulf Investment Corp Weekly Feb 7, 2013 USD 6.620 6.700 Jan 31, 2013 GIC KD Bond Fund Gulf Investment Corp Monthly Feb 7 2013 USD 0.980 0.980 Jan 31, 2013 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Ahli United Bank (formerly BKME)
Kuwait Investment Co.
Fixed Income Funds Index Funds Equity Funds
Global Opportunistic Fund Global Quarterly Sept 30, 2009 USD 106.060 107.180 Global Opportunistic Fund II Global Quarterly Sept 22, 2009 USD 110.920 110.390 June 30, 2009 Private Equity Fund Global Quarterly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.829 0.859 June 30, 2009 Global Buyout Fund Global Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 564.740 603.390 June 30, 2009 Country Fund Palestine Dedicated Fund Global Monthly Dec 31, 2012 USD 86.740 91.810 Sept 30, 2011 Global Egypt Fund Global Monthly Jan 31, 2012 USD 38.740 38.110 Dec 31, 2011 Sectoral Funds EPADI Fund Global Weekly Feb 5, 2013 USD 108.770 108.550 Jan 29, 2013 Islamic Funds Global GCC Islamic Fund Global Weekly Feb 5, 2013 USD 89.010 89.250 Jan 29, 2013 Al-Durra Islamic Fund Global Monthly Feb 14, 2013 KD 1.173 1.168 Feb 7, 2013 Global Islamic Fund of Funds Global Weekly Dec 31, 2012 USD 67.276 76.860 Aug 31, 2011 Global Islamic Fund Global Monthly June 28, 2012 KD 1.271 1.286 March 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Al Aman Investment
Al Ahli Bank
Hedge Funds
Funds Fund Manager Valution Valued date Currency Net Asset Prev NAV Prev NAV Dated Value (NAV) ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global
Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Weekly Monthly Weekly Weekly Weekly Bi-weekly Bi-weekly Bi-weekly Weekly Monthly Quarterly Quarterly Quarterly
Nov 30, 2012 Nov 30, 2012 Nov 30, 2012 Nov 30, 2012 Dec 31, 2012 Jan 31, 2013 Feb 07, 2013 Feb 07, 2013 Feb 07, 2013 Feb 12, 2013 Feb 10, 2013 Feb 10, 2013 Feb 14, 2013 Feb 05, 2013 June 30, 2012 June 30, 2009 June 30, 2009 Dec 31, 2008
USD USD USD USD USD KD KD KD KD USD SAR SAR KD USD USD USD USD USD
148.640 114.260 168.060 94.840 94.020 0.824 1.319 0.534 0.534 120.660 168.016 166.442 1.114 134.320 0.265 0.675 0.850 850.790
152.630 117.130 167.850 94.910 92.180 0.819 1.331 0.539 0.539 120.160 168.573 166.016 1.114 134.440 0.378 0.710 0.857
Sept 30, 2012 Sept 30, 2012 Sept 30, 2012 Oct 30, 2012 Nov 30, 2012 Dec 31, 2012 Jan 31, 2013 Jan 31, 2013 Jan 31, 2013 Jan 29, 2013 Feb 05, 2013 Feb 05, 2013 Feb 10, 2013 Jan 29, 2013 March 31, 2009 March 31, 2009 March 31, 2009
Al Awasat Money Market Fund Ahli United Bank Monthly April 30, 2012 KD 1.132 1.104 Sept 30, 2010 Al Amin Islamic Market Fund Ahli United Bank Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.142 1.142 Dec 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Bayan Investment Co Ea’mmar and Estethmar Fund Bayan Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.442 0.411 Dec 31, 2012 Al Themar Securities Fund Bayan Investment Co Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.452 0.445 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Tharwa Investment Co. Tharwa Investment Fund Tharwa Investment Co Weekly Feb 14, 2013 KD 1.237 1.212 Jan 31, 2013 Tharwa Islamic Fund Tharwa Investment Co Monthly Feb 14, 2013 KD 0.702 0.683 Jan 31, 2013 Tharwa Arab Investment Fund Tharwa Investment Co Monthly Feb 14, 2013 USD 1.251 1.422 Jan 31, 2013 Tharwa World Fund Tharwa Investment Co Weekly Jan 31, 2013 USD 1.073 1.042 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Bank Al-Bilad Al Seef Fund Bank Al-Bilad Daily Feb 10, 2013 KD 0.517 0.524 Feb 3, 2013 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Commercial International Bank Commercial Int’t Bank Fund I CI Asset Management Weekly Feb 17, 2013 EGP 197.050 196.780 Feb 12, 2013 Commercial Int’t Bank Fund II (Istethmar) CI Asset Management Weekly Jan 17, 2013 EGP 61.760 63.260 Jan 10, 2013 CIB and Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt Fund CI Asset Management Weekly Jan 24, 2013 EGP 42.620 42.540 Jan 17, 2013 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Noor Financial Inv. Co. Noor Islamic Fund Noor Financial Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.678 0.676 Dec 31, 2012 Noor Real Estate Income Fund Noor Financial Investment Co Monthly July 31, 2013 KD 1.124 1.126 June 30, 2012 Noor Kuwait Islamic Equity Fund Noor Financial Investment Co Monthly June 30, 2013 KD 0.633 0.636 May 31, 2011 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Kuwait Real Estate Investment Consortium Kuwait Real Estate Fund Kuwait Real Estate Investment Consortium Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.692 1.685 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Manafae Investment Co. Manafae First Fund Manafae Investment Co Monthly Dec 31, 2012 KD 0.665 0.665 Dec 26, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Al Zumorroda Investment Co. Zumorroda GCC Fund Al Zumorroda Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.558 0.528 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Al Safat Investment Co. Al Safat Local Shares Equity Fund Al Safat Investment Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.201 0.204 Nov 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Al-Imtiaz Investment Co. Al-Imtiaz Investment Fund Al-Imtiaz Investment Company Quarterly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.847 0.847 Dec 31, 2012 Al-Imtiaz Real Estate Fund Al-Imtiaz Investment Company Quarterly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.889 0.889 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
BankMuscat BankMuscat MSCI Kuwait Fund BankMuscat Daily Feb 13, 2013 USD 0.426 0.426 Feb 12, 2013 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Al-Muthana Investment Co. Muthanna Islamic Index Fund (MUDX) Al-Muthana Investment Company Daily Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.384 0.376 Dec 31, 2012 Muthanna GCC Islamic Banks Fund Al-Muthana Investment Company Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.636 0.615 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
CapCorp Investment Co. CapCorp Local Fund CapCorp Investment Company Weekly Feb 14, 2013 KD 0.936 0.924 Feb 7, 2013 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Amar Finance & Leasing Co. Amar Real Estate Fund Amar Finance & Leasing Company Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.901 0.901 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Al-Dhow Investment Co.
Waed Real Estate Fund Al-Dhow Real Estate Company Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.906 0.922 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Al-Fouz Investment Co.
Al-Fouz Real Estate Fund Al-Fouz Investment Company Annual Sept 30, 2012 KD 0.997 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Securities House Co.
Diyar Real Estate Investment Fund Securities House Company Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.949 0.991 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
A’ayan Leasing & Investment Company
Awa’ed Real Estate Fund A’ayan Leasing & Investment Co. Quarterly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.680 0.680 Dec 31, 2012 Makaseb Estate Fund A’ayan Leasing & Investment Co. Quarterly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.716 0.724 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Industrial & Financial Investment Company Direct investment Fund
Industrial and Financial Investment Co. (IFIC)
Jan 31, 2013
KD
1.193
1.179
Dec 31, 2012
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
BUSINESS
45
Name: Kuwait Sharia Compatible Indices
Providers: Al Madar Finance & Investment Co.
Description: Index of Sharia compatible companies traded on the KSE
Website: www.almadar-fi.com
Index name Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Composite Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Kuwait Only Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Active Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Banking Sector Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Investment Sector Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Insurance Sector Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Real Estate Sector Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Industrial Sector Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Services Sector Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Food Sector Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Islamic Sector Kuwait Sharia Compatible Index - Non Kuwaiti Sector Kuwait Stock Exchange Index - Price S&P 500 DJ Islamic Index.
Bloomberg Today’s ticker value as of AMICFebruary 19, 2013 AMICFebruary 19, 2013 AMICFebruary 19, 2013 AMICFebruary 19, 2013 AMICFebruary 19, 2013 AMICFebruary 19, 2013 AMICFebruary 19, 2013 AMICFebruary 19, 2013 AMICFebruary 19, 2013 AMICFebruary 19, 2013 AMICFebruary 19, 2013 AMICFebruary 19, 2013 KWSEIDXFebruary 19, 2013 SPXFebruary 18, 2013 DJIMFebruary 18, 2013
Today’s closing Prev closing value value 203.92 203.90 199.31 199.28 86.74 86.99 336.05 334.37 95.83 95.01 25.43 25.43 55.13 56.06 142.83 143.97 284.76 284.11 276.01 276.01 154.73 154.27 248.89 249.30 6,386.80 6,405.73 1,519.79 1,519.79 2,391.02 2,392.51
% change 0.01% 0.02% -0.30% 0.50% 0.87% 0.00% -1.65% -0.79% 0.23% 0.00% 0.30% -0.16% -0.30% 0.00% -0.06%
1-week change -0.15% -0.16% 0.04% 0.13% 1.88% 4.10% -1.19% -0.19% -0.14% -1.01% 0.39% 0.25% 0.47% 0.18% 0.13%
3-month change 3.51% 3.43% 10.43% 0.60% 13.49% 33.72% -0.44% 5.94% 4.39% 11.61% 3.33% 8.41% 8.85% 9.51% 8.08%
YTD change 2.93% 2.83% 13.16% 0.98% 8.39% 18.72% 2.95% 1.42% 3.99% 4.14% 2.99% 6.77% 7.63% 8.37% 5.06%
12-month change 7.71% 6.38% 10.21% 6.65% 44.25% -21.80% 18.01% -4.39% 7.03% 19.92% 8.31% 16.80% 4.45% 11.65% 5.26%
24-month change -5.70% -7.35% 24.72% -6.23% 97.58% 4.12% 29.94% -15.82% -12.15% 13.45% -1.84% 20.12% -2.63% 13.16% 2.72%
dinar
Dana restructuring Shareholders of Dana Gas, the Abu Dhabi-listed energy firm, will vote on March 14 to approve a restructuring plan for its $920 million sukuk after failing to meet maturity of the Islamic bond last year. Dana became the first company in UAE to miss repayment of a maturing bond on October 31 but agreed new terms with a creditor committee representing bondholders, which included investment firms Ashmore Group and BlackRock, a week later. (RTRS)
Exchange rate of the US dollar against the Kuwaiti dinar remained stable at KD 0.282, the euro at KD 0.376 compared to Monday’s figures, said the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) on Tuesday. The exchange rate of the sterling was down to KD 0.436. (KUNA)
Kuwait Portland Cement drops 20 fils; NBK stagnates
KSE retreats 18.93 pts in choppy trade By John Mathews
The banks were largely muted while other heavyweights closed narrowly mixed. The bourse had rallied strongly last week backed by upbeat financial results.
respectively. Soor Fuel Marketing Co dived 25 fils while Mabanee Co plunged 40 fils to KD 1.200 after stagnating in the previous session. Kuwait Foundry Co eased 5 fils and Boubyan Petrochemical Co was down 10 fils at KD 0.104. Contracting and Marine Services Co pulled 6 fils lower. National Industries Group eased 2 fils and Gulf Petroleum Investment Co fell 10 fils after trading 24.70 million shares. Kuwait Portland Cement dropped 20 fils. The company has chalked a profit of KD 7.28 million and earnings per share of 80.13 fils in 2012. The Board of Directors has recommended a cash dividend of 80 % or 80 fils per share.
The KSX 15 benchmark rose 0.98 pts to 1,031.7 pts and had knocked off nearly 15 pts from the start of the month while the weighted index edged 0.23 pts lower. The volume turnover meanwhile receded after ticking higher in the day before. 424.51 million shares changed hands — a 12.50 percent drop from Monday. The sectors closed mostly in the negative territory. Technology outshone the rest with 1.56 percent increase whereas oil and gas erased 2.13 percent, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, real estate chalked the highest volume share of 42.22 percent while financial services and oil and gas followed with 38.26 percent and 6.67 percent
The market opened wavy and ticked higher in early trade. The index hit the day’s highest level of 6,416.31 pts and pulled lower on selling pressure in select counters. It snapped back to touch the opening mark briefly and retreated thereafter to trough at 6382.94 pts before paring some of the losses at close. Top gainer of the day, Zimah spiked 9.62 percent to KD 0.114 and Kuwait Syrian Holding Co climbed 6.9 percent to stand next. Investors Holding Co tumbled 11.63 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and the stock also topped the volume with 110.33 million shares changing hands.
Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: Kuwait stocks pulled lower Tuesday after treading water in the previous session. The index dropped 18.93 pts in choppy trade to close at 6,386.8 pts amid profit taking in some of the mid and small caps.
Lower Photo by Anwar Daifallah
Seen in the file photo, investors at the Kuwait Stock Exchange. The bourse pulled lower on Tuesday.
Reflecting the day’s downswing, the market spread was biased towards the losers. 38 stocks advanced whereas 54 closed lower. Of the 149 counters active on Tuesday, 57 closed flat. 6,916 deals worth KD 29.34 million were transacted — down 25.88 percent in value from the day before. Wataniya Telecom shed 20 fils to settle at KD 2.400 while bourse heavyweight Zain closed 10 fils higher at KD 0.800 after trading in red earlier in the session whereas. Zain has earned KD 252.14 mln in 2012 and earnings per
share clocked of 65 fils “People are accepting the results, which are not so bad if you neutralize the FX loss,” Reuters quoted Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage at Global Investment House earlier in the week. “There is a lot of momentum being driven by expectations of financial results. Retail traders, buying small-caps, is another force driving the market.” Agility held the ground unchanged at KD 0.570 with a volume of 0.56 million and Kuwait Gulf Links followed suit to wind up at KD 0.108. The stock has
added 8 fils from start of the month while year-to-date, it has rallied 20 fils. On the upside, Kuwait National Cinema Co soared 50 fils with thin trading and NAPESCO rallied 25 fils to close at KDD 0.435. Automated Systems Co rose 10 fils and United Industries Co was up 4 fils at KD 0.104. UIC has chalked a net profit of KD 3.34 million and earnings per share of 7.07 fils in 2012. The Board of Directors has recommended a 5 percent cash dividend payout. In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait was flat at KD 0.990 and Gulf Bank followed suit to end at KD 0.415 off early lows. The stock has added 5 fils from start of the month but has retreated 5 fils YTD. Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank were not traded during the session.
Steady Ahli United Bank frittered away early gains to hold steady at KD 0.820 while Kuwait International Bank eased 5 fils. Burgan Bank too closed flat. The lender has obtained the approval of Central Bank of Kuwait to extend permission to buyback or sell up to 10% of own issued shares over a period of 6 months commencing from Feb 5. Kuwait Finance House rose 10 fils on back of 1.25 million shares to wind up at KD 0.820 and Boubyan Bank stagnated at KD 0.540. The bank has recorded KD 10.05 million net profit and earnings per share 5.75 fils in the full year 2012 and
the Board of Directors have recommended a dividend payout of 5 % bonus shares. International Financial Advisors took in 2 fils on back of over 2 million shares whereas National Investment Co and KIPCO fell 2 fils and 5 fils respectively. Securities House Co was up 2 fils at 81 fils and Kuwait Financial Centre Co ( Markaz) followed suit. Kuwait Financing and Investment Co slipped 2 fils and KAMCO pulled 6 fils lower to KD 0.116. Bayan Investment Co rose 2.5 fils. The company has won the approval of the Capital Market Authority on its request to sell own shares amounting to 34,499,385 over a period of 6 months. Ahlia Insurance Co skidded 25 fils whereas Warba Insurance Co was flat at KD 0.116. Noor Financial flunked 1 fils adding to an identical loss in the previous session. National Real Estate Co took in 2 fils with a volume of 7.4 million shares and United Real Estate Co shed 6 fils. UREC has logged a net profit of KD 2.74 million and the Board of Directors has recommended a cash dividend of 7 percent. The bourse has been mixed so far during the week and has retreated 10.84 pts in last three sessions. The index has gained 141.69 pts from start of the month and is trading over 7.63 percent higher year-to-date. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
BUSINESS
46
German investor morale soars to near 3-year high Optimism that the worst of the euro zone debt crisis is over has helped German investor and analyst sentiment soar to its highest level in nearly three years this month. In the latest sign that Europe’s largest economy is bouncing back after a dismal end to 2012, the Mannheim-based ZEW think tank said on Tuesday its monthly poll of economic sentiment rose to 48.2 points in February from 31.5 in January. It was above the highest
the
forecast in a Reuters poll and much higher than the consensus for 35.0 points. The news, along with other recent data suggesting the German economy will avoid recession, will come as a relief to the centre-right government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is campaigning to win a third term in a September election. “Financial market experts have made their peace with the weak fourth quarter of 2012,” said ZEW
president Wolfgang Franz. “In their opinion the German economy faces less headwinds from the euro crisis than throughout the last months.” The better-than-expected reading, which a ZEW economist said was also fuelled by low interest rates, boosted the euro and European shares and sent German Bund futures lower, although particularly on the bond market the move was shortlived. Germany’s economy held up strongly during the first 2-1/2 years of
Egypt signs debt deals with cos The Egyptian government has signed agreements with Malaysia’s Petronas and Britain’s BG Group to reschedule debt owed by Cairo, the minister of petroleum, Osama Kamal, told reporters on Tuesday. He did not say now much debt had been rescheduled. Oil producers working in Egypt are estimated by Exclusive Analysis to be owed $9 billion — a figure Kamal disputed at a news conference this month. Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham
the euro zone debt crisis but sputtered in the second half of 2012 as firms postponed investment and exports suffered due to a gloomy economic outlook in Europe and elsewhere. Economists expect a moderate return to growth in the first quarter of the year after a 0.6 percent contraction, but there is little hard data to support hopes that Europe’s powerhouse economy will rebound quite as strongly as recent sentiment indicators suggest. (RTRS)
Kandil met on Tuesday with a delegation from American energy company Apache and BG Group to discuss investment opportunities in Egypt. “They (BG Group) have assured, through the meeting, that they will continue investing in Egypt and expressed their interest in increasing it in the future,” a statement from the cabinet said. The company’s investment in Egypt over the next five years is estimated at about 5 billion dollars, Kamal said. (RTRS)
bottomline Global shares boosted by M&A
activity; dollar ends nearly flat
lion euros at the end of September. “Reyal Urbis informed the regulator that it requested protection from creditors after failing to reach a refinancing agreement with lenders,” it said in a statement. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
SAN FRANCISCO: Google’s stock price topped $800 for the first time Tuesday amid renewed confidence in the company’s ability to reap steadily higher profits from its dominance of Internet search and prominence in the increasingly important mobile device market. The milestone comes more than five years after Google’s shares initially hit $700. Not long after breaking that barrier in October 2007, the economy collapsed into the worst recession since World War II and Google’s stock tumbled into a prolonged malaise that eventually led to a change in leadership. Besides enriching Google’s employees and other shareholders, the company’s resurgent stock is an implicit endorsement of co-founder Larry Page. He replaced his managerial mentor, Eric Schmidt, as CEO in April 2011. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑
Oil pulls back on Europe concerns
TOKYO: Japanese financial firm Orix Corp said Tuesday it will buy Dutch asset manager Robeco for about 1.94 billion euros ($2.58 billion) in what would its biggest acquisition. Under the deal, Orix will buy a 90.1 percent stake in Robeco from Dutch lender Rabobank, which will keep the remaining 9.99 percent stake. The deal would help Orix strengthen its presence in the global asset management business, giving it an opportunity to offer Robeco’s financial products to Japanese customers, it said. “The financial market has drastically changed since the financial crisis,” Orix said in a statement. “Orix has been seeking to build its presence in the global asset management industry in recent years.” (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
DUBLIN: Canadian life insurer GreatWest Lifeco bought state-rescued insurer Irish Life for 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion) on Tuesday in a deal that increases its presence in Ireland and lightens the Irish government’s debts. Ireland last year paid the same amount to take over Irish Life, formerly the insurance arm of bailed-out Irish Life & Permanent, after the euro zone debt crisis forced the suspension of its sale in late 2011. Great-West Lifeco, which was the lead candidate to buy the group before pulling out of the original sale process, said it would merge Irish Life, the country’s largest life and pensions company, with its own Irish unit, Canada Life. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑
NEW YORK, Feb 19, (Agencies): Global stock markets rose on Tuesday as US stocks were boosted by news of yet another possible merger that suggested there is still room to the upside, while a pick-up in German economic sentiment supported European stocks. The S&P 500, hovering near a fiveyear high, extended its seven-week winning streak. The benchmark index is already up 7 percent for the year. Office Depot Inc, the No. 2 US office supply retailer, and smaller rival OfficeMax Inc are said to be in advanced talks to merge. The deal would be the latest addition to more than $158 billion in US deals announced thus far in 2013. Last week, deals were reached for the acquisition of H.J. Heinz Co by Berkshire Hathaway and the sale by General Electric of its remaining stake in NBCUniversal to Comcast Corp. In Europe, stocks posted their best finish in three weeks as stronger-thanexpected German sentiment data prompted investors to return to economically sensitive sectors like autos and technology after a three-session losing streak. Optimism that the worst of the euro zone debt crisis is over has helped German investor and analyst sentiment soar to its highest level in nearly three years this month. MSCI’s world equity index was up 0.7 percent, though markets have been falling for two weeks since a big run-up in January. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index provisionally closed up 1.1 percent at 1,171.73 — more than recovering the previous three sessions’ losses. In midday New York trading, the dollar fell 0.5 percent to 93.55 yen, well below a peak of 94.22 yen hit on Monday after Japan escaped direct criticism from its G20 peers at the weekend. However, it remained above chart support at 93.38 yen, the 200-hour moving average. With the dollar having risen about 20 percent since mid-November, investors have hesitated to re-test last week’s 33-month high of 94.47 yen, when it failed to breach a reported options barrier at 94.50. Brent crude oil fell for a third session in a row on signs of lackluster European growth and easing geopolitical tensions. Brent crude for April delivery was down 38 cents at $117 per barrel, while US crude for March added 8 cents to $95.94 a barrel.
JAKARTA: British financier Nathaniel Rothschild’s bid for control of Londonlisted coal firm Bumi Plc may face a challenge as a major stakeholder sold 13 percent of voting rights ahead of a crucial shareholders’ meeting. Indonesia’s powerful Bakrie family has been in boardroom tussles with Rothschild over control of the company and its lucrative coal assets in Indonesia since soon after the joint venture was set up in mid-2011 in a $3 billion deal. Bakrie Group ally Rosan Roeslani has sold his 24 million shares in Bumi to three funds, including Flaming Luck, a company controlled by media mogul Hary Tanoesoedibjo. Tanoesoedibjo is eyeing a deal with the Bakries to buy a majority stake in the family’s Visi Media. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
LONDON: InterContinental Hotels Group, the world’s biggest hotelier, posted an 11 percent rise in 2012 profit, underpinned by a strong US business and expansion in developing markets. The hotelier, home to the Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and InterContinental brands, on Tuesday reported a 2012 operating profit of $614 million, ahead of a $605 million company supplied consensus estimate. Annual revenue rose 5 percent to $1.84 billion, while the dividend rose 16 percent to 64 cents. Growth in global revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key hotel industry measure, grew 5.2 percent in 2012, with its core US market 6.3 percent ahead and China up 5.4 percent. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑
SINGAPORE: A Thai tycoon on Monday acquired over 90 percent of Singapore conglomerate Fraser and Neave (F&N) as its takeover offer closed, breaching a threshold that allows him to delist the company. TCC Assets, controlled by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, said in a statement issued late Monday that it owned 90.32 percent of F&N at the conclusion of its offer, including acceptances by shareholders. With the 90-percent ownership threshold breached, Charoen has the option to delist F&N from the Singapore Exchange, but the statement was silent on the tycoon’s next move. “We cannot comment on that right now,” a TCC spokeswoman told AFP when asked about plans to delist the company. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑
FRANKFURT: Vodafone moved closer to a possible 10 billion-euro bid for German cable operator Kabel Deutschland by hiring long-time banker Goldman Sachs to advise on options, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. Kabel Deutschland, Germany’s biggest cable company, has retained Morgan Stanley and advisory firm Perella Weinberg to defend its interests in the event of a Vodafone approach, a second person with direct knowledge said. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑
SYDNEY: Shares in Australian media firm APN News and Media plunged Tuesday after a walkout from board members over a capital raising dispute with major shareholder Ireland’s Independent News and Media. APN, owner of several Australian radio stations, billboard advertising assets, regional newspapers and some of New Zealand’s top titles, said its chairman, CEO and three directors had resigned over a financial impasse. “While the board agreed the company needed to reduce its debt, it was unable to agree on the methodology,” APN said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) after the close of trading on Monday. (AFP)
MADRID: Spanish property firm Reyal Urbis filed Tuesday for insolvency after failing to reach a debt restructuring deal, the latest in a string of collapses of real estate firms since a property bubble burst in 2008. It is the second-biggest such filing in Spanish history since Martinsa Fadesa defaulted on close to 7.2 billion euros ($9.6 billion) of debt in 2008, stranding thousands of uncompleted projects and helping to precipitate a banking crisis. Reyal Urbis’ net debt totalled 3.61 bil-
US US stocks advanced on Tuesday after the long holiday weekend and a sevenweek winning streak for the S&P 500 as merger activity buoyed investor optimism, but health insurer shares muted
ment survey supported a favourable technical picture. The FTSE 100 extended gains in afternoon trade after a ZEW survey showed that German investor and analyst sentiment soared to its highest level in nearly three years this month, although investor sentiment on the current state of the German economy has yet to pick up. The FTSE 100 lagged major European peers, which were seen as benefiting more directly from the ZEW survey, with the German DAX up 1.7 percent and the French CAC up 2 percent. The FTSE 100 closed up 60.88 points, or 1 percent, at 6,379.07, the index’s highest close since January 2008. Nine tenths of the index finished in positive territory.
gains. Office Depot Inc surged 21.6 percent to $5.58 after a person familiar with the matter said the No. 2 US office supply retailer is in advanced talks to merge with smaller rival OfficeMax Inc. A deal could come as early as this week. OfficeMax shares jumped 28.8 percent to $13.85 while larger rival Staples Inc shot up 15.1 percent to $14.91 as the best performer on the S&P 500. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 59.94 points or 0.43 percent, to 14,041.7, the S&P 500 gained 6.62 points or 0.44 percent, to 1,526.41 and the Nasdaq Composite added 12.01 points or 0.38 percent, to 3,204.04. US markets were closed on Monday for the Presidents Day holiday. Health insuer stocks tumbled, led lower by a 9 percent drop in Humana Inc to $70.98 after the company said the government’s proposed 2014 payment rates for Medicare Advantage participants were lower than expected and would hurt its profit outlook. UnitedHealth Group lost 2.9 percent to $55.68 as the biggest drag on the Dow. The Morgan Stanley healthcare payor index dropped 2.8 percent. The benchmark S&P index is up 7 percent for the year and is coming off its longest weekly winning streak since January 2011. The uptick in merger and acquisition activity, a sign of optimism about the outlook on Wall Street, has resulted in more than $158 billion in deals announced so far in 2013.
Asia Asian markets were mostly lower on Tuesday as Tokyo slipped following an uptick in the yen while Chinese shares fell on fears Beijing may act to rein in soaring property prices. With US markets closed for the Presidents’ Day public holiday, there were no drivers from New York. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.31 percent to end at 11,372.34 on profit-taking and as the yen rose after Japan’s finance minister said the central bank’s independence was safe for now. Seoul added 0.20 percent to 1,985.83 and Sydney ended 18.5 points, or 0.37 percent, higher at 5,081.9. Hong Kong lost 1.02 percent, or 238.03 points, to 23,143.91, while Shanghai shares closed down 1.60 percent, or 38.65 points, at 2,382.91 amid fears Beijing may tighten regulations in the sector to try to control home prices. In other markets: ■ Singapore closed 0.23 percent, or 7.63 points, higher at 3,295.77. Property developer City Developments was down 0.61 percent to Sg$11.34 while United Overseas Bank gained 0.05 percent to Sg$19.35. ■ Bangkok added 0.58 percent, or 8.78 points, to 1,532.07. Airports of Thailand dropped 2.98 percent to 114.00 baht, while coal producer Banpu rose 1.88 percent to 380.00 baht. ■ Kuala Lumpur lost 0.36 percent, or 5.86 points, to 1,615.07. CIMB shed 0.3 percent to 6.98 ringgit, Kuala Lumpur Kepong eased 0.4 percent to 21.20 and Malayan Banking dipped 0.3 percent to 8.84 while YTL Corp gained 1.3 percent to 1.58 ringgit. ■ Jakarta slipped 9.98 points, or 0.22 percent, to 4,602.06. Palm oil producer Astra Agro Lestari fell 2.12 percent to 18,500 rupiah, food manufacturer Cahaya Kalbar lost 4.29 percent to 1,560 rupiah, and cigarette producer Gudang Garam rose 0.59 percent to 50,950 rupiah. ■ Taipei added 0.22 percent, or 17.35 points, to 7,960.88. HTC climbed 3.68 percent to
Europe European stocks rallied on Tuesday, propelled by news of soaring investor sentiment in eurozone powerhouse Germany. London’s FTSE 100 index of leading companies rose 0.96 percent to 6,379.07 points, while Frankfurt’s DAX 30 soared 1.62 percent to 7,752.45 points, and Paris’s CAC 40 jumped 1.88 percent to 3,735.82 points. Madrid’s IBEX 35 index climbed 1.39 percent and Milan’s FTSE MIB added 1.58 percent. Danone and Intercontinental On the company news front, Danone shares rallied 5.90 percent to 53.15 euros in Paris after the French food group said it would axe about 900 jobs or ten percent of its managerial staff in Europe and posted flat 2012 net profits. Danone added that the job cuts would be achieved by relocation within the company and through voluntary departures. In London, InterContinental Hotels Group shares fell 1.81 percent to 1,953 pence, despite news that annual profits jumped by almost a fifth, aided by strong expansion in China and the US.
UK Britain’s blue chip index posted its highest close in five years on Tuesday in a broad-based surge across all major sectors, as a strong German business senti-
Tw$282.0 while Hon Hai Precision was 1.57 percent higher at Tw$84.1. ■ Wellington ended 0.71 percent, or 29.73 points, higher at 4,244.21. Contact Energy rose 3.4 percent to NZ$5.25, Telecom added 1.1 percent to NZ$2.28 and Sky City was flat at NZ$4.02. ■ Mumbai advanced 0.69 percent, or 134.64 points, to 19,635.72. Tech Mahindra climbed 4.82 percent to 1,034.0 rupees while ailing Kingfisher Airlines rose 5.0 percent to 10.53 rupees on hopes of fresh funding.
Oil Brent crude prices fell on Tuesday and US refined products futures pulled back, pressured by concerns about Europe’s economic growth and expectations that rising prices will curb demand in the United States. US crude futures eased but in seesaw trading as the front-month March contract approached its contract expiration on Wednesday. Brent April crude fell 57 cents to $116.81 a barrel by 12:17 pm EST (1717 GMT), having slipped to $116.55 during the session. US March crude was down only 19 cents at $95.67 a barrel, measured against Friday’s close as there was no settlement for US oil futures on Monday because of a holiday. US April crude was down 20 cents at $96.21 a barrel.
Currencies The dollar is roughly flat in morning trading, a day ahead of the release of minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting. The dollar is roughly flat in morning trading, a day ahead of the release of minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting. The dollar is little changed against the euro, the British pound and the Swiss franc. It was up against the Canadian dollar. It moved lower against the Japanese yen. The euro edged up to $1.3357 from $1.3350 on Monday. The British pound slipped to $1.5442 from $1.5461. The dollar fell to 93.50 Japanese yen from 93.98 yen. It edged up to 0.9239 Swiss franc from 0.9236 Swiss franc, and to 1.0120 Canadian dollar from 1.0109 Canadian dollar.
Gold Gold fell near a six-month low on Tuesday, holding just above $1,600 an ounce, as an equities rally and signs of an improving global economic outlook dented bullion’s safe-haven appeal. The metal fell 0.5 percent as investors were drawn to riskier assets as the S&P 500 climbed to a five-year high with a string of recent merger activity suggesting stocks could offer even more value. Spot gold fell 0.6 percent to $1,600.66 an ounce by 12:14 pm EST (1714 GMT), having earlier hit a low of $1,600.34, near a six-month low of $1,598.04 hit on Friday.
exchange rates – Feb 19 US dollar BEC Muzaini Dollarco Commercial Bank Gulf Bank NBK Burgan Bank ABK Oman KBE
Sterling pound
Transfer .280850 .283000 .283200 .282950 .281800 .283900 .281900 .284000 .281800 .283900 .281200 .283300 .281800 .283900 — — .283000
Cash .431536 .440536 — .443000 .434000 .445000 .431170 .444877 .434300 .443330 .434500 .443530 .431380 .442800 — .467000 —
Buy Sell Sell Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Sell
Buy Sell Sell Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Sell
Cash .466270 .516270 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Cyprus Pound
Yemeni riyal
Buy Sell Sell Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Sell
Transfer Cash Draft — — — — — — — — — .693000 .694080 .694080 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Cash Draft Transfer .128600 .127600 .127600 .136600 .137600 .137600 — .001322 .001322 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Draft .280850 .283000 .283200 .282950 .281800 .283900 .281900 .284000 .281800 .283900 .281200 .283300 .281800 .283900 .287900 .287900 .283000
Danish kroner BEC Muzaini Dollarco Commercial Bank Gulf Bank NBK Burgan Bank ABK Oman KBE
BEC Muzaini Dollarco Gulf Bank ABK KBE
Transfer .430536 .439535 .439530 .438875 .436001 .439250 .435028 .441766 .435800 .440330 .436000 .440530 .435850 .439770 — .475000 .443400
Cash .279100 .283250 .282000 .283500 .275000 .285000 .279400 .286000 .276800 .285400 .276200 .274800 .279300 .285400 — — —
Draft .466270 .516270 — — .050453 .050829 .050136 .051040 .050360 .050870 .046462 .046997 .050240 .051260 — — —
Indian rupee
Transfer .466270 .516270 — — .050453 .050829 .050136 .051040 .050360 .050870 .046462 .046997 .050240 .051260 — — —
travellers cheques BEC Commercial Bank Gulf Bank Al-Ahli Bank
Draft .430536 .439535 .439530 .438875 .436001 .439250 .435028 .441766 .435800 .440330 .444600 .436000 .435850 .439770 .444400 .475000 .443400
Cash .004926 .005327 – .005450 .004000 .006750 — — — — — — — — — — —
US dollar .2832500 .2850000 .2840000 .2839000
Draft .005157 .005227 .005216 .005211 — .005263 — .005286 — — .005094 .005093 .005156 .005244 — — .005226
Transfer .005157 .005227 .005216 .005211 — .005263 — .005286 — — .005094 .005093 .005156 .005244 — — .005226
Sterling .4405380 .4450000 .4417660 .4397700
Euro Cash .372985 .379985 — .381000 .374000 .383000 .371071 .383266 .374590 .383170 .339010 .347320 .372170 .382290 — — —
Draft .372985 .380485 .379490 .378640 .376330 .379134 .374391 .380586 .376090 .380170 .380190 .340510 .376030 .379680 .378620 .382570 .382400
Japanese yen Transfer .372985 .380485 .379490 .378640 .376330 .379134 .374391 .380586 .376090 .380170 .380190 .344320 .376030 .379680 .378620 .382570 .382400
Pakistani rupee Cash .002609 .002889 — .003100 — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Draft .002854 .002894 .002883 .002878 — .002901 — .002924 — — — — — .002953 .002951 .003175 .002883
Euro .3799850 .3830000 .3805860 .3796800
Draft .090840 .096740 .094780 .009550 — — – — —
Draft .293800 .311800 .003024 .004020 .003010 .003032 .002984 .003033 .030055 .030425 .003588 .003636 .030066 .030377 — .003200 —
Transfer .293800 .311800 .003024 .004020 .003010 .003032 .002984 .003033 .030055 .030425 .003588 .003636 .030066 .030377 — .003200 —
Sri Lanka rupee
Transfer .002854 .002894 .002883 .002878 — .002901 — .002924 — — .003233 — — .002953 — 003175 .002883
Thai baht Cash .091200 .096700 — .009650 — — — — —
Cash .293800 .311800 — .004550 — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Cash .001957 .002537 — .002950 .002000 .003500 — — — — — — — — — — —
Draft .001929 .002234 .002240 .002270 — .002244 — .002263 — — .002546 — — .002310 — .002510 .002245
Transfer .001929 .002234 .002240 .002270 — .002244 — .002263 — — .002546 — .002310 — .002510 .002245
South African rand
Transfer .090840 .096740 .094780 009550 — — — – —
Cash — — — — — — — — —
Draft Transfer — — — — — — — — — — .032207 .032207 — — — — — —
local gold BEC Muzaini Exchange
Swiss franc Cash .300399 .309899 — .310000 .303000 .315000 — — .300750 .311020 .279180 .289100 — — — — —
Draft .301399 .308399 .307830 .306980 .305259 .307534 .302987 .309030 .304750 .308520 .283180 .286600 .304750 .308430 — — —
Transfer .301399 .308399 .307830 .306980 .305259 .307534 .302987 .309030 .304750 .308520 .297119 .299506 .304750 .308430 — — —
Bangladesh taka Cash .003278 .003878 — .003850 — — — — — — — — — — — .004250 —
Draft .003540 .003595 .003572 .003567 — .003611 — .003628 — — — — — — — .004170 .003585
Transfer .003540 .003595 .003572 .003567 — .003611 — .003628 — — .004017 — — — — .004170 .003585
Korean won Cash — — — — — — — — —
Draft — — — — — — — — —
Gold 999 kg — 15,060.000
Transfer — — — — — — — — —
Canadian dollar Cash .274980 .283480 — .287000 .277000 .288000 — — — — .277897 .282890 — — — — —
Draft .272980 .281980 .281370 .283170 .278761 .280839 .278337 .283636 .278430 .281760 .286988 .277020 .278300 .281470 — — .286000
Transfer .272980 .281980 .281370 .283170 .278761 .280839 .278337 .283636 .278430 .281760 .286988 .277020 .278300 .281470 — .267000 .286000
Philippine peso Cash .006961 .007241 — .007200 — —
Draft .006510 .006980 .006957 .006958 — .007042 — — .007092 — — — — — .006449 — — — — — .007299 .006000 .006467 — — — .007010
Transfer .006510 .006980 .006957 .006958 — .007042 — .007092 — — .006449 — — .007299 .006467 — .007010
Swedish kroner Cash .405580 .455580 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Draft .405580 .456580 — — .044399 .044730 .044249 .045071 .044300 .044770 .041155 .041482 .044290 .045080 — — —
Transfer .405580 .456580 — — .044399 .044730 .044249 .045071 .044300 .044770 .041155 .041482 .044290 .045080 — — —
Saudi riyal Cash .074883 .075466 — .077000 .072000 .076000 .074348 .076409 .074080 .076770 .073684 .075774 .074160 .076260 — — —
Australian dollar Cash .283964 .295464 — — .289000 .300000 — — — — — — — — — — —
Draft .272980 .281980 — — .291057 .293226 .288609 .294035 .290900 .294350 .284712 .286988 .288060 .293710 .237000 — —
Transfer .272980 .281980 — — .291057 .293226 .288609 .294035 .290900 .294350 .284712 .289490 .288060 .293710 .237000 — —
Draft .074933 .075673 .075550 .075415 .075167 .075727 .075079 .075874 .075080 .075770 .075640 .072340 .074930 .075730 — — .075625
Transfer .074933 .075673 .075550 .075415 .075167 .075727 .075079 .075874 .075080 .075770 .074280 .075640 .074930 .075730 — — .075625
Hong Kong dollar Cash .034440 .037190 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Draft .033940 .037040 .036519 — .036338 .036608 .036215 .036805 — — — — .036340 .036610 — — —
Transfer .033940 .037040 .036519 — .036338 .036608 .036215 .036805 — — — — .036340 .036610 — — —
UAE dirham Cash .076123 .077272 — .077100 .076501 .077270 .075923 .078035 .076500 .077270 .075223 .077374 .076528 .077297 — .078600 —
Draft .075623 .077073 .077145 .077015 .076753 .077325 .076671 .077489 .076670 .077350 .077237 .074510 .076450 .077360 .078390 — .077155
Transfer .075623 .077073 .077145 .077015 .076753 .077325 .076671 .077489 .076670 .077350 .075832 .077237 .076450 .077360 — .078390 .077155
Singapore dollar Cash .225560 .231560 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Draft .224560 .230560 .229220 — .227653 .229349 .226389 .230270 .227290 .229540 .216673 .218433 .227340 .229700 — — —
Transfer .224560 .230560 .229220 — .227653 .229349 .226389 .230270 .227290 .229540 .222630 .216673 .227340 .229700 — — —
Syrian pound
Iranian tuman
Lebanese pound
Malaysian ringgit
Cash Draft Transfer .003157 .003157 .003157 .003377 .003377 .003377 — — — — — — — .003073 .003073 — — — — — — — — — — — —
Cash Draft Transfer .000078 .000079 .000079 .000080 .000079 .000079 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Cash Draft Transfer .000138 .000173 .000173 .000238 .000193 .000193 — .190100 .190100 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Cash Draft Transfer .088775 .087350 .087350 .094775 .094350 .094350 — — — .093500 .091260 .091260 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Gold 999 10 tola — 1,772.000
Gold ounce — 483.000
Gold gm 22k — 13.785
Gold gm 21k — 13.150
Gold gm 18k — 11.275
100 gm 999 – —
10 gm 999 – 157.000
Bahraini dinar Cash .744738 .752738 — .750000 .745326 .752817 .739544 .760031 .745330 .752820 — — — — — — —
Draft .744238 .752738 .752490 .749110 .747778 .753350 .746823 .754716 .746980 .753750 .740873 .750398 .745510 .753890 — — .752300
Transfer .744238 .752738 .752490 .749110 .747778 .753350 .746823 .754716 .746980 .753750 .740873 .750398 .745510 .753890 — — .752300
Jordanian dinar Cash .394031 .401531 — .400000 .390000 .405000 — — — — — — — — — .415000 —
Transfer .393576 .401078 .400080 .398860 — .401556 — .402266 — — .394853 .398939 .396070 .402660 .401670 .415000 —
Transfer .393576 .401078 .400080 .398860 — .401556 — .402266 — — .394853 .398939 .396070 .402660 .401670 .415000 —
Indonesian rupiah Cash .000024 .000030 — — — — — — —
Draft .000024 .000029 — — — .000030 — — .000299
Transfer .000024 .000029 — — — .000030 — — .000299
Omani riyal Cash .729562 .735232 — — .730660 .738003 .724115 .411103 .730660 .738000 .735741 — — — .752000 — —
Draft .724052 .735052 .735870 — .732233 .737690 .731242 .739198 .731470 .737980 .734440 .722120 .729880 .739210 .748000 — —
Transfer .724052 .735052 .735870 — .732233 .737690 .731242 .739198 .731470 .737980 .734440 .719020 .729880 .739210 .759930 — —
Egyptian pound Cash .039460 .042159 .042100 .042500 .042000 .047000 — — — — — — — — — .056000 —
Draft .039967 .041997 .041980 .041982 — — — .042398 — — .047830 .049026 — .042720 — — .041978
Transfer .039967 .041997 .041980 .041982 — — — .042398 — — .047830 .049026 — . 042720 — — .041978
New Zealand dollar Cash .232854 .242354 — — — — — — —
Draft .230854 .240854 — — .236175 .241132 .237330 .240640 —
Transfer .230854 .240854 — — .236175 .241132 .237330 .240640 —
All rates in KD per unit of foreign currency
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
LEISURE
47
Sherman’s Lagoon — By J. P. Toomey
N E W
Y O R K
T I M E S
CROSSWORD
Mutts — By Patrick McDonnell
Hagar The Horrible — By Chris Browne
Beetle Bailey — By Mort Walker
Scratch pad
odds ’n’ ends
Garfield — By Jim Davis
Baby Blues — By Rick Kirkman & Jerry Scott
Conceptis Sudoku
Challenger
contract b r i d g e
The grid must be so completed that every row, column and 3x3 box has every digit from 1 to 9 inclusive.
By Steve Becker
DIRECTIONS: Fill each square with a number, one through nine. ■ Horizontal squares should add to totals on right. ■ Vertical squares should add to totals on bottom. ■ Diagonal squares through center should add to total in upper and lower right.
Yesterday’s solution
THERE MAY BE MORE THAN ONE SOLUTION.
Answer to yesterday’s puzzle
A 15-day-old night monkey is fed by a veterinarian at a temporary shelter west of Bogota, Colombia, on Feb 18. Sponsored by Bogota’s Ministry of Environment, the shelter receives between 3,000 and 3,500 wild animals a year, some seized from poachers and others found hurt. An estimated $560,000 are spent in the recovery and care of these animals. Seventy percent of the rescued animals are reintroduced to their habitat and the remaining 30 percent are sent to zoos around the country. (AP)
Today’s Challenge Time 11 Minutes 29 Seconds Your Working Time __ Minutes __ Seconds
Word by Word
Reverse
(Akhar)
Every medal has its reverse. Lekul medalia wajhaha al akhar.
Numbers
6049
Six thousand and forty nine Setat alaaf wa tesa wa arbaoun
LYME, New Hampshire: Someone tell these black bear cubs they should be sleeping. When a bad year for feeding followed a good one for breeding, Ben Kilham, New Hampshire’s only licensed bear rehabilitator, found himself spending the winter with 27 lively and orphaned cubs — a huge jump from the three to five he typically sees. “We didn’t know what to expect as they kept coming in,” Kilham said. “It was every week or twice a week we were getting calls, ‘We’ve got a group of cubs,’ then ‘another group of cubs.’” Kilham keeps the cubs in an 8acre (3.2-hectare) enclosed forest behind his house until spring, when he works with the state Fish and Game Department to release them in remote locations. Normally, the bears sleep all winter, but not this bunch. “They’ve managed to keep themselves awake,” he said. “There’s always somebody who stirs up somebody else, and pretty soon, everybody’s up.” For a while, Kilham tried withholding food in hopes that the bears would sleep, but that didn’t work. “They just roto-tilled the pen,” he said. “It was obvious that they were seeking food, so we just gave up and started going back once a day feeding them.” Staying awake all winter won’t hurt the bears, he said, and if anything, they are better off having spent the winter in a large group. With just a few cubs, it was common for one to pace back and forth near the fence, Kilham said. But none of the current cubs is showing that kind of anxiety. “They’re just one big happy family, they roam around, play with each other,” he said. “They are very, very happy as a big social unit.” Andy Timmins, the bear project leader for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, said officials were expecting more orphaned cubs than usual but were surprised at just how many turned up. “It was like nothing we’ve ever seen. A high year in the past was maybe, seven or eight bears,” he said. “It was a very challenging year, for sure, and we’re not done yet. I’m absolutely positive there will be more showing up this spring as a result of these conditions last year.” The bumper crop of cubs can be traced to a two-year swing in the bears’ food supply. Younger female bears often don’t give birth during leaner years, but with an abundance of beechnuts, berries and other food in 2011, there was a baby boom. In 2012, however, dry conditions meant food was scarce, and bears were forced to venture into backyards for food. Sows that foraged for food in chicken coops and beehives ended up getting shot by property owners, leaving the cubs behind. That’s how 16 of the 27 cubs ended up with Kilham. (AP)
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
SPORTS
48
‘Loss of a visionary’
League mourns Lakers’ owner Buss LOS ANGELES, Feb 19, (AFP): Former players and rivals recalled Jerry Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers owner who died Monday after a fight with cancer at age 80, as a visionary who helped mold the NBA and make the Lakers champions. Buss won 10 NBA titles as owner of the Lakers, more than any other team owner in league history, after purchasing the Lakers, ice hockey’s Los Angeles Kings, their arena and a ranch from Jack Kent Cooke for $67.5 million in 1979.
BASKETBALL “The NBA has lost a visionary owner whose influence on our league is incalculable and will be felt for decades to come,” NBA commissioner David Stern said. “More importantly, we have lost a dear and valued friend.” Buss, who was elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, was recalled fondly by fellow Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, who said Buss was like a “second father” after mak-
ing the Lakers’ selection of Johnson in the 1979 NBA Draft a condition of the purchase deal. “He was a fun loving guy but he was very competitive as well,” Johnson said. “He wanted to win championships and he brought us in all together to do just that. “He was the first owner who cared about entertainment — let’s focus on the timeouts, the Laker Girls (cheerleaders), Buss all of these things that hadn’t been done before. “He changed the scope of entertainment in sports. He was at the forefront of all of that. He was a great man and an incredible friend.” Buss launched the “Showtime” era of the Lakers that saw Johnson win five titles and later become a partowner of the team, which is now guided by son Jim Buss on basketball mat-
ters and daughter Jeanie Buss on the business side. “We not only have lost our cherished father but a beloved man of our community and a person respected by the world basketball community,” said a statement from the Buss family released by the club. In 34 seasons owning the Lakers, they made 16 trips to the final, winning 10 times and dominating with such stars as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. “He has meant everything to me in my career. What he has done, it’s hard to match in the world of sports,” Bryant said of Buss, whom he once dubbed “the greatest owner in the history of team sports.” “I’m deeply saddened over da loss of the great Dr. Jerry Buss,” O’Neal said in a Twitter posting. “He was a dear friend, mentor,and brilliant business mind thank u 4 8 gr8 yrs.” “Today is a very sad day for all the Lakers and basketball,” Gasol said on Twitter. “All my support and condolences to the Buss family. Rest in peace Dr. Buss.”
Johnson credited his post-NBA career as a businessman to Buss’s teachings and said he and Buss cried together when Johnson revealed he was HIV positive. “We cried for about two hours together,” Johnson told ESPN. “He wanted to get me the best doctors possible. He wanted to get me anything he could to make it better... He was there with me every step of the way. Former Lakers star James Worthy tweeted “Condolences to the Buss family. Dr Buss was not only the greatest sports owner, but a true friend & just a really cool guy. Loved him dearly.” Former Laker Dennis Rodman tweeted “My thoughts and prayers are with the Buss family. Dr. Jerry Buss was like a Dad to me and is a tremendous loss to Lakers family.” Rival owners acknowledged the impact Buss had upon them. “RIP Jerry Buss. Your encouragement and support along with your stories of staying true to yourself had an enormous impact on me,” Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tweeted.
Fears of oblivion
Keshavan eyes fifth Olympics MUMBAI, Feb 19, (RTRS): On more than one occasion, luger Shiva Keshavan has been on the brink of quitting due to India’s frosty attitude towards winter sports, but the pioneer’s passion and devotion are driving him towards a fifth Olympics. Keshavan was just 16 when he participated in the 1998 Winter Olympics at the Japanese city of Nagano and since then he has represented India at three more Games. The 31-year-old retained his Asia Cup title in Nagano last December with an Asian track record of 49.590 seconds but the feat has failed to translate into recognition or support in India, where winter sports remain at a very nascent stage. “When an athlete represents his country, he is like an ambassador for his nation,” Keshavan told Reuters in an interview. “It is normally expected that your foreign trips, your training and your basic expenses are borne by your country. “It’s actually very sad to see that this mentality is not shared by our sports administrators. “When I go and ask our sports administrators to pay for our training expenses, it seems like I am asking for a personal favour.” Last month, Keshavan lost his coach Yann Fricheteau, a former Olympian, after the Frenchman quit due to the non-payment of his salary. “Over the years, I have come to know of the government schemes and funds that are meant for supporting the athletes and I am eligible for so many of these things,” he said by phone. “I have been applying but despite that, nothing is happening. Despite promises, nothing has materialised and it has merely stayed at words and promises.” The International Olympic Committee granted the luger the Olympic Solidarity Scholarship on Monday which will help him travel and participate in the test event and the World Cup final, a mandatory qualifying race for next year’s Sochi Games. But having reached the top of Asia, Keshavan said it was impossible for him to raise his performance to the next level without government support.
Quit thoughts “I have made a program... I need training time, I need exposure to the international venues and I need to have a coach,” he said after a training stint at Albertville in France. “It’s quite bizarre that until now I have never had a (fulltime) coach, which is a fundamental requirement for any level of any sport.” Keshavan said on more than one occasion he had asked himself whether all the trouble was worth it. “Quitting has not just crossed my mind, sometimes I have gone through phases when it was physically impossible for me to compete,” he said. “I had no choice but to stay back and contemplate what the next step is going to be. I thought if the situation remains as it is, I would not be able to continue the sport.” Born to an Indian father and Italian mother, Keshavan does not rue a decision to decline an offer to represent the Italian flag more than a decade ago. “I never gave that (representing Italy) much thought to be honest. It was an offer that was made to me in 2002,” he said. “Of course, it would have been an opportunity.
Swedish Victor Oehling Norbert (left), Canadian Christopher Delbosco (right), and Andreas Schauer (center), compete during the Men’s Ski Cross final race at the Snowboarding and Free Style World Cup Test Event at the Snowboard and Free Style Center in Rosa
Norbert, Smith win World Cup event Victor Oehling Norbert of Sweden claimed his first freestyle World Cup victory Tuesday by winning a men’s ski cross event, while Kesley Serwa led a Canadian 1-2 in the women’s race. Oehling Norbert led the big final race from the start, beating Canadian Chrstopher Delbosco, who finished second in his first race of the season after being sidelined with an injury. Germany’s Andreas Schauer was third. Alex Fiva, who leads the disci-
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points, while Tomas Kraus of the Czech Republic has 322 for third. Smith tops the women’s discipline with 476 points. Ophelie David of France is second with 416 points and Serwa is third with 401. This competition was the last of the International Skiing Federation’s test events for freestyle skiing and snowboarding at the Roza Khutor Extreme Park, which will be used for next year’s Sochi Olympics. (AP)
PRETORIA, Feb 19, (AFP): South African Olympic hero Oscar Pistorius on Tuesday tearfully denied the premeditated murder of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, telling a court he repeatedly shot at her through a locked bathroom door believing she was an intruder. “I am absolutely mortified by the events and the devastating loss of my beloved Reeva,” Pistorius said in an affidavit at a court hearing in the capital Pretoria, his first public comments on the Valentine’s Day killing. The 26-year-old double amputee track star broke down in tears repeatedly as his own words filled the court: “We were deeply in love and couldn’t be more happy.” “I had no intention to kill my girlfriend,” he said in the affidavit read out by his lawyer as Pistorius sat in the dock, struggling to hold his composure. As the court hearing was under way, Steenkamp was being laid to rest at an emotional private ceremony at a crematorium in her hometown of Port Elizabeth. The “Blade Runner” who became an inspiration to millions when he became the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics, faces a charge of premeditated murder, which will likely result in remand without bail and, if convicted, a life sentence behind bars. Pistorius said the couple, who had been dating since late last year, had spent the evening at his upscale Pretoria home watching television and with the 29-year-old Steenkamp doing yoga. He awoke in the dead of night “filled with horror and fear” that someone was in the bathroom and said he felt “very vulnerable” because he did not have his prosthetic legs on. “I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to Reeva to phone the police. “Reeva was not responding. When I reached the bed, I realised that Reeva was not in bed. “That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet.” After breaking down the door with a cricket bat, Pistorius said “Reeva was slumped over but alive”. She died a short time later in his arms. Prosecutors argued that far from being an accident, Steenkamp’s death was a premeditated act of murder. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court Pistorius had armed himself, put on his prosthetic legs, walked seven metres and fired four shots into the bathroom door, hitting a terrified Steenkamp three times and fatally wounding her. “She could go nowhere,” Nel said. There was no decision on bail Tuesday, with court proceedings delayed until Wednesday. Magistrate Desmond Nair said he could not rule out that there was some planning involved in the killing, which may be considered as a premeditated murder for the purposes of bail. But Pistorius’s legal team rejected the claims as he sought to argue he was not a flight risk. “I have no intention to relocate to any other country as I love my country,” he said. Pistorius revealed he earned 5.6 million rand ($640,000) a year and owned the $570,000 house in the gated estate where the killing took place and two other homes. Lawyers submitted affidavits from friends of both Pistorius and Steenkamp, which spoke of the couple’s close relationship. “She said she could see a future with him. She said if Oscar asked her to marry him she’d probably say yes,” said friend Samantha Greyvenstein. Pistorius, who off the track has a rocky private life of rash behaviour, beautiful women, guns and fast cars, has built up a powerful team of lawyers, medical specialists and public rela-
A woman holds a photo of Reeva Steenkamp, as she leaves her funeral in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Feb 19. Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is charged with the premeditated murder of Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day. The defense lawyer says it was an accidental shooting. (AP)
Pistorius ‘travail’ won’t affect sport LONDON, Feb 19, (RTRS): The Paralympic movement will continue to thrive and grow despite Oscar Pistorius being charged with murdering his girlfriend, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Philip Craven told Reuters on Tuesday. “Blade Runner” Pistorius, born without a fibula in both legs yet still one of the most high-profile athletes in either able-bodied and Paralympic sport, is accused of murdering Reeva Steenkamp at his Pretoria home early last Thursday. Craven spoke of his “shock and disbelief” at the news of the arrest of the South African, who appeared in court for a bail hearing on Tuesday, and said he had only just got his “head around the whole situation”. He said, however, that the accusations against Pistorius will not prevent disabled sport building on the momentum and goodwill generated by London 2012, an event that smashed ticket-sales targets and was more widely broadcast than any previous Paralympics. “Yes, we are here today discussing this terrible tragedy in South Africa, but the Paralympic movement is very much alive and well,” Craven, who is currently in La Molina in the Spanish Pyrenees for the IPC Alpine skiing world championships, said in a telephone interview. “This afternoon I am writing to all our members, 180 national Paralympic committees. I shall be informing them of the emotional roller coaster that I have been on these last five days...and then reiterating the momentum from London will continue despite this news.” Pistorius was the main attraction heading into last year’s Paralympic Games after a battle to compete against able-bodied athletes ended in him becoming the first man to compete in both Olympic and Paralympic track events.
tions experts for his defence. In 2009 Pistorius — who once admitted to a newspaper that he slept with a pistol, machine gun, cricket bat and baseball bat for fear of burglars — spent a night in jail after allegedly assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a party.
‘Shocked’ China probes WADA allegations BEIJING, Feb 19, (RTRS): China will investigate claims that virtually all the raw materials used to produce illegal performance-enhancing drugs come from the country, even if they have serious reservations about their accuracy, state media said on Tuesday. World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) director general David Howman told Reuters in an interview last week that “ninety-nine percent” of the materials used by criminal gangs around the world to make the drugs were emanating from China.
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pline standings, fell midway through the final. Serwa overtook overall women’s leader Fanny Smith early in the race to win her second title of the season, ahead of fellow Canadian Marielle Thompson, defending World Cup champion. Smith fell on the last turn and finished third. Fiva leads the standings with 474 points after eight of 12 races this season. Fellow Swiss skier Armin Niederer is second with 429
Steenkamp laid to rest
‘Toxic’ culture fuelled Aussie swimming flop
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09:15
Khutor near the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Feb 19. Swedish Victor Oehling Norberg won the race ahead of Canadian Christopher Delbosco and German Andreas Schauer. (AFP)
‘I didn’t intend to kill Reeva’
ESPN
“We are shocked at Mr Howman’s comment,” Jiang Zhixue, the head of antidoping at China’s sports ministry, told the official Xinhua news agency. “We are wondering where this 99 percent came from and what is his evidence. We have asked for a more detailed explanation from WADA.” Jiang said the probe would require coordination from various ministries as had happened in a crackdown on the manufacture and sale of banned performanceenhancing substances in the run-up to the
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2008 Beijing Olympics. China’s record on doping at elite levels of sport improved markedly after Beijing won the right to hold the 2008 Games, a far cry from the 1990s when the country’s rise to sporting superpower was accompanied by regular scandals. In Sydney, slack management allowed a “culturally toxic” environment to develop in Australia’s swimming team at the London Olympics with abuse of alcohol and prescription drugs, as well as flouting of curfews and bullying going unchecked,
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a review said on Tuesday. Australia’s worst Olympic swimming performance for 20 years was accompanied by reports of schoolboy pranks, inflated egos, a lack of team unity and unrealistic expectations, prompting the review into team culture by business consultants Bluestone. “Standards, discipline and accountabilities for the swim team at the London Olympics were too loose,” it said. “Situations were left to bleed with not enough follow through for fear of disrupt-
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ing preparation for competition. “Although few situations relating to London reported through this review were truly grave in nature, they compounded in significance as no one reigned in control. “There were enough culturally toxic incidents across enough team members that breeched agreements (such as getting drunk, misuse of prescription drugs, breeching curfews, deceit, bullying) to warrant a strong, collective leadership response that included coaches, staff and the swimmers. 08:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 09:00 World Pool Masters 10:00 World Cup of Pool 11:00 Top 14 13:00 Top 14 Highlight 13:30 Golfing World 14:30 World Pool Masters 15:00 World Cup of Pool 16:30 Pro 12 18:30 Pro 12 20:30 European PGA Tour Highlights 21:30 Adventure Challenge 22:30 Top 14 Highlight 23:00 Futbol Mundial 23:30 Golfing World 00:30 World Pool Masters 01:30 World Cup of Pool 02:30 Super League 04:30 ICC Cricket 360 05:00 Futbol Mundial 05:30 Top 14 Highlight 06:00 Golfing World
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ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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No.13 Wildcats roll past Mountaineers Villanova beats Rutgers MANHATTAN, Kan, Feb 19, (AP): Just about every time Kansas State huddled up, coach Bruce Weber reminded his team to keep its poise, even while whistles seemed to be sounding every time they turned around. They managed to do it better than West Virginia. Will Spradling scored 19 points, Nino Williams added 13 and the No. 13 Wildcats used a big first-half run to beat the Mountaineers 71-61 on Monday night, spoiling the return of coach Bob Huggins to the school he helped rebuild.
Connecticut’s Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (left), and Morgan Tuck (second from right), battle for a rebound with Baylor’s Odyssey Sims (second from
left), Brooklyn Pope (center), and Destiny Williams (right), during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Hartford, Conn on Feb 18. (AP)
Griner reaches 3,000 points
Baylor women defeat UConn 76-70 HARTFORD, Connecticut, Feb 19, (AP): Brittney Griner and top-ranked Baylor withstood their first serious challenge in two months. Coach Kim Mulkey hopes it will prepare them for the important games ahead. ‘’This was a great game for women’s basketball,’’ Mulkey said after her team’s 76-70 victory over No. 3 Connecticut. ‘’It’s not going to be a game that we get on the plane and celebrate we just beat UConn. It gave us a gauge of what to expect. It will help improve (UConn) and help improve my team.’’
BASKETBALL After building a seven-point lead in the second half, Connecticut had no answer for Griner. Then again, few teams have during her stellar college career. The All-America center scored 21 of her 25 points after halftime, including the 3,000th of her career, to help extend Baylor’s winning streak to 23 games. She became the eighth women’s player in Division I history to reach the milestone, doing it on two free throws with 1:05 left. Despite the loss, Huskies coach Geno Auriemma thought the game was a lot more valuable to his team than a potential Big East blowout.
‘Unprofessional and unethical’
Miami fires back at NCAA investigation CORAL GABLES, Florida, Feb 19, (AP): Calling the NCAA’s investigation ‘’unprofessional and unethical,’’ Miami President Donna Shalala lashed out at the governing body for college athletics on Monday, insisting that their long probe of the Hurricanes not only come to a swift end but result in no other penalties against her school. ‘’We have been wronged,’’ Shalala said. Her statement came shortly after the embattled NCAA said it was
pressing on with the case against Miami, even after the acknowledgment of ‘’missteps’’ that led to the replacement of its enforcement department and the throwing out of all ill-gotten information gleaned from two depositions that could have been very damaging for the Hurricanes. The NCAA said it paid Maria Elena Perez, the attorney for former booster Nevin Shapiro, more than $19,000 for work she performed, primarily using subpoena power to ask questions on the
association’s behalf and doing so under the guise of a bankruptcy case. The NCAA does not have subpoena power and was not involved in Shapiro’s bankruptcy proceedings. And this all comes with Miami expecting to finally receive its notice of allegations — the list of wrongs that the NCAA will claim it found — as early as Tuesday, a long-awaited step that will usher in the start of the sanction phase of the process.
‘’Playing a game like this with a month before the NCAA tournament, I can’t think of anything better to do at this point of the season,’’ he said. ‘’Absolutely it’s going to help. There’s no way it can’t help you.’’ Baylor (25-1) went 40-0 last season en route to the school’s second national championship, and its only loss this season came in Hawaii against Stanford in November. Griner and her
talented teammates hadn’t really been challenged since, with no opponent coming within single digits. But when UConn built a sevenpoint lead in the second half, the Lady Bears were ready. ‘’It’s always good to give yourself a gauge of what you need to work on,’’ Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. ‘’I told them at halftime, it’s been a long time since we’ve had to execute on
offense. We’re so athletic and so good and so talented, we just go play basketball. But against good teams who play great defensively, you must execute. And we needed to do some things better in the second half.’’ Griner and fellow preseason AllAmerican Odyssey Sims had a tough first half, combining to go 3 for 19 from the field. They responded after halftime, though.
Angel Rodriguez and Thomas Gipson each had 11 points, and Rodney McGruder added 10 for the Wildcats (21-5, 10-3), who slipped into first place in the Big 12 by a half game over ninth-ranked Kansas and No. 14 Oklahoma State. Those two teams play each other Wednesday night. ‘’It was just a very physical game,’’ Weber said. ‘’I’m glad our kids kept their poise for the most part. ... We stayed the course and stayed strong and did what we needed to.’’ Physical, indeed. The officials called 49 fouls, and both teams spent more than 18 minutes in the bonus. The Mountaineers had center Aaric Murray and leading scorer Eron Harris foul out, the Wildcats lost Jordan Henriquez, and there were three others who had four fouls when the game finally ended.
BASKETBALL The teams combined to shoot 53 free throws. ‘’You got to stand your ground,’’ Weber said. ‘’One time I just said, ‘What do you want us to do? Let them cut and get a layup?’ You have to guard them somehow. ‘’It was a very hard game to officiate,’’ Weber added. ‘’I know people get upset. I get upset. But I wouldn’t take their job for anything.’’ Huggins received a warm reception in his first trip back to Bramlage Coliseum, where he went 23-12 as coach of the Wildcats during the 2006-07 season. Huggins led the program to the NIT, its first postseason appearance in eight years, before skipping town for his alma mater. Deniz Kilicli had 16 points for the Mountaineers (13-13, 6-7), but he didn’t get a whole lot of help. The rest of their starters combined for 13 points, with two of them getting shut out. ‘’We were just holding the ball,’’ said the Mountaineers’ Jabarie Hinds. ‘’We didn’t have that much movement in our offense, so it was kind of easy for K-State to defend us.’’ Villanova 71, Rutgers 63 In Villanova, Pa, Ryan Arcidiacono, JayVaughn Pinkston and Darrun Hilliard scored 14 points each to lead Villanova to a 7163 victory over Rutgers on Monday night. The win keeps alive the chance for an NCAA at-large bid for Villanova (17-10, 8-6 Big East), which has won four of its last five. The Wildcats overcame a poor first half and a 12-point second-half deficit. Myles Mack had a game-high 24 points for Rutgers (13-12, 4-10), which has lost eight of
In this file photo, Maryland (center), Alex Len (top), of Ukraine, dunks on Duke (forward), Amile Jefferson in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in College Park, Md, Feb 16. Maryland won 83-81. (AP)
its last nine games. Rutgers played without leading scorer Eli Carter, who fractured his right fibula in Saturday’s loss at DePaul. Carter, who averaged 14.9 points per game, will miss the rest of the season. Mouphtaou Yarou had 12 rebounds and 10 points for Villanova, which had five players score in double figures. James Bell added 11 points. Rutgers matched its biggest lead of the game on Mack’s jumper early in the second half that made it 33-21. But Villanova tallied 23 of the next 33 points to go ahead 44-43 with 11:22 left. Rutgers reclaimed the lead on Austin Johnson’s follow that made it 45-44 with 11:05 remaining, but Bell hit a pair of 3-pointers, sandwiched around a layup by Mack, to put the Wildcats back up, 50-47. The Scarlet Knights hung close, getting within one point on three occasions, but Villanova slowly pulled away. Bell gave the Wildcats some breathing room with 2:45 to play when his 3-pointer put Villanova ahead 65-58. Notre Dame 51, Pittsburgh In Pittsburgh, A self-professed ‘’raving lunatic’’ while watching his team score just three points over the first 13:54 of the game, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey wasn’t considering the potential consequences when he gave referee John Gaffney an earful. ‘’I was just so frustrated,’’ Brey said. ‘’... He probably could have thrown me out because I stayed after him and he looked away, so I thank him for that.’’ The No. 25 Irish might want to thank Brey for the resulting dramatic swing of momentum after an atrocious shooting start. Jerian Grant and Jack Cooley scored 13 points each and Irish rallied from down 16 to beat No. 20 Pittsburgh 51-42 on Monday night. The Irish missed 18 of their first 19 shots and trailed 19-3 after two free throws by Tray Woodall — resulting from Brey’s technical. But Notre Dame closed out the first half on a 16-3 run and continued to ride the momentum in the second half to win going away.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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Malago elected new CONI president
US, Iran find common ground: Olympic wrestling TEHRAN, Iran, Feb 19, (AP): Arch foes Iran and the US have found some common ground in the fight to save wrestling as an Olympic sport. US wrestling coach Zeke Jones on Tuesday called the sport an important “ambassador,” suggesting possible cooperation to fight a decision by the International Olympic Committee to drop wrestling from the 2020 Games. “Wrestling has brought closer the people of Iran and the US,” Jones was quoted saying by the semiofficial Mehr news agency after arriving in Tehran with his team for an international tournament. American wrestlers will compete in freestyle events later this week after the completion of Greco-Roman matches. “I am sure the world will become united in support to wrestling and this will
lead to change of the view of the OIC. It will keep wrestling in the Olympics,” said Jones. On Monday, US wrestling officials formalized plans for a committee charged with pushing to restore Olympic wrestling — which was dropped earlier this month from the 2020 program by the IOC board. Wrestling now must compete against other sports for one open slot in the Games. Iran also has said it is looking to join wrestling’s major powers to reverse the IOC decision. Last week, the Iranian wrestling federation and Olympic committee sent a protest letter to the OIC. Iran sees wrestling as their national sport. Since 1948, it has actively participated international events of the sport and its wrestlers have collected many Olympics medals. Iran won three gold
In this file photo Keitani Graham of Micronesia competes against Charles Edward Betts of the United States (right), during the 84-kg Greco-Roman wrestling competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London. (AP)
medals out of six overall in wrestling at the London Games, and the US took two
gold medals out of four overall. Washington cut ties with Iran after the
US Embassy was stormed in the wake of the 1979 Islamic Revolution — with 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days. Tensions are also high over the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program and Western sanctions that have upended Iran’s economy. Iran’s state media had only limited reports on the arrival of the American wrestlers — a distinct contrast to the fanfare in 1998 to the first US wrestlers who competed in Iran since the Islamic Revolution. US sports team make only infrequent appearances in Iran, but the two countries often compete together in international events. The US has sent more than 30 athletes to Iran under a sports exchange program launched in 2007, and more than 75 Iranian athletes and coaches have visited
the United States. ❑
❑
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Giovanni Malago is the new president of the Italian Olympic Committee, replacing Giovanni Petrucci. Malago, organizer of the 2009 swimming world championships in Rome and president of the prestigious Canottieri Aniene club, has been confirmed as CONI’s new chief following the elections on Tuesday. A tearful Malago says, “In sport it’s difficult to win, but also not to win. I consider this role the most important in our country, I will do everything to honor it.” The 53-year-old Malago beat CONI secretary general Raffaele Pagnozzi and Simone Gambino, president of the Italian cricket federation. Petrucci left in September, after 14 years and four terms in charge of CONI.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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Photos by Meshal Al-Oklah
FILBACK members pose for a group photo after the competition.
Eapen and Noronha sit atop Mixed B
Ajma, Joy dominate Ektasad Cup Level A By Jose Gabriel
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Special to the Arab Times
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19:Ajma and Joy Vilanueva were in excellent form this week to take the top spot in the senior-most category of the FILBACK-Al Ektasad Cup 2013 organized by Filipino Badminton Club in Kuwait (FILBACK) at the Al Nasr Sports Club Friday.
Frederick Frugal 151 Mechelle De Felipe 151 Dan Isidro 142 Mayeen Abesamis 139 Eilene Isidro 130 Florievee Satorre 123 Rose Arroyo 123 Liza Ibanga 108 Dang Ladia 107 Liza Delos Pobres 93
Mixed D-Higher Joel Lawagan was the best in Mixed D-Higher after collecting 217 points from the day’s matches while Jelylou Cadano was second on 209 points with Arcilla Dimaparo in third place with 194 points. This week, Johan and Glaiza overcame Josie and Mags 21-15, 21-20 while Josie with Johan edged Jocelyn and Glaiza 1921, 21-6, 21-18, Amor and Josie overwhelmed Mags and Glaiza 21-16, 21-13, Jelylou and Arcilla overwhelmed Dina and Joel 21-9, 21-16, Jelylou and Joel thumped Dina and Arcilla 21-15, 21-16 and the pair of Mags and Johan hammered Jelylou and Michelle 21-18, 2112. The other matches saw Joel and Arcilla brush aside Amor and Jelylou 21-18, 2119 while Jorneth and Dina overpowered Arcilla and Josie 21-18, 21-18, Dina and Johan thumped Jorneth and Mags 21-17, 21-14, Amor and Joel tamed Arcilla and Mags 21-18, 21-9 and the pair of Jelylou and Joel outlasted Amor and Jorneth 2120, 13-21, 21-16. Higher Mixed D standings
While Ajma and Joy were at the top in Level A, Liya Eapen and Derek Noronha were the leaders in Mixed B, Eleonor Laurito and Shanavas Abdul Kalam dominated Mixed C, Joel Lawagan emerged the best in Mixed D-Higher and Ola led Mixed C –Higher. The FILBACK-Al Ektasad Cup 2013, which started on Feb15,2013, is being held over four Fridays, with the first three days set aside for the ranking games or the Elimination Round and the last Friday for the championship matches. The tournament is based on the following five categories: Level A, Level B, Mixed B, Mixed C and Mixed D (Higher and Lower) but the results were available of four of these for the first week. While all the players are seeing action during the category matches, only the top players will be selected for the next round which will involve the single knockout round, the double knockout round, the semifinals and the finals. This event is being made possible through the efforts of FILBACK Director Leo Regner, FILBACK Tournament Director Renato Calanog, Alpha Phi Omega Kuwait Alumni Association (APO KAA-153) and all the office bearers who work hard throughout the year to not only
Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
BADMINTON
Higher Joel Lawagan Jelylou Cadano Arcilla Dimaparo Johan Mariano Amor Abayon Mags Lopez Josie Tanco Dina Hamdani Glaiza Cabidez Jorneth Gonzales Jocelyn Abatayo Aurora Pacheco
Pts 217 209 194 192 174 172 163 156 118 118 39 0
Mixed D-Lower
provide quality tournaments but also promote friendship and sportsmanship among the members of these organizations.
Level A Ajma and Joy Vilanueva were the best in this category on the opening day as they collected 233 points from their matches while Jess Sibunga and Roger Jimenez had collected 211 points for second place with Roy Satorre and Enrique occupying third place after compiling 210 points. In this week’s matches, Ajma and Joy brushed aside Jonie and Leo 21-11, 21-19 before they thrashed Jess and Roger 2110, 21-12, edged Edison and Sherwin 1821, 21-19, 21-14, and overcame Nestor and Emil 21-20, 21-15. In the other matches, Jess and Roger overwhelmed Nato and Noel 21-17, 2113, tamed Allan and Arjay 21-18, 21-18, and overcame Richard and Mon 21-15, 21-20 while Roy and Enrique outlasted Ajma and Joy 21-12, 18-21, 21-20 before they hammered Nato and Noel 21-13, 2113, beat Allan and Arjay 21-19, 21-19, and edged Richard and Mon 18-21, 21-8, 21-14. Meanwhile, Kevin and Carl overcame Jess and Roger 21-19, 21-20 before they outclassed Roy and Enrique 21-14, 2112, and tamed Nestor and Emil 21-13, 21-16 while Jonie and Leo tamed Kevin and Carl 21-20, 21-17, edged Richard and Mon 18-21, 21-17, 21-17, and beat
Dez Orbase John Martin Pecson Rosalie Galvez Choi Commendador Asraf Emily Capati Mr Gills Rajan Jaime Berjes Val Canicosa Analea Talampas
Action shots taken during the event.
Edison and Sherwin 21-20, 12-21, 21-14. Richard and Mon also took to the courts this week where they overwhelmed Edison and Sherwin 21-14, 2116 while Nestor and Emil edged Allan and Arjay 17-21, 21-15, 21-20 and overwhelmed Nato and Noel 21-9, 21-17; and Noel and Nato outlasted Edison and Sherwin 21-19, 15-21, 21-18 Level-A standings Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Higher Ajma Jess Sibunga Roy Satorre Kevin Yap Jonie Gratil Richard Amoto Nestor Farinas Edizon Delacruz Noel Candolesas Allan Sayoto
Lower Pts Joy Vilanueva 2-5 233 Roger Jimenez 211 Enrique 210 Carl Talampas 187 Leo Regner 164 Mon Pablo 158 Emil Millanar 156 Sherwin Perez 137 Nato Calanog 124 Arjay De Juan Tabi 115
Mixed B Liya Eapen and Derek Noronha showed how things should be done after compiling 184 points to take the top spot while only three points off pace, in second place with 181 points were Jovie Vidal and Dino Mendoza. Third so
far were Rey Vaquilar and Abby Sayoto with 175 points. On the courts, Liya and Derek brushed aside Macky and Rommel 21-15, 21-16 before they edged Albert and Brent 21-9, 12-21, 21-17, overwhelmed Jovie and Dino 21-8, 21-14, brushed aside Jecker and MJ 21-16, 21-16 and outlasted Mathew and Joker 15-21, 21-9, 21-14. In the other matches, Rey and Abby overpowered Mathew and Joker 21-19, 21-18 before they edged Gomer and MJ 21-11, 11-21, 21-15 while Macky and Rommel overcame Mathew and Brent 21-20, 21-5 and then tamed Albert and Brent 21-16, 21-18. Meanwhile, Gomer and MJ outclassed Albert and Brent 21-18, 21-12 before they outlasted Jovie and Dino 21-16, 1621, 21-16 while Vivian and Ding thumped Rey and Roderick 21-14, 21-19 and hammered Macky and Rommel 2114, 21-18. Mathew and Derek also saw action in which they overpowered Jovie and Dino 21-19, 21-16 while Rey and MJ thumped Albert and Brent 21-13, 21-18, Jecker and Macky outlasted Jovie and Dino 21-
13, 19-21, 21-16 and Joker and Roderick thumped Gomer and MJ 21-17, 21-17. Higher Mixed B standings Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Higher Liya Eapen Jovie Vidal Rey Vaquilar Macky Delen Gomer Imperial Mathew Eapen Albert Naguit Jecker Domingo Vivian Tomagan Reem Susain
Lower Derek Noronha Dino Mendoza Abby Sayoto Rommel Ocas Mj Hassan Vinod Nair Brent Penaranda Roderick Rafols Ding Tomagan
Pts 184 181 175 163 162 147 133 125 100 0
Mixed C Eleonor Laurito and Shanavas Abdul Kalam were the best so far in Mixed C as they had compiled 192 points from their matches this week while Mia Santoso and Vivian Elleso were in second place with 188 points and two points further off, in third place, were Erwin and Cecile Silvestre on 186 points. This week, in the Elimination Round’s opening games, Dez and Frederick edged Gills and Rose 21-20, 14-21, 21-10 before they outclassed Addy and Ninette
21-17, 21-18 while Melanie and Ato hammered Gills and Rose 21-10, 21-15, outlasted Val and Joker 21-13, 20-21, 2116, and thrashed Dez and Fred 21-15, 2110. In the other games, Addy and Ninette hammered Gills and Rose 21-15, 21-11 before they edged Val and Joker 15-21, 21-17, 21-15, and thumped Emily and Florievee 21-15, 21-16 while Rosalie and Dan thumped Liza and Eilene 21-16, 219 before they outlasted Melanie and Ato 18-21, 21-19, 21-16, and overcame Dez and Frederick 21-14, 21-20. Meanwhile, Liza and Eilene overwhelmed Val and Joker 21-16, 21-18 while Emily and Florievee brushed aside Liza and Eilene 21-15, 21-19 and edged Gills and Rose 21-16, 15-21, 21-20. Mixed C standings Rank 1
Higher Eleonor Laurito
2 3 4 5 6
Mia Santoso Erwin Melanie Medina Adolfo Diaz Kaki Berdaki
Lower Shanavas Abdul Kalam Vivian Elleso Cecile Silvestre Ato Rusnanto Ninette Regner Marilyn Agustin
Pts 192 188 186 179 177 159
Ola took the top spot after compiling 200 points after this week’s matches while Reina Frugal was in second place with 197 points and third was Jennifer Peralta on 181 points. In the day’s matches, Sheng and Reina edged Jennifer and Karen 21-18, 20-21, 21-18 while Ola and Alwyn thumped Karen and Rafi 21-14, 21-15, Ola and Jennifer brushed aside Sheng and Sol 2119, 21-19, Alwyn and Ana Mea overwhelmed Reina and Rafi 21-13, 21-18 and the tandem of Sol and Jennifer edged Ana Mea and Sheng 15-21, 21-13, 21-20. Meanwhile, Michelle and Ola overcame Karen and Sol 21-16, 21-20 while Michelle and Reina edged Rafi and Allwyn 11-21, 21-20, 21-18, Jennifer and Sheng tamed Ana Mea and Michelle 2115, 21-11, Karen and Ola overcame Reina and Allwyn 21-20, 21-12 and the pair of Ana Mea and Reina outclassed Rafi and Sol 21-17, 21-14. Lower Mixed D standings Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Lower Ola Reina Frugal Jennifer Peralta Sheng Frugal Allwyn Ferns Ana Mea Karen Michelle Rodriguez Sol De La Pena Rafi
Pts 200 197 181 171 171 167 154 148 147 130
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
SPORTS
52
Photos by Mahmoud Jadeed
IBAK family pose for a group photo after the event.
Uttara, Shobha top ladies singles
Favorites live up to bidding at Spring Cup By Jose Gabriel
Pranavesh & Nagaraj Relin & Joby Chittamani & Shaikh
Special to the Arab Times
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19:All the favorites were in the best of form as they brushed aside their opponents to take the top spots in their groups after the first day of the IBAK Spring Challenge Cup organized by Indian Badminton Association-Kuwait (IBAK) at the Saad Al Awzi School in Salwa this week. While Suresh and Bastin were the best in Group A of the Men’s Doubles, Deepak P.D. and Don Francis showed the same class to emerge at the top in Group B, Chandra and Pushkar were the leaders in Group C and Usman with Thamer were showing the way to all the others in Group D.
six points. According to rules of the tournament, any player winning the match in two sets is awarded three points but if the game goes to three sets, the winner gets two points and the loser one.
P 4 6 4
W 4 1 3
L Pts Rank 0 12 1 5 4 4 1 9 3
3 4
1 4
2 0
4 11
4 2
4
1
3
2
6
0
0
0
0
8
3
0
3
0
7
Group B Deepaka P.D. and Don Francis were in excellent form to win all their matches to amass 12 points from four matches but three pairs were in second place with the same number of points. On the courts, Noor and Faheem outclassed Tom and Saju 21-12 21-9 while Abbas and Sameer Ahmed routed Arunkumar and Ashithosh 21-2 21-3, Deepak P.D. and Don Francis cruised past Abbas and Sameer Ahmed 21-10 21-12 and Noor with Faheem put in their best to crush Arunkumar and Ashithosh 21-6 21-4. In the other matches, Jabbar and Bader found the going easy in their 2114 21-16 victory over Tom and Saju while Jabbar and Bader outclassed Abbas and Sameer Ahmed 21-16 21-9, Tom and Saju crushed Arunkumar and Ashithosh 21-4 21-5 and Deepaka P.D.
3 3
4 4
0
0
0
0
5
Group D standings Names Usman & Tamer Suhoor & Nawaz Saju Thomas & Saji Thomas Unnikrishnan & Shine Kishore & Jose Nithin & A. Ommen Ganaga & Arief Madhu & Ommen Mathew
Group A
Names Suresh & Bastin Abi & Tinu Sanal & Vivek Mohammed & Yusef Ajay & Naufal Prasad T. & Shyam S. Karl Miranda & Faiz Fouzan Balasubrmanian & Thirumurgan
2 3
Group D
BADMINTON
Group A standings
1 1
Usman and Tamer were the best on the opening day in this group as they won all their three matches in two sets to take the maximum nine points and with that the top spot. On the courts Unnikhrishnan and Shine tamed Kishore and Jose 21-15 21-16 while Saju Thomas and Saji Thomas overcame Suhoor and Nawaz 19-21 21-13 21-13, Usman and Tamer crushed Kishore and Jose 21-7 21-5 and Saju Thomas and Saji Thomas outplayed Kishore and Jose 21-16 21-8. In the other games, Usman and Tamer outlasted Suhoor and Nawaz 2116 21-12, Nithin and A. Ommen edged past Kishore and Jose 21-17 22-23 2115, Usman and Tamer thrashed Ganaga and Arief 21-7 21-18 and Suhoor and Nawaz overcame Ganaga and Arief 2112 18-21 21-7. Meanwhile, Saju Thomas and Saji Thomas crushed Madhu and Ommen Mathew 21-4 21-9, Unnikhrishnan and Shine lost to Ganaga and Arief 21-16 2123 13-21, Unnikhrishnan and Shine beat Madhu and Ommen Mathew 21-11 21-12 and Nithin and A. Ommen defeated Ganaga and Arief 21-19 22-23 21-15.
So far the Ladies Section of the tournament had only seen action in the singles and Uttara with Shoba were at the top with six points but Uttara had the advantage as she had collected her six points from two matches while Shoba had won two games and lost one for her
Suresh and Bastin were the best in Group A of the Men’s Doubles event after remaining unbeaten in all their four matches with their victories coming in two sets which brought them 12 points but Ajay and Naufal were on their heels with 11 points from the same number of games as one of their matches went to three sets. In this week’s matches, Sanal and Vivek beat Prasad and Shyam S 21-8 21-12 while Ajay and Naufal stopped Mohammed and Yousef outplayed 1821 21-18 21-17 and Ajay with Naufal tamed Abi and Tinu 21-19 21-12. Meanwhile, Suresh and Bastin thrashed Prasad and Shyam S 21-14 21-8 while Sanal and Vivek hammered Abi and Tinu 21-3 21-7, Suresh and Bastin outlasted Mohammed and Yousef 21-16 21-19, Prasad and Shyam S beat Abi and Tinu 12-21 21-17 21-17, Suresh and Bastin stopped Sanal and Vivek 21-19 21-15, Mohammed and Yousef cruised past Abi and Tinu 21-17 21-11and Suresh and Bastin routed Abi and Tinu 21-11 21-12. In the other matches, Ajay and Naufal outclassed Prasad and Shyam Sadwani 21-16 21-19, Abi and Tinu overcame Balasubramanian and Thirumurgan 21-16 23-21, Sanal and Vivek beat Balasubramanian and Thirumurgan 21-8 21-5 and in the last match Ajay and Naufal tamed Balasubramanian and Thirumurgan 216 21-13.
3 4
Some action shots taken during the competition.
Retired pitching great Maddux called in to help
Torre ready to manage USA in World Classic PHOENIX, Feb 19, (AP): The game is supposed to be America’s national pastime, but the United States has not fared well in the World Baseball Classic. Joe Torre is putting his manager’s uniform back on to lead Team USA in this year’s competition, but he cautions that there are reasons the US has not won, or even made it to the title game, in the first two editions of the worldwide competition. Torre, speaking Monday at a news conference in Phoenix, said players usually use spring training to get ready physically for the long major league season, slowly working in the mental edge along the way. But with the World Baseball Classic, they are asked to get that competitive edge in a hurry against countries that take this competition very seriously. “I think a big part of it is the mental preparation for a postseason type of atmosphere,” Torre said. Japan won the first two championships, beating Cuba in the2006 final and South Korea in 2009. There is more than a little grumbling among managers who lose players for two or three weeks at a crucial time when they are supposed to be putting together a cohesive team for the coming big league season. But, officially, Major League Baseball is a big supporter of this event, so that mutes the criticism. Those players don’t just go to Team USA, but to Venezuela, Mexico, Japan, Canada, even The Netherlands. The team hit the hardest this year is the Milwaukee Brewers, who will lose 14 players during spring training, 11 of them from their 40-man roster. “I get why a player would want to do it. I understand that,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. “And we’re fine with them going and doing that, but it just happens that we’re getting hit with a lot of guys.
and Don Francis hammered Tom and Saju 21-13 21-10. Meanwhile, Deepaka P.D. and Don Francis sailed past Arunkumar and Ashithosh 21-5 21-8 while Tom and Saju outplayed Abbas and Sameer Ahmed 21-16 21-15, Jabbar and Bader blasted Saikhrishan and Latheef 21-7 21-8, Deepaka P.D. and Don Francis defeated Saikhrishan and Latheef 2111 21-12, Noor and Faheem hammered Saikhrishan and Latheef 21-10 21-10, Saikhrishan and Latheef tamed Arunkumar and Ashithosh 21-13 21-10 and in the last match of this group Tom and Saju easily beat Saikhrishan and Latheef 21-13 21-19.
We’re missing both catchers. It’s really important to us. We’ll just have to deal with it.” Torre said he had the same reaction back in 2006 when the first World Baseball Classic was held. “I’m manager of the Yankees and I’m saying, ‘Oh my goodness, what is this all about?’ Because they’re taking our players away.” Now, he steps away from his duties as executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner’s office to try to build a winning team while at the same time giving the players, especially the pitchers, the same amount of work they’d get if they stayed in spring training. Torre has enlisted retired pitching great Greg Maddux to help him. “Greg has talked to each and every one
of them to get their ideas about what they want to get accomplished,” Torre said. Team USA will have a workout on March 4 in Scottsdale, followed by exhibition games against the Chicago White Sox and Colorado Rockies before beginning round-robin play March 8 against Mexico. Canada and Italy are the other two teams in the group. Team USA’s round-robin games are at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The second round will be held in Miami, with the semifinals and finals set for AT&T Park in San Francisco. Torre said he has spoken to every player involved with the team. “I wanted to gauge not only the interest but the excitement of playing with ‘USA’ across your chest,” he said. He said every player, including a few
who wound up bowing out, said that was the greatest enticement to participate. “I feel pretty comfortable with the team we’ve put together,” Torre said, “based on the fact, ability for one, and the fact that I think they’re going to be ready to do this when we need to.” The US squad includes outfielders Ryan Braun, Adam Jones, Giancarlo Stanton, Shane Victorino and Ben Zobrist; infielders Willie Bloomquist, Brandon Phillips, Jimmy Rollins, Mark Teixeira and David Wright; and catchers J.P. Arencibia, Jonathan Lucroy and Joe Mauer. The pitchers are, alphabetically, Jeremy Affeldt, Heath Bell, Mitchell Boggs, Steve Cishek, Tim Collins, R.A. Dickey, Luke Gregerson, Derek Holland, Craig Kimbrel, Kris Medlen, Chris Perez, Glen Perkins, Vinnie Pestano and Ryan Vogelsong. Gio Gonzalez had intended to come
BASEBALL
Miami Marlins pitcher Jon Rauch throws a bullpen session during spring train ing baseball, Feb 18, in Jupiter, Fla. (AP)
Group B standings Names Jabbar & Bader Deepak P. D. & Don Francis Noor & Faheem Arunkumar & Ashithosh Abbas & Sameer Ahmed Tom & Saju Arief & Giri Saikrishnan & Latheef
P 3
W 3
L Pts Rank 0 9 2
4 3
4 3
0 0
12 9
1 2
5
0
5
0
6
4 6 0
1 3 0
3 3 0
3 9 0
5 2 7
5
1
4
3
5
Group C Chandra and Pushkar remained unbeaten in their four matches to amass 12
points after collecting the maximum from all their matches to take the top spot after the first day of the tournament while there were two pairs lying jointly second after two wins each from three matches. In this week’s matches Dr Mani and Dr Piyush beat Mathew and Vasu 21-17 21-18 while Chandra and Pushkar overwhelmed Dr Ranjith and Sunil 2116 21-10, Pranavesh and Nagaraj thrashed Gary and Abhilash 21-11 2115 and Mathew with Vasu easily beat Pranavesh and Nagaraj 21-17 21-15. In the other games on the same courts, Chandra and Pushkar edged Dr Mani and Dr Piyush 21-20 21-18 before they thrashed Mathew and Vasu
along, but announced he is staying with the Washington Nationals, at least for now. He might be added should Team USA make it to the second round in Florida, where the Nationals conduct their spring training. Torre hasn’t managed since he retired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2010. He has no interest in the grind of another major league season in that job, but he gladly will accept a three-week chore of running Team USA, jokingly comparing it to the role of a grandparent who after spoiling the kids gives them back to their parents. On a serious note, though, he recalled how he felt as New York Yankees manager in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
21-10 21-16 and in the end took Relin and Joby to task in their 21-14 21-17 victory. Meanwhile, Mathew and Vasu stopped Relin and Joby 21-15 21-13, Dr Mani and Dr Piyush outplayed Relin and Joby 21-14 21-13 and Relin and Joby easily beat Pranavesh and Nagaraj 21-11 21-8. Group C standings Names Chandra & Pushkar Mathew & Vasu Dr Mani & Dr Piyush Gary & Abhilash Dr Ranjith & Sunil
P 4 3
W 4 2
3 1 1
2 0 0
L Pts Rank 0 12 1 1 6 2 1 1 1
6 0 0
2 5 5
P 3 3
W 3 1
L Pts Rank 0 9 1 2 3 5
3
3
0
8
2
3 4 2 4
2 0 2 1
1 4 0 3
7 1 4 4
3 6 4 4
2
0
2
0
7
Ladies singles In the ladies singles, two players Uttara and Shobha — were at the top of the table with the same number of points although Uttara had won both her matches and Shobha lost one of her three. But Uttara retains advantage as she has a match in hand. In this week’s matches, Preetha hammered Sandhya15-9 15-5, Shaina crushed Sandhya 15-1 15-4, Preetha overcame Shaina 15-12 11-15 15-5, Shobha thrashed Sandhya 15-1 15-3 and Shobha overcame Shaina 10-15 15-4 15-11. In the other matches on the same day, Kundana edged Shobha 15-12 1215 15-11, Khrishnaveni overcame Preetha 15-12 15-12, Uttara thrashed Khrishnaveni 15-5 15-3 before she hammered Kundana 15-6 15-10 and in the last match of the group Khrishnaveni had a tough time before she could overcome Kundana 15-10 11-15 15-13. Ladies standings Names Preetha Dhruvi Uttara Sandhya Shobha Shaina Kundana Krishnaveni
P 3 0 2 3 3 3 3 3
W 2 0 2 0 2 1 1 2
L Pts Rank 1 5 2 0 0 4 0 6 1 3 0 4 1 6 1 2 5 2 2 3 3 1 5 2
The IBAK Spring Challenge Cup is a tournament which is open to all the different categories. The tournament is being organized in such a way that it benefits the players who are being sent to Bahrain later this year for an invitation tournament. It will act as a preparation platform for this team. The tournament is being conducted on a league-cum knockout basis ( doubles only for men and singles/doubles for women). The tournament is being played using the standard Mavis 500 plastic shuttles until the quarter-final stages and thereafter the Yonex AS2 feather shuttles in preparation for the Bahrain tournament. IBAK is sending about 20 trainees, who took part in the IBAK coaching modules, to take part in an invitational age group competition to be held in Bahrain in April 2013. These trainees are being fully sponsored by the IBAK coaching team funds. IBAK also has an official website www.ibakwt.org which is currently packed with all the activities it has arranged since its birth. All interested in taking part in IBAK activities can ask for details on ibakchozhan@gmail.com.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
SPORTS
53
Kvitova, Wozniacki win openers in Dubai Arvidsson advances into Indoor second round DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Feb 19, (Agencies): Former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova got out of the first round of the Dubai Championships for the first time in three visits by easily handling Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday.
Victorious team with officials
Kvitova, seeded sixth, broke the Slovak qualifier five times, the last when Hantuchova double-faulted twice in the final game.
Enigma receiving their cup
Naeem of Royal Coast receiving trophy
Behbehani Captain receiving Plate Cup
Baig presenting MOM award
Desert Warriors lose nail-biting final
Royal Coast clinch GC Cup KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: In an exciting & nail biting match played at GC ground, Royal Coast cricket club prevailed over a spirited challenge posted by Desert Warriors to lift the prestigious Gulf Consults Cup trophy. In the Plate finals played at GC ground 1, Behbehani cricket team defeated ENIGMA by 5 wickets to get hold of the Plate final trophy. The tournament was organized by GULF CONSULTS, a leading & pioneer organizer in promoting cricket in Kuwait under the auspicious of Kuwait Cricket. In the GC Cup final, Royal Coast & Desert Warriors brushing their skills & gave the spectators their time worth as the match went on till the last over and in a thrilling game Royal Coast holding their nerves till the final ball won by 9 runs. Batting first, Royal Coast got on to a positive start as Amjad, their opener produced the sort of innings that any captain would like as he plundered runs at will. Amjad elegantly crafted his innings and played some extraordinary shots with confidence & exuberance and his polished knock of 59 runs in 35 balls had 8 hits to the fence. A sudden collapse resulted in Royal Coast loosing 3 quick wickets which brought Omar & Osman together and the duo blossomed gradually to put 74 runs partnership for the 5th
CRICKET wicket. Both the batsmen came good just when Royal Coast needed them, rekindling the form to rescue their team from a shaky middle order collapse. Omar scored a dashing 36 runs and played the pull shot with awesome power, while Osman plundered a quick fire 22 runs as he whipped three consecutive hits to the fence to give their team the needed boost. A late onslaught of 28 runs in just 14 deliveries by Saleem was another highlight of Royal Coast’s innings which enabled them to post a decent total of 193 runs in 20 overs. Sajid was the most economical bowler for Desert Warriors with a tight spell of 2 for 20 in 4 overs. Dessert Warriors openers chasing a huge total took the challenge to the Royal Coast camp as Sajid the all rounder timed the ball with great punch to launch a fierce attack. A flowing cover drive which rattled into the boundary board was the shot of the day. Usman on the other hand started slowly but soon matched his senior partner as he played with determination and called his shots to perfection. Usman’s innings of 53 runs was worth a ton of gold and Desert Warriors were possibly eyeing a great victory when these two batsmen were at crease. Sajid meanwhile scored his half century and in an unfortunate mix up was run out at a crucial time after top scoring with 65 valuable runs. Needing to accelerate the scoring, Usman mistimed an attempted lofted shot and was caught at mid on for a cracking 53 runs. Needing almost 10 runs an over, Arif
Samaraweera drafted as replacement
Mahela ruled out of B’desh Tests COLOMBO, Feb 19, (RTRS): Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has been ruled out of next month’s two-Test home series against Bangladesh after dislocating the middle finger of his left hand in a domestic match on Sunday. Jayawardene picked up the injury while fielding in the slips during the Singhalese Sports Club’s Premier league match against Nondescript’s Cricket Club. “Initial scans showed that it was only a dislocation but the scans were sent to Australia for further opinion,” Sri Lanka team manager Michael de Zoysa said. “The opinion from Australia is that Mahela will have to undergo surgery and have a wire inserted to keep the dislocated bone in place. “He will be out for between four-tosix weeks which means he is certainly ruled out of the Bangladesh Test series.”
Thilan Samaraweera would replace Jayawardene for the two Tests against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement. Another former captain Kumar Sangakkara is also fighting to recover in time for the first Test starting in Galle on March 8. Sangakkara had his left index finger broken by Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson during the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and had a pin and plate inserted for his injury. The left-handed batsman has begun having light batting sessions in the nets but is still uncertain for the Galle Test. Jayawardene and Sangakkara are Sri Lanka’s two most prolific run-getters in Tests and one-day internationals, having scored over 10,000 runs each in both formats. Bangladesh will also play three one-day internationals and a Twenty20 international on the tour.
did not give up his heart as he slammed a useful 23 runs but Afzaal bowling the 19th over of the match turned the match in Royal Coast’s favor by bowling a nagging and accurate over as he conceded just 4 runs in that over to highlight his match figures of 1 for 14 in four overs. Requiring 20 runs in the last over, Desert Warriors fought like true Warriors but lost the game by a margin of 9 runs. Amjad of Royal Coast was declared Player of the match for his dashing knock of 59 runs. Riding on a magnificent 79 runs, Mirza guided Behbahani cricket team to an exciting 5 wickets win over ENIGMA in the Plate finals of the Gulf Consults trophy. Electing to bat first on a beautiful sunny afternoon, ENIGMA openers laid a solid foundation as Nasser & Mussafar batted beautifully to post 59 runs partnership. Mussafar returning to form with a swashbuckling 38 runs while Isthiyaq building a firm foundation with some quick singles slowly accelerated to knock a useful 38 runs. A minor collapse triggered the scoring rate in the 11th over but Zahoor & Yassir stood firm to notch up another fruitful partnership of 65 runs. Zahoor went of aggressively and both the batsmen appeared to be in good nick as they rotated the strikes with some well runs singles & doubles. A thumping drive straight down the ground by Zahoor was a treat to watch. Zahoor’s well timed innings of 52 runs and Yasser with a fighting 25 runs helped ENIGMA to post a challenging total of 182 runs for the loss of just 3 wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Chasing almost 9 runs per over is
always a challenging task for any team but the determined Behbahani players doing their home work well started in a positive note. The tall & lanky Mirza was in full command from the word go and hit the cherry with precise timing and stole a clear initiative from the Enigma bowlers. Mirza cut & drove and flourished with a couple of handsome strokes to hit a strokeful 79 runs while Omar & Taher supported him to earn their team a well deserved victory and lift the Plate trophy. Omar batted sensibly well to score 24 runs while Taher played a sheet anchor role to notch 29 runs. Mussafar bowled well with a 3wicket haul for ENIGMA and clearly indicated his talent as a good all-rounder. Mirza was rightly declared Player of the match for his splendid knock of 79 runs. A large gathering of cricket lovers witnessed the finals and cheered their favorite teams. Emad Al-Jassam, Board member of Kuwait Cricket & Osama Al-Holi, Section Head of PAAAF jointly presented the Winner’s trophy to the Captains of Royal Coast & Behbahani teams and later on handed over the Runners Up trophy to the captains of Dessert Warriors & ENIGMA teams. Asad Baig, Director General, Kuwait Cricket presented the Player of the match trophy to Amjad of Royal Coast in the Cup category & Iqbal Rajpurkar presented the Player of the match to Mirza in the Plate category. Riaz Choudhury, Director, Umpires panel, Kuwait Cricket & Arjuna, General Manager, Web site & Administration of Kuwait Cricket along with Ejaz Ahmed of Hala Pakistan jointly presented the individual trophies to all the participants of the match.
Kvitova set up a second-round match with former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic. Another former No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, had little trouble against 18thranked Lucie Safarova, beating her 6-2, 62. Wozniacki, the 2011 Dubai champion, was on course to meet new No. 1 Serena Williams in the quarterfinals. Williams, who received a first-round bye, became the highest seed at No. 2 when Victoria Azarenka withdrew because of a right foot injury she said she had been carrying for a week, while defending her Doha title and beating Williams in the final at the weekend. “I tried (to play), but my body says no. I cannot force (it),” Azarenka said. “I cannot put myself in a position to hurt myself. That would just be stupid.” She intended to travel to the United States to prepare for the big Indian Wells event next month. Meanwhile, Williams had her eye on ending her Dubai title drought on her fourth visit. Her big sister Venus has won the tournament twice, but Serena’s three previous visits didn’t end so well. On her debut in 2005, she had to retire in the semifinals. In 2008, she withdrew before the tournament because of the flu, and in 2009 she fell to Venus in the semis. This time around, Williams said she was healthy — she had a flu bug last week — and upbeat even after losing the final in Doha on Sunday. “I feel so much better this week,” Williams said. “I feel like a completely different athlete, a completely different person.” Having become the oldest No. 1 in the WTA’s rankings history on Monday, Williams said she was proud to have regained the ranking after a tumultuous few years, and was moving on in search of a 48th career title and more Grand Slam success.
TENNIS “I feel like I’m at a place where I reached that goal of getting back to the top,” she said. “If I stay that would be great and if not then I’ve done it.” She’s set to meet Marion Bartoli in the second round. ❑ ❑ ❑ Defending champion Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden and top seed Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium advanced to the second round of the $1.58 million ATP and WTA US Indoor Championships with triumphs Monday. Second seed Arvidsson beat Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova 6-4, 6-4 while Flipkens eliminated 2007 Memphis runner-up Shahar Peer of Israel 6-2, 6-2. Arvidsson, who also won at Memphis in 2006, defeated New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic in last year’s final. This year, Arvidsson will face Erakovic again in the second round after Erakovic beat Germany’s Annika Beck 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 64. Next up for Flipkens will be Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, who defeated US qualifier Maria Sanchez 6-2, 6-4. American Jamie Hampton downed Spanish wild card Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 6-3 to book a second round date with compatriot Coco Vandeweghe. ❑ ❑ ❑ Seventh-seeded Jerzy Janowicz of Poland and Bernard Tomic of Australia reached the second round of the Open 13 in contrasting fashions of Monday. Janowicz, who came through the qualifiers to reach the Paris Masters final last year, sealed the first set in just 25 minutes and broke again at the start of the second to take complete control and beat Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4. Tomic had a tougher time before overcoming eighth-seeded Martin Klizan of Slovakia 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) in a match which saw Tomic hit 11 aces to Klizan’s 10 and both players drop serve twice. Janowicz next meets the winner of an all-French match betwen Julien Benneteau and wild-card entry Lucas Pouille, while Tomic takes on either
Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki reacts after winning a point against Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova during their WTA Dubai Open tennis match in the Gulf emirate on Feb 19. (AFP)
Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova returns the ball to Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark during their WTA Dubai Open tennis match in the Gulf emirate on Feb 19. (AFP)
‘Match Play’ kicks off Wednesday
McIlroy, Woods steal ‘spotlight’ MARANA, Arizona, Feb 19, (AFP): World No. 1 Rory McIlroy and three-time winner Tiger Woods top the list of favourites in the $8.75 million World Golf Championships Match Play Championship that begins on Wednesday. Woods, a 14-time major champion chasing the record 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, comes off a practice round last weekend with US President Barack Obama and a victory last month at Torrey Pines on his 2013 US PGA debut. McIlroy, who lost last year’s Match Play final to American Hunter Mahan, missed the cut at Dubai in his only prior start this year. McIlroy won the 2012 PGA Championship and the 2011 US Open. The Northern Irishman opens against Irishman Shane Lowry in a Bobby Jones bracket that also has a first-round matchup between another Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, both past major winners. Woods tops the Gary Player bracket with an opener against US compatriot Charles Howell. Woods lost in the second round last year and has not gone past the second round since beating Stewart Cink in the 2008 final. Mahan, the only American finalist in the past four years, starts at the opposite end of the same bracket against Italy’s Matteo Manassero. The field of 64 is lacking two of the world’s top 64 players after 2012 US PGA playoff champion Brandt Snedeker withdrew with sore ribs and Phil Mickelson pulled out for a family vacation. Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobson, who
opens against reigning British Open champion Ernie Els of South Africa in the Ben Hogan bracket, and Lowry were added to the field to replace Snedeker and Mickelson. England’s Luke Donald, the top seed in the Sam Snead bracket, opens against Germany’s Marcel Siem. Last year, as the defending champion, Donald lost in the first round to Els. South Africa boasts a top seed in Louis Oosthuzien, who leads the Ben Hogan bracket and opens against Scotsman Richie Ramsay. Oosthuizen could face countryman Branden Grace in the second round and Els in the third.
Frenchman Benoit Paire or Somdev Devvarman of India. ❑ ❑ ❑ Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia ruined a homecoming for Horacio Zeballos on Monday, eliminating the Argentine 4-6, 76 (4), 6-3 in the first round of the Copa Claro tournament at Buenos Aires. Fifth-seeded Zeballos became a national hero just over a week ago when he defeated seven-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal in the final of the VTR Open in Chile. Expectations were high for him playing at home. After winning the second-set tiebreaker, Bedene then broke Zeballos in the second game of the deciding set en route to victory. “It was my first match since August, I think, on clay. So at the beginning I was confused,” Bedene said. “I’m really happy with my performance — first round, first win.” Bedene apologized for spoiling the party at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club. “Horacio is my good friend, so I feel sorry for him,” Bedene said. “But tennis is tennis and somebody has to win.” The No. 2 seeded Nicolas Almagro defeated Argentine Guido Pella 6-3, 6-2 as the Spaniard makes a return to playing on clay in Latin America, two of his favorite things. In 2012, Almagro won on clay in Brazil and was the runner-up in Buenos Aires. In 2011, he won twice in Latin America — in Brazil and Buenos Aires — and was the
runner-up in Acapulco, Mexico. “This trip through Latin America has been very good for me in recent years,” Almagro said. “But every year is different.” In other first-round matches, No. 4 seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil was ousted by Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, eighth-seeded Albert Ramos of Spain advanced with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Flavio Cipolla of Italy and Federico Delbonis of Argentina moved on with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Portugal’s Joao Sousa. ❑ ❑ ❑ A brutal gang rape and other crime have prompted a massive security operation for Acapulco’s tennis tournament, with 4,000 personnel to be deployed at an event headlined by Rafael Nadal. The Pacific port has become Mexico’s deadliest city and local police have struggled to stem a brutal turf war between drug gangs where the intimidation of rivals includes the dumping of headless bodies in the street. The unprecedented show of security at the tennis event is three times the size of Acapulco’s own police force and will feature army, navy, federal, state and municipal police, a senior Guerrero state government official told AFP. Members of the deployment will begin to arrive on Wednesday, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity regarding next week’s tournament.
GOLF The Hogan bracket also features three Asian aces. Japan’s Hiroyuki Fujita opens against American Matt Kuchar while Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee will play Spain’s Sergio Garcia and South Korean KJ Choi will face England’s Justin Rose. Choi’s best showing was a 2008 quarter-final run while Thongchai reached the 2010 quarter-finals in his only prior appearance in the event. Fujita made a first-round exit in 2011 in his only prior WGC Match Play start. McIlroy’s quarter of the draw also features reigning Masters champion Bubba Watson, who opens with England’s Chris Wood; 2011 Masters winner Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, who opens against American Russell Henley and 2007 Masters winner Zach Johnson, an American who opens with Australian Jason Day.
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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Senators upset New Jersey 2-1
‘Not enough’
Experts condemn China’s penalties BEIJING, Feb 19, (AFP): Commentators Tuesday described penalties for corruption in Chinese football as inadequate, after 33 people were banned for life and Didier Drogba’s former club Shanghai Shenhua was stripped of the 2003 league title. Shenhua were among a number of clubs and individuals punished by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) for widespread match-fixing scandals that have blighted the game in China. But the measures would not deter corruption, football pundits said, because ever more money was flowing into the sport. “These are not really serious punishments,” Yan Qiang, vice-president of Titan Media, one of China’s leading sports publishers, told AFP. “I do not think this is enough to set an extreme example to warn off future offenders. “The professional football league is getting more popular and attracting more public attention,” he added. “But where there is profit, there will be more people trying to get into it with illegal ways, so it will be an ongoing fight.” Shanghai Shenhua were also fined one million yuan ($160,000) and received a six-point deduction for the new Chinese Super League season starting next month, as were Tianjin Teda. “I personally think this is not enough and it is regrettable that no clubs were relegated this time,” said
Late triple lifts Canadiens over Hurricanes NEWARK, New Jersey, Feb 19, (Agencies): Jakob Silfverberg beat Martin Brodeur to his stick side in the shootout and goalie Ben Bishop turned aside 30 shots for his first victory of the season, giving the Ottawa Senators a 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Monday. Silfverberg, who assisted on the Senators’ regulation goal, skated in on Brodeur in the shootout and fired a righthanded wrist shot that caught the NHL’s all-time wins leader by surprise.
SOCCER Xi Jiren, head of sports at Xinhua news agency. “The CFA should learn from what Europe has done,” Xi told the China Daily, referring to a series of corruption clampdowns which saw Italian giants Juventus relegated and stripped of two Serie A titles. China also has previously relegated teams from the country’s top league for match-fixing. Chengdu Blades FC and Guangzhou Pharmaceutical, who later became current champions Guangzhou Evergrande, were demoted in 2010. Shanghai did not comment when contacted by AFP but a club source was quoted in domestic media as saying they had been “treated unjustly”. “The football association believed the current team isn’t completely different to the mainstay of the team back then, so they insisted on the punishment and we cannot do anything about it,” the insider told the Oriental Sports Daily newspaper. Shanghai were found guilty of fixing a game against Shanxi Guoli during the 2003 campaign and were among 12 clubs given “disciplinary punishments”. Tianjin were found guilty of fixing a game in the same season. Jilin Yanbian were fined 500,000 yuan and deducted three points for throwing a match in 2006.
Derek MacKenzie #24 of the Columbus Blue Jackets is pursued by Patrick Maroon #62 of the Anaheim Ducks for the puck in the third period at Honda Center on Feb 18, in Anaheim, California. The Ducks defeated the Blue Jackets 3-2. (AFP)
FIFA, Interpol to be involved
Thai FA investigates match-fixing claims SINGAPORE, Feb 19, (RTRS): The Thai Football Association have begun an investigation into claims that match fixers attempted to rig the result of November’s FA Cup final, local media reported on Tuesday. Japanese official Yoshida Toshimitsu was in charge for Buriram United’s 2-1 win over Army United and reported to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that he was offered money to favour one of the two teams, the Nation and Bangkok Post said. The allegation follows the fallout from the news earlier this month that a global football betting scam involving a Singapore-based syndicate had been responsible for matchfixing at least 380 games in Europe alone. Thai FA president and FIFA executive committee member Worawi
Makudi said that he would inform FIFA and Interpol, the international police organisation, of the allegations. “We have already received the report the Japanese referee sent. I’ll discuss the incident with FIFA and AFC officials as well as with Interpol when I travel to Malaysia on Thursday for a seminar about the problem of match-fixing,” Worawi was quoted as saying by the Nation. “We have already sent them all the relevant evidence we have about the game in question. However, we will also be discussing the issue at the association’s board meeting. We already have a committee to take care of the matter.” Interpol and AFC will co-host a two-day conference against matchfixing and corruption in football in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
Army United manager Col Worawut Withisiri said his side had nothing to do with the allegation. “Military officers have discipline and we will never resort to ungentlemanly conduct,” he was quoted as saying by the Bangkok Post. “Army chief Gen Prayuth Chanocha, as Army United chairman, has a clear policy that we must play entertaining football in a straightforward manner.” Match-fixing in soccer has been rife throughout Asia with South Korea, Malaysia and China handing out bans after discoveries in recent years. Last year, FIFA vice president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein told Reuters more investment was required to help tackle the huge problem of match fixing, especially in Asia.
Bishop stopped former Senator Bobby Butler on the Devils’ third shootout attempt to give Ottawa only its third road win of the season. Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrik Elias were both stopped by Bishop in the shootout. Stephen Gionta scored his second goal of the season in the opening minutes of the game, but the Devils were silenced the rest of the way by Bishop. Brodeur had 29 saves for New Jersey. Daniel Alfredsson scored for Ottawa in the third period, tying the game at 1 with 11:48 remaining on his 420th career goal. Ducks 3, Blue Jackets 2 In Anaheim, California, Peter Holland and Ryan Getzlaf scored 21 seconds apart in the first period, sending Anaheim on the way to its fifth consecutive victory. The Pacific Division-leading Ducks’ winning streak is currently the longest in the NHL and they’ve also won their last five home games. They were coming off a 5-1-0 road trip, the best win percentage for a trip of five or more games in franchise history. Corey Perry added a goal in the third and Jonas Hiller made 25 saves for his first win
ICE HOCKEY since Feb 2 against Los Angeles. Vinny Prospal and Derick Brassard scored for Columbus. Maple Leafs 3, Panthers 0 In Sunrise, Florida, Ben Scrivens notched his second consecutive shutout, and Clarke MacArthur and Nazem Kadri each had a goal and an assist to lead Toronto to a win over Florida. Scrivens, who got his first shutout last Saturday in a 3-0 victory over Ottawa, stopped 37 shots. Phil Kessel also scored for the Maple Leafs, who won for the sixth time in seven games. Toronto is off to its best road start since opening 7-2-0 away from home during the 1940-41 season. The Leafs beat the Panthers for the first time in seven games dating to a 4-3 shootout win on Feb 1, 2011. Jose Theodore made 30 saves for Florida, which lost its fifth straight and sixth in the past seven at home. Flyers 7, Islanders 0 In Uniondale, New York, The line of Claude Giroux, Matt Read and Jakub Voracek combined for three goals and 10 points, helping Philadelphia break a slump with a victory over New York. Giroux scored two goals and added an assist, Read had a goal and two assists and Voracek had four assists. Ilya Bryzgalov made 19 saves for his first shutout of the season and 30th in the NHL. Zac Rinaldo scored Smith his first goal of the season, Brayden Schenn also had a goal and Danny Briere closed the scoring with a pair in the third period as the Flyers moved to 23 on a six-game trip. Evgeni Nabokov played much better than his statistics showed and finished with 18 saves for the Islanders, who trailed 1-0 after the first period. Avalanche 6, Predators 5 In Denver, Paul Stastny and Jamie McGinn scored 13 seconds apart in the second period and Colorado snapped a ninegame losing streak against Nashville with a win over the Predators. Shea Weber scored with 1:18 left to make it a one-goal game, the only score of the final period.
Dmitry Kulikov #7 of the Florida Panthers pursues Nazem Kadri #43 of the Toronto Maple Leafs as he attempts to center the puck at the BB&T Center on Feb 18, in Sunrise, Florida. The Maple Leafs defeated the Panthers 3-0. (AFP)
Matt Duchene and Aaron Palushaj each had a goal and two assists, and Chuck Kobasew and Tyson Barrie also scored for Colorado, which was outscored by Nashville 34-14 over the past two seasons. The Predators pulled to 4-3 on Colin Wilson’s goal before Stastny and McGinn restored the cushion and forced Nashville coach Barry Trotz to yank Chris Mason, who allowed six goals on 18 shots. Mike Fisher, Sergei Kostitsyn and Jonathon Blum had goals for Nashville. Coyotes 4, Flames 0 In Glendale, Arizona, Mike Smith stopped 30 shots, Keith Yandle scored in the opening minute of the first period and Mikkel Boedker did the same to start the third, lifting Phoenix to its sixth win in eight games. Yandle knocked in a rebound 41 seconds into the game for his fourth point in two games and Boedker scored 30 seconds into the third by squeezing a puck between Calgary goalie Danny Taylor’s pads in front of a standing-room only crowd at Jobing.com Arena. That was enough for Smith, who was sharp all night for his 22nd career shutout and third this season. Antoine Vermette and Raffi Torres each added goals in the third period. Taylor stopped 33 shots in his first NHL start. Canadiens 3, Hurricanes 0 In Montreal, The Montreal Canadiens unleashed a three-goal salvo in the third period and goaltender Peter Budaj protected the shutout in a 3-0 victory over Carolina Hurricanes on Monday. Brandon Prust broke the deadlock at 2:06 in the final period before Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacioretty also netted shots 28 seconds apart to overwhelm the visiting Hurricanes and give the Canadiens a fourth straight win. Budaj, filling in for the flu-ridden Carey Price, needed to make just 19 saves to record his first shutout with Montreal. In Price’s absence, Budaj has won a pair of games while fending off 37-of-38 shots. “It definitely helps my confidence to get two wins and to be able to play well,” Budaj told reporters. “Especially when the team in front of me works really hard, I wanted to play really great.” After finishing last in the Eastern Conference a season ago, the red-hot Canadiens (10-4-1) have moved to the top of the Northeast Division in the 48-game lockout-shortened season. Cam Ward turned back 23 shots for Carolina but folded in the third as the injury-weakened Hurricanes saw their three-game winning run come to an end. Captain Eric Staal had his 11-game point streak snapped in the defeat for Carolina (85-1) as they battled with an ailing lineup. Forwards Jeff Skinner and Tim Brent along with defensemen Joni Pitkanen and Tim Gleason were all sidelined with injury. “You’re going to have injuries, everyone’s going to go through it, and you have to find a way to win,” Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said. “It was an opportunity for other guys and we just didn’t capitalise or get the job done.”
NHL Results/Standings WASHINGTON, Feb 19, (RTRS): Results and standings from the NHL games on Monday. Ottawa 2 New Jersey 1 (SO) Philadelphia 7 NY Islanders 0 Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF GA PTS Pittsburgh 11 5 0 52 38 22 New Jersey 9 3 4 42 38 22 NY Rangers 8 5 1 38 35 17 Philadelphia 7 9 1 45 49 15 NY Islanders 6 8 1 45 54 13 Northeast Division W L OTL GF GA PTS Montreal 10 4 1 43 34 21 Boston 9 2 2 37 31 20 Toronto 10 6 0 46 36 20 Ottawa 8 6 2 37 31 18 Buffalo 6 9 1 46 54 13 Southeast Division W L OTL GF GA PTS Carolina 8 5 1 41 40 17 Tampa Bay 7 6 1 55 45 15 Florida 4 7 4 35 56 12 Winnipeg 5 8 1 35 46 11 Washington 5 9 1 41 51 11
Colorado Montreal Toronto Phoenix Anaheim
6 Nashville 5 3 Carolina 0 3 Florida 0 4 Calgary 0 3 Columbus 2 Western Conference Central Division W L OTL GF GA PTS Chicago 12 0 3 51 31 27 St Louis 9 5 1 52 48 19 Nashville 7 4 5 35 35 19 Detroit 7 6 2 40 44 16 Columbus 4 10 2 36 51 10 Northwest Division W L OTL GF GA PTS Vancouver 8 3 3 41 33 19 Minnesota 7 6 2 33 38 16 Edmonton 6 5 3 35 38 15 Colorado 6 7 1 37 43 13 Calgary 5 6 3 39 51 13 Pacific Division W L OTL GF GA PTS Anaheim 12 2 1 53 39 25 Phoenix 8 6 2 44 41 18 San Jose 7 4 3 37 33 17 Dallas 8 7 1 41 43 17 Los Angeles 5 6 2 30 36 12
ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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Nani propels United into Cup quarters ‘Contribution terrific’ MANCHESTER, United Kingdom, Feb 19, (AFP): Nani scored one and made the other as Manchester United beat Reading 2-1 to book their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals here. The Portuguese winger was only brought on as a substitute because of a first-half injury to Phil Jones but he certainly made his mark with a powerful second-half strike before setting up Javier Hernandez with a pinpoint cross. United will now face the winner of Chelsea and Middlesbrough in the quar-
SOCCER ter-finals as Alex Ferguson’s side continue to challenge for trophies on three fronts despite a late scare when Jobi McAnuff pulled one back for Reading. “I’m satisfied with the quality of our play,” said Ferguson, who made eight changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Real Madrid in last week’s Champions League clash. “We should have punished them better though. “At 2-0 you are never comfortable. Nani deserved to be man of the match, his contribution was terrific. I had a feeling he would win the match for us. We are at home in the next round and we would take that against anyone.” His Reading counterpart Brian McDermott took solace from the overall performance. “We came to Manchester United and put on a good performance as well, and we’re disappointed not to be coming away with a result,” said McDermott, whose side face a crucial Premier League relegation clash with fellow strugglers Wigan next Saturday. United had come flying out of the blocks and Danny Welbeck gave Reading keeper Adam Federici his first work of the night a minute later with a low strike that was pushed away. The Reading keeper pulled off a good save in the 22nd minute to deny Tom Cleverley’s low shot before getting back on his feet to turn away Ashley Young’s timid strike from close range. Jones, after his impressive man-marking job against Cristiano Ronaldo last
Manchester United’s Ecuador midfielder Antonio Valencia (left), is tackled by Reading’s English midfielder Jem Karacan (right), during the English FA Cup fifth round football match between Manchester
week, could be a doubt for the return leg in March after injuring his ankle in a clash with McAnuff and Nani replaced him. Adam Le Fondre gave United keeper David De Gea his first work of the night with a quick turn and shot that the United keeper saved. Nani then got straight into the action with a rasping shot that beat Federici before cracking off the post and flying
away from danger. The winger then forced the Royals stopper into a decent save in first-half stoppage time with a long-range effort. United started the second half like the first with Cleverley trying to drill a low effort through a crowd of players before Reading cleared. A deflected header from Vidic off Sean Morrison had to be cleared off the line by Reading striker Noel Hunt who was play-
SOCCER “And yet it is the best relationship that there is in the team.” Meanwhile, Valencia centre back Adil Rami is almost certainly out of their Champions League last 16 second leg at Paris St Germain on March 6 after a scan showed he had damaged a muscle in his left leg, the La Liga club said on Tuesday. “The player has begun treatment and the estimated recovery time is approximately three weeks,” Valencia said in a statement on their website (www.valenciacf.com). Valencia will miss Rami’s solid presence in defence and he also scored the club’s 90thminute goal in last week’s first leg, which finished 2-1 to PSG. Victor Ruiz is likely to partner Ricardo Costa in central defence in Rami’s absence.
the 69th minute, he took a touch before rifling the ball home for just his third of the season. Le Fondre fired at De Gea within moments but the tie was all but put beyond the visitors in the 72nd minute when Nani crossed for Hernandez who headed in at the front post. With nine minutes remaining, Chris Smalling failed to clear a cross and McAnuff pounced to pull one back for
Reading but they could not get a second to force the replay as Le Fondre headed a corner just over in stoppage time. FA Cup quarter-final draw Oldham/Everton vs Wigan Manchester City vs Barnsley Man Utd vs Middlesbrough/Chelsea Millwall vs Blackburn Ties to be played weekend of March 9 and 10
Galatasaray out to down Schalke
Mourinho an aggressive coach, says Del Bosque sent our country like modest ambassadors of the Spanish brand and we are proud to do so. However, there are those that rather than helping seem to be against it.” The 62-year-old also doesn’t believe another two clashes between Madrid and Barcelona in the next 10 days will hamper relations inside the Spanish camp for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Finland and France. “In the Madrid-Barca game we saw a few days ago the debates after the game were not about the great game we saw, but the unnecessary controversy over whether there had been something in the car park or something else on the pitch. People are always looking for the bad in football and not the good. “We have many Catalan or Basque payers and I have never had to remind anyone that we are in the Spanish national team. “The best example is the three goalkeepers. One from Madrid (Iker Casillas) with over 100 caps, another from Cordoba (Pepe Reina) with 20 odd caps and a Catalan (Victor Valdes) with just five.
ing with staples in a head wound after a clash with the Serbian defender in the first half. Reading were being pinned back as van Persie replaced Young before Nani whizzed one by the post in the 65th minute. The Portuguese winger was certainly out to prove a point after not making the starting line-up and when Antonio Valencia laid the ball to him in the area in
‘Sneijder, Drogba investments will pay off’
‘Spain in demand’
MADRID, Feb 19, (Agencies): Spain manager Vicente del Bosque has described Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho’s management style as ‘aggressive’ and far different to his own. Del Bosque, a former Madrid manager and the man in charge when they last won the European Cup in 2002, did though reject the idea that he was missed by his old club. “There are many varying factors like the character and personality of the coach,” he told an event hosted by Marca Espana, a political body that promotes the image of Spain at home and abroad. Mourinho “Mourinho seems like a very aggressive coach. I, on the other hand, am more calm. There may be a world between these two extremes, but the most important things is that the group functions. The rest is of secondary importance. “I don’t think they miss me. We are talking about the best club of the 20th century and one of the best currently. “Madrid are a strong and extraordinary organisation that maintains, along with Barcelona, an incredible level that everyone who enjoys football likes to see.” Del Bosque also took the opportunity to address the ongoing controversial topic of Spain playing friendly games in far-flung destinations. Already this season the World and European champions have played away games in Panama and Puerto Rico and also clashed with Uruguay in Qatar a fortnight ago. However, rather than being an unnecessary strain on his players, del Bosque insists it is an honour to be invited to play in such games. “For us it is an honour to go there. The national team is in demand in many countries throughout the world. “It makes us happy to repre-
United and Reading at Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England, on Feb 18. (AFP)
ISTANBUL, Turkey, Feb 19, (AFP): Bigspending Galatasaray will be looking to carry their strong Champions League group stage form into Wednesday’s last 16, first-leg tie when they host a Schalke 04 side low on confidence. The Turkish side finished their Group H campaign with wins over Cluj, Manchester United and Braga then pulled off the biggest coup of January’s transfer window by signing Dutch star Wesley Sneijder and Ivory Coast veteran striker Didier Drogba. Chelsea’s John Terry (right), celebrates his goal against Brentford with teammate Branislav Ivanovic during their English FA Cup fourth round replay soccer match at Stamford Bridge, London, Feb 17. (AP)
Terry happy to fight for place LONDON, Feb 19, (RTRS): John Terry is prepared to bide his time as he battles to win back a regular starting place, the Chelsea captain said on Tuesday following reports of a dressing-room bust-up with interim manager Rafa Benitez. Terry has endured a difficult season, missing two months with a knee injury sustained in November and then struggling to regain match fitness as well as his place in the starting lineup. English media reported he had fallen out with Benitez, which the centre back and the Spanish coach both denied in the wake of Chelsea’s emphatic 4-0 win over Brentford in their FA Cup fourth-round replay on Sunday. Since returning to action in January, the 32-year-old Terry has found his route back into the starting lineup blocked by Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic. “I’m not silly, I’ve been out for four months and the other two guys, Iva and Gaz, have been playing really well and both scoring goals as well, so it’s going to be difficult for me to get back in,” Terry said on the club website (www.chelseafc.com). “Naturally I want to play games; the manager doesn’t need to ask me that. I’m not one to go and knock the manager’s door down, I respect the other players and I have to fight for my place again. I’m no different and I think it’s important that comes across.” Terry scored Chelsea’s fourth goal in Sunday’s victory and hopes to have put his problems behind him after starting the club’s last three games. “It’s been frustrating because I haven’t been playing football. As a footballer you want to play games,” he said. “The injury just needed time, and that came to light after three or four weeks. I felt stiffness and it still wasn’t right so I remained patient and it’s been tough.
Galatasaray vs Schalke Aljazeera Sport +5 22:00 local
Having won last season’s Champions League title with Chelsea, Drogba came off the bench to score on his debut in Friday’s 2-1 win at bottom side Akhisar Belediye to go seven points clear in the Turkish Super Lig Table. “These investments will pay off,” said Galatasaray president Unal Aysal, who is eager to bring Champions League success to Istanbul. “The revenue from the Champions League will cover the costs.” Galatasaray have lost just once at the Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex Arena in the league this season and Fatih Terim’s team are looking for four European wins in a row against Schalke. The hosts hope to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2001, while Schalke have reached the last eight twice in recent campaigns, in 2010/11 when they were semi-finalists, and in 2007/08. Although Schalke won their group, including an impressive away win at Arsenal in October, they have just one victory in their last 12 matches to drop
Work halted at Maracana venue RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 19, (Agencies): Workers at Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracana stadium, one of the key venues for the 2014 World Cup, halted work on Monday and are threatening a full-scale strike beginning next week if their demands for better salaries and benefits are not fulfilled. The workers said the stoppage is a warning as negotiations with the construction companies are under way. They want higher salaries and better meal vouchers and health plans. The union representing the workers said they are expected to return to work on Tuesday but a strike could start as early as Monday if their demands are not taken into consideration. The renovation at Maracana is already behind schedule. It was originally expected to be completed in December. The famed stadium will host
from second to ninth. Schalke are unbeaten in Europe this season and have been boosted by the return of Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who is fit again after suffering an eye injury. Royal Blues’ coach Jens Keller, who took over from Huub Stevens in December, makes his Champions League debut and has been told his job is safe — until the end of the season. Having sold midfielder Lewis Holtby to Tottenham Hotspur, in January, Schalke brought in Michel Bastos from French side Lyon and the
three matches during the Confederations Cup from June 1530, including the final. It will also host the World Cup final. Five-time world champions Brazil will host Chile on April 24 at Belo Horizonte in a warm-up friendly for the Confederations Cup, the Brazilian Federation announced Tuesday. The match will be staged at the Mineirao stadium which is one of the venues set to be used during the June 15-30 Confed Cup featuring continental champions ahead of the 2014 World Cup which Brazil will also host for the first time since 1950. Luiz Felipe Scolari who guided the team to their last World Cup triumph in 2002 is back at the helm after replacing Mano Menezes, but will likely have to put together a side without many of his overseas stars who will still be on club duty.
Brazil star has scored three goals in his last three games, including both goals at Mainz. “Even before I made the switch from Lyon to Gelsenkirchen I knew about the quality of this Schalke side,” said Bastos. “The team have the ability to solve the current problems.” While Schalke showed some fighting spirit to twice come from behind on Saturday, captain Benedikt Hoewedes said his side must build on that. “We showed morale and fought until the final whistle,” said the Germany defender.
Struggling Siena ‘stun’ Lazio 3-0
In this June 27, 2010 file photo made from a combination of six photos, Germany’s goalkeeper Manuel Neuer looks at a ball that hit the bar to bounce over the line during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Germany and England at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa. FIFA committed Feb 19, to using goal-line technology at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and could have four systems competing for selection. FIFA President Sepp Blatter insisted on giving World Cup referees high-tech aids to make goal-line decisions after seeing England midfielder Frank Lampard have a clear goal denied against Germany at the 2010 tournament in South Africa. (AP)
ITALY, Feb 19, (RTRS): Lazio were humbled in their attempt to take a stranglehold on third spot in Serie A when Siena climbed off the foot of the table with a confident 3-0 home win. Swiss forward Innocent Emeghara headed the Tuscans into a sixth-minute lead from Matteo Rubin’s cross and the pair combined again to set up Alessandro Rosina for the second midway through the first half. Emeghara topped off an explosive display with a third after the break. Lazio were unrecognisable from the side who have again surprised in the upper echelons of Serie A his term and even a change of formation to 4-2-4 failed to inspire the Rome side. They stay joint-third, level on points with resurgent AC Milan in Italy’s final Champions League qualifying spot, having wasted the chance to make up ground on the top two after leaders Juventus lost to AS Roma and Napoli drew with Sampdoria this weekend.
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Sports
Moutinho steals show as Porto beat Malaga
Classy Bayern in command Arsenal in danger
Mario Cup-tied
LONDON, Feb 19, (Agencies): Bayern Munich loaded fresh misery onto beleaguered Arsenal with a 3-1 win at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday that left them with one foot in the Champions League quarterfinals.
Milan face Barca test
Seeking a reaction after Saturday’s shock FA Cup exit at the hands of second-tier Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal were instead soundly beaten by a Bayern side desperate to atone for last season’s Champions League final heartache. Runaway leaders in the Bundesliga, Bayern bossed the first half of the last 16, first leg, and went in 2-0 up at half-time through goals from Toni Kroos and Thomas Mueller. Lukas Podolski replied early in the Kroos second half, breaching his former club’s defence for the first time in 2013, but Mario Mandzukic struck late on to put Bayern firmly in control ahead of the second leg on March 13. With defeat, Arsenal’s hopes of ending an eight-year trophy drought recede still further, and although Bayern will be without the suspended Bastian Schweinsteiger in the second leg, with three away goals, they may not miss him.
Photo by Mahmoud Jadeed
Qadsia players celebrate after beating Al Arabi 3-1 to win Crown Prince Cup, Tuesday.
Qadsia win Crown Prince Cup
SOCCER The return of the Champions League gave Arsenal the opportunity to forget their domestic woes, and the smoke from the Bayern fans’ flares that drifted across the pitch at kick-off only served to emphasise the change of atmosphere. Greeted by roars from the home fans as they left the tunnel, Arsenal began with intent, and saw first Santi Cazorla and then Theo Walcott thread inviting crosses into the Bayern box from the right. However, the wind was sucked from their sails in only the seventh minute as Bayern took the lead from their first attack. Mueller’s cross from the right eluded the stretching Mikel Arteta and Kroos beat Per Mertesacker to the bouncing ball to hit a crisp half-volley that skipped off the turf and flashed past the flailing Wojciech Szczesny. It was a cruel blow for Arsenal and things got even worse in the 21st minute, with Mueller volleying into the roof of the net from close range after Szcezsny parried Daniel Van Buyten’s header from a right-wing corner. Bacary Sagna and Arteta found their way into the referee’s book as the hosts’ frustrations threatened to get the better of them, while Bayern’s fans launched a gleeful chorus of the English terrace chant, ‘Football’s coming home!’ Mandzukic almost put Bayern out of sight when he directed a header inches wide of Szcezsny’s right-hand post shortly before half-time, which was met with a torrent of boos from the stands. Bayern retreated in the second half, content to look for opportunities on the break, but it back-fired in the 55th minute as Arsenal pulled themselves back into the match. Jack Wilshere’s looping corner from the Arsenal right was somehow allowed to bounce in the heart of a crowded area and Podolski exploited hesitancy in the visiting ranks to nod a header past flat-footed Germany teammate Manuel Neuer. Szczeszny had to tip a rising drive from Kroos over the bar as Bayern resumed their assault on the home goal, with Javi Martinez heading over from the ensuing corner. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger introduced Tomas Rosicky and Olivier Giroud in the 72nd minute and the pair almost made an immediate impact. Rosicky found Walcott wide on the right with a strafing pass and Giroud met the Englishman’s subsequent cross with a first-time shot that Neuer scrambled away. It proved an illusory glimpse of hope. Five minutes later, substitute Arjen Robben released Philipp Lahm
Qadsia FC defeated Al-Arabi to win the prestigious Crown Prince Cup for the seventh time. The match, played at Kuwait Stadium in Kaifan, was graced by his Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad AlSabah who representated His Highness the Crown Prince. Qadsia Musaeed Neda opened the score for his team in the 11th minute through a header. Al-Arabi fought back
in the second half but were kept at bay by the solid defending of Qadsia backmen. Taking advantage of the surge forward by the opponent, Qadsia’s right winger Hamad Aman manipulated AlArabi’s defence, struck the ball, only to see his effort hit the post. However, the rebound fell to strike Bader Al-Mutawa who coolly slotted in for the second goal.
Al-Arabi scored what turned out to be a consolation in the 87th minute. AlMutawa shattered any hope of a comeback by Al-Arabi when he scored his second goal of the day. Meanwhile, His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent a cable of congratulations on Tuesday to Sheikh Kahled Fahad Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah, President of Qadsia
Sporting Club, after the team won the Crown Prince Cup. In the letter, HH the Crown Prince valued the great efforts put by the club’s board of directors, managing and coaching staff, as well as the upscale athletic level displayed by the players, wishing them all success in upgrading Kuwaiti sport and hoisting Kuwait’s name in regional and international arenas. (KUNA)
GLT contracts out to tender
FIFA confirms goal-line tech at WC ZURICH, Feb 19, (Agencies): Goalline technology will be used at the 2014 World Cup and two more systems could be considered in addition to the existing pair, soccer’s world governing body FIFA said on Tuesday. Two systems, Hawkeye and Goalref, have so far been licensed by FIFA and both were used at last year’s World Club Cup in Japan, one in each of the two stadiums, where goal-line technology was employed for the first time. FIFA said a third system, developed in Germany, had already passed examinations and that the providers were in licensing discussions. A fourth system, also German, has also been tested with the results due this week. FIFA confirmed goal-line technology was “successful” at the World Club Cup, although there were no incidents where it had to be used. It intends to install goal-line technology at all 12 venues at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. “After a successful implementation
match referee tests. “With different technologies on the market, FIFA has launched a tender today, setting out the technical requirements for the two forthcoming competitions in Brazil.” FIFA said Hawkeye and Goalref would have to join the selection process. Goal-line technology providers had been invited to join an inspection visit to the six Confederations Cup venues in March. Those venues will all be staging matches at the following year’s World Cup.
The use of goal-line technology, to help match officials in cases where it is not immediately clear if the ball has entered the goal, was approved by soccer’s rule-making body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), last year. The use of goal-line technology had previously been rejected by FIFA, which performed a U-turn following the controversy over Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal for England in the 2010 World Cup match against Germany. Replays clearly showed that the ball
SOCCER of goal-line technology (GLT) at the Club World Cup in Japan in December 2012, FIFA has decided to use GLT at the Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 and 2014 World Cup,” FIFA said in a statement. “The aim is to use GLT in order to support the match officials and to install a system in all stadia, pending the successful installation, and pre-
Bayern’s Mario Mandzukic of Croatia (left), and Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny challenge for the ball during a Champions League, round of 16, first leg soccer match between Arsenal and Bayern Munich at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium in London, Feb 19. (AP)
on the overlap and the Bayern captain’s low cross was bundled in by Mandzukic. In Porto, Portugal, a second-half goal from Joao Moutinho gave Porto a 1-0 win over Malaga in the last 16 of
the Champions League, ending the Spanish club’s unbeaten run in the competition and giving the Portuguese team a slender advantage for the return leg next month. After almost an hour of sustained pressure, Porto’s breakthrough came
when defender Alex Sandro ran at the visitor’s defense on the left flank and poked a pass through for Portugal midfielder Moutinho to side-foot the ball between Malaga goalkeeper Willy’s legs. Porto, two-time European champi-
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ons in the knockout round for the seventh time in 10 years, was the hungriest team and mostly dictated the run of play. Malaga, making their debut in the competition, were happy to keep possession and cautious in attack.
Milan vs Barcelona Aljazeera Sport+3 22:00 local
2006 semifinals the Catalans won 10 to virtually secure their place in the final. Since the recent acquisition of striker Mario Balotelli, AC Milan have continued making up for their disastrous start to sit third in the league, 11 points behind leaders Juventus. But because he played in this season’s competition with Manchester City, Balotelli is Cup-tied for the remaining Champions League fixtures. That paves the way for the likes of Bojan Krkic, formerly of Barcelona, to step up for a game that will have special emotional significance as well as being a crucial step in Milan’s roller-coaster season. “It is a different game, a special game for me but I don’t want to think too much about what feelings I have inside, I just want to concentrate on the game and on the 90 minutes of football that awaits us,” Bojan told acmilan.it. “I have never played against Barcelona before and for that very reason this is more than just a game for me but all I want to do is help the team.” He added: “We are going through a positive patch at the moment, we have to believe in ourselves. “We have to try and work hard and go into the match knowing that we are playing in the knock-out stages of the Champions League, against Barcelona, in one of the biggest matches in the world. “This isn’t a three point match, this is a game over 180 minutes where goals are all-important. We have to score and also not concede. We have to remain focused for the entire 180 minutes.” Barcelona currently hold a 12point lead over Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga in Spain but will travel to Milan without coach Tito Vilanova as he continues treatment in New York to help him recover from a throat cancer operation he underwent before Christmas. The reins will remain with assistant manager Jordi Roura, who last weekend had occasion to hail star forward Lionel Messi as the Argentine scored a double to take his Barcelona goals tally to beyond the mythical 300 mark.
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had crossed the line after bouncing down off the underside of the crossbar, but match officials did not award the goal. Germany, 2-1 ahead at the time, went on to win 4-1. However, goal-line technology is not favoured by European soccer’s governing body UEFA, which instead prefers to employ two extra linesmen, one on each goal line. FIFA president Sepp Blatter has already said that extra linesmen are unlikely to be used at the World Cup. Many critics think that football should go further and allow the use of video replays to help referees make decisions concerning offside, handball and fouls. Referees have to make split second judgments with the naked eye while millions of television viewers are treated to slow-motion replays, from different angles, which often show clearly whether the official was right or wrong. Revolutionary goal line technology (GLT), due to be in place for next year’s World Cup in Brazil, will be put out to tender, world football’s governing body FIFA announced on Tuesday. “The two GLT providers already licensed under FIFA’s Quality Programme for GLT, and other GLT providers currently in the licensing process (that must have passed all relevant tests as of today) are invited to submit tenders,” FIFA said. Interested GLT companies will be invited to visit the venues in midMarch, with a final decision due to be confirmed in early April.
MILAN, Italy, Feb 19, (AFP): The veracity of AC Milan’s resurgence in Italy’s Serie A is set to be put to the test when Barcelona visit the San Siro Wednesday for the first leg of a last 16 tie in the Champions League. After their worst ever start to a league campaign the Rossoneri have climbed to third place and within touch of securing one of the three Champions League places for next year. However their survival in this year’s competition could depend on a strong showing in Milan ahead of a return to the formidable surroundings of the Nou Camp on March 12. Although billed, by Milan, as a match between ‘the best of the world’ — Milan are seven-time European champions while Barcelona, four-time winners, are widely considered the strongest team in the world — the Spanish league leaders have the bragging rights. The last time the two sides met, in last season’s competition, Barcelona came away from the San Siro with a scoreless draw in the first leg of the quarter-final, before winning 3-1 at home to secure a semi-final spot. Only four months earlier, Barcelona emerged from Milan with a 3-2 win on their way to topping the group ahead of Milan, while in the
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